The Hamilton County Board of Education has hired a search firm to help it select a new superintendent, but what appeared to be an orchestrated plan nearly derailed any search at Thursday’s meeting before one ever began.
Before the board took up the business of choosing a search firm, new board member Kathy Lennon, who had campaigned on “new leadership” for the district and transparency in board activities, read a statement that sounded as if it had been crafted with the help of central office staff members, then made a motion to hire Interim Superintendent Kirk Kelly – without any further interviewing or community involvement – for the permanent job and give him a two-year contract.
David Testerman, a board member and former school administrator, immediately seconded the motion and later praised Kelly, but school board attorney Scott Bennett quickly reminded members that policy required such an item to be on the board agenda for 15 days to be considered.
Lennon’s plan was the antithesis of the “new leadership” and transparency she’d promised in a race with then-board Chairman Jonathan Welch (and which she won by only 98 votes). Thankfully, it is dead for the moment.
At that point, board member Greg Martin made a motion that the board proceed with choosing a search firm, which was unanimously approved. Curiously, Lennon and Testerman did not object. The board then went on to select Coleman Lew and Associates of Charlotte, N.C., the most expensive of the three firms considered.
However, no contract with the search firm has been signed, leaving us to wonder if Lennon will make a similar motion during the board’s November agenda session and attempt to get five votes for Kelly then. Her vote, Testerman’s and that of member Joe Galloway, who also praised Kelly, would make three. If Chairman Steve Highlander and board member Karitsa Mosley Jones, both of whom voted to make Kelly, a longtime central office staff member, interim superintendent in the spring, can be persuaded, Kelly would have a five-vote majority.
Kelly, an affable man, has, with the help of new Chief Academic Officer Jill Levine, made some changes since taking office, but we have long said we believe the school district needs a change agent at its helm. The school system’s lack of progress at low-performing schools and need for wholesale change persuade us a member of the current administration would not be the right choice.
We thought that was more or less Lennon’s view, too. After all, she stated in a meeting with the Times Free Press editorial board that “it was time to bring in new leadership,” that a new superintendent didn’t have to be an educator, that “community is the key” and that “relationship building” was mandatory.
Apparently, those weren’t on her mind with her motion Thursday. We hope she’ll keep them at the forefront as the superintendent selection search moves forward.