Searches for Superintendents Hang on a Pivotal Decision Officials Weigh Effects of Going Public or Staying Private
By Ian Shapira
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 22, 2006; C07

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As many of the nation's school systems begin searching for new superintendents in the next few months, they will employ a traditional tactic: secrecy. In many cases, the process will involve only a select few who know who is being considered for what can be a municipality's most highly paid public job.

Candidates' names are withheld from the community during the search. Teachers and parents are cut out of the vetting process.

But the secrecy sometimes results in a lack of information. Search firms and committees sometimes don't get a complete picture.

In Manassas, School Board members who are choosing a new superintendent are all too aware of this notion. Last year, neighboring Prince William County privately selected a superintendent, Steven L. Walts from Greece, N.Y., only to learn afterward that he left behind a trail of labor disputes at his old system that has resulted in federal lawsuits.

So the School Board in Manassas -- which is one of three in the Washington area that will select a new superintendent this year -- is facing a conundrum: an open or closed search?

"Prince William is a cautionary tale. It was frightening. We don't need that," said Manassas School Board member Edward W. Pratt. "What they didn't get was percolating below the surface."

Within the frequently fractious realms of the nation's 15,000 school systems, there is widespread debate over which strategy to pursue. Methods vary among states and within them, but leading education experts -- including the heads of the National School Boards Association, the American Association of School Administrators and the National Association of Secondary School Principals -- agree on one thing: An open search is ultimately best.

"We are in an era of accountability, and parents and the community want to feel engaged in their schools," said Anne L. Bryant, executive director of the National School Boards Association.

"The advantage to an open search is that it creates a transparent process. In some communities, the school board and superintendent are more important than the mayor."

But most superintendents do not want their identities revealed during a search. If they don't get the job, it can show disloyalty to their current school system and wreck their relationship with the community. School boards swooning at the nation's top candidates often grant them confidentiality rather than risk the candidates withdrawing their names.

It's a seller's market.

With the No Child Left Behind law ratcheting up academic standards and community members pointing fingers at the superintendent for lagging test scores, the pool of qualified schools chiefs is shrinking, particularly for major suburban systems.

"It's great for the superintendent candidate, but it isn't great for the school board," said Paul D. Houston, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators. "There's increased pressure and accountability."

Besides Manassas, Prince George's and Anne Arundel counties are looking for new superintendents. Most schools in Maryland go for a public search, according to the Maryland Association of Boards of Education.

"When you get down to three candidates and they're all highly qualified, the question that preoccupies the board is, 'Who's the best fit?' " said Carl W. Smith, the association's executive director.

But in Virginia, more school systems opt for a confidential search, according to Frank E. Barham, the executive director of the Virginia School Boards Association. "It's not a popularity contest. They're not being elected. How would a citizen know what's needed in a superintendent?" he asked.

Nationwide, some school systems -- like that in West Des Moines, Iowa -- allow students to interview candidates. In Florida, once the candidate submits an application, state law allows the public to obtain copies of the form.

In many cases, school boards conducting closed searches hire search firms and try to lure superintendents who are successful in their current positions and not necessarily looking to leave. Daniel A. Domenech, the Fairfax County superintendent from 1997 to 2004, is a believer in the closed search, even though he went through very public processes in Los Angeles, New York City and Fairfax.

"Fortunately, for me, there was no dirt to dig up," he said about his experiences. "But my preference is to recruit the person you want (in a closed search). You're going after a person who has an excellent reputation and they're happy doing what they're doing."

Public searches, Domenech said, often burn very good superintendents. "Take a guy like Eric Smith. When he was superintendent of Anne Arundel County and applied for the Miami job and didn't get it, it was public knowledge," said Domenech, a senior vice president at McGraw-Hill Education. "And then bad feelings emerged."

Ultimately, however, no search guarantees a successful superintendent. Smith, the Anne Arundel schools chief from 2002 to 2005, was forced out after an internal audit alleged that he awarded senior staff members exorbitant pay raises and bonuses. In Prince George's, Andre J. Hornsby was hired as schools chief after a round of public forums. But he quit halfway into a four-year contract amid an ethics controversy and a federal probe of school system purchases and other management issues.

But there are examples across the country in which the public has helped influence a school board's decision by discovering crucial information about a candidate that did not come up in interviews or background checks. In spring 1999, Montgomery County Board of Education members scrapped Elfreda W. Massie, then a deputy superintendent in Baltimore County, as a candidate for superintendent after the media was tipped off about her personal bankruptcy.

Last year, when the Central Dauphin School District near Harrisburg, Pa., named a finalist during its search, community members sent board members negative articles from newspapers where the candidate had previously worked. The search consultant had not uncovered the information about the finalist's management style, and the candidate did not volunteer it. The school board rejected him.

"The public process played an important role in our final decision," board President Michael L. Mausner said.

In Prince William, a public search would have helped School Board members learn that more than a dozen employees in Walts's previous system filed complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, claiming they were discriminated against because of their age or disability.

Greece parents and activists said that had they known that Walts was a candidate, they could have tipped off Prince William School Board members to the EEOC complaints.

"Not knowing that a candidate is interviewing, there was no way for us to make calls," said Bill Walzer, who was the president of the Greece teachers' union. "Walts was aware of those complaints, so it would have been a matter of fact."

