No search at all: Superintendent hire rushed without study

The selection of the Clark County School District’s next superintendent should have been a slow, deliberate, open process. Instead, the School Board slammed the door and rushed to judgment without any study at all.

The elected trustees of the country’s fifth-largest school system gave interim Superintendent Pat Skorkowsky the permanent post late Tuesday without soliciting a single application for the job. A meeting ostensibly called to determine whether the school district would move forward with a national search for a new leader instead led to a one-hour job interview with Mr. Skorkowsky and a unanimous School Board vote to appoint him.

Companies put candidates for entry-level jobs through more rigorous screenings. Selecting a CEO for a multibillion-dollar operation is another matter entirely. The job of running a school district with more than 300,000 students and 35,000 employees requires a rare skill set. It entails working with the business community, elected officials and bargaining groups, winning the confidence of taxpayers and setting high expectations. The district needs a transcendent leader with a record of results. The chance at landing such a candidate is worth the cost of a search.

With the notable exception of President Carolyn Edwards, School Board members wanted no part of any exploration of possibilities. And their action might very well have violated the state’s open meeting law. For two months, School Board meeting agendas included “possible action regarding all aspects of the search and selection” of a superintendent. That’s not adequate notice of superintendent interviews.

“The public has a right to participate in this process,” Ms. Edwards said, to no avail. “This is too fast for me. … I’m asking you to work with me.”

Student councils put more planning and work into their proms.

Far from behaving like neutral stewards, Trustees Chris Garvey, Linda Young and Erin Cranor came across as cheerleaders for Mr. Skorkowsky. They justified their haste by citing public calls for a local hire, largely driven by the reform-resistant teachers union, and Mr. Skorkowsky’s 25 years with the school district.

“Common sense has hit me between the eyes,” Ms. Garvey said. We’re thinking it was something else.

Ms. Young used the forum to pan the input of the business community, which drives the economic activity that pays the school district’s bills. Business owners hire school district graduates and see the system’s finished product. They want to improve local education. The failures of the school district, from low graduation rates to weak academic standards, are on career educators such as Ms. Young and the School Board as a whole. And they don’t want help from the outside?

The message from search advocates couldn’t have been clearer: Of course Mr. Skorkowsky could apply for the job. Of course other local candidates could apply for the job. But compare them against other candidates from outside the system. Weigh their visions. Look at their records. Don’t settle for familiarity when so many of our schools aren’t doing the job.

Perhaps Mr. Skorkowsky has the right stuff to turn around a school district struggling to educate more than 50,000 students who aren’t proficient in English. Perhaps his years with the school district have revealed to him what must be changed. Former Superintendent Dwight Jones, who resigned almost three months ago and set off this series of events, obviously promoted Mr. Skorkowsky to deputy superintendent for a reason. He deserves a chance to prove himself, and he deserves the community’s support.

The amateurs on the School Board don’t.