Letter to the Shaker Heights Community on the Search for a Superintendent

An Open Letter to the Shaker Heights Community:

With Dr. Freeman’s retirement when his contract expires in July 2013, our district must commence a search for the leader who will build on the legacy of stability, progress and preservation of the best of Shaker’s traditions of excellence and diversity.  This is the opportunity to select the leader who will be charged with helping to set a vision for world-class education in the 21^st century, manage the district through difficult fiscal times and accelerate our progress towards closing the achievement gap.  As a community, this is time to pull together to offer our support for Board of Education members during this search process and making the decision about our next superintendent. 
 
As we have written many times before, in our Shaker community we are blessed with parents and community members with vast talents, networks, insights, ideas and energy, which are underutilized by the district.  This superintendent search presents an excellent opportunity for the Board to demonstrate a new level of transparency and engagement.  The strongest future for Shaker Schools is one in which parents and community members are fully informed and engaged in support of the direction of the district.  Meaningful input and engagement in the selection of the next leader is a critical step.
 
We believe the superintendent search should include:

• The immediate creation of a search advisory committee.  Committee to include administrators, teachers, parents, students and other community members.  Committee to be involved in all facets of the search process beginning with the selection of a search firm and continuing through input on the finalists.  Advisory committee members could sign a confidentiality agreement. Committee would work with Board to develop a process to seek public input to generate a statement about priority characteristics and skills of the next superintendent.
• A variety of mechanisms for authentic public input and genuine engagement in the search process including public forums, online survey and suggestion box, and other targeted outreach to seek input from all segments of the community.
• Development of a position profile with selection criteria, which is discussed and accepted by the Board at a public board meeting.
• The search advisory committee views applications received and gives input to be considered as the Board determines a short list of candidates.
• Final candidates meet the public with a mechanism for public feedback to the Board and advisory committee.

We stand ready to support the Board in this process in any way we can and we hope the community will as well.  We understand that at this stage the Board members would welcome any suggestions that would expand their network of individuals to contact about interest in the position or for referrals of strong candidates.
 
Sincerely,
 
ONE Shaker Board Members -
Jennifer Adams, David Crampton, Mark Joseph, Sharon Midura, Kurt Miller, Normella Walker

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