By JACOB SCHERMERHORN

Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates will conduct group interviews with stakeholder organizations this week as part of its search for a new Rochester City School District superintendent.

These interviews, along with an online community survey, will guide HYA in creating a Leadership Profile Report categorizing candidates into tiers based on their best fits. The current plan is for the profile to be presented to the board in late November.

The focus groups that will be included in the interviews involve a variety of groups, including students, parents, staff, nonprofits, religious establishments, governmental leadership, and others.

Notable organizations include Teen Empowerment, the Student Leadership Council, the Parent Leadership Advisory Council, the Black Agenda Group, the Center for Youth, the Children’s Agenda, Rise Up Rochester, Pastor’s Roundtable, and the offices of the mayor and county executive. A student and parent group will also be open to any individual who falls within that category.

The motion to pass these groups was nearly unanimous, with many school board members satisfied with the list and ready to adhere to the established timetable. Commissioner Jacqueline Griffin voted against the motion, voicing her concerns prior to the vote that other members, including Vice President Beatriz LeBron, were not prepared in past meetings and that Griffin herself saw changes to the group list.

“I need to review what is on this because there are a lot of things that have been changed and added and I am not familiar with what is going on at this point,” Griffin said. “I don’t think it is fair to me and others who are not here to just remove things without having a full discussion about them.”

Commissioner James Patterson was the only absence for this meeting and did not record a vote on the matter.

LeBron denied being unprepared for the group interview discussion and implied Griffin was not prepared for the topic.

“For my part, I think there are commissioners who thought they understood the assignment and thought they were prepared for an assignment that they misunderstood,” LeBron said. “I’m prepared to support what was emailed to us, like Commissioner Santiago said, over 48 hours ago.”

This division around the focus group question is similar to other factors in the search process that are still uncertain. HYA notes show that the question of confidentiality is still split between board members, with commissioners Amy Maloy and Camille Simmons supporting full confidentiality throughout the three interview rounds, Patterson supporting it until the final round, President Cynthia Elliott supporting it with community representatives included in executive sessions, and Griffin advocating for an open forum with community representatives in the first round.

The question of reimbursement, which HYA says is often a part of the search process when it comes to travel or hotel expenses, similarly is divided. Maloy alone supports it for round two, while every other listed member agrees the third round should have reimbursement. (Commissioners Isiah Santiago and Griffin have no recorded response)

Residency was required in the opinions of Maloy, Patterson, and Santiago, with Elliott preferring it. Other commissioners did not have a recorded response.

Santiago also expressed a desire to consider interim Superintendent Demario Strickland more seriously for the position, based on his experience and expertise.

“Speaking on the importance of stability when it comes to our leadership in this district and achieving these goals, I’ll personally say that, the district and myself, has made a mistake going through a superintendent search when we have amazing potential right here next to us,” Santiago said. “They have proved themselves in three different positions and I know that decisions have already been made, but I 100 percent stand by our interim superintendent and that’s because stability is important, and I’ll also stand behind him as permanent superintendent.”