Friday, August 27, 2010

Four times in the past 20 years, the Monroe County electorate went to the polls and, in the majority, said they wanted to retain for themselves the selection of a school superintendent.

On the fifth time, on Tuesday, it was a different story.

Spurred on, it is assumed, by chicanery (and guilty on three counts) at the highest level, voters voted overwhelmingly to give authority to hire the superintendent to the members of the School Board.

Thus, the Monroe County school district joined with most of the country. No longer will local educators "move up" to superintendent by being more persuasive on the campaign trail.

Now, effective in 2012, the board will attract interest from trained educators from throughout the country, interview a choice few and name one as superintendent.

We have that "trained educator" now in Joseph Burke, appointed by Gov. Charlie Crist in the wake of the suspension of Randy Acevedo.

Burke's commitment expires in November 2012. Maybe he and the board will decide to extend that agreement.

What happens next, however, places a great deal of burden on the members of the School Board. Now that the electorate has decided on appointment, voters should be just as careful in deciding on who will be on the board.

Chairman Andy Griffiths' four-year term in District 2 expires in 2012, as does Duncan Mathewson's in District 3. John Dick was re-elected to a four-year term in District 4 without opposition.

That leaves Districts 1 and 5, for which there will be runoffs on Nov. 2 between the two candidates in each district who received the most votes on Tuesday.

In District 1, the runoff between Robin Smith-Martin and Barbara Bowers will determine who succeeds Steve Pribramsky, while in District 5, voters will decide between challenger Ron Martin and incumbent Debra Walker.

Before Nov. 2, each, of course, should be asked to respond to many questions about education, but they should each also talk about what they want in a superintendent.

-- The Citizen