School board closing in on final decision

Wrapping up their sixth and final public interview Wednesday night, Douglas County School Board members now have to decide which person has the right stuff to lead hundreds of employees, thousands of students, and millions of dollars in public money bestowed in the promise of a better education.

"I believe the future is very bright," Jim Huge, the consultant hired to find the candidates, said Thursday morning. "Whoever gets the job will end up in a very good setting. The board is in a very good place now, and the staff and community really want to work to get Douglas County to the level it can be."

Three Nevadans, two persons from outside the state, and one person from outside the country made up the finalist list. On paper, their professional experience ranged from turning around a struggling high school in Las Vegas to helming a large, low-performance district in the Bay Area.

Huge said board members will meet 6 p.m. Monday in the district office to further narrow the pool to one to three candidates.

"The feed back I've been getting is good," he said. "The pool is very strong."

Now, it's a matter of sorting out the "three or four candidates the majority of people believe can be very good superintendents."

"It's the view of the board, what they view their match to be," Huge said.

After the pool is pared down, board members, and possibly staff members as well, will travel to each remaining candidate's respective district.

"The purpose of a site visit is to meet the candidate's board members, principals, teachers and community members," Huge said.

This is necessary to compare what's been told to what's actually occurred in the person's home environment, he said.

"If four or more of our board members go, then it's an advertised board meeting," Huge said. "If we can figure out a way to pay for it, it would also be good to take a principal, someone from our central office and a teacher."

Huge said the final decision will be made either at a special meeting in early April or at the regular monthly meeting 3:30 p.m. April 13 at the Lake Tahoe Public Library.

"The process has gone very well," Huge said, "particularly the board interviews. The trustees were able to stick with it for four hours each day while asking the same set of questions. The board did very well, and I would also like to compliment the staff. They stayed with it, too."

"I think the future is very bright," Huge said, "but if the board decides they don't see it, then I'm more than willing to figure out who we go after next.