ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, October 18, 1996 TAG: 9610180036
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
Wanted: one superintendent.
The Montgomery County School Board agreed to start looking for one this week, and it has a big task ahead of it. Board members must find a person acceptable to the different factions - within the school system and even among themselves.
The process it chooses may have a great impact on the future climate of the school system.
Things went downhill Tuesday, shortly after the board agreed not to keep three-year Superintendent Herman Bartlett past July.
David Moore was the only board member to vote against a search to replace Bartlett. Saying he was angered by how the selection process had begun, Moore marched out of the meeting.
Chairwoman Annette Perkins suggested perhaps she should resign if board members didn't trust her to get the process going.
"There's always a rift of some kind," said Karen Trear, who served on the board 10 years ago. "I really am hoping that they'll reunite themselves to focus on a new superintendent, but they've got to get past this first."
Though only one board member voted against the change, Roy Vickers said there is still a split within the board that "will definitely raise its ugly head again."
The division generally falls between recently elected members who did not support Bartlett and those who were appointed by the Board of Supervisors in years past. The School Board won't be made up of all elected members until January 1998.
If and when the board can unify itself, said Vickers, the first step is to hire some help.
"We definitely need to use a search firm - if we try to do it ourselves we'll make a mess of it," said Vickers, the former board chairman.
An outside firm would make the selection process fair and add credibility to the choice, he said. Bartlett and former superintendent Harold Dodge (1988-93) were selected by such a firm.
Once the choices are narrowed down, Trear said, the board needs to practice what it preaches.
"The best thing to focus on is community input," she said, like the board says it tries to do with many of its other major decisions, such as the school-building program.
Trear, who serves as president of the Montgomery County Education Association, said the Dodge selection was one of the best processes she can remember.
Each candidate visited a school and residents of the community were invited to ask questions. Everyone was allowed to give input, and she said the choice reflected the communities' wishes.
Longtime PTA representative Regina Smith said she also hopes the board will look within its own schools for superintendent material.
"It's been a very hard three years. We need someone who is aware of the problems and can help [the school system] heal," she said.
Trear said she hopes to see candidates with strong people skills, particularly in a community as diverse as Montgomery County. She said the school system needs someone willing to seek employee input and allow them to make some decisions within their own schools.
Most importantly, she said, it has to be "somebody that has a strong background in curriculum, not just management. We've been looking for an educational leader for a long time."
Those interested need only apply.
LENGTH: Medium: 68 linesby CNB