Selecting superintendents for Rochester’s schools has become something of a ritual over the last 10 years. And some form of public engagement is often part of the process. You may remember the search that led to the selection of former superintendent Jean-Claude Brizard: public forums, writing your questions for the candidates down on index cards, and the community buzz about the process.
The Rochester school board spent a good part of yesterday interviewing superintendent candidates to replace Bolgen Vargas and will continue with interviews tomorrow, but don’t expect much in the way of public involvement.
This has been a closed search; the names of the candidates are not available to the public and the interviews are being conducted behind closed doors.
Board President Van White says that the school board decided to heed the advice of the search committee, which cautioned against opening up the process to the public. Revealing the names of candidates would almost certainly narrow the pool of applicants. Some of the most desirable and highly qualified candidates would be scared away because they won’t risk souring their relationship with their current employer, according to the search firm.
White says that even though he expects the board will face criticism over the lack of transparency, that the caliber of candidates that the board has interviewed so far seems to validate the firm’s advice.
“The interviews were excellent, I can’t recall ever interviewing a better group of candidates,” White says. “I was really impressed.”
The board has received more than two-dozen applicants and that pool has been cut in half. A second round of interviews within the next week or so will reduce the number of candidates to a few finalists, White says, and the board will make its selection probably by June 30.
He says that he’s impressed by how knowledgeable the candidates are about the challenges facing the Rochester City School District, though he wouldn’t elaborate. But it’s not hard to guess, since the district’s low achievement record, among the lowest in country when it comes to graduating black boys, is well known.
And it wouldn’t take much more than a few online searches to see that the next superintendent will step into a job that doesn’t have a history of happy endings.
This article appears in May 4-10, 2016.
The school system is a farce and will continue until the Central Office is purged of dysfunctional staff. There are way too many experts which are not expert at anything.
I hope that when the search committee narrows down the selection, there will be an open public forum.
I suggest that we need a superintendent who is not afraid to announce his or her candidacy in public, even if it endangers his or her current position.
James B. Conant said:
“Behold the turtle. He only makes progress when he sticks his neck out.” I think we need candidates who are not afraid to stick their necks out. We need school leaders will the courage to stand out. We need teachers with courage. We need students with courage…
http://www.SavingSchools.org
You can thank your buddy Howard Eagle for the closed search Harry. In case you forgot how the last search went, I’ve linked an article.
http://www.rochesterfirst.com/news/news-he…
Eric, I was there at East High and the demonstration only lasted a few minutes. People felt the superintendent pick was rigged.
I hope they will have an open forum…
It is important to understand that the search committee is not narrowing down the selection. This is the sole doing of the school board! If a candidate is afraid to face public scrutiny in the application phase, how can we expect them to be able to face the public while in the job? If you believe that you are a strong, indispensable candidate then you should not care who knows you’ve applied. In fact, those not chosen might receive higher value on their current job. But for the person who is chosen, it is totally unfair to inform their employer that they found another job and must start on July 1, 2016. It shows a lack of respect for their current employer. Isn’t this how Jean Claude Brizard left the RCSD? I can only conclude from this pattern of behavior of this board that the candidate that will be chosen is a local district employee.
Totally agree with Josh. This makes me believe they have a current central office insider or someone else within the system already identified. A strong outside candidate would not object to being “out there” That is how it is done. I might add that not selecting someone until June 30 when it requires 6 months to a year before they become acclimated is ridiculous, but this is all par for the course.