The COSCA Group meets MPUSD community members

Patrick Sayne of The Cosca Group, the consulting firm that's helping trustees with the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District find the next superintendent, led a meeting today in Marina to find out what community members want in their next top leader.

The meeting was sparsely attended, not surprisingly. There were only nine people in the audience, who included two trustees, a district employee, and Marina's recreation and cultural services director Terry Siegrist. 
 Still, the views from the audience were telling. When asked, what's good about the district, the first answer that sprung up was: location. Yes, MPUSD is located in one of the most beautiful spots in the world. 

And what else???

It was Trustee Diane Creasey who said its diversity and its "improving API scores" that were good. 

And what are its challenges? Financial. Low academic standards and low achievement. Resources are not equally shared among the learning communities. Facilities are outdated. 

Lastly, Sayne asked participants what they wanted to see in a superintendent, and they came up with 12 desired qualities: innovative, visionary, outside of the education field (bad idea: read my blog on that one), great communicator, visible to students and parents. When the qualities had to be ranked, the top vote getters were: the finalist needs to work in partnership with trustees, he or she needs to build community partnerships, and he or she will know how to pick quality administrators. 

And so the wheel keeps turning. There will be two more meetings, one on Wednesday at Seaside High, and one on Thursday at Monterey High. 

See you there!