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CEO search firm familiar with county

Thursday, Sept. 22, 2005

The search firm hired to find a new CEO for the county school system is no newcomer to Prince George's.

Ray and Associates Inc., based in Iowa, is responsible for locating Marcus Newsome, the former director of Region 3 in Prince George's, and presenting him as a superintendent option for the Newport News, Va., school district. Newsome has been in the top position there about two years.

Now, the county school board is hoping the firm will have similar success in finding a strong candidate for Prince George's County schools.

‘‘They seemed to do pretty good fits,” Judy Mickens-Murray, board member from Upper Marlboro, said of the firm’s practice of matching superintendents to districts. ‘‘I like them. I think they have the experience and I appreciate their history of success.”

Mickens-Murray said the experience of Ray and Associates in the county had nothing to do with her vote to support its hiring. Although she did acknowledge that Newsome’s tenure in Newport News had been successful, according to the accounts she heard.

‘‘Marcus has been successful down there,” she said. ‘‘I’m sure someone would have called us from down there [had he not been.]”

Mickens-Murray said she supported hiring the firm because of its successful national track record in identifying leaders. Board members said they were impressed with the firm’s breadth of experience nationwide in working with various-sized school districts, especially with diverse communities.

Howard Stone, vice chairman of the school board, said the new firm would begin work immediately.

‘‘They have a lot of work to do,” Stone said. ‘‘They have their work cut out for them.”

John White, school system spokesman, said Wednesday that the work would cost at least $35,000 and that the contract would be formally signed within a week. Currently, a verbal agreement exists between the search firm and the school board, White said.

Charlene Dukes, Glenn Dale board member and head of the CEO search committee, said she expects Ray and Associates will have plans drawn up in the next five to 10 days for engaging the community, business stakeholders and parents in what attributes they want in a new CEO.

The school board will also form a stakeholders' committee from the community to come up with firm criteria for screening applicants who apply for the CEO position.

The interim CEO of the system is now Howard Burnett, who had most recently filled the post of Human Resources director.

The former schools CEO, Andre J. Hornsby, was hired by the board in 2003 and later became the target of internal and federal probes into how he handled school system funds, particularly Title I money designated for poor children. Hornsby resigned May 27, after only two years. An internal investigation conducted by The Huron Corp. in the District claimed that Hornsby was also running his own consulting firm while he was CEO though he had told the board his business was inactive during his tenure.

Elected officials, such as Sen. Paul Pinsky (D-Dist. 22) of University Park, said the hiring of the search firm was a step in the right direction to allay fears that the board would not be looking outside the county.

In late August, rumors began to circulate that the board had discussed making Beatrice Tignor, now the board chairwoman, the schools system’s new CEO. Community activists warned that such a move, if true, would be politically motivated and would mean the board had reneged on its plans to find a new CEO through a thorough national search.

Tignor and other members of the board denied the alleged attempt to install Tignor in the top slot.

‘‘I’m glad they are moving forward,” Pinsky said. ‘‘It’s a start, but I’d like to know what the plan is for the next 10 months.”

Pinsky said the prior selection process that had Hornsby as a candidate, led by the Maryland Association of Boards of Education, was a ‘‘disaster” and that the county school system needs a leader above reproach.

‘‘We need someone who is cleaner than clean,” Pinsky said. ‘‘We want a rising star.”

Marcy Canavan, a former elected school board member who also served as board chairwoman for 10 years, criticized the board for taking this long to find a search firm, an idea she has pushed since Hornsby’s resignation.

‘‘It’s amazing they took four months to do it,” said Canavan, an Accokeek resident. ‘‘If Howard Burnett leaves, they won’t have anybody in charge. They won’t have anyone picked by December and if they do, they’re doing it wrong.”

That means the board would have to choose another school leader, Canavan said.

‘‘That means this school system will have a second interim CEO and this system needs stability,” Canavan said.

But Dukes said the board expects Burnett to stay on at the school system until they hire a new CEO.

Dukes said that there is ‘‘no question” that the board will have a new schools CEO hired by July 1, the beginning of the next fiscal year.

E-mail Guy Leonard at gleonard@gazette.net.