THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, June 19, 1995 TAG: 9506190034
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALETA PAYNE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Long : 101 lines
The School Board is shopping for a new superintendent of schools, and among the first dilemmas it faces is how to involve the community.
Should parents, teachers and students develop a grocery list of qualities they want in their school leader and then turn the matter over to the board? Or should they be allowed to pick through the apples themselves, sorting the bad from the good, until they find a favorite?
School Board members will continue their discussion of this topic at their Tuesday meeting, but one thing is clear: While everyone seems to want some level of input from the public, not even the public can agree on how much.
Amy Courtney, a Beach parent, suggested that a community committee might come up with a list of questions for superintendent candidates, but she believes that the interviews should be left to the board.
``Sometimes the people they choose (for committees) from the community are notversed in what educational needs are,'' she said. ``I think parents have too narrow of a scope, and they tend to personalize issues. Because of that, they tend not to look at global issues facing a school system.''
John Craven, a brand-new graduate of Cox High School, said students might be polled on things they'd like to see done by a superintendent, but he doesn't think they should become too deeply involved in the process.
``Teenagers tend to be a bit more impressionable,'' Craven said, ``and they're not exactly trained to look for a superintendent.''
But Shirley Robbins, immediate past president of First Colonial High School's Parent Teacher Association, would have the public's role go further.
While Robbins said the board should have the final say in the selection, she would like to see a community panel play a role in interviewing, much as already happens in some schools where parents, students and teachers help choose administrators.
Outgoing Superintendent Sidney L. Faucette encouraged that kind of thinking by instituting a system of shared decision-making throughout city schools. His legacy is a growing group of parents and staff who expect to be listened to.
``It's a monster Dr. Faucette created, but it's a good monster,'' Robbins said.
At their June 6 meeting, board members considered options ranging from having a community panel list the qualities needed in a superintendent to letting such a committee screen resumes or interview candidates. No decision was made.
Since then, board members have been submitting names of organizations to be represented on a citizen's committee to School Board chairwoman June Kernutt. She is compiling a list, which includes groups that have contacted her on their own.
Board members Joseph Taylor and Donald Bennis will narrow the list to a dozen or so organizations - which will choose their own representatives - and come up with suggestions for the committee's role.
The board also is looking for a professional search firm to help find a superintendent.
Representatives from a couple of such firms said they believe in seeking the public's opinion on what a school system needs and its strengths and weaknesses. But they also warned that too much community involvement can slow the process, usurp the board's role in hiring the superintendent and scare away qualified candidates concerned about confidentiality.
Jeremiah Floyd, associate executive director of the National School Boards Association, offers his expertise to school boards searching for leaders.
``If the public does not feel involved at all, they tend to feel alienated from the process and the board as well,'' Floyd said. But ``(too) wide open a process will have a chilling effect on more highly qualified candidates.''
Floyd suggested early meetings between the search firm and the community to come up with criteria for a national search. After the board has made its final choices, those candidates might meet the public in open forums before the final selection, he said.
Closing off the process entirely ``at least has the appearance of a closed shop - that there is something to hide,'' Floyd said.
Ja Net Crouse, chairwoman of the National PTA's Education Commission, emphasized that the community must feel its role in the selection process is valued and not just token.
``Parents can be vocal opposition,'' she said. ``You lose not only in support. . . . You need to understand what that parent perspective is.''
Teachers and students play a vital role as well.
In the past, there have been ``gestures at community involvement'' in such matters, said Vickie Hendley of the Virginia Beach Education Association, a teachers' union. Now, she would like to see true involvement throughout the process.
``I see the committee being involved with whomever is in the final contention,'' she said. ``That's the piece I don't want to lose.''
And Paulita Brown, a rising senior at Princess Anne High School, wants students involved from beginning to end as well.
Young people bring a perspective ``that sometimes adults overlook because adults think they're insignificant,'' she said.
``The students will be the ones to reap the benefits or the failures,'' of whoever is chosen, Brown said. By involving them throughout the selection, she said, the superintendent will be more in touch with young people because he or she will know ``a student had a hand in picking me.''
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOLS VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOL BOARD
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