Public Offers Input In Search For Superintendent

By Jack Gurner
Reporter

WATER VALLEY – The new Superintendent for the Water Valley School District may need super powers if he – or she – is to live up to some of the criteria suggested at a public forum on Nov. 10.

Among the suggestions made during the meeting is that the new Superintendent should be a leader with a proven track record who has the vision to bring the system into the 21st century.

It was also suggested that the new Superintendent be willing to live in the community, treat everyone fairly, and have integrity and moral character.

More than half of the 34 people present were teachers who said they wanted their new boss to have an open door policy and not use poor district as an excuse for not succeeding. “I want to see someone who is not just concerned about the bottom line or the final score,” one young teacher said.

Another teacher commented that the new Superintendent should not come in and make wholesale changes. “Do not disrupt what is already working,” she said.

Yet another added that the new superintendent should be “someone who will motivate and expect the best from the staff and students.”

Search Criteria

Dr. E Harold Fisher of the Mississippi School Board Association conducted the public forum, held at the Civic Auditorium. It is one element of the search for a new Superintendent prompted by the retirement of current Superintendent Sammy Higdon, who has served 25 years in the system.

School board members opted for the forum to collect comments from the public that will be included in the overall criteria for the new Superintendent. The Board voted at their Sept. 21 meeting to contract with the MSBA to conduct the search at a cost of $9,500, plus expenses.

Fisher was introduced by School Board President Ray Hawkins, who then left Fisher to conduct the forum without any school officials present.

At the beginning of the meeting, Fisher explained that the MSBA has done 24 Superintendent searches and had just completed the search for a new State Superintendent of Education.

Fisher said that people ask why a school district would hire others to conduct their search. “One of the reasons is that it elevates it above some of the political mess,” he said.” A third party makes it a little bit more objective. We don’t have any interest in the district, except to find the best person for this district.”

He added that MSBA officials are familiar with all of the state’s school boards and the superintendents as well as having knowledge of problems within the districts. Plus, he said, the MSBA is a member of the national organization. “All of these states are interconnected so that we can give information and gain information from other places.”

When questioned about how long the search would take, Fisher answered that it usually lasts about six weeks from the time the job opening is first posted. “The board is planning for us to announce it the first week in January if everything falls into place.”

Interview Process

Fisher said that he and Dr. Michael W. Waldrop, Executive Director of the MSBA, will interview everybody who applies. “We take that interview, plus the application, and all the references and then we a make a report to the board.”

“We organize the report in three categories: These people meet your criteria; These people meet your criteria, but in our opinion they are weak in some areas; these people do not meet your criteria.”

“We give them all the original material and then the board decides who and how many they are going to interview and when they will interview those people.”

Fisher emphasized that the MSBA does not employ nor do they recommend who they think are the best people. “We make the recommendations alphabetically because it is the board’s decision. The board has to be held accountable.”

“The superintendent of a school district is the only person in the district who the board can hire without anybody else’s input,” he continued. “State law says the board hires the superintendent.”

Fisher said that the Water Valley Board decided it wanted to involve the community in the selection of the new Superintendent. “It wants to know what you think. After all, the school board holds in trust the schools of the district. They don’t own the schools, though some boards think they do sometimes. But, they don’t. They are your schools. It’s your district.”

“This meeting is for us to talk about the criteria you’d like to see in the next superintendent who’s going to have a difficult time following a man who has been here as long as Sammie (Higdon) has been here. And, knows as much about the district and the community as he does.”

Ground Rules

As Fisher prepared to take comments from the community members at the forum, he said that there were ground rules he wanted to make clear. “We are not here to talk about the district nor the problems in the district. (We are) just here to talk about the criteria for the new superintendent.”

Fisher then coaxed the crowd to respond by asking what they would like to see in their new Superintendent.

The first person to comment was a retired teacher who said he would “like to see him be a people person. Academically sound, fiscally responsible.”

“Someone who supports our fine arts,” a veteran teacher added.

When someone suggested that the new superintendent should be someone who has managed a school, Fisher said that there are not many Superintendents who will apply for a job in another district. “Most of the people who apply are either assistant Superintendents, curriculum people or principals.”

A comment that the new Superintendent should be someone who is not going to be a dictator and is open to change, prompted Fisher to ask how many in the room were teachers. More than half the group raised their hands.

The number of suggestions began to flow more quickly at that point and Fisher wrote each one down. He also took time to explain that although the term “him” and “he” was being used to describe the Superintendent, it was understood that the new person could be either male or female.

When someone held up an out of town newspaper and asked if the district’s financial problems would effect the number of applicants for the job, Fisher said that he didn’t believe that it would. “That headline is just not true… deep in the red. You’re not deep in the red. We’re not here to talk about that,” he said and called himself out of order.

Number Of Applicants

As the comments about the criteria thinned, Fisher was asked how big a pool of candidates would he expect to get.

“The pool is very shallow now,” he said. “Because of the leadership role and responsibility, a lot of people would rather remain in a lesser administrative role than carry that burden. Not true several years ago. Everybody worked to become the superintendent. Not true today.”

“This district has a good reputation. It has a good school board. You’ve got a lot of things going for you and there’s no reason you wouldn’t get some good applicants.”

The question was asked if the possibility of consolidation would frighten off any applicants. “That won’t be an issue,” Fisher responded.

Next, someone asked who decides the salary.

“The local board sets the salary once they decide on the person,” Fisher said.

“We’ve done 24 searches and we’ve never had one person ask us what the salary was. People who are interested in the job are primarily not interested because of pay.”

After a few moments of silence, Fisher asked if there were any more comments. When none came, he reemphasized that he and the School Board want as much input as possible to help with the selection process.

“If you know of anybody that would be a good applicant, you tell them to apply. The application is going to appear on the Mississippi School Board Association website (www.MSBAonline.org) whenever the search is open.”

Fisher cautioned that School Board members should not be contacted directly. “They won’t know anything. I am the only person who will know how many people have applied and I make my report only to the school board not individual school board members.”

“There won’t be any need to contact the board and tell them to vote for somebody. They may not even get that person on their list,” Fisher said as he ended the forum.

(Editor’s Note: Members of the community who would like to suggest criteria for the new Superintendent still have time to fill out a form from Dr. Fisher. The form is available below under the Let Your Voice Be Heard heading or by email – jackgurner@yahoo.com)