Search Process Updates

On March 16, the Highline School Board approved the contract for Dr. Ivan Duran as Highline's next superintendent. Dr. Duran will take the helm on July 1.

The School Board voted to enter into contract negotiations with Dr. Ivan Duran to be Highline’s next superintendent, following a community engagement process that ended with a week of in-person tours, stakeholder meetings and virtual Town Halls.

The School Board and Dr. Duran will begin contract negotiations immediately. The School Board aims to bring the contract back for board approval at a board meeting in March.

The School Board named three finalists for Highline’s next Superintendent. Read more about the candidates on our Finalists web page.

Finalists will each spend a day in Highline where they will tour schools and meet with students, a few stakeholder groups and school board members. Each day will end in a virtual Town Hall. At the end of each town hall, you will immediately have an opportunity to provide feedback on the finalists through an online form.

Everyone is encouraged to watch the Town Halls and offer feedback.

The Board reviewed applications and will be conducting the first round of interviews on February 9 and 10. These interviews are confidential and the names of the candidates will not be made public.

The Board is planning for three finalists to each spend a day at the district - one each on February 14, 15 and 17. The names of the finalists will be made public. During their day at Highline, the finalists will tour schools, meet with students and a few stakeholder groups, and participate in a virtual Town Hall. The Town Hall questions will be pre-selected, using some of the suggestions from the January ThoughtExchange. 

Everyone is encouraged to watch the Town Halls and offer feedback via an online tool.

Next month, the School Board will interview candidates to be the new superintendent. The School Board wants your input on what to ask candidates during the interview process. 

Question topics to consider include, but are not limited to, experience or expertise with:

• Leading with Equity
• Family/Community Engagement
• Student Engagement
• Employee Relations
• Budget/Financial Management
• Curriculum and Instruction
• Operations
• Communications

With a limited time to interview candidates, not all questions will be used. Some questions may be used during the Town Halls for each finalist. Questions used during confidential interviews will not be made public.

The community was asked to submit questions using ThoughtExchange. The exchange closed on Monday, January 17.

At the Dec. 15, 2021 work session, the Board discussed the interview process for candidates in January and February 2022.

In January, the Board will ask the community to submit suggestions for interview questions using ThoughtExchange. In February, the first round of interviews will be confidential and held remotely. For the second round of interviews, the Board anticipates three finalists each spending a day at Highline in mid-February.

Each finalist will tour schools, meet with stakeholder groups, and participate in an online Town Hall. After each Town Hall, the community will be asked to share their feedback about the finalist with the Board.

Consultants from the superintendent search firm, Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates (HYA) presented the Desired Leadership Characteristics for the Next Superintendent and the Leadership Profile Report Summary to the School Board on Dec. 8, 2021.

These two documents contain a summary of the feedback received from listening sessions, focus groups, a community survey, and a student survey. Community members, students, families, and staff have an opportunity to share their priorities and concerns early in the search process to inform the development of a leadership profile for the next superintendent.

These documents will be used during the recruitment process and help the Board develop candidate interview questions aligned with the priorities identified.

The Highline School Board is gathering feedback to help them select our next superintendent. We want your input about:

• Strengths of our schools and district
• Challenges the district is currently facing
• What the new leaders' priorities should be
• What professional characteristics the next superintendent should have

Your input will help us develop a Leadership Profile Report that will be presented to the School Board. This report guides the search.

There are two ways to share your thoughts.

Complete a survey.

The survey is available in multiple languages. It closes at midnight on November 29.

Attend a Community Forum.

You are invited to attend one of two community forums facilitated by the search firm. One forum will be held virtually and one in-person. Due to COVID restrictions, the in-person forum has capacity limitations. Spanish, Somali, and Vietnamese interpreters will attend both forums.

You must pre-register to attend.

VIRTUAL FORUM

Thursday, November 18
6:00-7:30 p.m. 

Please sign up for the virtual forum by 5:00 p.m. on November 17, 2021. You will receive the Zoom link the day of the meeting via email.

IN-PERSON FORUM

Monday, November 29
6:00-7:30 p.m.
Central Office
15675 Ambaum Blvd. SW
Burien, WA 98166

Please sign up for the in-person forum by 5:00 p.m. on November 24, 2021. Space is limited due to COVID-19 safety guidelines. We will track sign-ups for the in-person community meeting and turn off the form when we reach capacity for social distancing. 

The first step in the search process is to hire a search firm to consult with the Board on the search. The search firm partners with the Board on process and actively recruits a diverse pool of qualified applicants. At the September 1 meeting, the Board approved a Request for Proposals (RFP) for consulting services. Firms had to submit their proposals by September 16. After interviewing three firms in a work session on September 29, 2021, the School Board selected Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates at the October 6 School Board meeting.