The Superintendent Search
April 13, 2009 Filed in: Schools
A year and three months after the resignation of
Englewood Schools Superintendent Carol Lisa and her
replacement by acting Superintendent Richard Segall,
the Englewood Board of Education has finally voted to
hire an outside consultant to assist in the search
for a new superintendent and a new assistant
superintendent. The inability of the Board to come to
grips with this vitally important personnel decision
over a period of many months, and the dissension
displayed repeatedly in the media, can only be
demoralizing to the staff, parents and students, not
to speak of the persons directly involved. Personnel
matters should be decided in closed session and
expeditiously, not in public and over a long period
of time. A search for a new superintendent should
have been started immediately or not at all.
The Board deserves credit for many of the beneficial changes which have taken place in recent years, but the problem of all too frequent turnover in top-level positions is one they still have not solved. Dr. Segall, in addition to his other qualifications, represents continuity and contributes a degree of institutional memory to a system which has suffered from considerable, in many cases beneficial, disruption. His retention will still be a major option for the Board.
A successful Board should be able to bridge disagreement with reasonable compromise, and should endeavor to present a united front to the community which elects them, particularly on major issues. Board members have portrayed their publicly displayed dissension as democracy in action and as evidence of adherence to the principle of open government. Open government, however, does not preclude serious efforts to smooth over differences and rise above personal antagonisms. Members who are unable to work with their associates do not deserve reelection.
The Board deserves credit for many of the beneficial changes which have taken place in recent years, but the problem of all too frequent turnover in top-level positions is one they still have not solved. Dr. Segall, in addition to his other qualifications, represents continuity and contributes a degree of institutional memory to a system which has suffered from considerable, in many cases beneficial, disruption. His retention will still be a major option for the Board.
A successful Board should be able to bridge disagreement with reasonable compromise, and should endeavor to present a united front to the community which elects them, particularly on major issues. Board members have portrayed their publicly displayed dissension as democracy in action and as evidence of adherence to the principle of open government. Open government, however, does not preclude serious efforts to smooth over differences and rise above personal antagonisms. Members who are unable to work with their associates do not deserve reelection.
