Speed Gibson

Another education reformer was forced out last week. Thandiwe Peebles resigned, with usual array of parting gifts. She follows Cheri Pierson Yecke (Minnesota Commissioner of Education), Pat Harvey (St. Paul Schools Supt.), and David Jennings (interim Supt. of Minneapolis Public Schools). What did they all seek? Accountability.

Meanwhile, Bill Green, former chair of the Minneapolis School Board, attorney, Augsburg history professor, takes over as interim Superintendent. Like David Jennings, who took over from Carol Johnson, Green is apparently unlicensed. In fact, so was the unanimously selected Peebles, making it three such appointees in a row since Carol Johnson left in 2003.

So why do we need licensing for public school superintendents? We don't in practice it seems, and when you think about, we don't in theory, either.

Licenses are designed to help protect the public from bad practitioners of various professions. Licenses can also save the public time by consolidating some of the "vetting" time we would otherwise spend selecting such practitioners. Yes, licensing can also be abused to fend off competition, but that isn't especially relevant here since the lack of a license hasn't been a problem for the last three selections.

For the job of superintendent, licensing adds no value. The applicants are specifically and individually selected and vetted by the School Board and staff. The latter process is much more intensive, much more focused than any general license procedure could hope to be.

Leadership isn't about degrees and certificates on the wall, nor plaques and awards accumulated over time. These are helpful, but many CEO's like Bill Gates seem to be able to function just fine without them. Leadership - getting things done through others - can only be recognized and then hired. Licensing saves no time. Licensing does not discern ability at this level. Licensing should be abolished, leaving the full trust and responsibility for the final selection where it always was - with the elected School Board.

Former superintendent Peebles was criticized for her methods in completing the licensing requirements, including "personal" use of staff. So what? Bully for her! That freed her up to focus on the tasks she was ostensibly hired to do, however poorly defined these may be.

Of course, this will never happen formally. The best way of ending this pointless paperwork is to keep doing what the Minneapolis School Board is doing. Hire who you want, get a waiver, then let them find a way to please the bureaucrats.