Get search for super started, make it inclusive
Board President Scott Garbini, who seemed to change his mind several times this week about what search process he will propose to the board and when, left it that next Tuesday he will appoint a committee. He should stick to the date but broaden the commit
T he most important job of a Board of Education — some experts say its whole job — is the basic statutory one: to hire and employ a superintendent to carry out its policies for running the public schools.
The New London school board has known for several weeks now that it has to hire a replacement for Manuel J. Rivera, who said he would retire as soon as the end of this month. Summer though it is, we expected a greater sense of urgency.
For the New London schools, these are not ordinary times. The promising experiment of an all-magnet school district, including preparation to start building a new high school within the year, is reaching a critical stage that requires more than just a competent administrator. It will need someone with a track record for involvement in a major school building project, experience with the challenges of an urban center and a record of improving student achievement. Someone like the superintendent the board thought it would have. Someone whom its partner in the magnet project, the state Department of Education, will want to work with.
The churn began as soon as Dr. Rivera announced his unsettling decision to retire. The board needs to put an interim superintendent in place for the opening of school Aug. 31 and start the search for a successor, in spite of the fact that four of the seven members are in lame-duck mode until they step down in November.
Board President Scott Garbini, who seemed to change his mind several times this week about what search process he will propose to the board and when, left it that next Tuesday he will appoint a committee consisting of all board members to identify the interim superintendent. On the important details of a search for the permanent successor he was more vague, certain only that it can’t wait for the seating of a new board in November.
About that he is absolutely right. However, that doesn’t mean shutting out the prospective newcomers to the board: six Republicans, five Democrats, and one Connecticut Working Families candidate. In addition to the seven incumbents and representatives of faculty, staff and families, Garbini should invite all those candidates to be part of the search committee. City voters could observe who is committed to the time-consuming job before the elections, and the winners could begin their terms with inside knowledge of the schools. Whoever sits on the board when it’s time for a vote to hire — and only those seven — would legally be able to participate in that vote.
Once a committee has been named, which we hope Garbini still will do by Aug. 8, the first task must be to review the current job description for the superintendent of schools. The one currently on the public schools website is dated 2005, although posted in 2015. It doesn’t even mention operating a magnet district. Calls to the human resources office as to whether there is a more up-to-date version were not returned. The search committee will need the latest version to amend it.
While they are working on that, they should also issue a request for proposals from consulting firms that specialize in superintendent searches. It’s understandable that the board feels burned after its last search firm failed to thoroughly vet candidate Terrence Carter, but other districts have found competent advisers. State and national school boards association exist to help with this kind of task. Garbini, who first said he would not use a consultant and then that he would be open to using an in-state firm, needs to recognize that the special circumstances of the New London schools at this moment require the best possible outside advice.
Just a few years ago the school system was under state supervision that included chastening lessons in boardsmanship. It wasn’t a time to be proud of, but the members did their homework and improved their operation. It would be a good idea now to voluntarily seek counsel from the state. The all-magnet district has already changed New London’s identity and image, but the school system is still rated as underperforming in some key areas. It needs stellar leadership.
Progress has come hard, but that’s all the more reason not to let up now. Get this search right, right from the start. And start now.