An Opportunity at Whitewater High (Part 2)

I posted before on the impending departure of Whitewater High’s principal, as he will be leaving the district for another job. (See, An Opportunity at Whitewater High.)

Three points deserve follow-up.

First, one judges a process – in this case a hiring process – through both its fairness and its efficacy. Of course the district will post for this position (and it matters how it’s posted) but that’s a mere beginning. A result that drives for mere expediency is an unworthy process.

Second, I’ve mentioned before that the former administrator was well-liked (he was congenial) and that he kept labor disputes from being worse than they might have been. Those were both accomplishments (although the second mattered more than the first).

For it all, quick institutional choices saddled others with undesirable results. It’s also true that our last administrator was sometimes surprised at how news actually flowed in the community.  He would be caught off-balance when awareness was predictably more widespread than he understood from the small circle with whom district leaders habitually deal.

(Watch, from 2.2.16, at 14:10 on the video, as then-District Administrator Runez and Director of Business Services Jaeger receive a question about ACT scores, are apparently surprised and unaware how widespread the community discussion on the matter had become, and thumb unavailingly & with unfamiliarity through their own document to find an answer, only to guess wrongly at a number on the district’s participation rate.)

Third, Whitewater’s current district administrator is new, but it’s true of all people that they are asked to make decisions in conditions not wholly of their choosing. A past forbearance in assessing some of these matters was too generous, as it was detrimental to sound practices.

There’s a great deal of good work to be done here; those who choose well will find valuable support for their efforts.