Fargo School District superintendent search costs nearly $28,000 before in-house hire

FARGO - The school board here spent nearly $28,000 on a nationwide search for a new superintendent of schools before settling on an internal candidate, a tally of school district costs obtained by The Forum shows.

The board picked Jeff Schatz, the principal of Fargo Davies High School, to be the next superintendent.

But to get to that point, the district laid out more than $20,000 for the services of education executive search firm Ray and Associates of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

The base contract with the firm was $16,500, while additional expenditures for travel, mail, telephone and copying expenses were $3,789, records show.

The district also spent $3,408.87 on newspaper and magazine advertising, and $23 on brochures.

Other expenses include:

• $1,235.37 for meals with finalists at Seasons at Rose Creek, a fine-dining restaurant at Rose Creek Golf Course in Fargo.
• $1,319.55 for travel, lodging and food for candidate Joel Boyd, an assistant superintendent in Philadelphia.
• $843.14 for those same expenses for candidate Jody Mimmack, a top administrator for Mesa County Valley School District No. 51 in Grand Junction, Colo.
• $182.42 for lunches for the district's cabinet-level administrators with the candidates at Toscana in Fargo.
• $64.35 for refreshments for a community interview group.
• $138.73 for lunches and $46.50 in other food costs during a special meeting of the board on March 10 to choose finalists.
• $79.08 for candidate welcome bags.

Records show the district spent $27,631 on the search since late November.
Board President Jim Johnson said it is worth it.

"It's difficult to measure a local candidate until you know what's available abroad. That is the value" in the search, despite ultimately hiring in-house, Johnson said. Plus, "you never know who else is interested in coming to Fargo."

Johnson said the superintendent is in charge of a $140 million budget.

"To do this short-sighted would be a big mistake," Johnson said.

Superintendent Rick Buresh announced last fall he would retire and will leave the post by June 30, with Schatz officially taking over July 1.

The school board plans to finish work on a contract offer to Schatz at its April 10 meeting.

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Readers can reach Forum reporter Helmut Schmidt at (701) 241-5583