Published: Monday, March 18, 2013 1:07 AM CDT

After Dakota Educational Consulting, the firm leading the search for a new Yankton School District superintendent, posted a survey for community and faculty members to take about a month ago about the search for a new superintendent, the Press & Dakotan has learned the results of the survey.

The survey of community members featured 276 respondents, while the faculty survey had 245 respondents.

Rick Melmer, who is helping to lead the YSD search with the consulting firm, said the surveys will help a lot during the search.

“The survey helps us as we formulate questions for the candidates when we screen and do phone interviews,” he said. “It’s also probably helpful for the school board so that they know what qualities are most important in a superintendent from the perspective of faculty and community members.”

Questions included a list of options, and respondents could check all areas that applied to the next superintendent.

However, one question was open-ended and asked about the issues or topics that are important for the next superintendent to know. A final question asked respondents to rate each quality in terms of how necessary it is for the next leader of YSD to have.

Eighty-three percent of community respondents felt the next superintendent should be a good communicator. Seventy-eight percent said the next superintendent should be good with budget skills, while 74 percent said he/she should have strong interpersonal skills.

Other qualities community members want in the next superintendent include being involved in the community (71 percent), being a visionary for the district (65 percent), acting as an instructional leader (49 percent), being articulate and well-spoken (49 percent), and being courageous (36 percent).

YSD faculty members had somewhat similar answers for the qualities they want in their next leader.

Ninety-two percent of faculty members said they believe the next superintendent should be a good communicator, 80 percent felt he/she should have strong interpersonal skills and 77 percent of faculty respondents felt the next superintendent should have strong budget skills.

In addition, 70 percent of faculty members thought the next leader of YSD should be involved in the community, 65 percent said he/she should be a visionary and 57 percent felt the next superintendent should be well-spoken.

A minority of faculty respondents thought the next YSD superintendent should be an instructional leader or be courageous.

Another question asked faculty and community members how they felt the success of the superintendent after a year on the job should be determined.

Eighty-seven percent of faculty respondents felt as if success after one year should be determined based on employees being satisfied, 85 percent felt it should be based off of school culture, while 51 percent said success should be determined based on how satisfied community members are.

On the other hand, community members felt as if success should be determined based off of a positive school culture (84 percent), a solid financial base (67 percent) and satisfied employees (63 percent).

The issues that faculty respondents thought it would be most important for the new superintendent to know included, in order of popularity, budget issues, lack of community support, low staff morale, failed opt-outs, salary issues and lack of communication.

The most important issues community members felt the new superintendent should know about included budget issues, drugs and alcohol issues among students, lack of community support, low staff morale, failed opt-outs and the need to keep extra-curricular activities.

Community members also thought the traits that are most essential for the new superintendent to have include being honest and trustworthy, good communication skills, good with fiscal management, being accessible and being a visionary for the district.

Faculty respondents thought the most essential traits are being a good communicator, being honest and trustworthy, having good interpersonal skills, being good with fiscal management and acting as a visionary.

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