Published: September 12, 2008 01:48 am      

ROY-HART: Residents discuss ideal successor to Bona

MIDDLEPORT — What residents in the Royalton-Hartland School District want in a new superintendent probably could be summed up in three words: a good relationship.

The Board of Education held a public forum prior to its regular meeting Thursday. It was to give residents a chance to share some thoughts about what characteristics the district should consider while searching for a new superintendent. Current Superintendent Paul Bona will retire in June at the conclusion of the 2008-09 school year.

Orleans/Niagara Board of Cooperative Educational Services Superintendent Clark Godshall met with residents and the school board. Godshall is serving as search consultant for Roy-Hart, and finding a superintendent is something he has done 27 times before.

“My goal is to find the best candidate for your superintendent,” Godshall said. “The board wants a very open, open process.”

To help start off the conversation, Godshall provided each attendee with a yellow worksheet with three questions. The first was: What are the three most essential experiential considerations in hiring a superintendent?

Residents answered experience in administration, creating a budget or other business affairs and experience in the classroom.

Question No. 2 was what are the three most essential professional or personal characteristics that should be found in a candidate?

Popular answers from residents included: Someone who’s approachable and a good communicator; and someone who is visible to the community and is accessible to everyone. Residents said knowledge of the fiscal constraints of the district was also important, and residency in the district was preferred. Godshall said it was better to say it was preferred than to mandate it, because to do so turns away a lot of qualified candidates.

“It cuts the number in half,” he said.

The third question for residents: What do you think is the single greatest need in the district. Answers ranged from more electives and advanced placement courses in the high school to class sizes and a better working relationship between the district and the community. Resident Patt Fagan said community input is always important and liked the transparency that has characterized the process of finding a superintendent so far.

“It’s a small village; it is critical to have the school do well,” she said.

Middleport Mayor Julie Maedl attended the meeting and said community input was important because the school is important to the community.

“It’s a hometown school, so it has to be community-minded,” she said. “This should really speed the process and bring in the right candidate.”

Godshall said the superintendent position is already listed and has generated very good interest levels, with at least four inquiries from veteran superintendents. The job will be listed with every state’s education department to advertise the position nationally. There is a second community forum planned for 10 a.m. Saturday in the high school auditorium, 54 State St., Middleport.

In the regular school board meeting, class sizes were a major topic of conversation. The board met Wednesday to discuss the issue, but did not have updated enrollment figures for each of the schools, so the members did not act. One of the concerns was in the high school, where there was a physics class with 27 students and a chemistry class with 28 students. Bona said the district wants to add a section of physics and a section of chemistry to reduce class size.

Fifth-grade enrollment, currently at 113 students, was also brought up. There were four teachers, and the district wants to add a fifth teacher at the fifth-grade level. Currently, there is a fifth class, but is staffed with a substitute teacher. Kindergarten class sizes are also a matter of concern for some parents. As of Thursday’s meeting, there were 118 kids in kindergarten and five teachers, making average class size close to 24.

Part of the problem was late registrations, which caused enrollments to increase above what figures were last week.

Board President Patricia Riegle asked district administrators to come up with new up-to-date enrollment figures so the board could make decisions about enrollment concerns.