Two assistant superintendent finalists rejected.
By: Lea Kahn
School district officials have decided to reopen the search for a successor to Bruce McGraw, the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction whose retirement is effective Jan. 1.
Schools Superintendent Max Riley had hoped to name a successor for Dr. McGraw this month. But since the district has been unable to find a successor, Dr. Riley said he plans to make a recommendation for someone to take over the job on an interim basis.
Dr. Riley praised the two finalists for the second-highest post in the school district, but he said that neither Reginald Redding nor Cheryl Simone possessed the particular "skills set" that the district is seeking in order to advance academically.
The two finalists left their previous positions under less-than-ideal circumstances. Both had received votes of no confidence from either the staff or parents at their last jobs.
Dr. Redding was fired from his last job as the superintendent of the Rhode Island School for the Deaf. He and the school’s board of directors also received a vote of no confidence from the staff.
Dr. Simone was the subject of a petition that amounted to a vote of no confidence while she was superintendent of the South Hunterdon Regional High School District.
While he is grateful to Dr. Redding and Dr. Simone whom he called "fine candidates" neither one would be considered in a subsequent search, Dr. Riley said. In a different school district at a different time, their skills could be a perfect match, he said.
Dr. Riley said he came to that conclusion after he and school board President Philip Benson conducted "extensive" interviews with Dr. Redding and Dr. Simone last week. Dr. Riley said he also checked the two finalists’ references.
"My decision is that I am going to look a little further," Dr. Riley said Tuesday morning. "I think that most of the people who applied were pretty well qualified. It’s a question of what do we need, going forward."
When Dr. McGraw arrived in the Lawrence school district 25 years ago, he set out to develop a vision that has been carried on for a quarter of a century, Dr. Riley said.
Much has changed since Dr. McGraw was named assistant superintendent in 1979, Dr. Riley said. A high school was a new concept for the Lawrence school district, for example. While all students must take science courses to graduate, it was not a requirement for high school graduation 25 years ago, he said.
The legal environment has changed, along with the organizational structure and the expectations for student learning, he said. The federal No Child Left Behind legislation has had an impact, he said.
There are expectations that all children will be educated to the highest level, and the bar also has been raised for high school graduation, Dr. Riley said. Those are the messages that have been delivered to him by the community, through the school board, he said.
In seeking a replacement for Dr. McGraw, the superintendent said he is seeking a leader who can develop a vision for the future, along with programs that can lead the school district forward.
"We have heard from some very qualified people, but I have not heard an articulated vision that brings me out of my chair with excitement," Dr. Riley said. "Until I do, I won’t make a recommendation."
Meanwhile, Dr. Riley said he plans to re-examine the search process for a new assistant superintendent. The process may need to be tweaked in order to attract candidates for the job, he said.
"I want a different result," Dr. Riley said. "We will have to go back to ground zero. We will look at the process and determine what we need to do differently. We will think about how to change the process. We want to reach a different audience than we did last time."
"A search is a communication," he said. "It says, ‘We have a job and we are trying to hire someone to respond to certain organizational problems and opportunities.’"
Dr. Riley said that in conversations with other school superintendents, he has learned that it is not unusual to conduct several searches until the right candidate comes along.
"They also expressed optimism," Dr. Riley said. "The process is much harder than it used to be, but if you work at it and you are prepared to hang in there until you find the right person, you have a good chance of being successful."