Fort Smith pool whittled to 2

Superintendent search trimmed to Kansas, Texas hopefuls

FORT SMITH -- The Fort Smith School Board Monday narrowed the field in the search for a new school superintendent when it named two finalists who will return to be interviewed in mid-December.

In an executive session that lasted 50 minutes, the board members selected Doug Brubaker of Mansfield, Texas, and Michael Roth of Leavenworth, Kan., as finalists to guide the school district of 14,888 students and more than 1,100 staff members.

Brubaker has been the associate superintendent of the Garland, Texas, School District since last year and was assistant superintendent of administrative systems and support in the Mansfield School District from 2008-14.

Roth has served as the Leavenworth school superintendent since 2014. He served as school superintendent in Clearwater, Kan., from 2006-14 and in Deerfield, Kan., from 2001-06.

The board members did not take a vote on the selections after reconvening in open session. Board President Deanie Mehl said the names of the two the board agreed on would not be revealed until after notifying the three who were not chosen.

Brubaker and Roth were named in a news release that was issued about 45 minutes after the meeting ended.

The board spent all day Monday interviewing the five candidates, one every two hours throughout the day. They finished with the last candidate just before the board's monthly meeting at 5:30 p.m.

During the board meeting that preceded the executive session, Mehl said the five candidates the board interviewed Monday were a "phenomenal slate of candidates."

The other three candidates were Keith Brown of Bay City, Texas; Brenda Lewis of Rochester, Minn.; and Christiana Otuwa of Rochester, N.Y.

The board scheduled the two finalists' interviews for Dec. 13 and 14, during which, Mehl said, they will meet with district administrators, teachers and local community leaders.

She said after the meeting she believed the board members would get together on Dec. 15 and put together an official offer to one of the finalists and hoped to have a new superintendent hired by the Christmas break.

The new superintendent will succeed Benny Gooden, who retired in June after 30 years of service in the position.

The new superintendent also likely will be involved next year in the campaign to pass a millage increase to finance a renovation and construction program that could top $80 million.

A total of 66 people applied for the Fort Smith superintendent job. The executive leadership search company Ray and Associates of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, which the school district hired to conduct the search, presented 11 applicants to the school board earlier this month and the board chose the five candidates to interview Monday.

Metro on 11/29/2016

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