Candidates’ short list kept secret

The Columbus Board of Education has a short list of candidates recommended to become the district’s next superintendent — but it doesn’t want you to know who they are.

“This isn’t ‘American Idol’ where contestants are ranked and then cut off a list one-by-one,” board President Gary Baker said in an email Wednesday. “This is an important responsibility the Board takes seriously, and we respect every one of those highly professional individuals who have expressed an interest and

will provide them the appropriate courtesy.”

Despite repeated requests by The Dispatch and three days of candidate interviews in closed sessions that wrapped up Wednesday evening, the district won’t say with whom it held interviews.

The district, which said it would be transparent about the selection, said no records on whom the district met and when even exist, despite the fact the board needed to coordinate with people potentially traveling to Columbus from across the nation, typically affording them taxpayer-reimbursed transportation, lodging and meals.

The board plans to release a partial “semi-finalist” list during the final stages of the search in late January — only days before it will say publicly that it wants to make a final offer to someone to become the next superintendent of Ohio’s largest school district, according to a schedule released by the district.

Baker at first declined to talk about the interviews

Tuesday, and wouldn’t acknowledge that any interviews were ongoing, even though a search consultant’s calendar said they had been scheduled for Monday through Wednesday. Then, on Wednesday afternoon, Baker asked for “courtesy” from the news media on keeping the names quiet.

Finally, after The Dispatch reminded the district of the requirements of Ohio’s Public Records Act, and that its own consultant had said that everyone applying knew that Ohio requires an open process, the district sent an email statement saying it had engaged in only verbal communications with its search consultant, Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates.

Hazard, Young won the consulting contract by answering a written request for services from the board for a firm that would “present to the board a list of finalists and provide to the board a process to narrow the pool of qualified candidates for board interviews.”

Though the board has been in “regular verbal conversations” with the consultant, there was no written document containing a list of candidates set for interviews, district spokesman Scott Varner said in an email. “As President Baker shared, the Board will release the names of the individuals who are selected as semi-finalists at some point following the last of the interviews.”

“My colleagues and I ask for public professionalism and courtesy from those in the media who might be asking for a current list or slate of candidates,” Baker said in an email.

In mid-December, the district released a list of 19 candidates who had applied, including internal candidates, and others from across the state and nation.

Also in December, the district had a going-away celebration for former Superintendent Dan Good, who retired and resigned his post at the end of last year. At that event, Baker said the board had held public meetings and conducted surveys to determine the qualities that the community wanted in a new superintendent.

“It’s been an open process and transparent from the beginning,” Baker told WSYX-TV (Channel 6) at the time.