According to the superintendent, the chief responsibility of local schools is to sell houses.
“A community is known by the schools it keeps, so unbalanced and needlessly negative reporting is problematic from a number of perspectives,” said Superintendent Al Roberts in an email, April 26. “First and foremost, as a school district and as a community, we are trying to interest people to move to Clarkston.”
That generates home sales, local businesses profit, and funding for the school district increases, he said.
Roberts was responding to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by The Clarkston News, April 9.
The requested information, about the search for a new deputy superintendent and human resources director, were mailed on Friday, April 23, five business days after the initial request, said Heidi S. McClain, FOIA coordinator and administrative assistant to the superintendent.
“We have and will continue to be in compliance with FOIA time lines and we have gone out of our way to respond to requests made by you and your staff, despite what has been a campaign to discredit me,” Roberts said. “Given the stance you have taken, the school district is now forced to seek retractions for each and every time misinformation about our schools or school personnel is published.”
One correction sought is in regards to a March 31 story covering the job search.
“Per our discussion, I want to make sure you are printing a correction to the ‘School-post qualifications raise questions’ article,” Banach said in an email, April 15. “Mrs. Schaller states ‘she was appalled at the lack of professionalism of the job postings.’ The article did not mention any of the items that are in fact included in the actual postings which were sent to you already.”
Banach referred to online postings with Oakland Human Resources Consortium, which listed qualifications such as minimum Master’s Degree in Human Resources, school human resource experience preferred, and alternatives as the school board finds appropriate and acceptable.
In the March 31 story, Schaller was referring to position profiles developed by consultant Hazard, Young, and Attea (HYA).
The position profiles were developed by HYA after they met with various groups of Clarkston employees and board members before beginning their search, Banach said.
“These profiles were posted on the HYA website as a way to demonstrate the desired characteristics of possible candidates,” she said.
Characteristics for human resources director include ‘compassionate but firm,? ‘non-adversarial,? ‘can make employees feel important and valued,? and ‘must like doing ‘the stuff?’like insurance, other detail-oriented matters.?
Regarding recent newspaper coverage, the school district is keeping a file, Roberts said.
“We will be maintain records of all such incidents, and we will begin a process of communication, electronic and otherwise, that provide community members with accurate information,” Roberts said. “We will not, as you seem to have done, use our power of persuasion in a way that is designed to hurt another community enterprise.”
One “process” used by Roberts and Banach has been to carbon copy emails to about 45 school board members, central office staff, and school building administrators.
Pending arrival of FOIA information in the mail, Banach provided information on the job search. There were 140 applicants for deputy superintendent through the Oakland Consortium; 315 for HR director, and more than 150 others for both positions through HYA, for a total of more than 600.
Dr. Roberts interviewed 14 candidates for both positions, internal and external, based on recommendations from HYA. HYA conducted interviews and then made recommendations for interviews to Dr. Roberts.
“Thus far, we have only been invoiced for consulting fees in the amount of $6,000,” she said. “We have not yet been billed for any travel costs or other expenses.”
The district’s contract with HYA is for $18,000, to be paid in $6,000 installments.