Advice to the Fairfax Board of Education: Make Your Superintendency Search Completely Open to the Public
Photos
Recently, the Washington Examiner ran a story that reported the Fairfax County Public Schools Board of Education is going meet with the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) Board of Education to seek advice on how to find a new superintendent. Apparently, our Board did such a great job of finding Joshua Starr, they’re now experts and ready to consult. Click here to read that story:
I’m puzzled. I don't even understand why Fairfax needs help. The Fairfax superintendency job is a top-tier job, a plum job. Without much effort, I would imagine that Fairfax gets a list of highly qualified candidates without even breaking a sweat (the folks will be lined up around the block when the job is posted). I just don't see what Fairfax gains by listening to Pat O'Neil or anyone else from our Board of Education.
And I strongly disagree with O’Neill’s advice to keep the Fairfax search secret. In the Examiner, she said, "One bit of advice is that as much as you can keep the process confidential, it ensures a greater pool of candidates," she said. "In all likelihood, someone applying for the Fairfax County Public Schools superintendency is a sitting superintendent, and they don't want their legs cut out from them in their current job."
The more public and open the search, the better the search.
Now think about it—these top-tier superintendents are like top-tier National Football League (NFL) franchise quarterbacks. Everyone knows who they are, and like the NFL, every team wants them. And these franchise players know that they are wanted. The fact that everyone wants New England’s Tom Brady or Greenbay’s Aaron Rodgers harms no one. And revealing the Fairfax superintendent candidates to the public also harms no one.
The more public and open the search, the better the search.
Greg Brandon
1:00 am on Saturday, March 17, 2012
I completely agree with all of your points, Joseph. In fact, I've tried to make them to our Fairfax school board members myself. One minor exception: I likened the search for a new superintendent to what we see in the sports pages all time with respect to professional sports coaches.
I attended the work session Monday to hear what O'Neil had to say about the process. Over and over, she or her two fellow board members stated they needed secrecy so that they could cast a wide net and attract as many candidates as possible. A couple of points:
1) Do you really want a pool of candidates that includes people who sneak behind their employers backs?
2) And, why are they sneaking behind their employers back? Do they have a poor relationship with their school board members? Did they forget to negotiate a clause in their employment contract that allows them to manage their career?
However, it was important to hear that O'Neil and company were committed to requiring ALL of the board members to participate in the entire process and inviting key community stakeholders into part of the process. This was a key requirement that was missing during the search that resulted in Jack Dale's selection. It was a small committee of board members who did the winnowing without much input from the community except for one or two highly scripted forums asking about ideal characteristics of a superintendent.