Fearing the unknown, craving consistency: JMCSS staff, community say what they want in next superintendent

Jackson-Madison County School System principal Melinda Harris has worked under nine superintendents in 25 years, instructional leadership director Ryan Kirkbride seven in 20 years and board members Janice Hampton and Jim Campbell four in eight years.

Superintendents have averaged less than three years on the job.

In the search for the next superintendent, the Tennessee School Board Association and JMCSS board held community meetings — but with a disappointing turnout — Thursday.  

They got feedback about what the community and staff want in the next superintendent to hopefully have a long-term hire.

There’s also an online survey for people to rank 21 characteristics, then recommend someone they’d like to apply, and TSBA will invite that person to do so. The survey, found at jmcss.org, closes at 11:59 p.m. Friday.

They’ll use the input from the meetings and online survey to adopt criteria to advertise to applicants.

In the five meetings with staff, elected officials and the community, there were common trends about what they wanted. 

Good things happening to continue: Vocational track, consistency

• Local Options and Opportunities Program (L.O.O.P.) and similar initiatives under the LAUNCH program
• Focus on vocational education instead of sole focus on four-year colleges
• New schools and different types of schools/facilities
• Consistent, aligned curriculum
• Academic gains
• Pre-K emphasis and expansion
• Committed, hardworking faculty and staff
• Supportive central office staff
• Administrators being visible in schools
• Collaboration between school system and community, county commission, local businesses and media
• Community involvement
• Momentum
• Increased morale and current buy-in from teachers
• Behavior becoming a focus
• Leadership team appointed by former Superintendent Eric Jones has a pulse on community
• Continuous training and professional development of staff

Challenges the superintendent will face: fear of unknown, discipline

• Discipline with consistent policies
• Behavioral issues rooting from adverse childhood experiences, trauma, etc.
• Fear of what superintendent will do or change
• Politics
• Loss of support when new board members are elected
• If a person is not from here or without ties to the community, he or she taking the program forward, learning culture and building relationships
• Overwhelmed and discouraged teachers; teacher morale
• Long-standing stigma and perception against public education
• School board relationships and tensions between the board and community
• Prioritizing, handling and understanding budget for a system as large as the school district
• Ills of society
• Parental support
• Teacher retention and turnover
• Reputation of the district, especially because of superintendent turnover

Personal characteristics: understanding, collaborative

• Continue path district is on before immediately making changes
• Don’t use district as a steppingstone; plan to be superintendent long term
• Knowledge of academics and effective instruction, management and community
• Understand challenges of classroom
• Continue collaboration and maintain relationships created in current administration
• Understand needs of Madison County
• Be trustworthy
• Be transparent
• Be student-centered and -focused
• Be approachable with an enforced open-door policy
• Administrative experience
• Experience at all levels, starting from teaching experience
• Managerial experience, especially with budget
• Ability to empower staff
• Care about children
• Trust employees
• Know and understand community
• Be open-minded
• Give students and staff a voice
• Support teachers
• Faith-based
• Eventually set a vision and stay on path for that vision; setting and keeping a goal
• Communicate with all stakeholders
• Recognize diversity of student and staff populations
• Be genuine

About the kids and community

Jackson Central-Merry Early College High principal Nathan Lewis said the job is about the kids.

“We’ve got to remember that we’re trying to help children — even the ones who don’t act right, even the ones who have special needs, even the ones who sometimes are difficult,” Lewis said.

West Bemis Middle principal David Wicker said the job and title of superintendent should never be greater than serving the needs of the community, schools, teachers and students. 

"The person who comes here needs to know Jackson is a long-term commitment because it is a long-term battle plan that we have to have for these kids and to get where we want to go," Wicker said. 

Often quiet at meetings, Kirkbride was vocal because he’s had seven superintendents in his 20 years.

Kirkbride said when there is leadership turnover, the district loses momentum. Each leader has ideas about how to fix the problems of a system, he said, and when there’s constant change, the momentum is lost each time.

“I’m very passionate about the work that we’ve done in the last 2½ years,” Kirkbride said. “And, I fully believe in the direction and the vision that we’re going.

“My fear is if someone comes in from outside and was to change that, then we’re right back to where we were 2½ years ago: trying something new. The overwhelming theme was we’re heading down the right path and there’s consistency with the things we’re doing, and my fear is that gets broken.”

In the community meeting that was supposed to be with mayors, county and city officials, business and community leaders, and board members, no city officials were present. 

Madison County Commission Chairman Gary Deaton discussed a challenge for the next superintendent as continuing the positive things in place, like the collaborative relationships between the school system and commission.

“We need collaboration for a lot of reasons, like industrial growth, the community and for the sake of that child," Deaton said.

Deaton said the district has a person — short-term superintendent Ray Washington, who was the chief operations officer — in place doing an outstanding job, handling the budget, bringing the buildings to code, which Deaton attributes to his leadership.

“To replace him with someone doing as equally well as he is, they’ll have to look far and wide,” Deaton said of the national search process. “It’d be nice to give him two or three more years.”

Washington has been the driving force behind school operations, he has good relationships with the commission, and he’s trustworthy, Deaton said, which was a sentiment echoed by other community members.

The board, however, agreed that the short-term superintendent wouldn’t be eligible to apply for the long-term position.

At the meetings geared to faculty and staff, no more than five people, outside of central office staff, attended, yet there was a cry for consistency and a long-term commitment from the right person.

Madison Academic High teacher Christy Hays has been in the district for 31 years. She said for about 15 years, there was a lot of “new.”

“We’re about ‘new-ed’ out,” Hays said. “Everybody that comes in has this fabulous way of doing it, whether complete upheaval of buildings, staff or students. Then another two or three years later, another person comes in and undoes everything that last person did. It’s been hard for us to get consistency.”

Hays echoed the point that the next superintendent should see what’s working before implementing his or her ideas. 

“It’s been a lot of unknown, a lot of fear,” she said. “We’ve been through a lot of fear of ‘Am I going to be rehired?’ whether teaching 10 years or two years."

Pam Betler, parent engagement coordinator at Arlington Elementary and Issac Lane Elementary, thought back to the superintendents she’s worked under.

“What I wish I could take is parts of Roy Weaver, parts of Nancy Zambito, parts of Verna Ruffin and parts of Eric Jones and just roll them together,” she said.

At the last community meeting, specifically for community members, fewer than 20 were in the City Hall meeting room even though in March the same room was full of about 60 people, nearly 20 speaking in support of then-superintendent Jones.

To resident Frank P. Mann Jr., parents should have come and participated in the quorum to find the next superintendent.

“Don’t get on Facebook complaining about what’s going on in the school system. You need to be at the meeting to represent your kids.”

Lasherica Thornton is The Jackson Sun's education reporter. Reach her at 731-343-9133 or by email atlthornton@jacksonsun.com. Follow her on Twitter: @LashericaT