What Makes a Great Superintendent? The superintendent of a school district sets the direction and tone while responding to the often competing demands of the board of trustees, administrators, teachers, parents, students and the community. What Does the Superintendent Do? The superintendent is the CEO of the school district. He or she sets the tone, charts the course of the district, and works closely with the board of trustees. The superintendent is also responsible for hiring and supervising the other administrators in the district, including the chief financial officer and the school principals. Working with the board can pose significant challenges for the superintendent. The board is the superintendent’s boss. They are responsible for hiring and firing the superintendent, and evaluating his or her performance on a regular basis. Since it is an elected body, new members might be chosen every few years. This change can create a different dynamic in the relationship with the superintendent from year to year, depending on who is elected. QUESTION #1. When was the last performance review done for Dr. Wilcox? The principals are the key leaders at each school. It is the superintendent’s job to evaluate their performance and see to it that they are effective leaders, working with the teachers at the school to serve the needs of students and meet the district goals. The superintendent must also respond to the demands of all the other constituencies in the district: the teachers, students, parents, staff and the community at large. He or she must consider how to allocate the financial and human resources of the district in order to achieve the best results. While being mindful of all the competing demands, a great superintendent will ultimately be guided by a singular question: What is best for all students? QUESTION #2 When has Dr. Wilcox responded to the demands of the Teachers, students, parents, staff and community? QUESTION #3 Dr. Wilcox when have you ever asked the question, “What is best for the students?” QUESTION #4 when have you ever evaluated the performance and see to it that there are effective leaders, working with the teachers at the school to serve the needs of students and meet the district goals? How Do the Superintendent and the Board of Trustees Work Together? The board of trustees is responsible for setting the policies of the district, overseeing the budget and hiring/firing the superintendent. The board and superintendent work together to establish goals for the district, and then the superintendent must see to it that the goals are met. In a well-run district, the superintendent is evaluated regularly by the board, based on the goals that they have jointly set. The superintendent takes the broad goals set by the board and translates them into real programs that achieve results. QUESTION #5 Why does our district seemed to be run by the superintendent and not the board? Seems to me Dr. Wilcox makes the rules and the board follows him. This process is backwards in the LISD administration office. QUESTION #6 List three to five skills you DR. Wilcox define as the most important to your success as a superintendent, and rank each of these skills in order of importance, with one being very important, two being important, three being unimportant and four being least important. QUESTION #7 How important is communication to each of these skills? QUESTION #8 Do/did you have a professional communications leader on your senior leadership team? If you do not have a professional communications leader, from whom do you get your advice? QUESTION #9 How important is it to you to have someone to provide strategic communications advice? QUSETION #10 What impact does communications have on the success of moving your district’s vision forward? Significant, some or none? QUESTION #11 Can you give one or two examples of when communications had a significant impact on the success of your district? QUESTION #12 Does communication play a role in improving student achievement? If yes, tell me why? If not, why not? Signs of an Ineffective Superintendent • An ineffective superintendent gets mired in the details of running the district. He or she is always busy but doesn't seem to have a clear agenda and direction for the district. • An ineffective superintendent is unavailable. He or she does not respond to phone calls or answer questions from constituents or the media. He or she is not often seen visiting school campuses or attending school meetings other than school board meetings. • An ineffective superintendent is always making excuses. If he or she begins most sentences with “Well, we can't do that for a variety of reasons,” or “That is not something we have control of,” your district is not going to move forward. Effective superintendents create solutions, not excuses. • An ineffective superintendent agrees Signs of an Effective Superintendent • A great superintendent has a clear vision for the district. He or she works with the board of trustees to set the vision, goals and objectives for the district, and then sees to it that the goals are achieved. • A great superintendent is an instructional leader. He or she knows that the most important job of the school district is to make sure students are learning and achieving at high levels. He or she is knowledgeable of the best practices for maximizing student achievement and is supportive of teachers in the district. • A great superintendent is an effective communicator. He or she must make a concerted effort to communicate the needs and accomplishments of the district in a variety of formats: through written reports, communication with the media, public meetings and attendance at school events. • A great superintendent is a good manager. He or she directs the administrators to accomplish the goals of the district, monitors their progress and evaluates their performance. • A great superintendent is a good listener. He or she must listen and take into account differing viewpoints of various constituencies, and then make the best decision. • A great superintendent is not afraid to take risks or make a commitment. An average superintendent might set goals that are either vague or easily achieved but a great superintendent would not be afraid to boldly set goals, such as “The majority of third graders will be able to read by the end of the school year,” and then put the programs and resources in place to achieve those goals. • A great superintendent is flexible. He or she needs to be able to manage the politics of the job – to adapt to new board members, changes in state funding and changes in the school community while not sacrificing the district's vision. A great superintendent takes a collaborative rather than a confrontational approach. In conclusion as we read through this we can all see that our current superintendent and board members are not effective in their jobs .