Board Members Interview Woman Set to Become Next School Superintendent

members spent about 40 minutes Thursday interviewing the sole candidate who applied to become the district's next superintendent.

, the district's director of special education, is expected to be promoted to the top job at the board's next meeting on Feb. 15.

The position is open due to the of current superintendent Patricia Cole, who plans to leave at the end of the school year.

Board members took turns Thursday asking Harting an assortment of questions.

Vision for the district?

“My vision … is that I really believe all students can learn and I believe we can provide the best opportunity for that within the school setting,” she said.

A good education equates to a good life later on, she said.

“Excellence in education has been the theme in Wyandotte,” she sad. “Our families always come back to Wyandotte. I think that is a tribute for what we do for education here.”

Thoughts on the school budget?

“We pretty much cut things long ago that districts are now having to cut,” she said. “(It’s important to) make sure we have appropriate staffing for the students, but not overstaffed if at all possible.”

As director of special education, she said, she’s in charge of a $25 million annual budget. She plans to use what she’s learned through managing that money to make cuts that need to be made, but still ensure that the district is providing the students with what they need for a good education, she said.

Planning on implementing new ideas?

“I am constantly looking at things,” she said.

Other districts are just now implementing programs, such as co-teaching, that Wyandotte has been doing for more than 20 years, she said.

She said the state’s new high school graduation requirements will force the district to reassess all of its programs. An added emphasis on foreign language, especially Spanish, needs to begin, she said.

It’s important for the district to supply its staff with the tools they need to succeed, she said. Over the summer, she said, teachers were told if they came to a voluntary meeting, they would receive a free book on ways to improve reading in their classrooms. She said a number of teachers came and have since implemented the lessons from the book in their classrooms.

How to handle conflicts?

“That’s pretty much my day-to-day job,” she said, to laughs among the board members. “I look at my role as I need to be the problem solver. I get many irate parents who give me an example of something that is totally wrong. 'The teacher did this and I want to report them and I want them fired.' I hear that frequently.”

In those cases, she said, the first thing she does is ask the parent if they have discussed the issue with the teacher and principal, and then she attempts to get all the facts to see the full picture of what transpired.

“Partly, people want to be heard,” she said. “This is their child and they feel their child has been wronged. You need to give them the opportunity to talk and be heard.”

She said Wyandotte is the first school to have a positive behavior support program in every building.

“It has been a very successful program as far as changing behavior,” she said. “The whole point of positive behavior support is to teach the behavior you expect of students.”

Experience with labor management, grievances and negotiating?

She said she is directly responsible for supervising 65 staff members and feels there is respect on both sides.

“I feel a good working relationship with the units I’m involved with,” she said. “[I always think about] what can we do to resolve things before they get to the point of a grievance, if at all possible."

Why should you be given the job?

“What’s hard for me, I think, is that I look at Wyandotte as a team,” she said. “I have to stand up and say you have to hire me. Well, you should hire me and all the people who work with me. I know the district well. I am well respected by the staff. They know they can trust me. … I think I can do a good job at moving this district forward.”

First issue that needs to be addressed?

“Finances,” she said. “I think that’s going to be the big one. Contracts and finances are two big issues that need to be addressed immediately.”

As state funding is tied to the number of students enrolled, she said, she’s hoping to attract more students to the district next year.

“My goal would be to keep as many students in Wyandotte as possible,” she said. “What is it that we can do to keep those at-risk students in school? What can we do to make sure every student graduates?”