Public’s input sought on next LR school chief

Survey on district’s needs available online till Feb. 19

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The survey asks about each respondent’s connection to the district, be it as a parent, employee or community member. There are other questions about the schools a respondent’s children attend and the race, ethnicity and primary language of the respondent.

Respondents are asked to select the district’s three most significant strengths and the three most significant concerns or issues facing the district now and in five years.

Other questions deal with the three most desired leadership skills in a new superintendent and the three most desired characteristics in a new leader. Some of the choices there include “commitment to the community,” “change agent,” “commitment to social justice,” and “team builder.” For each of the questions about leadership, multiple choices are given from which to select. Additionally, there is space for respondents to type in their own brief response. The survey asks respondents to rate the importance of experience as a previous superintendent, teacher, principal, strategic planner or work in an urban district. The Little Rock School Board in January selected BWP & Associates, an executive search firm based in Libertyville, Ill., to facilitate the board’s search for a replacement for Poore. Poore, 60, announced in December that he will retire at the end of this scho0l year. In doing the search for a replacement, the search firm is compiling a leadership profile based on the results of not only the survey but also from interviews of individual School Board members; questions to focus groups of employees, students and community organizations; and a community-wide online public forum. The firm intends to use the resulting leadership profile to recruit possible applicants through advertisements and networking before matching a slate of applicants to the job for School Board consideration.