Friday, February 13, 2009

School Superindents - Critical Characteristics

The following letter and preferred profile have been posted on the RAS website. (links below) I am not sure what to make of them, the profile seems pretty generic and all inclusive. The basic "must walk on water boiler plate"....

I guess I would like to have seen some "Critical Characteristics" listed that aligned with our future goals. For instance:
  • Proven capability of developing student values, and significantly improving student test scores in math, science, reading and writing across all categories of students.
  • Proven capability of generating productivity gains that consistently shift money from "other expenses" to "classroom/counseling expenses".
  • Proven capability of exciting the community, parents and students regarding the school's general education program, without needing to support "niche" offerings.
  • Proven history of monitoring and caring about employee engagement, and a proven capability of creating and maintaining high engagement scores. (link1, link2)
  • Proven capability of creating, collaborating on, communicating and meeting a Specific, Measureable, Action oriented, Realistic and Time based plan.
You will note I do not stress a strength in teaching, finance, student advocate, fine arts, etc. My rationale is there are ~2000 employees that will lobby for and manage these areas. The Superintendent simply needs to be a great Manager/Leader with a vision that is aligned with the community, not a "Super Teacher or Super Accountant".

Profile desired
Letter to Candidates
Speed on AH Supt
Speed on Supt searches
DC Supt Video

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your list is much better than 281's.

Jennifer Griffin-Wiesner said...

You should send your list to the board, if you haven't already. Or do the survey if it's still online and post these there. The more we can communicate directly with them, the better.

John said...

Hi JGW,
Fortunately a few of them check in at G2A occasionally and I attended the AHS input session.

I blog instead of sending emails in hopes of dragging a few of the disenfranchised "no kids in the district" voters into the blog dialogue. (w/ little success so far) Also, everyone is welcome here, including Board Members and Administrators.

Since I sense you value the "offer everything/free choice" school vision much more so than I. What is your vision of a "Top 10/Great" school district that we can afford? (ie no more levies) Just wondering.