School district needs continuity, not revolving door of leadership
Ocean City Board of Education President Chris Halliday said a new superintendent of schools should be chosen near the start of the 2023-24 school year. That’s only about two months away. We hope the board is getting more community involvement in the choice for the next leader of the district before deciding.
No matter who is chosen – and we hope internal candidates are given as much consideration as those from outside – potential tenure should be a factor in the board’s decision.
The district needs continuity, something that has been desperately lacking.
In the course of four school years, the district will have five different superintendents.
Dr. Kathleen Taylor was in place for more than a decade before retiring at the end of the first COVID-impacted year. (Her predecessor, Dr. Donald Dearborn, had a similar long tenure in the position.)
The district hired Dr. Thomas Baruffi as interim while it searched for Dr. Taylor’s replacement. The board hired Dr. Matthew Friedman last spring and he covered this past school year, but was searching for a new job about halfway into his tenure. He left last week and the board hired another interim, Dr. Scott McCartney, to cover July 1 through Dec. 31.
If Halliday’s prediction holds true, the new superintendent, we expect, would begin Jan. 1, 2024.
To recap by school year:
2020-21: Taylor;
2021-22: Baruffi;
2022-23: Friedman;
2023-24 (first half): McCartney; (second half): Superintendent X.
That’s a lot of change at the helm.
We don’t believe the Ocean City School District has been rudderless since the departure of Taylor because there are so many professionals from principals, to other administrators and teachers who have kept the ship on course for the most important reason: the students and their education.
We do believe it is hard to put forward and implement an overarching vision with short-timers, interim or otherwise. That keeps district employees unsettled. By the nature of the job, interims are not accountable for long-term progress.
We have mixed sentiments about the criticism that allows retired administrators to keep receiving their pensions while getting paid handsomely for interim work. It is double-dipping on an already stressed and grossly underfunded state pension system. The value, we assume, is that it keeps experienced administrators, who otherwise might not opt to extend their careers once they retire, in the pool to cover vacancies.
We also have mixed feelings about the choice of an acting superintendent from within the district instead of an interim, which was part of a push at the last school board meeting. We like the idea of a familiar face temporarily at the helm rather than an outsider, but the better argument was that the internal candidate suggested for the acting role already has a taxing job and making her cover two positions didn’t make sense.
Regardless, the school board needs to choose a leader it can count on for an extended haul.
This is a very good school district, with abundant funding, community and parent support, and the coolest location right by the beach. There are students (and their parents) eager to fill nearly 200 School Choice slots.
There is no guarantee whomever the district chooses will stick around, but we hope and expect the board to choose a superintendent with the promise she or he will.
