Frazzled board takes a breather

Schools rethink strategy after superintendent search comes to nothing

By Todd Murphy

The Portland Tribune, Jul 19, 2002, Updated Oct 30, 2009

The Portland school board’s yearlong superintendent search was wildly successful Ñ for a few.

It probably helped the former Charlotte, N.C., superintendent land an almost unheard-of $300,000 salary to become superintendent in Annapolis, Md.

It spurred a Wichita, Kan., businessman to pledge $40,000 to supplement the salary of Wichita’s superintendent.

It helped pull superintendents in St. Paul, Minn., and Providence, R.I., back into the suddenly warm embrace of their communities.

But the search did not do what it was supposed to do: find the Portland school district the permanent leader it has sought since Ben Canada resigned more than a year ago.

After spending nine months and more than $115,000 on the search, Portland school board leaders emerged from a closed door meeting this week to issue a jarring admission of defeat Ñ at least temporarily.

They announced the board would be suspending its “active” search for a superintendent and the district would begin its second full school year without a permanent leader. Board leaders said they would begin negotiations with interim superintendent Jim Scherzinger to serve as superintendent for the coming school year.

The decisions came after four announced finalists and two unannounced candidates for the superintendent’s job Ñ including the superintendents in Charlotte, Wichita, St. Paul and Providence Ñ withdrew their candidacies over the last few months. In the end, no one the school board wanted as district leader was willing to take the job.

What happened? How can an urban school district considering itself among the nation’s best not find a willing leader?

Observers of the search Ñ both locally and nationally Ñ suggest the quest was doomed on several fronts: the school board’s focusing on only a certain kind of candidate; the dithering of the board in considering various finalists; Oregon’s unstable educational financing; and all of the above.

A self-restricted universe

Some critics suggest the search was damned from the beginning by tunnel vision.

While board leaders say they considered many candidates, those they announced as finalists or seriously negotiated with were all current urban district superintendents.

The problem, critics say, is that focusing on urban superintendents restricts the candidate pool. It’s also difficult to keep secret the wooing of another urban superintendent Ñ and difficult to close the deal once that courting becomes public.

The school board learned that the hard way.

• When news of Portland’s interest surfaced, St. Paul’s mayor and other community leaders held a news conference to beg Superintendent Patricia Harvey to stay.

• Charlotte leaders reacted the same way to keep Superintendent Eric Smith. (Charlotte lost Smith to Annapolis only days after he withdrew his Portland candidacy.)

• A Wichita businessman started raising money to persuade Wichita’s Winston Brooks to stay.

• And Providence business leaders were talking about private retirement benefits for Superintendent Diana Lam Ñ with whom the Portland school board had been negotiating to become a public finalist Ñ when she withdrew her candidacy last week.

But there’s a vast world of successful leaders who would make great superintendents outside urban superintendencies, critics say Ñ from leaders in private industry to a nonsuperintendent leader in a school district. And pursuing them would not be as risky and frustrating.

In defending their focus, school board members often cited a citizens committee advisory report detailing what Portlanders wanted in their next superintendent, including, “ideally,” someone with experience running an urban district.

But the 20-page report also said the majority of Portlanders were open to a superintendent with no educational background at all Ñ as long as that person hired an educational deputy.

1 | 2 Next Page >>

Facebook	Digg	Del.icio.us
Newsvine	Stumbleupon	Reddit