The BOCES District Superintendent both directs the BOCES staff and serves as a representative in the field for the State Education Commissioner. This individual acts as liaison between the component schools and the State Education Department and as a consultant and mentor to component school board members and administrators.
At the same time, the District Superintendent works directly with component schools, offering services intended to help them carry out their educational goals. The services provided are available to the component schools as part of their regular BOCES administrative fees. In many cases, the District Superintendent is also able to call upon the resources of the State Education Department and the BOCES professional staff.
Selection of school superintendents
Component school districts can save the cost of hiring a private consultant to fill superintendent vacancies. More importantly, they can turn to someone who knows these districts well and understands their needs. The District Superintendent goes through an extensive process of helping school boards develop selection criteria. In many cases, this involves meetings with different staff and community groups. The District Superintendent also takes responsibility for developing and mailing out a brochure describing the position, placing advertisements in various newspapers and journals, screening applicants, selecting a slate of finalists and assisting the board in setting up a process for interviews.
Liaison activities
The District Superintendent is available to:
- Facilitate communication between districts and the State Education Department as well as other public and private agencies.
- Interpret and clarify Education Law, Commissioner’s Regulations and other policies that have an impact on education in the region.
Consultation and coordination services
The District Superintendent is available to consult with school districts on:
- Education regulations and procedures
- Management planning
- Board/administration relationships
- Reorganization and merger
- School boundaries
- Legislation and policy actions
- Development of superintendent and board performance appraisals
- Superintendent contracts
- New standards and assessments
- Superintendents’ in-service and professional growth