Some clarification on the new Deputy and Associates at KDE

I recently wondered aloud whether the regulations governing the selection of the new Deputy and Associate Commissioners at KDE carried different requirements than those required of local school districts.

Turns out...they are different.

KDE Communications Director Lisa Gross explains the process:

Since the jobs are not under the state 18A (merit/classified) system, they do not have to be posted.

Non-18A positions such as these serve at the pleasure of the Governor, and applicants are selected by the relevant state agencies.

The positions were advertised in large Kentucky media markets and regional and national education publications. We advertised the positions beginning a couple of weeks after each person who'd held the position told the interim commissioner that she was leaving.

The relevant KRS are 18A.115 and 18A.155. Relevant KARs include 101 KAR 3:015, 3:045 and 3:050.

The successful candidates were selected by an interview committee made up primarily of internal leadership staff. The process for hiring is that the committee selects and interviews candidates and makes a recommendation to the (interim) commissioner. The (interim) commissioner then provides the name to the secretary of education, who signs off on that. The names are then sent to the Governor, who also signs off.

Barbara Erwin was briefed on the selections.

At least one of these "briefings" may have been a bit more than a briefing. I'd bet a nickle that I saw Barbara Erwin in a car with Elaine Farris, in Lexington, recently. I think it was the night before the Kentucky Association of School Superintendents meeting. So, I guess it would have been June 10th.

Whatever the process...it seems to have produced a better quality of candidate than some other search processes I've read about recently.