After hiring a search firm to get input on the criteria to look for in a superintendent to replace Stephen Daeschner, District 204 announced Wednesday it will appoint Deputy Superintendent Kathy Birkett to the position.
Some of us at the Sun saw similiarities between this move and the recent search for a Park District executive director. In that situation, the board searched the whole country to find someone, hiring Daniel Betts who was brought in but never seemed to fit and was soon gone. The next time around, the park board looked closer to home and hired Ray McGury, who seems a much better fit.
Similarly, the District 204 board hired Daeschner after a large search, but when he left, they decided to find someone who was already in the area and was familiar with the situation this time with Birkett.
Should our community groups and organizations look closer to home more often when looking for leadership instead of thinking the best candidate is going to be found elsewhere?
And what do you think of the Birkett promotion?
A new Superintendent and a new school board. A fresh start for everyone. Good luck Kathy.
I think it is always better to promote from within, whenever possible. The benefits of promoting from within are familiarity with the chain of commands, internal procedures, and the system itself. There isn't a lag in time that would be required to bring someone from the outside up to snuff. Also, promoting from within rewards an experienced and qualified employee for their service.
When internal candidates have been interviewed and a good fit is not found, then I believe it is necessary to look outside. I believe search firms can be helpful, but in the case of District 204, I think the firm they used was quite costly and as we can see, did not provide a good fit.
I think Kathy Birkett will be a good choice for Superintendent.
I am not a big supporter of SD 204. I think the school board membership has been unusually sub par over the years when for example compared with SD 203. The SD 204 boards have in my opinion been historically sub par and have at best a mixed track record resulting in too much negative and unwanted attention. I think this especially true of any board containing Clark and Metzger. I do think however they finally made a correct decision at the right time. And I hope that Kathy Birkett is successful as the top administrator of the district. She may not make everyone happy and she may make some mistakes but I certianly have best wishes for her. As someone said, it is very important to any orgainization to be able to promote from within. I am glad to see that the board has confidence within the school district. I hope Thom SD 203 is watching so that next time, they can give more consideration to promoting from within rather than spending money on recruiters resulting in questionable results. Continuity of leadership may contribute to less bickering the seems to happen everytime new leadership from outside comes in to reinvent the educational wheel.
Should our community groups and organizations look closer to home more often when looking for leadership instead of thinking the best candidate is going to be found elsewhere?
It's certainly cheaper, and the truth is you know what you are getting.
And what do you think of the Birkett promotion?
Time will tell, I wish her luck with her new position.
We needed someone who could come in and clean up this mess in 204 and instead of doing the responsible thing and search nationally for the best candidate the SB appoints KB without looking at any candiates? Kinda sounds like the purchase of Metea land without an appraisal. Does anyone seriously think that a 30yr veteran gym teacher is going to make the necessary sweeping change? We surely could do better. Maybe the 203 board can come over and educate our board on how to do things right.
I guess its business as usual in 204 and see Metzger is still warming a chair on the board. When will this cartoon character disappear? Way to go SB. Another blunder for the scoreboard.
Best of luck to Kathy Birkett. She needs it. However, I think D204 SB once again displays its ineptness for the following reasons:
1. they managed to set themselves up to require a quick, convenient pick when the prudent action should be to interview a number of pre-screened candidates. The consultant hiring/comments and media statements "this won't be decided soon", "it's too important a decision to be made quickly", etc. then deciding in a matter of days...looks incredibly arrogant and insincere. They lied to us again. The SB got no penalties out of Dash. They should be suing him for breaking the contract.
2. Kathy is in effect a person that will do whatever she is told to do, regardless of what toes need to be stepped on, and what data needs to be misused to support already determined actions. One example is the transportation study so thoroughly done according to our SB, that turned out to be one hand-written page. In other words, she is perfect for our SB.
3. The SB showed their total lack of negotiating ability by not getting a lower salary. Tell me a single incident where a company has promoted from within for this level of supervision, and given a 47% raise to an internal candidate with NO SUPERINTENDENT EXPERIENCE. Dash had many more years experience as a Superintendent (more than zero). Thus a major benefit for the district in tough economic times gets thrown out the window. She should have been offered about a 15-20% raise and probationary basis, with appropriate rewards for good performance. Remember, she does not have a PHD in education, and no experience as a superintendent. A school district with a $260 million annual budget deserves better candidates or better fiscal responsibility. Well, its not their money, it's yours - just like our politicians.
