Representatives Give Report on Search for School District Superintendent

By MADDY VITALE The Ocean City School District is getting closer to narrowing down what strengths and characteristics will be most important in a person to make them a viable candidate to become the next superintendent of schools. It is a process involving input from parents, students, educators, faculty, community stakeholders and others. During a Board of Education meeting Wednesday night, the public heard the status of the superintendent search. Six members of the Board of Education are on a superintendent search committee. In addition, the board hired Strategic Educational Advantage, or SEA, in the spring upon receiving the notification of former Schools Superintendent Dr. Kathleen Taylor’s retirement. Dr. Tom Baruffi is the interim superintendent. On Wednesday night, SEA representatives Frank Auriemma and Michael Kuchar presented some of the findings and spoke of how they are putting together an advertisement to go out when fine-tuned and once approved by the board. “As many of you know, since Dr. Taylor left, we are fortunate to have Dr. Baruffi. The board has been working hard and has a search committee,” Board of Education President Dr. Patrick Kane said. He noted that SEA is assisting the board. SEA representative Frank Auriemma, standing at right, presents his findings to the board. To help determine what qualities are most important to stakeholders, SEA held meetings with several different groups of parents, teachers, students, union representatives and members of the community in recent months. In addition, surveys were made available for anyone who would like to provide input. “We’ve done our focus groups. We (had) interviews and various stakeholder groups and we are now presenting our findings and our summary to formalize the profile,” explained Auriemma during a presentation to the board. The goal, SEA representatives said, is to compile a profile that will be written into a job announcement to be advertised that is as tight and specific to what the district seeks most in a superintendent. The survey gave top priorities to any quality that received an overall score of 90 percent or above. Among the important attributes people were looking for when answering the 768 survey responses were as follows: A person who will listen to the concerns of students, parents and staff is at the top of the list of priorities. Have expertise and knowledge of curriculum and instruction, believes every student can excel, prioritizes and is able to support a positive school climate were also high on the list. Encouraging growth and achievement in every student, and communicating with parents, students and the community were also major qualities. “We find communication is a big item,” Auriemma noted, adding that the surveys give a thumbnail sketch. Some survey results broken down. Kuchar walked the board and the audience through the results of the forums and interviews conducted by SEA. “We take many themes after thousands of comments from stakeholders,” he said. “It all started with the focus group and all of the stakeholders, board of trustees, faculty and staff, the Ocean City Education Association and school administration.” Some of the strengths of the district include what people said was a family feel among the community and the schools and a strong collaboration between the city and the school district, the public library, recreation, police and fire departments. The Wellness Centers at the schools also received high praise from the stakeholders as well as the activities, clubs, sports and other things offered by the district for students. Among the challenges the district is facing is declining enrollment in the elementary schools and escalating costs of Ocean City real estate. All groups desire more open and transparent communication. Board of Education member Jacqueline McAlister praised SEA representatives for their work. “These two gentlemen are superstars in the world of education, so thank you. I am excited we re-started the process,” she said of the search, adding that people have expressed interest in the position and have emailed her. Then she asked why so much work was going into the ad. “Don’t most look the same?” she asked. “Does the ad limit who applies?” “I am biased, because I see how a well-written profile makes all of the difference,” Kuchar responded, adding that there will be a real tight profile to base the ad on. Audience members listen to the presentation.