Domain I—Leadership of the
Educational Community – Competencies 1 - 4
Competency 1 Area:
The superintendent knows how to act with integrity, fairness,
and in an ethical manner in order to promote the success of all students.
The area of domain 1 is the one I
needed some experiences in because in my career as an athletic trainer I have
had to work with the community, but with a select group of students. The first component of competency 1 is being
an advocate for all students. In order
to enhance my knowledge in this area I met with my Superintendent and one thing
he recommended is learning more about all the special programs we offered in
our district. Therefore, I met with the
directors of all programs and discussed what special needs their student
populations had and how a Superintendent could reinforce and support these
needs. One of the most interesting
things I learned in this area included that we got out of a special education
co-op agreement and made the decision to support these students on our
own. By doing this we were able to
remove some students from special education that we misclassified and use the
funding to more adequately meet the needs of our students. The other components of competency 1 that
work together in my opinion involve ethic including modeling and promoting high
ethics, implementing policies to promote the educator code of ethics,
monitoring ethical issues, applying policies in a fair manner and interacting
with others in an ethical manner. This
was an interesting time for me to be working with my Superintendent as the
district had to remove two people for questionable behavior and he was in a
dispute with the school board. First, I
feel like he showed me how to act in an ethical manner in that he took the high
road when the board disagreed with his handling of the situation. He was very open and honest with me in
discussing these manners and I applaud him for how he handled this, in fact he
was asked to “retire early” when he refused to drop the investigation. This has taught me a valuable lesson in that
I have to stand for the things I believe in and there is no job worth
compromising my morals for, and any school board who thinks I would do that is
not one I want to work for. In addition,
in the area of monitoring the code of ethics I was able to work with the director
of technology in reviewing my district’s acceptable use policy and ensure we
had a policy that was current with the times of social media. As a leader in this district this also
required us to revisit components of the code of ethics to document we had
discussed these issues with our staff.
On a personal note on how I will monitor the ethical issues impacting
education I have been following the TexasISD website as well as joining the
TAASP organization. The combination of
this research and the events in my district have made me aware of how frequent
ethical issues occur in education and how it seems like these individuals are
truly shocked when they are discovered.
My experiences in education have taught me that students will not keep
things secret and those educators who have mde questionable decisions are
eventually discovered. As the leader of
a district it is important that I put measures in place to support employees in
their times of need. I am a people first
individual and I want to make sure I am on campuses, much like my Superintendent
has been. Doing this creates a
foundation of quality relationships with individuals and when they are in times
of need. The final portion of competency 1 involves interacting with all
stakeholders in an ethical manner. I am
fortunate to have worked with a Superintendent who was active in the community
and constantly attending events throughout the community as he allowed me to
accompany him on some of these trips and showed me how to be good at the
“political” aspect of leading a district as we are trusted with making
decisions that are best for students and the district.
Competency 2 Area:
The superintendent knows how to shape district culture by
facilitating the development, articulation, implementation, and stewardship of
a vision of learning that is shared and supported by the educational community.
In the area of competency 2 I believe I have made tremendous strides in
improving my knowledge and application.
I remember back to the first time I heard a principal discuss the
development of a vision and mission. As
mentioned in the competency there is a responsibility in creating a culture of
high expectation and rigor as well as developing a shared vision that focuses
on the success of students utilizing common planning with constituents. As a district we have had three campuses on
state improvement required based on the PBMAS ratings. That being said the Superintendent has
allowed me to be actively involved in the review and modification of our
district goals, vision and mission. This
was a unique experience in that as a small district with four campuses you
would think this would be easily accomplished.
