A Mexico School District 59 teacher is concerned over what seemed like a secretive process to hire the district’s new superintendent, Tammy Lupardus.

Mexico Middle School science teacher Jenn Barnett at the Mexico Board of Education’s meeting Tuesday requested it increase the faculty and staff’s involvement in high-level hiring decisions.

The board entered into a contract Dec. 17 with the Missouri Association of Rural Education to assist the board in searching for a new superintendent due to the retirement of Zach Templeton. The base search fee from MARE for the Mexico School District was $5,000 with an additional $400 to $750 if the district requested focus groups.

“I understand we have already hired a new superintendent, but I wanted to share my concerns while it was still fresh in our minds and to hopefully keep in mind the next time we go through this process,” Barnett said.

Barnett said she is excited about the board selecting Lupardus, but still would like there to be more faculty and administration input on the selection process for future administration searches.

The Mexico Community Teachers Association sent a request to the board of education the week of Dec. 9 to offer its support in the search for the new superintendent.

“We would love to help you [by being] a part of that process,” said CTA President Sarah Keithley at the board’s Dec. 17 meeting. “I really wanted to spend my short time answering any questions I could about the notice we sent to the board last week.”

Barnett thanked the board for including staff and community input in its questions when selecting a service to aid the superintendent search process.

School board member Nicole Nelson in December wanted to know if CTA considered using focus groups.

“Dr. Templeton and I had a conversation about how we probably should focus more on characteristics and aspects that we want to see in a superintendent candidacy or the interviews you set up in that process,” Keithley said.

Keithley suggested the board possibly could include faculty in the meetings with MARE to provide feedback to the board. “That is just my personal view. That is not something [CTA] had specifically requested,” she said.

The board and MARE had planned to establish a process for sharing information and receiving feedback, board President Dustin Pascoe said in December. MARE and the board held candidate forums with faculty and staff Feb. 6, 7 and 10 at the Mexico High School cafeteria.

Barnett said there could have been more internal input to supplement the recommendations from MARE, such as identifying the district’s strengths and weaknesses, she said.

“This would have been a great opportunity to involve building administrators and teachers, but we were not given that opportunity,” she said. “I would imagine the board’s list of strengths and weaknesses would be different, because you have more of an outside perspective than an inside perspective.”

Barnett also was concerned over the screening and selection sections of the district’s contract with MARE, which identified candidates for the board to consider.

“I did not know if you had an opportunity to review all of the applicants or if [MARE] just said here is our top three and you guys said, ‘That looks good to us,’” Barnett said. “That is something I may never know the answer to, but it’s a little concerning to me as well.”

Focus groups would have been a great opportunity for faculty to help the board hone its requirements for a superintendent, she added.

Barnett was appreciative of the opportunity to attend the candidate forums with the three finalists, but the opportunities to provide feedback were limited. A survey taken by faculty and staff provided by MARE asked for strengths and weaknesses of each candidate, she said.

Barnett suggested that future searches should include a faculty and administration committee to provide feedback to the board. She also was concerned the three finalists had no tangible connection to Mexico before applying for the position.

“I understand there is a learning curve for any person that transplants to Mexico, but someone with ties to the community would have a much easier time adapting,” Barnett said.

The board expended several hours in its work to conduct the search and recognizes that they were not going to please everyone, board member Brian Rowe said.

“At the end of the day [teachers] are the backbone of the whole organization. We hear you when things don’t go as you want and I promise we do everything we can to help you,” he said.

The different perspectives and views from faculty help the board understand the needs of the district, board member Kelli Teel added.

“We didn’t just sit down and hire a superintendent off a piece of paper. It is very important to us and we all took it very seriously and gave our best effort to hire the best candidate to lead and support you all, and grow our programs we have started,” she said.