Tom Tolen / news@whmi.com


With the informal blessing of the Board of Education, Brighton Area Schools Supt. Matthew Outlaw has obtained a search firm to help the district procure a new assistant supt. of business & finance.

At its July 10th meeting, the board reached consensus on his request to seek an outside search firm, and Outlaw has responded by acquiring the services of Hiring Solutions of Okemos, MI.

Supt. Outlaw told the board that Hiring Solutions specializes in hiring those with a very specific skill set and background - focusing on the areas of finance directors for school districts, and - in the private sector - chief executive officers, human resource officers and internal auditors.

Outgoing Assistant Supt. of Business & Finance Michael Engelter will be officially departing at the end of the month and going to the Pinckney Community Schools District, where he will assume the same position that he has held in Brighton for the last four years.

Outlaw says the problem with such a position is that it requires a specialized and demanding skill set and, therefore, the field of candidates will necessarily be small. As a result, Outlaw says he has been looking at potential candidates in the private sector as well as in the educational field.

Outlaw tells WHMI, in his words, “There would be a lot to learn, but we are very open to private sector candidates that have successful experience leading the finances for a large organization." Outlaw says further that considering Engelter’s over 20 years of experience in both the public and private sector, the district “will have to work very hard to find someone of his caliber.”

Outlaw said at the meeting that “seven or eight major districts” have vacancies in that position, making the finance director job a highly competitive position for the small pool of potential candidates.

When it was asked at the meeting whether board members could be on the committee that screens candidates, Board President Roger Myers replied that the board received a legal opinion on June 30th from the Michigan Association of School Boards. It states that a school board member cannot participate in a process that involves narrowing a field of candidates because it constitutes a violation of the Open Meetings Act. Therefore, Myers said that the most a school board member could do would be to act as an observer.

Involved in the interview process will be central office administrators, principals, dept. directors, finance dept. and teaching staff representatives, and parents. The superintendent says that once enough candidates are found, there will be several rounds of meetings, with the search firm involved in the screening process. The Board of Education, however, will make the final decision on the individual ultimately hired to replace Engelter as the district’s next assistant supt. of business and finance.

Outlaw tells WHMI that the fee the search firm will be paid to conduct the search hasn't been established, saying, " It won't be determined until a contract is signed, as it is based on the final negotiated salary."