The Rochester Board of Education is set to vote this Thursday on what the ideal characteristics a new superintendent should be as the search moves forward.
The city school board has contracted with the executive search firm Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates (HYA) to gather feedback from staff, families, and community members on their perceptions of the district and what characteristics are most important for the next superintendent.
Feedback was collected through a survey, focus groups, and interviews. Survey prompts asked respondents to indicate their level of agreement with statements such as “the social and emotional needs of students are being addressed,” and “there is transparent communication from the district,” according to a sample shared on BoardDocs.
School board president Cynthia Elliott said on Monday that she wants a superintendent who understands the broader picture of meeting student needs — from transportation to classroom management and family engagement
“We need to have a superintendent that understands those things holistically, can learn those things and then make the decisions that's going to be best for our children and families,” Elliott said.
As the longest-serving member of the school board, she’s seen the revolving door of superintendents come and go.
“What do you do? I mean, I've gone through — I don't even know the count of the number of superintendents I've gone through,” she said. “It's a matter of just making sure we can get it right, that we are treating — the board is having a positive relationship with the superintendent.”
While this is a national search, Elliott said she would prefer someone local and someone willing to stay in that role for at least five years. That length of stay for a superintendent at the city school district has not been seen since former superintendent Clifford Janey, who served from 1995 to 2002.
The average tenure of a superintendent is three to five years, a statistic that's been widely cited.
The last superintendent, Carmine Peluso, lasted about two years. His departure was partially blamed on disruption from two school board members.
“Any time you have people on the board from the community who've been advocates in the community, it takes some time to transition from being an advocate to being a person who governs,” Elliott said. “We're working with the Council of Great City Schools in terms of governance training, and that's a two-year process that we're going to be going through.”
The selected search firm, HYA, was established in 1987 and touts having assisted 1,600 school boards in urban, rural and suburban districts in selecting new leadership. A timeline for the search established in the fall projects that the school board would hire the permanent superintendent in December and that candidate would start the jobin January.
The school board is expected to vote on the leadership profile during a business meeting Thursday at 6:30 PM at Central Office. School board meetings are also livestreamed on YouTube.
According to a statement from the school board, the ideal candidate would be “a dedicated advocate for equity and academic achievement, a responsible financial steward, and a leader with substantial experience in urban education.”
