School districts pick search firm

The Nodaway Valley and Cumberland-Anita-Massena (CAM) school boards can now move forward with a process to hire a new superintendent that will likely be shared between the two districts.

The boards each chose, in a meeting Wednesday, Jan. 22 in Massena, to hire MacPherson and Jacobson, LLC Executive Recruitment and Development as their search firm. The cost of the agreement is to not exceed $10,500 and will be shared between the two districts.

Based in Omaha, Nebraska, MacPherson and Jacobson was one of three firms the boards interviewed a week prior during a meeting in Greenfield. The others were Grundmeyer Leader Services and EDwise, LLC.

CAM board member Todd McKee said he didn’t have a strong feeling on any of the three and was interested in whether or not others did. He did state MacPherson and Jacobson and Grundmeyer both seemed to be more modern in their approach to the job.

Each of the other board members from both districts agreed with McKee’s two two choices.

CAM board members Chuck Kinzie and Chris Spieker both said those two should be the top two choices, Kinzie pointing to it being the wisest investment monetarily as well.

NV board members weighing in had similar things to say. Daniel Shilling said he wasn’t swayed strongly between the two finalists. Molly Herrick commented that when you compare price points with what you’re getting, the two seemed to come at about the same value. Adam Woosley talked to other districts who had used MacPherson and Jacobson and said they were very happy with the services they received, but he thought that Grundmeyer would be good as well. Susan Stevens also agreed with the two final choices. NV Board President Kristen Jensen said that for the price point, MacPherson and Jacobson seemed to be the best.

CAM board members added that it will be important that MacPherson and Jacobson know about the Connections Academy, which is an online academy tied to the CAM Community Schools.

“I think a good portion of it comes down to dollars and is there anything we’re not going to get. Either one of them are going to help us figure out what the needs are for both districts — what you guys need in a superintendent and the same for us — and trying to meld those together and make sure everyone’s covered,” Jensen said.

Kinzie pointed out that MacPherson and Jacobson and Grundmeyer would both play an integral role in the transition of superintendents when current superintendent Paul Croghan leaves.

MacPherson and Jacobson pointed to an 8-12 week turnaround from first contact until a hire is made, so Jensen said communication between boards will be paramount going forward.

The two school districts have shared a superintendent for several years, dating to prior to when Croghan came in 2019. Other positions are also shared between the districts. There is a weighting system tied to funding incentives that the districts get for sharing these positions. Sharing a superintendent brings in the most in these incentives of the positions shared.