NCSD Board to discuss Callaghan’s job performance, set goals

Newton Community School District Superintendent Bob Callaghan’s job performance will again come under discussion during Monday’s regularly scheduled meeting of the NCSD Board of Education.

Board members will meet with the superintendent in closed session following Monday’s open meeting to discuss setting goals for Callaghan.

In March, the board voted 4-3 against extending Callaghan’s contract with the district, with board president Travis Padget and board members Josh Cantu and Cody Muhs voting to extend the contract. Without a standard one year extension Callaghan is currently operating under a two-year contract with the district, set to end after the 2019-2020 school year.

During discussions over the contract extension earlier this year, several board members said they’d like to consider incorporating a 360-degree review process to help evaluate the superintendent’s job performance. Board vice president Ann Leonard and board member Robyn Friedman advocated for the review, which would provide feedback on Callaghan’s job performance from a wide variety of sources.

Despite the lengthy delay, Callaghan said he’s eager to identify the board’s goals and move forward with the process.

“I am hoping so, yes, that’s the goal,” Callaghan said. “I have not gotten any goals (from the board), so that’s why we’re moving this along so quickly because I have not had any of those since our meeting back in March.”

Callaghan is no stranger to the 360-degree review process — senior level NCSD administrators have been working with the Flippen Group to conduct 360-degree reviews for the past several years. The reviews are typically done every two years. Callaghan has completed two in the past three years. To help facilitate the process, board members have asked Sean Dunphy, a representative with the Flippen Group to meet with the board during their meeting on Aug. 13.

Padget said he’s hoping Monday’s discussion will generate some goals for the superintendent, something that’s been an issue in the past.

“If we think he has areas he needs to work on we need to help him instead of just putting him down about it,” Padget said.

The lack of clearly identifiable goals has long been an issue for the superintendent, it became a point of contention during the contract extension discussion earlier this year. According to Padget, past goal setting has only identified district-wide goals, the board has yet to create specific goals for the superintendent’s position. Without a clear system of goals, it’s difficult to judge Callaghan’s performance, Padget said.

One of the goals listed previously was for the district to attain 85 percent proficiency in academics across the board. Another was maintaining a student to teacher ratio of 17:1 in classrooms across the district.

“The goals we had before, they were basically the district’s goals,” Padget said. “They were so tied to the district goals that they weren’t developmental to him. They weren’t specific to Bob (Callaghan) or things he had control over.”

Even without clear objectives set by the board, Callaghan said he’s proud of his performance as superintendent. During an interview Thursday, he ticked off the numerous improvements he’s overseen during his tenure in Newton.

“I keep kids first and I’ve changed the financial position of our district in a positive way,” Callaghan said. “I’ve had to deal with some extremely tough issues, I’ve supported the community with the building of a new middle school.”

While Callaghan can point to a laundry list of accomplishments during his tenure at Newton, he acknowledged there’s always room for improvement — he’s hoping some clearly defined goals will lay out a clearer path for him as he moves forward.

“I’d certainly like to know where that is for me because I’d like to do the best job I can for our kids and our community,” Callaghan said.

Milk and bread

On Monday, the board will also award bread and milk contracts for the 2018-19 school year. Callaghan said he expects the contracts will be similar to those signed last year. In 2017, the district awarded its milk contract to Anderson Erickson Dairy, and the bread contract was awarded to Bimbo, a subdivision of Sara Lee.

“I don’t expect many changes, I think both of these companies continue to be highly competitive,” Callaghan said. “Cristy (Croson, the district’s food service supervisor) is very happy with Bimbo and Anderson Erickson.”

Contact David Dolmage at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or ddolmage@newtondailynews.com