NB receives 12 applications for superintendent

Twelve applications for superintendent have been received, the New Bloomfield R-3 Board of Education learned Tuesday night.

The position has been open since the board received the resignation of former Superintendent Chris Small in February.

Interim Superintendent Thomas Baugh said two more people have indicated an interest in applying for the job and from 15 to 20 applicants are expected by the March 28 deadline for accepting applications.

The board authorized Board President Leroy Wade to appoint a screening committee to review applications. Earlier the board agreed the committee would include eight members of the community, 10 teachers, three administrators and two non-teaching staff.

Wade said the screening committee will be charged with narrowing the field of applicants to six or seven. Those applicants then would provide presentations to the board outlining their qualifications and goals. Wade passed out a rating sheet that members of the board could use in rating the applicants. The ratings included features other than qualifications. For example, they would rate the applicants on perceived leadership and communication skills.

After opening bids on proposals for private firms to operate the school's food service, the board discussed various bids and heard brief presentations from two firms that submitted bids for the service.

Making presentations were Stan Johnson of OPAA Food Service and Chris Gabe of Lunchtime Food Service. The board also received bids from Fresh Ideas Food Service, but no representative was present at the meeting. Southwest Food Services dropped out of the competition after bids revealed the firm was not a low bidder for the service.

OPAA and Lunchtime were close on bids for daily food service prices. The board decided to delay action in order to investigate each firm further and inquire about their services provided at other schools.

Baugh said in the short time he has been serving as interim superintendent he has grown to love the New Bloomfield community and staff at the school.

"You need to take care of this school. A school is vital to a community. You should be proud of your school," Baugh said.

A retired Hallsville superintendent, Baugh said some of the struggling big schools in the state would do better if they were broken up into smaller schools where the community is linked better to schools.

Sara Lane, special education administrator, explained to the board how student achievement has been improving because teachers are using the Late Start Tuesday time period to assess student performance. They also are looking for ways for teachers to improve their teaching techniques to raise student achievement test scores.