Only a handful of Hartselle residents and school employees turned out Thursday afternoon to give input on the new Hartselle School Superintendent.

While the number was low in both the employee and community sessions, Sandra Sims-deGraffenried of BWP and Associates said they received a lot of good input.

“The people that were here gave us great input,” Sims-deGraffenried said. “We’re going to do another round of employee and community meetings on April 2. It will be like today’s meetings – employees at 3:30 (p.m.) and the community at 5:30 (p.m.)

“We’re currently doing an online survey on the school’s website. We will compile the results from all of the meetings and survey and give the school board a report on April 4.”

Sims-deGraffenried said the board would have the first opportunity to decide what qualifications for a superintendent at that April 4 meeting.

On Thursday, Sims-deGraffenried, assisted by former Tallassee School Superintendent Jim Jeffers, talked with residents and employees about the qualifications it needed.

Some of the characteristics of a successful superintendent given by the audiences included: visible, approachable, involved and a good listener.

City Councilman Mike Roberson, who attended the meeting, added that the school superintendent should have integrity and honesty.

Hartselle Board of Education members did not attend either session Thursday. When asked about that fact, Sims-deGraffenried said they were discouraged from coming to the employee session, so that school employees wouldn’t feel intimidated. However, she said that they were welcome to come to the community session.

At the end of each session, teachers and community members were given a questionnaire. They were also asked to share the questionnaire with anyone who would like to give anonymous input for the school superintendent search.

A copy of that questionnaire is available here: Superintendent Questionnaire

Questionnaires must be received by April 2 at the following address:

Hartselle City Schools
305 College St. NW
Hartselle, AL 35640