Thank you for sharing your perspective regarding the qualities, experiences, and skills that you would like to see in the District's next superintendent. This supplemental survey is being administered by the MASB Executive Search team on behalf of the District and takes about ten minutes to complete. Anonymous individual responses like yours will be combined with those from other stakeholder inputs to provide important input to the Board of Education as it seeks to identify the best candidate for the position. Responses that contain the names of individuals and/or foul language will be deleted. Consolidated results from all returned surveys will be reported publicly.

One important note: as you go through this survey, you will probably find that every trait and skill discussed is important to you to at least some extent. Your challenge is to help us prioritize between traits that are somewhat important for our next superintendent and those that are critically important—so try to use the full range of any scales we provide and reserve “top box” ratings for only the few items that in your mind rise above the rest.
To begin, we have just a few questions that will help us categorize your answers with other similar stakeholders in this process.

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* 1. If you are a resident, how long have you lived in the School District?

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* 2. If you are a District employee or are employed somewhere else in the District area, how long have you worked in the area?

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* 3. Finally, which type(s) of stakeholder are you? Check ALL categories below that apply to you.

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* 4. In your view, what are the strengths of the District?  Type your answer in the box below.

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* 5. From your perspective, what challenges do you think the School District will face over the next five years or so that could impact educational programs for our students? Type your answer in the box below.

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* 6. What is the minimum level of education you want the Board to consider when evaluating candidates for the superintendent position? (Check ONE answer below.)

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* 7. Below is a list of positions that superintendent candidates may have held in the past. Which prior positions do you think would prove most valuable for our next superintendent? (You may check up to THREE positions below.)

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* 8. Listed below are specific areas of expertise that different superintendent candidates may possess. From your perspective, how much weight should the School Board place on each area? Rate the importance of each area using the scale to the right.

  Critically Important Above Average Importance Of Average Importance Below Average Importance Relatively Unimportant
Public Relations
Budget development/management
Facilities management
Human resource management
Contract/labor negotiations
Curriculum development and evaluation
Contract administration

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* 9. Below are six different leadership style descriptions. Recognizing that a leader may employ all of these management styles in different situations and at different points in time, are there some that you think should be the dominant style for an effective superintendent? Read through the list and choose up to TWO management styles that you would like the next superintendent to employ most often .

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* 10. Listed below are specific experiences and skill areas that could be important when evaluating the superintendent candidates. From your perspective, how much weight should the School Board place on each area? Rate the importance of each area using the scale to the right.

  Critically Important Above Average Importance Of Average Importance Below Average Importance Relatively Unimportant
Overarching love of kids
Demonstrated ability to work with elected officials beyond the School Board
Demonstrates a keen ability to think outside the box and develop creative solutions to complicated problems
Proven track record of active advocacy for public education
Strong knowledge of curriculum research and deployment
Maintain visibility and accessibility to staff
Proven track record of raising student achievement
Exceptional written communication skills
Demonstrated responsiveness to students with learning differences
Fosters professional development of staff
Maintain visibility and accessibility to students
Strong knowledge and experience with school financial matters
Strong communication skills with School Board members
Ability to develop and direct an effective management team
Already familiar with the District
Experience with school bond/millage/sinking fund election and implementation efforts
Successful experience working with diverse communities
Exceedingly responsive (follows through and follows up)
Recognizes, values, and affirms staff members
Maintain visibility and accessibility to parents
Maintain visibility and accessibility to the broader School District community
Adept at media and public relations
Excellent speaking skills with large and small groups

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* 11. Listed below are personal characteristics that different superintendent candidates could possess. From your perspective, how much weight should the School Board place on each personality characteristic when assessing each candidate? Rate the importance of each using the scale to the right.

  Critically Important Above Average Importance Of Average Importance Below Average Importance Relatively Unimportant
A risk taker
Self-reliant
Resourceful
Kind
A problem solver
Sense of humor
Tenacious/doesn’t give up
A strong communicator
Sensitive
Collaborative
Goal-oriented
Transparent
Personable
Empathetic
Flexible
Assertive
A strong listener
Culturally competent
Inclusive
Thick-skinned
Firm
Approachable
Visionary
Honest and ethical

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* 12. In choosing the next superintendent, which path or strategy below do you think the Board of Education should take? (Choose ONE answer.)

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* 13. Tell us why you chose your answer above. If you think the District should stay the course, what aspects of the District give you that confidence in its leadership? If you think the course of the District should change, what changes would you want the new superintendent to make and why?

Those are all the questions we have for you. Thank you again for your willingness to provide input to this important process!

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