Do We Need an Educator as a Superintendent or a Business Person?

The Board of Education is in the search process for a new superintendent of schools. This week we received a report that said at the top, and I will quote: 

“Windsor High School Final Adequate Yearly Progress Status, 2010-11 School Year: Not Achieved.”  Other people may discuss that issue. I want to ask all to reconsider and re-think the position of superintendent.

I am going to throw out an idea that should be considered by all stakeholders!  I understand that the Superintendent needs to be state certified for the position.  It is time to change that thinking because it is obviously not working for us, or many other CT towns and cities.

We need to think…. NO, we must think outside the box!

It is time to hire a superintendent for what the position really is, an executive manager who knows how to run an almost $70M a year business. Someone that knows how to motivate the employees towards excellence, manages quality control, lives within budgets, and communicates well with customers and stakeholders. Someone that understands accountability has no pre-set ideas and can make the difficult decisions.

Some will say, no you must be an educator or be able to teach a class.  Why I ask? Think about it, the superintendent of schools is not in a classroom.  They do not directly teach any students.  Why must they be a teacher?  They do need to be excellent motivators and managers. 

Consider this: Does the President of a small manufacturer with 500 employees, and a $70MM operation, and thousands of customers need to know how to design a product, run the lathe, sweep the floors, ship the product, answer the phone, market the product, do the accounting, sell the product, run quality control, write the paychecks, research future products, teach the classes on industrial processes, and wash the dishes in the lunch room? Does the President of Ford know how to do every job? The President of Apple, IBM, General Electric or United Technologies know how to do every job?

The answer is no!  The president needs to motivate people to excellence in all departments, require accountability, and have a vision of the future.  They must be able to demand accountability in a $70MM budget, and communicate with 500 employees, over 3,000 direct customers (students), and well over 5,000 indirect customers (parents and taxpayers), each a stakeholder.

So then why must we look for more of the same old superintendent thinking? Why not look for someone that is results-oriented. Most private sector managers are results-oriented, otherwise they would not have been managers.

What about curriculum? Shouldn’t a teacher be in charge? Windsor has several qualified people responsible for curriculum. I do not think the superintendent needs to be hands on. We are supposed to have the talent on the bench.

I would think that there are many mid and upper level managers that would fit the bill quite well especially in Today’s economy.  They may not be "educators"!  The candidate needs to be a motivated and motivational manager; we need a new CEdO, "Chief EDUCATION Officer!"

I think with wages for Superintendents running now close to over $200K per year, we should have a very large pool of candidates we can pick from. I am sure there are many managers who ran $50M to $100MM businesses looking for work or a career change or a major challenge. We need to find an excellent manager and motivator first and foremost.

I do see one problem. The Teachers union, that at times seems to protect mediocrity, and not promote excellence. A Manager wanting to make a change has to work with staff that will resist any change, union or non-union.  It is called human nature, people do not like change, and the only difference is in a union they can act together as a unit, frustrating change and accountability.  Maybe we should find someone that comes out of the auto industry or another unionized industry with experience in working with unions.  

What other positions can be converted to a CEdO?  The High School Principal with multiple Vice Principals?

Remember: the same people, doing the same things, in the same way, will not result in change. 

Remember to Vote for change on Nov. 8^th, and Vote Row B.

This first appeared in The Windsor Journal