Selecting a Superintendent

[Evan or Nancy Holmes <ncmholmes@moscow.com>]

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From: "William K. Medlin" <dev-plan@moscow.com>
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2002 17:41:25 -0800
To: EN Holmes <ncmholmes@moscow.com>
Subject: 2020 Message

MEMO TO:   Board of Trustees, Moscow School District, and All Citizens

InRe        :   Criteria for Selecting a School Superintendent

 Some voices call for a "business" model CEO to manage our
school district as a few major metropolitan school systems have done.
This echoes the trend around 1900 for a "business" model organization
of schools in imitation of the factory system (called Taylorism),
which led to junior and high schools with one to three thousand
students, for "economies of scale" and "efficiency".  The trend
continued throughout the 20th century, collecting masses of students
into huge structures, creating a facade of "efficiency" but also a
sense of anonymity, lack of individuality and often unmanageable
social stress. America has paid a dear price for adopting such models
alien to the needs of nurturing young people for responsible
adulthood.  Almost every year some CEO, such as Intel's Craig
Barrett, stigmatize our schools as ineffective and in need of
managerial "overhaul" and more uniform standards.  Reforms are indeed
needed, but what qualities of leadership should be called upon? What
should talented teachers be paid in comparison with the other
professions?

 These business-based perceptions are essentially invalid
inasmuch as a nurturing institution is not conceived to "make a
profit" from its assets but rather to manage them to benefit a broad
range of different learners having a variety of academic and other
social goals. Such management cannot perform in line with business
ethics (assuming they really exist) and still deliver the kinds of
programs, interpersonal relations, evaluation standards and
"products"  called educated human beings that a civil society
requires to sustain itself.  CEO's who typically set strict standards
of performance, merge and un-merge units at will, shift fiscal and
material resources around for presumed effectiveness, operate from an
hierarchical command position, and "evaluate" according to harsh
quantitative measures can hardly perform the roles that educators and
parents expect of their school leaders. Standards, yes, but
dictation, no.

 The chief school officer, like any top official of a complex
organization, must first understand his  "raw material" -- in this
instance,  children and their patterns of development, capacities of
teaching personnel, and the functions of a great variety of
instructional media, especially in a small district.  In large
metropolitan districts perhaps less educational knowledge and more
organizational abilities would be preferred.  Nonetheless, school
administrators must be able to interpret relevant educational data,
draw inferences, reach collaborative decisions, and execute in ways
most beneficial to all levels and needs of the school system, no
matter how "big" their turf is. To opt for any other administrative
model would be to risk the overall quality and future of our schools.
I base my views on over 40 years' experience in education, both in
the US and abroad (where I have both taught and done research).
Respectfully,

       W. Ken Medlin (PhD)