Saturday, December 14, 2024
The Granbury Independent School District board room may not have been packed Nov. 12, but the passion and care for GISD was palpable enough to fill the entire building — and then some.
Last week, parents and community members alike gathered for a community discussion forum regarding the search for a new GISD superintendent. The position is currently filled by interim superintendent Ann Dixon, following the departure of Jeremy Glenn in August.
The one-hour forum — led by Arrow Educational Services President and CEO Russell Marshall — allowed residents the opportunity to give their input on qualities and qualifications they believe the next superintendent should have.
“It’s your meeting, OK?” Marshall said, as he kicked off the discussion. “I’m here to listen to you and to hear your input. We can stay here 10 minutes or we can stay here until midnight. This is your night.”
He began the meeting by introducing his firm, which was hired by the GISD board of trustees to lead the superintendent search in September. Marshall explained that since 1998, Arrow has conducted more than 210 superintendent searches for districts all over Texas.
"I've been hired to work with your school board to work alongside in their search,” he said. “I'm not hired to hire a superintendent; I'm hired to help with the process. One of the things we like to do is have a community meeting, and that purpose is for input."
MAYOR INSIGHTS
As Marshall opened up the floor for community comments, Mayor Jim Jarratt was the first to speak. Framing his notes as questions to ask potential candidates, Jarratt brought up topics like academic performance and student achievement.
"I want to know what metrics would you be using for student success, and how do you handle when goals aren't met?” he asked. “How do you communicate with the public quickly on those sorts of things? The second thing I'd look for is community engagement, priorities and vision. What's the vision for a strong partnership between the school district and the community? It's got to be integrated.”
He also questioned how candidates would build relationships with parents, local businesses and community members, adding that he would like to know their approach to communicating both successes and failures within the district.
“Can you share examples of how you handled conflicts or controversies within the school community in the past?” Jarratt asked. “I think conflict and controversy in a school community is extremely difficult. You have young people, you have older parents, and a lot of times, you only have part of the story, so how do you handle those conflicts?”
With GISD being a “$100 million district,” Jarratt stressed that having a superintendent with budget and financial oversight in a smaller-sized district is imperative.
He also touched on staff development and teacher retention, adding that a superintendent needs to know how to handle staffing challenges and high turnover.
But more important than anything, Jarratt said, is their personal leadership style.
“If you think about it, a school superintendent is going to be dealing with a $100 million budget on this hand and an irate parent on this hand within 15 minutes. How do you adapt to that?” he asked. “This is not an easy job, and it's a job that I think we have to look at very closely to bring someone into the community to help us move forward.”
‘IMPERVIOUS TO POLITICS’
Rene Chehardy, a current volunteer at Granbury High School, explained that there’s five major qualities he believes a superintendent needs to possess — the first being an imperviousness to politics.
"It's been a very politicized school board and administration, and we really need somebody coming in that's not tied up into that,” he said. “Obviously, politics have a play in all of what we're doing in the community, but we need somebody who isn't divisive ... and who wants to bring the community together. We do have about a 50/50 split community right now as how people see the school system, and that toxicity affects our teachers and students ... so I'm hoping that we find a candidate that is not looking to stir that but is looking to bring people together."
Chehardy went on to explain that the new superintendent needs to understand the future marketplace regarding educational programs and their success long term. He added that with many high school graduates not attending college — as they are opting for a more technical career — the district’s career and technical education program is a prime example of thinking forward.
Similarly to Jarratt, Chehardy emphasized that GISD needs a business-minded superintendent — not necessarily an academic — so that the district can have business influences in its analysis and continuous improvement efforts.
"The mayor touched on this as well, but accountability for results,” Chehardy continued. “It's difficult for us as community members to really know how the school is performing ... When I do my research, I go to Google and some of the numbers I've seen for our district are well below 50% performance in key areas ... There's a lot of retired, smart people in this community that can help ... so the idea that this guy or gal can reach into the community and pull resources in, that is something that we need."
Chehardy also added that the new superintended needs strong leadership skills and is a “foundation fixer” — not a “climber.”
“We've lost three bonds, and there's a reason why,” he said. “We don't need a climber. We don't need someone saying, ‘Let's make GISD the best.’ We need a bold vision, but we need a foundation. Where there's cracks in that foundation, we need that fixed, and it won't take long, because people in this community care about the school and care about each other, but we need someone leading that effort, as opposed to dividing.”
He stated that it also might be in the district’s best interest to find a superintendent who cares about the school and the community more than their own career.
"That might be more valuable to us than a climber who's just going to come through GISD for three or four years and then move on to more money,” Chehardy said.
‘WELL-LOVED’
Parent and GHS alumna Jessia Wark explained that, from her understanding, firms like Marshall's already have a pool of candidates to choose from. With that in mind, she made a suggestion for how the selection process should proceed.
"I just want to ask you to please consider that when you're helping our board select our superintendent that you consider very strongly the community input from the community where that person comes from. We don't want to inherit someone else's problem,” she said. “I would like to see a superintendent that was well-loved and coming from a community that's going to miss them, because they did a great job there, and they're going to come and do a great job here.”
