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Consultant summarizes community survey, leadership profile and next steps in Fort Mill superintendent search
Summary
A consultant presented a data-driven draft leadership profile after engaging more than 2,100 participants (including nearly 2,000 student responses), highlighted communication and decision-making as top qualities sought in a superintendent and set an April 28 application deadline; consultants recommended 3 finalists for public review under South Carolina law.
The district's superintendent search consultant presented a draft leadership profile informed by surveys, stakeholder meetings and public forums and told the school board it was based on more than 2,100 participants and nearly 2,000 student responses.
The consultant said the community emphasized strong communication, decision-making and problem-solving skills; integrity, community commitment and instructional leadership also ranked highly. "Most important decision school boards make is the hiring of a superintendent," the consultant said, adding that the board had "trusted us to listen, to record what we heard, and to analyze the data from the surveys."
Key details provided in the presentation included:
- Participation: roughly 2,100 total responses with student responses near 2,000 and Spanish-language responses included; consultant said the sample appeared representative for the district size. - Top attributes: communication (identified by more than 60% of respondents), decision-making/problem solving, adaptability and innovation; students placed extra weight on enthusiasm and visibility. - Leadership profile: seeks a visionary instructional leader, strong communicator, strategic manager experienced in fiscal and personnel oversight, and a candidate with a record of closing achievement gaps. - Timeline: application deadline is April 28; about 20 applications had been received at the time of the presentation; the consultant said the search team expects to recommend four to six vetted candidates for board consideration and that South Carolina law requires three finalists be placed before the public once finalists are selected.
The consultant recommended full-board participation in finalist interviews and advised against hiring on a split vote, saying the finalists and subsequent background checks would be handled before public interviews or presentations. The board was invited to review the draft leadership profile and suggest language changes before the search team finalizes it for the next steps.
The board asked clarifying questions about sample representativeness and the consultant responded that, in this district's context, the sample size and consistency across waves suggested the results were stable. No formal vote on the leadership profile was recorded in the transcript excerpt; the consultant said the document would be made public and that further input could be provided electronically.
