• Recruiters hiring for senior-level positions must have keen judgment when interviewing candidates.
• An effective, streamlined interview process can help save a company time and money.
• Experts shared seven crucial questions hiring leaders should ask — and their ideal answers.
• This article is part of "Talent Insider," a series containing expert advice to help business owners tackle a variety of hiring challenges.

For hiring leaders at enterprise companies, asking the right interview questions is essential for successful recruiting.

An article from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania suggests the average hiring process lasts about a month, while for senior-level roles that timeline can extend to several months. Companies hiring top talent have estimated they spend three or four times a candidate's salary during the recruiting process. Having a streamlined process — especially for senior roles — can save companies time and money.

Four human-resources and business leaders shared some important interview questions to ask candidates vying for a senior-level position — and the most telling responses.

Asking the right interview questions is crucial

Candidates interviewing for senior roles may go through several rounds of interviews, which can take weeks or even months. Leigh Anne Wauford, the senior director of talent management at the marketing service PureRed, advised using scenario-based questions and establishing consistent tools for feedback.

"Trying to find efficiencies in the process while simultaneously bringing in the most qualified candidates has proven to be a juggling act," she said. "Some strategies to consider include increasing HR training on how to use more behavioral-based interview questions and implementing an interview guide and an evaluation scorecard."

Effective interview questions can also identify hard and soft skills and determine whether the candidate would add to the company's culture.

"Focusing too much on a checklist of achievements and technical skills rather than evaluating the candidate as a fully formed person is a major — and frequent — error," said Marc Cenedella, the founder of Leet Resumes, a résumé-assistance platform, and Ladders, a recruiting service. "Large businesses need to dig deeper than the résumé to determine specifically how this candidate has helped other organizations in the past and how those results could translate to their own company."

The interview questions should align with the hiring profile, which may need to be tweaked after a role has been vacated.

"The best advice for HR leaders at large companies is to stay completely current on your business strategy to ensure alignment between the strategy and the open roles," said Melanie Steinbach, the chief people officer of MasterClass. "Check in often with hiring managers to make sure that the original job specification is still relevant and make sure you are asking questions that line up with the business strategy."

7 effective interview questions

1. What interests you in the company?

"This is a fundamental question," Steinbach said, "but if a candidate doesn't know anything about the company they're interviewing with, that's a red flag."

Honesty is the best policy. If a candidate admits they don't know much about the company but mentions they've heard others speak highly of it and are eager to learn more, that's "a green flag," Steinbach said.

2. At this stage in your career, what are you looking for in your next opportunity? How does this role and the company culture align with your expectations?

"If they say they expect to be promoted within the next eight to 12 months and you know that your organization doesn't offer career planning or succession planning and that the person in the next-level role isn't planning to go anywhere anytime soon, the candidate's response would indicate that they might not be a good fit for the role," Wauford said.

"Green-flag responses are those that align with your company expectations of the role or what their direct supervisor expects."

3. Tell me about a time when you disagreed with a colleague and how you resolved the issue.

"This prompt provides information about the candidate's conflict-resolution skills and their ability to take accountability for any part they may have played in a problem," Cenedella said.

"When a candidate blames other people for conflict or project failures rather than taking accountability for the role they played in the situation, that's a big red flag. It can also be a red flag if they say they've never had any conflict. That either demonstrates dishonesty or passiveness."

4. Describe a specific example of how your work impacted your company's bottom line.

"When a candidate can't articulate the value they would bring to your business specifically, or if they don't understand the basic information about what your business does and who it serves, that's a big red flag," Cenedella said.

"A green flag is when a candidate can provide concrete, numbers-based examples of their prior experience and how they could do something similar at your company," Cenedella added. "Good candidates should understand your company and have a vision about where they would fit into it."

Steinbach also uses this prompt to gauge a candidate's collaborative and problem-solving abilities.

"I look to hear about their past work examples that correlate to the scenario and 'we' versus 'I' statements," Steinbach said. "Anyone who is too 'I' focused seems less open to collaboration, which can be a potential red flag, whereas those using a mix of 'we' and 'I' show they're collaborative and able to take accountability, which can be a potential green flag."

5. What attributes does your ideal manager possess?

"Recruiters should ensure that the candidate's response to this question closely represents the company's culture," said Maurice Wiggins, the head of global diversity, equity, and inclusion at Google. "If the candidate's responses align with current company leadership, companies will likely retain the employee over time based on the culture fit, which is critical to retention and reducing employee turnover."

6. What assistance do you typically receive from others you work alongside? How integral is having support and a shared workload to your success?

