Numerous stakeholder meetings were held across the Attala County school district Monday, allowing parents, teachers and administrators to learn about the search for a school superintendent.
The district hired the Mississippi School Boards Association (MSBA) to conduct the search after the state legislature changed the law to require that superintendents be hired rather than elected going forward.
According to MSBA Superintendent Search Consultant Dr. Tommye C. Henderson, in addition to requiring that superintendents be appointed, the legislature established more stringent criteria that all candidates must meet.
This criteria has caused many districts to take advantage of the MSBA search service since it can do all the legwork to ensure that candidates meet those requirements.
That legwork includes posting the position, holding stakeholder meetings, verifying candidate transcripts and interviewing every candidate to ensure that they meet all the basic requirements to be considered for the post by the board. MBSA will also reach out to contacts where the candidate is currently working to gain insight instead of just contacting references listed by the candidate.
The district will be hiring a superintendent to take the helm starting January 1, 2020, after the expiration of current Superintendent Bryan Weaver’s current term. Henderson noted that Weaver does, in fact, meet the tougher qualification criteria and therefore could certainly be considered for appointment to continue in his current position.
The new criteria requires candidates have at least six years of experience, three in teaching and three as principal of an A- or B-rated school. Another option to qualify would be to have increased a school’s rating by at least one letter grade and to maintain that for at least three years. Finally, a candidate could be a principal from out of state, as long as that state has similar performance criteria.
Although there is an alternate qualification – to have served in a leadership position for six years in any type of organization – both teacher/administrator/staff and parent groups told the consultants they want the board to know that they do not want a candidate of that type considered for the role.
The goal of these forums is to gather information from the affected communities on what they feel is important for the board to consider as they evaluate candidates for the post.
“We don’t tell the board who to hire; we just do the legwork for them,” Denotris Jackson, assistant executive director of MBSA, told a teacher/staff group that met at Greenlee Elementary School Monday. “The board wants input from you about what you would like to see in the next superintendent.”
Teachers and staff share thoughts
Teachers and staff attending the Greenlee Elementary meeting represented that school as well as Ethel High School and CTC. A separate similar meeting was held to gather input from teachers and staff of Long Creek Elementary School and McAdams High School.
Concerns expressed at the Greenlee meeting included whether the salary being offered by the district is going to be enough to draw the caliber of candidate needed and whether school board members themselves are qualified enough to evaluate candidates.
Several also asked that the board be told to require finalists to present a plan for the district. They also asked that school staff and teachers be included in the interview process, either by having a few participate in the formal interviews or by holding a community forum where the two or three finalists can be questioned by the educational and parent community.
“If you don’t include staff, teacher and administrators on the interview process, you almost feel like you’re left in the dark,” one staffer told the consultants.
Another participant encouraged the board to include parents in the interview process as well.
“I think you would send a bad message if you said only the teachers get to see the final candidates,” she said.
Urged on by Jackson, a large number of audience members provided a series of questions they would like the board to ask candidates, including requesting examples of relationship building, how they would improve each school and how they would incorporate technology and career education in to their vision.
Long Creek parent forum highlights soft skills
More than 90 family members of Attala County students filled one side of the Long Creek Elementary School gym to learn about the superintendent search and provide guidance to the school board.
When asked what they wanted in a superintendent, they mostly highlighted soft skills such as fairness, honest, promotion of equality, hardworking attitude, student-focused decision-making, accessibility, good problem-solving skills and a focus on improving special needs education.
They also want the person hired to get all the schools achieving successful ratings in state assessments and one who establishes that technology should be a tool teachers use to help students learn, not as a replacement for teacher/student interaction.
Parents also felt there should be a set of performance criteria included in the superintendent’s contract and that the person should be evaluated directly against those criteria each year.
Search timeline
February 22 - resume deadline
April 15 - MSBA submits report on candidates and community input to school board
May 1 - Attala County School Board completes interview process.
