WHO COULD have predicted that the selection of a school superintendent in Montgomery County -- fabled home of Process-Above-All government -- would collapse the way it has this week? Elfreda W. Massie had almost run the complete credentials course -- emerging as the lone finalist in the eyes of the school board -- when her candidacy crumbled with cause. Out of the blue came revelations of personal bankruptcy filings that she had failed to disclose and that a hired recruiting firm had failed to uncover. Without waiting for the board to drop her from consideration, Ms. Massie wisely withdrew.
Regardless of how sympathetically residents might view her financial plight, her failure to bring it up until confronted with the news showed unacceptably poor judgment. But where was the recruiting firm, Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates, in all this? Routine credit checks would have brought out this information in a flash. One explanation is that while these talent-hunter firms usually do run credit checks as a matter of routine on candidates for most high-profile state and local offices, they tend not to undertake costly rundowns of personal finances when it comes to posts in school systems. If so, the boards that select these selectors should insist on such checks as part of the service...
...Montgomery will have a new go at it, and at least one change in the process should be made without question: From now on, credit checks should be automatic.
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