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Five Traits For Our Superintendent It is easy to see what we don’t want in a new superintendent for Readington schools but much more difficult to qualify what we do want. We could be tempted to look at the example of our interim superintendent Jim Sheerin and ask that we merely duplicate his attention to stakeholder concerns, his calming and reasonable demeanor, and his no-nonsense approach to management. There is no question but that we owe Jim a debt of gratitude for pumping out the bilge of our listing ship and for resetting our course. Yet, in truth, our interim superintendent is a model for the short term—a turnaround specialist who excels in one tricky area. Just as American monetary policy needed a Paul Volcker to shake the bejesus out of inflation and then an Alan Greenspan to steer us in the longer term, we need two different styles to complete our district transformation. Jim Sheerin was our Volcker, now we must find our Greenspan. If our board members and new search firm merely follow the model of every other superintendent search, we are likely doomed. Current ads in newspapers put out by other districts seek administrators with “demonstrated success” in fostering parental involvement and student achievement, or with “outstanding communication skills”, or with a “vision” of educational excellence. Let’s not forget the need for “collaborative problem solving” or “interpersonal and organizational skills” either. Duh. This is the equivalent of shopping for a new car and insisting that it have a steering wheel, four wheels and an engine. We must seek a far deeper understanding of a candidate if we are to make a worthy choice. So, if the common bullet points of academic credentials, length of experience, knowledge of communications and budget issues, or achievement in another district are not the best measures, at what do we look at instead? Below are five traits that can define an exceptional superintendent in a public school. The public school system in New Jersey as well as the rest of the country has become so politicized, so stiffened by bureaucratic rules, and so preordained in objectives that excellent administrators willing to put their life’s work on the line have become nearly extinct. Still, we must assume there is one out there for our district. Trait #1: A Powerful Mentor for Staff Our new superintendent should be a strong mentor for administrative and teaching staff. He or she must be a champion for teachers as professionals not as technicians. He or she must insist that administrators be or become experts on the classroom before they are expert in administration. A powerful mentor acts as a coach rather than a proctor. He or she is there ensure that staff can do and will do their very best, not simply to measure them against a set of goals. This superintendent has a personal interest in the professional success of every staff member in the district because he or she knows that the weakest link can be the only one that matters when strength is needed most. How will board members recognize this trait in an interview? Easy. The candidate will volunteer a story about a staff member in another district who transformed from a beginner to an expert. The candidate will have trouble suppressing the use of first names from his or her current district and will be spilling over with pride when he or she discusses work relationships from the past. He or she will talk about teachers and principals as though they should be expected to innovate and grow on their own, rather than be judged by a centralized and often arbitrary set of rules. Trait # 2: A Fervent Advocate for Staff Development Our new superintendent should be a fervent—almost religious—advocate for staff development. He or she should insist on an extensive program to build new expertise in teachers and to keep the learning curve ever high. By staff development we do not mean “training” in shrink-wrapped curriculum as though teachers are monkeys who can be led to do remarkable tricks. Instead we mean an enduring effort to ensure that all teachers and administrators are expert on the whole child and the necessary means to teach to the whole child. An unfortunately short-lived push to invest in the Mel Levine developed Schools Attuned program in our district a few years back is a good example. This superintendent should goad every staff member to be an authority on child development and the educational techniques to tailor a base curriculum toward that individual development. In an interview this superintendent candidate will volunteer a story about how a tidbit picked up by a teacher or principal in a seminar or found in a district-recommended book turned out to make the difference in the life of one particular child. Then he or she will discuss how that incident was shared throughout the district with other professionals. Trait #3: A Philosophy of Authentic Learning Our new superintendent should have a philosophy of education that promotes authentic learning over scripted learning. In practice this means that he or she looks for classrooms that are arranged in centers, not rows of desks. He or she looks for kids who are connected with their learning experience through unique projects and self-directed choice rather than disconnected by endless worksheets and an atmosphere of minimal expectations. This superintendent frowns upon scripted teaching that reduces the classroom to a paint-by-numbers affair where the biggest challenge is to stay within the pre-drawn lines. Instead, he or she expects teachers and students to use the base curriculum as a starting point for a journey of personal development and unrestrained learning that leads to a distinctive experience for each individual. In an interview board members will note that this candidate is frustrated by political interference in education such as NCLB and reliance on simplistic measures to evaluate schools. The candidate will view reporting and testing requirements for the state not as an opportunity to shine, not as a challenge to be met, but as a necessary evil which must be accommodated in order to get back to the real business of learning. Trait #4: An Activist for Direct Participation Our new superintendent should insist on the direct involvement of parents, students and other stakeholders in the learning process. He or she will reject the “tag—your it!” mentality of parents who expect the school to handle alone the matters of education while they go off to their own lives. He or she will reject the notion that students bear no responsibility for their own growth or that they must do no more than follow through the prescribed motions. This superintendent will expect citizens and employees to be direct participants in the process of education, recognizing that stakeholder apathy is the precursor to educational entropy. He or she will expect to be in contact with stakeholders on a daily basis and to seek their input, good or bad. Board members interviewing this candidate will note that he or she knows parents in his or her current district on a first name basis. The candidate will have a story about a confrontation with a stakeholder that turned around a potentially nasty situation to a basis for positive change. The candidate will have an intimate knowledge of stakeholder concerns and comforts in his or her current district. The candidate will advocate the need for genuine communication and a level of comfort among stakeholders in order to make progress. Trait #5: An Educational Leader Our new superintendent must be an educational leader over a politician or a knave with a death grip on the end of the ever-swinging educational pendulum. He or she must be openly dismissive of something, illustrating a streak of independent thought. He or she must always be hopeful but also restless and discontent. Our new superintendent must have something to prove, and that something should be all tied up with the four traits discussed above. He or she should not kow-tow to political pressure, or to career conventions, or to popular new educational fads. Our new superintendent should be more afraid of failing an individual child than failing a state report card. How to recognize such an intangible trait in an interview? The candidate will have well developed thought lines in his or her brow even when smiling. He or she will be most animated when discussing policies gone right or gone wrong. The candidate will always connect broad policies to their effect on individual children or teachers or principals. He or she will feel personally linked to the outcomes within his or her current district. In short, the educational leader will reveal with body language and with personal anecdotes the depth of his or her commitment to educational excellence. Are these five traits impossible to find in a candidate circa 2006? No, but they will not be revealed using the standard measures found in every other superintendent search. It isn’t a matter of thinking inside the box or outside the box, but turning over the box to make a comfortable seat for a personal and genuine conversation with each candidate. Imagine asking candidates open ended questions like these:
Our new superintendent may be an experienced superintendent in a similar district nearby, or he or she might be an unknown lower level administrator in another state. Only with long hours, intelligent questions and a little bit of luck will our board members make the best choice. Wish them that little bit of luck. |
