The Real Winners

In Buckingham’s

Search For A New

School Superintendent

    Buckingham School Board Chairman David Christian got it exactly right when he assessed the search for a new School Superintendent. “At the end of this process, finding the right person as Superintendent makes the children of Buckingham the real winners,” Mr. Christian said, as the search process is just beginning.
   That is now and ever shall be what it is all about. Finding the right person best able to create the most effective public school system in the county. For the children.
    Early returns have so far enthused Buckingham school officials who regard the pool of applicants as extremely qualified and highly recommended by their peers. The real work will be chipping away at the resumes and recommendations to get down to the heart and soul of the applicants who make the final cut. That is always the case. Resumes are meant to sell the person who presents them; they are the equivalent of someone putting their best foot forward, a means to create an impression. Look at the other foot, too. Look beyond the impression. Look at the track record, the individual’s professional history and interpret it. Get into their personality. What makes them tick.
  Understand that on rare occasions even recommendations from a current employer—generically speaking of job openings across the spectrum—cannot always—not 100 percent of the time—be taken at complete face value. If employer X wishes old so-and-so would leave for another job, they are likely to be as positive as they believe they can get away with. That is undoubtedly the extreme rare exception rather than the rule, and often a current employer is not contacted anyway, but it should nevertheless be kept in mind, just in case.
    Do the extra work. Make the extra call. Undertake the extra visit with someone face-to-face. Ask the extra question and make certain you get all of the answers.
    Look beneath the icing.
    Taste the cake.
    Also, consider all the angles of the particular challenges facing Buckingham’s school system and look for the person most able to lead the county over and through those challenges. Look for a hub who can unite all spokes on the wheel.
    Think, also, of the particular opportunities beckoning to Buckingham’s school system and look for the person most able to capitalize on them.
    Think of where you want Buckingham’s school system to be in 10 years. Offer the job to the person you believe most able to see those 3,650-plus days as a gift to give the children of Buckingham County. Offer the job to the man or woman who can make a present of the future.
    Make the children of Buckingham the very real winners of this search for a School Superintendent.
    Not the person who gets the job.

—JKW—

A Thankless Job

Done Well

   Putting together a family budget is an oftentimes difficult task, especially if you’ve got one or more children in college.
   Imagine being a county administrator trying to piece and pull together a budget for an entire county. It’s a county administrator’s job to look at the needs of the whole community and how much they are going to cost. To look at the present and look to the future.
   The county administrator develops a budget proposal and presents it to the Board of Supervisors, which is, remember, ultimately and finally responsible for the budget and tax rate. County administrators don’t have a vote. Buckingham is lucky to have a county administrator like Rebecca Carter who takes her job so seriously. Nobody gives more of themselves to Buckingham than does Ms. Carter. Nobody cares more deeply about Buckingham.
   Nobody likes to raise taxes—Buckingham hasn’t had a tax increase since 1999-2000—but there are times when someone who is responsible for proposing a budget examines their conscience and determines, after countless hours and sleepless nights, that a certain course of action needs to be considered by those who make the final decision.
   It takes courage, character, and commitment to one’s community to be willing to take a stand, knowing criticism is certain. Rebecca Carter has all three and she’s not afraid to use them for the good of Buckingham County. If you see her on Saturday at Buckingham County Day, treat her with the respect she deserves.

—JKW—