Former General Still Tops School Board List
By AMY JETER
BY AMY JETER AND MIKE GRUSS
THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
VIRGINIA BEACH Virginia Beach School Board members selected Joseph J. Redden , the former Air Force general turned superintendent, over at least two long time educators as their top candidate to head the citys schools.
Sources close to the largely secret Beach search identified on Thursday two other finalists: Brad Draeger , deputy superintendent of Fairfax County Public Schools ; and Kenneth Burnley , the former chief executive officer of Detroit Public Schools.
The school board met privately on Thursday to discuss hiring Redden, and will meet again on Oct. 18.
Redden emerged last week as the frontrunner in a search to replace Timothy R. Jenney, who left in June after nine years as superintendent.
Redden resigned his post in the suburban Atlanta school district in August, amid strong but mixed emotions from the community and an open criminal investigation into his multimillion-dollar computer deal for the district.
Redden, a Vietnam War veteran with a 35-year military career, was one of six finalists. Draeger, a former music teacher, has served as the interim superintendent for Fairfax County schools. He also worked as a principal and as the assistant superintendent for human resources in the states largest school division, according to news reports.
Burnley, who previously served as superintendent in Colorado Springs, Colo., left the top job in the Detroit schools in June after his contract was not renewed. There he faced declining enrollment and budget cuts but oversaw substantial building improvements including 21 new schools, according to news reports.
He was recently a candidate for the Hillsborough County Schools superintendency in Tampa, Fla., , and the Duval County Schools in Jacksonville, Fla.
Neither Draeger nor Burnley returned messages left by The Virginian-Pilot.
The board will invite to their Oct. 18 meeting a representative of Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates , the firm that the board hired to conduct the superintendent search.
We felt like we needed facilitation that we could not internally administer, said board chairman, Daniel D. Edwards. We wont be looking at any more candidates than now. Were sort of at halftime.
Virginia Beach board members talked this week about the possibility of bringing Redden to town to meet the public. Board members have refused to provide names or details about the other candidates.
School districts are allowed to cloak a superintendent search under the Virginia law that permits information about specific personnel to be confidential, said Forrest Frosty Landon, executive director of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government.
Still, government bodies can and sometimes do — choose to introduce job candidates to the public, he said.
Its always better to involve the public in the evaluation of finalists – more than one – so the public has more confidence that the one who is picked is the best one available, Landon said.
After hearing about Redden in news reports, some parents and the head of the teachers association balked at the idea of hiring him in Virginia Beach.
This fellow does not have anything that I can see, any of the qualities that were outlined by the local community groups, said Iva Nash, president of the Virginia Beach Education Association. But some Beach board members, who talked extensively with Redden and met in Georgia with dozens of people who worked with him, painted a different picture.
He is a very data-driven man, said Board Vice Chair Sandra Smith- Jones. Extra-organized. Very passionate about children. Very focused.
Board member Carolyn D. Weems said she was impressed by the achievement of students on all levels under Redden. In a two-year period, 14 Cobb County elementary schools improved to meet objectives for achievement under the No Child Left Behind Law. In 2004, students achieved the highest-ever district average SAT score, according to the Cobb County School District web site.
The majority of the school board found him to be very results- oriented, Weems said.
Some people in Cobb County described Redden as an intelligent man with a remarkable memory.
He regularly attended PTA meetings, held open office hours and would occasionally show up in classrooms, said Karen Hallacy, the president of the Eastern Cobb County Council PTA, which represents 35 schools.
He had a very warm side to him, that the parents who took the time to know him got to see, Hallacy said.
Gaye Shin, a teacher who leads the 3,000-member Cobb County Association of Educators, said she saw a different side of the former superintendent.
He was not accessible to us at all, Shin said. The work environment is very hostile. It was an issue before he came, and it has gotten worse.
* Reach Amy Jeter at (757) 446-2730 or amy.jeter@pilotonline.com.
n Reach Mike Gruss at (757) 222-5207 or mike.gruss@pilotonline.com.
