Consultant shares community feedback for Hoover superintendent search

The next superintendent for Hoover City Schools should be someone who is experienced at communicating effectively, creating an environment where employees strive to excel, and recruiting and retaining highly effective staff, stakeholders in the system said in a survey.

Those were the top three answers when people were asked what kind of experience the superintendent should have.

About 1,550 people answered the survey, including 855 parents, 400 school system employees, 34 students, 76 other Hoover residents and 185 people who didn’t classify themselves, said Terry Jenkins, a former superintendent serving as a consultant for the school board association and leading the search for Hoover’s superintendent.

Survey respondents also indicated it was important that Hoover’s next superintendent have experience ensuring safety and discipline and increasing student achievement.

In sparsely attended public meetings held on Jan. 6, people indicated the next superintendent should already have had experience as a superintendent, but in the survey, which had much more participation, respondents were more neutral on that subject. Forty-six percent said they were neutral about that, while 40% agreed Hoover should get someone with superintendent experience and 14% disagreed.

Survey respondents also were neutral about whether Hoover’s next superintendent should be hired from within or come from outside the system. Fifty-seven percent of respondents agreed the superintendent should be chosen without regard to whether he or she is currently employed in the system.

Thirty-two percent agreed the next superintendent should have a doctorate, while 13% disagreed and 56% were neutral.

The most important traits people wanted in a superintendent were someone who is student-focused, accountable, a strategic thinker, collaborative, a successful educator and comfortable with diversity.

The biggest challenge the next superintendent will face is retaining talented employees, survey respondents said. Other key challenges included ensuring student and staff safety, addressing a possible learning slide from the pandemic, and addressing other challenges related to COVID-19, such as decisions about virtual or in-person instruction.

Forty-six percent of survey respondents agreed the school system is generally headed in the right direction, while 17% strongly agreed with that statement, 23% were neutral, 8% disagreed and 5% strongly disagreed.

Today, Jan. 22, is the deadline for people to apply to be Hoover’s next superintendent. Jenkins said as of Thursday night, there were 30 to 40 applicants from multiple states.

“I think there are some candidates in here that you will be very happy with,” Jenkins told the Hoover school board in a work session Thursday night.

Jenkins said that, on Feb. 3, he plans to bring the school board a list of five or six finalists that he and a committee from the Alabama Association of School Boards believes are the strongest candidates to be a good match for Hoover City Schools. Then, the school board can interview those candidates publicly and make its selection.

The target date for interviews is between Feb. 9 and Feb. 19. School board President Deanna Bamman has said she hopes the board can have a new superintendent in place by early April.

Jenkins, who is leading the committee narrowing the list of applicants down to five or six finalists, has 51 years experience in education, including 34 years as a superintendent. He retired as superintendent for Auburn City Schools at the end of 2010 and was appointed to serve on the Auburn school board in 2016.

Larry Langston, the only member of the public to attend a Jan. 6 nighttime public meeting regarding Hoover’s superintendent search, said he prefers someone who already has experience as a superintendent.

The Hoover superintendent job is not meant to be “on-the-job training,” he said. However, he would not be opposed to someone who has experience as an assistant superintendent, knows what to do and can get the job done.

He trusts the Hoover school board to make the best decision for the system, he said.

However, he thinks it’s important that Hoover gets someone who can move the district forward. It’s not enough to be in the top 10 school districts in the state in the important categories and rankings, he said. He wants Hoover to be in the top three, whether in athletics, academics or other areas, he said. “There’s no room to slip back in any area.”

He wants a superintendent who can help the system get released from federal supervision of desegregation issues, continue to expand opportunities in workforce training, maintain safe campuses and have the backbone to stand up to community pressure when hard decisions have to be made.