"If your organization runs very lean and employees must wear many hats, someone who is used to having multiple players that are responsible for a key part of the workload may not thrive in your company culture," Wauford said.

"What's most important during the hiring process is that there is clear communication about the needs and responsibilities of the role and how that role impacts the productivity of the team."

7. Do you have any questions?

"I also always leave time at the end of an interview for the candidate to ask questions, and I appreciate people who have put in thought and effort and ask questions beyond 'Tell me about your culture' or something else that's a bit generic," Steinbach said.

"A candidate can ask about the culture but do so in a way that shows effort, such as 'I saw on your LinkedIn page that your company did X, tell me more about that,' or something that shows they care about the company."

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Frequently Asked Questions

Mark Pestronk

In last week's Legal Briefs column, I covered the first steps for any travel agency owner who wants to sell their agency and retire. This week, we continue with a bunch of follow-up questions.

Q: Is my agency worth less or less likely to sell at a good price if we are home-based instead of having a real office?

A: No. Prospective buyers do not value a home-based agency less than a brick-and-mortar one. Indeed, the opposite may be true, because the absence of rent expense increases your profits, and, as you already know, your agency's value is largely dependent on its exact profits.

Q: When you say, "dependent on your exact profits," do you mean that the purchase price depends on the agency's profits after the acquisition?

A: No. Very few purchase prices are set as percentages of profits after the sale. I generally advise sellers against such a formula, because the buyer will be in control of the agency's expenses and can therefore lower profits by increasing expenses.

Q: In that case, do most acquisitions have fixed purchases prices, such as so much down, so much each month or year?

A: No. Very few have fixed prices, and even fewer have fixed prices paid at all at the closing. Most selling prices are mainly earnouts, i.e., a price that is paid as a percentage of post-closing revenue (commissions and fees) for a year or more.

Q: When you say, "a year or more," what is the typical term of an earnout?

A: You have to distinguish between the period to which the earnout applies, on the one hand, and the payment term, on the other hand. For example, the price could be set at 60% of the agency's revenue during the first year after closing, but it could be paid in installments over two or three years. However, most of the time, earnouts cover two or three years' revenue paid over the same period.

Q: Do most buyers buy the corporate stock (or LLC equity) of the owner, or do they buy the assets of the agency?

A: The vast majority of acquisitions are asset purchases, not stock purchases. Buyers generally get to dictate the form of the acquisition, and sellers generally go along. The main attraction for buyers is that asset purchases don't automatically assume all of the selling entity's liabilities, like they do for stock purchases. The second reason is that asset buyers get tax deductions when they depreciate assets, but stock buyers get no deductions.

Q: How much are the legal fees that sellers typically pay their attorneys?

A: For the simplest acquisitions, legal fees should not exceed a few thousand dollars. As the terms become more complex, legal fees can add up to $25,000 or more, especially if the buyer is represented by a large law firm.

My final advice this week: Remember that what is typical is not necessarily what your deal should or will be, so don't be discouraged by my generalizations. 

Q: Who is allowed to submit or enter final grades?

A: Final grades must be entered or submitted online via myPurdue Faculty Self Service or BrightSpace by the instructor of record for that course.

Q: How do you know that you're an instructor of record?

A: Log into myPurdue and look in the My Course channel from the Faculty tab. If you have access to course lists, you will see your course offerings. If all do not appear, select the more link under your visible courses.

Q: What if I make a mistake or need to change a student’s final grade after I have submitted it?

A: Grades can be resubmitted through myPurdue or BrightSpace as often as you need up to the deadline. Corrections after that will require a Form 350 or a change submitted using the Grade Change Workflow in myPurdue.

Q: I keep getting the same final grade roster when I click Final Grade entry.

A: Scroll to the bottom of your final grade page and look for the link called "CRN Selection". Click on it and a drop down for all the courses you are faculty of record will display. Click on the arrow for a full list. Select your next CRN, then hit Submit.

Q: When can students see grades in Banner/myPurdue?

A: Students will be able to view grades after they have been rolled to academic history. That process should be complete by 8:00 a.m. the morning after the grade entry deadline.

Q: Can grades be printed?

A: To print a copy of grades for your records, click on "download course roster" from your final grade page.

Q: How can grades be viewed after grades have been rolled to history?

A: Faculty may view their grade rosters again after the deadline has passed and all end of term processing has completed in myPurdue. This is typically by 8:00 a.m. the following day. Grade reports are available using Cognos – Public Folders-Validate-Grades through the schedule deputy in each department for faculty.

