THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 1, 1995 TAG: 9511300180
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
SOURCE: Beth Barber
LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
What the heck's the hurry?
That's the question the Virginia Beach School Board left unanswered in its an-nouncement Wednesday that it has a short list of candidates for school superintend-ent.
Here's a school system that is struggling under a $12.1 million deficit from last year.
It is facing spending cuts to avoid an $8 million deficit this year.
It is the subject of a special grand jury scheduled to convene on Monday to determine who did what when regarding this financial fiasco, since the school system itself either can't or won't.
It is being overseen, poorly, by a board that neither foresaw nor forestalled the schools' financial straits, believing instead the glib assurances of the former superintendent, Sidney L. Faucette, that the system's finances would turn out just fine.
Despite their demonstratedly poor judgment regarding the former superintendent and the past stewardship of hundreds of millions in school funds, a majority on this School Board now seizes on its selection of a new superintendent as the remedy for the school system.
But can the public have any more confidence in a new superintendent than it does in the board that selects him? A board with the measurable backing of the public won't sit on the dais until Election Day in May 1996. The grand jury investigation could take that long. Why not wait to redo the school system, again, until all the juries - in the court of law and in the court of public opinion - are in?
The confidence level of the public might be higher had the board more actively involved its own committee of distinguished and experienced citizens in the selection process, but the board did not involve that committee in narrowing the candidate list to three. The board now promises the committee little more than a social introduction to them.
The confidence level might rise with the announcement that a thorough investigation of the candidates' professional and personal background has been conducted or is under way, but the board is reportedly split on how exacting a background check should be.
Finally, it's no slur on the qualifications of the short-listed candidates to wonder whether more and better candidates might apply to superintend this school system when it gets out from under this cloud.
There is a preferable alternative course: Dr. Jim Pughsley, one of the three candidates for the permanent job, could continue as interim superintendent if the School Board seeks and gets approval to extend his interim status from the State Board of Education. It would show wisdom unusual in this School Board, but a wise board would do just that. by CNB