D.C. Bureaucrats Can’t Find School Superintendent

Why do I always rag on the city in which I live, work and play? Because I can. It’s called the First Amendment. Its benefits at this point in my writing “career” far outweigh the oppressive government regulation and extensive red-tape.

I think.

It seems that they (we?) can’t find a school superintendent to replace Paul Vance, who fled after three years. In today’s Washington Post, I ran across an article titled “D.C. Resumes Search for Schools Chief” (registration req.):

When the District’s top officials return from the Democratic National Convention in Boston today, their main task will be to complete the search for a new schools chief that began in November with the resignation of Paul L. Vance.

After two front-runners dropped out of the running in May and June, a new group of four finalists, all veteran educators, was selected last week by a search committee that includes Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) and members of the D.C. Council and Board of Education.

Members of the search committee said they are satisfied with the current pool and spoke about the need to end the protracted search. A subgroup of the committee will narrow down the list of finalists, but the nine-member school board has the authority to hire the superintendent.

Note that the District of Columbia’s “top” officials were at the liberals’ convention last week. No doubt D.C. is a liberal town, but I wonder if they’ve figured out socialism doesn’t work? Top candidates for the superintendent position who’ve apparently ran successful schools systems are wary of taking on the D.C. establishment.

Do you want to know the truth? Pencil-pushers in this city are not interested in the education of low-income students. They may get all puffed up before the cameras and cry about the failing school system and criticize President Bush’s voucher plan for “taking funds away” from their beloved government schools, but all they have to offer are more failing socialist programs.

In fact, the school system stinks so bad that even liberals have to complain. Washington Post columnist Marc Fisher wrote about the loss of an excellent candidate for the job because of D.C.’s entrenched bureaucracy. This is the city’s main problem:

When [Carl] Cohn told D.C. politicians that they should do as St. Louis did and bring in a management firm that specializes in turnarounds, “people said that won’t work in Washington because the system has so many patronage jobs and the city’s workforce depends on having all those jobs.”

D.C.’s loss. More from the first article cited:

Robert E. Schiller, 57, has arguably the most extensive resume of the four finalists and was given the highest score when the committee ranked the candidates last week. Superintendent of the Illinois State Board of Education since 2002, he oversees an independent agency with an $8 billion budget, nearly 500 employees and responsibility for standardized testing, curricula and teacher certification….

If Schiller, who declined to be interviewed, came to Washington, he would be the first white person to serve as permanent superintendent since 1969. Eighty-four percent of the city’s public school students are African American.

Second place candidate Eugene T.W. Sanders, who is black, is a superintendent in Toledo, Ohio. If it comes down to these two men, the decision will be crucial. Will the government hire the best man for the job, or will it resort to its ubiquitous “affirmative action” plan, especially since the majority of the kids stuck in the system are black?

I’m on the edge of my seat with anticipation.