On Board Online • Opinion • April 27, 2009

By William D. Silky 
and Suzanne Gilmour 

Having assisted New York State school boards in conducting searches for new superintendents for 20 years, we have noticed that many things have changed. School boards need to recognize these changes and update their search process to conduct a successful search.

In the late 1980s and into the early 1990s, it was not unusual to have applicant pools of 50, 60 or 70 candidates for most vacancies. For instance, in 1994 one client, the Glens Falls school district, attracted 94 applicants for its superintendency. During the past five years, our typical applicant pool size has ranged from approximately 20 to 30 interested individuals. Other search consultants have reported even fewer candidates. Recently, it was reported to us that a search only had three applicants.

Of course, decisions by the school board can affect the applicant pool size. For instance, the Oswego school board deliberately established extremely tight criteria (familiarity with and experience in Oswego County, willingness to reside in the district) and decided to just advertise locally. While the search resulted in the hiring of a highly qualified individual, the applicant pool size was exceptionally limited. Of course, an applicant pool of one is acceptable if the “right person” has submitted a vita!

Many districts are now choosing to conduct confidential searches. In its purest form, only the school board will interview candidates, with no stakeholder group involvement at all. Further, no candidate names are ever released to the local press. In at least one out-of-state district, candidates hand carried their paperwork into the board interview and when it was over they collected it and took it with them. This was to protect the paperwork from any FOIL request. While we do not believe nor do we recommend that it is necessary that school boards go to that extreme, it is very important today to protect the anonymity of highly qualified candidates.

Many individuals will not apply if they believe their candidacy will become public. When working with the Palmyra-Macedon school board a couple of years ago, a sitting superintendent applied. Despite our efforts to promote the necessity of ensuring confidentiality when we worked with all stakeholder groups and the press, his name became public. We had not even reached the deadline for applications when he called us to say he was withdrawing. To this day we don’t know how his name leaked out.

In previous years it was not unusual to have finalists be subject to public, open forums in which any stakeholder had the opportunity to ask questions of the candidates. While this is done in some cases today, it is much rarer.

Not only are applicant pools much smaller today, so too is the depth of experience of those in the pools. As a result, school boards today have to expect less experiential depth as sitting superintendents of those in the pool and need to determine which of the applicants has the greatest potential to be a successful superintendent in their specific district. (Editor’s Note: See Silky’s online article on this topic for Education Week at www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/ 07/16/43silky-com_web. h27.html# comments.)

In an earlier era, school administrators entered the superintendency at a younger age, hence it was not unusual to see school leaders with two, three or four superintendencies on their resume. And, for those who did not progress to larger districts, a 20-  or 25-year superintendent in a single district was fairly common. Today, first time superintendents in New York are approximately 50 years old and are unlikely to change districts before retirement.

Due to the lack of superintendent experience among candidates in applicant pools, school boards should be and are looking more closely at internal candidates to groom and promote to the superintendency. Two searches we conducted (Dryden and Bethlehem school districts) in the past year-and-a-half did exactly that, with excellent results.

It is not unusual today for incoming superintendents to make a higher salary that the outgoing superintendent. The basic principle of supply and demand has driven up superintendent salaries. Consequently, as boards of education discuss establishing salary parameters during the superintendent search process, they are often surprised today to learn that attracting good candidates, even inexperienced ones, necessitates advertising a salary beyond their expectations. This discussion is sometimes uncomfortable but must take place.

Finally, the gender make-up of superintendent search pools is becoming more balanced. In New York State we have made considerable strides to advance female candidates to the top administrative position in schools. Unfortunately, we cannot say the same about most under-represented groups of individuals. There is still a great need to support diverse candidates as the most highly qualified candidates for this top leadership position. Identifying and providing mentoring experiences for internal candidates is one way to help create a succession pipeline that gives future candidates the skills and experiences they will need to be successful in their search for the superintendency.

Considerable thought should go into the vacancy profile used in a superintendent search. It should reflect the skills, experiences, attributes and values that are congruent with those of the district while being open to a wide-range of candidates to enhance the size and quality of the applicant pool.

For suggestions on how to make the most of your next superintendent search, see the article below.

William Silky and Suzanne Gilmour are search consultants and professors of education administration at SUNY Oswego. Gilmour is also executive director of the New York State Association for Women in Administration. Contact Silky at WDSilky@aol.com.

Working with a search consultant 

By William Silky
and Suzanne Gilmour

The first step in most superintendent searches is selecting a search firm/consultant with whom the board is comfortable. The board should seek a consultant with a track record for hiring superintendents that stay a length of time. Notify unsuccessful search firms that they were not selected and perhaps provide a rationale.

Based on our experience as search consultants, we recommend the following steps: 

Recruitment

• Allow the search consultant or a designated board member to make all contact with candidates.
• Guard confidentiality of all names of those recruited and those who have applied.
• Create a profile for the new superintendent that lists the attitudes and skills that all board members view as important. Agree to compromise.
• Set ground rules for how often board members agree to read and respond to e-mail or other correspondence in connection with the search. 

 Interviews

• Ensure that all interview questions are behavior-based. Do not focus on what the candidate would do, but what has the individual has done in the past that could be modified or used for the current situation. See how well the candidate can answer questions as if she or he was the superintendent. How well does the person translate what he or she has done to this new position?
• For full-day interviews with finalists, it is no longer common nor sound practice to invite spouses to join the candidate for dinner with the board.
• Only make a site visit to the school district of the finalist being offered the position. Decide later if you wish to visit the second-choice person.

Making an offer

•  If a salary range is advertised, the board should be prepared to offer the top end of the range.
•  In today’s marketplace, boards should not necessarily expect to offer less for a new superintendent than the outgoing superintendent.
•  Regardless of individual concerns, the board should vote unanimously for the candidate to whom the position is being offered.