Thursday, March 10, 2011

The Caped Superintendent Myth Plagues Schools

How are we going to solve the education crisis? Just throw money at the next superintendent and this talented creature will create magic in the classroom. Since I happen to be a bi-coastal bird with one webbed foot in a southwest Florida metropolis and the other on a dinky village in the San Juan Islands of Washington, I see the same story over and over in school districts I happen to know about.

Whether a large district of a small one, our communities care about education, but too often school boards fall prey to the siren song of  head-hunters who cheer them on, with expensive and disasterous results. A wealthy community in Collier County, Florida home to the extravagant community of Naples is a case in point, which I felt it was worthy of attention.

I'll venture to say that you, dear reader, have seen this very thing going on on in a community you know and love and so I offer this column, which appeared in the Fort Myers News-Press this morning as a cautionary tale.

http://www.news-press.com/article/20110310/OPINION/103100362/1015/Collier-schools-pay-big-superintendent-mistake