Contenders to head Hub schools drop out

As Boston reaches the last stages of its search for a superintendent of schools, the city is facing resistance from some top contenders who are refusing to consent to public interviews if they become finalists.

At least two current superintendents have balked at the idea of participating in such a public presentation, something promised to the community, because they fear that the publicity could jeopardize their current jobs, say sources familiar with the search.

Boston expects to name three finalists by the end of June and has trimmed an original list of more than 100 candidates to a little more than a dozen. Superintendent Thomas W. Payzant steps down June 30. As was done 11 years ago before Payzant was chosen, finalists would each spend two days in the city to meet with some groups in private and speak at a public forum and field questions from the community.

Some close to the search say they are willing to change the public nature of finalist interviews to keep top candidates, but others are adamant that doing so would anger the community and engender mistrust.

For now, the search committee will introduce finalists in the open, said Elizabeth Reilinger, chairwoman of the Boston School Committee and cochairwoman of the search committee.

``It would be naive of us to think that doesn't affect who might or might not be interested," Reilinger said. ``You cross the bridge when you come to it."

The search committee has run into a common dilemma. The public wants a say in the decision; the candidates want to protect their privacy. As it becomes more competitive for the best candidates, more school systems have been bowing to contenders' wishes for a more secretive process and occasionally have agreed to name just one finalist.

Last week, the search committee began interviewing more than a dozen semifinalists, including teachers union, nonprofit, and business leaders, as well as current superintendents and other school administrators from around the nation, sources said. Candidates are being interviewed in Boston and in their home cities, Reilinger said.

Cleve L. Killingsworth, cochairman of the search committee and chief executive of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts, said some potential candidates objected to the public scrutiny included in the finalist stage. Killingsworth would not give specifics, but sources close to the search said that between two and four candidates declined to participate in search committee interviews unless the public component is changed.

One sought-after candidate, who spoke to the Globe on condition of anonymity, said that meeting privately with community groups is acceptable, but being named publicly as a finalist and undergoing public interviews is not, because it puts a sitting superintendent's job at risk.

``I have absolutely no intention of participating in such a public process that I just don't believe is necessary, where there is such an element of uncertainty," the person said. ``In order to get things done, I have to be influential in this community. To be out there going through this in another community, forget it. You're toast back home. It's lose-lose."

Furthermore, the person said, public interviews have the potential of creating factions in Boston if the mayor chooses a candidate who was not the most popular during public forums. During the last search, Mayor Thomas M. Menino disappointed minority groups when he chose Payzant, who community members saw as lackluster during his public interview. Many parents and teachers favored Anthony Alvarado, then a district superintendent in New York City, because they viewed the Hispanic educator as an inspirational leader.

Killingsworth said that the current list includes strong candidates willing to participate in public interviews, but that the committee will not automatically discount candidates who object.

Ed Doherty -- former president of the Boston Teachers Union, who was interviewed this week by the search committee -- said he would welcome the public scrutiny if chosen as a finalist.

``It's not up to the individual applicant to determine the process for selection," Doherty said.

Hubie Jones, who leads a citizens group devising a list of priorities for the new superintendent, said, ``It would be a disaster if they were not interviewed publicly."

The public exposure gives the community a voice, but also benefits whoever gets the job, said Jones, dean emeritus of the Boston University School of Social Work.

``If a person wants to come to Boston, probably one of the most politicized school systems in the country and in a city where politics is a blood sport, if they're worried about that, they're going to be eaten alive," he said.

John Mudd, senior project director at Massachusetts Advocates for Children and a member of a community group seeking to ensure there is a diverse candidate pool, said he does not want the city to lose top minority candidates because of public interviews. The School Committee should give the public a chance to propose alternatives to forums, he said.

Around the country, more school systems are curtailing or eliminating public review of finalists, said Edward K. Hamilton, Boston's search consultant, whose California-based firm is receiving $63,500 in private donations to run the search. San Diego and Providence completed their searches last summer without public scrutiny. Los Angeles, where a search is underway, does not plan a public process.

``That's more the rule these days than the exception," said Hamilton.