Regional superintendent waiting on standby

Apr. 11--------

CHAMPAIGN — The 10 candidates invited to interview for two openings on the Champaign school board got a glimpse Wednesday into how the process might have played out — had it not been canceled at the 11th hour.

Each was emailed the five questions they would have been asked Tuesday in person — one per current board member — and encouraged to reply to each, in 75 words or less, by Monday.

What happens to the questionnaires beyond their being made public by the district is anyone's guess. They could be passed along to Regional Superintendent Gary Lewis should he step in to choose candidates for Unit 4, which is looking more and more like where this process is headed, given the wide divide between two factions of the board over an array of issues — the most recent one involving a process of whittling down candidates from 26 applicants to those who'd be asked to interview.

Board President Gianina Baker told The News-Gazette on Wednesday night that she believed it was important "for (the 10) to get a chance for us to hear" where they stood on issues given the commitment they made in applying and the majority of them showing up Tuesday for a scheduled meeting that was called off for lack of a quorum.

"They didn't go to Facebook to air their grievances to circumvent the process," Baker said. "They came and were willing to be part of the agreed-upon process. I can respect that. I'd also hope their board members would."

For the first time this week, Wednesday came and went without any major headlines surrounding the board, beyond word that the district would be losing a popular principal, Booker T. Washington's Jaime Roundtree, whose hire by another area district is expected to be made official next week.

There was no progress to report on the tension that boiled over in the wee hours of Monday night, after Amy Armstrong and Betsy Holder informed the three other sitting members — Baker, Heather Vazquez and Bruce Brown — that they would be skipping Tuesday's scheduled interview session, neither comfortable with the group's ability to agree on replacements for Jamar Brown and Mark Thies, who resigned in frustration last month.

Brown and Thies' departures are where the focus should be, Armstrong said Wednesday night, adding: "The echo in the room is that two people resigned because of what Jamar himself described as 'mistrust, missteps and misinformation.' Pointing fingers and assigning blame at Amy and Betsy is not going to fix what Jamar and Mark said."

While Baker said she remains hopeful that "we all can remember why we were elected and the duties that come with that, one of them being to select a member of our community should there be a board vacancy, not to let someone else do" it, Lewis is on standby.

He said the Champaign County state's attorney's office has been consulted to confirm what he believes he knows about the process: that the job of choosing a new board member would fall to him after 60 days have passed since a resignation.

That would put the calendar at May 6 for Jamar Brown's seat and May 19 for Thies'. Lewis would then have 45 days to fill each.

Selecting one member for a school board seat would be a first for Lewis, let alone two.

"I've never heard of two being open at one time, so that's different," he said Wednesday. "But nothing surprised me. I mean, I've been in this long enough that nothing really surprises me."

If the selection process does fall to his office, Lewis intends to make his decision as quickly as possible without ignoring quality.

The Regional Office of Education 9 is still "in the process of putting a process together" but "it'll be inclusive and I'll be as transparent as I can," Lewis said.

All of the candidates from this round — and anyone else who wants a shot and meets the eligibility requirements — would have to reapply.

Never fear, current finalists who have already received one homework assignment this week: Lewis only plans to ask for a letter of interest.

"I just want to know they're interested and then we can go through the interview process," he said.

That process would involve Lewis and a panel of "about four" other people who have yet to be selected.

Lewis plans to make further information and a firmer timeline public if May 6 arrives with no decision.

If it gets to that point and Lewis is in the market for questions, he can start with these five, sent to candidates on Wednesday with this heads up from Baker: "We will most likely make them public (as I am sure we will get a FOIA request) just so you are aware."

Thinking about the Strategic Plan for the Champaign Unit 4 School District, and how vocal Dr. Boozer has been that the resolution influenced her decision to apply for the superintendent job, please share what you see is the most important goal in our strategic plan, especially as it relates to the resolution?

While the board of education is responsible for approving recommendations for the hiring or firing of all employees, we evaluate only one, the superintendent. How do you plan to evaluate the superintendent?

The board is tasked with being privy to information the greater public is not in order to make large scale decisions; how will you protect the integrity of that information while yet feeling a certain fealty to the community to be transparent in the decisions we make?

The BOE has a fiduciary Duty to the taxpayers of our district. One of the responsibilities of the board is to ensure fiscally responsible spending. When it comes to professional service providers, like lawyers and accountants, what sort of board oversight do you believe is necessary as to these services and how would you ensure transparency in spending? For example, as it applies to our board attorneys, what information as a board member would you expect to have access to and how would you evaluate the law firm and money spent on legal matters?

Recently, we've had a good deal of community input on places within the district that we can grow. I'd like to take a different angle and instead of asking about opportunities for improvement, what are 1-2 wins you can name for the district and/or Superintendent in the last two years?