During a special in-person open session with the FFSD Board of Education on April 2, The Board of Education shared key themes that emerged through their conversations and survey data, and then presented the New Superintendent Profile. 

To gather input on the selection of the next superintendent for the Ferguson-Florissant School District, the Board of Education utilized a stakeholder survey and convened a feedback panel.

The survey garnered over 500 responses, with the majority (56.9%) coming from teachers and staff. Parents, guardians, and caretakers represented 19.7% of respondents, while students comprised 8.9%. A significant portion of the feedback came from individuals with long-term involvement in the district, as 51.5% of respondents reported over ten years of affiliation, 16.2% had six to ten years, and 24.6% had one to five years of connection.

The Board of Education will use this feedback, including the following additional results, to inform their selection process. Here is what the community shared:

Leadership Skills and Qualifications

1. Transparency and accountability

2. Strong instructional leader (curriculum development, assessment, instruction)

3. Recruits, hires, supports, develops, and retains effective staff members

4. Experience in improving academic performance

Personal Traits or Qualities

1. Is approachable, accessible, and welcoming

2. Follows through on tasks and responsibilities

3. Demonstrates ethics and integrity

4. Demonstrates collaborative leadership

Top Priorities

1. Improving student achievement and academic outcomes

2. Recruiting and retaining high-quality teachers and staff

3. Increasing transparency and accountability in district operations

4. Enhancing school safety and student well-being

The next superintendent should ideally possess experience as a teacher, principal, and district administrator. Furthermore, a strong understanding of the Ferguson-Florissant School District and current residency within the region are highly desirable.

The themes and summary of the strength areas or points of pride for the district identified were: 

• There is a sense of pride in the district's past, a recognition of current challenges, and a desire for improvement. Strengths commonly mentioned included dedicated teachers, diversity, and specific programs like STEAM and early childhood education. 

• There's a foundation of dedicated people and valuable programs, but also significant challenges that need to be addressed to ensure a positive future for the district.

Key Themes:

• Dedicated Staff: A significant number of responses praised the teachers and staff for their dedication, commitment, and hard work. Many feel staff go above and beyond for the students.

• Community and History: The district has a strong sense of community and a rich history, which many respondents value. There's a desire to maintain or recapture a sense of community pride.

• STEAM and Specialized Programs: Programs like STEAM academies, early childhood education, and career-focused training were frequently mentioned as points of pride and district strengths.

• Desire for Improvement: Despite the challenges, there's a strong desire among many respondents to see the district improve. They want better leadership, communication, and support for students and staff.

• Access for All: Some responses highlighted the district's commitment to ensuring that all students have access to quality education.

• Student Wellbeing: The importance of student wellbeing, including social-emotional learning and mental health support.

The themes for the challenges our stakeholders believe the next superintendent should prioritize addressing in the district were:

• There are major concerns with the district's budget and financial stability, with many citing the need for fiscal responsibility, transparency, and strategies to overcome deficits. Student-related issues are also prominent, including attendance, behavior, academic performance, and safety. Staffing concerns, such as teacher retention, recruitment, and support. There was a recurring emphasis on improving trust and communication among stakeholders (staff, parents, community).

Key Themes:

• Budget and Financial Stability: This was the most dominant theme. Respondents expressed concerns about the district's financial crisis, budget deficits, and the need for fiscal responsibility, transparency, and accountability in financial management.

• Challenges and Decline: Many responses expressed concern about the district's current state, citing issues such as poor leadership, communication problems, and a decline in academic performance or reputation.

• Student-Related Issues:

  • Attendance: Improving student attendance was a frequent concern.

  • Behavior: Addressing student behavior issues, maintaining discipline, and creating a safe learning environment are significant priorities.

  • Academic Performance: Improving academic outcomes, test scores, and ensuring students are prepared for success are important.

  • Safety: Ensuring the safety of students and staff within school buildings.

• Staffing:

  • Teacher Retention and Recruitment: Retaining quality teachers, recruiting new staff, and addressing staff morale are major challenges.

  • Staff Support: Many respondents emphasized the need to support teachers and staff, provide adequate resources, and address their concerns.

• Trust and Communication:

  • Building Trust: Restoring trust among staff, parents, and the community is seen as crucial.

  • Transparency: Improving communication and transparency in decision-making is emphasized.

• Equity and Resources:

  • Ensuring equitable resources and opportunities for all students and schools within the district.

• Leadership and Accountability:

  • The need for strong leadership, accountability, and effective administration is highlighted.

The qualities or characteristics that the Board of Education should look for in the next superintendent to ensure they are the best fit for the community were: 

• Honesty, integrity, and transparency are consistently highlighted as essential qualities. There is a need for a leader who is student-centered, possesses strong communication and interpersonal skills, and is willing to listen to and collaborate with staff, parents, and the community. Prior experience, particularly in diverse educational settings and with financial management. Someone who understands the district's unique challenges and is committed to its long-term success.

