Three people were made part of a working group to look at how the Rugby School District will evaluate superintendents.

Business Manager Dawn Hauck and Rugby Public School District No. 5 Board of Education members Kris Blessum and Dustin Hager were made part of the working group as the board discussed the evaluation process during a regular meeting Tuesday morning in the Rugby High School board room.

Hager said responses from other districts “confirms what I’ve found” that other districts have their own means of evaluating superintendents. Responses came from New England, Lakota, Goodrich, Divide County, Mayville-Portland-Clifford-Galesburg and Powers Lake.

Hager said the “general consensus” was that the district would have to “create something unique” for its superintendent evaluations, and gave his preference toward a satisfactory/unsatisfactory model.

Blessum said she liked having a range of responses, as she felt satisfactory/unsatisfactory wouldn’t be enough. Hager said if the district kept the range he would want to see a better identification of the ranges.

“I don’t know if that provides you with valuable feedback,” Hager said to Superintendent Mike McNeff regarding the ranges.

Hager expressed concerns regarding anonymous feedback and how it could be used to post comments that are “hurtful” or not suitable for the evaluation process. Other board members brought up how evaluations are done at other workplaces.

Other actions

– The board approved resignation and retirement incentive requests for Rugby High School instructors William Jansen and Jan Hagen.

– The board approved the district’s audit report.

– The board approved the first reading of a change to the district’s bullying policy that includes cyberbullying occurring offsite.

– The board approved the consent agenda, which included Nov. 12 regular meeting and Dec. 4 Citizens Committee meeting minutes, bills, financial statements and transfers from the general fund to the food service fund.