Gonzalez, Temple’s third superintendent since 2004, resigned Monday.
“I think timing is probably going to have a large impact on our ability to hire a competent superintendent beca-use with school just starting, most superintendents (are employed),” Wright said.
“We will probably appoint an interim for the year and then go about this process methodically to find the best
person available that is a good fit for our district,” he said.
Wright said the board would meet Monday to discuss the search process and determine possible interim candidates to interview.
Board member Susan Long said community response has ranged from cheers to tears, some reveling in Gonzalez’s departure because of his decisions this year, others grieving over the school district’s newest black eye.
“I think it’s a real loss to Temple,” Mrs. Long said. “He brought a lot to Temple and we will develop the programs he put in place.”
“Nothing is wrong with Temple,” she said. “Mr. Gonzalez was offered an exciting opportunity. It’s an opportunity no one can fault him for taking.”
Board vice president Jerry Pickle said the resignation came as quite a shock. He said he is not looking forward to going through the superintendent search process again after only one year, but is hopeful about the end result.
“I’ve got to have confidence, but it may take longer,” Pickle said. “I think there are candidates out there who want to come to a quality district, and we want to attract them. I’m sorry about having to do this again so soon. We’ve found good people in the past; we’ll find them again.”
When asked why he thought Gonzalez decided to take the job in Brownsville, he said, “He’s got family in the valley, and his wife’s family is in the valley.”
“I feel that had a significant role to play,” Pickle said. “The position itself has a lot of opportunities associated with it. Over the year he’s had other opportunities, and I think these people took a very nice run at him.”
In May, the school board took no action on Gonzalez’s contract, leaving him two more years on the deal.
At that time, Gonzalez said, “There’s a reason why superintendents have multiple-year contracts. They’re dads too, they’re husbands too, and they have to protect their families. When boards change every year, with different agendas, (superintendents need more than one year) so they can establish a sense of sustainability.”
Temple school district parent and past school board candidate A’Lisa Ozment said Gonzalez’s move will have a demoralizing effect on the school district.
“As a parent, I’m really sad that we’re going through this again. It’s an obvious move up for Gonzalez, I’m just saddened that we couldn’t benefit from the opportunities he was going to bring to us, and instead his time here was caught up in controversy and personal issues in the community.”
She said Temple couldn’t afford to continue this pattern of losing superintendents every year.
“How do we find someone to lead us now with our track record?” she asked. “You can say there may have been one bad hire, maybe two bad hires, but to have gone through this many superintendents in this short of time says there is something fundamentally wrong with our system. I believe there are some people who want to control what happens with the school board and if things don’t go their way that person is destined for failure.
“I was not a staunch supporter of Beto Gonzalez, but I felt like we needed to give him the opportunity to do his job,” she said.
She said some parents are considering changing districts to get away from the vitriol and bile from all the infighting and constant criticism.
“I’ve encouraged them not to leave TISD,” she said. “We want positive attitudes in TISD, and if all of those people leave then what are you left with?”
Leaving also could be an issue for school staff.
Michael Tuttle, executive director of administration, was asked what effect Gonzalez’s resignation will have and if he too would return to his roots in South Texas along with Gonzalez.
He replied by e-mail, saying, “Central administration and staff will continue to work to meet district goals for 2007-2008. We are excited about the new school year, and are committed to moving forward and serving our kids.”
Gonzalez is the third superintendent to resign since 2004. Dr. Jim Boyle was superintendent in 2003 during the district’s failed $103 million bond election. He resigned the following spring after a poor evaluation and no contract extension. The district had to buy out the remainder of his contract for $260,000.
Dr. Pamela Harrison took over as interim superintendent. The school board cut the search process for a permanent superintendent short and she was named the finalist for the position in October of 2004. By November of 2005 she had resigned. The district again had to buy out a contract, this time for $69,108.
The reasons for her resignation were vague, with administrators and board members citing “philosophical differences” as the cause.
Dr. Harrison is now the principal at Viking Hills Middle School in Waco and said being a lightning rod for criticism is one of the roles of a superintendent.
“The nature of the superintendency anywhere is that you are trying to address the needs of all facets of the community,” Harrison said. “It was no different in Temple. Everyone had an interest in Temple ISD, we all want them to be successful, but sometimes people have different ideas about how to go about accomplishing that.”
Debbie Ratcliffe, spokeswoman for the Texas Education Agency, said frequent turnover is not uncommon, and does not generally lead to state interventions “if superintendents leave because they got jobs someplace else.”
“If they were leaving because the board was trying to micromanage the district” the TEA would look at the situation, Ms. Ratcliffe said. “If there were governance issues about how the district was running, then someone could file a complaint and we could do a an investigation. If we found a problem then we might put in a monitor or a conservator.”
Asked if Temple has a reputation for being a district with trouble keeping a superintendent, she said, “I really don’t think it does.”
“It hadn’t occurred to me that there was that much turnover,” she said. “It could be that the superintendent job market is just a really competitive.”
kchandler@temple-telegram.com
