1. How much has the district paid the search firm so far and how much more will it pay?
A: The school district hired the firm Hazard, Young, Attea, and Associates in May to find candidates to replace former Superintendent Jesus Jara.
The firm has already billed the district $74,000 since June, according to the invoices provided to us through a public records request.
$25,000 was the down payment to the firm to begin its work.
Almost $30,000 was paid so far for the associates’ expenses — flights, hotels, cars and meals.
Then there’s another almost $20,000 paid — $10,000 to hold focus groups and almost $10,000 to create a community survey and for advertising for the position.
The firm will get at least another $35,000 when they present their slate of candidates, according to their agreement with the district.
That brings the pay to a minimum of $110,000 when all is said and done.
So that would be $130,000 or more if there’s additional travel for the firm’s associates.
2. Is this more than what was initially expected to spend?
That figure obviously is a lot less than the minimum of $110,000.
The contract between the firm and the district states what it charges, with the understanding that it’s based on how much the superintendent gets paid travel expenses can be anything really, and there’s additional services that the district can opt to choose — like advertising and focus groups — so there is a lot of room for total costs to vary.
The bare bones recruitment fees are between $60,000 and $80,000, depending on how much the superintendent gets paid.
But add in the $30,000 so far in associates’ expenses, and $20,000 for other services, that’s another $50,000 that were additional costs.
3. The plan was to have a new superintendent selected by Nov. 1 — what happened on the school board to push back that date?
A: There will be a largely new school board next year — Trustee Katie Williams resigned after it was revealed she doesn’t even live in the state, and then the election on Tuesday means more than half the board will be replaced in January.
The search firm said superintendent candidates were telling them they’re concerned with being hired by one board and then working with another board, so everyone agreed to wait until the new board was seated to pick their superintendent at the end of March.