One of the more aggravating things about local government is the frequent unwillingness of local officials to make a personnel decision. The most convenient cover that an official can get is the "nationwide search". What usually happens is that a position opens up and rather than look internally for a qualified candidate who knows the operation and has earned a shot a the top job, the board or committee will look to form "an inclusive" array of self interested people who have some vested interest in an outcome. If a committee was needed for decision making what the Hell did we elect the official for?
In the end what happens is that after a lot of power exchanges and cries of influence the board or committee will opt for somebodies favorite or worse they will appoint the person who should have gotten the job in the first place had the board had any intestinal fortitude. This is a no win situation because the cry will then be what a "bag job" it was and why was all the money spent in the sham search?
Just such a situation is developing in the quest to replace Burlington's out going superintendent Dr. James Picone. Picone has been a breath of fresh air in the job and he will be sorely missed. In addition to losing him it is anticipated that the high school principal, Linda Hayes will also be opting for retirement.
Waiting in the wings are qualified replacements who have earned a shot at the top spots through performance and loyalty. Just such a person is Katie Spinos. It is rumored that the school committee would like to name Ms. Spinos as the acting superintendent while a "search" is conducted for a new one.
I am no personnel consultant but if I am Ms. Spinos there is no way in the world I would take the responsibility of running the system while the powers that be search for some one to replace me. What is to be gained if I take the temp job and apply for the job and then don't get it? What do I say in my next interview for a top job someplace else. "Yeah I was the temp in the place I did my best work but they didn't choose me for the top job".
In answer to the question of why am I so sure about the results of the search my reply is that I am not sure that we couldn't find somebody "super". However I do know that there is a very dramatic shortage of superintendents in the commonwealth and people we have passed over previously as being unacceptable have landed jobs in our neighboring communities.
There is no doubt that if Spinos is passed over she will likely be a candidate somewhere else and will leave our systems. That will make vacancies in the three most important jobs in the system.
So the end result of a search may be that we waste time and money, hire an unknown and then lose additional talent of our own. Not to mention what message we send to the rest of our home grown talent.
We elect people to lead. We don't elect them to be led around by fringe players who think they know best.