However, when you get four principals in one room thinking about the
needs of their own campus and trying to unite them around a common goal is more
difficult than I anticipated and this is where the Superintendent’s role in the
process becomes clear. He was able to
keep the meeting moving in the right direction and help these individuals see
the big picture and settle on goals and objectives for the district. The result of this has been a commitment to higher
level academic courses at the secondary level and higher rigor in all
classrooms through the implementation of the Fundamental Five. Part of my responsibility is leading some
professional development activities to help our teachers improve instruction. This experience taught me that teaching adults
takes more prep work and is often more time consuming but is necessary to
ensure that district plans are implemented with fidelity. The next step in this process of shaping
culture, and part of competency 2 involves the Superintendent monitoring the
climate, the achievement of goals and objectives, as well as ensuring we
allocate resources to adequately implement the districts goals. When discussing these things to with my
Superintendent we decided one of the best ways I could assist with this was to
help oversee the high school allotment budget which would include some
professional development funds. When we
approached the end of the first semester we as district leaders had to make
some honest assessments about how we have done about achieving the goals we had
set out. In doing this we also had to
restructure some our academic programs that were not as successful at reaching
students. We reviewed the data and saw
we had a different subpopulation that was struggling, which was ESL
students. Therefore, the Superintendent
decided to request additional funding to pay for three additional ESL
aides. As I become a Superintendent this
was a good lesson in that we have to have a good pulse on what is going on in
the district so we can make needed adjustments as we go to meet the needs of
our students. This brings me to the
final four components of competency 2 asking the Superintendent to be aware of
trends in education which I feel I have done during my internship by
investigating programs that can help our students and in turn presenting these
findings to the school board in an effort to add funding to support some of
these programs including AVID. Finally,
competency 2 involves encouraging innovative thinking, promoting awareness to
diversity, and supporting special needs students. I feel by allowing me to lead the AVID
program the Superintendent modeled allowing risk taking and supporting all
students. As a person who received
services under special education I knew the importance of this but chose to
enhance my understanding by attending the TCASE presentation on special
education law. While I learned in this
time competency 2 requires my continued attention and learning.
Competency 3 Area:
The superintendent knows how to communicate and collaborate
with families and community members, respond to diverse community interests and
needs, and mobilize community resources to ensure educational success for all
students.
In order to be a successful district
that educates students in a an effective and efficient manner there needs to be
consistent, meaningful and collaborative discussion between all
stakeholders. Part of this
responsibility lies in the Superintendent competency 3 to be an effective communicator
supporting public education, a good public relations program, identifying
opinion leaders, establishing partnerships to strengthen the district
goals. As a person who previously worked
in a large district I had never seen them work hard to get these things done,
but in the small district I work in now this is much more challenging. There is not a lot of businesses in our
district and gathering support in these tough economic times has shown more and
more with each passing year. To combat
this the Superintendent is constantly in the community and trying to build
positive relationships with the four to five people in our district that have a
large amount of money. While this has
helped gain support for some initiative this has also been a challenge as you
strive to maintain ethical behavior as people who give money sometimes have an
expectation of a return in their investment.
This is one of the strengths of my Superintendent as he is clear in his
desire to support the needs of the students and the district but not at the
expense of his morals. One thing I was
able to accomplish during my internship time was to visit the new owners of two
businesses in our district and ask them to support our programs at the
district. By communicating with then
early in the process with a written request for support I feel we have
established a relationship that will last for years to come. The next section of competency 3 involves
gathering input from the stakeholders of the district, work with a diverse group
of individuals to help students be successful, and gain support within the
community. The prime example for me
within the internship was when I was charged with leading the implementation of
an extracurricular drug testing. As a
new program this required me to educate the community as well as hold community
meetings to answer questions and discuss the program. While these meetings were often times lengthy
and involved answering the same questions over and over they were a learning
experience. First, it taught me how to
handle a difficult crowd and gain support for a new program. It required me to be prepared, and consistent
when answering questions from the community.