Q: What if I have a Pass or No-Pass class?

A: A grade of Pass (P) or No-Pass (N) may be used if the course was originally set up with that grading criteria. If you are assigning an incomplete grade for a Pass or No-Pass class, the grade of PI should be given. If you are pushing grades from BrightSpace, the letter grade you push will automatically convert to a P or N based on the rules in university regulations.

Q: How do I handle regular incomplete grades?

A: Incomplete grades are assigned when a student has attended class, but has not completed work and has been allowed time to do so. As before, a Registrar Form 60 must completed for each student with an Incomplete or (I) grade submitted..

Incompletes are not to be used for students who never attended class and are still on the class roster. Failure to complete the class or turn in passing coursework is noted as an (F).

Q: How do I know if I should assign an "F" grade or an "FN" grade?

A: A grade of F (Failing) is awarded to students who complete the course and participate in activities through the end of the term but fail to achieve the course objectives. A grade of FN (Failing/Non-authorized Incomplete) is awarded to students who did not officially withdraw from the course, but who failed to participate in course activities through the end of the term. The FN grade is to be used when, in the opinion of the instructor, completed assignments or course activities or both were insufficient to make normal evaluation of academic performance possible. Note that once the FN grade is entered, the instructor is required to indicate the date the student last participated in course activity at an academically related activity, i.e., the last date the student completed an exam, quiz, assignment, paper, project, or attended class (if attendance was taken).

When you get to a second interview, you’re in a positive position to make an impact and secure the job you want. It’s evidence that you’ve passed the first hurdles for the role and the organization sees potential in you. But while it’s cause for celebration, it’s also cause for continued effort, intention and determination.

It’s a tight job market and there is plenty of competition—so your ability to demonstrate your commitment, current skills and future growth will be essential to setting yourself apart and putting yourself ahead of other candidates for the role.

What A Second Interview (Really) Means

When you get a second interview, it means the company sees something in you that they find interesting and see you as a possible match to the job and their culture. It’s an indicator you’re being seriously considered—so you’ll want to make the most of it.

Depending on the job, the second interview could be the final stage of the process, but you’re wise to keep your expectations realistic since there could also be additional rounds of interviews. For any job, there are significant numbers of applicants, so the interviewing process is designed to obtain increasing amounts of information and be increasingly selective—narrowing toward the most ideal person for the job and the organization.

As the pool of candidates is reduced, the number of people you meet with will typically increase. You’re likely to be interviewed by team members and senior leaders as well as HR and your hiring manager. And second interviews are usually longer. They can range in length from an hour to even a full day—as the company seeks to learn as much as they can about you from multiple perspectives.

In the second interview, you’ll be asked to respond to more specific questions which go deeper, are more specific and which are typically tougher.

The bottom line: You’ll have the opportunity to shine with a variety of interviewers, and the process will increasingly seek to dig into who you are and what you’re able to contribute to the organization. You’ll want to research, prepare and plan for the process in order to demonstrate your best.

This is what you’ll likely be asked—and how to respond.

Your Interest in the Role and the Company

You will certainly be asked more about what interests you about the role and the company. Interviewers may ask you questions like these.

• What interests you about this role and about this company?
• Why do you think this role is a good match to your skills?
• Tell me more about what draws you to this job.

You’ll want to be specific about elements of the job that match your skills as well as aspects of the company that attract you—especially based on what you’ve learned in the process so far. Be sure to balance your enthusiasm for the role and the organization. If you overemphasize the company over the job, the hiring leader may be concerned you just want to get your foot in the door of the organization and lack commitment to the job itself.

You’ll also be wise to demonstrate the research you’ve done on the position and the employer, but balance it with an understanding that you will have more to learn. If you come across as presumptuous in what you know about the job or the company, that can be a turn off.

Your Strengths, Weaknesses and Impacts

You’ll also be asked about yourself—in multiple ways. The interviewers will be seeking to learn about your strengths, weaknesses and the impacts you’ve had. Examples of interview questions include:

• In which parts of your last job did you excel? Which were challenging for you?
• What did you enjoy more or less in your last job and why?
• Tell me about a time when you failed or struggled and how you handled it?
• What is your greatest weakness?
• What have you done to impact or Improve your previous job or company?
• Tell me about an achievement you’re most proud of.

You’ll want to answer these questions with plenty of detail and examples of your impacts, rather than generalities about your skills. This is the time to provide specifics about what you encountered, how you handled things and the outcomes. Interviewers will be looking for details and they’ll be turned off if you are too superficial in your answers.

