The Duluth School Board gave the go-ahead Wednesday for the district to seek an outside firm to handle the search for a new superintendent.

Duluth school district human resource manager Tim Sworsky presented the School Board with information on the last superintendent search the district, which began in 2010 and concluded in 2011.

According to Sworsky, the district sent out a request for proposal for an outside firm in 2010 and received a number of proposals back. He said the School Board was presented with five firms to choose from which had base prices plus expenses.

“They had different ways of saying what their expenses were and what’s included,” Sworsky said. “The services were pretty consistent with what everybody offered.”

Sworsky said the bids were all around $19,000 in 2010. The district ended up spending about $23,600 in total for the search in 2010, he said.

District CFO Cathy Erickson said the district has budgeted $25,000 for the superintendent search, though there are some other budgets that could be available to subsidize the cost if needed.

Board members who attended the human resource committee meeting Wednesday was in agreement that going with an outside firm would be best for the district.

“I think that we are all in agreement that we want a thoughtful and thorough process,” said board chair Rosie Loeffler-Kemp said. “I think we heard loud and clear from (the Minnesota School Board Association) that it’s going to take a lot of time no matter what process we decide to go through. Certainly having a person who does this for a living would help us.”

The Minnesota School Board Association told Duluth School Board members last month during a training workshop that district the size of Duluth typically goes with an outside firm for a superintendent search and the Minnesota School Board Association recommends it even though it could cost substantial money.

Current superintendent Bill Gronseth, whose contract ends June 2020, also said going with an outside firm would be the best way to handle the search.

“Internally, I can tell you that our human resource office is extremely busy and I don’t know that we have the capacity to handle this kind of process,” Gronseth said. “You just have a much higher level of thoroughness when you go with an outside company.”

Sworsky said the district’s human resources department still works as a conduit between the firm and the school district for such things as setting up community meetings and scheduling special board meetings.

Loeffler-Kemp said the district expects to have proposals from outside firms brought to the School Board for discussion by the end of September before a vote can be made.