"Olive branch" offered between Douglas County School Board Trustees

DOUGLAS COUNTY, Nev. - The December 14 meeting of the Douglas County School Board was a divisive one, once again, with actions and words appearing to drive a further wedge between trustees instead of their working together for the good of the community, students, and staff.

Susan Jansen, president of the Douglas County School Board, decided to remove one member of a two-person committee that was created to lay out the plans for selecting the next superintendent.

The person remaining? Jansen. The person removed without notice? Trustee Linda Gilkerson.

At their November 14 board meeting, Jansen and Gilkerson volunteered to be the committee. They both said they could work together and determine the process of hiring a new superintendent, and bring back their work in December, despite their differences on how school boards should operate.

From the minutes that were approved during the December 12 board meeting:

Mrs. Gilkerson made a motion to approve opening up the position for District Superintendent and begin the process for finding potential candidates. President Jansen and Trustee Gilkerson will be a committee of two that will meet and discuss the process and how this is going to work. They will also meet with Human Resources Director, Mr. Dedmon, to advise him on how they want to move forward and their findings will be brought before the Board in the December meeting to be voted on for discussion and possible action, seconded by Mrs. Dickerson.

In November, the board voted 7-0 to have both Jansen and Gilkerson on the committee.

What ended up happening is the opposite of what the trustees said they were going to do, said Trustee Casey Kangas. Jansen told Gilkerson she was kept out of the process because she said Gilkerson showed her disrespect by calling for her censure at the beginning of the November meeting. Jansen said her feelings were hurt by Gilkerson.

By the end of that meeting, the unanimous vote took place.

"It was my committee," said Jansen, and that she could do what she wanted.

"The president has the power to do whatever she wants," added Trustee David Burns.

An olive branch has been extended from both sides again with the promise of starting over on a clean slate. The seasoned trustee of the board, Gilkerson, and Jansen have been at odds for much of the board president's first year. Gilkerson has been dismayed at the actions of the newly elected three board members, Jansen, Burns and Katherine Dickerson. Trustee Doug Englekirk normally votes with them, leaving Gilkerson and Kangas on the other side. Trustee Tony Magnotta resigned this week after saying his voice was not heard, and he felt he had been "subjected to harassment and veiled threats."

With Jansen working with Burns and the district's legal counsel, Joey Gilbert Law, a job description for the superintendent was created prior to Thursday's meeting, and accepted by the board.

Applicants are now being accepted and the opening is posted on multiple websites, but Jansen was not interested in a national search firm due to costs. All applications will be reviewed by the trustees when accepted, it was promised.

Jansen asked for the job opening to be listed only on Indeed, LinkedIn, Monster, Ladders, Simply Hired, and HubStaff Talent. Human Resources Director Adam Dedmon told Jansen that Hubstaff Talent is only for remote work, so that website was eliminated. There were no school administration job search sites mentioned.

During the last search for a superintendent in Douglas County, it was a transparent process that went through a national firm. The board ended up hiring Keith Lewis from within, and the current board did not want that expense.

Jansen said they didn't want a drawn-out process since others were looking for the same position and didn't want to miss out on good candidates. There are currently school superintendent job openings in both Washoe County and Storey County, among others throughout the county.

When Lake Tahoe Unified School District (LTUSD) hired a replacement for the retiring Dr. Jim Tarwater a few years ago, their hired search firm said many superintendent jobs are filled by New Years so districts can have time to find replacements. Since they started in November 2019 they felt the District was late in the process. In that South Lake Tahoe search the public helped create the questions for candidates, and were invited to participate in the process. A website was created for the search that outlined target dates and the public involved (SEE HERE).

LTUSD hired executive search firm Leadership Associated with former LTUSD superintendent, Rich Fisher, leading the South Lake Tahoe process. The cost for those types of services was about $16,000 at the time, though Fischer offered it as pro bono.