Consultants from BWP & Associates are collecting information from students, staff, District 233 school board members and the community to develop a leadership profile as they work to find a replacement for Superintendent Von Mansfield. After 13 years as superintendent, and seven years before that as Homewood-Flossmoor High School principal, Mansfield announced his retirement set for June 2022. His replacement should be selected in March. The person will have a title of Superintendent-elect and will serve for a year with Mansfield.
Consultants from BWP & Associates are collecting information from students, staff, District 233 school board members and the community to develop a leadership profile as they work to find a replacement for Superintendent Von Mansfield.
After 13 years as superintendent, and seven years before that as Homewood-Flossmoor High School principal, Mansfield announced his retirement set for June 2022. His replacement should be selected in March. The person will have a title of Superintendent-elect and will serve for a year with Mansfield.
Mark Friedman of BWP said the firm had gotten about 30 resumes so far. The intention is to winnow that down to 10 to 15 candidates for interviews. From that group, five to seven final candidates will be brought to the District 233 board for interviews.
What the consultants learned from meetings with students and residents on Thursday, Jan. 21, is that the community is looking for someone with all of Mansfield’s outstanding qualities — a concern for the students, a respect for the community, a partnership with the faculty, a deep belief in education and how H-F serves every student, strong ethics.
And, they want someone with a great personality who can communicate and relate to everyone. Mansfield is a recognized figure, not only on the H-F campus, but in the community. He lives here and he’s dedicated countless hours to the job. It has never been a 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. routine for him.
During a Zoom meeting for community members, one parent said the Homewood-Flossmoor community is a great community to live in, and the next superintendent should be willing to join the community. This should not be a commuter’s position.
A superintendent who is comfortable with diversity is a must. One parent reminded BWP members that H-F is “what the world looks like” with its students from different socio-economic groups, races and ethnicities.
H-F is also unique for its hundreds of class offerings, its many sports programs and extracurricular activities. The group’s participants agreed all those things and the academic rigor are what make H-F great, and none of that should fall by the wayside. H-F should remain a destination school.
Some callers want to make certain the new superintendent can understand finances and will be able to read budgets and make financial adjustments as needed. Others asked that the new person understand data and use it to help the public understand how decisions are made.
One caller wondered how different school will be once the COVID-19 pandemic ends. He wants the new superintendent to be able to recognize how to blend the “old” model of school with the “new” model born out of all the changes the pandemic has brought about.
The job calls for someone “courageous and bold” one participant said, and willing to think outside the box to bring H-F to the next level.
Too many times people think the superintendent should “do everything” but one parent said the superintendent should have “a really strong bench to help implement a lot of these things” and believed that the new person would find H-F’s staff has lot of talent.
The consultants wondered if the superintendent should come from a large district like H-F with 3,000 students. The participants said that wasn’t necessary, but they didn’t want the superintendent’s role to be a “starter position” either.
In addition to the call-in Zoom session, the BWP team said they received 650 responses in an online survey asking what qualities people want in the next superintendent. They met in discussion with 20 upper classmen and had individual phone calls with each school board member. They were conducting several other information gathering sessions and would digest all the comments into a leadership profile. Friedman said the findings will be presented at a public meeting.