BY AMY JETER AND MIKE GRUSS
THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
VIRGINIA BEACH Virginia Beach School Board members selected Joseph J. Redden , the former Air Force general turned superintendent, over at least two long time educators as their top candidate to head the citys schools.
Sources close to the largely secret Beach search identified on Thursday two other finalists: Brad Draeger , deputy superintendent of Fairfax County Public Schools ; and Kenneth Burnley , the former chief executive officer of Detroit Public Schools.
The school board met privately on Thursday to discuss hiring Redden, and will meet again on Oct. 18.
Redden emerged last week as the frontrunner in a search to replace Timothy R. Jenney, who left in June after nine years as superintendent.
Redden resigned his post in the suburban Atlanta school district in August, amid strong but mixed emotions from the community and an open criminal investigation into his multimillion-dollar computer deal for the district.
Redden, a Vietnam War veteran with a 35-year military career, was one of six finalists. Draeger, a former music teacher, has served as the interim superintendent for Fairfax County schools. He also worked as a principal and as the assistant superintendent for human resources in the states largest school division, according to news reports.
Burnley, who previously served as superintendent in Colorado Springs, Colo., left the top job in the Detroit schools in June after his contract was not renewed. There he faced declining enrollment and budget cuts but oversaw substantial building improvements including 21 new schools, according to news reports.
He was recently a candidate for the Hillsborough County Schools superintendency in Tampa, Fla., , and the Duval County Schools in Jacksonville, Fla.
Neither Draeger nor Burnley returned messages left by The Virginian-Pilot.
The board will invite to their Oct. 18 meeting a representative of Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates , the firm that the board hired to conduct the superintendent search.
We felt like we needed facilitation that we could not internally administer, said board chairman, Daniel D. Edwards. We wont be looking at any more candidates than now. Were sort of at halftime.
Virginia Beach board members talked this week about the possibility of bringing Redden to town to meet the public. Board members have refused to provide names or details about the other candidates.
School districts are allowed to cloak a superintendent search under the Virginia law that permits information about specific personnel to be confidential, said Forrest Frosty Landon, executive director of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government.
Still, government bodies can and sometimes do — choose to introduce job candidates to the public, he said.
Its always better to involve the public in the evaluation of finalists – more than one – so the public has more confidence that the one who is picked is the best one available, Landon said.
After hearing about Redden in news reports, some parents and the head of the teachers association balked at the idea of hiring him in Virginia Beach.
This fellow does not have anything that I can see, any of the qualities that were outlined by the local community groups, said Iva Nash, president of the Virginia Beach Education Association. But some Beach board members, who talked extensively with Redden and met in Georgia with dozens of people who worked with him, painted a different picture.
He is a very data-driven man, said Board Vice Chair Sandra Smith- Jones. Extra-organized. Very passionate about children. Very focused.
Board member Carolyn D. Weems said she was impressed by the achievement of students on all levels under Redden. In a two-year period, 14 Cobb County elementary schools improved to meet objectives for achievement under the No Child Left Behind Law. In 2004, students achieved the highest-ever district average SAT score, according to the Cobb County School District web site.
The majority of the school board found him to be very results- oriented, Weems said.
Some people in Cobb County described Redden as an intelligent man with a remarkable memory.
He regularly attended PTA meetings, held open office hours and would occasionally show up in classrooms, said Karen Hallacy, the president of the Eastern Cobb County Council PTA, which represents 35 schools.
He had a very warm side to him, that the parents who took the time to know him got to see, Hallacy said.
Gaye Shin, a teacher who leads the 3,000-member Cobb County Association of Educators, said she saw a different side of the former superintendent.
He was not accessible to us at all, Shin said. The work environment is very hostile. It was an issue before he came, and it has gotten worse.
* Reach Amy Jeter at (757) 446-2730 or amy.jeter@pilotonline.com.
n Reach Mike Gruss at (757) 222-5207 or mike.gruss@pilotonline.com.