One of the main things I did was to prepare informational materials and
placing them on the website so that anyone could access the information so when
the meetings occurred they could be prepared with questions, and I appreciated
being the one that people can turn to for information. The final component of competency 3 is one
that I have had the least experience with involved dealing with the media which
in this day and age is critical to getting our message to the community. I visited with the Superintendent about how
he gets important messages out through the media and to the community and he
explained the process that each major station in the area provide the
Superintendent with an access code that they use when he needs information to
be broadcast. Overall if I am the leader
of any organization, including being a Superintendent, communication is the
key. People within the district and the
community need to know that the Superintendent can be trusted for their word
and their communication with all stakeholders is how that is established.
Competency 4 Area:
The superintendent knows how to respond to and influence the
larger political, social, economic, legal, and cultural context, including
working with the board of trustees, to achieve the district's educational
vision.
For competency 4, which is the final
competency in the first domain the focus is on how the Superintendent can have
a larger influence on the world around them and had the largest number of areas
that I identified as needing improvement for me personally. The struggles I have revolve around the need
of the Superintendent to be familiar with and respond to the local, state and
national political system. The reason I
feel this area is still in need of improvement is because I have not spent much
time on the national level of politics on education. The one lesson I did learn from the
Superintendent is to be aware of the political around your district. One of the things we did together during my
internship was to review the tax rates and revenue information and he
recommended that when I am a Superintendent I attend the local county tax
meetings. The second portion of
competency 4 involves defining roles for the board and superintendent, working
with the board on solving problems. I
feel these things are items I will gain more experience with as I get a Superintendent
job, but I also need to be aware of what behaviors lead to productive
Superintendent-Board relationships. To
gain some insight into how this relationship is forged I reviewed the board
manual. As the leader of the team of
eight it is important that I as a Superintendent, provide knowledge and support
to the board as the leader. During my
internship I was able to attend one of the team of eight activities aimed at
training new board members. These types
of activities are important in helping school boards be successful. As my Superintendent told me we must remember
that the people who serve on school boards are often not educators and it is
our responsibility to ensure they have the information necessary to make
informed decisions. This is another
example of why communication between the Superintendent and board is so
important especially when there are new board members elected as they do not
come to the board with the knowledge of what has been occurring on the
board. I witnessed this personally
during my internship as I presented the drug testing information. The presentation and discussion for possible
action began before the election and those members were onboard but neglected
to take action. Thus, there was a period
of time when we had to revisit the information and catch the new members up so
an action item could be voted on. The
last two components of competency 4 involve protecting the rights of students
as well as recommending policies to improve student performance. As an athletic trainer I have always been
aware of the sensitivity of student rights and as a leader I need to make sure
I am following the legal guidelines in protecting teacher’s rights as
well. On the lines of recommending
policies to impact student performance I was able to take over the AVID program
during my internship. This program had
been in my district for five years but showed little progress and none of the
intended results. This meant I had an uphill climb in selling this improvement
plan to the district and the board. Of
all these four competencies in Domain I as a growing leader a lot of the
improvement will come in the form of one the job training as it involves
dealing with boards and constituents. I
am glad to have completed my internship with a Superintendent who was willing
to let me take some projects and use them as examples of growth in leadership
and show me I have what it take to be a successful Superintendent.
DOMAIN II—INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP
– COMPETENCIES 5 - 7
Competency 5 Area:
The superintendent knows how to facilitate the planning and
implementation of strategic plans that enhance teaching and learning; ensure
alignment among curriculum, curriculum resources, and assessment; use the
current accountability system; and promote the use of varied assessments to
measure student performance.
