Jay GreesonSo, the search firm hired to look for arguably the most important Hamilton County employee is having a hard time finding someone willing to take on the task of leading our public school system.
Color me less than shocked.
First, there is a standard and universal rule in the business world: You get what you pay for. And whether you are counting pennies for the folks doing the looking or on the salary to the person you are looking for, money talks.
And the reports from this paper's Kendi Rainwater have the salary around the $200,000 Rick Smith was making before a nightmarish night in Gatlinburg, Tenn., ultimately ended his less-than-stellar tenure. Folks, that's simply not enough.
Second, as for the lack of interest, considering the problems we face, it certainly is a daunting task. That said, the lower number of folks interested in the job does not necessarily mean lower quality in every instance, according to some key insiders.
Still, calling this job daunting may be underselling it. According to the website of Coleman, Lew and Associates - the folks cashing checks to find excellent candidates - the job description is interesting, to say the least.
The following is directly from the posted job details, which can be found in full at colemanlew.com/position/superintendent:
HCDE is governed by the Board of Education, a nine-member body whose members are residents of, and elected on a non-partisan basis from, districts of substantially equal population. Members of the Board serve four-year terms.
- The HCDE Board of Education has the following goals:
- The development and support of leadership throughout the Hamilton County Schools.
- The development and maintenance of good relationships between the Board, the Administration, and the community.
- The pursuit of academic progress across all areas of need.
- Access for all students to quality facilities that support learning.
Further, a strategic plan that more specifically guides the district toward excellence was recently implemented. This plan is based on several core goals:
- Great Teachers, Great Leaders.
- Engage Every Child. Every Day.
- Strong Foundations: Literacy and Math.
- Building Our Values: Culture, Climate and Communication.
- Prepare All Students for College and Career.
- Closing the Opportunity Gap.
Excellent. And all of this for $200K per.
As for the items above, the talking points all seem well and good.
They also read like the educational version of coach speak. You know coach speak, when the guy who more times than not is the highest-paid state employee says that Ol' State U. will "Play like we practice" or that they will "Give 110 percent" or "Believe in the process and each other."
Here are a few other line items we'd add to the Coleman, Lew and Associates wish list:
- Someone with a vision. (Identifying the problems in our system is easy; setting the direction of the future does not require a demolitionist. It requires an architect.)
- Someone from outside the system. (If there were solutions in this system, we have to believe we would have already heard them. Period.)
- Someone with an education background who is willing to make hiring a CFO his or her priority. (Yes, the Hamilton County Department of Education is a monster business with a $400 million annual budget. But getting a business person to lead this operation will point us to being the most efficient system around, not the best educational system around, and those priorities should never be confused.)
- Someone who understands that the first two years are going to be filled with 20-hour work days. (This should be obvious given that our challenges are great.)
To be fair, the fact is that we have thousands of great teachers and administrators looking to do everything in their power to help our students and our next leader make those hurdles manageable.
But it's a daunting task, and one that certainly should carry greater compensation than that of the UTC football coach.
Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6343.