The Ballston Spa Central School District Board of Education is in the process of reviewing questions for a survey it is looking to distribute to the greater community in an effort to gather feedback that will be used in determining who the district’s next superintendent will be.
“They’re just getting started,” said Stuart Williams, the district’s spokesperson, regarding the search on Tuesday.
Board President Jason Fernau introduced the survey, developed by the Washington-Saratoga-Warren-Hamilton-Essex BOCES, during its most recent meeting on Oct. 5 and asked the other board members for feedback.
Sections one through four of the survey focus on demographic information, while section five asks about the experiences and skills people want to see in the district’s next superintendent, explained Fernau. Respondents will be asked to list and rank the importance of between 15 and 20 skill areas including, for example, prior experience in working with school financials.
“I think that just gives us an idea about what specific skill areas, experience content areas people value most in a superintendent,” Fernau said.
Section six of the survey focuses on the personal characteristics people want to see in the next superintendent, such as whether they’re approachable. Respondents will also rank those characteristics in order of importance.
Section seven allows for respondents to pick an option for how they want the district to proceed with finding a candidate, such as choosing someone that “will stay the course and continue the work of the current administration,” Fernau said as he read the survey.
There were also some open-ended questions for respondents. The survey would be anonymous, Fernau said.
Fernau said the hope is that once the survey is out, the district receives hundreds of responses.
Board member Holly Barker-Flynn asked whether the data from the open-ended questions will be sorted in a way that makes it easier for the board to read rather than sifting through all of the responses the school may get back.
“It would be helpful to have some trends pulled out of the open-ended questions,” she said.
Fernau said that was something he would look into.
Williams said Tuesday he’s not sure of the timeline regarding the superintedent search. However, he did indicate that the survey may get brought up at the board’s next meeting on Oct. 19.
Former Ballston Spa High School Principal Gianleo Duca was named as the district’s interim superintendent following the abrupt resignation of Daniel Connor in August. Richard Murphy, former principal at Shaker High School, has since stepped in to serve as the high school’s interim principal.
“No other details are developed as of yet,” Williams said.
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