"I have a lot of sayings,” Marshall replied. “One of them is: ‘Everybody's running, they're either running from something or to something,’ and I think I told this board, ‘We want the man or woman that's running to Granbury ISD, not from anything.’”
He then clarified that there isn’t a pre-existing pool of candidates to choose from, but that when individuals apply, the firm “goes after” candidates whom they believe fit the district best.
"I use the word ‘mentality,’ but it's a personality,” he said. “It's about the person that can open that door, and walk the halls of the campuses, go to the local coffee shops, stores and churches and be a great fit for this district; that's what we‘re looking for.”
‘GOOD, STRONG WOMAN’
Beverly Cheney, daughter of former GISD Board President Barbara Herrington, noted that she conducted her own research on Arrow and confirmed that the firm has had great success.
“You hired superintendents in places where they worked, so I'm going to trust that that's what you're going to do here, that any questions I suggest you ask, you already know to ask,” she said. “I can't add anything to that.”
She did, however, express hope that the firm and the board would consider a “good, strong woman,” as a candidate for the position.
“There hasn't been one here in the superintendent's seat, and maybe that's what we need at this point,” Cheney said.
“I promise you, we don’t wake up in the morning to try to fail,” Marshall said. “We’re going to give it everything we've got here, just like we do at every district. We're going to run it as hard as we can to help them get it right. You have my word on that.”
‘HIRE FOR CHARACTER’
Granbury resident Lisa McDermott disagreed with Cheney, stating that she doesn’t believe that gender matters — character does.
"I think character speaks more than just gender,” she said. “I worked for a company years ago that their model was ‘Hire for character. Train for skill.’ Now, obviously you have to have certain skills for certain jobs but you can have a well-skilled person with terrible character, and it pollutes the entire environment ... so I kind of adopted that model long ago, which was ‘Hire for character.’”
She said GISD is faced with a big task in hiring a new superintendent, adding that the board has a duty to hire a candidate who is not only fully qualified, but is also the best candidate for the district, students and the community.
"Over the last several years, many community members have witnessed firsthand how the superintendent can affect the community,” McDermott said. “They can either foster polarization or unity. We're coming off of a very diverse community.
“We have witnessed a superintendent who has lied to parents, staff and community members, a superintendent who bullied school board trustees in front of the public, and a superintendent who failed to take effective action regarding the bullying on campuses. This is just some of the behaviors we have witnessed with the previous superintendent.”
McDermott highlighted that it’s necessary to make sure that the board of trustees puts students, staff and community members at the “forefront of their decision making, rather than politically tight agendas.”
"It's imperative that GISD hire a superintendent who can truly lead — one who sets a much better tone, atmosphere and expectation for the district,” she said. "I'm looking for somebody who can come in and lead, one who has a proven record of leadership and good character, and one who exemplifies integrity, honesty, compassion and servant leadership, just to mention a few, because that's who I think the community really needs.”
ADDRESSING DIVISION
Mark Lowery, husband of Place 7 trustee Karen Lowery, noted he was disappointed to see such a low turnout at the community forum. He went on to explain that the sparse attendance, in his opinion, is symbolic of the “toxic management of the school district,” rather than a lack of care from the community.
"This isn't politics, though,” he said. “Everybody wants to say it's politics. This is a divisiveness here about control. It's not about politics, in my opinion. It's not a Republican, Democrat thing. It's been about the previous superintendent being in complete control and has controlled some of the board members. Anybody in the community that spoke out against what was going on was immediately bullied, shut down or thrown out.”
He went on to explain that one of his objectives for GISD’s next superintendent is to remove the sign in the board room that refers to Penal Code Section 42.05: Disrupting Meeting or Procession. The sign states that a person “commits an offense if, with intent to prevent or disrupt a lawful meeting, procession, or gathering, he obstructs or interferes with the meeting, procession, or gathering by physical action or verbal utterance.” It also states an offense under this section is a Class B misdemeanor.
"They're threatening to lock someone up if they become disruptive, but they don't define disruptive,” he said. “This sign should go away, period. This is a school district. We want people to come, and we want people to engage.”
Lowery added that the next superintendent needs to research Granbury to have a better understanding of the district and the community.
“We want somebody to come in here, roll up their sleeves with love, with experience and with the get-to attitude that we're going to fix this school district,” he said. “Listen, there's great things that goes on here, but there shouldn't be sides. We don't hate children. We love them. We want them to be successful.”
Herrington — who has 33 years' experience as an educator and 18 on the board — also addressed division, stating that she would like the next superintendent to have experience in managing a divided community “because if they’ve lived it, they understand it.”
"Your superintendent needs to be your biggest cheerleader,” Marshall added. “They need to bleed the colors when you cut them because at the end of the day, that's what you need.”
In closing, Marshall thanked the community for attending the meeting and giving their input, adding that he took several notes regarding residents’ concerns and suggestions that he will take into consideration.
“It was truly an honor to be here tonight,” he added. “We're going to do our best, I promise you.”
