The three finalists for the Lawrence schools superintendent position are shown. At left is Michael Munoz, 59, who is currently superintendent of the Rochester school district. Kyle Hayden, center, is assistant superintendent of business and operations for the Lawrence school district. Shellaine Kiblinger, right, is superintendent of the Hutchinson school district.

The three finalists for the Lawrence school district’s superintendent position met with members of the Lawrence school board and community focus groups Monday and Tuesday.

Michael Munoz, of Rochester, Minn., was the first to meet with board members and focus groups made up of district staff, students and community members on Monday. Kyle Hayden, of Lawrence, met with board members and focus groups Monday evening. The third finalist, Shellaine Kiblinger, of Hutchinson, had meetings Tuesday.

The Lawrence school board announced the finalists Friday.

Munoz, 59, is currently superintendent of the Rochester school district. Hayden, 44, is assistant superintendent of business and operations for the Lawrence school district, and Kiblinger, 48, is superintendent of the Hutchinson school district.

The Journal-World had the opportunity to talk with both Munoz and Hayden after their meetings Monday, and with Kiblinger after her meetings on Tuesday.

Michael Munoz

Prior to his current position, Munoz was executive director of Des Moines, Iowa, public schools. In his 35 years in education, Munoz has also been a teacher, school counselor and a school principal at both the elementary and middle school level.

Munoz said he thinks his beliefs and experiences with undertakings similar to those of the Lawrence district — such as improving equity among student subgroups, increasing access to technology and expanding career and technical education — make him a good fit for the job.

“A lot of (the district’s) beliefs match very closely to my personal beliefs as an educator,” he said. “…I felt that there was a good connection not only for me professionally and personally as far as my passions, but for the experience I have.”

Munoz said the city itself was also a draw for him and his wife, Joan, who visited while their son was a student at Kansas University.

Michael Munoz

“We had been here in Lawrence many times during that time period and found it to be a city that we really enjoyed, and were very comfortable when we were here visiting,” he said.

Munoz earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, his master’s at Chadron State College in Chadron, Neb., and his district leadership license at Iowa State University.

Munoz said he thinks the biggest challenge facing the school district is uncertainty in the level of state funding. He said if funding were to be reduced, budget cuts aren’t necessarily the only option.

“Beyond reductions, I think you have to look at if there are other ways to partner with your community to provide that same service,” he said. “Partnerships with agencies, nonprofits or whatever that may be to help provide that same support that you were currently providing through your funding.”

Munoz said another potential concern, which he gleaned reading comments from the public focus groups held by the district in January, was that communication between the district and the community could be better. At his current district, Munoz said he makes sure there are multiple ways for the community to give him feedback on a regular basis.

For example, Munoz said he hosts monthly listening sessions — varying location, time and day of the week — that are open to the public, and he participates in a call-in radio show twice per month.

“Really, I believe in two-way communication,” he said. “A lot of times I think where districts drop off is we communicate information out to you and then we think that’s it, but we also need to provide opportunities for them to provide feedback or information to us.”

As far as his particular goals for the district, Munoz said he thinks the district’s current goals and initiatives are good, but should be flexible depending on what the community wants.

“I’m not one of those people who has an agenda and comes in and everybody has to adopt my agenda,” he said. “…My job is to interact with the community and make sure that (the district’s) goals still match what the community wants, and then to work with the district and help them accomplish those goals.”

Kyle Hayden

Hayden, 44, has been in his current assistant superintendent of business and operations position with the Lawrence school district for the past five years. Prior to that, he was superintendent of the Tonganoxie school district.

Hayden said he thinks what sets him apart from the other candidates is that Lawrence is his home, and he has a good understanding of the school district, the community and what people value. His wife, Katy, is a teacher at Free State High School, and their three children attend Lawrence schools.

“So given that, we obviously have a relationship with the community and the school district that’s fairly close already,” he said. “…We really value Lawrence, we have every intention of staying here and having our kids go through school and finish here.”

Hayden has been a school principal or assistant principal at several secondary schools in Kansas and Texas. He was assistant principal at Lawrence High School from 2004 to 2005, and spent a year as assistant superintendent in Tonganoxie before he was superintendent from 2009 to 2011.

