Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Education / Woods Googling the School Superintendent Candidates: Is This the Best We Can Do?
Posted by Jeff Woods on Wed, Dec 3, 2008 at 11:04 AM
It seems Wood resigned under pressure from his last superintendent's job, which was in Fresno, Calif. The Fresno Bee reports "Wood's critics at home had plenty of ammunition to fire."
During his fabulous tenure, high school students walked out to protest overcrowded classrooms, lack of textbooks and computers, not enough desks and infestations of cockroaches and rats. A state audit caused a scandal by revealing $35 million in flawed documentation tied to state construction contracts. And the city was outraged when Wood took a $25,000 increase in his compensation package as the school district struggled with a fourth straight year of budget cuts.
The district never met federal achievement standards in Wood's four years as superintendent, and he was forced out in 2004. Bet you won't find any of that on his résumé.
To leave, Wood got a nearly $500,000 buyout package. As part of the deal, school board members agreed not to speak ill of Wood in public.
"In [keeping] with the agreement, the only positive statement I can make is that he always dressed nice," former board member Manual Nunez said of Wood when Wood was applying to become a superintendent in suburban Atlanta this year. He wasn't hired.
OK, I realize this isn't the most attractive job in the world here. Our schools are failing, the mayor's threatening to take over the district and disband the board, and blacks and whites are at each other's throats over the new student rezoning plan. But if Wood is one of the top three candidates for our job, we may be in more trouble than we thought.
Bill Attea, whose search firm went looking for applicants, warned the school board last night that the results weren't all that exciting, but he added: "We feel we have three very good candidates." Really?
Comments (6)
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It baffles me how local government doesn't even use the internet as a cursory check. They may have and already know about this. It reminds me of when we found this interesting gem about a prominent Bible Theme Park backer, unbeknownst to the Rutherford County Commission or the citizens of Rutherford County.
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explain please why it would be a bad thing (read: worse than risking a hiring debacle) for dean to take over and clean house...
And Register is no better. Down in Chattanooga, where he was the former Director of Hamilton County Schools, they call him Cash Register. He loves to spend money on things thare obviously not in the best interest of the kids as evidenced by the state of the school system today.
Wow! Hell must be frezin' over! I agree with Jeff Woods! Unfortunately, Bill Attea simply needs a "transaction" to take place so he can get his fees and move on. Why are we wasting time on this charade when we all know that Mayor Dean will be taking over the schools soon. Will we enter into an agreement that will require us to buy out the remaining four years of a contract? At what cost? Memo to David Fox and Karl Dean...get together NOW, set aside your EGO's and settle on a future course of action. Avoid any action that would require great cost and legal complication to the taxpayers and does not PUT THE CHILDREN FIRST. Is Mr. Santiago Wood the BEST we can do? I think not. This is a pethetic display of leadership....and where's the Chamber in the middle of all this? It seems that their interference is what has put us in this place! Ralph Schultz... I CAN'T HEAR YOU????
