Clayton Wilcox hasn't put his name on the superintendent's office door yet, but he already has accomplished one political feat for Pinellas public schools. On Tuesday, his appointment brought a diverse and opinionated School Board together for a unanimous decision. Not a bad way to start.
Pinellas has not hired a superintendent from outside its own ranks in almost four decades, which is a comment on the caliber of leaders the district has produced. In this case, Wilcox, superintendent of East Baton Rouge Schools in Louisiana, is being hired with the expectation that he will bring both educational expertise and an outsider's perspective.
What Wilcox will find is a remarkably successful public school district with a wide assortment of academic programs, a deep talent pool of teachers, relatively stable finances, and a few of the highest rated schools in the nation. But he also will confront some challenges, from parents with legitimate concerns about the puzzling design of the choice assignment plan, from advocacy groups that point to achievement test results revealing a profound racial gap among students, from people who work both inside and outside the school administrative offices who have complained of bureaucratic inertia.
Almost from the day he begins, then, Wilcox will be asked to bring a new approach to old problems. Is there a better balance for school choice, one that doesn't so clearly disenfranchise neighborhoods and frustrate families? Can technology, one of Wilcox's strengths, be better employed to streamline choice applications and provide general school information year-round to families? Can principals and teachers, who are now burdened by an organizational fear of making mistakes, be freed to try out new ways?
At various times over the past decade, the School Board itself has suffered from distracting and contentious infighting. The factions that once led to so many 4-3 showdown votes were broken apart by some surprising elections that brought newcomers to the table. While those ways are on the mend, Wilcox can only help. He says he'll begin his work even as he looks for a new home, seeing the county through "a consumer's point of view." Those new eyes are welcome.
