After a bumbling start, the Hillsborough County School Board has retaken control of the job of hiring a new superintendent. The board last week instructed its executive search firm to provide a dozen finalists, rather than five, from the pool of applicants for the board to consider.
The move sent an important message: The county's seven elected School Board members will be actively involved in selecting the leader of the nation's ninth-largest district. Search firms are paid to save their clients' time. They also bring expertise and contacts that employers like school districts cannot match. The board's decision makes it clear that locally accountable officials will drive the hiring process.
The search is moving quickly; Earl Lennard plans to retire this summer. It also comes as the district is struggling to maintain racially mixed schools now that federal desegregation efforts have ended. Hillsborough's new superintendent also should be prepared to meet the distinct needs of a large Hispanic population and challenge the inadequate tax base for school construction in the fast-growing county. The board, by involving itself more, has opened the doors to community input that should make board members more sensitive to the needs of a growing urban school district.
