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Despite a year of intense discussion and
debate about the future direction of the
Kyrene School District, focus groups
scheduled to solicit community input
into the district’s next superintendent
were sparsely attended.
The attendance at the Kyrene focus
groups was lower than that at similar
districts in parallel situations, said
Lee Pasquarella of the Bellevue,
Wash.,-based Cascade Consulting Group, a
firm hired by the Governing Board to
assist in the search for a
superintendent to replace the departing
Maria Menconi.
“It was surprising how few people
attended the focus groups,” said Karin
Crider, Kyrene’s director of federal and
community programs.
“We set up three days of focus groups
with several opportunities for various
stakeholder groups and had hoped to have
a better turn out.”
Neither Crider nor Pasquarella could
speculate about the reason for the low
interest.
“Hopefully we will have more involvement
later in the process,” Crider said.
Nineteen focus groups were scheduled
March 22, 23 and 24 and were separately
targeted toward parents, community
members, teachers, administrators,
support staff and business leaders.
Pasquarella took notes about the
stakeholders’ comments and said he will
compile those into a recruitment
brochure that will be sent to
prospective candidates. The firm will
then narrow the field of applicants and
advance several names to the Governing
Board, which will use the focus group
information to identify which
characteristics to look for when
interviewing the candidates.
The two parents and one community member
who attended one Friday afternoon focus
group spoke freely of their ideas,
thoughts and concerns.
They named the ability to communicate
well with both internal staff and
external interests as a key
characteristic of a future
superintendent, saying they felt as if
they never knew what was going on in the
district unless a significant
controversy arose.
They also asked for a superintendent who
can build a strong rapport and trust
with the parents and community, saying a
culture of trust will go a long way to
smooth over relations between the
district and its parents and teachers.
Some of the focus group attendees wanted
a candidate who will get involved with
the local communities Kyrene serves.
Some also asked for greater “cultural
competence” among the district staff and
greater diversity among the teachers.
They all agreed that the new
superintendent must have a strong
foundation and understanding in both the
business and education sides of running
a school district, and preferred a
candidate with experience in curriculum
instruction.
Speaking after the focus group, Wendy
Hansen, a former Kyrene employee and
current district resident, said she
would like to see a candidate who is a
“true visionary.”
“Someone with an amazing sense of
strategy who is able to take into
consideration children first, recognize
the teachers, recognize the kind of
recognition that the teachers deserve,”
she described.
“This is an outstanding district. I’d
like to make sure that the district
continues to earn the reputation that it
has, and I think only a strategist, only
a visionary, will be able to bring that
for us.” |
