Addison school board opts to stay with consulting firm to conduct superintendent search

ADDISON — Less than one week after meeting in a special session to consider proposals from two companies looking to lead Addison Community Schools on its latest superintendent search, the district’s board of education gathered April 9 for another special meeting to review and consider a revised search contract.

The revised contract the board looked at on Tuesday last week came from the Michigan Association of School Boards (MASB), one of the two consulting firms that approached the district during an April 3 special meeting to complete Addison’s superintendent search.

Because MASB has conducted Addison’s last three superintendent searches — and it will be coming up on its fourth search since 2021-22 when it hired Daniel Patterson to succeed the retiring Steve Guerra — board members said they felt a “change in scenery” was necessary when it came to working with a new consulting firm.

That new consulting firm Addison approved to work with in a 5-2 roll call vote April 3 was the Michigan Leadership Institute (MLI), which is currently engaged with Onsted Community Schools’ superintendent search.

MLI’s contract of services was approved by the board for $6,200. MASB’s original contract it submitted was just over that amount, totaling $6,376.80.

Some board members, however, expressed their displeasure that MASB was not offering the district a nearly free search proposal, since current Superintendent Dan Bauer, who was discovered through an MASB led search and hired by the district in September 2023, is resigning from the district June 30, not having spent an entire calendar as the district’s leadership. Bauer previously said he plans to spend time with his daughter and grandchildren in northern Michigan after his son-in-law's unexpected death.

More: Addison superintendent to resign following death in family

Jay Bennett, who represented MASB at Addison’s April 3 meeting, was unable to clarify for the board if the organization would be able to provide the district with a no-cost or even discounted search because of Bauer’s length of service.

The district did receive such an answer after it had voted and opted to work with MLI.

The new “free” contract came back to the Addison board the evening of its April 3 special meeting, after the board had voted to work with MLI on the search.

MASB’s revised contract is based upon mileage fees only, with additional, smaller costs added in. The new contract, however, doesn’t include conducting face-to-face meetings with school stakeholders and staff, according to information shared by the board during the April 9 special meeting. The contract also suggests MASB would utilize the survey results and data from the most recent superintendent search that landed Bauer and Thomas Durbin, a finalist last year for the position.

“Being totally transparent, we wanted to discuss this,” school board President Andrea Woodring said. “If we come up with a possibility other than what we already voted on, we will have to rescind our last vote.”

After hearing from each member of the board, in another roll call vote, the board approved, 3-2, to remain with the Michigan Leadership Institute for providing the superintendent search services. Woodring, vice president Jennifer Frost and secretary Kim Ford voted to remain with MLI, while trustees Thomas Arnold and Lauren Bailey voted against staying with MLI and instead accepting MASB’s revised proposal.

Trustees Josh Perry and Scott Williams were absent from last week’s special meeting.

“I absolutely hate spending the money when we don’t need to,” Frost said. “It’s really nice that (MASB) is doing the search for free, but we’re getting so much less than we are going to get with (Michigan Leadership Institute), and I don’t think our stakeholders will be happy.”

MIL’s superintendent search proposal includes one full year of follow-up communication with the new superintendent and administrative support during the search, something MASB’s contract does not include.

Arnold and Bailey voted against remaining with MLI to conduct the search, solely for financial reasons, as both mentioned during the board’s communication/discussion period.

“Although we don’t have a lot of excess money around here, and we’re not throwing it around, I’m willing to invest in our future for our youth, our staff and our community,” Woodring said.

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Patterson’s tenure with Addison was just over one year — he was hired in March 2022, officially on the job by July 1, 2022, and resigned from the district July 31, 2023 — and MASB came back to Addison with a discounted search proposal that located Bauer.

The district, meanwhile, is not in a hurry to conduct its new search, Woodring said. Instead, it is “swiftly moving along.” The board said it expects there to be a “harmonious handoff” from Bauer to whomever his successor is.

“Dan (Bauer) is willing to work with the person and go hand-in-hand and help them have a nice, smooth transition, so we’re not just throwing them to the wolves. It will be a nice lateral move,” she said.

— Contact reporter Brad Heineman at bheineman@lenconnect.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: www.twitter.com/LenaweeHeineman.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Addison school board to work with consulting firm on superintendent search