Your Relationships

Companies are also especially interested in learning about how you interact with others. They may ask questions like the following.

• What actions have you taken to build and maintain strong relationships with team members and others in your organization?
• Tell me about a time you had a conflict or difficult situation with a co-worker and how you handled it?
• Can you provide examples of your communication skills or interpersonal skills?
• What role do you typically take on a team?

In this case, be sure to talk about how you build and maintain relationships. Employers won’t be looking for perfection in your work relationships or sailing that is always smooth, but they’ll want to hear about how you worked through disagreements constructively or handled differences of opinions for positive project outcomes.

Be sure to share information about how you work on a team, the ways you collaborate successfully and the constructive influence you have on others.

Your Judgement

At this stage, you’ll likely also get questions about your judgement. You may be asked:

• Tell me about a time when you were asked to do something you considered to be wrong or unethical and how you handled it.
• Tell me about a time when you had to make an especially tough decision and how you handled it.

Here, you’ll want to share examples that show your integrity as well as your ability to reflect, consider and take the best action in a situation. You’ll also need to talk about the impact of your actions and choices.

Your Expectations

Another line of questioning in a second interview is typically related to what you want and need from the experience. Interviewers may ask questions like these.

• What is your preferred salary?
• In what ways do you work best (alone, with others, etc.)?
• What is your preferred working model (remote, hybrid, in the office)?
• What aspects of the organization culture are most important to you?
• In which kinds of cultures are you most likely to thrive?
• What do you need from a leader to be successful?

Obviously, you’ll want to tailor your responses to your preferences, but also to what the job offers. If you expect a salary that is much higher than what the job offers or you expect to work remotely from an island paradise when the job is onsite, the employer won’t see a match—so be sure you’re realistic about your expectations and that you balance your desires with the options the job provides.

Also be authentic and clear about what you need from a culture and a leader. When people are happiest in jobs and companies, it’s typically because there is a good match between what’s most important and what the organization offers—so being real about your needs puts you in the best position to land something that will satisfy you.

Your Previous Organization

You may also receive questions which seek your opinions on your last company or job. Be careful in answering these questions, ensuring you’re constructive and diplomatic in your answers. Interviewers will be turned off if you disparage a previous employer or job.

Your Future Potential

Interviewers will also ask you questions to determine how you’ll contribute immediately and to determine your future potential with the organization. They may ask:

• In what ways would you plan to establish yourself and your credibility during your first 6 months on the job?
• What are your career goals?
• Where do you see yourself in three years?
• What motivates you?

For these questions, you’ll want to share specific ways you plan to hit the ground running—how you’ll ask questions, seek learning, build relationships and make contributions—based on what you know about the job and the company. And you’ll want to share your interest in contributing to the company over time, demonstrating your enthusiasm for today’s role and your future growth.

Here, you’ll want to balance your answers as well—showing you’re interested in the current role and also that you’ve given thought to your future, your goals and your desire for growth.

Prepare to Succeed

Overall, your preparation for a second interview should be as much or even greater than for your first interview. Research the job and the company, and learn as much as you can about who will be interviewing you.

Be ready with examples, stories, specifics and the themes that you want to emphasize. Consider what the organization wants in a candidate, and prepare your content with that lens in mind—talking about aspects of your experience which is most relevant to this particular role.

And prepare questions as well—since these will send a message about your priorities, interests and commitment.

Be Confident and Authentic

Also be confident as well as authentic. You are more likely to be evaluated more positively when you’re self-assured and demonstrate you’re capable. Candidates who spoke more—and more quickly—and who gestured more and complimented others, were perceived as more confident. As a result they tended to be rated more highly by interviewers, based on research from the University of Nebraska.

At the same time you’re confident, also be yourself. Interviewers will be more likely to evaluate you positively when you’re both honest and authentic. If you’re overly polished, they may perceive you as inauthentic or misrepresenting yourself and rate you more negatively, according to research published in the Journal of Applied Psychology.

Embrace the Future

With the strong job market, your opportunities are both plentiful and positive—so prepare yourself thoroughly and put your best foot forward through your second interview and throughout the selection process.

We are in standardized test season, and all across the country, students are taking the Big Standardized Test by which they, their schools, and their teachers will be judged. How absurd are these tests? Meet Sara Holbrook, the writer who couldn't answer test questions about her own work.

Back in 2017, Holbrook wrote an essay for Huffington Post entitled, "I Can't Answer These Texas Standardized Test Questions About My Own Poems." The writer had discovered that two of her poems were part of the Texas STAAR state assessment tests, and she was a bit startled to discover that she was unable to answer some of the questions.

