The Burlington School District and the Superintendent Search Advisory Committee (SSAC) of the Burlington School Board are holding three public forums to get comments and ideas for recruiting and hiring a new Superintendent by the end of this school year. The meetings will be facilitated by the Center for Secondary School Redesign (CSSR), a nationally known educational consulting firm. Money to pay the consultant is coming from the Partnership for Change, a joint program between the Burlington and Winooski Schools which is supported by a private foundation.

CSSR is helping the District, the School Board and the Superintendent Search Committee with to write a job description job for a superintendent who can help Burlington create an educational system that uses student-centered and proficiency-based practices.

Using a consultant like CSSR has been proven to result in more successful Superintendent hirings. Many school systems that have unclear expectations often hire people who are good at getting a job, but not good at doing or keeping it. The extremely high rate of turnover in principals and superintendents across the country are evidence of this.

The public forums will ask school faculty and citizens to participate in a process known as “position analysis,” which brings community stakeholders together to look at a a description of the skills needed in a 21st Century school leader, and set priorities for what they think are the most important for Burlington’s success.

The first forum was held on Saturday morning, September 27th, at the Sustainability Academy. Approximately 45 people attended the forum on a glorious fall morning.

Upcoming public forums include the following:
October 30th, Sustainability Academy, 6:30-8:30PM (Open to the public, child care and interpreters for the following languages will be provided: Maay Maay, Somali, French, Nepali, Burmese and Karen)

October 30th, J.J. Flynn Elementary School, 6:30-8:30PM (Open to the public, child care and interpreters for the following languages will be provided: Maay Maay, Somali, French, Nepali, Burmese and Karen)

Feedback from all of the forums will be incorporated into the final job description that will be given to the School Board.

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