Consultant: ‘great pool’ of candidates for Warren schools chief

‘Underpromised, overdelivered’

By Ed Runyan

runyan@vindy.com

WARREN

The Ohio School Boards Association consultant who helped Youngstown City Schools find its most-recent superintendent says he believes he’s about to deliver a promising crop of prospects to the Warren Board of Education.

Kendall Lee is helping the district conduct its search for a new superintendent to replace Kathryn Hellweg, who retired in February with five months left on her contract.

“I think I have underpromised and over-delivered,” Lee told a focus group at the Warren schools administration building Thursday.

“I think the board will be very impressed. I think you will have a great pool of applicants — in terms of quality and in terms of sheer numbers.”

The deadline for applicants is 5 p.m. today, and on Thursday, Lee will submit a list of candidates to the board for its consideration.

At the same time, Lee will provide the board with a summary of information he has gathered in recent weeks from meetings with parents and others in the public, meetings with focus groups including school-district staff, as well as information he has obtained while mingling with people in town.

On Thursday, Lee had two sessions for parents and the public, as well as meetings with focus groups.

At the 11 a.m. session, it became clear that many of the 20 or so people there, many of them parents of Warren students, were still angry about the way they were treated by Hellweg.

When Lee asked the group what qualifications are essential for the next superintendent, the first three answers were “communications skills,” “sensitivity to all student needs” and “sensitivity to cultural issues.”

The school board criticized Hellweg in an evaluation in late 2009, saying it hoped Hellweg would create a “more open climate both internally and externally” in 2010. The board also accused her of creating an adversarial relationship with the public.

Another respondent Thursday said the next superintendent should “not let one school on one side of town be super smart and another one be not passing.”

Clyde Wilson, who ran for Warren City Council this year, said, “These kids can’t read and write. Our kids don’t even have books. No homework. They don’t have the equipment to work with.”

Greg Greathouse, who has grandchildren in the district, said, “We need a master of interpersonal communications who can hear what is being said and takes those comments to heart.”

Connie Hartman added: “We don’t need someone who is a yes person to the board. We need someone who is a yes person to the kids.”

When the residents asked Lee what he thought were important characteristics for Warren’s next superintendent, he said he or she should be a “unifier,” adding that he or she should “not be biased toward one group or another.”

Lee received input at noon from members of the district financial- advisory committee, made up mostly of business professionals.

“We need a leader who will create a culture of learning, inclusive of teaching staff and administrative staff with a focus on the students,” said Donald Emerson Jr., executive director of the Trumbull Metropolitan Housing Authority. “We need a ... cheerleader who understands that all students can learn,” he said, adding that the person also should be “politically savvy.”

Added John Fowley: “We need someone who has been able to effect change from the inside by consensus.” He added that humility is important because Warren’s superintendent will answer to school-board members who are not necessarily highly educated — “people who work an hourly wage, housewives.”

Lee said some of the best candidates are “rising superstars” in their field, people who can “command a staff,” who have been consistently evaluated as “good or better.”

The Warren Board of Education meets next at 4 p.m. Tuesday.