BRENHAM SCHOOL BOARD HEARS FROM TASB
The Brenham School Board heard from a representative from the Texas Association of School Boards about the upcoming Superintendent search at their noon meeting Tuesday. Marian Strauss presented the board with a flexible time line to pick a new Superintendent before the current one, Dr. Tylor Chaplin, retires the end of December of this year.
The community will get their chance September 25th and 26th to anonymously say what qualities they would like to see in the new Superintendent. The questions will also be online starting tomorrow (Wednesday). The first Interviews are scheduled for November 6th through 8th, the second meeting November 13th thru 15th and then the lone finalist to be voted on by the Board at their next meeting. The application deadline for the candidates is October 19th. Each candidate will be asked about their communication skills, instruction skills, working with the board, their financial management skills, their vision and problem-solving skills. In keeping with the times, a video snippet of the candidate will also be included with their applications.
The very idea that the board would outsource this hiring process to TASB is crazy. The process mentioned above is pretty useless. Carefully crafted “video snippets” are not going to tell you much about a candidate. As we have seen in the past, some of these superintendents seem to spend all of their time polishing their resumes, how about looking at what each candidate has achieved? Did their former district have improved standardized test scores during their tenure, did they achieve lower teacher turnover, did they lower tax rates, did they make the schools safer, did they have a low dropout rate, etc? It is time to focus on outcomes and not how nice their carefully polished resume is.
It is obvious this board does not see the importance of this hiring. One member of the board made the remark during the very public meeting last month to the effect of “I have a full-time job. I don’t have time to look at every resume. I just want to be given the top candidates.”
If this is the attitude of a board member, I don’t hold high hopes we will get someone who is best for Brenham. This is the MOST CRITICAL JOB of a board! You were voted onto this board to do exactly that! To look at EVERY candidate and find the one best suited for US and OUR CHILDREN. If you find that too burdensome of your personal time, then get off the board and make room for someone who is dedicated to our children!
Its been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome. Just a hint BISD board. As a taxpayer I expect you people to do your job and manage the funds as if they were coming out of your purse. Please stop the stupid spending you don’t have to spend when you don’t have to spend. Penny saved is a dollar earned so far only two new board members have the stones to even question your needless spending. Find your own candidate or cut your wages. Now that would be something different!
“Find your own candidate or cut your wages. ” Are you suggesting that the school board gets paid?
So how many candidates will TASB parade before the board? Which one is looking for a billion dollar bond pakckage to pass so they can add that to the resume? Which one is looking to increase the amount of money that the taxpayers spend annually with TASB? Which one is looking to add BISD to the resume before they get an assistant superintendent role at Cypress-Fairbanks, Conroe, Klein or Fort Bend?