Several points stood out from my interview with my superintendent. The superintendent position is very similar in many ways to a principal. The skills necessary to be an effective superintendent are much broader and affect entire communities. As a campus principal my focus has been directed and geared for campus success, where as the superintendent is responsible for the entire district and the success of all students. For campus and departmental operations a superintendent must rely on the personnel in place to be effective and manage the daily operations. The superintendent gets involved when situations come up that affect the district and community. Listening to the way my superintendent responded to all of the questions reinforced my thoughts about the similarities between leadership positions. I would have responded to some of the questions in a similar way but realize I have a ways to go before being truly ready to take on the role of a district superintendent.
The responses that stood out and seemed important involved questions 1, 4, 8, 9, and 12, but were underlying themes in all of the responses. These responses included tough decisions, a vision, communication, quality personnel, and long range planning. The first response was about making tough decisions. A decision a superintendent makes impacts a much larger group of people and has a greater impact in motivating and influencing them to achieve the district goals. The second response related to a superintendent being visionary. The superintendent must have the capacity to see how decisions made to day affect the district many years ahead. Also, a vision must involve all stakeholders and allow them to help to develop the district vision. This enables them to take ownership of and become more involved in their school district, which increases community involvement. The third response involved communication. The ability to communicate to different groups such as the school board members, parents, and staff is critical in becoming an effective and successful school superintendent. The superintendent must be able to explain all sides of issues affecting the community and schools. Both the positive and negative sides of each issue must be addressed to keep everyone informed about how and why decisions affecting them are being implemented in the school organization. The fourth response related to surrounding yourself with quality personnel. As a superintendent you have a great responsibility in the complex operation of a school district. The superintendent even though responsible for all aspects of running the school district must rely on others in the organization to function and control campus daily operations. These individuals the superintendent must rely on must be highly qualified experts in their areas. They must also follow and support the leadership and direction provided by the superintendent. The fifth response deals with long range planning for the district. The allocation of district resources currently available today must be related to the direction and projection of the district plan for five years and beyond for the district. The decisions made by the superintendent affect the staff, buildings, and achievement of the district’s student population, and ultimately affect ones entire community. The superintendent needs to be able to see the broad view of how education affects the future of the school district, city, state, and nation. Today’s children will have a great impact on the world’s global society.
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