This morning's editorial in the Ithaca Journal emphasizes the importance of including resident input on school superintendent decisions, and notes Dryden's recent search:
Last week, Dryden hired Sandra Sherwood to be the next superintendent after serving as elementary school principal for four years. The district used input from 53 residents on six committees, including one committee that was made up of 11 students....
When districts in Tompkins County conduct superintendent searches there are many options from seeking input from the public. It is impossible to try to reach every resident like a Census counter, but the examples of using broad-based committees and surveys helped Dryden and Lansing expand their reach.
Also on the opinion page, Brenda Teeter of Freeville objects to phone companies dropping phonebooks in the snow next to mailboxes.
Posted by simon at April 15, 2008 3:16 PM in Ithaca Journal , schools (Dryden)
I don't know of any supt search that doesn't involve the public in some way. It's worth noting that Dryden had a survey (online and paper) as well as committees; perhaps Lansing had both as well. It's nice that this garnered kudos from the Journal, but none of it was anything particularly novel.