Dear Responsive Arts & STEAM Academy FNE Community,
We hope this letter finds you well. The purpose of this letter is to provide an update on the principal selection process at RASA. We are incredibly grateful to Mrs. Merida Fraguada for agreeing to serve as our Principal in Charge for the remainder of the 2024-2025 school year. Principal Fraguada is committed to continuing her level of service throughout the principal selection process and onboarding the newly selected leader. We are writing to explain how we will proceed with finding the long-term principal of RASA.
Over the years, we were able to implement some new processes in the principal selection process to make the process overall more engaging, accessible, and increase opportunities for the school community to engage with the candidates. These additional processes are grounded in the following guiding principles:
Additional opportunities for a wide variety of stakeholder feedback and engage in the selection process
Partnering with our district’s Communications department to continue to offer translation and
interpretation services for stakeholders from multiple language backgrounds
Equitable access for school communities despite personal circumstances of time and transportation
In conclusion, we will be following the revised steps for the principal search process in alignment with the guiding principles. The process will include the following:
Stakeholder surveys (including students, school staff, families, Collaborative School Committee (CSC), and community members to build a candidate profile with ideal principal characteristics
Collaborative Director will virtually meet with the school’s CSC to continue to build the principal candidate profile and confirm questions for the CSC interviews
Using the principal profiles, the Office of Schools and district leaders will pre-screen applicants and interview the top qualified candidates
Virtual, live community forum for the final candidates to share their vision for the school and address questions generated by stakeholder groups
Instructional task with the Office of Schools leaders
In-person Meet & Greet event with the final candidates
Stakeholder surveys and email opportunities to provide feedback on the final candidates
Superintendent review of stakeholder feedback and final interview with the final candidates before a final decision by the superintendent is made.
We deeply value the voices of all stakeholders in the school community. To continue to honor this approach, we invite students, staff, families, CSC, and community members to complete the Principal Hiring Community Input survey below to list characteristics they would like to see in the long-term principal. Please complete this survey by Monday, February 3, 2025 by these methods below:
Complete the Community Input Survey (English/Spanish): Google Form Link
Email your completed PDF form below by Monday, February 10, 2025 to Brittany Barela at
Drop off the completed PDF form sent home with your student to the RASA main office.
This letter is the tentative timeline of the community involvement steps of the process. We will also engage in rigorous reference and data collection on the final candidates.
Thank you for your support as we work together during this transitional period.
Sincerely,
Dr. Christian Sawyer
Director, Elementary Collaborative 7
Wayman White
Operational Services Director