Our school superintendent, Glenn Reynolds caught the Board and us off guard by announcing his retirement at the end of the term.  He will not run for reelection.  The race begins.  Several people have already thought about running but I might suggest the perfect candidate.

Who is this candidate?  He is a bright young school superintendent in a small school system that has shown his metal, gained experience and is ready for something bigger and a large challenger.  In him we have seen the ability to work with a school board to work out difficult problems.  The school system he leads has shown a solid increase in test scores and has steadily lowered the drop out rate.  He is clearly ready for a larger challenge and would be the perfect candidate for Polk County. 

 Who is this candidate?  I have taken a little literary license.  He is a figment of my imagination but it really doesn’t matter.  He would not come to Polk County anyway.  To do so would mean quitting his job, come live in Polk County and campaign for the office,  because we have an elected, not appointed Superintendent.  He will take his bright shining star to another school system and build on what he as accomplished and that system will benefit.  Polk County loses.  He has too many other choices… choices where they have an appointed Superintendent. 

 Since we elect, not appoint, we will be limited to those that live here and are willing to take the months to campaign for the position.  We will be limited to those, most likely, who have never had experience as a School Superintendent.  We will probably be limited to those currently in the school system.

 If we were to have an appointed school superintendent by the school board it would open up the position to a much wider audience, we could attract more candidates and most likely better candidates than we do now.

 This is not to say that the current or potential candidates will not fill the bill.  If they were examined against the qualification of all candidates we would truly have the best candidate, not the best candidate from a very restricted field.

 I know that it has been tried before (to change from elected to appointed) and failed.  But it truly is an idea that will benefit Polk County and our children. 

 Can you imagine a private business filling a position of this magnitude this way?  We are asking a candidate to lead a system with a budget of over $600 million, with more than 100 schools, serving over 80,000 students.  For this position we are willing to settle for someone who has no experience?  If we were a small school system in Iowa we might have settle for less.  But we are big. (One of the largest school systems in the country) We are Florida and could command the best!  But because we elect, not appoint, we settle for less and shortchange our children and our future!

 The elected superintendent gables up the line of authority.  If the board appointed, we could hold them responsible for his performance and we can vote on these people.  We would still have the election process (to elect school board members), but we would have a clear line or authority and responsibility…. AND we would select a superintendent from a field of candidates with experience in the job, we would have more to choose from… and in the end we would get a better superintendent with better results and a brighter future.

 An elected school superintendent is a relic of the past and is hindering the improvement of our school system