No more elected school superintendents in MS?

[virgo]

http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070822/NEWS01/708220335



The state Board of Education is encouraging state legislators to take another stab at eliminating the elected superintendent system next year.

State Superintendent of Education Hank Bounds announced the board's legislative priorities at a press conference last week in Jackson.

"There's a flaw in the concept of having an elected superintendent and an elected school board," said Petal resident Bill Jones, vice chairman of the state board. "A school board's job is to adopt policy and make sure policy is carried out. If the superintendent is elected, he can ignore the school board, he can be oblivious to the school board and can have a different subset of people who he may or may not be obligated to."

About one-third of Mississippi's 152 school districts have elected superintendents, the bulk of a total 75 in the nation.

School districts that have experienced problems significant enough to attract the state board's attention tend to have elected superintendents, Jones said.

"The irony is that when you talk about abolishing elected superintendents, in my neighborhood, elected superintendents are pretty good superintendents and run good schools," he said.
The board's legislative priorities call for a phasing out of the elected superintendency.


Interesting topic. What do you think? I like the process of having an elected superintendent because then the public knows who all of the candidates are and can vote on who they want. When you have a school board select a superintendent, that process can be closed until the very end. Also, I believe that having an elected superintendent also means that no one from outside whatever county they live in can apply for the job. While that might be OK for counties like Forrest and Lamar, what about the much smaller counties where there might not be a large pool of candidates to chose?

[virgo]

Aaron, can you change this poll so that the votes are private? Thanks.

[threekidspa]

Would this change have had any impact on what's happening in Jeff Davis County? That's a problem that's been brewing for a long time, and the people's choice for superintendant there did nothing to stop it.

[CircusRide]

I vote a big ole Hell No! I've got relatives in GA where the Super is appointed. He's then there for LIFE or until retirement. He cannot be removed except by the state.
And the kicker.......he gets to appoint his successor.

[True Believer]

I vote a big ole Hell No! I've got relatives in GA where the Super is appointed. He's then there for LIFE or until retirement. He cannot be removed except by the state.
And the kicker.......he gets to appoint his successor.

Wow....never of heard of them appointing their successors. It sounds like what the state is suggesting is to have an elected school board that then appoints the superintendent.

I can see the issue go both ways:
PRO: teachers do not feel they have to be caught up in the politics of their boss running for election. And you can have the board remove the superintendent before an election in the case of ineffectiveness. (Although, how many times do you see performance tied to job security at this level...)

CON: removes a layer of voter accountability. But in the case of Jefferson County, the voters only have theirselves to blame for voting in incompetance.

[dream member]

Hmm- yall made good points about electing them- maybe the voters of Long Beach suck...that's probably it!

[fuzzis]

I come from a place where the school board is elected and then appoints a superintendent. The superintendent is not in for life. They have a contract that specifies a certain length of time, after which time a public review process happens. The school board holds meetings in individual regions and people come together to decide whether the superintendent's contract should be renewed based upon objectives met.

Our last superintendent was the product of a nationwide search, which opened up possibilities that we wouldn't have had otherwise. I didn't like a lot of his policies, but there's no doubt that he helped move the district towards being "world class". When he left to accept a professorship, there was another nationwide search, but the district ultimately went with an assistant superintendent already in the district.

[Fish-Bait]

You are gonna have a few individuals that will decide who is what if the Super' is not elected. Sounds to me like one person wants to have total control of the school systems and doesn't even work for the district. Here is a thought. Wipe out all of the excess School Supers' we have. Talk about a drain on the budget. How many districts do we have 200? 300? We have 86 counties. Why have so many districts?
Anyways whatever.

[virgo]

The votes are no longer public. So all you paranoid ( :) ) folks can now vote!

[Augustus McRae]

Just curious...why in the world would someone be reluctant to cast a public vote on THIS subject???

[virgo]

Just curious...why in the world would someone be reluctant to cast a public vote on THIS subject???

Who knows. Of course, there may be some teachers on here who work for an elected superintendent and they don't want their boss to know how they voted...?

[Kitty]

I think we need appointed superintendents.

Superintendents, appointed by elected school boards. The elected school board members are accountable to the voters.

Many of our school districts have a very limited prospect pool when it comes to electing a superintendent. Appointing the superintendent would likely mean a stronger applicant pool.

I also think we need fewer school districts, which in turn would require fewer superintendents.

I also think there are several sparsely populated counties in our state that need to consolidate their multiple high schools into one school. Talk about taxpayer waste.

[CircusRide]

Question.....What state did Mr. Bounds move to MS from? Wasn't it GA?
Maybe he'll push for an education lottery next. I have no problem stating that I am not a fan of Bounds. Education in MS needs improvement, there's no doubt. But, my elected board of education is a collective group of redneck idiots. I don't trust them to make any decision, much less appoint a Super. Think about it....rural MS. Think about who is elected to the board in rural MS. They're no better than the person elected for Super. Stupid, stupid, idea.

[fuzzis]

Question.....What state did Mr. Bounds move to MS from? Wasn't it GA?
Maybe he'll push for an education lottery next. I have no problem stating that I am not a fan of Bounds. Education in MS needs improvement, there's no doubt. But, my elected board of education is a collective group of redneck idiots. I don't trust them to make any decision, much less appoint a Super. Think about it....rural MS. Think about who is elected to the board in rural MS. They're no better than the person elected for Super. Stupid, stupid, idea.

Bounds graduated from FCAHS (http://www.mde.k12.ms.us/superintendent/Superin.htm). Due to my work with the university, I had to interact with him fairly frequently. I like him.

[virgo]

Question.....What state did Mr. Bounds move to MS from? Wasn't it GA?
Maybe he'll push for an education lottery next. I have no problem stating that I am not a fan of Bounds. Education in MS needs improvement, there's no doubt. But, my elected board of education is a collective group of redneck idiots. I don't trust them to make any decision, much less appoint a Super. Think about it....rural MS. Think about who is elected to the board in rural MS. They're no better than the person elected for Super. Stupid, stupid, idea.


Bounds is a good guy and he is from the Hattiesburg area (his dad worked for the Forrest County Sheriff's Department for many years). He was in a district on the coast before being named state superintendent of Mississippi. He has some really good ideas. I don't think he is too off-base on this idea.

[CircusRide]

I understand Bounds is a local guy. I have nothing against him personally. I just have insight into somethings he's going to be moving toward and I don't care for those ideas.
With that said, I don't like for anyone in government to basically tell me I'm not capable of electing the best person for the job. I have a higher education level than EVERY person on my local board of education (only a couple even have college degrees). So, to say they know what's best, when they're actually going to just shove in someone that helps get them re-elected (read extended family with a large vote in the county) is not a good idea.
In some areas, maybe it would work. In rural MS, it will not.

[CircusRide]

ATTN: CORRECTION/RETRACTION- I confused Hank Bounds with someone else, so my statement about his policies were incorrect.
I do still say the super idea will not work in rural MS but I have nothing against Mr. Bounds. Sorry!