By Linda Delmonico-Prussen
The sparsely attended meeting served two purposes. SCOPE officials wanted to hear what qualities Merrick residents want and expect of their new superintendent. It also informed people about the superintendent search, which is expected to wind down in April.
School officials said they believed turnout for the SCOPE meeting was low because the search firm had already met with school administrators, teachers, support staff, school-board members and PTA representatives in small groups.
Merrick's current Superintendent, Dr. Ronald Smith, announced earlier this school year that he will retire in June 2003.
Leonard Adler, Ed.D., of SCOPE, said his firm has helped place 17 superintendents over the past four years, and he said, "All are still in place."
SCOPE is casting a wide net in its search for a new Merrick superintendent. Now that the organization has met with school and community representatives, it will begin advertising the superintendent's position in publications such as The New York Times's Sunday Education section, along with education journals. SCOPE also will send a letter to every superintendent in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, as well as 300 colleges and universities, alerting established professionals that the position is open.
SCOPE will review received rsums, after which the field of candidates will be narrowed to those who look best on paper. SCOPE will interview each selected candidate. The organization will further refine the field to six to eight candidates that the school board should interview. The board, which ultimately will hire the new superintendent, then will interview the finalists.
Adler said that, in meetings with school and community representatives, he has found that Merrick wants "somebody that leads by example," as well as someone who's a "people person" with excellent communication skills.
Other characteristics included: "Someone that gets back to people and is responsive"; "A creative leader, someone who can think 'out of the box,'" as well as someone with a solid, working knowledge of special education and new state education standards, both at the elementary and secondary levels.
