Source: The Beach Reporter
by Eric Michael Stitt
(Updated: Thursday, September 4, 2008 4:19 PM PDT)
In the wake of an administrative shuffle, a public meeting was held to discuss the qualities the community would like to see in new Hermosa Beach school hires.
After school Superintendent Sharon McClain took another job near San Diego, news also broke that the View principal was retiring and that the Valley principal would replace her. Also, the assistant principal at Valley moved to Rhode Island.
So, McClain will be hiring a new Valley principal and an interim superintendent before she leaves this month. But she wanted to get opinions from school staff and community members on what characteristics they would like to see in a new principal before she hires one.
Much to McClain and the School Board’s delight, the suggestions were very similar from both parents and teachers.
Last week, McClain invited the entire school staff to give their opinions for what makes a good principal and the kind of traits they’d like the new one to have. She said about 60 to 70 staff members shared their thoughts with her. Later that day, a little more than 10 community members and parents gave their suggestions, too.
“It’s important to involve the school community with hiring a new person,” McClain said. “I feel that’s important. Their concerns will help guide me.”
The staff and parents said they’d like the principal to have good listening skills, a sense of humor, quick problem-solving skills, be a team player, able to multitask, be a good communicator, honorable, passionate and have integrity.
School Board President Lance Widman said he was very pleased to see that the community and school staff have the same expectations of a new principal, which will help in the hiring process.
“We have a pretty good idea of the type of talent that could work well,” Widman said. “I was just very pleased to know what the people’s ideas are.”
McClain said school staff also wants her to find someone who has had teaching experience and is already a principal somewhere else. She said the most highly qualified people will be considered for the position.
“We’ve put it out there for people across the United States,” McClain said. “It will be somebody who has these qualifications, been a teacher, is already a principal and works well with people, and is interested in keeping the kids at the center of what’s being done.”
A committee made up of teachers, parents and School Board members will interview between five and 10 potential principals Sept. 15. Then McClain will interview the two or three applicants the committee preferred the most. This way the hiring is a joint effort with her having the final say on who will become the next principal.
“There is going to be a match between the person and the job,” McClain said. “The right person will display all the characteristics that are important.”
Once the new Valley principal is hired, he or she will have to hire an assistant principal, something McClain said should be done by that person only. Meanwhile the School District will continue to look for a permanent superintendent while the interim one takes over. A permanent one might not be hired until December, she said.
In the wake of an administrative shuffle, a public meeting was held to discuss the qualities the community would like to see in new Hermosa Beach school hires.
After school Superintendent Sharon McClain took another job near San Diego, news also broke that the View principal was retiring and that the Valley principal would replace her. Also, the assistant principal at Valley moved to Rhode Island.
So, McClain will be hiring a new Valley principal and an interim superintendent before she leaves this month. But she wanted to get opinions from school staff and community members on what characteristics they would like to see in a new principal before she hires one.
Much to McClain and the School Board’s delight, the suggestions were very similar from both parents and teachers.
Last week, McClain invited the entire school staff to give their opinions for what makes a good principal and the kind of traits they’d like the new one to have. She said about 60 to 70 staff members shared their thoughts with her. Later that day, a little more than 10 community members and parents gave their suggestions, too.
“It’s important to involve the school community with hiring a new person,” McClain said. “I feel that’s important. Their concerns will help guide me.”
The staff and parents said they’d like the principal to have good listening skills, a sense of humor, quick problem-solving skills, be a team player, able to multitask, be a good communicator, honorable, passionate and have integrity.
School Board President Lance Widman said he was very pleased to see that the community and school staff have the same expectations of a new principal, which will help in the hiring process.
“We have a pretty good idea of the type of talent that could work well,” Widman said. “I was just very pleased to know what the people’s ideas are.”
McClain said school staff also wants her to find someone who has had teaching experience and is already a principal somewhere else. She said the most highly qualified people will be considered for the position.
“We’ve put it out there for people across the United States,” McClain said. “It will be somebody who has these qualifications, been a teacher, is already a principal and works well with people, and is interested in keeping the kids at the center of what’s being done.”
A committee made up of teachers, parents and School Board members will interview between five and 10 potential principals Sept. 15. Then McClain will interview the two or three applicants the committee preferred the most. This way the hiring is a joint effort with her having the final say on who will become the next principal.
“There is going to be a match between the person and the job,” McClain said. “The right person will display all the characteristics that are important.”
Once the new Valley principal is hired, he or she will have to hire an assistant principal, something McClain said should be done by that person only. Meanwhile the School District will continue to look for a permanent superintendent while the interim one takes over. A permanent one might not be hired until December, she said.
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