Bad week in education

This from the Courier-Journal:

The progress made as a result of KERA has been hard-won. It would be a shame if that were jeopardized by the slipshod appointment of a new state education commissioner. But "slipshod" seems like the best word to describe the selection process that was tolerated by a state board full of Fletcher appointees.

These board members had to find some of candidate Barbara Erwin's controversial background by reading it in newspapers, not in reports from the search firm it hired.

In order to vote, unanimously, to appoint her, the board had to ignore errors in her résumé that have been described as (take your choice) typos, misunderstandings or trivialities. The members had to assume she could handle a statewide position, because she's never proven herself in that kind of job. They also had to believe all the conflict she left behind in other places was someone else's doing, not hers.

Why, given a flawed process for filling one of the most important jobs in state government, was Gov. Fletcher in Bowling Green this week at a board reception, welcoming his appointees' choice and behaving as if this is the way he likes for important decisions to be made? One observer said the gathering amounted to a "pep rally," with Ernie Fletcher helping to lead the cheers. Another said it was just an ordinary political appearance -- unexceptional for a candidate in a hotly contested race.