As reported in the April Ole Steller newsletter, Principal Dale Evern has announced his retirement at the end of this school year. In keeping with the Steller tradition of allowing all voices to be heard and practice inclusive participation, the community will have the opportunity to not only suggest attributes we like to ASD, but we will also be able to meet and ask questions of each candidate during a meet and greet on May 9th.
ASD has requested that we put together a committee, called the Site Advisory Committee (SAC) which will solely function in an advisory capacity. The SAC will be composed of three teachers, our school counselor, one staff member, three parents and one School Business Partnership community member. It is the committee’s responsibility to represent and advocate for Steller’s perspective on the best fit for our school to the ASD candidates. To prepare for this event and help inform the Committee, the following information is the latest on the selection process, which is expected to hopefully result in the announcement of a new Steller principal by the end of the school year:

• Mon. April 21 during Advisory Groups, students will determine which attributes they wish a principal to have, and look at the questions for a principal candidate to answer during the Meet and Greet on May 9th.
• Wed. April 23 at 5:30 PM – Steller Parent Group will host a meeting in Ashley/Danielle’s room to help determine which attributes we are looking for in a new principal, as well as to start drafting questions we might ask of a candidate. This meeting is immediately before the All Community Meeting at 6:00PM in the MPR.
• April 30 at 2:15 PM – As requested by the ASD, the Site Advisory Committee will hold its initial meeting with High School Executive Director Mike Henry to provide feedback about what the best principal for Steller would look like. This is what we were looking circa 2011: an advocate for Steller; a very good communicator; positive and open-minded; committed (to come to Steller and stay and to support its philosophy); a facilitator (who can help students and staff achieve their goals); interested, curious, and caring; understanding of the Steller philosophy and willing to work within it; a listener and collaborator; community builder and nurturer; ability to ask questions; self disciplined; someone who expects students to be capable of a lot; a motivator; humble; consistent and dependable; and a life long learner.
• May 9 6-8 p.m. Meet and Greet Candidates. All are welcome and encouraged to attend. The more the merrier!

– Anticipate 3-4 principal candidates
– Each candidate will have 5 minutes to respond to a single question developed by the Site Advisory Committee, while remaining candidates wait for their turn to respond to the same question in another room.
– Upon completion of this questioning, each candidate will rotate through 3 classrooms (or 4 if there are 4 candidates) for 15 minutes, where a less formal question and answer session will be held. In this way just the principal candidates will need to move from room to room, rather than requiring the entire Steller community to move,
– The current plan is for parents, students and staff to each have a room and a focused set of questions. This isn’t meant to be exclusive, but just a means to create themes for questioning of the candidates. Others would still be welcome if they want to listen to another group. As part of that process, each group (staff, students and parents) will be developing or selecting their questions up until the Meet and Greet.
– each question and answer session will be facilitated by members of the Site Advisory Committee (SAC) or other designated individuals(staff, students or parents) to help keep the process organized and consistent.
– At the end of the Meet and Greet, the SAC and all members of the Steller community will meet informally to discuss each group’s initial feelings about the candidates.
– The SAC will meet again, likely on Monday May 12th, to develop its recommendation to bring to the ASD.

What follows this are more interviews by ASD, then the Superintendent interviews the top candidates and then….Selection approved by the Anchorage School Board and announced to the public.