Mark Hebert (WHAS11.com) in his On The Mark Blog reports:
The Kentucky State School Board has decided to hire a new state school commissioner, apparently without any input from the public.
At its Thursday meeting, the board met in executive session, narrowing its commissioner search down to three individuals. Board chairman Keith Travis referred my questions to search committee chair Bonnie Lash Freeman who refused to release the names of the three finalists for the state's top education job. Freeman initially told me the board only plans to release the name of one finalist, the person the school board plans to hire.
Freeman later said the board had not etched that plan in stone and might release the names of the three finalists AFTER the board interviews them in a few weeks.
A search firm hired by the board helped them narrow the field from 115 to six that were initially interviewed by the board's search committee. The next round of interviews for the three finalists will be before the full board, requiring a public notification of the meeting. It may be tough to keep the candidates secret at that meeting.
Before the hiring of the previous three state school commissioners, Thomas Boysen, Wilmer Cody and Gene Wilhoit, the state school board released the names of the finalists so the public and interested groups could weigh in and have a say in the selection process. Freeman says the board is only required, by state law, to release the name of its single finalist. She says the board is aware that this is the first time a commissioner may be chosen entirely behind closed doors. But she says the board hasn't discussed the possibility of backlash from taxpayers. She refused to say whether any of the three finalists had asked that their names be kept secret. The job is expected to pay somewhere in the neighborhood of $250,000/yr.
A spokesman for the Kentucky School Boards Association says K.S.B.A. always recommends that local school boards release the names of 2,3, or 4 finalists so people can meet them and give feedback on the possible choices. Brad Hughes says lots of people will want to weigh on the selection of one of the most important policy makers in Kentucky.
A spokesman for the Kentucky Education Association, Charles Main, says K.E.A. "would like more transparency" in picking the new commish. But he says teachers trust the judgement of state school board members and assume they want what's best for Kentucky children. A spokesperson for Governor Fletcher did not return a phone message asking for comment on the school board's tactics.
The new commissioner will replace Wilhoit who retired then took a new job with an education think tank.
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