Don’t Ask Cynthia

Last night I attended King School’s community meeting for hiring a new principal.  The process is still as fake as it’s always been.  

Some community meeting environments are more comfortable than others.  At King, the cold, folding metal chairs lined up in the cafeteria said ” come in , sit down, don’t discuss things with your neighbor and don’t stay long.  We’re holding a meeting to say we held a meeting.” 

Some may argue that chairs don’t talk.  OK, but Cynthia Gilliam (HR administrator) talks.  She was clearly frustrated by questions from parents and community members who distrusted the process.  The parents who were most distrustful were parents who had taken part in previous hirings.  Rightly so.

The process as I understand it looks like this:

• Principal candidate pool positions were posted in November 
• HR committee screened the applications, conducted interviews and checked references
• Parents notified of meeting (King parents received autodialer notice day of the meeting)
• One public community meeting is held at each school with a vacancy
• Principal Hiring Survey available at the school and online
• Interested parents/community members must complete an application to take part in the hiring process
• Interested parents/community members must sign a confidentiality agreement to take part in the hiring process
• PPS determines which 4-5 principal applicants to present to each school based on desired principal traits identified at community meeting
• Principal “interview committee” interviews the candidates but can NOT select a candidate
• OR Toni Hunter passes GO and appoints someone to the position

One point made by parents was that the discussion seemed to be framed around the notion that the King community was different from other communities.  Parents said they want what all parents want from a school principal.  Cynthia had settled down at that point and said that the King desired traits list was almost identical to other schools. 

One tactic used by PPS is to delay the hiring of teachers or principals in lower income schools.  By the time they get around to hiring for those schools, the best candidates from the pool have been hired.  If this process began back in November and the district has been pulling from the pool, who is left?  Why can’t principal interview committees review the applications of the entire pool?  Who is getting weeded out prior to the school level process?  How does the HR committee determine best fit for a school if the traits lists are all alike?

Neither the King School survey nor the parent committee application include a deadline.  How do I know if I missed it? 

I’d ask Cynthia all of these questions but she gets pissed.