One reason was simple inaccuracy. One question asked why the poet had inserted a stanza break in a particular spot-- and then didn't insert a stanza break in the testing materials. But there was a second issue. Holbrook is a performance poet, and she had inserted the break at the point where, in live readings, she pauses. That choice was not one of the choices available on the test.

In fact, much of Holbrook's issue with the questions was a sort of existential dilemma. Several questions asked, directly or indirectly, for the test taker to judge the author's intentions. The author knew some of her intentions, sort of remembered others, and had others that were layered and complex. But the manufacturers of the test--who had never asked her about any of this--provided only four choices that did not allow her to choose the answer that she knew to be correct.

Now, it's possible that Holbrook is such an angsty, tortured soul of a poet that she simply does not know her own mind as well as the test manufacturers. But Holbrook does not fit the stereotypical faux image of a poet as a fuzzy-headed artiste. She has held writing jobs in the real world, such as Director of Communications for legal giant Jones Dayand Public Information Officer for the public housing authority in Cleveland. She knows what it takes to succeed as a business writer, and she says, "the questions on these tests are not it." She works as an educator and consultant, bringing writing and performance skills into the classroom. Rather than conclude that she does not know her own work, we should instead conclude that the test designers write bad questions. Or as Holbrook herself puts it, "Anytime we ask questions about author intent, we have stepped off the pedagogical sidewalk and into muck."

I reached out to Holbrook recently because the same thing happened to her again. This time a poem of hers was included in a test prep package from Mentoring Minds, LP. The poem itself is called "Walking on the Boundaries of Change," from the book Walking on the Boundaries of Change, Boyds Mills Press, 1998. (Mentoring Minds LP is a Texas corporation, and the previous two poems included in the STAAR test are from the same book, so perhaps Holbrook has some Texas fans who are passing around one copy of her work.) The poem is printed here with the author's permission:

Walking on the Boundaries of Change

Day by day

a tightrope,

walking on the boundaries

of change.

One step --

firm, familiar,

the next step --

shaky, strange.

Some friends

will dare danger,

mock or push each step.

Some friends

knock your confidence.

Real friends

form a net.

It's a simple, sharp moment that captures an emotional picture in some simple images. It's hard to imagine dissecting this with test questions without beating some of the life out of it. Yet Mentoring Minds LD has come up with eight questions.

I cannot reproduce any of the eight questions accompanying the poem here, because the materials include a robust copyright notice that includes phrases such as "maximum extent of the law." But once again, the questions turn on the issue of word choice, central message, and which part of the poem does things "best," all of which hinge on the test taker's interpretation of the poet's intent. And all are multiple choice questions with four possible answers, the kind of test structure that, Holbrook says, causes "students to grow up believing the right interpretation of anything is out there on the internet, and to discredit their own thoughts."

Holbrook, as a poet and an educator, has several thoughts about remedies to these sorts of tests. "Parents, demand to see the test prep materials. Teachers, don't waste time on test prep: you can't teach nonsense. Administrators, take the money you are spending on test prep and spend it on classroom libraries instead. There are no quick fixes. Kids need to read and write voluminously." She advocates for transparency. "If a bike helmet fails to protect a child from injury, consumers can sue the manufacturer. These tests are injurious, but shrouded in secrecy and thereby beyond the reach of most teachers and all parents."

To approach any poem with the notion that each word has one and only one correct memorizing when language at its most rich involves shades and layers or meaning--what my old college writing professor called "the ambiguity that enriches"--is one way to stifle thinking in students. In many states, we are doing it in grades K through 12.

There are so many layers to Holbrook's situation. The test manufacturers could have contacted her and talked to her about her poem (though Common Core architect David Coleman would argue that doing so was both unnecessary and undesirable), but they didn't. So here we sit, in a bizarre universe where the test writer knows the "correct" answer for a question about a poem, but the person who wrote the poem does not. And at least Holbrook has the option of publicly saying, "Hey, wait a minute," which is more than the deceased authors used for testing can do. But she was only able to do so because somebody risked punishment by sharing test materials with her. Particularly ironic is Mentoring Minds' promise to build critical thinking skills in students, even as Holbrook, by taking reading, writing and speaking out to students in living, breathing, dynamic workshops, is doing far more to promote critical thinking than can be accomplished by challenging students to guess which one of four available answers an unseen test writer has deemed "correct."

