A strong leader with good communication skills and a clear and focused vision who is visible in schools and the community, has an open-door policy and knows teachers by name is a partial description of what area residents are looking for in a new superintendent for the Aiken County Public School District.
A diverse group of about 20 community residents shared their thoughts about what characteristics the best candidate for the position would have at a public meeting Thursday at USC Aiken, sponsored by the Public Education Partners.
PEP will organize the long list of qualities and share it with the Aiken County School Board as they begin the process to find a replacement for current Superintendent Dr. Beth Everitt, who announced in January that she will retire in July.
The meeting followed the World Cafe process. Groups of about four met at round tables and shared the characteristics they felt were most important in a new superintendent while a recorder wrote down those qualities.
After about 10 minutes, the participants moved to a different table with people they had not talked with before. After a third round, the recorders at each table reported what the three groups at their tables had discussed while facilitators wrote them on large sheets of white paper taped to the wall in front of the room.
In addition to communication and leadership skills, participants said the new superintendent should:
- Be a good advocate for educators
- Be open to reorganizing and expanding the current staffing organization
- Promote parental involvement
- Be committed to openness and diversity
- Be an instructional leader
- Be a transformational leader and not a bureaucrat.
From the long list of desired characteristics participants mentioned, the facilitators organized them into eight broader, non-prioritized categories:
- Having a strategic focus
- Communication
- Strong leader
- Organizational management
- Instructional management
- Treat staff as professionals/trust
- Experience
- Fiscal management
PEP will organize participants' comments under the eight main categories and present a report to the School Board. PEP also will post the complete report on its website at www.pepaiken.org.
The report should be ready by next week, and the Aiken Standard will publish a more detailed story outlining the results.
The district will receive applications for the superintendent position through April 30.
PEP is an independent, community-based, nonprofit organization established in 1995 to support the improvement of public education throughout Aiken County.
An Aiken native, Larry Wood is a general assignment reporter. He started at the Aiken Standard in September 2014.