After Walts was hired in April, the EEOC ruled that five of the teachers' discrimination cases were warranted. Four sued Walts in federal court this month seeking damages; the fifth teacher's case is being investigated by the Justice Department.

In interviews, Walts has denied any wrongdoing. Prince William School Board members have defended their search and stand by Walts.

Still, their neighbors in Manassas are not taking any chances. When they learned about how Prince William School Board members did not know about the EEOC complaints, they decided to add a question to their own superintendent application:

Question No. 9 in the Manassas City Schools superintendent application reads: "Do you have any unresolved administrative actions involving your employment?"

© 2006 The Washington Post Company

Walts named in discrimination suit
By AMANDA STEWART
astewart@potomacnews.com
Thursday, January 12, 2006

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Prince William County Public Schools Superintendent Steven L. Walts is one of the subjects of an age discrimination lawsuit filed Tuesday by three former employees of the Greece Central School District in New York.

Evelyn Krane, Carole Giordano and Cheryl Livoti were reading specialists in Greece schools before they were allegedly forced to retire early in 2004, the teachers' attorney, Richard A. Dollinger, said in a press release.

Walts served as superintendent of the Greece Central School District for seven years before coming to Prince William County in July.

The suit was filed against the Greece school district, Walts, current Greece superintendent Margaret Keller-Kogan and English Language Arts director Kathleen Pagano-Fuller.

Last year, the teachers, along with two others not included in this suit, filed claims of discrimination on the basis of age or disability against the Greece Central School District with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The teachers alleged that they were subjected to harsher evaluations than younger teachers, EEOC documents said.

In September, the EEOC ruled that those claims were valid and authorized four of the teachers to file lawsuits against the school system.

The teachers' suits were announced at a Greece School Board meeting Tuesday night.

In statements on the subject, Walts has maintained the claims against him come from "a small, but vocal number of people" in Greece.

He was not available for further comment this week, school officials said.

When they hired Walts to replace former Prince William Superintendent Edward L. Kelly, Walts told the Prince William School Board about tension that existed between him and a teachers' union in Greece, board members said.

But they did not know about the specific claims and EEOC investigations, School Board member Grant Lattin said.

"(Walts) informed us that there had been conflict between himself and the teachers' union and my response was, 'Well, what else is new?' That is not at all uncommon," Lattin said. "He didn't go into the detail of the EEOC investigations and the specific complaints and I personally didn't ask."

"We did an extensive background check into Dr. Walts before we hired him," School Board Chairwoman Lucy S. Beauchamp said last week. "He has the full confidence of the School Board."

Other School Board members did not return calls by Wednesday evening seeking comment.

In a statement, Walts said he is focused now on his relationship with the Prince William County school community.

"My current staff and I are focused on continuing to build upon the excellent foundation in Prince William County. I support teachers, administrators, and support staff, as we work together to provide a world class education for our students."

"Dr. Walts is already forming excellent relationships with our staff here," Beauchamp said. "He has the full confidence of the School Board, and we believe he will continue to do good job here. Greece was a very different school district, and it probably had different challenges."

The Greece School Board conducted an independent investigation of the discrimination claims. A report on that investigation was presented to the Greece School Board in closed session in December.

The board has discussed the report in closed session twice, but does not have any immediate plans to release the report to the public, the (Rochester) Democrat and Chronicle reported Wednesday.

Walts' successor in Greece, Keller-Cogan, and two other top administrators there have been on administrative leave since the EEOC reports were first released in September.

Greece Central Board of Education President Ken Walsh did not return several messages seeking comment this week.

January 19, 2006
Greece board dismisses superintendent
Meaghan M. McDermott, Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, Staff writer

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GREECE - With a bitterly divided 5-to-4 vote, the Greece Board of Education on Thursday dismissed Superintendent Margaret Keller-Cogan.

Keller-Cogan's status had been in limbo since September, when the board voted to put her and two other administrators on paid leave, pending the results of an investigation into teachers' claims of discrimination during the administration of Superintendent Steven L. Walts.

During the summer, five teachers won determinations from the U.S. Equal Employment Commission that their discrimination claims had merit. One of the cases was referred to the Justice Department for possible action against the district.

The report was completed in December, and Board President Ken Walsh said that report, along with advice from district attorneys and the EEOC determinations, factored in the board's decision.
Keller-Cogan, who had been deputy superintendent under Walts, was appointed to fill his position after Walts announced last year he'd leave in June to take control of a school district in Virginia.
The four board members who voted to keep Keller-Cogan made impassioned statements in her defense.

"This evening the board is taking an action which I wholeheartedly disagree with on many levels," said Larry Sweet, who voted nay along with Bill Russell, Gerald Phalen and Eric Peterson. "First, I believe they are acting without cause and justification. I also believe they are acting behalf of a very, very small faction of our community that is not indicative of the entire community."

Walsh joined Charles Hubbard, Frank Oberg, Bill GrasonCQ and Joseph Moscato in voting to dismiss Keller-Cogan. He said the decision is in the best interest of the district and the district's students.

Walsh said the district's attorneys will next draft charges against Keller-Cogan that show just cause for her dismissal, and the board will meet Tuesday to review those charges.

MCDERMOT@DemocratandChronicle.com

Three Teachers in New York State's Rochester area File an Age Discrimination Lawsuit Against School Officials