Where’s the Superintendent Fit in a Successor Search?

Board-Savvy Superintendent

Consider the saga of a superintendent search gone horribly wrong — a search that for all intents and purposes started on a normal, uneventful path, but ended well off the intended mark in what became an arduous and rocky journey.
The five-member board in northern Ohio had engaged in the customary conversation with the search consultant it had hired about the desired timeline, superintendent profile and potential candidates. As a desirable district, the search had attracted a strong pool of candidates.

So what went wrong? The issue really was twofold.

First, the board lacked the cohesiveness and communication to make the difficult decisions about whom to interview.

Second, the outgoing superintendent became involved in that decision making. The weight of a popular superintendent’s public opinion was more than the search process could bear, and it collapsed under its own weight.

It was an unfortunate end and could have been avoided had the incumbent superintendent and superintendent applicants taken to heart three things.

  Letting go is sometimes the most difficult thing to do.
Most superintendents are passionate about their work and their districts. We are talking about professionals who have spent their lives in education and who truly believe in what they do.

The outgoing superintendent often carries tremendous influence, and the influence of this key voice can be a difficult distraction for the board. He or she is invested in the community and may have strong opinions about who is selected for the job. However, comments about candidates or the process itself to colleagues, news media, staff and community members can quickly get out of control. Second-guessing the board’s decision regarding the merits of a candidate or about the process will make life difficult for the incoming superintendent and the district as it faces a crucial transition.

Staff (including the incumbent superintendent) and community should want the board to conduct the best search possible. The interviewing process and extensive reference checking give the board important data for their decision that goes well beyond public perception. The outgoing superintendent cannot view candidates through an unfiltered or unbiased lens.

  Beware of what you wish for.
Candidates for the top job need to be aware of what they may be walking into. Make the decision to apply based on whether the job really is the right fit.

Why is the board seeking a new superintendent? How interested does the news media seem to be in the search? Has the district received an unusual amount of negative press? Are individual board members saying inappropriate things to the media? What is the social media “buzz” around the search?

While public scrutiny is certainly not unusual, an inordinate amount of interest from the public could be a serious warning sign. In the aforementioned scenario, the finalists unfortunately paid a professional price through sloppy reporting, misinformation and irresponsible statements made to the press that led to a media storm that spun out of control.

  Time is of the essence.
A typical superintendent search should take about three months to complete. The longer the process goes beyond that without a clear decision by the board, the less likely it is going to end well.

Often the most difficult task of the search consultant is to keep the process on task and on time. It really does take all board members to make the best possible decision, and it’s the rare board that will ultimately make a decision that pleases everyone. However, it can happen, and the chances for such an outcome will rise exponentially when a committed board is willing to own a healthy and functional search process.

In every case, the best thing a superintendent can do is step aside and let the board do its work.

Steve Horton is a school board services consultant with the Ohio School Boards Association in Columbus, Ohio.
@OHschoolboards