School Board breaks its promise

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School Board breaks its promise

Opinions

Friday, 20 May 2011 12:16

Atlee Mercer
Former official

After the surprising exit of our previous school superintendent, our school board promised a transparent procedure whereby an appointed committee would examine the credentials and experience of the applicants and select the best five. The School Board would then pick the school superintendent from that list.

Since leaving public office, I’ve not spoken publicly about any of Osceola’s elected officials. I felt it was their turn to make the decisions, and, like mine, not everyone is always going agree with their decisions.
But after hearing of the decision by a majority of the School Board to ignore their own selection procedure by simply discarding the work of their own committee appointed, which reviewed applications and qualifications of the 28 resumes submitted for school superintendent, I felt compelled to comment.
Having served on this and countless other committees in the past, I can honestly say these people were among the most committed, hard working, thorough and dedicated group of citizen volunteers I’ve ever worked with. Chosen by the School Board to represent the citizens of our county and the School District’s employees and unions, it was composed of men and women from all over the county and truly represented a cross-section of our county.
They worked diligently to verify information, interviewed the candidates by telephone, asked tough questions, and when we met formally, had frank, open discussions about each – agreeing finally on who were the five most qualified applicants.
What happened next is nothing short of bizarre. In a workshop held this past Tuesday morning, the majority of the school board decided to throw out all of their committee’s work, decided to not even speak to those who were selected, and then decided to hire the acting superintendent, who met far fewer of the qualifications the selected candidates possessed and who didn’t even apply for the position.
How can this decision possibly further the community’s goal to acquire the best person available to manage the education of our children? Why did they break their promise?
Atlee E. Mercer is a former property appraiser and county commissioner for Osceola County.

COMMENTS_LIST_HEADER

-2 #2 MiamiJoe55 2013-05-22 20:15

Well said Mr. Mercer as you are well enough known for people to actually listen to you.

-3 #1 Realistic 2013-05-22 20:15

Thank you Mr. Mercer for telling the truth and not sugar coating it. I am glad you are the one saying the selected ones were more qualified as us ignorant citizens know little from comments made on another topic on same subject.

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