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Home > Blogs > Springfield Schools News and Issues > Archives > 2008 > December > 03 > Entry
Board, firm discuss superintendent search
Springfield board members finalized last night a decision to hire BWP & Associates to perform two national searches to fill two of the district’s key leadership positions.
The district will quickly launch efforts to get community and other stakeholder input through the consultants with a goal of choosing a new superintendent by mid-April. That person would then play a role in the interviewing and selecting of the high school campus director.
Lots of interesting things out of last night’s meeting. I’m going to mention a couple of them now and will get to the others over the next couple days.
• Teachers: Springfield Education Association President Greg Krouse was in attendance last night. When board members debated if two weeks would be enough notice for the focus groups and community meetings, Krouse said that he thought it would work for teachers and seemed to indicate a belief that union membership would be eager to participate.
Retired Superintendent Jean Harper and the SEA had a tumultuous relationship at the end, with 60 percent of teachers casting a “no confidence” vote in her abilities to lead the district about a year before she announced her retirement.
The sessions will be held on Wednesday, Dec. 17. Schools release early that day, as they do every Wednesday, but teachers are still in the building, which at least one board member said might boost participation with district staff.
• Gathering input: The focus groups will include various segments of the community and would likely be separated by their association with the district, so teachers and principals and parents, etc. would all be in different groups, each led by one of the team of four consultants in the discussion process.
It’s not definite but here’s the ones that were volleyed last night: Board members, central office administrators, building administrators, teachers, support staff, students, parents, community members, business leaders, university people and “politicos” (city officials like the mayor and police chief, for example).
Then there would be two community meetings, open to anyone who wants to participate, that evening. Look for times on those later this week or early next week but we’re probably looking at something like 5 and 7 p.m. in two different locations in the city.
There would also be a form online, throughout the duration of the search, for input.
• Fifteen percent: The forms and focus groups will be used to create a specialized leadership audit for the district that will describe the skills Springfield is looking for in its new leadership, said BWP’s Ronald Barnes.
Of that list, about 85 percent of it will look very similar to what comes out of other districts; 15 percent will be unique to Springfield and that’s what will really drive the search.
Makes sense. In three years covering education, I’ve yet to see “fiscally irresponsible” or “ignorant of education issues” show up during a search, but I’ve seen some variation of “knowledgeable on education affairs” and “demonstrates fiscal management skills” every time.
But Springfield may look for someone who has experience with urban education, which we wouldn’t really expect to see on a wish list out of someplace like Northwestern, the Clark County district most recently searching for a superintendent.
• The questions: the online form and forms that will be available through various outlets, including the community forums, will consist of four questions.
They are: 1. What are the strengths of Springfield City Schools?
What are the major issues the board and new superintendent/high school campus director will face?
What characteristics and special attributes should the new superintendent/high school campus director possess?
What else would you like to say about this search? (This gives participants the chance to point the firm in a very specific direction, like the name of an actual candidate, Barnes said.)
Okay, those are the major things out of my notes from last night. What do you think of the process laid out so far? Worth the $50,000 price tag for both searches?
Feel free to answer any of those questions below but don’t forget to make sure you attend a meeting or fill out a form too if you want your opinion in the official record.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment | Categories: Springfield City Schools
Comments
By LizardKingLives
December 3, 2008 9:00 AM | Link to this
“The cost of the search for both positions is estimated at $50,000, said Picklesimer.” wonder why SCS is financially so bad off.This is once again a bad investment by the SCS and the board.I currently work in corporate amer & involved heavily in recruiting and the cost to fill these 2 positions to me seems extreme, especially when considering the financial status of the district today.By james
December 3, 2008 10:58 AM | Link to this
why on god’s green earth do you hire someone to find someone for you to hire? Only in Springfield do we elect people to the BOE who are afraid to make decisions and then back their decisions. Hope they remember this wasted money when levy times comes around again.By Dave
December 3, 2008 8:49 PM | Link to this
James, large corporations hire search firms constantly to pick the candidates for positions. I agree it’s pretty dumb (it assumes an outsider knows your business better than you do), but it’s a very common approach.