The superintendent search consultant plays a major role in ensuring a close fit between leading candidates for a superintendency and the underlying views of governing board members on various matters, including religion and church/state issues. Search consultants try to keep school boards upfront about their desired values when seeking a new…

Two brief articles suggest sound evaluation procedures, one for administrators and the other for teachers. Both stress clearly stated, objective evaluation criteria. (JM)

A growing number of small consulting firms--many composed of retired superintendents and university professors--have entered the marketplace to help school boards find new district leadership. Also, 39 state school boards associations now operate search businesses. This article profiles 23 independent firms that handle superintendent searches,…

Recent research attributes school governance conflicts to board-superintendent disagreement over policymaking roles, deficient board training, and increased teacher demand for inclusion in the policymaking process. Other research underlines the need for better board training and for undoing a historical board culture that delegates only trivial…

Instead of issuing boilerplate announcements of superintendent vacancies, school boards must be specific about district needs and wants. Boards hunting superintendents should decide what is important, publicize their decision widely, communicate district needs to search firm, interview only candidates who meet these criteria, use community and…

With patience and savvy, superintendents can recover from the sting of dismissal. Incumbents should be alert to warning signs, such as decreasing board-superintendent communications and board rejection of superintendent recommendations. Sidebars offer tips on fighting back with good cause, obtaining legal support, and surviving the endgame. (MLH)

The traditional governance culture in which most school boards function contributes to role confusion. Most board policies focus more on operational concerns than on governance. Several Colorado boards have applied John Carver's Policy Governance model to define their parameters. A sidebar summarizes (positive) results of two superintendency…

Adversarial board situations are draining. To succeed in the face of strained relations with the board, superintendents must preserve their inner strength and confidence, keep the whole board informed, involve the community in district activities, and provide joint training on maintaining an effective relationship. (MLH)

Good board members and effective boards do not micromanage, but they are trustees for the public. They must accept responsibility for establishing and maintaining high ethical standards for themselves and all school district employees. They must ensure that everyone follows the law in letter and spirit. This means ethics codes,…

In this article, the author gives a description, based on personal experience about how much paper exists at school board meetings. He states that he was constantly preparing for the next meeting immediately as soon as one would conclude. The heavy amount of paper work always was difficult to manage and read through, not only for me and other…

Many school systems today find themselves in amazingly complex and puzzling environments. They are increasingly expected to turn direction quickly in response to changes in their environments, but they cannot change direction because they are bound by the arthritic bureaucratic designs of their systems, by old mental models of hierarchical power…

A survey of 80 Nebraska superintendents found that "critical incidents" involving these superintendents and board members can irreparably damage professional relationships and lead to dismissals. Of the 12 categories of incidents, those related to board members' children, relatives, and friends formed the largest category, with role…

Offers several recommendations to board of education on involving the incumbent superintendent in the search for a new superintendent. (PKP)

Describes positive and negative qualities in candidates that boards of education identified when searching for a new superintendent. Based on Illinois study of 180 superintendent vacancies during recent 3-year period. (PKP)

In this article, the author asserts that now that states and school districts are enacting ever more rigorous standards, instructional materials and assessments, school board members are asking more questions, as they should. Superintendents would be wise to have strategies ready to help them learn more about the new standards-based environment.…