Onteora plans forum on superintendent search

BOICEVILLE, N.Y. » Onteora officials have scheduled a forum for Wednesday, Dec. 15, in which residents can say what qualities they would like to see in a new school district superintendent.

The session will be conducted at 6:30 p.m. through video conference with access information and a survey available at www. onteora.k12.ny.us/boardof-education/invitation-tosupt-search-forums-survey.

In the survey, consultant Bill Christensen asks for comments on what residents consider to be the district’s attractive as well as what issues need to be addressed.

“This information is used to help us recruit quality candidates,” he wrote.

Christensen’s firm, McPherson & Jacobson, of Omaha, Neb., was hired by the district in October for $9,900, plus up to $4,800 in expenses, to conduct the search. Under the contract, McPherson & Jacoboson guarantees it will repeat the search process at no additional cost except for search expenses if the selected candidate chooses to leave the district within two years.

The position is currently being filled at $1,000 per day by Marystephanie Corsones. She was appointed after former Superintendent Victoria McLaren stepped down in May.

McLaren was at the end of the first year of a fiveyear contract that started at $173,400 and was scheduled to have 2 percent increases annually. She was appointed to the position in 2017 as a replacement for Bruce Watson, who resigned due to family issues after less than a year on the job.

McLaren, who has been with the district for 15 years, had also served as interim superintendent for a little over a year between the time Phyllis McGill resigned in June 2015 and Watson taking over in 2016.

McGill had been with the district since February 2011, with the school board voting in 2014 to not renew her contract beyond the final two years. At the time of her departure, she received a $67,000 settlement package.