Schools

Superintendent Search Firm Meets with Teachers, Parents, Board

Leadership Associates spent Thursday in a whirlwind of meetings getting feedback on what the school community is looking for in a new superintendent.

Representatives from spent all day Thursday meeting with community members to get their input on desired “qualities and characteristics” for the new superintendent.

Walt Buster and Rene Townsend, partners at Leadership Associates, met with school principals, teachers, representatives from the Classroom Teachers Association, classified staff, the mayor, city manager and others throughout the day on Thursday. In the evening, the public was invited to an open forum at before Buster and Townsend headed into a closed session with school board.

About 20 teachers and parents came to the community forum and expressed a desire for a candidate who will have an open dialogue with staff and consider a wider variety of educational approaches.

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“We understand the mandate is for change and to get those test scores up,” said Lisa Roisen, a teacher at Ponderosa, during the community forum. “But we need a leader who can inspire us to make those changes and not just browbeat people into submission.”

Some teachers and parents complained about the pacing guidelines and testing pressure that they say don't allow teachers to focus on the needs of individual pupils.

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“I feel like we’re treating teachers like robots at this point,” said Reem Nasrah, a parent with three children at Ponderosa. “If I come into your classroom and you’re not on this page, you’re going to get reprimanded. Of course, teachers need instructions, but let them choose when they’re going to do that particular subject.”

Buster told those in attendance that he would bring their concerns to the board. Thursday was the first meeting Leadership Associates has had with the board since it selected the firm to conduct this search.

Leadership Associates conducted the district’s last superintendent search, which ended with the board voting to hire former Superintendent Howard Cohen. Though some board members and district staff had surmised that Leadership agreed to cut its original fee in half this time around to make up for lingering bad feelings around the previous selection, Buster said his firm simply wanted to help the district during tough economic times.

“We have great respect for this district,” he said. “If I were looking for a job, I would want to work here.”

Buster said the superintendent job opening has not yet been publicly listed, but if the board authorizes it, Leadership Associates will post the listing throughout the state. He predicted the board would conduct interview in May with an eye toward having a new superintendent in place by July 1.

Buster said he would advise the board to conduct the superintendent search and interviews confidentially in order to keep the names of the candidates private.

“Someone won’t apply if it’s going to be known in their home district,” Buster said.


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