From the Sun-Times Letters to the Editor February 26, 2002
BODY:
Talk about the gang that couldn’t shoot straight! After firing dedicated, knowledgeable state Education Supt. Max McGee, state board Chairman Ronald Gidwitz and his accomplices on the State Board of Education hired a Gidwitz family friend and accountant, Ernie Wish, to be state superintendent.Wish, who by most accounts (no pun intended) was a fine numbers cruncher and managing partner of a prestigious accounting firm, was hailed as the proximate savior of the state’s educational system, even though he had no real knowledge of educational policy issues or the needs of the schoolchildren of Illinois. What he did have was a connection to Gidwitz and the recently arrested president of the clout-heavy Near North Insurance Brokerage, Michael Segal. Wish’s connection with Near North, which continued after his appointment as superintendent, was a result of “miscommunication,” according to Gidwitz, and ultimately led to Wish’s dismissal [news story, Feb. 13]. This is not to suggest guilt by association on anyone’s part, but to quote Sir Walter Scott, “Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.”
So now that one crony of Gidwitz had to be removed as state superintendent, he has been replaced not by the chief education officer of the state board, Christopher Koch, but by Respicio Vazquez, general counsel to the state board and a former Gidwitz crony from his days as chairman of the board of City Colleges of Chicago.
Again, by most accounts, Vazquez is a fine fellow, but clearly the message being received here is that cronyism has supplanted professional education considerations in the selection process of the state superintendent of education. One can only wonder what this chairman and his board have in mind regarding the selection of the next state superintendent. To say the least, their recent track record has been abominable.
To provide the children of Illinois with the educational leadership they deserve, we must remove this state board chairman and his allies on the board. If the current governor doesn’t have the guts to do it, then perhaps the next one will. Once this is accomplished, we should move to a new process for selecting state board members and their chairperson. Their appointments should not be based on the level of their campaign contributions or other political considerations, but on their accomplishments in leadership, management or education.
The progressive state of Washington has a system for electing state board members regionally. These individuals are elected by the votes of local Board of Education members who have a direct link to their educational communities.
Although this system may also have some weaknesses, it would be far superior to the current politically influenced selection process, which has yielded a state board that is an embarrassment to the educational community in Illinois. Serving on the state board should be a reward for outstanding service to children–not for large campaign contributions.
Dr. Harry P. Rossi,
superintendent of schools,
Northbrook/Glenview