Art Stellar, Ph.D. 75 Summer Street Hingham, Massachusetts 02043 828-764-1785 781-875-1723 artstellar@yahoo.com Palm Beach Superintendent Selection December, 2011 Dear Board Members: You have a very important responsibility in filing your superintendent position. You have gathered suggestions from the staff and other stakeholders. You have digested this input and formulated a list of desirable qualities and qualifications. Now comes the fun part or at least it ought to be enjoyable. You have the opportunity to review the backgrounds and accomplishments of some good educators who aspire to become your next superintendent. You will likely be showered with well intended opinions about the various candidates. Some boards cave in at this point and opt for political expediency. You are in control of the selection process and can project your commitment to the benefits students will receive several years from now from your decision regarding who becomes your next superintendent. This decision can be one of the best parts of being a school board member. One of your first decisions is to select among the candidates those whom you are going to interview. | believe that in comparison with your other candidates you will find me worthy of being interviewed. You will quickly discover that | exceed your basic qualifications, as will 8 to 10 other candidates. Having a doctorate and having served 25 years as a superintendent will give me an edge over pethaps half of the individuals meeting your list of qualifications. My experience in large urban, rural and suburban school systems may give me some added credibility for your multifaceted county. My service as assistant superintendent for Shaker Heights, Ohio and as “chief planner’ for the Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland demonstrates having worked in high quality, highly recognized educational environments. At the same time | have led even more diverse low income school systems to realize high test scores and reduced gaps with honors and awards such as Blue Ribbon School distinction.One of your qualifications adds the statement “or in a comparatively-sized government/business organization”. My former service on the corporate board for Plato Learning, as chief education officer for Renaissance Learning or as CEO/President of High/Scope Educational Research Foundation each qualify as. serving more than 45,000 students. It is conceivable that 1 or 2 other candidates besides me would meet this criterion, although others will likely be in a noneducational setting. Thus, in terms of basic qualifications my name should be among your top candidates. My experience teaching elementary, special education, middle school, high school (drivers’ education) and college (graduate courses on the arts and administration & supervision), as well as coaching may exceed some other candidates. Of course, not too many superintendent candidates drove a school bus as | did for two years (or substitute taught 14 times while serving as superintendent) You will discover that | am extremely optimistic and self-confident. My integrity and personal performance have never been found lacking when facts are part of the discussion. While on occasion someone might have questioned my statements, when significant, | have later either verified their accuracy or indicated that | was incorrect. Consequently, my trustworthiness is considered to be high. Of course, there are legitimate differences of opinion from time to time which make this quality more subjective than others. Therefore, you can contact references or make up your own minds when we meet. My commitment to all students and to my own standards of integrity has occasionally gotten me in political hot water. However, standing up for what is right for all students is part of the responsibilty of the superintendent in my view. Schools exist for the students, rather than the adults, although everyone's interests can usually be accommodated. Any one in education is likely to believe he/she puts students first, however, people with whom an individual works can pethaps best confirm or deny this trait. | am confident that my references will confirm that | am as student oriented as other candidates.One of your desired qualities for your next superintendent is sensitivity to diversity which has been an inherent aspect of my entire life. | grew up in a culturally integrated community. Throughout my career, | have been recognized and received awards for promoting diversity — probably as much or more than any other of your superintendent candidates. For example, the American Association of Schoo! Administrators awarded me the Dr. Effie Jones Humanitarian Award for advocating for women and minorities. Since only 16 administrators besides me have won this national award including one of my protégés and one of my former bosses, itis unlikely that another recipient of this, award for encouraging diversity is one of your candidates. | have always had @ meaningful relationship with the business community in a collective sense or individually. Within complex and diverse environments, | have been able to build coalitions with business partners which produce excellent results. For example, under my watch, we revised the Boston Compact to include parents, higher education, the arts community and others in a partnership that already included the administration/school committee/teachers’ union and business leaders. As co-chair of the Boston Compact Measurement Committee, | facilitated the creation of a set of accountability measurements which has subsequently evolved into the Boston indicators of quality. The socioeconomic range is clearly wide in Boston; although | also have experience in rural and suburban communities where business people have also come together to forge powerful alliances for teaching and learning. During my 7.5 year tenure in Oklahoma City | expanded the number of business partnerships in a variety of ways. The Junior League won a national award for helping to promote the business adopt-a-school program. We began a foundation for the school district. We raised over $200,000 with a television telethon. We expanded the number of adopt-a-school partners (mostly businesses) from a dozen to over a 1000. | encouraged the mayor to establish a Mayor's Commission on Public Education (I have had very successful relationships with every mayor where | have worked) and various organizations to recognize teachers and students for outstanding performance.