Board being secretive about selection process for superintendent

What is the Spotswood Board of Education up to now?

John Krewer announced he will retire as Spotswood superintendent of schools on Nov. 1, 2009, having just been hired in 2006. How does a school board find qualified applicants? Did it solicit input from the community to identify the characteristics we would be looking for in a new superintendent? No. Did it hire a professional recruiting firm that specializes in school administrators? No. Well, surely it placed an ad in the American Association of School Administrators magazine. Upon checking that organization's website (www.aasa.org), you can see superintendent job listings in numerous states (even Alaska), but Spotswood is not listed there either. The board did put a want ad in the Star Ledger, though, to fulfill its legal requirements to post the job.

Spotswood has a confidential committee to select the new superintendent. It put an application on the school website with an application deadline of May 26. Dr. Krewer just announced his retirement on April 22. Does the board feel that four weeks is adequate time to find the best applicant?

There is an eerie similarity here. Let's refresh our memories. Anthony Vaz announces he will retire on July 1, 2006, and, lo and behold, his friend, Dr. Krewer, is given the position beginning Jan. 19, 2006. At the time, Dr. Krewer was superintendent of the Red Bank school district, but obviously a contract or professional integrity to honor your commitments didn't deter him from abandoning that school district in the middle of a school year. Miraculously, our board was able to find the funds to pay two superintendents at the same time — Dr. Vaz's salary was $160,029, and Dr. Krewer was hired at $155,600.

The taxpayers of this town were told that this arrangement would benefit the transition because Dr. Vaz would be there to help. Dr. Krewer's résumé included his past experience as assistant superintendent in Fallsington, Pa., superintendent in Woodstock, Conn., assistant superintendent in Point Pleasant Borough, superintendent in South Plainfield and superintendent in Red Bank, but obviously the board felt that school-budget money would be better spent on this handholding arrangement than on something to directly benefit the students.

So why is the board being so secretive about the selection process? Is it once again just going through the motions, knowing quite well who it has already decided to hire? Why can't it have a meet and greet with the finalists of its search so that parents would have the opportunity to ask questions?
Darlene Gliese
Spotswood