Position Title: Superintendent

Salary: $140,000 - $155,000

Closing Date: March 17, 2008

Downloads:

• Job Application
• Job Brochure

The Position

The Board of Trustees of the Banning Unified School District is seeking a strong, successful leader as its next superintendent. The individual must have the ability to establish trust and unify all segments of the school community. The ideal candidate must be a visionary and experienced leader in all aspects of the district’s operations. The successful candidate will be someone committed to being highly visible and involved in the community, schools and district work sites. The ideal candidate will have a variety of educational experiences at many levels and a proven successful experience with an ethnically and socio-economically diverse school system and community. They will possess a demonstrated record of success in improving the academic performance of students.

The Community

Banning is located 90 miles east of Los Angeles and only 100 miles north of San Diego, but it is a world apart from these metropolitan giants. Situated on what was once the main line of a historic stagecoach trail between the Arizona territories and Los Angeles, Banning is a friendly place to raise a family with clean air and beautiful vistas. The city is named in honor of General Phineas T. Banning, who freighted over the Mormon Trail from Salt Lake to San Bernardino and Los Angeles. General Banning also figures prominently in the history of the town of Wilmington, California. He developed a shipping company there between San Pedro and Los Angeles, as well as operating the stage line from Wilmington to Yuma, Arizona through the Banning Pass.

The railroad replaced the stagecoach in 1876, but Banning is still known as “stagecoach town, U.S.A.” and is famous for its annual stagecoach days celebration featuring a parade, carnival and rodeo.

Banning is at an altitude of 2,300 feet in a mountain pass between Mt. San Gorgonio and Mt. San Jacinto, providing the visitor a panoramic view of the deepest gorge in the continental United States, 2,000 feet deeper than the Grand Canyon. Surrounded by these mountains this suburban/rural community, with its budding art district and galleries, presents a welcome change of pace to the hustle and bustle of the larger cities. Banning forms a natural passageway between metropolitan Los Angeles and the greater Palm Springs desert communities.
For more information about Banning, visit these Web sites:
http://www.ci.banning.ca.us/index.asp
http://www.banningchamber.org/

Mission Statement

The mission of the Banning Unified School District, as an educational community, is to improve academic achievement, provide a safe school environment, and maintain a positive school climate to produce life long learners and cultivate productive citizens.

Please visit the District Web site at http://www.banning.k12.ca.us.

The District

Banning Unified School District, one of the oldest districts in Riverside County, serves a three hundred square mile area. It encompasses Cabazon, White Water, Poppet Flats, and the Morongo Indian Reservation, as well as the city of Banning. The San Gorgonio School District was formed in 1877 and later became the Banning Unified School District. There were 14 children enrolled when the first school opened in a one-room shack. The school moved several times and burned to the ground once before 1907 when a new stucco building was built on Williams Street and a separate high school was started. The Williams Street building is still in use as the Banning district office and administration center.

The district educates approximately 5,000 students enrolled in kindergarten through twelfth grade. Banning Unified School District has four elementary schools, one intermediate school, one middle school, one comprehensive high school, one continuation high school and one independent study school. The district is one of the largest employers in the city of Banning with approximately 570 employees.
Students K-3 are taught in classes of twenty. There is focus on literacy and all K-3 teachers are supported by the Reading First grant. The test scores have steadily improved over the past five years and there is an increase in students taking advanced placement exams.

The ethnic composition of the student body reflects the diversity of the area: 51 percent Hispanic, 21.7 percent White, 10.4 percent Black, 7.7 percent Asian, 5.2 percent Native American and 4 percent other. The total district budget is $36,231,679.

The district, like its historic environs, prides itself in blazing new trails as it forges more passageways to learning and a new century.

Selection Criteria

The following criteria represent standards to be used in the evaluation of applications and in the selection of the superintendent.

• Professional Experience and Preparation
• Classroom teaching experience
• Secondary experience preferred
• Experience in site level and district office management
• Master’s degree and administrative credential required
• Doctorate preferred
• Bilingual preferred

Personal Characteristics

• Has strong communication skills
• Holds staff accountable and follows through
• Has integrity, honesty and a strong personality
• Is able to motivate others
• Is a person of high energy, enthusiastic and can inspire others
• A lifelong learner
• Is highly visible in all sites, classrooms and community
• Can work collaboratively and bring people together
• Has strong leadership skills
• A “people person” who is approachable, accessible and possesses exceptional listening skills
• Can communicate effectively with all stakeholders
• Has the ability to build partnerships with local government and community businesses

Professional Skills and Abilities

• Can build leadership capacity and is a good judge of character
• Is knowledgeable in technology, facilities, and working with budgets in all district departments
• Understands the growth process
• Is familiar with grants
• Is committed to the English Learner Program and knowledgeable about dual immersion
• Has the ability to create a positive climate in employer/employee relations in relation to collective bargaining
• Has experience in building and maintaining positive relationships with employee associations
• Is able to encourage community participation from the district’s diverse populations
  

Application Procedure

All applications will be held strictly confidential. Each applicant is requested to follow the procedures listed below. Those applicants wishing additional information should contact the CSBA adviser at (916) 669-3297. For duplication purposes, please do not bind application materials.

Applications are to be sent to:
Banning Unified School District
c/o Dr. Laura McGaughey, Adviser
California School Boards Association Executive Search Services
3100 Beacon Blvd., Suite Banning
West Sacramento, CA 95691

All applicants must provide the following items by the closing date, March 17, 2008 (5:00 p.m.), to be considered:\

• A completed Application Information Form. (Please complete as instructed; do not complete by stating “see attached résumé”.) The Application Information Form and brochure may be downloaded via CSBA’s Web page at www.csba.org/es.
• A personal letter of application stating reasons for interest in the Banning Unified School District superintendent position.
• A résumé providing biographical background information about educational preparation, experience and achievements.
• A placement file and/or five (5) current letters of professional references describing the applicant’s performance in previously held positions.
• It is the applicant’s responsibility to arrange to have placement papers or reference letters forwarded in time to meet the March 17, 2008 (5:00 p.m.) deadline. Additional brochures may be requested by calling the CSBA 24-hour Brochure Request Line at (916) 669-3296.

Selection Procedure

A professional screening committee will evaluate the qualifications of each applicant. The Board and the screening committee will use the described criteria during the screening, interviewing and final decision-making process. After receiving and studying the report of the screening committee, the Board will select and interview the top candidates.

The Board will select candidates for the final interviews, conduct the interviews and select the superintendent. Any applicant who contacts a Board member with the intent of influencing the Board’s decision will be disqualified.

Travel expenses for those candidates selected for the initial interview will be the responsibility of the candidate.

Interviews
Interviews are tentatively scheduled for April 16, 17, and 18, 2008.

Salary and Contract Terms

The Banning Unified School District Board of Education will offer a salary of $140-$155,000 (competitive and negotiable) plus fringe benefits to the successful candidate, based on that individual’s experience and qualifications. The board intends to offer a multi-year contract.

It is the candidate’s responsibility to provide the district with employment eligibility and verification of citizenship in compliance with the Immigration Reform and Control Act.

Board of Education