Though her two challengers say the board hasn’t effectively led the district, Las Cruces Public Schools District 5 Board Member Sharon Wooden says she and her colleagues have worked hard to involve the community and navigate through a tough time in the district.
Legal issues, a divided community and other problems have made that difficult, she said.
Members of the public who are critical of the board don’t understand what its like to be making important decisions, Wooden said.
“If I don’t get re-elected, I wish these people my best, but they are going to be in for a big surprise,” she said.
The candidates seeking to replace Wooden are political newcomers David Morgan and Connie Phillips. Early voting is underway for several seats on
In
Though Morgan was more critical than Phillips, both said during interviews that board members haven’t effectively worked together, and said that hasn’t helped attempts to heal wounds in the district and find stability.
Morgan said he realizes there is a long, deep history of hurt from the tenures of the past three superintendents. He said the board has exacerbated the problems by not genuinely listening to the community and responding to its concerns.
“We are on an incredibly long losing streak,” Morgan said. “You have to be able to enable some open dialogue. The current board seeks input, then doesn’t heed it. … People are just really feeling disenfranchised by the system and the folks.”
Phillips said finding the right superintendent might help board members work more effectively together.
“If we can get someone in there who can get the board members to work together, then we can stabilize the district,” Phillips said.
Compromise and teamwork
Phillips said it is difficult to answer the question of how to heal wounds in the district so it can move forward.
“It seems to me that we need to just focus on the children. There have been so many decisions based on power struggles and who gets their way,” she said. “It may be easier said than done, but it’s important.”
Wooden said the board does have to take an honest look at what it can do “to make sure that people have the input that they want.” But she spoke at length about balancing the public’s desire to be involved and know what’s going on with privacy laws that hamper some of what the board can do and what information it can release.
She talked about the difficulty of communicating with the community when privacy laws are involved, and said that, in some ways, it’s unfortunate that the public isn’t entitled to know more about personnel decisions.
Wooden said the community needs to be aware that no candidate will be perfect – all will have drawbacks.
“Is it more important to have someone that gets along with everybody but they don’t do anything, or someone who does a lot and upsets everyone in the process?” Wooden asked.
The answer, she said, should be somewhere in the middle – in compromise.
“It means give a little, take a little,” Wooden said.
‘We need a leader, not a manager’
The board plans to hire an interim superintendent in the coming weeks to serve until mid-2008 while the district searches for a permanent leader. Phillips and Morgan said the board should move quickly to hire a permanent superintendent who can stabilize the district.
The next leader, Phillips said, must be able to work well with people.
“We need a leader, not a manager, someone that knows how to move the system forward in a very positive way,” she said.
Phillips said she strongly believes the board should conduct its own search for a new superintendent without a national headhunter. She said the board should start by interviewing local candidates who understand the district’s issues and culture. As an engineer, Phillips said she can bring a methodical, logical approach to the search.
“I’m very fact-based, so decisions will be made based on research and facts,” she said.
If a local candidate can’t be found, the search should be expanded to the state, then the nation, Phillips said.
“The most important thing is finding the right fit,” she said.
Morgan also said the search for a permanent leader needs to move quickly.
“I think you need to hire a new superintendent – the right superintendent – as soon as you reasonably can,” he said. “The school district needs leadership.”
Genuine community involvement
Morgan said genuine community involvement is the key to finding the right leader.
“There should be a voice, but those voices – you can’t just pay lip service to that,” he said. “You have to listen and heed those voices.”
Morgan said he would rely heavily on input from the community and district employees.
Morgan said the search should focus on finding the person who is best qualified, no matter where he or she lives or works.
“The bottom line is that it doesn’t matter where they come from as long as they are the most qualified for the job,” he said. “So I see no need to narrow the search.”
Wooden said it’s obvious that “going with a headhunter and a national search didn’t go too well for us last time.” Asked how the board should proceed with the search for a permanent superintendent, she said, “Right now, I’m not sure.”
She said she will probably favor a more homegrown search, but said the board will still have to hire a consultant to do the “tremendous amount of work involved.” She noted that two board members – Gene Gant and Leonel Briseño – work full time, and the board has many other things to do in addition to finding a new superintendent.
As to where the board should look, Wooden said she most likely favors a regional search, but said she can’t really decide until other questions are addressed.
“I think we need to sit down and think about what it is we want in a superintendent,” Wooden said. “Then we need to ask, where are we more likely to get that person?”
Addressing other issues
Wooden, like Phillips, said the board must continue to focus on students even while it searches for a new superintendent – which makes hiring help for the superintendent search even more necessary.
“Life goes on, and I think you do have to resolve issues,” Wooden said.
Phillips agreed.
“The system has to continue to move forward,” she said. “I think if we’re good leaders the system can absolutely move forward.”
Morgan said the district has many other issues that need addressed, but the board’s primary job is to hire the superintendent.
“Without being able to have stable leadership, you’re not going to be able to effectively tackle… other issues,” he said. “Without the superintendent to handle the issues of education in our community, I think that there’s not much that the board can or should do.”
He said the lack of leadership has made the school district the “laughing stock” of the state.
“That’s humiliating. We have good people in the district doing great things,” he said, adding that as long as those people are “rudderless,” the district can’t be great.
“I don’t want to rush to hire a superintendent,” he said. “But I also don’t want to dawdle on this either and I regard waiting until 2008 as dawdling.”
Visit Morgan’s campaign Web site by clicking here. Visit Phillips’ campaign site by clicking here. Wooden does not have a campaign Web site.