What makes a good school executive? This Wickedlocal article discusses what one school district did prior to hiring a new superintendent for the 2020-2021 school year.
Cohasset School District in Cohasset, Massachusetts wanted to make sure their students’ voices were heard before hiring a new administrator. In March of this year, the district created a focus group. It was led by two education experts from the University of Massachusetts and about 30 student council members from Cohasset’s middle and high schools. The discussion evolved around what qualities students thought a school administrator should possess.
The main consensus of the group was that they wanted, “an executive who recognizes the students as the consumers of the education that the school generates, rather than a product of an assembly line that our teachers stand at.” Other important concerns were around promoting and prioritizing mental health and maintaining their current academic success.