In his one-year self-assessment regarding his leadership since officially taking over as Superintendent at Owensboro Public Schools, Dr. Matthew Constant said the district has made great strides but still has work to do in many areas — and he humbly gave plenty of credit to his staff for working to move OPS forward despite an unusual year.
Constant was named interim superintendent when Nick Brake resigned at the end of December 2019. In March 2020, Constant was selected to take on the role, which he officially began July 1.
With his one-year anniversary near, Constant was required to do a self-assessment and provide evidence in seven leadership standards — which he presented Thursday during a Board of Education luncheon. The board will now evaluate the evidence and give Constant ratings in July.
Constant could grade himself as Exemplary, Accomplished, Developing, or Growth Required in each standard.
The seven leadership standards (and the grade he gave himself) are: Strategic (D), Instructional (A), Cultural (D), Human Resources (D), Managerial (A), Collaborative (A), and Influential (D).
“I don’t see developing as a negative at all,” Constant said. “It just means we have work to do in that area. Hopefully in my tenure of leadership I’ll improve every year.”
Constant said once they began compiling evidence, he realized “we’ve done a yeoman’s work through this school year with the team we have here.”
He said with so much of the last academic year dominated by COVID-19, it was hard to remember much that wasn’t pandemic-related.
“Through this evidence we’ve done a lot to kind of push us forward to anticipate what’s going to happen after COVID,” he said. “We always have to keep our eyes on the next prize or we become stagnant, and I don’t want to do that.”
Constant gave plenty of credit to others in the district, saying they were instrumental in providing input or going out of their way to help in any way possible.
“If you can’t depend on a strong team, then you feel like you’re on an island, especially during a pandemic. I never feel like (I’m on an island),” he said. “Our team is strong and is always ready and willing to help whenever I need it. I can’t speak more highly of our team.”
Constant said while they’ve addressed several important issues and implemented forward-looking plans, there’s still plenty that can be done to keep the district moving forward.
“We need to get our equity work up and off the ground once we get the data back,” he said. “On the heels of that, we really need to define the strategic plan, the 5- and 10-year plan that will springboard us into the future after COVID. I’m hoping to get an objective partner to help us identify that and look at our organization with fresh eyes and really help us project what needs to happen.”
