30-60-90 day plan for school superintendents
On this page
- What does a superintendent own that a principal does not?
- What does the 30-60-90 day entry plan look like?
- Which federal designations and deadlines should a new superintendent check first?
- What should the board and the new superintendent agree in month one?
- Which numbers should a new superintendent baseline?
- What does "on track" look like at day 30, 60 and 90?
- A filled example
- How should the board use this plan in the final interview?
- What should the board president ask at the check-ins?
- What the board owes a new superintendent
- Common mistakes
- Adapting the plan
- Questions people ask
A 30-60-90 day plan for a new school superintendent, often called an entry plan, should agree with the board how they will work together and check the district's money, safety and legal designations in the first 30 days, listen to staff, families, students and the community in days 31-60, and present an entry findings report with three or four proposed goals at a public board meeting by day 90. As of November 2026, the federal checks include the district's Title IX coordinator, its homeless student liaison, its annual IDEA determination from the state, any schools identified for comprehensive support under ESSA, and a single audit if the district spends $1,000,000 or more in federal awards in a year. States add their own rules; in Texas, for example, a first-time superintendent must complete a one-year mentorship within the first 18 months.
This page is for board presidents, board members, search firms and search committees, and for candidates preparing the plan a board asks for in the final round. The building-level version is the 30-60-90 day plan for school principals, and much of the interview guide for school administrators carries over to a superintendent search. Working for a board has a lot in common with the 30-60-90 day plan for nonprofit executive directors.
What does a superintendent own that a principal does not?
| Area | Principal | Superintendent |
|---|---|---|
| Who they answer to | The superintendent or a principal supervisor | A board that acts as a body, usually in public meetings |
| Money | Spends a school allocation | Proposes the district budget, protects the fund balance and answers to the board, auditors and the state |
| People | Hires and evaluates school staff | Leads the cabinet and principals; oversees bargaining where staff are represented |
| Compliance | Runs school procedures | Answers for district-wide federal and state obligations, designations and reports |
| Community | Families of one school | The whole community, including voters where budgets or bonds go to a vote |
| Crises | Runs the building's response | Decides closures and speaks for the district |
What does the 30-60-90 day entry plan look like?
30-60-90 day entry plan — [Name], Superintendent, [district]
Reports to: [N]-member board of education Start date: [date]
Students: [N] in [N] schools Staff: [N]
Budget: [amount] Fiscal year starts: [date]
Bargaining units: [names, contract end dates]
Next board meetings: [dates] Evaluation due: [date]
DAYS 1-30 — Agree how we work; check what cannot wait
Goals:
- One-to-one with every board member; ask each the same
questions and share the themes with the full board
- Agree a board protocol: one weekly update to all members,
how requests and complaints are handled, agenda setting
- One-to-one with each cabinet member; visit every school
- Check safety plans, drill schedules and incident reporting
- With the finance lead: cash, fund balance, budget against
actuals, enrollment against projection, one-time funds
- Confirm federal and state designations and deadlines
- Publish the entry plan: who I will meet, when I report back
Deliverables by day 30:
- Board protocol agreed
- Urgent issues list, each with an owner
DAYS 31-60 — Listen and look
Goals:
- Listening sessions: staff at every school, families,
students, employee groups, community and city or county
leaders, including groups that rarely attend board meetings
- Review results by school and student group, attendance,
discipline, special education timelines, vacancies
- Review contracts, labor agreements, facilities, open
investigations and litigation with counsel
- Agree the evaluation instrument and timeline with the board
Deliverables by day 60:
- Data baseline with five-year trends
- Listening themes, with how often each came up
DAYS 61-90 — Report back and set direction
Goals:
- Present the entry findings report at a public board meeting
- Propose 3-4 district goals, each with a measure
- Agree next year's budget calendar with the board
- Agree evaluation goals tied to the district goals
Deliverables by day 90:
- Findings report presented; goals ready for adoption
- Budget calendar and evaluation goals agreed
Check-ins: weekly with [board president]; full board at day 30,
60 and 90, in meetings noticed as the state's law requires.Which federal designations and deadlines should a new superintendent check first?
