Searches for Superintendents Hang on a Pivotal Decision
Officials Weigh Effects of Going Public or Staying Private

By Ian Shapira
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 22, 2006

As many of the nation's school systems begin searching for new superintendents in the next few months, they will employ a traditional tactic: secrecy. In many cases, the process will involve only a select few who know who is being considered for what can be a municipality's most highly paid public job.

Candidates' names are withheld from the community during the search. Teachers and parents are cut out of the vetting process.

But the secrecy sometimes results in a lack of information. Search firms and committees sometimes don't get a complete picture.

In Manassas, School Board members who are choosing a new superintendent are all too aware of this notion. Last year, neighboring Prince William County privately selected a superintendent, Steven L. Walts from Greece, N.Y., only to learn afterward that he left behind a trail of labor disputes at his old system that has resulted in federal lawsuits.

So the School Board in Manassas -- which is one of three in the Washington area that will select a new superintendent this year -- is facing a conundrum: an open or closed search?

"Prince William is a cautionary tale. It was frightening. We don't need that," said Manassas School Board member Edward W. Pratt. "What they didn't get was percolating below the surface."

Within the frequently fractious realms of the nation's 15,000 school systems, there is widespread debate over which strategy to pursue. Methods vary among states and within them, but leading education experts -- including the heads of the National School Boards Association, the American Association of School Administrators and the National Association of Secondary School Principals -- agree on one thing: An open search is ultimately best.

"We are in an era of accountability, and parents and the community want to feel engaged in their schools," said Anne L. Bryant, executive director of the National School Boards Association.

"The advantage to an open search is that it creates a transparent process. In some communities, the school board and superintendent are more important than the mayor."

But most superintendents do not want their identities revealed during a search. If they don't get the job, it can show disloyalty to their current school system and wreck their relationship with the community. School boards swooning at the nation's top candidates often grant them confidentiality rather than risk the candidates withdrawing their names.

It's a seller's market.

With the No Child Left Behind law ratcheting up academic standards and community members pointing fingers at the superintendent for lagging test scores, the pool of qualified schools chiefs is shrinking, particularly for major suburban systems.

"It's great for the superintendent candidate, but it isn't great for the school board," said Paul D. Houston, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators. "There's increased pressure and accountability."

Besides Manassas, Prince George's and Anne Arundel counties are looking for new superintendents. Most schools in Maryland go for a public search, according to the Maryland Association of Boards of Education.

"When you get down to three candidates and they're all highly qualified, the question that preoccupies the board is, 'Who's the best fit?' " said Carl W. Smith, the association's executive director.

But in Virginia, more school systems opt for a confidential search, according to Frank E. Barham, the executive director of the Virginia School Boards Association. "It's not a popularity contest. They're not being elected. How would a citizen know what's needed in a superintendent?" he asked.

Nationwide, some school systems -- like that in West Des Moines, Iowa -- allow students to interview candidates. In Florida, once the candidate submits an application, state law allows the public to obtain copies of the form.

In many cases, school boards conducting closed searches hire search firms and try to lure superintendents who are successful in their current positions and not necessarily looking to leave. Daniel A. Domenech, the Fairfax County superintendent from 1997 to 2004, is a believer in the closed search, even though he went through very public processes in Los Angeles, New York City and Fairfax.

"Fortunately, for me, there was no dirt to dig up," he said about his experiences. "But my preference is to recruit the person you want [in a closed search]. You're going after a person who has an excellent reputation and they're happy doing what they're doing."

Public searches, Domenech said, often burn very good superintendents. "Take a guy like Eric Smith. When he was superintendent of Anne Arundel County and applied for the Miami job and didn't get it, it was public knowledge," said Domenech, a senior vice president at McGraw-Hill Education. "And then bad feelings emerged."

Ultimately, however, no search guarantees a successful superintendent. Smith, the Anne Arundel schools chief from 2002 to 2005, was forced out after an internal audit alleged that he awarded senior staff members exorbitant pay raises and bonuses. In Prince George's, Andre J. Hornsby was hired as schools chief after a round of public forums. But he quit halfway into a four-year contract amid an ethics controversy and a federal probe of school system purchases and other management issues.

But there are examples across the country in which the public has helped influence a school board's decision by discovering crucial information about a candidate that did not come up in interviews or background checks. In spring 1999, Montgomery County Board of Education members scrapped Elfreda W. Massie, then a deputy superintendent in Baltimore County, as a candidate for superintendent after the media was tipped off about her personal bankruptcy.

Last year, when the Central Dauphin School District near Harrisburg, Pa., named a finalist during its search, community members sent board members negative articles from newspapers where the candidate had previously worked. The search consultant had not uncovered the information about the finalist's management style, and the candidate did not volunteer it. The school board rejected him.

"The public process played an important role in our final decision," board President Michael L. Mausner said.

In Prince William, a public search would have helped School Board members learn that more than a dozen employees in Walts's previous system filed complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, claiming they were discriminated against because of their age or disability.

Greece parents and activists said that had they known that Walts was a candidate, they could have tipped off Prince William School Board members to the EEOC complaints.

"Not knowing that a candidate is interviewing, there was no way for us to make calls," said Bill Walzer, who was the president of the Greece teachers' union. "Walts was aware of those complaints, so it would have been a matter of fact."

After Walts was hired in April, the EEOC ruled that five of the teachers' discrimination cases were warranted. Four sued Walts in federal court this month seeking damages; the fifth teacher's case is being investigated by the Justice Department.

In interviews, Walts has denied any wrongdoing. Prince William School Board members have defended their search and stand by Walts.

Still, their neighbors in Manassas are not taking any chances. When they learned about how Prince William School Board members did not know about the EEOC complaints, they decided to add a question to their own superintendent application:

Question No. 9 in the Manassas City Schools superintendent application reads: "Do you have any unresolved administrative actions involving your employment?"