The El Paso Independent School District (EPISD) has been using a firm named Proact Search recently.
Proact brought us our new superintendent and just the other day two new associate superintendents.
It appears that Proact was hired by the old school board, the one that was neutered by the Texas Education Agency.
Now the new superintendent is using the firm that got him his job to find his senior staff. Is there anything wrong with that? Probably not, but it sure looks like payback.
I decided to look into the search firm and found a blog article about the Chicago Public Schools.
Sounds familiar
From the article:
Without fanfare, CPS board members recently approved a three-year, no-bid $20 million contract to provide extensive professional development for principals and network chiefs in what is being dubbed the Chicago Leadership Academy.
The size and the circumstances surrounding the contract have raised eyebrows among some outside observers. The contract with Wilmette-based Supes Academy is by far the largest no-bid contract awarded in at least the past three years, according to a Catalyst Chicago analysis of board documents. In addition, CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett worked for the company as a coach up until the time she came on board at CPS as a consultant.
In addition, Byrd-Bennett is listed as a senior associate for a superintendent search firm called PROACT Search, in documents dated August 2012—four months after taking the position with CPS. PROACT is run by the same individuals who lead Supes: Gary Solomon, the executive director, and Thomas Vranas, the president.
Restoring public confidence is one of the things that new management is supposed to do, and this does not look good. I guess time will tell.
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
Deja vu, but I guess you’re playing with it to bring in the “old” as in “same old, same old.” Anyway, 20 mil, no bid, former employee, now consultant and also Senior Associate for the search firm…that’s so very smelly for Chicago and doesn’t look good for us either. Why have we never been able to trust or find talent locally? I think it’s one of those “it’s El Paso” things that doesn’t make sense. Do we have the talent? Yes. Will locals get jealous of another local? Most likely, but so what. How many times have we been let down by these outsider hires? Time and time again, but we never learn and we’d rather spend away precious resources on promises that they’ll find the best candidates. Deja vieux, all right!
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Here is an interesting story about another Texas search that PROACT “botched” by failing to do proper due diligence on a candidate.
http://azstarnet.com/news/local/education/precollegiate/search-firm-that-botched-texas-schools-chief-hiring-now-looking/article_b1c0a248-fd05-5dea-ab92-643522a18a9c.html
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The link below shows that Proact is currently conducting multiple searches for other EPISD “cabinet” positions including a CFO and — drum roll — a COO. Has there been any open public discussion about these planned hires? The way Cabrera is using the term cabinet, it seems like he sees his role on par with the office of the U.S. President. Empire building is alive and well.
http://www.proactsearch.com/elpaso/
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I had no faith in the old board and I feel the same way about the appointed board. They both hate teachers and do all they can to make their lives miserable while accelerating administrative positions and salaries.
Meanwhile my wife who is an EPISD HS math teacher has seen her family rate for insurance go so high that she finally dropped me and left me uninsured. If my contractor job ends up being killed by round 2 of the sequester we have to be able to pay the house with her salary alone. My insurance is a .357 revolver to the right temple. That would save her the humiliation of our county hospital hounding her over my potential heart attack or cancer bills that are sure to come. Death is my insurance plan in order not to be a burden on my family.
I hate this place
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I would be impressed if the new Board went for more education and less administration: Support our Teachers!!!
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That is a fantastic article. Chicago has an independent newsletter solely to keep tabs on the schools: “Catalyst Chicago is an independent newsmagazine created in 1990 to document, analyze and support school-improvement efforts in the Chicago Public Schools. ”
Can you imagine that here (except half the people here can’t read and the other half could care less and their elected representatives are probably on Chilo Madrid’s payroll).
I used to wonder why schools are the focus of so much corruption here and then recalled the bank robber, Willy Sutton, who said he robbed banks because that is where the money is.
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Jerry,
you might want to check out
http://childrenatrisk.org/
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Here is the question I would ask: Were the people that got hired already friends/acquaintances/colleagues of the new Superintendent before he arrived in El Paso?
If they were, then that indicates the decision was already made and the entire search process was a sham, thus being a total waste of taxpayer money.
If they new hires were unknown to him, then perhaps the search firm really did do their job.
Either way, eternal vigilance is still needed.
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Victor, time will tell.
I have found this link http://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/93078.doc that shows that one of the new associate superintendents worked with our state appointed conservator.
I hope that this is all “above board”, the community does not need more scandal.
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Sometimes, especially with this politically-appointed-answers-to -no-one-board-of-managers, it is not what you know, it is who you know.
Did Mr. Margo know Mr. Cabrerra during his time in Austin?
I suppose we will never know.
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