Consultants: Community wants visible, authentic superintendent who champions diversity, arts

If you don’t think hiring a new leader for Palm Springs Unified School District (PSUSD) applies to you, consultants leading the search beg to differ.

Strong schools are crucial to communities, they said Tuesday during a community forum that saw very little attendance. They stressed that all residents should have a voice in selecting the district’s next superintendent, regardless of whether they have children.

“Is there a more important part of a community than the schools?” asked Mike Matthews, a consultant with Educational Support Services Group (ESS), which was hired to lead the search. “Strong schools create vibrant communities. People move here or don’t move here because of the schools.”

With current Superintendent Tony Signoret retiring at the end of June, PSUSD officials are actively seeking community input to guide the search for his replacement. The input will help in creating a profile of the ideal candidate.

They said 32 people have expressed interest in the position so far, with 12 filling out a formal application. Once the profile is released, more candidates are expected to step forward.

With no community members present to address the consultants at the Tuesday meeting, they instead shared insights from their initial community engagement efforts with news media, revealing that while in-person attendance counts might be low, they have received a strong response to an online survey. Approximately 900 people responded to the English-language survey, and 25 responded to the Spanish-language survey.

The consultants have also conducted more than a dozen meetings with key stakeholders, including union members, principals, teachers, and classified staff.

“We want to put together a leadership profile of what the ideal superintendent in Palm Springs Unified would be. And we can’t just talk to a few people about that,” Matthews said. “We want to engage as many people as possible.”

So far, declining enrollment and budget concerns have emerged as significant challenges facing the district. Matthews explained that PSUSD is experiencing a slight decrease in enrollment, reflecting both statewide and nationwide trends.

“When districts decrease in enrollment, that’s a bunch of budget hurt,” Matthews said. “On top of that, all of us across the nation had increased funding with COVID, and those funding sources are going away too.”

The importance of maintaining arts programs in the district has also emerged as a key theme.

“They love the fine arts,” Lillian Maldonado French, another ESS consultant, said Tuesday. “There was a lot of discussion about how important the arts are and how they want to make sure that that is something that’s offered, that continues to be offered, especially the middle school and high school.”

The feedback indicates that the community would like the next superintendent to possess key qualities, such as maintaining high visibility in the community, demonstrating authenticity and genuine care for students, possessing strong communication skills, supporting employees through a collaborative approach, and celebrating and embracing diversity.

“People are so appreciative of [Superintendent] Signoret’s visibility, his high profile nature, and sense of genuine care, and we’re hearing those same attributes on the wish list for superintendent,” Matthews said. “They’re looking for someone who’s going to be out in the community and who’s going to be genuine and authentic.”

The consultants emphasized that participation in the superintendent search process isn’t limited to parents of current students. At a meeting with the district’s nonprofit foundation, they noted that most participants were community leaders without children in the district.

“They are business people. They are leaders in the community,” French said. “They still want to support schools because it’s very important to them.”

“Strong schools create vibrant communities. People move here or don’t move here because of the schools.”

— Mike Matthews, consultant with ESS

Asked how a superintendent’s role may have evolved over the years, the consultants noted the changing nature of the job amid increasing political tensions in education.

“I never knew what my board members’ political affiliations were for 16 years,” said Gary Rutherford, an ESS consultant who retired as Desert Sands Unified School District superintendent in 2017. “It wasn’t an issue. It never came up.”

“Ideology conflicts and culture wars, I think, are not unusual anymore. And so I think we’ve become politicized, drawn into the political wars.”

Matthews added that the COVID-19 pandemic created tremendous stress on educational leadership, especially since decision-makers faced intense pressure from various stakeholders.

“People are quick to anger sometimes,” he said. “I think we’re more, as a country, we’re more quick to anger. There’s fewer questions and more accusations sometimes.”

The district hopes to publish the leadership profile by May 5, with the application window closing May 9. Interviews with candidates are tentatively scheduled for the weekend of May 31.

Community members can still participate in the process by attending the final forums today — either virtual or in-person — or completing the online survey in English or Spanish before it closes at the end of the day.

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