Leadership Associates presents survey findings, seeks more input as Long Beach Unified begins superintendent search

Leadership Associates, the firm conducting the search for Long Beach Unified’s next superintendent, presented survey results and solicited community input during a virtual session. The firm said it has received about 2,800 responses so far and that the survey will remain open through April 24 so more community feedback can be included.

Sandy Lyon, a partner with Leadership Associates, told participants the district is recruiting a superintendent for the first time in 35 years and that the firm has been holding input sessions and aggregating survey data to shape the job description. "We want to make sure that we have all the input we need from you, the community, the students, the parents, the staff," Lyon said, urging broad participation in the survey and the chat.

Lyon summarized ranked survey responses collected to date. The most prioritized professional experience respondents sought was "experience in California public education, either teaching and/or site administration," she said. Close behind were "experience and oversight of school district finances, budgets and business management" and "a proven track record of growing academic achievement for all students, including special needs children, second-language learners and children experiencing poverty." "All of these are important but we did ask respondents to rank those," Lyon said, explaining the ranking method.

On leadership characteristics, Lyon said respondents placed the highest priority on a superintendent who "will place the highest priority on safe environments for students and staff," followed by a strong instructional leader who will maintain and improve student achievement and someone who can bring the community together around a vision. For personal traits, Lyon said the top-ranked quality was accountability, followed by empathy, listening skills, communication, equity-mindedness and accessibility.

The session included an open-response segment asking participants to name district strengths and challenges a new superintendent should address. One participant in the chat said a major strength in Long Beach Unified is "the sense of community in each of the schools," which Lyon said aligned with themes already appearing in the survey data. A participant who identified themself as "a middle school teacher" commented on the quietness of the virtual session and stayed on for possible questions.

Lyon closed by showing resources — links to board goals and guardrails, core values and Vision 2035 — and reiterated that the survey will remain open through April 24. She said the collected responses will be used to craft the superintendent job description to help the Board of Education select candidates for the position.

Next steps: Leadership Associates will continue aggregating survey and input-session data; participants were encouraged to complete the survey and invite others to do so before April 24 so the Board has a broad set of community-informed criteria for selecting finalists.