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Home > Blogs > Springfield Schools News and Issues > Archives > 2008 > December > 15 > Entry
Are you going to the Springfield schools search forums?
About 80 percent of the information search firm officials collect this week about the wish list for Springfield’s next superintendent and high school campus director will be run-of-the mill.
Passionate, fiscally responsible, good communicator.
It’s the other 20 percent that consultants will hone in on to find the right fit for the two key leadership positions, said Ronald Barnes, a director at Illinois-based BWP and Associates, Inc.
“Those characteristics and attributes that come out… about 80 percent of them are the same in every district,” he said. “It’s those other unique things that we’ll listen to carefully to find out what the community’s telling us in our meetings.”
Four representatives from BWP will be in town Dec. 16-18, meeting with board members at a special board meeting Tuesday, Dec. 16 and then conducting focus groups and community input sessions throughout the day Dec. 17.
Invitation-only focus groups include various sections of the community, said board President Donna Picklesimer, including staff, students, parents, residents and community leaders.
“We heard loud and clear … that all segments of the community want to be represented and want their voices heard so we felt this was a way to do that,” she said.
Meetings in the evening Dec. 17 will be open to the public to give input and will last up to 50-60 minutes, said Barnes.
Anyone who can’t make a meeting can download a profile form from the district’s Web site. That feature will be available throughout the process, but the information can be included in the firm’s written report if received by Dec. 20, said Barnes.
“Anything that comes in after that will be used and read, it just won’t be part of our report,” he said.
The district aims to have a new superintendent selected by mid-April and then will finish the search for a campus director for Springfield High School.
Are you going to Wednesday’s forum?
Read more school news on our education blog.
Permalink | Comments (6) | Post your comment | Categories: Springfield City Schools
Comments
By parent
December 15, 2008 1:16 PM | Link to this
YES YES YES!!! This is the time to give your opinion, and have your voice be heard. I encourage everyone to attend or fill out a form. Speak now or forever hold your peace.
By Mother of 4
December 15, 2008 4:06 PM | Link to this
I grew up going to, and graduating from the SCS. One thing I have learned over the 23years I’ve been a part of this school district is that your opinion doesn’t matter. The board is going to do what they want regardless of opinion. They hold things like this because they are required to, not because they care about our opinion. The sooner we all realize this the better off we’ll all be.
By LizardKingLives
December 16, 2008 9:20 AM | Link to this
“Mother of 4” it is disappointing that you do not have faith in the process…and with such low faith then I would ask that maybe for the next election you could find yourself motivated to help make a change. I agree with you that the Board is incompetent…that is obvious by the condition of SCS and I find it very difficult to see how any rational person can argue differently. Yes there are new schools - but that only changes the appearance and we all know their more to things than outside appearances. The SCS for the past 30+ yrs has failed to take the steps needed to make sure it can compete on an academic, athletic or social level with other districts around the state. I would blame the voters, parents, the board and the school administration for being incompetent and having little pride in the schools and community they live and represent. The district and community are satisfied being viewed as a “city” school that is poor and in many ways seen as a inferior school and that is unfortunate. There needs to be started a grass roots campaign to replace every board member and then systematically remove the current administration that has been ineffective and incompetent. This can only work if the community supports the effort and that could means higher taxes, although volunteering goes a long way to help, etc. Lets face Springfield is quickly building (if not reinsforcing) a reputation as being the low income “trashy” community of Clark county. Would you like to live in a place like that…would you move your business to a place like that…would you want your children or grandchildren being educated in a place like that? I can go on and on about the imcompetencies of SCS, however the problem is deeply rooted in the community as a whole. I grew up in springfield, graduated from North, worked in the SCS as a teacher for a few years and I follow springfield news, but I now live out of state and return only to visit and during those visits I am amazed that every return things appear to be getting worse for my hometown. I get off 70 at S. Limestone and what do you see as you drive toward and through the city but trash, run down homes, unmanicured yards, and ultimately a complete lack of pride. That is honestly all that is missing is pride to make the community look and fell good again, pride is cheap and costs a person nothing, but it appears that a lot of pride has been lost in Springfield over the past 25 yrs and in my opinion that most likely is caused by a lack of effective leadership in the community. Maybe what is needed is new leadership, maybe younger leadership that can infuse energy, hope, and a new sense of pride in Springfield again…that will attract new industry and new neighbors to the community and will help make the SCS a district people wish to move to-not run to get away from. But once again Spfld will probably disappoint and just continue to deterioriate away.
By Mother of 4
December 16, 2008 12:32 PM | Link to this
“LizardKingLives” I completely agree with what you had to say. I have done many things at my childrens school to help make a change. I volunteer as much as I can with small children still at home. I do my part as a citizen and vote every election, because in my opinion “if you don’t vote, you don’t get to complain”….that quote is from my government teacher at NHS who gave us voter registration cards for our 18th birthdays our senior year. I have lived in this city most of my life and it has been going downhill for years. When I was younger I could walk to the local pool on Bechtle as young as 8yrs old alone and my parents were ok with this. I won’t even let my 7yr old cross the street because of how crazy people drive down our road, cutting through our neighborhood. I think its horrible that this city has lost its sense of pride, but its going to take more than just the few that are concerned to fix it. It will take a majority, and unfortunatley the people who care are moving out of the district faster than we can count.
By Kenton
July 1, 2009 10:09 AM | Link to this
Hi. If you want to be respected, you must respect yourself. I am from Lithuania and also am speaking English, tell me right I wrote the following sentence: “Visit imdb for photos, showtimes, cast, crew, reviews, plot summary.Paw prints and purrs canine flea allergy.” Thank :-) Aeneas.
By Apirka
September 1, 2009 4:33 AM | Link to this
Sorry. The first duty of a leader is to make himself be loved without courting love. To be loved without ‘playing up’ to anyone - even to himself. I am from Sweden and , too, and now am writing in English, please tell me right I wrote the following sentence: “Once, higher volatility of industry correspondent seconds in higher daughter segments.” Thank you so much for your future answers :). Apirka.