Superintendent Candidate Interviews: Meet Catherine Cost

, assistant superintendent of Instructional Services for Farmington Public Schools.

About 20 people, including parents and district administrators, were in the board of education meeting room Monday night to listen to three candidate interviews for the Royal Oak Schools superintendent position.

Why did you apply?

Cost, 45, said this has been a very challenging experience for her because she loves her current role, but she’s noticed there is a greater calling. And even though she interacts with 12,000 students right now, she believes she could make a bigger difference as a superintendent. She said she has also been very selective in the openings she has applied for in Oakland County. “I believe Royal Oak is a good fit for me,” she said. Cost said she is a former 15-year resident of Royal Oak and would love to take Superintendent Thomas Moline’s work and move it forward, continuing the progress.

Budget process

Cost said she has been a part of designing some budgets that went well and some that have gone not so well. What she learned is to always involve stakeholders. Cost said she had a hand in developing a “proactive budget model.” She said the model included developing a five-year target, listing priorities from five years out, so when news came from the state that wasn’t good, stakeholders knew exactly where they stood.

Collective bargaining

Cost said she has been in about 2 1/2 collective bargaining experiences. In her first two sessions, Cost said, it was a balance between some very, very tenuous passionate matters, and some that weren’t as crucial. “In the second experience it was just challenging,” she said. Cost said her current role is supporting her district’s human resources director, talking with the board and listening and supporting the superintendent.

Promoting student achievement

Cost said student achievement is what we have to be doing and there can be no compromise on that. In Farmington, the district has created an instructional vision, promoting student achievement, Cost said, and that  by next June, everyone will know what the definition of student achievement is – from bus driver to lunch aides to instructors.

Experience eliminating a program

In her tenure, Cost experienced the elimination of the Reading Recovery Program for first-grade students, which she said was wonderful program, but was no longer cost-effective. Cost said the district was able to demonstrate it had a more comprehensive plan, including one for kindergarten through fifth grade that was more cost-effective. Cost said getting the community behind the new literacy model was key.

How do you define a well-rounded student?

Cost said her definition of a well-rounded student would not only include academic means of demonstrating what he or she knows, but also emotional, social and physical development. “Well-rounded to me is all of those aspects,” she said. Cost said a person is well-rounded who can develop relationships, work collaboratively with others, take a risk, be empathetic, and build relationships.

Supporting building administrators and teachers

Cost said she would be supportive by being accessible, visible and available to listen. Cost said she thinks the further an administrator gets from the classroom, the harder it is to get the finger on the pulse. Cost said building administrators and teachers need open communication and trust.

Drawing in nonschool community members

Fine arts events like plays and concerts are a good way to bring the community into the school, Cost said. She also likes having community involvement through committees. “We try to invite voices from the community we may not hear,” she said, adding it means reaching out and making participants feel welcome, including families that don’t have kids and families that don’t speak English.

How would you spend your first 100 days on the job?

Cost looks at the job as starting before July because she would want to be in the community as soon as appropriately possible. Cost said she would talk with Superintendent Thomas Moline, meet with board members, get into the schools, meet parent organizations and create an open-door policy for parents or other community members. Cost said she would like to see where the final budget numbers fall, how the board’s decisions can be supported and how she can help.

Tomorrow's interviews:

• 6:15 p.m.: , superintendent of schools, Manchester Community School District.
• 7:45 p.m.: , superintendent of New Lothrop Area Public Schools.

The final round of interviews are scheduled for April 20 and 21 at the Royal Oak board of education office.

Members of the school community who have a question they would like addressed during the interview process are invited to fill out a comment card at the meetings this week.