Zeroes. That’s what immediately comes to mind when I think of the current Sweetwater Union High School District board of trustees.
In searching for and eventually appointing a new superintendent, they had an opportunity to distinguish themselves as wanting to include the public in crucial decision making.
Instead they emerged from a closed-session meeting, one of several, and announced that former district employee Karen Janney was their choice to lead the school district out of the pit of ignominy left behind by the former school board and superintendent who pleaded guilty to a variety of corruption charges.
Janney may be the skin graft the district needs to recover from the burn left by the former school board. Or she might just be another bandage that, with time, wears off and falls away unnoticed after a brief period of respite and healing.
The public will get their answer in time.
But what the public didn’t get was an opportunity to see the quality of candidates applying for the job.
“I’ll speak for myself but the other candidates just didn’t resonate with me,” board president Frank Tarantino told The Star-News about his friend Janney’s selection.
Presumably Tarantino also speaks for the board since it is only through him that other board members feel comfortable issuing statements.
But it’s safe to say Tarantino doesn’t speak for the majority of parents, teachers, students, media and public who watched Janney and the other candidates state their case for the job because there was no public forum introducing candidates to the public — though members of an advisory committee selected by the board did get to interview candidates and offer their recommendations.
But prior to selecting Janney the board didn’t make public the list of applicants who wanted the job or who had made it to the final stages of selection.
The board didn’t convene a public meeting where moms and dads and teachers and administrators and the media could listen to the presentations and answers of those who might be superintendent.
The board didn’t recognize they were in a unique position to include the public in one of the most important decisions of their young careers. Instead the SUHSD school board emerged from closed session and announced that among a list of 19 candidates Janney was their choice.
They could have followed the example of the Southwestern College board when it was selecting a replacement for college superintendent Raj Chopra. Years ago they had finalists answer questions during a public forum and from that exercise in transparency emerged current college president Melinda Nish.
When it comes to taking full advantage of an opportunity to demonstrate complete transparency and a desire for thorough public involvement, on a scale of 1 to 10 each member of this pre-Janney board rates a zero.
