LITTLE ROCK — One of the two finalists to become the next superintendent of the Pulaski County Special School District abruptly withdrew from consideration late Friday.
Vashti Washington, an associate superintendent from South Carolina, notified the district’s superintendent search firm Friday afternoon that she had accepted another job.
Washington was one of three finalists for the vacant superintendent job in the Jasper County School District, which is near her home in Charleston, S.C.
The surprise development leaves Arkansas’ third-largest school district with one remaining candidate - Acting Superintendent Rob McGill - after the School Boardpreviously eliminated from consideration the 18 other candidates who applied for the post.
Board member Bill Vasquez said Friday that Washington was “absolutely what the doctor ordered to fix all the problems in Pulaski County.”
“The fact that she has withdrawn is just a terrible development at this point in time in the history of the district,” Vasquez said. “I think that without someone of her caliber and character, that we are just headed toward disaster as a district.”
A community forum and a final board interview with McGill and Washington were set for Monday. Multiple board members had said previously that it was possible they would extend a job offer to one of the two that evening.
What the board will do now is a mystery.
Board President Tim Clark said in an e-mail Friday that the planned community forum and final interview will go ahead as scheduled - albeit only with McGill.
The community forum is scheduled for 5:30 to 6 p.m. Monday at the district office at 925 E. Dixon Road in Little Rock.
Clark said the board then would meet in executive session to discuss “the next steps in the hiring process.”
Other than congratulating Washington on her new job, Clark didn’t give any additional details Friday. He didn’t return a message left on his cellular telephone.
Washington also did not respond to telephone or email messages left for herlate Friday.
McGill said Friday that Washington’s withdrawal caught him “completely by surprise.” He confirmed that he remains a candidate for the position.
McGill said he’d be happy to participate in the planned community forum and the board interview Monday.
“Any questions they may have I’ll try to answer as best I can,” McGill said. “I hope they definitely consider me for the permanent position.”
Board members reached Friday night took the news differently.
Board Vice President Charlie Wood, who has lobbied openly to hire McGill, said he was “not sorry” that Washington withdrew.
He said that even if the board offered her the job, he suspected that she would have turned it down for the position closer to home in South Carolina.
Wood said the board should meet Monday and vote to extend an offer to McGill.
“My personal viewpoint is that we selected the top two candidates and now one is left. I don’t see why the process that we all agreed on should change,” he said. “It looks to me like the one that’s left is the obvious choice.”
On the other hand, board secretary Gwen Williams said Friday that she wants toreconsider other applicants before offering McGill the position.
The previously eliminated semifinalists were Charles Hopson, a deputy superintendent from Oregon, and Roy “Cole” Pugh, a superintendent from Texas.
Both interviewed this week for the superintendent’s job in Lincoln, Neb.
“Dr. Washington was head and shoulders above Mr. Mc-Gill. To be honest, Dr. Pugh and Dr. Hopson were, too,” Williams said. “I like Mr. Mc-Gill personally, but I’m sorry, he does not have the qualifications I think are needed at this point to move the district forward.”
Board members Danny Gililland, Sandra Sawyer and Mildred Tatum did not return calls for comment left late Friday. The presidents of the county’s recently decertified unions also did not returncalls for comment.
Washington’s decision to withdraw comes after a representative of the district’s superintendent search firm had warned the School Board not to drag its feet in making its final choice.
The board finished interviewing the four semifinalists for the job Feb. 4.
Thomas Jacobson, chief executive and owner of Nebraska-based McPherson and Jacobson, predicted on Feb. 5 that the board would lose candidates if it didn’t make a decision within a few days.
February is the height ofthe superintendent search season nationally, and all three outside candidates were finalists for jobs in other districts.
“I just hope that PCSSD moves with all [due] speed so they do not lose top candidates,” Jacobson wrote in a Feb. 9 e-mail. “PCSSD is not the only district in the nation trying to attract quality candidates.”
Wood said Friday that the board needed to move slowly to avoid making the wrong choice.
“This School Board has made big mistakes in the past. Everybody in Arkansas is tired of us buying out superintendents,” he said. “We didn’t need to hurry the process and make another mistake.”
McGill, 42, has led the 18,000-student district since March.
He has 17 years of experience in education, all in the special district.
He started as an elementary-school teacher and then went on to become assistant principal at Landmark Elementary and principal at Sherwood Elementary.
He was principal at Pine Forest Elementary in Maumelle before being named acting superintendent.
He also has military leadership experience, having commanded 10 armories and 800 soldiers as a lieutenant colonel in the Arkansas National Guard from 2005 to 2007. He fought in both Iraq wars.
Over the past 11 months, he’s started significant construction projects, opened an alternative school, expanded summer and after-school programs and added nurses, registrars and emergency defibrillators to every building.
However, discord has grown during his tenure over the poor condition of many district facilities, the possible creation of a Jacksonville district and the union decertification.
There is also an investigation pending over an allegation that McGill made a racially charged comment to another employee. McGill requested the investigation to clear his name.
Washington, 56, oversees 23 schools in the 43,000-student Charleston district.
She has more than 30 years of experience as an educator, all in South Carolina.
Nineteen of her schools met testing standards last year under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
Jasper County, the district where she was a finalist for the superintendent post, has only 3,300 students.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 02/27/2010