District Administration - May 2012 - (Page 47)

SPECIAL RECRUITMENT REPORT a new Chief The ins and outs of this tiresome process can be simple if you know these local and national options. hen the Allendale (N.J.) School District approached Michael Osnato last year for assistance in finding a new superintendent, Osnato knew it could be a challenge. Although the search firm he founded and runs, Leadership Advantage, had completed 80 school executive searches in New Jersey, a governor-mandated pay cap on superintendent salaries, based on district enrollment, had shrunk candidate pools already affected by retiring baby boomers. “The fiscal incentive to become a superintendent, in some places, is not what it was,” he says, “so you have to be ambitious, and you have to want to take a chance on leadership to become a superintendent.” When Osnato conducted Allendale’s previous search in 2004, he received 60 applicants; in 2011, there were only 30. Though New Jersey’s salary cap is unusual, nearly all districts have requirements, fiscal and otherwise, that make finding a The CriTiCal Task of hiring w By Lindsay Oishi new superintendent challenging at best. Promoting an existing employee, though straightforward, is not always the best option for filling the chief seat. Assistant or deputy superintendents may not have sufficient experience in the area most important to the district, says Ricardo Medina, who directs the Superintendent Leadership Academy of the Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents. Furthermore, many smaller districts do not have assistant superintendents, and other senior administrators, such as tenured principals, may not want to leave secure positions for contract work under a higher degree of public scrutiny. Interim superintendents, hired to lead the district while the school board finds a replacement, have become a popular option in the last decade, says Dan Domenech, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators. “It’s not uncommon that the interim superintendent winds up get- The Cleveland (Ohio) Metropolitan School District hired Proact Search in early 2011 to find a new CEO after Eugene Sanders retired. They hired Eric Gordon, the district’s chief academic officer. Above, he sits with students in the Euclid Park School grand opening in September of 2010. www.DistrictAdministration.com May 2012 47 http://www.DistrictAdministration.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - May 2012

District Administration - May 2012
Contents
From the Editor
Letters
News Update
Sustainability Update
Conversations
Administrator Profile
District Profile
Problem/Solution
Product Focus
Digital Reading Empowers Students
The Critical Task of Hiring a New Chief
Hard Acts to Follow
Leading the Way
Sally Reis & Joe Renzulli
CIO News
Not Your Mother’s Student Information System
Professional Opinion
Noteworthy Books
New Products
Going Mobile

District Administration - May 2012