[speedgibson] Speed Gibson: White Smoke from the ESC

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Posted by Speed Gibson:
White Smoke from the ESC
http://speedgibson.powerblogs.com/posts/1239408550.shtml


   We have a decision. Dr. Aldo Sicoli was offered and has accepted the
   position of Superintendent of the Robbinsdale Public Schools, District
   281. He is currently an Assistant Superintendent in the
   Burnsville-Eagan-Savage system. Before that, he was principal of Edina
   High School for three years.
   I participated in the one hour public interviews held Tuesday and
   Thursday with the finalists. Alas, after my long day of implementing a
   new system at work, I didn't have the stamina left to stay for the
   subsequent Board meeting last night that made this decision. It seemed
   a little rushed to me to decide the same night, but another
   participant said they would only do so if it was unanimous. Neither
   the Minneapolis Star Tribune article nor the District web site so
   indicated, but I surmise this was the case.
   All in all, this was a successful process in terms of timing and
   input. I'm glad to see that we didn't go to extra innings as with the
   facilities decision. But I must say, based solely on the published
   resumés and my one hour interview sessions, I am somewhat surprised by
   this decision. Maybe Sicoli had also had a long day and wasn't at his
   best. For all I heard was standard Education Speak, lists of
   possibilities, anecdotes more personal than illustrative, a full
   measure of political correctness, and nothing at all "out of the box."
   I'm sorry if I'm blunt, but again, this is just a first impression. I
   truly hope I'm wrong about any and all of this.
   In fact, when asked about merit pay or other ways of rewarding great
   teachers and eliminating poor teachers, his response was, gosh I hate
   to put it this way, but his response was positively cowardly.
   Education Minnesota should have no problems with Dr. Sicoli, as they
   would appear to agree that it's better to keep teachers happy than put
   students' needs first. Again, this is a first impression, but there it
   is. That's what I heard.
   That's not to say that Dr. Carlton Jenkins would have been the right
   choice. There is always that little matter of due diligence, though I
   expect the search firm did that with all four of the candidates they
   presented. There were many other hours of interviews that I of course
   could not attend. But again, based on a first impression and published
   resumés, I rated him higher.
   I have a feeling this post might just cross Superintendent Sicoli's
   desk. All I can say is, my door is open. All he need do is, prove me
   wrong.