On Thursday, January 20, 2022, the FMS Board of Education approved a six-phase process for the Superintendent Search during a Special Meeting.
The School Board and consultants from the New Mexico School Boards Association will facilitate a process that includes the formation of three advisory teams: a 15-member community team, a 15-member staff team, and a 15-member administrators team. All teams will comply with the Open Meetings Act. See details of the teams below.
School Board members will each nominate two (2) parents to the community team, and five (5) community leaders altogether – representative of the various partnerships Farmington Municipal Schools has established with the City of Farmington, the county, the college, and economic development groups. Nominations to represent the community team should be provided by January 28.
For the staff team, the consultants will work with Superintendent Eugene Schmidt to recruit from the district’s instructional staff with a balanced membership from all school levels, including preschool. The administrators’ team will follow a similar selection process, and balance district level and campus administrators. Nominations to represent internal teams should also be provided by January 28.
The advisory teams will meet with the consultants to identify and clarify the desired characteristics the new superintendent will possess.
Finally, a three-step approach will be utilized for the selection process of candidates.
The first step will be to review all applications and exclude those who do not meet minimum qualifications. The review process should be completed by March 14.
The second step consists of a review by the School Board of all qualified applicants. Each School Board member will independently review the qualified applicant pool between March 14 and March 22 before reducing it during a closed session meeting. The names of the finalists will be released to the public at this time.
The third step is to meet the finalists in interview settings. Interviews and related activities should take place during the week of April 4.
After the interviews have concluded, the search consultants will facilitate a closed session of the School Board to evaluate all the interview and simulation data. The School Board will make its final decision in a public meeting on April 12.
“I’m very pleased with the process for selecting a new superintendent of Farmington Municipal Schools. We hope to attract the best candidate for our district and that the process allows for all of our communities to have a voice in the selection of a leader for our students and staff,” said Superintendent Dr. Eugene Schmidt.
Following a career in education of more than forty years, Superintendent Dr. Eugene Schmidt announced his retirement on January 5.
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