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Ashland to help choose school chiefs By VICKI GUARINO ASHLAND -- With the biggest administrative shake-up in a decade ahead, the school board is looking to the community for some direction. Three top administrators in the 3,400-student Ashland district are leaving at the end of the school year. Superintendent John Daggett is retiring after 12 years in the top job. Education Director Karen Dalrymple has resigned effective June 30, after 12 years in Ashland. District newcomer Vance Littleton, director of personnel and special education, is working on a one-year contract that expires June 30. "It's a real interesting opportunity," says Ashland School Board Chairman Kent Provost. "You could have a whole new realm of upper management." Forums at the end of this month will give the public a chance to suggest the kind of new leadership the district needs. Meetings will be at 7 p.m. Nov. 29 in the Ashland Middle School library, and 7 p.m. Nov. 30 in the Lincoln Elementary School cafeteria. During the identical meetings, the public will be asked to prioritize a list of personal attributes important to a superintendent. The crowd then will break into small groups to discuss other issues that board members should keep in mind through the selection process. The plan is for the board to pick a new superintendent by the end of April. The new superintendent will be free to pick successors to Dalrymple and Littleton, or perhaps redesign the top management structure. "That will be done by the new superintendent, not the board," Provost says. "The new person could bring in a team." Provost, a board member for five years, says he's excited by the opportunities the staff departures present to the community. He notes the enormous changes in education in the 1990s, starting with creation of statewide academic standards that students are expected to meet. "There is a whole new mandate of what to do and how to educate our kids," he says. Despite his own enthusiasm, Provost acknowledges that others are finding the prospects unsettling. "I like change, but there are a lot of people in the district who are apprehensive about change and we are trying to empathize with them," he says. The process of naming Daggett's successor will depend heavily on committees of interviewers. The board won't participate until the very end, choosing from among just the top three or four contenders. The selection process was set out by board member Terry Littleton, the wife of Vance Littleton. It was a process used in the Texas school district where Terry Littleton worked as interim superintendent before moving to Ashland. "She's done a lot of studies and research on it and this seems to be the best method," Provost says. Five committees of as many as eight or nine evaluators will consider each candidate for his or her strength and ability in one of five areas. Each committee will be responsible for one of the subject areas: students, community, finances, education and curriculum, and personnel. Committee members will include students, parents, teachers, business owners, agency staff members -- a sampling of the entire community, says Provost. They'll be picked by the board and assigned to committees based on expertise and interest. Committees will interview candidates on the committee's own subject area, then come together to make final recommendations to the school board. About a dozen candidates are expected to go through the committee interview process. Applications for superintendent are expected to be issued Dec. 13. Application period will close Feb. 13. Committee interviews will be held over one or two days in March. The process is being organized by an outside consultant, facilitator Rodger Busse, of Ashland. Provost noted that Busse was an Ashland School Board member when Daggett was hired. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA