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Superintendent Interview

The superintendent oversees a large school district serving over 9,000 students across 29 communities and 29,000 square miles. Their responsibilities include developing educational plans and standards, managing budgets and resources, and implementing policies. They aim to foster a personalized and engaging learning environment for students and stakeholders. Present concerns relate to reopening plans for the upcoming school year during the COVID-19 pandemic. Future concerns include anticipated budget cuts that could impact district capacity to meet student needs. The superintendent works to ensure principals create positive school cultures and develop future district leaders.

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168 views6 pages

Superintendent Interview

The superintendent oversees a large school district serving over 9,000 students across 29 communities and 29,000 square miles. Their responsibilities include developing educational plans and standards, managing budgets and resources, and implementing policies. They aim to foster a personalized and engaging learning environment for students and stakeholders. Present concerns relate to reopening plans for the upcoming school year during the COVID-19 pandemic. Future concerns include anticipated budget cuts that could impact district capacity to meet student needs. The superintendent works to ensure principals create positive school cultures and develop future district leaders.

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Superintendent Interview

Skylar A Tomblin
West Virginia State University
Educ 650- Internship

1. Tell me about your district.


We are a large district serving 29 communities and over 9,000 students. Our district covers
over 29,000 square miles… which is probably larger than your home state of West Virginia.
We have 39 public schools and 4 charter schools across the district. About 10% of our
students are Alaska Native, which is considered to be their ethnicity. We have built schools on
their reservations throughout the district in recent years. Our mission statement includes
preparing productive, responsible citizens and our vision is to have engaged students who
participate in their community and are prepared for the future. For me, the key to meeting this
mission and vision is that we train students to be independent learners who have the basic
skills to pursue whatever it is that they want, and have a good understanding of how our
society works.

2. Tell me about your job duties and responsibilities.


I am the Chief executive officer of the school district. I provide direction and vision for the
overall direction of district educational and operational systems. I develop long and short term
plans for district improvement and oversee educational standards and student achievement.
General operational management of the school district, including budgets and allocation of
resources and I oversee the implementation and enforcement of federal, state and board
statutes, policies and regulations.

3. What are your strengths?


I have skills in effective instruction and leadership, providing student focused instruction,
keeping up with current educational law and policy, and luckily… I’m very successful at
recruiting and retaining staff.

4. What are your goals?


My goal as a superintendent is to foster a personalized, rich, supportive, and engaging
learning environment for all students, staff, and stakeholders in the Kenai Peninsula
educational community.
5. What are your present major concerns?
My present concerns relate to the upcoming school year and what reopening may look like for
our district. A 20 person team has been designing the safe start-up plans for school in August.
Our sincere hope and planning goal is to open up all 42 schools for onsite and in-person
teaching and learning. The Alaska Departments of Education and Health and Social Services
requested every school district in the state to develop alternative plans in the event it becomes
necessary to provide for safe social distancing measures, or a more drastic return to remote
learning if the COVID-19 virus makes a strong return in our communities. Part of the
planning process includes how we will be able to accurately determine community and school
risk levels, and our response. Information and guidance will come from both the state and
public health.

6. What future concerns are anticipated?


We are in an uncertain time for public education in Alaska. Our state and local leaders
continue to search for more efficiencies. It is very likely that a thorough examination of
public education will occur during this upcoming budget cycle. I believe KPBSD does
produce excellent results as evidenced through improved test scores as well as the
accomplishments of our recent graduates. We will work closely with state and local leaders to
ensure they understand what our district uses its funding for and the results we are able to
accomplish due to the funds we receive. Budget has been cut over the past 5 years and I’m
just not sure how much more our district can take.