Q. I am a pretty serious DIY mechanic who is thinking of moving to auto repair as a full-time job. I have seen you mention Harbor Freight tools in your column. When I am in a shop/dealership I see Snap-On and other big toolboxes and wonder how Harbor Freight hand tools and boxes stack up.

A. Snap-On tools are great, but unfortunately some entry technicians get financially over extended and end up paying $100 a week or more to the tool truck for the rest of their lives. Expensive tools do not make a good technician, and do not buy tools to show off, buy tools to do the job. You can buy different levels of professionals tool boxes, hand tools at Harbor Freight that can provide you years of service. Also look for used tools. On of my co-worker’s dad shut down his shop and was selling his tools, boxes and more. I would have guessed about $10,000 worth of tools. He sold them for $2500. This was a great deal for both the experienced technician and someone getting into the business. There is a YouTuber, the Humble Mechanic and he put out a video about putting together a good starter tool set for $2500. It is worth watching. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1sJsCKAJew

Q. I went in for a routine oil and rotation, the mechanic at my dealer suggested a fuel injector cleaning for $200. I own a 2019 Forester with 25,500 miles. He said they normally do it at 40,000 miles but figured I do short drives, might be wise. I typically drive one or two days per week and usually short and quick stops with maybe one long drive per week. Would you say wait? How could one know if this service is truly needed (gas mileage has not changed nor has how the car drives). And would you do it at a dealer or independent shop?

A. Fuel injector cleaning cannot hurt but may not be necessary. Although the dealer may recommend it, I have never seen Subaru corporate recommend it as a preventative measure. You are better off using quality fuel (www.toptiergas.com) and if you are still concerned add a bottle of fuel injector cleaner once or twice per year.

Q. My car handles worse and bounces more after I had installed new struts. What could be wrong?

A. Since it is worse now, I would want to recheck the work, you could have a defective strut. Also, the wheel alignment may not have been corrected after the repair. New struts should have given you a more controlled ride, with less bounce. When performing the repair hopefully the shop checked the top bearing and springs to make sure they were in good shape before installing the new struts. Many shops also use complete strut assemblies that include the springs and bearings which make for a complete repair. If this was the case, it is even possible the struts were not the proper part for your car.

Q. So, if you had a choice would you buy a Honda Civic R, Subaru WRX, Volkswagen Golf R or Hyundai Elantra N? I am looking for something small, quick, and stylish.

A. I have not driven a Volkswagen product in years, based on past experiences the Golf R was the most mature choice of these cars. The Civic R which I just evaluated, handled great, the engine was fun to run up to the “redline” the brakes were as good as the engine. The Subaru WRX, like the Golf R, has the advantage of all-wheel drive. The Hyundai Elantra N is down on power compared to some of the competitors but still performs quite well. They are all great cars, for me, the Civic R as good as it was geared to a younger driver. I feel I am too old to drive a car with a big spoiler on the rear deck. So, If I had to pick based on cars, I have evaluated the Elantra N would be my choice.

Q. Several weeks ago, my 17-year-old son, using his own money purchased a car for $4500. The car, an Audi A 4 seemed to be a good deal, but he then returned to the same seller, because it had a bad vibration. The second car, this time a BMW, turned out to have a fraudulent title as well as an odometer that had been turned back. We discovered this through a Carfax report. I was informed by both my son and his best friend that they attempted to get even some of their money back and return the car, but the seller refused. Now the seller will not even take his calls. Do you have any suggestions as to how we might proceed to rectify this issue/problem?

A. The first thing that needs to be determined is if the seller was a legitimate car dealer or someone who just buys and sells cars without a license. The seller may be someone who just “jumps” titles selling a car they purchased without re-titling it in their name. Depending on where you live, state agencies rarely get involved in private party sales. If they are a legitimate car dealer you may be able to get some help through a dealer organization or the Attorney General in your state. Odometer and title fraud are subject to both state and federal laws and can carry serious fines. At this point you may need to contact an attorney that specializes in automobile fraud.

Got a car question, email the Car Doctor for a personal reply. jpaul@aaanortheast.com

TOWAMENCIN — The date for a decision on renovations to North Penn High School is fast approaching, and district officials are trying to answer as many questions as possible beforehand.

Staff held an informational forum on Tuesday night, answering resident questions about the planned renovations, while offering tours of the current school to show why those renovations are needed.

“The objective tonight is to clearly define the project, clearly define what’s at stake on January 16th, and outline what a yes versus a no is,” said Superintendent Todd Bauer, referring a scheduled voter referendum.

