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November 4, 2008

School board approves traits of new super

By Raymond Billy

rbilly@jacksonvilleprogress.com

The Jacksonville Independent School District Board of Trustees now has a working profile of its next superintendent. Now the board will seek an individual who fits that profile as closely as possible.

Board members on Monday received the profile during a special meeting. Jerry Roberts of TASB Executive Search Services — the firm hired in August to identify quality candidates for the superintendent post — revealed the profile to trustees. The characteristics presented were compiled from a series of meetings held in Jacksonville Oct. 20 designed to garner community input on what qualities the new superintendent should possess.

Some of the characteristics listed represent ideals one might easily anticipate stake-holders would want in a new superintendent. But, others reflect criticisms vocal members of the community have voiced about current JISD Superintendent Stuart Bird as well as the current school board. Critics have chided JISD for its failure to communicate its vision for the district to the public. As such, the Executive Search report said the new superintendent should be “a capable strategic planner who can help the board articulate and achieve a vision for the future.” The Report also said JISD’s next leader must be “able to work in partnership with the Board of Trustees and build a climate of candor, mutual trust and cooperation.”

The report said the new superintendent should be “involved and visible” in the community, live in Jacksonville and have experience presiding over facilities projects and bond elections.

“That’s what we’re saying you’re looking for, you need and that’s what we want to help you find for JISD,” Roberts said.

But, the characteristics specified in the Executive Search report represent the preferences of a small minority of JISD residents. Outside of school personnel, a total of 7-10 people participated in the meetings last month in which public opinions were sought regarding the new superintendent. Executive Search officials say a total of 117 people showed up for the meetings.

JISD Board President James Houser said there were no plans to give the public additional opportunities to add to the list of qualities for the new superintendent.

“I don’t know what else we could do. Those who cared enough to come out, we’re going to go with those comments,” Houser said. “Of course, there were, I think, 56 online entries and we don’t know who those are from. But, we’ll just deal with what we have. I think the board has a pretty good feel for the community,” he said.

Other characteristics listed in the report were that the new leader should have a successful track record as a superintendent or assistant superintendent, be considerate of many viewpoints and take a delegator approach to leadership.

“You’re going to see every applicant who applies for this job, whether they meet all of those qualifications or not,” Roberts said. “You might decide you want to talk to someone who doesn’t fit the profile to a ‘T.’ If so, we’ll have a good hardy discussion about that,” he said.

But, Houser said the district is unlikely to stray from the qualifications specified in the report.

“There’s a reason we went through all of these qualifications and we need to stick with them no matter how charming a candidate may be,” he said. “We need to stick with the qualifications.”

The board will hold anther special meeting Dec. 9 to develop interview questions for the superintendent candidates with the help of Executive Search. The board will also narrow the number of candidates from its pool of applicants. The board plans to hold meetings with candidates Jan. 6, 7 and 8. The Board of Trustees intends to announce JISD’s new superintendent at a special meeting on March 3.

The school board regularly meets at 6:30 p.m. the third Monday of each month.

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