Guilford County Schools has named the finalists for superintendent: Shirley Prince, superintendent of Scotland County Schools, and Maurice Green, chief operating officer and deputy superintendent of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.
I realize I’ve advocated in the past for not bringing in your average educrat to head GCS, and Prince, at least on the surface, appears to be more of an educrat than Green, who took an unusual path toward becoming CMS’ number two man.
Reading this Charlotte Observer account, you have to wonder what Gorman would do without Green:
If Green leaves, it would deprive Gorman of a man he described as “both a colleague and a friend.” It would also mean the loss of the man school board members describe as the superintendent’s most trusted aide. Green handles the nuts and bolts of running CMS, they say, leaving Gorman free to concentrate on big-picture ideas and new policy directions.
When Gorman announced earlier this month that he would need to cut more than 300 jobs, Green appeared with him at the news conference and helped explain the details of the decision.
“I call them the dynamic duo,” said Joe White, school board chairman. “Both are workaholics. Both are willing to do whatever it takes for the school district to succeed.”
I guess that wouldn’t be our problem.
Bonus observations: We already have a lawyer from the Smith Moore law firm, chairman Alan Duncan, heading the school board, so do we really need another one as superintendent?
Also, as commenter Deborah notes over at the Chalkboard, did we really get our $34,000 worth (plus expenses) out of the search process?
