The search that lost its way
The Boston Globe, February 8, 2007
Editorial

It's time for Boston Mayor Thomas Menino to blow up the city's baleful school superintendent search process, with its unwieldy screening committee, unnecessary secrecy, and political machinations. There must be a more reliable way to find the next leader of the city's schools.

The problem will not be solved by School Committee chairwoman Elizabeth Reilinger's decision this week to relinquish the leadership of the 12-member superintendent search committee. Some city councilors blame Reilinger's authoritarian style for the recent decision of highly-recruited Rochester school superintendent Manuel Rivera to back away from the Boston job after accepting it in September. At-large City Councilor Michael Flaherty and several of his colleagues urged that Reilinger be stripped of her School Committee chair. By giving up the search committee chair, Reilinger has mainly relieved some of the political pressure on the mayor.

Rivera's retreat said more about his style of dealing with confrontation than it did about Reilinger's approach to governance. Reilinger asks tough, pertinent questions of school department officials. She spends more time at the school department than the average School Committee chair, giving the impression that she was meddling in operations. And she may have spooked Rivera when she spoke up about personnel matters, including her desire to see the system's chief financial officer remain in place. But her style matches the public's preference for hands-on leaders who make tough decisions with a minimum of fuss. And former school superintendent Thomas Payzant, who knew exactly how he wanted to improve the school system, worked in concert with Reilinger for nearly a decade to the benefit of 58,000 school children.

Wanted: backbone

Boston needs a school superintendent who can push back, when necessary, against school board members, union strongmen, and education advocates. The central office is also in need of a shakeup. It will take a firm leader to redefine the jobs and reporting requirements of top-level deputies. The question now is how best to identify that person.

The executive search firm of Hamilton, Rabinovitz & Alschuler is pounding the pavement again looking for candidates. But the search that yielded Rivera is still fresh. It's hard to imagine that the headhunters will turn up a significant number of new candidates. Menino could probably identify additional qualified candidates, at no cost, simply by seeking the advice of longtime experts with links to national organizations and graduate schools of education -- experts such as Hubie Jones, Paul Reville, and Robert Schwartz.

There is no need, either, to retain a 12-member search committee. Through a series of public meetings, the committee already has identified the priorities for a new superintendent: close the achievement gap between white and minority students; reduce the drop-out rate; and engage families in the quest for educational quality. The committee set good goals but lacked consistency and cohesion when it came time to screen potential candidates. The mayor stumbled when he tried to include all of the city's powerful interest groups on the search committee. Efficiency calls for a smaller committee of, say, three members who enjoy citywide respect for their devotion to public service and professional attainment. The mayor couldn't go wrong with the likes of School Committee members Gregory Groover and Marchelle Raynor, or former school board member William Boyan.

Going public
One question hangs heavily over the entire process. Will the Menino administration cling to the secretive recruitment process used in the latest unsuccessful search -- or return to the open interview process that yielded Payzant? He wasn't afraid to articulate his educational plan in various public venues alongside two other finalists. Today, the conventional wisdom is that in-demand superintendent candidates must be assured of absolute confidentiality from start to finish. But acceding to such demands is not wise. While there is no need to publicize initial inquiries with candidates, the finalists and even candidates on a short list should face tough questions in public forums from teachers, parents, and education advocates. The hush-hush recruitment style for corporate executives has crept into the public sector. And it is distorting the search for committed leaders.

Sitting superintendents can and do consider new job opportunities without burning bridges in their current communities. Highly sought-after superintendents, like Peter Gorman in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg system in North Carolina, didn't shy away from open search processes. In Knox County, Tenn. , a school system roughly the size of Boston's, Superintendent Charles Lindsey has participated in at least three open searches while spending eight years improving test scores and maintaining strong relations with his current board.

Lindsey says he informs his board whenever he is approached with a job possibility that he would seriously consider. It's a simple matter of courtesy, says Lindsey, and actually works to his advantage in his relations with the local school board. "Why would you want a superintendent that nobody else wants?" he posits. The open interview process with teachers, parents, and advocates is always elucidating and even "therapeutic," says Lindsey, who uses the opportunity to ask some tough questions of his own.

There are extraordinary educators who are willing to undergo the open search process in Boston as well. Mary Grassa O'Neill, a Harvard lecturer and former superintendent in Milton, had agreed to an open interview process when she emerged on the short list last summer. And O'Neill, who rose through the ranks of the Boston Schools, is no shrinking violet.

A smaller, focused search committee and a real commitment to openness on the part of both the city and the candidates should uncover the right leader for Boston's schools.

Close window