Competency 5 focuses on curriculum
and measuring student success. In
today’s education we are educational leaders are ultimately judged by the
academic success of the schools in our district. Therefore, it is no longer good enough for a
Superintendent to be a good person but they must be a curriculum and
accountability expert or at least have someone they trust in the curriculum
department. The Superintendent needs to
understand curricular pedagogy, and ensure decisions to optimize student
learning, ensuring proper alignment. As
mentioned earlier during my internship I was on the committee that reviewed the
committee to reassess the curriculum we were using with the assistance of the
curriculum department. This was the
first opportunity for me to look at data with the assistance of an expert and
then use the information to make educated decisions about the future. Part of the process is outline in competency
5 is using the data to determine student needs and make that the driving force
behind the decisions we make. Once again
I addressed this in my internship by helping choose the tracts we would offer
under the new house bill 5 graduation requirements. This experience led me to realize that the
Superintendent needs to have constant communication with the principals of the
campuses for more detailed information than is available on a simple
report. During the internship I was
offered the opportunity to attend some of these meetings and with as busy as
the Superintendent gets I now know why they meet with the campus leaders on a
regular basis. The next section of
competency 5 deals with the Superintendent ensuring technology is integrated
into the curriculum. During my
internship I was able to work with the technology director in ensuring our
technology use policies were in place so that we could implement additional
technologies in the classroom. One of
those initiative was to implement a bring your own device policy with our
students with a plan to move to a district provided device for all high school
students. As important to the curricular
decisions is the Superintendent’s support of extracurricular and co-curricular
programs and ensuring all staff members are knowledgeable on things such as
accountability and measures of student performance. Part of my internship involved finding ways
to expand our extracurricular programs to meet the needs and interests of our
specific student populations. I am happy
to report that with a change in leadership and a value added to these programs
our student participation numbers.
Finally, although I have not done much in the internship to expand
teacher knowledge of accountability it is in the plan for this semester that I
will be meeting with teachers to discuss their classes performance on common
assessments established by the curriculum department. Since I have had some
experience writing a curriculum this will be the component that will help me
model learning and leadership in ensuring our compliance with accountability
expectations.
Competency 6 Area:
The superintendent knows how to advocate, promote, and
sustain an instructional program and a district culture that are conducive to
student learning and staff professional growth.
Competency 6 overall highlights for
me a goal in my career and why I chose to pursue a career in educational
administration and that is to help students and teacher alike grow and
improve. I feel that my time as an
athletic trainer is what attracts me to the facets of this competency in that I
have spent the majority of my life to this time helping others and I have a
passion for helping other improve. The
first part of this competency involves motivational strategy to encourage
others to strive for the vision of the district. This can be especially challenging since
educators and in the field for a variety of reasons and they need to commit to
the vision of the district. My
Superintendent knew we had a lot of changes this year as we increased the
expectations of our teachers and students and he took a unique approach to the convocation
this year inviting a drum corp to present and each person had a drum and they
reinforced that if we all drum the same beat it sounds a lot better and we can
get more accomplished. This helped me
in my internship as I presented the AVID improvement plan to the campus
principals because they knew it had the support of the district and it was part
of our vision and mission. The second
portion of competency 6 involves the Superintendent facilitate classroom
management using research based practices, encourage high engagement, initiate
district improvement efforts, addressing the needs of all stakeholders in the
district, and establishing a process of measuring data to measure progress and
improvement. I feel I contributed to these
efforts during my internship in growing the AVID program which is research
based best practices aimed at improving the delivery of instruction and student
achievement. We have made great strides
in this area this school year doubling our AVID trained staff as well as
doubling our AVID student enrollment. I
feel that since the AVID system looks to identify “middle ground” students and
challenge them academically which addressed our needs of the district and led
to improvement as mentioned in competency 6.
As far as data analysis and use this was reinforced by the Fundamental
Five program which talks about common assessment and how to properly use this
data. I was fortunate as an intern to be
included in the team that reviewed these ideas and developed a district
assessment and data review calendar.
Once we have this review completed we can meet with teacher individually
to improve instruction using data. The
remaining portion of competency 6 deals with having a knowledge of special
programs and allowing for instructional services and programs for these
students, the effective and efficient deployment of resources to meet the needs
of students, developing organization wide plans for improving teaching and learning, and creating
an environment where all students can learn.
