Education Support Services, the search firm seeking the next superintendent for the Saugus Union School District, shared its community input findings during a governing board meeting following a series of in-person meetings and an online survey.
ESS received insights from over 550 individuals through an online survey, focus groups, individual interviews, community forums and emails, according to the presentation given on the matter. As of Tuesday, 426 participated in the online survey, while 131 were a part of the focus groups, which included community forums like the one held at Bridgeport Elementary School on Feb. 19.
The presentation was given last week by ESS search advisors Steven Keller and Kelli Moors.
Among the education partners, the highest level of participation with the survey came from parents/guardians, and certificated staff as the second largest. Keller noted that the turnout of certificated staff was higher than usual but didn’t mean it was either a good or a bad thing.
Participants were given a number of leadership qualities they would like to see, and Moors and Keller advised participants to pick their top five they believed were the most important. Moors stated that their findings weren’t anything surprising, after hearing from community forums where many vocalized similar themes.
“Creates an atmosphere of trust,” was the top leadership quality, which received a vote of 84.7%, with “Knowledgeable about current practices around teaching and learning,” as the second with 72.3%, and “Forward thinker and open to new ideas” in third with a 51.2% vote.
For personal attributes, the top five rankings were honest and ethical, problem solver, approachable and personable, exceptional communicator, and inclusive: seeks broad input in making decisions.
“Approachable and personable, again that’s a fairly high number relatively. In education, teachers, principals, educators in general tend to be approachable, personable but clearly that’s something that this community both staff, parents, and the administration, they value that,” Moors said.
She added that in all searches she’s done, communicators are always in the top 5 of personal attributes but noted that 53.3% was a relatively high number. For experience and expertise, the top three ranked by critical importance were: teaching and learning, understanding school and community culture, and fiscal management.
Fiscal management received a 69% vote, which Moors stated was a low number: “The way we see that is that finance is important but the fact that folks don’t rank it at the top one or two shows that there’s confidence in the district’s financial strength management acumen,” Moors said.
In the engagement sessions, themes and trends found within district strengths were: Saugus pride, Saugus roots, students’ achievement and school awards, and commitment to help the new superintendent be successful.
“We think that this community is ready to welcome a newcomer and ready to walk the walk of embracing a new leader, and that was reassuring to hear, and we hope that’s reassuring for candidates,” Moors said.
For district challenges, themes and trends found were communication, managing crises, and relationship between the board and superintendent.
The data and insight collected will help ESS understand important needs and challenges to assist in providing a leadership profile for recruitment and provide a blueprint of essential actions for the newly hired superintendent.
Following the presentation, the governing board asked both Keller and Moors questions. Trustees Patti Garibay and Katherine Cooper were not present during Tuesday’s meeting.
Trustee Anna Griese stated that what the survey and forums found was not surprising. What she did notice within the presentation was that in district challenges, student behavior, which has been a reoccurring challenge for years now, wasn’t mentioned.
“It’s going to be, I think, a big task and for a new superintendent to come in and establish, you know, some new protocols and processes and really get in the classroom and see what’s actually happening,” Griese said.
Keller responded and stated that the student behavior challenge would fall under the crises section but acknowledged that the challenge could have been made clearer and ESS would plan on moving forward with communicating that challenge to possible candidates.
Trustee Christopher Trunkey was happy to see the community engagement turnout and asked if it was recommended to create a crisis communication exercise as part of the interview process.
Moors said that it wouldn’t be a bad idea. In the second round of the interview process, ESS can create a more specific set of questions with what the board wants to hear. In the past, ESS has included a writing exercise that can range from generic to district-specific.
Governing board President Matthew Watson was also happy to see the turnout in community input and “glad to hear that many of our education partners felt heard and well engaged,” he said.
Keller and Moors stated earlier in the presentation that they engaged with 35 students, all sixth graders, to get their input as well. In the slides of the presentation, it indicated zero.
Moors clarified that that section, under “voices of education partners,” reflected people who participated in the online survey. The students’ input was included in the engagement section of the presentation.
