The Columbus Board of Education has a short list of candidates recommended to become the district’s next superintendent — but it doesn’t want you to know who they are.
“This isn’t ‘American Idol’ where contestants are ranked and then cut off a list one-by-one,” board President Gary Baker said in an email Wednesday. “This is an important responsibility the Board takes seriously, and we respect every one of those highly professional individuals who have expressed an interest and will provide them the appropriate courtesy.”
Despite repeated requests by The Dispatch and three days of candidate interviews in closed sessions that wrapped up Wednesday evening, the district won’t say with whom it held interviews.
The district, which said it would be transparent about the selection, said no records on whom the district met and when even exist, despite the fact the board needed to coordinate with people potentially traveling to Columbus from across the nation, typically affording them taxpayer-reimbursed transportation, lodging and meals.