The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
The characteristics and traits that should be embodied by the next schools Superintendent will be discussed at the June 19 Board of Education meeting.
Information gleaned from an online survey, meetings with parents, board members, faculty and staff, township officials and the community at large has been distilled by the district’s search firm, Hazard, Young & Attea Associates. Firm representatives will brief the school board in executive session before the meeting, and will later make a public presentation during the meeting.
Judging from comments made by attendees at the parents and community sessions, the next Superintendent should be:
- A leader with a “strong backbone”
- A “uniter”
- Someone who makes well-grounded decisions and is approachable
- Someone who is not controlled by the Board of Education
- A strategic thinker
- A good communicator
- Someone who can deal with the cultural issues fostered by the township’s diversity
HY&A’s Lee Nunery told parents at their June 10 session that finding a Superintendent for the district will not be easy.
Judging from the discussions he’d had with various people in the town and the district, Nunery said, “This is going to be a hard job to do.”
“There’s so much healing and repair that has to be done,” he said, a reference to the discord that accompanied the ouster of former schools Superintendent Edward Seto earlier this year.
“Lots of districts are looking for people,” Nunery said. “This is more of a buyer’s market.”
He said that about 15 people had expressed interest in the position so far.
“That’s a good sign,” Nunery said.
“We want to make sure we attract as many people as we can,” he said.
As of June 11, Nunery said, there were 535 responses to the online survey.
The board meets at 7:30 p.m. in the Franklin Middle School cafeteria.
