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Communities left off school CEO search list

Thursday, Oct. 20, 2005

Residents and officials are frustrated that some communities' input was not sought during a meeting held to discuss criteria for selecting a new Prince George's County schools CEO.

Ray and Associates Inc., the firm hired by the Prince George’s County Board of Education to find a new CEO, held the forum Oct. 11. However, many community leaders said they were not contacted by the firm to attend the invitation-only meeting.

‘‘Whomever gave the list to Ray and Associates made an attempt to bring together a representation of the county,” said Del. Marvin Holmes (D-Dist.23) of Bowie. ‘‘But there were some obvious omissions. The city of Bowie was not on there at all, and Bowie has a huge stake in the selection of the CEO.”

Del. Obie Patterson (D-Dist.26) of Fort Washington also was not pleased. He said that while the groups who attended were valid stakeholders with valuable opinions, many civic groups in South County were left out.

‘‘There was no connection with us and that’s starting off backward if you really want to get the community involved,” Patterson told The Gazette. ‘‘The list did not represent those of us who reside in southern Prince George’s County.”

Patterson said residents are frustrated they were not placed on the list.

‘‘I’ve talked with some of the members of civic groups, and they weren’t too happy about it,” Patterson said.

School Board Vice Chairman Howard Stone said the CEO search committee looked over the past list of stakeholders used in the last search for a CEO done in 2003 – the search that produced former CEO André Hornsby, who resigned in May. Ray and Associates did not conduct the last search.

‘‘I feel sorry if someone feels they were left out,” Stone told The Gazette. ‘‘We tried to get a cross section of county groups. We had no intention of excluding anyone.”

Stone said he would go back to the board to check and see if any provisions could be made to include more civic groups from across the county. He encouraged anyone not already contacted to write letters to the board expressing their expectations for a CEO candidate.

Ray and Associates CEO Gary Ray told The Gazette that no further community forums had been planned but that could change if the school board asked them to engage other stakeholders.

‘‘At this moment, we aren’t planning to attend anymore [community meetings] but that’s not to say the board won’t change their minds,” Ray said Monday. ‘‘I’m not opposed to talking to anybody.”

During the Oct. 11 meeting, Ray and Associates distributed a survey allowing residents to check off criteria they would like the CEO candidate to possess.

Holmes said the survey caused an additional problem since it had to be turned in so quickly.

‘‘I was saddened by the requisite response time,” Holmes said. ‘‘We met on the 11th [of October] and they wanted them back by the 14th. That’s not doable. If the intent is to truly get that data, then the response time should’ve been extended.”

Crystal Scott, president of the Peppermill Village Civic Association located in Capitol Heights, said she was not informed of the Oct.11 meeting.

Scott received an electronic copy of the survey Oct. 12 from a contact at the Council of Prince George’s County PTAs and gave copies to residents of her community at their regularly scheduled meeting Oct.13.

‘‘I was able to pass it on to my civic association but it was a quick turnaround,” Scott said, adding that she had to hurry to fax in the responses by the noon Oct. 14 deadline. ‘‘I think it’s just poor planning to receive input from the community.”

She was able to send in about 30 surveys of the 60 or so she passed out.

‘‘You say you want to get input from the community but you only give us about 50 hours to respond?” she said. ‘‘That’s ridiculous. I can’t see where they really wanted the input.”

Ray had said the rapid return of the survey was necessary to keep pace with the school board’s chosen deadline for actually hiring the new CEO.

Stone defended the board’s action on the list and the rapid time line for choosing another CEO — the candidate is expected to be hired by the first week in February — by saying that with such a large county and so many civic groups, it would be impossible to contact every single one.

‘‘In a county as big as Prince George’s it’s impossible to dot every ‘i’ and cross every ‘t,’ but we try to do the best we can.”

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