New Cedar Rapids superintendent should be from our community

To the editor:

Lots of guest writers weighed in on the qualities required of the yet-to-be hired superintendent to replace retiring David Benson. All of the right and insightful qualities were mentioned. Qualities that are no-brainers now or in the past. With politicians and public servants, 'we the people” get another chance to elect or hire those who will do a good job.

The pothole is the process in doing the above. In this day and age, a consulting firm must be hired to cull all of the candidates down to a manageable number. Closed door meetings, meetings at libraries, boards of education for the general public to be heard, sincere public pronouncements by the consulting firm and other powers to be in appreciation for public input. And then they go about their business of choosing someone usually from far away, even as far as Alaska.

Recently, somebody in the paper was musing on how to remove cronyism from the Board of Regents in Iowa, politics anywhere, how about superintendent searches? Maybe the best man or woman is somewhere else. Just once it would be nice to see someone from around here, someone who is really sincere when they talk about our community because it is their community, being a leading candidate to lead our school system. And, no closed door meetings needed to protect the candidate. They are already here where they want to be.

Jack Pilling

Cedar Rapids