Schools search

The Clark County School District's superintendent search lurched forward Monday when members of the School Board met with the principals of McPherson & Jacobson, the Nebraska-based firm hired to hunt down a handful of prospects for the system's top job.

Current Superintendent Walt Rulffes is retiring Aug. 31, just as the new school year begins. Trustees have said they'd like to have his replacement hired by October and on the job by year's end -- certainly before the 2011 Legislature convenes in February.

That will give McPherson & Jacobson a fairly compressed schedule to secretly identify and vet candidates, then present them to the School Board for consideration.

It's a process that hasn't gone too smoothly for the school district in the recent past. A 1999 consultant-led superintendent search produced three finalists who either engaged in misrepresentation or went on to be accused of impropriety. And four years ago, a pricey, national search ended with trustees pushing away the out-of-state applicants and promoting the in-house candidate, Mr. Rulffes.

McPherson & Jacobson consultant Steve Joel said the firm has never had "major blowups" in its searches. However, owner Tom Jacobson admitted that Clark County, the country's fifth-largest school district, is the biggest system that his firm has ever worked for.

The consultants plan to meet with members of the public, parents and community groups this summer to learn the valley's expectations and hopes for the next superintendent. That's certainly appropriate, considering taxpayers are coughing up $50,000 for the search.

We'd prefer to see the names and resumes of all applicants made public so residents can do their own digging in advance of any School Board interviews or votes.

But when the School Board does get around to narrowing the field, trustees should remember why they launched the search in the first place: because no Nevada candidates boasted the superstar credentials that cried out for immediate promotion to a position in desperate need of new thinking.

This process is a fiscal and policy commitment to hiring an outside reformer. If trustees conclude this process by handing the job to one of Mr. Rulffes' deputies, or by taking KVBC-TV, Channel 3, owner and former university system Chancellor Jim Rogers up on his offer to work for three years at no salary, they will have wasted another $50,000 of your money.