The Juneau School District Board of Education approved a contract to search for a replacement for outgoing Superintendent Bridget Weiss when she announced in late October she intended to step down from her position at the end of June.
[Weiss departing as Juneau School District superintendent]
During the search for contractors, the district received two bids and on Tuesday afternoon, the board decided to move forward with the bid from Ray & Associates, which offered to conduct the search for $28,900, which covers the cost of the contract, which is $18,500, and $10,400 in estimated reimbursable expenses.
According to Cassie Olin, the district’s director of administrative services, the bid covers the travel cost for three candidates, along with background checks and advertising for the candidate pool.
The contract is set to begin on Jan. 1 and will run through June. 30 when Weiss will step down.
According to board President Deedie Sorensen, it was a clear decision to choose Ray & Associates on several fronts, most prominently being its experience working with the district before along with its work across other Alaska districts. Before Weiss took on the role of superintendent, Sorensen said the district had worked with Ray & Associates to find Mark Miller, who served as the district’s superintendent for four years and left in 2018 to take a job in California.
“They had the best bid offer and they have a great deal of experience,” Sorensen said.
Sorensen said another factor was the lower cost offered by Ray & Associates compared to the other bidder, Human Capital Associates, which offered to conduct the search for $46,200, however, it would not cover charges like travel for the final candidates or background checks.
In a previous school board meeting, board Vice President Emil Mackey said the bid price offered by Ray & Associates was less than he was expecting the district would have to pay, however, Weiss said regardless of the cost, it remains an unbudgeted expense to the district, which has run up a deficit of $3.2 million in recent years.
“Though it’s under costs of what was the rough, rough estimate — at any cost it wasn’t budgeted,” Weiss said.
The district did not outline in its agenda how the expense would be covered by the district.
“I think it was our best choice and I think we need to find a superintendent,” Sorensen said. “Weiss is going to be very difficult to replace.”
• Contact reporter Clarise Larson at clarise.larson@juneauempire.com or (651)-528-1807. Follow her on Twitter at @clariselarson.
