Hmmm… Where was I? Oh, yeah: the superintendent search…

 … some models, modalities, and modicums of modifiers for us to use and/or watch out for in the search for a new superintendent of Albuquerque Public Schools.

Once again, I’ve been reading about other school districts and their processes for finding a qualified superintendent. Most recently, I’ve been reading Aiken County School District and their process to fill the position. I’ve been following this because Beth Everitt had applied and is now considered their number one pick. Their school board will make their final vote tonight but I did happen to notice an informal survey on the local newspaper’s website. Out of 119 votes, Beth had just 17, versus the two local boys at 27 and an overwhelming 73 votes for Frank Roberson; the only African American candidate.

There is a lot of controversy surrounding each of these candidates. We know all of Beth’s controversies and they’ve definitely been brought to light in Aiken County newspapers. It is interesting to read about the other two candidates and some of the political jockeying since Dr. Linda Eldridge (current and outgoing superintendent) decided to retire. “Retire” seems to be an interesting way for superintendents to “move on” and find other work. That’s what happens when you are tenured enough to “retire” and then take another job. Nice work if you can get it…

Anyway, the other two final candidates are both locally grown educators/administrators. Dr. David Mathis worked for Edgefield County School District (a much smaller district of just less than 5,000 students and 300 teachers) for 27 years before becoming an Associate Superintendent for Aiken County Schools in 2006. Dr. Frank Roberson has 27 years in with the Aiken County School District but left in 2006 after a very public dispute with Dr. Eldridge. He left to become an associate superintendent with Edgefield, verbally agreed to become the interim (and eventual permanent) superintendent of Edgefield but, once the Aiken position opened, reneged on his verbal agreement citing family reasons.

The NAACP has pushed hard for Dr. Roberson to be the appointment of the school board because there has been a tremendous amount of controversy surrounding the number of African Americans in positions of leadership in the Aiken County School District.

On the face of all things, each of them looks great… on paper.

Blah, blah, blah… this all sounds so incredibly familiar; simply insert different names, races, controversies, and AYP scores. None of the schools any of these candidates have managed have met AYP but all of them have scored above average with state stats.

So, why am I even bringing this up? Well, I have to say that I am a bit surprised at Beth’s choice to go to Aiken. She says she wants to be closer to her mom and sister but, whatever; she also said she and her husband want to travel (and possibly work) abroad. Who knows why anyone does anything but I do find it interesting that she applied for a school district that is so clearly embroiled in tough racial issues and educational challenges albeit a much, much smaller district to manage. Maybe that’s a comfort zone for her but her reasons are her own and, really, none of my danged business.

Also, I’ve been reading about the processes that Aiken has gone through in taking community input and creating a profile for choosing the best candidate for the job. It is interesting to watch the commentaries of local versus out of state candidates and to watch the lack of actual community involvement other than newspaper articles and the pining of the NAACP. The really vocal members of the community are making decisions for everyone (per usual) and the school board is taking a lot of heat (per usual).

Are you watching and listening Albuquerque Board of Education? Are you learning from this? I hope so; from what I’ve seen from both boards of education, ours is really doing a terrific job of including the community, attempting to take in and validate all input, create a job description/evaluation, and listen. It is just so ironic to be watching Beth go through all of this and it will be interesting to see how that community welcomes her because, yes, she is their final candidate and, although the vote takes place tonight, it should be noted that Beth is the only candidate that has actually been in a negotiation process with the Aiken Board of Education. I’m pretty sure she’ll be their next superintendent of schools from everything I’ve been reading.

I wish her luck and hope she’s happy wherever she lands.

I’ve been reading several school district’s processes and results for finding a new superintendent and I sure hope our school board is watching and learning, as well. There are many lessons to be learned, flexibilities to employ, and propositions to be carried out for possibility.

Aiken had a 21 members, board appointed search committee. We have a 27 members, board appointed search committee. Aiken did community meetings for community input. We did 13 community meetings for community input. Unfortunately, the results of that community input were the same for both school districts: dismally attended. However, here in ABQ, we had rousing conversations and wonderful input from clearly committed individuals from business, parent, tax payer, and educator communities. The most astounding part of the community input process was the amount of involvement from student leaders with over 2,000 surveys submitted. They really put the adults to shame. Plus, the board of education approved Research and Polling, Inc. to do a household survey that provided a tremendous amount of information about the community, district, and potential future of APS. From my perspective as a parent and the chair of the community involvement committee, I think the board has done a tremendous job in putting this out into the community and keeping the process open.

In looking at and comparing all of this, I can still say that finding a qualified and effective (”… Saint…” as one community member put it at one of our meetings) superintendent candidate is still, pretty much, a crap-shoot. It’s kind of like that old saying, “One man’s trash is another’s treasure.” And, don’t misunderstand me, I do not mean to disparage Beth Everitt; not in any way. She may be perfectly suited to take on a much smaller school district and do a terrific job. But, as findings have indicated, she did an overall good job for APS and also had many failings; after all, she’s only human… with a doctorate and tons of really great experience in dealing with controversy.

It all comes down to whom will be the best fit for the community. Will that person be a member of the local community or someone from outside? This is currently an issue for our board of education and they’d better come to some form of agreement on being open to all candidates. Otherwise, this division of the board will skew the process for the search committee and they will have a political and community nightmare on their hands.

We need unity, not division, and regardless of where each of the board members personally stands on local versus non-local, they can still issue their vote after the search committee presents the candidate finalists. They need to be united in the face of the candidate process and be open to all candidates with the best qualifications in order to find the best fit. The only choice to make is to have excellent interviews that truly probe into the interests and reasons why particular candidates want to be here and feel they are capable of making positive changes. (Yes; that was a not-so-cleverly disguised, “willingness and ability to do the job” idiom.) Also, these candidates would be wise to know exactly what the community is looking for and our search committee needs to probe into how these candidates have demonstrated these qualifications in their previous positions. These interview questions/answers need to be specific and measurable.

I just hope we don’t go down the road of purporting that the best candidate should be African American, Hispanic, Spanish, Caucasian, Asian, Persian, or, as indicated by the New Mexico tourism department: alien. Have fun with that distinction!

Although, at this point, we could use a little Ripley Action or even, dare I say, a little Alien Action in the district ‘cause this is truly an acid test. I just hope it doesn’t turn into a Timothy Leary experience.

Stay turned on and tuned in: do it for the dropouts, if nothing else.

P.S.  I embedded that NM tourism ad with the hopes that potential candidates have, at the very least, a sense of humor!