WPCNR THE DAILY BAILEY. By John F. Bailey. July 28, 2008: The school district has engaged a consultant, Hazard, Young & Attea Associates,  at a cost of $70,000 to begin a search for a new Superintendent of Schools for the City of White Plains. This will begin with a series of community input meetings in September to find out what kind of person and leadership skills the community feels the district needs in a new Superintendent. WPCNR feels, from a perspective of eight years of covering the school district, this is a totally unneccessary expenditure (like the scoreboard purchase approved last week), symptomatic of the Board of Education blithe blatant spending policies and failure to to look to where White Plains education is going.

With School taxes poised for a record one-time increase next April (justified by the economic inflation forces at work this summer), the school board should know what they need.

I have taken it upon myself to write the first advertisement for the school district personnel consultant for a "Savior of Schools,"  for not what the school district would like in a Superintendent, but what the district needs -- something unique for school district management. Here it goes:

WANTED

Savior of Schools

For White Plains City School District

Experience: Proven credentials as  a leader or Assistant Superintendent of a school district of  up to 10,000 students of diverse population.

He or she should bring to the district a demonstrated record of academic improvement in upgrading academic performances of a diverse student body in a 3-year or less time interval with a significant  ESOL student population in a district respected by the collegiate community, demonstrated by the number of students continuing to collegiate education.

They should be capable and familiar with the challenges of and demonstrated ability to manage a school budget of $200 Million for maximum educational achievement with prudent financial cost conservation in the face of dwindling taxpayer support and significantly increased costs.

He or she should be able to interact productively with parents, taxpayers, faculty and administrations and city management to contain costs in a manner that will not overburden taxpayers and compromise quality of education.

Proven Administrator Motivator

Able to reorganize district management, academic administration, and information reporting to demonstrate timely feedback on the effectiveness of skills, practices, and managers.

Innovative Amiable but Firm Negotiator 

Able to work with teaching faculty to attract high quality new recruits with pay-benefits ratios acceptable by employee  to deliver bottomline effectiveness, arresting out of control salary escalation now affecting district – with pragmatic department-trimming skills to lower overall budget.

Endowment Specialist/Fundraiser –

Able to interact with the community, city and government  to build a district endowment fund to transition the district from a totally taxpayer supported operation into an endowment/taxpayer combination to finance major new construction and limited borrowing.

Innovator – problem-solver

Capable of undertaking a major cost-cutting management initiatives to lower the costs of operations without sacrificing educational effectiveness.

Salary: $300,000K and Up Plus generous incentive package based on performance in bringing school budget growth under control.

Equal Opportunity Employer