These apply to most public school districts as they read in November 2026. State law adds its own layer, and the district's counsel and state education agency are the authority on both. This is not legal advice.
| Item | What the rule requires | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Title IX coordinator | Designate at least one employee as Title IX Coordinator and notify applicants, students, parents, employees and unions of the coordinator's name or title, office address, email and phone. The Education Department's Office for Civil Rights enforces the 2020 Title IX rule after the 2024 rule was vacated in January 2025 | 34 CFR 106.8(a); ED Office for Civil Rights |
| Homeless student liaison | Each district must designate an appropriate staff person as its liaison for homeless children and youths | 42 U.S.C. 11432(g)(1)(J)(ii) |
| FERPA annual notice | Notify parents and eligible students each year of their rights to inspect and review education records, seek amendment, consent to disclosures and file a complaint | 34 CFR 99.7 |
| Special education evaluations | Complete an initial evaluation within 60 days of receiving parental consent, or within the state's own timeframe if it sets one | 34 CFR 300.301(c) |
| IDEA determination | The state makes an annual determination of each district's performance under IDEA Part B (meets requirements, needs assistance, needs intervention or needs substantial intervention) and enforces accordingly | 34 CFR 300.600(a); 300.603(b)(1) |
| Schools identified under ESSA | At least once every three years the state identifies schools for comprehensive support and improvement, including at least the lowest-performing 5 percent of Title I schools and every public high school failing to graduate one third or more of its students. The district develops each school's plan with principals, teachers and parents, and the plan needs school, district and state approval | 20 U.S.C. 6311(c)(4)(D) and (d)(1) |
| Single audit | A district that spends $1,000,000 or more in federal awards in its fiscal year must have a single or program-specific audit for that year | 2 CFR 200.501 |
| Hiring after misconduct | Districts receiving these federal funds must have laws, regulations or policies that bar helping a school employee, contractor or agent get a new job when there is knowledge or probable cause of sexual misconduct with a minor or student, apart from routine transmission of files | 20 U.S.C. 7926(a) |
A designation that sat with someone who has left is a common finding in month one. The fix is quick: name the person, update the published notice and add the role to the cabinet's responsibilities chart.
What should the board and the new superintendent agree in month one?
- How information reaches the board: one weekly update to every member at the same time, so no member hears news secondhand.
- Requests from individual members: which the superintendent answers directly, and which need the full board because they take staff time or change direction.
- Complaints: members route staff and family complaints to the district's process instead of resolving them alone.
- Agendas: who sets them, and the deadlines for items and materials.
- Meetings and messages: how the state's open meetings law applies to email, group texts and gatherings of a quorum; ask the district's counsel.
- Evaluation: the instrument and timeline now, with goals drawn from the entry findings report.
- The superintendent's own state requirements: in Texas, 19 TAC 242.25 requires a first-time superintendent, including one new to the state, to complete a one-year mentorship that should include at least 36 clock-hours of professional development, with mentor contact at least monthly, within the first 18 months of employment to keep the standard certificate. Other states set their own certification and induction rules; check the state education agency.
Which numbers should a new superintendent baseline?
The measures are examples. Use the definitions the state and the district's auditors already use, and look at five-year trends rather than one year.
| Area | Example measures (examples only) | The question behind it |
|---|---|---|
| Enrollment | Enrollment by grade against projections; transfers in and out | Is the district growing or shrinking, and where? |
| Money | Fund balance; budget against actuals; one-time funds paying for recurring costs | Is next year's budget balanced without one-time money? |
| Achievement | State assessment results and graduation rates by school and student group | Where are the largest gaps? |
| Attendance | Chronic absenteeism by school and student group | Are students there to learn? |
| Special education | Evaluations completed within the timeline; the state's latest determination | Is the district meeting its IDEA obligations? |
| Staffing | Vacancies by role on the first day of school; teacher turnover | Can every classroom be staffed? |
| Operations | Bus routes on time; open facility work orders; drills done on schedule | Do the basics work every day? |
What does "on track" look like at day 30, 60 and 90?
| Checkpoint | On track | Worth a direct conversation |
|---|---|---|
| Day 30 | Has met every board and cabinet member and visited every school; protocol agreed; urgent safety, budget and compliance items have owners; entry plan published | A reorganization announced; board members hearing different versions of events; schools not yet visited |
| Day 60 | Listening reached every school and groups that rarely come to board meetings; data baseline by student group; evaluation instrument agreed | Listening limited to people who already have access; data only at the district average |
| Day 90 | Findings report presented in public; goals with measures; budget calendar agreed; board members describe the goals the same way | A list of initiatives instead of goals; goals without measures; the budget left to the finance office |
A filled example
Superintendent: Dr. Angela Ruiz (invented), in her first superintendency, leading a suburban district of about 9,000 students in 14 schools with a seven-member board. All details are examples.
