Very sad day for the Grosse Pointe district when the new leader of one of the top districts in the country is selected by a 4-3 vote by the Board of Education. This important position should have required a unanimous decision, and the search process should have continued until an outstanding candidate emerged with a 7-0 vote.

Food for thought: Nowhere in any American institution to we expect or achieve 100% agreement on anything. Not in our marriages, our families, our churches. Government and democracy survive because of debate, discussion, and even arguments. The wisdom of the founding fathers comes from their creation of a forum in which these debates and arguments can occur.

Dindoffer, Jakubiec, Pangborn & Steiniger have clearly lost touch with the people who have elected them to office. The best candidtate to lead the GPPSS was not chosen last evening. Ultimately our kids will pay the price for their lack of courage - they are content to remain stagnant in educating our children and continue to abuse their power. Mr. Harwood is not yet confimed as our new superintendent and I hope after his extensive background check the BOE will turn down this candidate fo lead the GPPSS into the future and return to the drawing board. OUR KIDS DESERVE THE BEST!

I completely agree with Michelle and Pamela. 4-3 is not exactly a vote of confidence. I would have liked to have seen some discussion about the other two candidates before a final vote. It was clear that Dindoffer, from her body language and actions, was uncomfortable with her decision. It is my understanding that Harwood is the subject of open complaints, filed by parents, that have not been adjudicated yet. How can he become the next superintendent before these complaints have even been investigation? It is clear our school board is deeply divided and largely ineffectual. The next couple of years are key to our school system (budget cuts, school of choice) and ultimately our community. We need strong moral leadership from our superintendent and our school board. It is clear that the current group is not up to the task.

I think Rochester missed an excellent opportunity to hire Mr. Harwood.
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He's demonstrated his ability to innovate, to reach consensus in difficult negotiations, and has a focus on maintaining high levels of success. By ensuring prudent spending, Mr. Harwood has laid a good foundation to maintain class sizes and retain effective teachers.
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As I said, Rochester missed an excellent opportunity - and Grosse Pointe will do well under his leadership!

Something was very strange about this process. The vote was not supposed to take place until July 25. Three Board members had prepared speeches in favor of Harwood ten minutes after the last candidate was interviewed. (I saw Mr. Steininger reading and turning pages during his pro-Harwood speech.) Ms. Dindoffer looked like her arm was being twisted and was visibly uncomfortable with her vote. The public commentary was minimal. The Board should have been offered the chance to vote straight up or down for each candidate. AND it is possible there would have been a 4/3 vote in favor of at least one other candidate. I personally would have liked to see a 2/3 majority or unanimous vote requirement.

With all due respect, this process was FLAWED!

How much money did the school board spend on the "nationwide search" for our new Superintendent? Was this a responsible use of the taxpayers' money?

What a shame this board and central office administration has allowed the special interests and promises of a very few determine the course of an entire district. One bad and irresponsible decision after another. When is it going to stop. When are the other adults in authority going to put a stop to Steininger's bullying and vindictive tactics? His demeanor, tone and behind the scene tactics are destructive. Harwood is his "foot soldier". BTW, Traverse City SD didn't want him either in 2/05 as their Superintendent.

Sounds like we need to resurrect the Grosse pointe community network.

Three of the four egregious Board members lack children in the system and education background. We can thank our current leader for not fighting the good fight and putting pushy individuals and their agendas aside. During her long tenure, our district is still “operating” on a 1998 Tech Bond, continue to lack a technology curriculum, is not aligned to the Common Core as mandated by the State and we continue to overcrowd the classes. We need a strong leader who recognizes that we are NO longer a “Lighthouse” district and status quo has kept us in the 1990s. Sadly, the GP Foundation can not keep the district afloat and our community will mirror Indian Village (nice houses with crappy schools) sooner than not!

Both Fred Minturn and John Steininger's current terms expire in December of 2011. The deadline to file for candidacy for these positions with the city clerk is August 15. While you are still afforded the democratic opportunity to locally elect school boards, you might avail yourselves of this right by voting for or against candidates who don't support your wishes. Attend Board meetings and contact the Board members with your concerns. In speaking as their representative, the teachers value community involvement with the school board and appreciate your participation in our school district's governance. We know you value quality public education.
There will be an open house for the two candidates, who have been chosen as finalists for the South High principal. After you have interacted with the candidates, please let Dr. Klein, Mr. Harwood, and the Board members know of your ideas for the next leader at South. For more information regarding that, visit the district's Web site.

Gosh, I'm certain Dr. Klein, Mr. Harwood, and the Board of Education will be very receptive to community input for the new South Principal. They really listened to our feedback regarding the new Superintendent, and it was just an amazing display of democracy in choosing to vote on and discuss only one candidate, less than 15 minutes after the last interview concluded. I hope someone apologized to Dr. Machesky and Mr. Dean for wasting their time in this farce of a "nation-wide" search for the best candidate.

Quick straw poll...This past week as I attended all superintendent interviews, the school of choice meeting, a baseball game, a hockey game and have fielded emails and phone calls regarding the new superintendent candidate, there is not one ounce of support in the community, on both the North & South end - be it parents, teachers or concerned community members for Tom Harwood. How did our BOE get it so wrong?

They got it wrong because the 4 members of the board that voted for him were concerned with their own interests and not those of the community. Mr. Steineger runs that board like his own private company, even telling (or should i say threatening) community members what they can and cannot say at board meetings, isn't this a free country? This was a done deal before the interviews even started, just as the new principal at South is a done deal, Mr. Steineger made sure of that through his puppet Mr. Harwood. Why are we wasting serious candidates time and taxpayers money?? Mr. Harwood is not the right choice and I have deep concerns for the future of this district.

With “School of Choice” on our back step we are at a time when the focus of this community should be on Lansing and the drastic changes proposed on how we educate our children. Yet thanks to select board members the integrity of our school system will once again be questioned as we find ourselves right in the middle of yet another scandal which will be played out in the media.

The entire superintendent selection process was nothing more than “Theatre of the Absurd.” The time and money that was wasted on this sham is embarrassing. As parents, students, teachers, staff and taxpayers get fed up with Mr. Steineger and his disciples (Mr. Jakubiec, Mrs. Pangborn, and sadly…Mrs. Dindoffer) and their “politics as usual” we find a community united, focusing on background checks, recalls, and lawsuits of select board members while some very real issues are being ignored.

J Smith, you are so right on.

Marie and J Smith, you are so right on target. This is a "screen play" already written.
Interestingly enough, the interview team for Principal at south included, Harwood, who had one of the final candidates (Outlaw) on his own application as a reference..does anybody see that as a conflict? Perhaps, now that Harwood is the new Superintendent it might be a better idea that he not make it so obvious that Outlaw was already in position for that south job and perhaps instead bring him to 389 as his replacement in Human Resources..either way, Outlaw is positioned for the south job or as an Assistant Superintendent that I am sure in on the next page of the manuscript.

When are the terms for the "4 horsemen of the Apocalypse" up?

Steininger 12/31/2011
Minturn 12/31/2011
Gafa 12/31/2012
Pangborn 12/31/2012
Dindoffer 12/31/2013
Jakubiec 12/31/2013
Walsh 12/31/2014

Thanks Dan.

I've spent significant time watching all of the interviews and am appalled at the decision. Mr. Harwood was not the best candidate. Mr. Dean was.

I have contacted the Board to encourage them to vote 'no' on the Harwood contract next week. We should all attend to demonstrate our displeasure with this decision.