4. Kathy has aliented many parents over her handling of much of the "analysis" around the need for a new school - transportation, demographics, capacities, projections, etc. Most of it came with her blessing. We now know that a new HS was not needed, and over $300 million in principle, interest and operations will be tied up in bricks and mortar far from the student population, and in a declining/maturing demographic. How much better could we educate our kids with $300 million dear taxpayers! She may roll on over any parents who disagree with the hunta's plans.
Hope not, but there is a pattern. Not much of a change from Dash. The scariest thing is that our whole school board are relieved today having avoided a messy search.
I'm not a big supporter of the hire within mindset. I am a big supporter of hiring the absolute best candidate for the position.
I do know that when someone is hired from within they are more likely than not loath to make any kind of sweeping changes and more likely than not will maintain the status quo. In a school district that has been plagued with a broken culture, board infighting, and a lack of effective board and administrative leadership for way too long; continuing to maintain the status quo does not bode well for anyone.
With this decision we will never know what the current competitive environment might have brought us in terms of talent and abilities. I'm at a loss as to why taxpayer money was squandered by hiring a search firm when it appears that this decision must have been in the works for some time or even worse a hasty impulsive decision.
The last school board was ineffective and had a total void of leadership. If this is any indication of how the new school board intends to function and make important decisions, God help us all.
Personally, I am happy with their choice. Kathy Birkett has proven herself as a leader within the school district in a variety of areas: as a teacher, principal, curriculum director and administrator.
The comment above "Does anyone seriously think that a 30yr veteran gym teacher is going to make the necessary sweeping change?" was uncalled for. First, Kathy Birkett has not been a gym teacher for a long time (since 1987.) Second, to make a comment that insinuates that a "gym teacher" is not capable of being a leader was unnecessary. It's just like every other job out there... some people in it are meant to lead, and some aren't. Not every man or woman who goes into business careers are meant to be CEO either.
She has been highly thought of overall by teachers, parents, and other administrators. Personally, I think she should have been named to the position two years ago. If she had had more experience at the upper administrative level at that time, I think she might have been.
Let's keep in mind, the last two big superintendent searches netted us Daeschner (who everyone on this blog complains about) and Gail McKinzie. I worked in the district during the Gail McKinzie years. She wasn't that great either. She was cold and had no concept of what was truly going on in the schools. She seemed to enjoy the prestige part of the position, but not the nitty gritty or tough parts of being a superintendent. If you look back at when things seemed to begin going downhill at the admin level in 204, it was under McKinzie.
I wish I would have taught in a school under Kathy Birkett. The teachers that I know who did felt she was fair, balanced, intelligent, and involved. And the parents I know whose kids were in schools while she was principal were also happy with her.
As far as the PhD is concerned, she just successfully defended her dissertation, which means she will be receiving her PhD.
Have I been happy with every decision that has been made in the district? No. That's why I have often voted for fresh school board candidates, who seemed to be intelligent and without any agenda other than making the schools the best they could be. (I have never voted for Metzger, but I did for Clark at the beginning of her career on the board, not towards the end.)
As far as salary goes, all administrative salaries, in education and in business, are out of control.
The first year will make or break her. Now is her chance to step up to the plate and demonstrate that she has what it takes to earn the big bucks.
If she does we are all better off for it. If she doesn't the job will continue to be a revolving door until the right person is appointed. It really is as simple as that.
Tired,
Sweeping change will require a new school board, the executive implements their will, not the executives.
Hope you got a capable administrator with integrity, I suspect preserving the latter is the reason the last one decided to leave town.
The only real power the new executive (or any employee) has is the ability to resign, I hope they have the good sense to maintain the option by keeping their personal financial house in order.
Metzger is still calling the shots at 204.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Kinda sounds like the purchase of Metea land without an appraisal. Does anyone seriously think that a 30yr veteran gym teacher is going to make the necessary sweeping change?"
Can someone please confirm (or better yet, debunk) the rumour that Ms Birkett was out of the office on a "personal day" the first day of District 204's school year?