News Photo by Tyler Winowiecki Members of the Hillman Community Schools Board of Eeducation and Atlanta Community Schools Board of Education hold a joint meeting to review a cooperative agreement for the two districts as they seek a joint superintendent.

ATLANTA — Atlanta Community Schools and Hillman Community Schools boards of education held another joint meeting to review a cooperative agreement and the preliminary superintendent contract as the two districts begin the process of seeking a joint superintendent.

The meeting Friday allowed board members from both districts to see the survey results Michigan Association of School Board search specialist Rod Green compiled from the 47 people who responded. Green also sat down with staff members of both districts to get their thoughts.

Green told the boards the two staffs were understanding and supportive of the idea of having a joint superintendent.

“I told both staffs today that this does not mean you are not moving toward consolidation or other shared positions or anything,” he said. “This just means you are sharing a superintendent. Independent districts doing your own thing with a superintendent that is the same person.”

The cooperative agreement the two board reviewed with Green outlined the structure in which the joint superintendent position would take with the two districts. This included a creation of a joint council with two board members from each district to review and resolve issues specific to the superintendent position.

The cooperative agreement split costs evenly between the two districts with each district contracting out the services of the superintendent. Green told the board the contracts would be the same and also would be for the same length.

“This is the typical contract that I’ve done with districts on superintendents,” he said. “I’ve done about 25 of these and I’ve kinda evolved over time on this language.”

Green recommended not being too strict on how much time the superintendent spends in each district as there may be times when the person would be needed in one district more than the other during a particular period. But, Green said, there was an understanding it would be as equal as possible.

With both of the current district superintendents’ contracts expiring June 30, Green outlined a timetable to have a new superintendent contracted and ready to begin by July 1. This included another joint meeting June 3 to go through applications, June 7 for first round interviews, June 14 for second round interviews and June 19 for a tentative hiring date.

Neither district took formal action on the presented material and instead opted to consider them during their next meetings. For Hillman this will be Monday and for Atlanta May 22.

Tyler Winowiecki can be reached via email at twinowiecki@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5688. Follow Tyler on Twitter tw_alpenanews.

News Photo by Tyler Winowiecki
Members of the Hillman Community Schools Board of Eeducation and Atlanta Community Schools Board of Education hold a joint meeting to review a cooperative agreement for the two districts as they seek a joint superintendent.