The Clayton School District Board of Education has decided to begin searching for a new superintendent… again. The open administrative position, caused by current superintendent Don Senti’s decision to retire following the 2009-2010 school year, has yet to be filled despite the school board’s ability to narrow the search for a replacement to three finalists.
A few weeks before a decision was to be made, one of the top three candidates dropped out of contention for personal reasons. Instead of choosing from one of the remaining two finalists, the school board decided to restart the search process completely.
“The superintendent is considered to be the CEO of the district,” school board President Omri Praiss said. “The superintendent is responsible for overseeing the effective overall management and operation of the district. That would include things such as curriculum matters, financial matters and hiring administrators. I think we all knew going in that this is the most important decision the school board makes. We make a lot of decisions but this is the one that you want to get right. The Board, recognizing the significance of this decision, felt that it was in everyone’s best interest to start the process all over.”
The importance of the decision is heightened in light of the fact that the school district has had just three superintendents in the last 39 years.
While restarting the search may seem like a daunting task, a unique leadership profile, compiled by consulting firm Hazard, Young, Attea (HYA), should help to make the new process move more quickly. The leadership profile, which outlines the characteristics desired in the new superintendent, was compiled following four “focus groups,” held by HYA consultants and the school board, conducted over the course of 12 days in April and May.
According to Praiss, these focus groups were “meetings to get input from a significant number of students from Clayton, parents, other community members, teachers, staff, and the school board.”
At each of these focus groups, a survey was handed out to every individual in attendance. The survey entailed ranking a number of criteria on a scale of 1-10. HYA then categorized the responses by affiliation with the district, which ranged from board members to community members, into a leadership profile.
The profile showed that 164 people completed surveys and submitted them to HYA. The result was a clear, cohesive picture of what attributes all stakeholders in the district wanted in the new superintendent.
“There was a lot of alignment between all of the different groups in terms of the general qualities that we’re looking for and what’s important to us,” Praiss said.
According to the profile, characteristics that consistently received high priority rankings from all participants, regardless of the category to which they belonged, included “backbone, communication skills, ethical, experienced, and visionary.” Praiss emphasized the importance that the leadership profile will play in speeding up the process.
“We have a leadership profile and we plan to take advantage of that, and it will allow us to move the process much more expeditiously,” Praiss said.
Despite the open nature of the focus groups, the rest of the search process is confidential.
“The process of a selecting a new superintendent is a confidential process, which we think is important in order to make sure we bring out the best potential candidates,” Praiss said,
The Board also looked for guidance from past members.
“Some board members reached out to former school board members on how to structure the process and how to get input from people,” Praiss said. “We tried to take advantage of lessons learned.”
The Board hopes to get round two of the search started fairly quickly.
“The presentation of the slate of candidates will be in mid-January,” Praiss said. “The first round of interviews will be the week of Jan. 25, the second round of interviews will be in early February, and ideally, if it goes well, we will be in position to present a new superintendent in late February or early March.”
Among other things, the Board wants to ensure that the candidate selected will be a fixture in the community for years to come.
“On average nationally, new superintendents are selected every two to three years,” Praiss said. “Our goal is to have a superintendent who is here with the district and leading us for a long time period.”
Praiss said that he is hoping that this search process will be fruitful.
“I am really hopeful that when we complete this process, we’re able to find the right candidate who comes in with a lot of integrity and vision and can carry the tradition of an amazing district forward,” Praiss said.