Wichita should move quickly to hire superintendent, expert says

Answering a few key questions about the state of Wichita schools could make it easier to pinpoint what kind of superintendent the district needs, a national official told school board members on Monday.

“When we have the answer to those questions, then I think it becomes easier to figure out what kind of person you need to operate in that context,” Michael Casserly said.

“To take you where you say you want to go and to meet the challenges that you can predict that you’re going to have.”

Casserly, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Council of Great City Schools, led board members through a conversation about their priorities and goals as they prepare to search for John Allison’s replacement.

Allison recently accepted a job as superintendent in Olathe. He is expected to serve in Wichita through the end of this school year.

Casserly spent about 90 minutes leading discussion on three general questions:

▪ What context – political, financial, demographic and educational – is the district in, and how do you foresee that context evolving over the next few years?

▪ What do you want the school district to look like in five or 10 years?

▪ What kind of challenges and issues can you predict that the next superintendent is going to face?

Board members plan to meet in a special session at 3 p.m. on Friday to discuss Casserly’s report, as well as the findings from an online survey conducted recently. They will use the information to craft a profile for what they’ll seek in a new superintendent.

Casserly said one of the district’s greatest strengths is recent stability in its leadership ranks. Allison, who started in Wichita in 2009, has one of the longest-running tenures among urban school superintendents, he said.

“The fact that this board has such a record of stability and keeps its superintendents and supports them and … works together with them as a team, even when you have disagreements, will speak more loudly to any possible candidate than almost anything you could possibly do,” Casserly said.

“I have never seen an urban district make progress by constantly turning over its leadership.”

Wichita will have some competition in its search, he said. About a dozen urban school districts nationwide have superintendent vacancies, including Omaha; Portland, Ore.; St Paul, Minn.; Cincinnati; Fresno, Calif.; Sacramento, Calif.; and Birmingham, Ala.

Consequently, the Wichita board “probably ought to move expeditiously on its search process,” Casserly said.

Board members voiced several challenges facing the district, including employee morale, achievement gaps, math instruction and budget issues that have taken a toll on board members, district staff and the community.

“It’s been a pretty brutal process,” board member Joy Eakins said of recent budget cuts. “We’re not emotionally over last year yet, and we’re already talking about this year.”

Board member Lynn Rogers said employee morale has become a bigger concern in recent years.

“We have a very strong professional teaching staff, but they’re tired and overworked and beat up from all different levels,” he said. “So that’s something that somebody stepping in has to realize.”

Rogers also noted that Allison has been filling the role of chief operating officer as well as superintendent for more than four years.

Casserly raised his eyebrows. “My advice would be: Hire yourself a COO,” he said. “The superintendent has his hands full.”

It’s crucial that board members know how they want the district to progress, Casserly said, and to make that clear to applicants.

“This is the point where urban school systems typically get tripped up,” he said. “Sometimes when they’ll bring in a new superintendent, it means changing the agenda or changing the direction … because the board hasn’t been real clear with itself what it wanted.”

This story was originally published January 23, 2017 at 9:18 PM with the headline "Wichita should move quickly to hire superintendent, expert says."