Monday, July 2, 2012

Heath and Dallas: The almost-match

Heath Morrison, who started work today as Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools superintendent, was one of two favorites in a secret search for Dallas superintendent,  The Dallas Morning News reports.

Morrison confirms most of the report by Matthew Haag,  which Haag attributes to "two people with knowledge of the superintendent search." But he says he told Dallas  "no thanks"  before that board made its decision, opting instead to pursue the CMS job.

Morrison,  who had been named national Superintendent of the Year in February,  has said all along that he was approached by other districts and chose Charlotte because of the district's achievements and the chance to be close to family.

Morrison at Endhaven Elementary
Haag's report says Morrison, then superintendent of Washoe County schools in Reno,  Nev.,  was among five candidates brought to the downtown Omni Dallas Hotel,  where "board members walked into a private room on the second floor, then slipped out a back door to another room where the secret interviews took place."  That session took place in late March or early April.

Morrison was also among an unspecified number brought to the Charlotte airport for secret interviews with the CMS board March 20, and was among three finalists brought back to meet the public April 11.

Miles
Haag reports that the Dallas search came down to two candidates:  Morrison and Mike Miles, who ultimately got the job. Miles was superintendent of a much smaller district in Colorado Springs.  Both were invited back for more detailed interviews,  and one board member pushed to add a third,  Michael Sorrell,  president of Paul Quinn College in Dallas.

After that interview, "the pick became clearer, according to the two people,"  Haag's report continues.  "Miles promised trustees a more radical shakeup of the district and offered details on what it would take, a person said. Morrison,  who told trustees he was also interviewing elsewhere,  didn't offer as thorough a plan."

The Dallas article says none of the candidates who were not chosen responded to requests for comment.

Morrison,  making his first-day appearances in Charlotte,  told me Dallas,  a larger district than CMS,  offered significantly more money and the advantage of only making one finalist public.  But he said he decided to take a chance as one of three finalists in CMS,  in part because he and his wife have family on the East Coast.  Immediately after the second private interview in Dallas,  he said,  he called the search firm to pull out, telling them "I felt like I needed to pursue Charlotte."

Meanwhile,  I requested the minutes from the CMS board's closed sessions leading up to Morrison's hire. Here's what I got on the contract planning on April 10 and the negotiations with Morrison on April 24. I'd love to have gotten minutes reflecting more about the board's decision-making,  but open-records experts from the UNC School of Government and the N.C. Press Association told me CMS is correct in keeping those confidential.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here's an interesting story on the Miles guy that was hired in Dallas.

http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2012/04/predicting_mike_miles_future_a.php

Anonymous said...

Hmmm,

Teachers have to pay for dental and vision and life insurance, but Dr. Heath doesn't? Hmmm. Teachers don't get a company car. But Dr. Heath does. Hmmmm. Teachers don't get 10% added to their retirement but Dr. Heath does? Hmmmm. Teachers dont' get a 10 % bonus but Dr. Heath does. Hmmm.

And Dr. Heath is saying he's looking to close the morale gap with the teachers?

Hmmmm.

Anonymous said...

As a teacher, I have to pay for my own insurance. I am required to attend meetings after schoo land offsite, no one pays for my gas, my time let alone allows me a 'company' vehicle. And where is my bonus from 20082009? Many schools made their ABC goals, teachers didn't get the earned bonus. Rumor has it Dr. Gorman got his!

Anonymous said...

Oh remember his speech while interviewing for the CMS job " I have been contacted , but never seriously considered any other job offered". Of was it folks in Reno told me to start considering since I threw some folks under the bus that got me that job. Why is it so hard to find a HONEST Superintendant? THis guy is Sweet Pete just in a different package ! He has a history folks of low morale and not taking teachers seriously. I guess our question is as follows. Is he better than Hugh? Is he btter than Ann CLark?NO ! We will see in a few years if she is still around and up for the job.

Anonymous said...

Better make that a few months...

Anonymous said...

CMS should consider using the Soldiers to teachers program that the DOE in Washington has. Who better to teach and apply discipline in the class rooms and give them a long leash.

jthessin said...

to Anonymous @12:15
I actually thought of doing this after the military in 2000...

Anger management courses would have been necessary for someone like me though :-)

The only problem is that there are no punishments for the wrong doings nowadays... Its a pointless exercise to think just because someone is military they can effect better discipline.

Anonymous said...

Hey, I have an idea. Instead of suspension and recovery school they bet sent to boot camp. Then they are the ones who get sent to the front lines as fodder. Two problems solved.

Anonymous said...

That would be unfair and the NAACP will not allow this. Notice who Heath is speaking to today ! NAACP folks wake up look at the early direction of our new leader. From the Chamber to the NAACP right out of the batters box. SO far 2 strikes on him.

Anonymous said...

Now that's the CMS I work for: always willing to find the next magic bullet and never keeping one program in place for more than 1 year. Keep up the great work!!

Anonymous said...

Mr. Heath may not last as long as it took CMS to do the search 18 months ! I wonder if Ann will still be interested next time ? I hope so and I hope she takes them too the cleaners for her contract.

Anonymous said...

Ann, On a different topic, would you find out what is going on at West Charlotte? It seems as though the entire administrative team is being replaced.

Real Taxpayer Cost of School Closures? said...

Anne,

The trick on finding the true taxpayer cost of the school closings is to understand that much of the funding is distributed between budget years and funding lines. This makes it hard to get the actual cost from anyone but a limited number of CMS project insiders. Also the closings were not just building closures, but also changes in building use. Costs include both updating the old schools for new purposes as well as updating the schools accommodating the moved programs. CMS seems to have often overlooked this part of the equation. In theory cost should include: change of use permit issues like building code upgrades, furniture, moving services, storage, administration, utilities, building updates, design fees, new stationary, renewed program permits/licenses, street signage, debt service fees on abandoned existing bond updates, computer systems, trailer park moves, ongoing maintenance…not to mention morale and community unrest. Word is the monetary cost is somewhere between 10 and 15 million dollars when the various funding sources are combined that went into this cluster. Keeping this information from the Board seems to have been mission critical with Hugh’s suggestions CMS was saving money. A partial accounting would be more of the same CMS cover-up approach that Heath should expect. This might give him a chance to see who is honest on the inside and who is a BSer. Lets forget about a honeymoon Heath. You need to clean house now!

Carl from Cornelius said...

I think it's time for the school board to quit looking for the rock-star prestige hire, who is only going to be here a couple of years to pad his resume, and instead hire a local leader who has a stake in the community. There are plenty of folks right here who already know the people and know what needs to be done in the school system. I'll go ahead and go on record with, "I told you so."