Monday, April 13, 2009

Clark County School Board to Hire New Superintendent Tonight

"It’s somebody (that) people will recognize the name.”
---Clark Co board member Rick Perry

This from the Winchester Sun:
Clark County may meet its new school superintendent Monday night.

The board of education called a special meeting for 6:30 p.m. Monday solely to hire a new superintendent and allow for his comments. Board members met in closed session Thursday night for an hour and 40 minutes to discuss the five finalists and which one to offer the position.

Until the contract is signed, board members aren’t saying who their first choice is.
“We’ve made a decision,” board member Rick Perry said. “It’s somebody (that) people will recognize the name.”

Board Chairperson Judy Hicks said the members were confident the contract will be signed without complications, or the meeting would not have been called for Monday. During Thursday’s meeting, Hicks said the board authorized the board attorney to draw up a contract...
If "people will recognize the name" of the board's choice then one must consider who has the most name-recognition among the finalists. That's easy. Elaine Farris.

But three of the candidates have Clark County ties including Paul Christy works with the district at present and Lisa Stone used to work there. So that would seem to leave out Donald F. Aldridge and Stephen Dickerson.

2 comments:

BF Wilson said...

When the last superintendent was chosen, many district employees questioned the choice and openly opposed the selection. The majority of complaints revolved around a lack of local knowledge of the school district, and personality. As friction between within the board began to manifest, some within the district, wondered if this was a short-term transitional Superintendent. Additionally, the district web page has been absent of Superintendent contact information since the previous gentleman, Bob Lee, retired. Over the past two years the School Board and Superintendent did not have a positive relationship, and this was frequently played out during board meetings. Hopefully the new choice will be able to work with the school board and develop a positive Vision for Clark Co BoE.

Richard Day said...

Thanks for the hometown insight Brian.

I had a former Clark County student volunteer in class the other day that there is a significant division among Clark Countians. I thought he was going to refer to squabbles over facilities, but he went a different direction. He opined that the county was "famous for its racial intolerance."

I hadn't heard this before, but if it's true to any significant degree, the next superintendent could have significant bridge building to do.

We'll find out in a couple of hours.

Richard