The planned referendum

In October the board authorized a voter referendum, to be held on Jan. 16, 2024, asking for taxpayer approval to exceed the state Act 1 index of a tax increase permitted each year to fund the borrowing of $97 million in debt needed to move ninth graders from the district’s three middle schools to the high school.

If the referendum passes, a $403 million renovation would add classroom space for 1,000 ninth graders to move to the high school complex, and if the referendum fails, district officials have proposed a $236 million renovation meant to update the utilities through the school, but with minimal expansion.

Throughout the year, district officials have made the case to the school board and public for a major renovation to the current high school, which currently holds roughly 3,000 students, and parts of which date back to the early 1970s.

On Tuesday night, Bauer led a team of administrators and consultants in a public community forum, offering tours of the high school to “well over 200 people,” then presenting plans and fielding questions from half again that many members of the public. Citing studies and presentations posted on the district’s “Reimagine NPHS” website, Bauer outlined the talks that began in 2018 on the need for repairs and upgrades to the high school’s utilities, after similar renovations of the high school’s Crawford Stadium and of Knapp Elementary School in Lansdale.

“We are now on the precipice of determining what direction are we going to take, moving forward,” Bauer said.

The 9th grade question

As the meeting was livestreamed on the district’s Facebook page and NPTV channel, the superintendent detailed how North Penn is the only high school in Montgomery and Bucks counties that does not have ninth grade on their high school campus, and showed a list of student sports, clubs and academic offerings that ninth graders currently can’t take or enroll in because they’re at the district’s three middle schools. In 2022 the district surveyed all ninth graders, and 13 percent start their day at the high school, then travel to their own middle school, but “64 percent said they would have, if they were here with their peers,” he said.

A exact study from Yale University examined the impact on student learning of 15,000 similar voter referenda to approve school expansion projects, and that study showed a statistically significant improvement in student test scores, and on property values in those districts, he said.

“They then disaggregated what type of upgrades, and how much did property values increase in that community? And the variation, depending on these types of upgrades, was a 12 percent (increase) due to expansion of classroom spaces, and a 26 percent impact on home values for athletic facility improvements,” he said.

Old and outdated

He detailed how the original high school building was completed in 1971 and has not been renovated since, aside from an expansion to add K-Pod at the school’s entrance in the late 1990s, and showed a list of dozens of courses and sports teams not offered five decades ago.

“No longer is it an industrial age, where students are learning in an assembly line, where they’re all facing the same direction, they’re receiving information, and then they regurgitate it back on a test. That’s not what learning is supposed to look like, in 2023 and beyond. It’s supposed to be participatory, it’s supposed to be collaborative, critical thinking, problem solving, group work,” he said.

He showed an NPTV video looking back on the 1970s construction of the original school, the 1990s expansion, and the meetings in 2018 and 2019 where those talks began, followed by community engagement meetings held over the past year to get feedback from students, staff, and residents. Architect David Schrader showed the site plans and renderings first unveiled in September, depicting how the school’s current spaces would be reshaped, hallways widened, and circular J-Pod converted into a common area linked to STEAM learning, performance art, academic and athletic sections of the school.

If the referendum fails, the architect said, “the building stays essentially as it is. It does have a small music addition, but what happens inside is it gets fully gutted, and fully renovated, so it has all new finishes, and all new building systems. We are not reconfiguring the building in the ‘No’ vote, so the same spaces will be set up in the same ways that they currently are.”

If the referendum passes, a new addition on the south side of the school would replace the current J-Pod, with a new competition-size gym, a commons area connecting to a “Main Street” thoroughfare, widened to add space for students to pass each other, and opened to allow more daylight throughout.

“The idea behind Main Street is to take all of the current circulation points that run back and forth in the building, as well as what is currently the main office area, and take that down to essentially the structure,” Schrader said, showing videos of the current school hallways, some 12 feet wide and some as narrow as seven feet, superimposed below renderings of much wider concourses in a renovated school.

Voter approval of the referendum would also include a new through driveway connecting Sumneytown Pike at the south end of the campus with Snyder Road at the north end, with new parking near Crawford and a bus loop separate from student and parent drop-off areas. Bauer then detailed the differences between a yes or no vote on the referendum, and how a vote to move ninth grade to NPHS could lead to talks on the future of the district’s three middle schools.

Middle school questions

“There’s questions about what happens with sixth grade. There’s questions about what happens with the three middle schools themselves. Do we need all three? Maybe two of those could be (grades) seven and eight. All three buildings need renovations,” Bauer said.

