EDLD 5399 Week 2: Superintendent Leadership Experiences

     Many of the experiences in this Superintendent Internship program have influenced my leadership on my current campus.  As a campus principal you have somewhat a microscopic sense of what the superintendent job entails.  The superintendent position carries a much greater responsibility than one can imagine.  These experiences have enlightened me to what a superintendent has to do on a routine basis.  Success for all students is a foundation for all superintendents.  Competency 1, the ability to act with integrity, fairness, and in an ethical manner provides the basis for student success.  By reviewing the job description and evaluation instrument of the superintendent, developing interpersonal skills, attending more board meetings, and meeting with office staff members I have gained a greater understanding for the need to promote the highest standards of behavior and lead by example.  Reviewing The Code of Ethics and Standards for Texas Educators, I am more aware of the policies and attitudes that display the best practices of ethical behavior.  Competency 2, shaping a district’s culture required reviewing several documents involving the district strategic plan, assessment data and analyzing the school’s vision and mission statements.  Understanding these documents required examining current school issues that help to build district support to promote a climate of high expectations that incorporates contributions form the staff and community.  Competency 3, stressed the importance of community interaction with the school district.  Analyzing the relationship between the school district and our two communities influenced the decision making process to ensure a successful education for all students.  Examining current parent involvement policies and learning about school to community communications has helped me understand the required necessary support of all stakeholders in the education of students.  Interviewing community leaders gave me their perspective on the quality of education within our district.  Competency 4, dealing with the larger political, social, economic, legal, and cultural context and working with the board, is my overall weakest area.  Working with the board was not the issue.  Working with local, state and national political systems is where I need the most improvement.  The activities helped me realize my weakness in this area.  The internship activities dealt with learning more about the community and superintendent-board relationship, which was informative.  I wish I had involved more activities dealing with the political side of education.  The interviews with my superintendent increased my awareness of the importance of getting involved with the political aspect of a superintendent’s job.  I will continue to work on this area.  Competency 5, facilitating planning and implementation of strategic plans to enhance teaching and learning are a major reason I entered into education.  The activities involving data analysis and examining district curriculum and development, along with investigating campus and district level procedures help to stress the importance of the superintendent as being the district’s instructional leader.  Competency 6, promoting and sustaining an instructional program that leads to student learning and staff professional growth emphasized the importance of understanding the student population and programs available for students.  Students need to know they are important and valuable to all school programs.  Recognizing their accomplishments and learning how they feel about the educational and extracurricular opportunities at school help to understand how changes are affecting education.  Issues that were considered very serious five years ago, such as bringing their own electronic devices to school, are now minor offenses due to changes in society with electronic devices.  Competency 7, stressed the importance of quality staff evaluation and development systems for the improvement of all staff members.  Examining the district’s staff development plan and identifying the correlation with the district’s mission, student performance, and staff evaluations helped me further understand that all aspects of the district’s programs are interrelated and that each needs to reinforce the other systems in place.  Quality education requires quality teachers and support from the administration and board.  Competency 8, applying effective leadership and management for district budgeting, financial management, personnel, use of resources and technology was the area that I learned the most.  Understanding the major duties of office personnel, the process of requisitioning equipment and time management were all very beneficial.  The main area of growth for me was in the area of budgeting.  The planning and management of the budget, understanding more about how the state funds school districts and the effect the budget has on the overall educational process for a school district has helped me realize that funding drives everything.  Appropriate money allocation and management is vital to providing an education that meets the needs of all students.  I hope the state addresses the funding issues facing our state and properly takes care of our most important resource by providing them with the necessary resources for preparing them for their future outside of school.  Competency 9, leadership and management of the school facilities for a safe effective learning environment focused on the physical quality of our schools.  School safety will always be an important issue on our campuses.  The activities that investigated the supporting areas of school life like the cafeteria and buses helped me to learn these areas are vital to the school organization.  School and student safety concerns do not stop when students leave the classroom.  Proper attention needs to be given to all auxiliary areas of a campus to enhance the overall educational process.  Competency 10, organization, decision-making, and problem solving skills relate to federal and state requirements emphasized how important decisions made by the superintendent requires thinking about more than what is happening locally.  Interviewing the superintendent helped me to understand more about many of the requirements associated with the responsibilities of being a school superintendent.  The ability to work with the school board, community members, school personnel, and effectively communicating with all groups is extremely important to be an effective school superintendent.  A major portion of a superintendent’s time is dealing with problem solving.  Understanding state and federal requirements, desires of the school board and community are necessary skills for the school superintendent.  The superintendent is a position that requires more from an individual than any other position within a school district.  The internship activities, courses, and logs have provided many lessons and experiences about the superintendent position.  Learning about the necessary skills needed to be successful has provided me with greater understanding of what it means to be a superintendent.