The selection of a new superintendent for the Everett School District must be careful and thoughtful, as school board member Sue Cooper said Monday after the board named Deputy Superintendent Karst Brandsma to fill the post on an interim basis.
We would add a few more objectives:
— Cast a wide, national net to ensure a field of the most highly qualified candidates.
— Make the process as open and transparent as possible.
— Include the community in the process, listening carefully to the input of staff, families and community leaders.
— In a district that is becoming more ethnically and racially diverse, seek the input of minority groups and take it seriously.
The retirement of Superintendent Carol Whitehead after eight years at the helm opens an opportunity to build on her successes and to make necessary improvements. Chief among those is to restore trust between the district’s leadership and staff. Kim Mead, president of the 1,200-member teachers’ union, told Herald writer Eric Stevick that trust currently is at an all-time low.
That’s a key challenge for Brandsma, who was at the center of an imprudent decision to place a surveillance camera in a Cascade High School classroom last year, an act that district leadership initially denied. Brandsma may be a capable educator, but he has a lot to prove before he can be considered a top candidate to lead the 18,500-student district.
Everett’s next superintendent must be a bridge-builder, someone in the mold of Marysville Superintendent Larry Nyland, who stepped in after a bitter teachers’ strike and led a successful community healing process — largely by being a sincere and tireless listener. It must also be someone who can continue the improvements in academic achievement the district has seen during Whitehead’s tenure.
The timing of Whitehead’s retirement — she moved it up from January 2009 to Sept. 1 — forced the board to look internally for an interim replacement for the coming school year. But the board knew Whitehead’s retirement was near, so it should already be geared up for a selection process. Brandsma’s willingness to take the job for the next 10 months allows enough time to do it well.
This will be the most important decision these school board members will make, and the community has high expectations for a thorough, collaborative and transparent process.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
