The board, which represents the school district stretching from Bellerose to St. Albans and Queens Village to…
By Adam Kramer
School Board 29 was set to vote Wednesday on whether to reconvene the search committee for a new superintendent to lead the embattled district.
The board, which represents the school district stretching from Bellerose to St. Albans and Queens Village to Rosedale and also includes Cambria Heights, Laurelton and parts of Jamaica and Fresh Meadows, hopes to hire a person to lead the district by the beginning of the 2001-2002 school year.
“We need to place a permanent person in that job,” said Nathaniel Washington, president of School Board 29. “[District Administrator Michael] Johnson is just temporary. We are resuming the search because the existing committee says it will not submit any more names.”
Johnson was appointed by Schools Chancellor Harold Levy to temporarily run the district more than a year ago. He is considered to be Levy’s top choice for the job.
The chancellor has rejected five of the candidates chosen by the district’s C-37 superintendent search committee. He has said he would not turn down all candidates but would only approve candidates whom he considers better than Johnson.
Washington said the committee cannot be reconvened until the board votes to do so, but the board is in agreement to resume the search.
The Board of Eduction did not return phone calls for comment.
The school district has been in turmoil for nearly two years since Celestine Miller was fired as superintendent in February 1999 by then-Chancellor Rudy Crew for delaying to report that an 8-year-old boy had gone into a Rosedale school carrying a loaded gun.
Since Miller’s dismissal the school district has been in limbo. Miller was recently indicted on bid-rigging charges involving computer sales to schools under her control.
After Miller left, District 29 had an acting interim superintendent, but Levy suspended the school board, which was reinstated before Johnson arrived on the scene.
Washington said the reconvened committee will have some of the original members, but the board will contact parent-teacher associations throughout the district to make sure that their representatives will continue to serve on the committee.
Adrienne Rogers, president of the C-37 search committee, said she and about 12 members of the committee met with the board about three weeks ago. She said they were all on board to reassemble the committee.
“The goal is to see if there is anyone else out there,” she said. “My personal feeling is that no one is out there who will apply.”
She said because of the “strong-arm tactics” of the chancellor who has been pushing for Johnson nobody wants to take the risk of applying only to be rejected.
The C-37 search committee is made up of PTA members, community leaders and union representatives.
Once the committee is reassembled, it will advertise the position for 20 days. Then it has 45 days to choose 10 candidates, four or five of whose names will be submitted to the board. The board has 30 days to review the candidates before submitting names to the chancellor and then Levy has 30 days to approve or reject the nominees.
Reach reporter Adam Kramer by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 157.
