Rank The School Superintendent Candidates

[Mary_Krupa]

The Philly candidate, Dr. Brown, was very poised.

I had been to the first interview for the candidate from Parma, and the audience was interested in her presentation. But, for the second interview, Dr. Brown from Philadelphia, it was night and day in terms of audience reaction to the candidate. For the Philly candidate, the out and out approval indicated by the head nodding and vocal uh-hmms of approval from the audience (same as the first candidate's) was very surprising. It was almost like they knew something about her that I didn't. It was very evident that most of the audience really liked her. I liked her, too, but was very surprised by this audience reaction. Two of the other three candidates got a little of this type of reaction from the audience, too, but absolutely not to that extent.

The audience should not have been so blatant in its approval and should have restrained itself with the second candidate. I was unhappy about the whole thing. It was wrong.

I heard later that Dr. Brown had found out about the superintendent position after attending her alumnae sorority convention. If that is correct, then that was probably how some in the audience knew about her. They had "insider' knowledge so to speak.

Dr. Hathorne (from Akron) was my second choice after Mr. Robey (from Campbell). Even though Mr. Robey said he would not move to Youngstown, I liked the way he revealed this and that he said he knew he was hurting his chances. I felt he was nonpolitical in his response about this and to me, it proved he had backbone and would be straightforward. Also, he was the only one who was actually a superintendent, and, the Campbell schools have achieved excellent ratings for the past two years. I felt he was well-qualified.

I am glad Dr. Hathorne was chosen. He came across as very capable and I like his straightforward, no nonsense approach. He had good audience rapport and he had common sense as well as a best practices knowledge base.

Keep in mind, people, the audience only saw one aspect of each candidate. We were not qualified to pick the candidate because we were not involved in the whole process. We knew nothing about background checks, referrals, actual documentation of successes achieved in their school districts, problem-solving demonstrations that would be required in the interview process, etc., etc., etc.

We could only give our opinion based upon how they came across to an audience. You cannot judge a candidate solely on his/her charisma, or lack thereof, projected to an audience. All of them had audience charisma as far as I could tell, some more than others. Public speaking is a very important aspect of a superintendent's job but not the only one to judge by.

[iwasthere]

The TV news reported that the citizens favor the candidate from Philadelphia.

she was the least qualified of all of them. she cancelled her first dinner appointment, then she fax info on the last day of the deadline and she did not have all her paperwork in even to the nite of her interview with the public. i did not hear the campbell's rep but i did attend the remaining four. i still say the palma, oh has the most successful track record of all of them. but i will assist connie to see to it that the ytown stds will have a chance to success in life.

[Towntalk]

http://www.wytv.com/content/news/local/story/Superintendent-Chosen-for-Youngstown-Schools/6j6AL6QIhEKwZB88TkyA2g.cspx

[Towntalk]

AKRON.

[Why?Town]

Dr. Connie Hathorn means nothing to me.

IS is the one form Campbell, or Philly or Kent, Or Akron?

[Towntalk]

BREAKING NEWS FROM THE BOARD OF EDUCATION

The Youngstown School Board Friday announced it has chosen Dr. Connie Hathorn to lead the district as its new superintendent.

[jay]

Folks calling a radio talk show this morning said the Campbell gentleman was the first off their list.  They based their opinion upon his response to a question about moving to Youngstown.

[Mary_Krupa]

I favor the candidate from Campbell Schools followed by the candidate from Akron. Not in favor of the Philadelphia lady.

[jay]

The TV news reported that the citizens favor the candidate from Philadelphia.

[iwasthere]

the candidate from palma, oh has my vote. the palma candidate has success rate by turning around a school district to excellence status. the palma candidate teaches classes in becoming a principal/super and bargaining classes concerning organized labor matters.  the Philly candidate did not return all her necessary paperwork into the advisory board and her superior said, "she is not superintendent material let alone she has the knowledge to turn ytown school district around to a favorable status for the OED. Philly was to wordy and never answered the questions with solid answers. the Kent candidate talked like politician and his knowledge came from what he read in the vindy and not other ytown local papers, i did no hear the campbell's superindent due to another meeting but i was irked when he said, "he would not have any problem firing any teacher due to accountability of student's success." the last candidate was from Akron: who was out of job due to budget constraints in the Akron school. he was okay but he joke too much with the crowd and played to the crowd too.  the others  not have any successful stories to tell. Akron is still striving for the last five years. Philly is still struggling with its students' graduation rates. this is my observation and my opinion. there were others there from this forum that can put more light on this matter.

[jay]

Rank The School Superintendent Candidates

If anyone attended all five school superintendent candidate interviews, please tell us who you feel was the top candidate.