CRAIG HOCKENBERRY SUPERINTENDENT
CRAIG HOCKENBERRY
SUPERINTENDENT
WRITTEN
RESPONSES
What is the role
of the superintendent and the board of education in curriculum development
and/or innovation?
Since
school boards have the ultimate accountability for curriculum they do need to
have firsthand knowledge of the scope of curriculum and the overall programs in
all the schools, however their responsibilities narrows down to some very
important roles. I have listed below
just some of the roles of the board in curriculum.
§ To be updated
regularly on the content and scope of the curriculum.
§ To be informed of
state guidelines involving curriculum and instruction.
§ To be familiar
with textbook adoption policies and procedures.
§ To be aware of
sensitive community values regarding curricular issues.
§ Work with the superintendent
to keep community updated and involved with curriculum.
§ Develop Board
level committee work around student achievement and curriculum.
§ Allocate funding
to support best practices in curriculum and instruction.
§ Honor and
celebrate student achievement at board meetings.
The superintendent works closely
with the board of education to update them on important changes at the local,
state, and national level so that they are informed and can make important
decisions regarding curriculum development. The updates should include
achievement data at all levels and best practices both locally and regionally.
The
superintendent must work closely with the board to hire, develop, train and
retain highly effective curriculum directors, principals, and teachers and
provide them support to implement the curriculum. The superintendent should be working with community
leaders at all levels to seek out resources that will be innovative
and resources that can be used to reduce barriers to student achievement.
Describe how you
would design orientation for administrative staff members, teachers, and board
members new to their positions.
Orientations
are critically important at all levels in a school district. Each one is different and requires designs
that are on-going and focus on growth as well as orientation.
Board Members
§ Reach out to board
members running for office and invite them to start attending monthly board meetings. This will help orient them before they are
elected and will give them an idea of work flow at a board meeting.
§ Arrange a meeting
after election results are final to discuss with them the basic roles and
responsibilities, board policies manual and direct them to OSBA handbook for
board members Board Handbooks | Ohio
School Boards Association and information regarding new board
members For New Board Members
| Ohio School Boards Association
§ During the time of
November through January before they are sworn into office, include them on
important communications and updates to ensure they get a clear understanding
of how communication flows through the team.
Also, I would use this time to discuss the importance of
CONFIDENTIALITY.
§ Set up weekly
meetings with new board members and include tours and other opportunities to
meet teachers, cooks, instructional aides, bus drivers, principals and support
staff.
Teachers and
administrative staff members
§ Set up a social gathering off campus with all
new staff in the spring for the purpose of relationship building. Invite
principals, key members of their teaching team, and other staff that will be
important to their support. Plan ice
breaker activities and give time for new staff to meet veteran staff and others
familiar with the district. I would use this day to assign mentors for each
of our new hires.
§ Set up a spring
meeting with each new staff before the end of the school year to give them a
chance to see the school in full operation.
§ Bring all new
hires to work one day before all staff reports and prepare a day long agenda
that includes; time in their rooms, additional meet and greets, tours,
logistics, reports and updates from all departments, and much more.
§ Set-up a yearlong
monthly meeting with all new hires using key district leaders to develop a
supportive agenda and opportunities for new hires to talk about what is going
well and what challenges they are facing and opportunities they see during
their first year with us.
What criteria
would you use to assess the district’s operation in maintenance,
transportation, and food service programs?
There
are many options to assess the district operations in maintenance,
transportation, and food service programs.
Some of these would include multiple measures of financial impact, safety
data, customer satisfaction and staffing. Having quality leadership
overseeing each of these departments and meeting with them weekly to discuss
opportunities and strategies for efficiency is critical in assessing each
department. Weekly visits to each
department and operational updates at district leaderships meetings and to the
board of education could also aide in assessing these departments and making adjustments.
When
dealing with each of these departments, there are many opportunities to create customer satisfaction surveys. These surveys could follow a work order
with maintenance or quarterly surveys for transportation and food service. Reviewing
these results and presenting them to the district leadership and board of
education can help us all make improvements and support these different
departments.
Developing
board level committees such as the building and grounds committee and
operations committee could help with oversight and these committees could reach
out to experts in the community to join and give us feedback and support.
Finally,
it could be beneficial to do a professional external audit of each department
and get the necessary feedback from professionals outside the
organization. These audits could be used
to put together some objectives in long range planning and forecasting.
CRAIG HOCKENBERRY
SUPERINTENDENT
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