7. What have you done to improve this district’s capacity to better meet the needs of
Students?
Our District has worked hard to tie all of our current best practices together to form a coherent
and consistent instructional learning environment for all of our students. We refer to this as
personalized learning. Some believe we are simply buying another program and I think this
belief is the furthest from the truth as you can get. What we are buying is high quality
professional learning for our staff. What we are doing is bringing together the tools of
collaboration, canvas, blended learning, personalized learning portfolios, differentiation and
the fundamental concept of strong, positive relationships with students to provide students
what they need when they need it. All of this adds up to an excellent educational experience
every day for every student in our district.
8. What do you need, expect, or hope for from your principals?
When you consider the most important variables that affect student achievement, you will find
that school culture is always close to the top of the list. Although school is primarily designed
for learning content and skills, it is also a place to socially grow and learn about different
types of people. The trials of adolescence can be exasperated by the social tensions of high
school. Many of our students have challenging situations at home and unfortunately, some are
homeless. School for these students can be a refuge from the stress of their lives. But this can
only be the case if the building is safe and welcoming. My greatest expectation from my
principals is that they ensure our staff at all of our schools works hard to create a positive
school culture in their buildings.

9. From your experience from working with your district/school, what advice would you give
a new administrator?
With the inevitable turnover of principals in our schools comes reflection on the
characteristics of an effective instructional leader. I am fortunate to work in a school district
that offers many examples of great leaders and not all of them are school principals. I have
learned that leadership is not defined by position. I believe it is defined by character and
action. My responsibility is to develop leaders in all positions and nurture critical
characteristics imperative to lead our school district in the future.

10. What activities would you suggest I undertake during my internship to better understand
and/or work with your district?
You'll never be prepared enough for the job duties relating to law, finance, personnel,
government mandates, district or board politics, and technology. You learn to be the jack of
all trades, but my best advice is to learn as much as you can about each of those.
11. Question(s) you design.
REFLECTION: What insights were gained from the interview?

My interview with Mr. O’Brien touched on a number of different responsibilities a


Superintendent must take care of in their position. Before I even asked my first question he
explained how important it is for a leader to properly delegate responsibilities to other
administrators and those in central office. “One person isn’t responsible for a district’s
success, it takes a team working towards the vision, mission, and objectives.” This was a
perfect start to the interview because it allowed both of us to relax and have a great discussion
on the district.

I began this interview questioning him on the needs assessment and budget of the district. He
explained how each of these is considered “school-based.” First, every school has to complete
a Title 1 needs assessment so we can continue to receive our federal funds. Next, a school
budget committee is created in each school so every building and department can submit what
they find appropriate to get approved. It's then his responsibility to make sure it is “sound and
not inappropriate” because the budget has been continuously cut the last five years.

We then touched upon the hiring/firing process as well as his role in recommending tenure for
teachers. First, the hiring process of teachers begins with the advertisements placed in local
papers as well as on the Internet. Then the resumes are put into a list form each content area
and the principals are sent to decide upon who gets an interview. Once they have decided
upon whom to hire, the paperwork is sent to the central office for Superintendent approval.
Next, the firing process begins with a recommendation from the principal or supervisor. Once
this is documented and sent to the Board of Education, a RICE letter is sent to the teacher.
Mr. O’Brien’s role in this is very similar to that of a tenure for a teacher because the
recommendation and evaluations come from the principal of that specific building. The
evaluation process utilized within the district for both teachers and administrators is a state
approved format created by the KPBSD.

Mr. O’Brien explained his involvement in communicating with those within the school
community and how the different student sub groups are accommodated since he oversees
such a large district. He explained that one of his goals is to get as many parents involved
with their child’s education. First, he sends home Robocalls, newsletters, and emails so they
are provided all of the information on when functions are taking place. Next, it is essential
that the curriculum is adapted and improved for every general, ELLS, special needs, and
gifted/talented student. Finally, he approves this once it is discussed and formulated from the
administration and task force involved.
The last major topic we discussed was his involvement in the delegation of responsibilities
throughout central office and different administrators. First, when it comes to the central
office, he has the different departments work as a team to complete certain tasks. Next, he
meets with the different supervisors in each department to discuss their roles and
responsibilities on a weekly basis. Finally, this interview concluded with how it began
because we discussed how a successful district is one that contains leaders that collaborate to
achieve all of their goals they set out to accomplish at the beginning of every school year. The
questions and answers provided above were noted during our conversation of these topics.

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