To Do This Week: Submit Potential Questions for Chief Administrator Candidates

As you know, the Heartland AEA Board of Directors has begun the process to recruit and select a new chief administrator for our agency. Your involvement in our process is important, and we appreciate that 195 of you responded to a survey that asked what attributes and skills were most important to you in a chief administrator.

The results of this survey fall into a few priority themes, which the Board would like to build upon to design potential questions that could be posed to chief administrator candidates. Here’s what you said:

When asked to rank order a list of attributes and skills, you most hoped to find a chief administrator who:

• Has the ability to promote and sustain an environment of mutual trust and openness with the Board, staff and member districts.
• Understands the special needs of students and the array of services required to support those needs.
• Is fair, ethical and possesses unquestionable integrity.
• Is an excellent communicator and understands that listening is an essential component of communicating.
  

When asked for open-ended comments, you most often mentioned that you hoped to find a chief administrator who:

• Understands and values the role of the AEA, with an appreciation for the unique work of AEA staff. (This theme was mentioned nearly twice as often as any other.)
• Understands public education in Iowa.
• Is supportive with good communication skills.
  

We will use the Agency’s planning council structure to generate potential questions. Here’s how you can be involved:

• First, review the themes above.
 
• Next, think about what questions these themes raise for you. 
 
• Now, contribute your ideas for questions to your department supervisor or regional planning council representative by Feb. 27 -- a week from today. 
 
• Our leadership team will work with their respective planning councils in March to formulate 2-3 questions based on your input about these themes. 


Thank you for your interest and involvement in our process. Through the survey and the design of these questions, your collective voice is helping our Board of Directors make this important hiring decision for our agency. We will continue to keep you informed of our progress and any additional opportunity for involvement. As always, your ongoing work to improve the outcomes for those we serve is greatly appreciated.  

- John Kinley, Board President