Superintendent Search: Meeting with Parents
Erin Fairben, Wayne-Finger Lakes BOCES Assistant Superintendent, met with Red Jacket parents and community members on February 15th to learn what the Red Jacket community is looking for in a new superintendent. About eight community members turned out to provide input.
Fairben was sitting in for BOCES Superintendent Vicky Ramos, who was unable to attend due to a family emergency. She had spent the day in the district meeting with students, teachers, administrators, and transportation and cafeteria staff.
She described this step in the search process as a “qualitative analysis,” which involves taking all of the data provided, “coding” the data into predominant themes, and looking for patterns. The data will ultimately be used to formulate interview questions for candidates.
The results of the community survey and this community meeting will be presented to the Board of Education, which will work together with BOCES’ head of HR, who is an attorney, to generate the interview questions.
“I ask only one question,” said Fairben. “What do you want — what are you looking for in a superintendent?”
We talked for about 40 minutes about what we wanted to see. Some questions and comments came up about the superintendent’s job description and how much administrative staff is needed (we have a superintendent, assistant superintendent, and a business administrator for a 750-student district), but that wasn’t exactly the purpose of this particular meeting.
The major points that came up are:
Excellence in relationship-building, especially with teachers and parents
Strong leadership; someone who inspires others, leads by example, and is accountable
Someone who can build/repair trust
Someone with teaching, and preferably also administrative, experience
Excellent communication skills
Someone with empathy and integrity
Appreciation of local history
Someone with clear vision for the District
Fiscal responsibility
Fairben said she’s been receiving similar input from all of the groups she’s spoken with. The community all seems to be on the same page.
The students want a superintendent that they can see and get to know, she shared at one point.
The position has already been posted. (It can be viewed on Indeed.com, if you’re curious.) After Vicky Ramos screens candidates, the Board of Education and “stakeholder groups” will begin interviewing in March, said Fairben. The interview process will continue in April, when the District is hoping to announce their decision. The goal is to have the new superintendent begin in early July.