Kyle Hayden

Hayden earned his bachelor’s degree from Tabor College, his master’s from Emporia State University and his district leadership license from Fort Hays State University.

Hayden said he thinks an initiative that is “front and center” for the Lawrence district is providing equitable access to technology for all students. But Hayden said that effort goes beyond just purchasing computers to implement a 1-to-1 student-to-device ratio.

“I think the key component to that is going to be a lot of communication between the school district and families and students,” he said. “But also how we work with our teachers and our staff to successfully implement it.”

Hayden said he thinks that one of the main challenges facing the Lawrence district, like others in Kansas, is school finance. He said that addressing decreases in funding requires looking at budgets department by department to find ways to be more efficient.

“I think we’re going to have to really dig to figure out what changes can we make, what can we stop doing, that obviously won’t negatively impact our students and their educational experience,” he said.

As far as goals for the district, Hayden said he doesn’t think the underlying focus of “excellence, equity and engagement” currently used by the district to establish its goals should change. He said he thinks four of the most important initiatives are: increasing access to technology; expanding career and technical education; addressing the social and emotional needs of students through the Ci3T model; and improving equity among student subgroups.

Hayden said he sees equity as something that goes beyond equal access to devices, and that he would like the district to continue providing diversity training to every new teacher who is hired.

“It’s connecting the (equity) work to the classroom successfully and making sure that the impact is far reaching to our students,” he said. “The biggest portion of that is really having teachers analyze what they’re teaching and how they’re teaching it — and that it’s culturally relevant and responsive and inclusive of all students.”

Hayden said that for him, the superintendent position is where he could have the biggest impact.

“I like where we’re headed as a school district,” he said. “I’ve been a part of a lot of the initiatives that have happened over the course of the last several years, and I just want to continue to be part of that.”

Shellaine Kiblinger

Prior to her current position as superintendent of the Hutchinson school district, Kiblinger spent 12 years working in the Garden City school district. She thinks that experience was good preparation for the superintendent position in Lawrence.

“Garden City had a very cosmopolitan atmosphere; they were a community and school district that really, really embraced diversity as their greatest strength, and that’s the sense that I get from Lawrence,” Kiblinger said.

Kiblinger, 48, was a high school assistant principal in Garden City from 1999 to 2004 and assistant superintendent from 2004 to 2011. She has held her current post in Hutchinson for the past five years.

Shellaine Kiblinger

Kiblinger earned her associate degree from Independence Community College, bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Pittsburg State University and her doctorate of education from Kansas State University.

When it comes to challenges facing the district, Kiblinger said that school finance is an issue for Lawrence and districts throughout the state. In addition to needs that are outpacing funding, she said that the climate in the state also has an effect on districts’ staff.

“Staff morale I think across the state is really at an all-time low,” she said. “And so looking for ways to make the staff feel valued and appreciated in light of the hardships that we’re facing and in light of a lot of public criticism of the work that they do (is a challenge).”

If reductions had to be made, Kiblinger said that she would take a collaborative approach, and make those decisions in conjunction with the community, school board and staff members who would be affected.

“The goal is always to keep that as far away from impacting students and student achievement as possible,” she said. “…Obviously getting staff involved and getting their input, because we really need to talk to people who are closest to the areas where reduction would be made so that we are fully aware of what the consequences would be of any cuts that are made.”

Kiblinger’s husband, Bob, is currently a high school math teacher in Pretty Prairie. Kiblinger said that should she be picked for the superintendent position, her husband would look for a job in a neighboring district.

“It’s just too much of a conflict of interest I think to have your spouse work in the district when you’re the superintendent,” she said. “It just makes things a whole lot simpler not to do that.”

Kiblinger said her first goal as superintendent would be to establish relationships with people in the district and the community, as well as get a better sense of how the district and community interact.

“(To) get a sense of how Lawrence operates as a larger community, my first goal is build relationships with the people that I’m going to be interacting with on a regular basis,” she said.

Beyond establishing relationships, Kiblinger said she would work toward the board’s current goals. Each year the board adopts goals and several steps toward achieving them. The board’s goals include six broad areas of improvement, such as raising the achievement of all students, enhancing student wellness and improving district facilities.

“The board has some really good goals that it has already established,” she said. “My next goal after that is going to be to work with the administrative team and faculty to bring those goals to fruition.”