Point/Counterpoint misses the point

Trib columnist Joline Gutierrez Krueger, and Trib editor Phill Casaus had it out on the subject of APS' next superintendent.

Gutierrez Krueger's point was that the APS needs;

• A successful insider,
• who can charm and excite parents.
• who is a local champion in the fight for better education.
• who is energized, idealistic and able to finesse.
• who is about the business of education, not bureaucracy.
• able to work with school board members,
• charismatic and confident.
• on the job right here,
• whose credentials we can see for ourselves.
• someone we know, someone whose heart and mind and vision have been honed here.

Phill Casaus' counterpoint was that APS needs to search the nation for superintendent;

• of strength and vision,
• a newcomer with a set of fresh eyes,
• a smile,a grin and humor,
• a strong set of vertebrae,
• legs to run ahead of the approaching train,
• who espouses more flexibility for all schools,
• who talks about accountability from administrators,
• with personal warmth,
• long vision,
• a big-picture thinker,
• a bright, energetic, happy-to-be-here leader,
• with national stature, and
• worthy of a statue.

The real reason Beth Everitt got the boot is because she wasn't able to keep the district's miriad problems secret from the community. Too much dirty laundry was hung on the line for stakeholders to see. As a result, the administration of the APS no longer enjoys the confidence of the community, and Everitt is looking for a job.

A successful superintendent in the APS is one who can keep the community from learning about problems in the schools.

A better superintendent would be one who actually addressed the problems in ways that didn't have to be hidden.

Beth Everitt's superintendency is a failure because no one in her administration is accountable to any meaningful standards of conduct or competence.

It is a good ole boys club whose only redemption
lies in the fact that girls play too.

The best possible superintendent for the APS;
the one who will really improve education in the APS;
will be the one who will set high standards of conduct
and competence, and then enforce them.


S/he will have the moral authority to enforce standards
as s/he will be required to lead by example.