Julie Janssen 2008-2011; Clayton Wilcox 2004-2008 and Howard Hinesley 1990-2004. All were School Superintendents of Pinellas County. Much has gone wrong with the latest firing, unfortunately, it is a fine example of not hiring with a list of technical talents as well as a list of competencies.
People get hired for technical reasons and fired for their inability to build formidable relationships in the "right" places in the organization. Sometimes the relationships have been there but we self sabotage; our heart isn't in it -so we do, or don't do things that irritate the issues further. Termination becomes the word of the day.
What does a successful candidate look like for Pinellas County? What will the person do? How do they go about doing it? How does the Board wish to learn about things happening? What do the other stakeholder want? Has anyone asked the parents? I don't know.
It is a waste of time to go on a search right now. For what? People with a similar title? I know many people with the title of Mom--some good and some bad.
I encourage the Board of Education to take the time to really sort through the needs and the wants. I pray there is someone who can have the managerial courage to guide them through the process. (and if not, I could help them :-)) This should take some time. It makes the search more surgical, better defined and more successful.
Valuable money will be lost if a thorough review is not done. Please Pinellas Board of Education-define the customer (parents? Board? children?), the duties and the skills, knowledge and abilities to do the jobs, and finally what are those "soft skills" that people need for this job-because when those "soft skills" aren't there, the landing is hard for everyone.