For these components I believe it is important that we help our staff
realize what the make-up of our student population is and the specific needs
they bring with them to school. As a
district of nearly 80% low socioeconomic status they come to use needing a lot
of support and compassion as well as educational deficiencies we continue to
address with vertical alignment. While
working side by side with my Superintendent I was able to actively work with
our new hires in providing them background on our students and community as
well as being involved in training them on strategies for teaching the
difficult student. I also have worked on the committee to improve
our ESL program which is the population we have with the most need. Personally this has been rewarding in that I
have seen student growth and improved relations between teachers and
students. I feel the time I have worked
in these areas have helped prepare me to be a leader that respects and grows
all students.
Competency 7 Area:
The superintendent knows how to implement a staff evaluation
and development system and select appropriate models for supervision and staff
development to improve the performance of all staff members.
The
final component of Domain II is competency 7 which addresses staff development
and evaluation and having procedures in place to ensure we are pushing for
improvement of all staff. Fortunately my
Superintendent and I have similar ideas about staff improvement in that we feel
that all staff should identify some short and long term goals that they feel
will help them become not only better teachers, but also better people. To begin this expectation it is important
that the Superintendent models life-long learning. Therefore, I have spent this time in the
internship learning what types of activities Superintendents can attend. At the advice of my Superintendent I attended
the TCASE presentation on special education law and he began sharing emails with
me form state agencies regarding legislation such as house bill 5. I feel like these learning opportunities
allowed me to share the knowledge with others in my district to improve their
knowledge of upcoming legislation and what changes we need to make to comply
with. The next section of competency 7
involves the development of a professional development plan that identifies and
addresses areas of need, using adult learning theories, and improving the
knowledge of staff. During my internship
I was permitted to work with the curriculum department as they chose
professional development activities and planned their delivery across the
district. The major professional
development activity that we chose for this school year was the Fundamental
Five and Cornell Note taking across the district. I was an attendee for the Fundamental Five
program and I developed the Cornell Note training. Personally, I felt the Cornell Note training
needed to be delivered in small group instruction. Therefore, I took a group of teachers to
training and asked them to share this information they learned within their
department on how this strategy could be implemented in their curricular area. This strategy has been particularly effective
at reaching difficult teachers as they were more receptive to the information
coming from a peer. I believe that using
this approach has allowed us to see significant gains in the implementation of
this strategy since using this approach.
The remainder of competency 7 deals with the Superintendent facilitating
learning, recruiting and evaluating staff, and supporting a climate aimed at
improved performance. The way I learned
about these topics in my internship was through my assignment to the District
Director position of AVID program. In
this position I was responsible for coordinating and leading the summer
professional development for the personnel selected to help implement the AVID
system. Secondly, I have evaluated the
teachers we currently have in place in the program and through consistent
classroom observation have been able to make personnel recommendations for next
school year as we look to expand the program.
The way I have supported the climate it to celebrate the things we are
doing in the AVID program so all stakeholders know what we are doing to improve
instruction and student achievement. I
would say this portion of the competency is the most difficult to master. It takes time to get good at having
meaningful conversations with people about their job performance. I learned from my Superintendent how
important documentation is in the process of helping staff improve or making
the decision that they will not continue working in the district. Moving forward I need to continue learning
about principal evaluations and get more versed in the Superintendent
evaluation tool. It is critical when
beginning a job that I know what the expectations are so I can make a
commitment and plan to meet or exceed these expectations.
DOMAIN III—ADMINISTRATIVE
LEADERSHIP – COMPETENCIES 8 – 10
Competency 8 Area:
The superintendent knows how to apply principles of effective
leadership and management in relation to district budgeting, personnel,
resource utilization, financial management, and technology application.