Day 30: One-to-ones showed three board members had learned about a bus contractor problem from social media. She started a Friday update to all members and an agreed route for complaints. The finance review found next year's budget relied on one-time funds for recurring positions. The designation check found the Title IX coordinator had left over the summer; she named an interim the same week and updated the notice.
Day 60: Families at two schools raised delays in special education evaluations, and the data confirmed evaluations past the state's timeline. Teachers at most schools raised substitute coverage. Students at the high school asked for later bus times.
Day 90: The findings report went to the board at a public meeting with four goals: evaluation timelines, chronic absenteeism, a budget balanced without one-time funds within two years, and substitute coverage. The board adopted them a month later and used them for her evaluation.
How should the board use this plan in the final interview?
Give every finalist the same brief: the latest audit, the budget summary, five years of enrollment, the state report card, any identified schools, labor contract end dates and one known problem. Score the plans with the rubric in how to evaluate a 30-60-90 day plan in an interview. A strong plan listens before it proposes and puts the board protocol in month one. Questions that test it:
- "Two board members ask you for information the others do not have. What do you do?"
- "Our budget uses one-time money for salaries. What would you look at in your first month?"
- "A parent calls a board member about a late special education evaluation. Walk us through what happens next."
- "Who would you make a point of hearing from in your listening tour, and how would you reach them?"
What should the board president ask at the check-ins?
- Day 30: Is the protocol working for every member? What did you find that cannot wait?
- Day 60: Who have you heard from, and who is missing? What does the data say that the listening did not?
- Day 90: Which goals, how will we measure them, and what will they cost in next year's budget?
What the board owes a new superintendent
- A protocol it follows: members act as a body and route requests and complaints through it.
- The full picture before day one: audits, investigations, litigation, labor issues and promises made during the search.
- Time to listen before being asked for a strategic plan.
- An evaluation agreed in advance, not written at the end of the year.
- Support and budget for any induction or mentorship the state requires.
Common mistakes
- Announcing initiatives in the first month. Staff and families have seen superintendents arrive with a program before; listening first is what makes the day-90 goals credible.
- Uneven board contact. Spending more time with the members who hired you splits the board.
- Listening only to the people who attend board meetings. The families who need the district most are often the hardest to reach.
- Missing the budget calendar. Next year's budget work often starts within months of arrival.
- Assuming designations are current. Coordinators and liaisons leave, and the notices stay unchanged.
Adapting the plan
- Small and rural districts: the superintendent may also be a principal or the business manager; shorten the listening tour and use the principal plan for the building work.
- Large districts: hold listening sessions by region, meet principal supervisors before principals, and add the cabinet structure to month one.
- Interim superintendents: keep the protocol, compliance checks and budget calendar; leave long-term goals to the permanent hire.
- Districts with identified schools or under state oversight: the state's requirements and timelines lead the plan; meet the state education agency contact in month one.
- New building leaders in year one: the 30-60-90 day plan for assistant principals gives principals a structure for the administrators they hire.
Questions people ask
What should a new superintendent do in the first 30 days?
Meet every board member one-to-one and agree how the board and superintendent will communicate, meet the cabinet and visit every school, check safety plans, cash, the budget against actuals and enrollment against projections, and confirm the district's federal and state designations and deadlines. The month ends with an agreed board protocol and a short list of urgent issues, each with an owner.
What is a superintendent entry plan?
It is the new superintendent's published plan for the first months: who they will meet, what they will review, how they will listen to staff, families, students and the community, and when they will report back. It usually ends with an entry findings report to the board in a public meeting and proposed district goals that also become the basis of the superintendent's evaluation.
Which federal requirements should a new superintendent check first?
As of November 2026, check that the district has a designated Title IX coordinator whose contact details have been published (34 CFR 106.8), a McKinney-Vento liaison for homeless students (42 U.S.C. 11432), a current FERPA annual notice (34 CFR 99.7), special education evaluations within 60 days of consent or the state's timeframe (34 CFR 300.301), the state's latest IDEA determination for the district, any schools identified for comprehensive support under ESSA, and whether the district needs a single audit because it spends $1,000,000 or more in federal awards in a year (2 CFR 200.501). This is not legal advice.
When should a new superintendent present goals to the board?
Around day 90, after the listening tour and the data review, in an entry findings report presented at a public board meeting. Three or four goals with measures are easier for a board to adopt, fund and evaluate than a long list of initiatives, and the board's evaluation of the superintendent should use the same goals.