School Board's bunker mentality
A Times EditorialPublished March 12, 2005
The Hillsborough County School Board faces two overriding challenges this year: Prevent a return to racially separate schools, and hire a new superintendent. It has mishandled the latter job in a way that increases doubts that it can accomplish the first.
Board members on Tuesday stripped away language about reform or change from an employment ad that a search team will use to field candidates to succeed the retiring Earl Lennard. Said the vice chairwoman, Carolyn Bricklemyer, who's sat on the board since 1994: "I'm not excited about having somebody come in here and try to shake things up." The board agreed, then went further, removing reform from a list of goals put forth for community discussion.
This is the same bunker mentality that pushed a onetime senior administrator to seek whistle-blower protection for revealing contract fraud and waste. Hiring a new superintendent gives the board an opportunity to distance itself from the past. Yet it hesitated to launch a national search to hire the next chief executive of America's ninth-largest school district. Done right, the hiring process could have doubled as a valuable self-appraisal, by having the chance to hear outside candidates vet the district's approach to everything from improving test scores in struggling schools and closing the achievement gap among minorities to making the district more open and accountable.
The district's historical disdain for people who "shake things up" partly explains the length and bitterness of the 40-year court battle over integration in Hillsborough. Many black families are skeptical about the voluntary school choice plan, fearing the end of busing will cause a return to black- and white-majority schools. The district got school choice off to a bad start; the plan was confusing, and many black families complained about poor communication from the district. Officials announced recently that "attractor" programs intended to draw students from outside their neighborhoods are not attractive enough to diversify elementary and middle schools. And this week, the school district pushed back the deadline for notifying parents about new choice options - without bothering to tell the parents. Shake things up? The question should be: Where to start?
In fairness, the board has taken important steps in recent years, pegging Lennard's pay to scholastic goals and helping make the case to increase taxes for new school construction. But the district reverts to its worst instincts by squelching an honest debate over how best to run arguably the most important public institution in our society.