Socorro ISD get community, faculty input in principal hiring process

Socorro Independent School District Superintendent Dr. Jose Espinoza and his team want parents and staff to be apart of hiring school principals. At Horizon Heights Elementary, his vision is in the works.

Faculty and school staff were asked to fill out a principal profile in May. The questionnaire asks staff what kind of characteristics they want to see in the leader of a school. At a second meeting for parents, they too were asked to tell the district what they want in their leader.

“He’s really got to know the school and its needs,” parent Armando Alt said.

He wants a good leader at his son’s school.

“Some kids want to emulate the leader, when they see a professional such as the principal and how approachable he is and maybe how congenial he is toward his students that provides a lot of comfort in the school environment for them,” Alt said. “They enjoy going to school.”

The goal is to give the community a voice in the process. Some said they want a principal who knows the names of everyone in their family, others said they want a principal who really knows the curriculum.

“They were telling us this is what we’d like in a leader,” Assistant Superintendent Alisa Zapata-Farmer. “We already have these traditions going, so we want a leader that’s going to come in follow these traditions and take us to the next level.”

Zapata-Farmer and her team will print out every word from the staff and parent’s surveys, then use it in the final interview. Finalists will have to answer to each bullet point and prove they fit the profile the community wants.

“It takes some time, but that extra step to listen to the voice of the community, to listen to the voice of the staff and teachers…it’s priceless,” Zapata-Farmer said.

Now the superintendent will make a decision that will be partially-based on who fits the profile best. But ultimately, it’s the board that has the final say on who get the job at Horizon Heights Elementary.

The board is set to make a decision at the board meeting on June 23.