It was a pretty interesting Snyder ISD board of trustees meeting Monday as the board selected Griggs & Associates to do the superintendent search. The company’s job is to find what is — always described when there is an interim superintendent in the district — as a “permanent” superintendent.
It is my understanding that Dr. Griggs will meet with individual school board members on Oct. 12 and with the entire board during a “training session” the next day.
I don’t know if this is a fact or not, but word is out that based on the feeling he gets from those two days might determine if he even wants to work with the board on finding that “permanent” superintendent.
And in this day and time, I’m not for sure there is such a thing as a “permanent” superintendent.
Not only watching this district, but others I’m familiar with, it seems like they can either hire a person looking to stay a couple to three years and then move on to a bigger school for more money, or a person looking to get that highest salary for the last three years before retiring.
And personally, I see no real fault in either case. Who doesn’t want to improve their paycheck?
During this week’s meeting, it was mentioned that the school district, or the board, has “lots of problems out there.”
There are, but they are really no different than problems other districts have. There are disagreements between board members on several subjects, but that’s certainly OK, too.
If we wanted just one opinion on school board matters, we’d just elect one person and let he or she be our board.
Or just let the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) make all the decisions from Austin because that is what that organization seems to be working toward.
There’s nothing wrong with split votes on this board, the city council or any other board in town.
The goal of the school board should be what Jim Kirkland said Monday and what he said several years ago following his third stint in Snyder.
“Improved student achievement should be your focus,” Kirkland said.
And I remember very well his last words at his last board meeting a few years back, “You need to have academics on every agenda.”
And that has not happened.
It was also suggested that the board needed to fix its own problems before bringing in a new superintendent. Sure, there are disagreements and again, that is perfectly fine.
But I think a strong superintendent will be able to fix that, and the problems out in the district.
I’ve been to a few school board training sessions over the years and the topic of most of those sessions was what the board is actually charged to do.
If I remember correctly, the board sets policies, hires the superintendent to execute the policies and then backs the superintendent up as he or she carries out the policies with the help of strong administrators at every level.
And then the board should step back and listen to one of my favorite Beatles songs, Let It Be.
Wade Warren is the assistant publisher of the Snyder Daily News. Comments about his column can be emailed to editor1@snyderdailynews.com.