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Scott Elliff among CCISD final four candidates

By adriana garza Caller-Times
April 6, 2007

CCISD trustees will consider at least one local candidate when they resume discussion about superintendent candidates at their Monday meeting.

Corpus Christi Independent School District's Acting Superintendent Scott Elliff confirmed Thursday that he was one of four candidates for the job and that board members interviewed him in closed session Wednesday.



The board has disclosed neither the names nor the home districts of the remaining candidates.

According to state law, school boards are not required to reveal the names of candidates until they are designated finalists. The law does not define what makes a candidate a finalist.

According to an agenda released Thursday, board members are expected to discuss their notes and thoughts from the interviews in closed session, which could begin as early as the board's budget workshop at 3 p.m. if time permits, said Board President Louis Garza.

Also on the agenda is the discussion and possible action regarding finalist or finalists for position of superintendent.

"I am hopeful we will come up with some facsimile of a finalist or finalists," Garza said.

Trustee John Longoria said that he is sure some type of action will be taken, adding that board members won't know who the finalists may be until all members discuss scores given to each candidate.

During a series of public meetings where board members received community input for the superintendent profile, dozens of community members expressed support for Elliff, who has served as acting superintendent since August.

More than half of the approximately 900 people who responded to an on-line survey about the superintendent profile earlier this year indicated they favored a local candidate for the job.

Contact Adriana Garza at 886-3618 or HYPERLINK mailto:garzaa@caller.com garzaa@caller.com


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Bring CCISD selection process into light of day

The secrecy surrounding the current search for a new superintendent is indefensible. Did we learn nothing from the previous fiasco?

April 6, 2007


The selection process that will ultimately produce a finalist for superintendent of the Corpus Christi Independent School District is up and running.

On Wednesday the trustees interviewed four candidates for the post - including Scott Elliff, interim superintendent since the resignation of Jesus Chavez in February 2006.


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That much we know of a certainty. It also seems safe to assume that the four individuals in question could fairly be considered the finalists from the field of 25 applicants who were being considered for the position.

However, should we at this late date be dealing in "seems" and "assume" when it comes to the process that will determine who is to lead the city's largest school district?

The question arises: Why has the Board of Trustees gone to such lengths to keep the public from getting anything more than a fleeting glimpse of the action? After all, the previous superinten-dent hunt, which saw Shoney Bria first accept, then decline the post, was grievously marred by the secrecy that surrounded it.

But - again - the board apparently believes that the releasing of names could prove ruinous for the applicants back in their home districts.

That, however, looks more and more like a smoke screen. School districts throughout the length and breadth of the nation are seeking leaders, and up-and-coming administrators are looking to move into superintendencies in larger districts.

The curtain of confidentiality is, at long last, nonsensical. More to the point, it does a disservice to the community. Consider: As matters now stand, we do not even know how many of the contenders will find favor with the trustees and be presented to the public. It could be one. Then again, it could be two, perhaps even three.

Concern for confidentiality is, or should be, trumped by another, vastly more important consideration: the public's right to know, and its right to have at least some role to play in the process.

The trustees' refusal to lay out the cards is beyond irritating; it borders on the outrageous.

Particularly disturbing is the fact that three new trustees elected last year - Carol Scott, John Longoria and Dwayne Hargis, all of whom emphasized their intent to bring new openness to the board - appear to have bought into the mum's-the-word ethos that has dominated this exercise.

To be sure, they (and their colleagues) could, and should, reverse their field - but the time remaining in which to keep this selection process from being grievously tainted is rapidly running out.

Editorial~4/6/2007