Key Themes:

• Integrity and Honesty: This is the most prominent theme. Respondents repeatedly stress the importance of a superintendent who is honest, ethical, and acts with integrity in all dealings.

• Transparency and Communication: Open, clear, and consistent communication is highly valued. The desire for a leader who is transparent about decisions, budgets, and district issues.

• Student-Centered Focus: The next superintendent should prioritize the needs and potential of all students, not just specific groups. A commitment to student success is seen as paramount.

• Collaboration and Listening: Respondents wanted a leader who is a team player, willing to listen to feedback from teachers, staff, parents, and the community, and to collaborate on solutions.

• Leadership and Decision-Making: The ability to make tough decisions based on what is best for students and the community is important. Strong leadership skills, including the ability to motivate and empower others, are also desired.

• Experience and Knowledge: Prior experience as a superintendent or administrator, particularly in a similar demographic or with financial challenges, is seen as beneficial. Knowledge of the district and community is also valued by some.

• Commitment and Long-Term Vision: Many hope to find a superintendent who is genuinely invested in the Ferguson-Florissant School District and committed to its long-term improvement, rather than someone seeking short-term gains.

• Approachability and Empathy: A leader who is approachable, empathetic, and cares about the well-being of teachers and staff is desired.

• Accountability: The next superintendent should hold themselves and others accountable.

Candidate Profile

The successful candidate will be a proven educator who:

• Embraces efficient and sound management practices while recruiting and retaining an expert team of educational leaders who appropriately distinguish responsibilities emanating from the federal, state, and local levels.

• Employs effective strategies of communication so decision makers stay fully informed of the relevant issues that demand priority attention.

• Practices principled but pragmatic leadership by demonstrating priority commitment to students, staff members, and school leaders with evidence that all work is student focused.

• Establishes and maintains a professional climate and culture of collaboration and mutual accountability.

• Mobilizes, energizes, and collaborates with teams of leaders to transform challenges into creative problem solving opportunities.

• Builds and sustains coalitions across governmental agencies and departments as well as with office staff of community municipalities, state legislators, and other elected officials.

• Promotes a visionary agenda that anticipates educational challenges and addresses strategic priorities through active engagement in the governance process.

• Thinks strategically, values diverse opinions, and balances resources and expertise to satisfy the varying needs of the district across a broad, and diverse spectrum of cultural and socioeconomic perspective. 

• Models leadership as evidenced by attention to detail, timely response to constituent concerns, and respect for dissenting perspectives.

• Demonstrates trust in team leaders by delegating responsibility and supporting the need for continuous improvement through reasonable and appropriate measures of accountability.

• Networks productively with other school superintendents to build on successful experiences in benchmark districts with similar circumstances.

• Utilizes the power of technology as a tool to expand and enhance teaching and learning as well as empower all constituents with real time data to drive improvement strategies.

• Is knowledgeable of the current field of professional research literature pertinent to the issues and solutions needed to address educational needs in the district.

• Listens attentively to constituents and stakeholders, and communicates regularly with them on a variety of issues, challenges, and opportunities. 

• Communicates in a clear and concise manner with local, and national media; delivering and making public presentations; and building rapport with external audiences.

• Demonstrates ability to develop and manage complex budgets, clarifying details as necessary with professional staff, community stakeholders, and elected leaders.

• Eases tensions and disarms critics with an effective and appropriate sense of humor.

• Leads ethically by example through strength of moral character, and unquestioned integrity.

Here’s what was shared during the Board of Education’s in-person open session. These snapshots capture the feedback from the small group conversations.

The Ferguson-Florissant Board of Education officially launched its search for the next Superintendent of Schools. Your feedback will help shape the future of Ferguson-Florissant Schools! Together, let’s make Ferguson-Florissant the premiere place to learn, grow and work.

We welcome your input as we begin our search. The District will use the information gathered from In-Person Open Session Focus Groups and the Superintendent Search Survey to create a profile of our next leader for the District.

FFSD  Superintendent Search Survey

All responses are anonymous, confidential and are set up to go directly to the Board of Education. The survey results will be reported on the District website after all the necessary information has been analyzed.

Findings from the survey and the in-person open session will be used to develop a New Superintendent Profile. As we move forward, our most important consideration is securing the strongest candidate pool and, ultimately, the best person to lead our District. To that end, the Board of Education has decided to conduct a confidential search. There were 223 people who expressed a desire to serve on a search committee panel. The search committee will be made up of students, staff, teachers, leaders, and community members. Only the final candidate’s name will be announced publicly.