Though a 36-member search committee seems a bit unwieldy, the board’s decision to appoint such a large body stems primarily from its determination to seek input from a broad cross section of the community — which is a good thing. There will be representatives of the schools, the county commissioners, Sandhills Community College, parents, the business community, churches, minority groups, and others.
Because it is notoriously difficult for any body of that size to focus its efforts, the board will want to take special care in defining the committee’s role, presumably with help and advice from whatever professional search firm ends up being engaged.
One way to structure the process in the early phases might be to break the committee down into subcommittees of manageable size, each with a specialized assignment.
The school board will need to reserve to itself the final decision on picking a superintendent, but it may well decide to delegate to the committee a role in helping screen applicants and narrowing them to a set number of finalists or semi-finalists.
The board — or at least a majority of its members — successfully withstood the pressure from an outspoken group of Moore County residents to bypass the normal search process and hand the top school job to a local known quantity. Most of those favoring that approach singled out Associate Superintendent Dr. Larry Upchurch as their favorite. As we’ve said before, Upchurch and any other local people who may choose to apply deserve to be given full consideration along with the others — as long as there are others.
Let the search begin.
