Add Wake County school board chairman Ron Margiotta to those who are saying that the district should keep secret the names of the finalists for superintendent.
As noted in today's article, Margiotta said he's urging his fellow board members to not publicly reveal the names of the finalists when they get to that stage of the search. He cited the way New Hanover County announced that Donna Hargens was a finalist but didn't hire her as an example of something Wake should avoid.
“It casts aspersions on people,” Margiotta said of publicly identifying finalists. “It’s not in the best interests of the candidates to say who they are.”
Margiotta said not releasing the names would protect the privacy of finalists. He said it would also avoid a situation where employers of finalists would resent it being known publicly that people are looking to leave their current jobs.
Margiotta added that the board won't hold it against Hargens that she had applied in New Hanover because she did so before she got the interim superintendent's position.
"I'm glad that she's staying in Wake County," Margiotta said. "She's done a great job."
While Wake may go for a closed search, New Hanover went the opposite direction.
New Hanover school officials announced the names of its three superintendent finalists last week. All of them attended public meetings in Wilmington.
Edward Higgins, chairman of the New Hanover school board, said that he hoped the open process would encourage public support for the district and for new Superintendent Tim Markley.
“The fact that we have done it very openly and public, much more than what a lot of other counties do, has allowed the people of New Hanover County an opportunity to see the caliber of people that we were talking about and to feel like they have had an opportunity to be involved in making the selection,” Higgins said.
