Cassadaga Valley Central School
From Subjective Scores to Structured Conversations
Executive Summary
Charles Leichner, superintendent of Cassadaga Valley Central School, realized his district’s evaluation process had gone unchanged for over a decade. Without a rubric to guide board scoring, feedback was inconsistent and failed to reflect the full scope of the superintendent’s work.
SuperEval introduced a standards-aligned process, gave the board meaningful visibility into district leadership, and transformed the evaluation from a subjective exercise into a structured, goal-driven conversation.
The Challenge
For more than a decade, Cassadaga Valley Central School's superintendent evaluation process had remained unchanged. Board members rated the superintendent across six to eight categories on a scale of 1 to 20, but without a rubric to define what each number meant, the scores were unreliable and inconsistent from one board member to the next.
The consequences were significant. Leichner consistently received high marks for visible, easy-to-observe tasks, while the work that consumed the most time and represented his highest-quality contributions went undervalued — because the board simply couldn't see it. Day-to-day leadership, behind-the-scenes problem solving, and strategic district management were invisible to a board that only encountered the superintendent in structured, formal settings.
The stakes were real: evaluation scores directly determined the superintendent's annual raise, by up to 4%. A process that failed to capture the full picture of superintendent performance had tangible consequences for both district leadership and the board-superintendent relationship. Without shared criteria defining what effective leadership looked like, the evaluation couldn't serve its most important function — providing meaningful feedback that supports professional growth and advances district goals.
SuperEval has helped our district define its priorities and allowed us to add substance to the conversation.
- Charles leichner
How SuperEval Changed Things
Leichner brought SuperEval to the district to solve a fundamentally broken process. The platform introduced a clear, standards-aligned rubric — the NYSCOSS leadership standards — giving both Leichner and his board a shared definition of what effective superintendent leadership looks like and how it should be evaluated. For the first time, both parties were working from the same framework.
The impact on board visibility was immediate. With shared evaluation criteria in place, board members had a structured window into the full scope of the superintendent's daily work — not just what happened at monthly meetings, but the breadth of responsibilities that define the role year-round. The ability to upload documents, emails, and progress reports throughout the year meant that Leichner's behind-the-scenes contributions were visible and evidence-backed before the evaluation conversation even began.
Mid-year check-ins became more focused and productive. Annual goals were built directly into the process, creating clear priorities that both Leichner and the board could track together. The evaluation shifted from a high-stakes annual review to an ongoing, evidence-based dialogue — grounded in documentation, aligned to shared goals, and oriented toward growth rather than compliance.
Results and Future Plans
SuperEval raised the level of the governance conversation at Cassadaga Valley. The board and superintendent now operate from a shared set of priorities, with evaluation categories that actually reflect what a superintendent does — not just the most visible aspects of the role.
The cascading goals that affect the superintendency are built directly into the SuperEval process, giving Leichner and his board a more effective and consistent way to manage the district through better, more structured communication. The ability to add documents and progress reports to a central system on an ongoing basis means the board is never seeing the superintendent's work for the first time at evaluation time — they're seeing it as it happens.
SuperEval also opened the evaluation process itself, giving the superintendent meaningful input on evaluation categories and scoring criteria. That shared ownership raised the quality of conversations between Leichner and his board, leading to a stronger, more aligned governance team — and an evaluation that functions as a genuine planning tool rather than an annual compliance requirement.
Yes, I really would recommend that other leadership teams consider SuperEval to complete the required superintendent's evaluation each year.
- Charles leichner | Superintendent | cassadaga valley central school
