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The Albert Lea school board on Monday accepted a proposal from Minnesota School Boards Association to conduct a search for Albert Lea’s next full-time superintendent.

Chairman Dave Klatt said the first step will be getting together with an MSBA representative to talk about the timeline for the search and other logistics behind it. This will likely happen in late January, and Klatt said he would check on a Jan. 24 date.

Board member Gary Schindler said the MSBA search would be comprehensive, and he referenced the 85% of superintendent searches across the state that are done by the organization.

The job opening has not yet been posted yet, but will likely be done before the board meets later in January.

Board member Mary Jo Dorman said when she was on the team to hire former Superintendent Mike Funk, there were different interview committees that were included in the search process with a community group, administration group and a group of general staff. The candidates rotated through the different groups.

“I think the public really respected the outreach we did,” she said, encouraging something similar to happen with this search, as well as a survey for all stakeholders.

Klatt said with the last search, the district’s timeline was abbreviated “pretty drastically.” He also liked the idea of even reaching out to the communities where the candidates will be coming from for additional feedback.

Board member Neal Skaar said he thought it was also important to ask community members where the candidates will be coming from and to involve more people in the search outside of administrators.

“Everybody should have a voice in this,” Skaar said.

According to the proposal, there could be several opportunities for public involvement, including a survey that would be open to all staff, parents, students, community members and district partners about priorities for the role, the opportunities and challenges facing the district, as well as what type of individual could most effectively lead the district. MSBA could also facilitate public involvement in the interview process if requested.

The estimated fee for the search is not to exceed $13,900, which includes the search team’s time and expenses. Additional fees could be added depending on where the district wanted to advertise the position, for various background checks, for optional focus groups or listening sessions and for expenses associated with the finalist interviews.

The action comes after the board last month parted ways with former Superintendent Ron Wagner. The board voted to place Wagner on paid administrative leave through the end of June and to allow his contract to expire without renewal at that time.