Left In Lowell

If it is true that “pressure is building on finalist interviews,” as this morning’s Sun’s headline seem to indicate, then the Lowell School Committee should thank one of its own for pulling a silly parliamentary move and block the process from beginning when it should have.

Rita Savard reports that Mayor and School Committee Chair Bud Caulfield has called a special meeting on Monday night so that the School Committee can set up the final interview date and time. Caulfield is concerned that the full School Committee might end up interviewing only 2 or 3 people.

The previous day in the Sun’s article on the finalist, Chris Scott wrote that “Two of the four finalists will be interviewed next Thursday, and two on Friday, March 14, beginning at 6:30 p.m., in the council chamber at City Hall. The precise order of interviews has yet to be set, Mayor Edward “Bud” Caulfield said.”

Well it was news to at least one School Committee person. Jackie wrote today on her blog, “Democracy required for superintendent search”:

Granted, the search committee named their finalists one week earlier than the timetable required, but to schedule interviews without the entire committee’s knowledge and approval (I wasn’t the only one in the dark) and without public discussion, is wrong. This is the school committee’s most important decision. The final vote will impact the quality of education our children receive for years—better to pick the right candidate and have citizens participate than rush the process.

Why aren’t the other School Committee people in an uproar as she is? If the mayor is worried about offending the search committee, “It would be a slap in the face to make them [search committee] to make them start the process all over,” is anyone concerned about a slap in the face of the residents of the City? All decisions need to be made by a majority vote in a public meeting; not by e-mail or voice mail; and certainly not by edict.

And speaking of proclamations, in this morning’s Saturday Chat, Kendall Wallace urges the School Committee to “pick a local candidate” and he gives his nod to Wendy Jack as the “leading candidate.” I was surprised that he would write that; not that he may hold that view but that he would come out and say it.

Maybe Dr. Jack does not want her “friends” in high places to promote her candidacy. Maybe she wants to earn the job on her own merit. Her supporters have not done her a favor. But the process is not about the candidates, it is about those in power flexing their political muscles and showing the rest of us who is boss.

As Jackie mentioned in a comment on my previous post on the superintendent search, the special meeting will not be broadcast, it will take place in the Mayor’s conference room and she asks us “to pay attention and even participate in the process.”