EDITORIAL: Clark County School District embarks upon search for next superintendent

The Clark County School District is poised to embark upon a search for a new superintendent. Outside observers say that’s an increasingly difficult task, particularly for a large, urban district.

Pat Skorkowsky announced in September that he is retiring as the district CEO at the end of the school year. The trustees are scheduled to interview four search firms on Nov. 30 before settling on a consultant to conduct the process and eventually shrink the field to a handful of finalists. The School Board will make a decision after publicly interviewing those candidates.

“It’s a tough job, and so boards are constantly on the lookout for individuals with experience,” Dan Domenech, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators, told the Review-Journal’s Amelia Pak-Harvey.

One consultant told Ms. Pak-Harvey that the applicant pool for superintendents has gotten smaller over the years. “Particularly for urban districts, that’s a challenge in terms of having people who have experience in urban areas who are applying and moving to another district,” she said. “If you get 30 or 40, you feel like you’ve made headway.”

Mr. Domenech noted that many potential applicants may be reluctant to come forward if the process is conducted in public. Perhaps. But too bad. Candidates who expect complete confidentiality during the search might also be less likely to embrace accountability and open government once on the job. The district has an obligation to taxpayers to act transparently during the search.

No doubt running the fifth-largest school district in the country is a daunting task. Clark County’s public schools have underperformed for decades, and there is increasing pressure to show results, as there should be. In addition, large, lumbering bureaucracies are prone to inertia and culturally inclined to resist change and innovation. Such conditions tend to discourage many reformers and visionaries.

But the district does have one unique selling point. It is in the midst of a legislative-mandated reorganization intended to decentralize the administration, increase parental participation and provide principals with increased autonomy over their campuses. This offers the next superintendent the opportunity to oversee a transformation that could become a model for districts across the country while helping to harness the untapped potential of thousands of local students.

School Board President Deanna Wright said she’s confident that the field will include four or five highly qualified candidates. Let’s hope that among those finalists is an experienced leader who is comfortable with reform, resistant to bureaucracy, committed to transparency and offers a tangible plan to boost academic achievement.