District Administration - April 2007 - (Page 62)

HUMAN RESOURCES the district’s needs. Then—and here’s the twist—the administrator mails a copy of the same letter to the candidate’s spouse. “Really lay it out, saying, ‘Here are the kinds of things we saw in you that we think will make a difference in our district with our students, teachers and parents,’” Harding says. “Often times, we’ll ﬁnd that the spouse will read it and say, ‘Gee, Mary, they know you already. Wouldn’t that be a great place to work?’” Anyone in the district—from a school board member to recruiter— can use this approach to write district, says his recruiting practices extend beyond traditional practices. “It’s always been a tight market and continues to be, particularly for certain positions like superintendents and principals of high schools,” says Smith, now an HR market leader at CBIZ Human Capital Services, a Kansas-based provider of HR services. “There’s a fairly short supply of individuals out there willing to devote the time and energy that these positions take.” In the 1990s, Olathe started holding its own job fairs in its central ofﬁce building twice a month, Many believe that quality administrators are growing scarce, pointing to reasons like high stakes testing, 70-hour work weeks and mounting pressures from the federal No Child Left Behind law. creative job advertisements for new administrators. Some ads could ask: Do people come to you for career advice? Do you see the uniqueness in people and work with them according to their strengths? Since many sought-after administrators are employed by other districts, this might lure them away from their current position, Harding says. They often say they weren’t looking for another job but that the ad described them and they felt compelled to explore this other option. including one Saturday morning and weekday evening, during the January through March recruiting season. The fairs are promoted through local universities, chambers of commerce, newspaper ads and the district’s Web site. Smith explains that people can sign up online for the fair and, depending upon how many register, up to 40 Olathe administrators will interview candidates in their ofﬁce or nearby conference rooms. Up to 400 educators attend, about 10 percent of whom are administrators, Smith says. The district hires up to 10 administrators every year from these fairs. To get ﬁ rst dibs on future candidates, Benny Gooden, superintendent at Fort Smith Public Schools in Fort Smith, Ark., teaches graduate students at the University of Arkansas, or UA, in Fayetteville. Each semester, he teaches a course such as school ﬁ nance or organizational behavior and looks out for students Keeping Up with Demand Recruiting administrators can become especially problematic for districts in a rapid growth mode. Consider the Olathe School District in Olathe, Kan., which supports 25,000 students and 100 administrators. Over the past decade, it has opened at least one new school every year. Stan Smith, retired executive director of human resources for the he believes would make a good administrative match for his district. The district’s superintendent of personnel also teaches HR courses at nearby Arkansas Tech University, or ATU. Teaching is one way they can be proactive, help shape the future workforce and identify people who aspire to be administrators, Gooden says. But Gooden views this strategy as more essential than creative. A quarter of the district’s 80 administrators are eligible for retirement this year, which has been typical in his district over recent years, he says. To help ﬁ ll the administrative pipeline, the district offers skillbased internships whereby graduate level students — predominantly from ATU and UA — work side-by-side with district administrators, such as principals or directors of student services, on projects that help develop critical skills they wouldn’t otherwise get on the job. Projects might focus on managing class loads, handling student assignments or improving parental involvement in school activities. But the district is not obligated to hire such interns after graduation. They are screened and interviewed like other candidates, but they have a better chance at getting the job, given the experience of the internship. “We have tried to address what we see as a declining pool of highly qualiﬁed applicants,” Gooden says, adding that 75 percent of his administrators are promoted from within the district. “Finding people who are the right ﬁt for your school district is going to involve more than just ﬁ shing in the pool and seeing what you catch.” Quality Control Many districts focus their recruitment efforts internally by developing in-house training programs. They provide potential administrators 62 April 2007 District Administration

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - April 2007

Editor's Letter
Update
Inside the Law
Curriculum Update
District Profile
Administrator Profile
“See You in Court!"
Lost in Translation
Bonding Agents
Certifying AP Courses
Hunting for Talent - Part 2
Buying Power
The Musty Bookshelf
New Products
Leadership
Speaking Out
The Online Edge
Problem/Solution
Calendar of Events
Overheard On The Pulse

District Administration - April 2007