In choosing the next principal of Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School, what personal qualities and professional experience should be given priority?

It’s a critical question at an important moment for the 700-student school, now on its third principal in three years. Serving a small but diverse community, the high school has done an admirable job of balancing academics with vocational, sports, special education and arts opportunities. But the next principal will be dealing with deferred building issues and other budget realities that will require hard choices.

A recent online survey seeking community comment seems unlikely to provide meaningful information about what is needed and desired in this leadership position, however.

The first of the survey’s four questions ask users to rate on a five-point scale the importance of 25 qualities, including such things as: “manages conflict when needed” and “fosters high faculty morale.” It is hard to imagine anyone indicating these characteristics are “not important” or even “mildly important,” as the rating scale allows.

Question three, by contrast, is open-ended, asking users to list “five areas we should address as a school.” The overly broad wording invites ridicule. How about “educating our children?”

Getting the right principal will be impossible if the search committee doesn’t have a clear picture of who it is looking for. And candidates considering this challenging job deserve to understand what the community thinks about issues, not vague platitudes.