Superintendent Interview:

Conducting my interviewing was a rewarding and beneficial assignment in that my former Superintendent and I were able to sit down and have a great conversation about being in this particular role.  One answer that stood out to me was to the question of what does ethical leadership look like.  My site supervisor’s answer was short but complete.  He thinks ethical leadership is first being honest.  We discussed many situations in that it would be easy to just lie or be deceptive, and that being honest is not always the easiest thing to do.  But in the end it is the correct thing and will always benefit you no matter what position one is in.  Second, one needs to have the kids and the school district in their best interest.  I learned that many times outside influence can tend to sway one away from what is the right thing to do for the district and as Superintendent this can cause you a lot of problems.  The next area in our interview that I found to be beneficial is how to have a good working relationship with the school board.  The best way to have a good relationship is to have open communication in which both sides are able to discuss and problem solve together.  Also one needs to encourage input from the board and also allow all stakeholders to have their ideas looked at as well.  While discussing the negative aspects of being a Superintendent I found it interesting that having everyone on the same page and working for a common goal was difficult and creates a negative aspect to the job. This interview provided many answers and gave me a foundation as a beginning Superintendent. I will not only be leaning on him for this program, but also in my new endeavor.