Competency 8 is the first competency
in Domain III which focuses on the Superintendent’s ability to lead others, and
in the area of competency 8 the focus in on budget, finance and technology
management. The first section dealing
with the budget asks the Superintendent to establish procedure to manage the
budget, work with the school board to develop the budget, facilitate the audit,
and establish procedures for financial reporting. As I have heard throughout my career, money
is one of the leading causes of educators losing their jobs. During my internship I have been responsible
for overseeing the athletic budget, AVID budget and high school allotment
budget. This has provided me an
opportunity to work with the Superintendent, Chief Financial Officer,
Accountant and School Board on the development, justification and presentation
of the proposed budgets. Equally as
important as a learning experience has been the process of reconciling
purchases. In an effort to improve transparency
within our district all purchases have also been presented to the school board
on a monthly basis for review. The more
I interact with the school board the more I realize how important the
relationship is between the Superintendent and the board. As this relationship weakened in my district
it was apparent in the frequent questions regarding expenditures and personnel
decisions. The strained relationship was
a leading cause of the Superintendent being offered an early retirement
package. The second portion of
competency 8 involves the use of resources to achieve the district mission,
personnel decision making, managing time to enhance operations, using
technology to enhance operations, following legal components of resource
management and finally forecasting for future planning. The important thing to remember is that the
mission is a reference point and should be referenced when managing time,
people and money. Everything we do and
the decisions we make should be aligned with the goals and mission established
by the Superintendent and district leadership.
Once this is done we can then further justify expenditures by making
sure the time and technology we have makes our operations more efficient. During the time I have served in my
internship I think the Superintendent had been progressive in these areas. The campus improvement plans were completed
earlier in the year and they were required to support the district mission as
well as have budgetary funds to support them.
District wide the Superintendent pushed for improved technology to make
us more efficient this included security cameras district wide and wireless
internet throughout the district. This
has allowed for the implementation of programs such as bring your own device to
help reinforce instruction and engage students in the classroom. As far as future planning I have begun
working on this as well with the district office. We have been looking at recommended ratios to
determine staffing formulas, and budgets.
By doing this we can adequately meet the needs of our students and
prepare the school board for increased expenditures as our student population
continues to increase in the lower grades.
I have witnessed in attending board meetings that they seem to have a
lot of budget amendments for personnel as the positions were not built in the
original budget creating animosity between the board and district
personnel. These experiences have
prepared me to lead a district with transparency and input from stakeholders
which I feel adequately addresses major components of competency 8.
Competency 9 Area:
The superintendent knows how to apply principles of
leadership and management to the district's physical plant and support systems
to ensure a safe and effective learning environment.
In the area of competency 9 the
focus is on facilities that meet the needs of the district and ensures student
safety. The first two components involve
planning for facilities that support the district’s mission and ensuring the
physical plant is efficient and effective manner. This topic in our district has garnered a lot
of attention because we are considering the presentation of a bond issue and
remodeling an existing facility to provide for some career readiness course
that will help us to be in compliance with the house bill 5 requirements. The presentations that were made to the
school board on these issues during my internship were met with mixed
results. We have some older buildings
that have not been maintained properly and with a little work could be useful
in meeting the needs of our students.
The reason I think progress has been slow is the change in leadership we
have experienced on our campuses and in the district over the last three
years. Whenever there is a change in
leadership there is a change in perspective and it slows down progress. I have always valued the contributions of the
physical plant personnel and during my internship I wanted to work closely with
the director of this department to learn more about how they plan and address
concerns throughout the district. In an
interview with this person I learned that there workers are often certified in
a trade and safe the district al lot of time and money by being able to
complete a myriad of jobs and fix a variety of problems. He told me the most important thing the
Superintendent has done for his department is to treat them respectfully and
recognize their contributions in front of all school personnel. As a Superintendent I want to make sure I
value all personnel in the district in how I interact with them and treat them. The next section of competency 9 involves how
the Superintendent addresses safety concerns or emergencies, and developing a
plan for these situations. These
situations have gained more attention in recent years with the rash of school
shootings and intruder incidents. As a
parent I want to believe that when I drop my students off at school they will
be safe for their time there and I think we owe it to our students and their
parents to take steps in that direction.
