Here's my advice to the current school board on finding a new school superintendent:
1) Go slow. Make the right choice rather than the hurried choice. If there isn't the right candidate in the first pool of applicants, then cast for more applicants. This could be a ten year decision.
2) Hire "a numbers guy (girl)." A candidate who really undertands budgets and how to cut costs. Someone who has a history of tackling districts with financial problems and finding creative financial ways to solve them without praying for a referendum.
3) Don't hire someone because they promise they're good at passing referendums. Schmidt got one through and look how little else he was able to accomplish. It's going to take a couple of years before the district has the credibility to get a referendum passed. Better to hire someone that makes the correct reforms and restores the credibility of the district first.
4) The right candidate is one that understands that education begins and ends with the basics. Today's educational fads are tomorrow's untaught children.
5) Hire someone with no commitment to the status quo. All options must be on the table for the next superintendent.
Anyone else have some advice?
