Sunday, June 21, 2009
Editorial: The school board needs professional help
Montgomery County schools should hire a search firm to help find a new superintendent.
From the RoundTable blog
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Montgomery County Schools Superintendent Tiffany Anderson announced she was leaving a couple of months ago, but the school board has not yet even decided how it wants to go about hiring a replacement. It should get some professional help.
Officially, Anderson's last day will be June 30. The school board then will have 180 days to hire a replacement. It has dawdled so far, but at least last week it named an interim superintendent.
Part of the delay has been because the board is split over whether to hire a professional search firm. Base prices for a firm would be around $20,000, but once travel costs for candidates and other interview expenses are factored in, that could double.
Some board members prefer to save the money and conduct the search themselves, maybe throwing a few grand at a Virginia Tech professor in return for advice. They would focus the search locally, statewide or at most just in the South, which would keep interview costs down.
Saving dollars for education is usually a good idea, but skimping on the search could do more harm to the schools.
Montgomery schools, like schools all over the country, are facing tough challenges these days. Not least is reduced funding. The new superintendent, effectively the chief executive of the schools, must have the skills to confront and overcome these issues.
The right person might emerge locally, in Virginia or the South. Looking only there, however, needlessly restricts the talent pool. Montgomery students deserve the best available superintendent in the board's price range, wherever he or she comes from.
The school board is composed of citizens with diverse backgrounds, but none has expertise in hiring an education executive. A search firm will know where to look, where to advertise and how to screen the first round of applicants per board instructions.
On Tuesday, the board will interview two search firms by phone. It should continue moving in that direction.