After CFO Steve Skrocki outlined the financial impact to taxpayers, several district staff took questions from the in-person audience and submitted online. Regarding the timeline, Bauer told the audience that if the referendum passes, the new addition could be open to students as soon as the 2027 academic year.

“The last thing to happen is ninth grade would move to the high school, because you’re utilizing that addition all throughout the project. Once the project’s all done, then ninth graders come (to the high school) — that is this year’s second grade class. They would be ninth graders seven years from now,” Bauer said.

An audience member asked about the competition gym, and Bauer said the high school’s current gyms are unable to host district or regional championships due to not meeting current accessibly standards, while the one would have bleachers with railings, full-size courts, and seating and stands that meet current standards. Another parent asked about security at the new school and whether large open spaces would be safer for students, and district Administrator for Secondary Education and Renovations Pete Nicholson said the finalized designs will have student safety and security in mind.

“There is a lot to be said for removing many of the nooks and crannies that exist in the current building, and being able to see portions of the building from one side to the other,” he said.

An online question asked how the current gym and natatorium spaces would be impacted, and Bauer said the current plans call for the new gym addition to have three courts, one of the school’s two current gyms to be upgraded and another removed, and the natatorium to be modernized: “new finishes, new tiling, new plaster, all of those things.”

Savings and costs

Another questioner asked if the district had estimates for how much would be saved on busing costs by moving ninth graders to the high school, and Bauer said those costs would be “fairly minimal,” with Skrocki giving a number of roughly $100,000 per year. Another questioner asked if the large rooms and glass windows allowing natural light would increase the energy efficiency of the building, and Bauer said he’d heard from a project engineer that the school’s current utilities were antiquated.

“He said, the systems we currently have in North Penn High School, are the most inefficient he has seen for heating and cooling in any high school. Of course there’s going to be increased costs because the building is bigger, but the current spaces that exist, he said ‘I really don’t think you will see a difference,'” Bauer said.

An online questioner asked for a school board member’s perspective, and board President Tina Stoll said she was struck by seeing similar arguments made during debate on a second high school in the 1990s, repeated again now.

“When I go through this high school, it does look exactly like it did back in 1983 when I graduated here…it’s so past time to do something here,” she said.

“This is our next opportunity to make transformational change to our district, for a generation. I just want to make sure everybody is informed, and makes an informed vote on January 16th,” Stoll said.

Another questioner asked when the public would have input into the design and construction process, and Director of Facilities and Operations Tom Schneider said the district would host a required Act 34 public hearing before the project is finalized, outlining the latest plans and fielding feedback before work begins.

Another questioner asked who would be able to vote in the referendum, and if that was based on current registration lists or if voters would need to reregister. Referendum consultant Mike Paston said anyone who received a mail ballot for the exact November elections would get one for the referendum, while those who received absentee ballots may have to request another..

Resident Bill Patchell asked if the construction cost estimates included a new contract with the district’s teachers union, which is set to expire after the current schoolyear. Bauer said staff “have had preliminary discussions” with union leadership, “and when we have news for that, or an agreement in place, we would certainly communicate that.”

Another resident asked about whether the former WNPV radio property between the high school and Snyder Road would be addressed in either scenario, and Bauer said it would, but with different field uses depending on whether the ninth grade addition is made and the rest of the campus is reconfigured. The same resident asked if temporary modular classrooms would accelerate the construction of the addition, and Schrader said his firm looked at doing so, “they did not offset the cost” of adding those modulars for the addition.

Student reaction

One last online questioner asked how students felt about the renovation plans, and high school senior Anna Weatherwax said she’s been the student representative on the facilities and operations committee for the past two years, and kept a close eye on the plans.

“I recognize that it’s something that I’m not going to see. I’m graduating next year, I won’t be here to experience the building. But I do know the importance of all these changes that we’re planning to make,” she said.

“My brother, his name is Jack, he’s an eight-year-old, he’s in second grade. So, like we mentioned, he will be in the first class of ninth-graders to go through the new high school. So as a senior walking through these halls — trying to walk through these halls, given how cramped they can be — I recognize that they need to be expanded. The classrooms need to be changed. It’s hard for us to learn in these environments. And seeing all these proposed changes means a lot to me as a student, because I can see how all of these ideas can come together and help the future generations, like my brother’s, help them go into a world that’s constantly changing. We need a building that changes with them.”

North Penn’s school board next meets at 7 p.m. on Dec. 12 and the facilities and operations committee next meets at 6 p.m. on Dec. 18; for more information visit www.NPenn.org and for more on the proposed renovations visit www.ReimagineNPHS.com.