Following Dr. Dirk Halupnik’s retirement from Southeast Polk’s superintendent position, the school district has been on the lookout for the new superintendent. As of last night, the final three candidates have been interviewed for the last time. With the selection process in this stage, we have started to wonder, what should we hope to see in our superintendent?
The school district’s website has a page dedicated to our superintendent search, where they have stated what they are looking for in a candidate:
“The school board is seeking a leader who will continue to build on SEP’s strong tradition of academic excellence, student opportunities, and community partnerships.”
For a superintendent to stand up to the precedent set by Halupnik, the superintendent should be very open to collaboration. One of Halupnik’s key ideals was the emphasis of teamwork on decisions, which helped lead the district to decisions that people could agree on. There was a team that worked together to reach decisions which allowed for more than just superintendent thoughts to be the way to go.
“I don’t really view it as a me thing, because I think everything is a team here,” said Halupnik in an interview at the end of last year, “and so for me, I love to watch and celebrate with kids and staff as they’re having success.”
In order to match up to Halupnik’s success in any way, a future superintendent needs to look for success and happiness in others, with the district and its staff and students being their primary focus.
According to Alliant University’s website, there are a few key qualities that they believe an effective superintendent should possess, beyond a teaching background and proper credentials and education.
A superintendent should, above all, have emotional intelligence or maturity, empathy, and effective communication skills paired with skills with relationship building. All of these inter- and intrapersonal skills are vital to a superintendent because they need to constantly deal with people, while also ensuring that they are able productively handle those people.
All of these inter- and intrapersonal skills are vital to a superintendent because they need to constantly deal with people, while also ensuring that they are able productively handle those people.
The other skills that a superintendent should possess that go hand in hand are problem solving skills, as well as the ability to adapt and remain flexible in everchanging situations. As a superintendent, curveballs will be thrown a candidate’s way, and they need to be able to deal with those challenges no matter how spontaneous they may be. They should also be able to stay flexible to changing circumstances, and keep problems from getting out of hand.
Halupnik has set a bar that a new superintendent is going to have to come in and find their way around, whether that is over, under, or on par. Good luck to each candidate that remains, and may the most qualified and personable candidate claim victory.
