BOZEMAN, Mont.-The Bozeman School Board held open interviews for the three finalists in the superintendent search.
The open style interviews give not only the board but also community members the opportunity to learn more about the candidates who could be potentially filling the superintendent shoes.
Three finalists, one coming from the treasure state, Robert Connors, while Sarah Brown comes from Florida and Christopher Hines from Texas.
All three candidates agreed that when it comes to decision making, the community is what’s important.
“As a superintendent of a district the approach to decision making and has to be all again I’m going to use the word but I believe in three different things that need to be there. It is a collaboration, communication, and transparency,” Brown said.
Hines said, “decision making is a group effort. Some decisions and this is based on my experience, some decisions you have to make and at the end, you have to own them but I think many of the decisions, even if they’re not someone else’s to make in the end there are certainly opportunities for involving people in those discussions.”
“Make sure we have the ability to collaborate, the ability to have the right answer for what’s best for students and to be able to do that we need to make sure that we get a lot of voices, we get a lot of input from the community,” Connors said.
The board asked the candidates the same 17 questions to find its perfect fit for Bozeman’s next superintendent.
“We want an individual who is a good leader. We need to understand what their leadership qualities are and what their skills are. They need to be able to communicate well with the staff and the public and they need to be focused on student success and meet our core purpose of making sure every child is educated to go into the future world,” School Board Trustee, Gary Lusin said.
The board is meeting on Tuesday, June 18 with hopes of making a final decision.
More information on the candidates:
Sarah Brown – Ms. Brown is currently the Chief of Human Resources for the School District of Manatee County (Florida), and has resigned from her position with the District effective June 30, 2019. She has also served as the Executive Director of Human Resources for 4J Eugene Public Schools in Eugene, Oregon, the Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources and Development for Bassett Unified School District in La Puente, California, Human Resources & Labor Relations Coordinator for the Los Angeles County Office of Education in Downey, California, and the Training and Staff Development Supervisor for the School District of Hillsborough County in Tampa, Florida. Ms. Brown also served 11 years as a teacher and 2 years as a principal. Ms. Brown has a Doctorate of Education Degree in Educational and Organizational Leadership, a Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership from Nova Southeastern University, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education from Montana State University.
Robert Connors – Mr. Connors has been the Superintendent of Glasgow Public Schools since 2012. Prior to this, he served as the Junior High Principal, High School Vice-Principal and Director of K-12 Special Education with Stevensville Public Schools. Mr. Connors has also worked as a Business Teacher for Choteau and Laurel Public Schools and as a coach throughout his career. Mr. Connors has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Business Education and a Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership from the University of Montana.
Christopher Hines – Mr. Hines has been employed by the Conroe Independent School District (Texas) as a High School Principal, Assistance Superintendent and Deputy Superintendent since 2001. Prior to this, he served as a High School Principal for the Eanes Independent School District (Texas) and for the Hays Consolidated School District (Texas), and as a Teacher and Assistance Principal for Aldine Independent School District (Texas). Mr. Hines holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree and a Master’s Degree in English from Texas State University and the University of Houston, respectively. He received his Doctoral Degree in Educational Leadership from Sam Houston State University.
