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Southeast Missourian
Editorial

Editorial: Cape public schools superintendent search casts narrow net

The Editorial Board
Wednesday, February 22, 2023

Strike while the iron is hot.

Make hay while the sun shines.

Early bird catches the worm.

Truth in all of those axioms.

This one, too: Take the time to do something correctly once, or make time to do it twice.

Yet, again, it appears Cape Girardeau Public Schools Board of Education members are rushing an important process, one that could affect the district for years.

When superintendent Neil Glass announced in late January he would be stepping down at the end of the school year, surprising school officials, board members laid out an aggressive timeline to name his successor.

They made Feb. 13 the deadline to apply for the top leadership position in the district and originally planned to pull the trigger on a hire by the end of the month, presumably at their February board meeting.

Scheduling candidate interviews has pushed the timeframe out a bit, but board members have insisted they intend to hire a new superintendent within a few weeks.

In (partial) response to questions we posed last week, district officials noted two candidates are seeking the position.

Only two candidates? That number is surprisingly low, indicating word didn't spread too far or interest wasn't high. Or that signals were sent -- maybe in the rushed process itself -- that candidates weren't really sought.

Regardless, that's not good news.

According to the Superintendent Search Program office at Missouri School Boards' Association, open superintendent positions usually draw eight to 12 applicants. Lots of factors affect such candidate searches, but all things being equal, Cape Girardeau's position should have drawn that level of interest. Maybe it would have, given a bit more time and promotion.

Kim Swartz, a candidate for the district's Board of Education, addressed the issue directly at a forum last week.

"It's the most important job the school board has," Swartz said. "... I believe we should take our time and have a good slate of candidates to choose from. I understand that we might have good candidates here. If that's the case, I believe, the best thing we can do for that candidate is to stand him up against other great candidates. Otherwise, we would be doing that candidate a disservice."

We agree.

The search to replace Glass, who has been superintendent since 2017, should cast a wide net and result in a bevy of qualified candidates from which to choose. If, in fact, a local candidate is the best person for the job, that would become more apparent -- not less -- as school board members interviewed others for this important post.

But this isn't the first time in recent weeks the school board has seemingly rushed a decision.

Board members hurriedly approved $2.6 million in funding for the shell of an athletics complex without knowing the full cost to complete the project at a time when the district is facing unknown expenditures for the soon-to-come-online pool at Jefferson Elementary and to renovate the former Red Star Baptist Church to serve as Cape Central Academy, which is the alternative learning environment for students who struggle with conventional classroom environments.

School board members are to interview their two candidates on Tuesday, Feb. 28. They may find their home-run hire that day, but their process is amateurish -- and insular -- at best.

A wider candidate pool, identified, interviewed and reference-checked over a longer period, would give us -- and the tax-paying public -- more confidence in the next person in the job.

The school board needs to slow down.

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