During my internship I learned the most about how a Superintendent
responds to emergencies in the time when there were a large number of tornados
in our area. The night before we had
seen a mile wide tornado within miles of our district and as the day progressed
the conditions were right and predictions of a possible tornado. We quickly gathered district leaders at the
district office and reviewed all the information in an effort to make a
decision on whether to send students home early. Among the factors we had to consider was if
someone would be home to care for these students. In the end we decided to end school early,
but I learned a valuable lesson about considering all options as the school may
be safer for many students in the event of a disaster because in a small town
we could mobilize the most resources if need be. The last portion of competency 9 addresses
the auxiliary programs of a district including child nutrition, nursing, and
transportation. Without these programs
we could not help our students get to school and be healthy once they are there. These individuals are often overlooked, but
when I was charged with leading PK-12 summer school I saw the importance of
these departments. I became familiar
with documenting number of students fed to ensure adequate funding and in the
event of an audit we could justify expenses which before I was unfamiliar with
the legal aspects of these programs, but am glad I learned in preparation of a
career in Superintendent leadership.
Competency 10 Area:
The superintendent knows how to apply organizational,
decision-making, and problem-solving skills to comply with federal and state
requirements and facilitate positive change in varied contexts.
The final Superintendent competency
is competency 10 and it deals with the ability of a Superintendent to be
familiar with state and federal requirements when making decisions. The first part of competency 10 discusses the
Superintendent’s ability to delegate responsibility to help attain district
goals. Although at times it seems like
the Superintendent is on their own in leading the district when difficult
decisions need to be made this does not have to be the case. I will use the model I saw my Superintendent
take and that is to surround himself with competent individuals with expertise
in their area and allow them to do their job.
If it wasn’t for him acting this way I probably would not have been able
to complete all he activities I did during my internship. The next portion of component 10 addresses
the Superintendent’s ability to use data to make informed decisions, use
problem solving skills when making decisions, and using strategies to work well
with others to build relationships to support change and gathering support for
the needed changes while accounting for political factors impacting change. In this day and age in education we have a
tremendous amount of data at our disposal, but it is meaningless if we do not
know what to do with it. As the lead
learner in a district we must be able to use this data but also be able to
explain it to others so they can use the data to benefit them as well. This is one thing I believe I definitely end
the internship with more knowledge of as my Superintendent took the time to
show me data not only related to academics but also in relation to property
values and tax collections. These pieces
of information are important for the Superintendent to know as they make
educated decisions in planning for the future.
As the economy and property values fluctuate it has an impact in the
amount of funding the district will receive in each biennium budget. The final components in the competency deal
with the ability to build relationships and unite people behind needed change
to improve instruction and student achievement.
For a Superintendent who is fortunate to be in a district for an
extended period of time this is an especially unique challenge because they
have school board changes in their time this is exactly what happened in my
district during my internship. When the
most recent election occurred it became clear that there was a lot of work to
be done. To address this my
Superintendent hosted several team of eight trainings which I was able to
attend some of as well as taking the board to the Texas School Board Convention
in an effort to unify the team and create a foundation to develop a working
relationship. Ultimately all his efforts
were unsuccessful because they couldn’t get past their efforts to remove him
from the Superintendent position. This
still ended up being a learning experience for me in relation to competency 10
in that once he had tried everything he could he had to realize the politics
involved would prevent him from continuing in his position and he got what he
could to retire early. If I am fortunate
to be a Superintendent as long as he is I know I will probably encounter a
similar situation as the average tenure of a Superintendent is three
years. I am glad to be close to an
individual who showed me how to handle this difficult situation with pride and
dignity. I feel blessed to have had this
man lead me through my internship time and I learned a lot of lessons but this
was the most important to not compromise your morals or ethics for anything
even if it costs you your job. At the
end of the day I have to feel good about the things I do and how I provide for
my family.
