Your “A troubling campaign” opinion in the Tuesday paper was interesting but incomplete.
First, it is assumed that the School Board feels that Dr. Liddell is qualified to plan and execute the next school year. Otherwise she would not have been chosen to fill the slot of Dr. Philips even on an interim basis. If the only objective of the School Board was to keep the chair warm, there are other professionals in the system that can perform this duty and cost less money.
Second, it is an ideal world that thinks a head hunting company has the objective to help the city of Columbus have a stable advancing school system to meet the needs of the community. Ray and Associates are in business to help people find jobs and match jobs with people. Most professionals, including myself, during their career have been approached frequently by head hunters dangling prospective positions in their faces.
Columbus needs a stable professional in the school superintendent”s post who will stay here and fully implement programs which you have eloquently described as the visions of Dr. Philips, but which he did not stay to implement because he was attracted away by a “better” alternative having been flagged in his face.
The $15,000 being spent in this search is a waste of tax payer money. Even if another prospect is found who is willing to move to Columbus, and whose politics and presentation outshines that of Dr. Liddell, he/she is still an unknown entity. One can easily raise the question about why he/she is leaving their current job. Dr. Liddell is a known entity and obviously well recognized by the School Board. Does it not make good common sense to give Dr. Liddell the job and save the $15,000 or use it to keep/attract a top notch teacher for one of our schools? I pray that it is not the case, but maybe common sense disappears when other biases and emotions are considered more important than professional qualities.
Claude Simpson
Columbus
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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