The Hamilton County school board’s decision Thursday to hire Rick Smith as the system’s new superintendent precisely followed the script fixed by the controlling five-member majority that ordained the process and the outcome – all in secret.
That’s the problem with it. The flawed process was entirely predictable. And it was entirely wrong.
It was all engineered and accomplished by fiat outside the legal boundaries of the state’s Sunshine Law. Public participation and comment regarding Smith’s selection were arrogantly barred. Smith’s contract and $163,500 salary were admittedly determined privately by board chairman Mike Evatt while he (Evatt) was on vacation – though possibly with secret communications with other members of the board’s majority: how could we know? – and agreed to by Smith in a private, three-minute conversation with Evatt.
And even before the predetermined deal was officially approved in the set-piece Thursday board meeting, Smith selected the top five key members of his staff in the central office. In doing so, he wrongly circumvented the regular procedure of posting the positions, allowing applications from others, and presenting his choices to the board for approval.
Smith’s revelation of those appointments during his ritual coronation prompted George Ricks, one of the four board members excluded from the secret process, to observe: “This has become a debacle. This is not done right. It doesn’t look right.”