Published: July 08, 2009 05:17 pm      

No decision on new education commissioner

State board expects to decide at its July 17 meeting

LEXINGTON — None of the four finalists for the job of commissioner of education came away with the job after the state board interviewed each of them Wednesday.

But Kentucky Board of Education Chairman Joe Brothers said he is “confident” the board will choose and announce their choice at a July 17 board meeting.

“We have not selected anyone – we still have four (candidates),” Brothers told reporters after the day long meeting which began around 7 a.m. and didn’t end until after 4 p.m.

“We plan to come together on (July) 17th and make that decision,” Brothers said.

The four are Dr. Dennis W. Cheek, currently the senior fellow at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, Mo.; Dr. Terry Holliday, Superintendent of Iredell-Statesville Schools in Statesville, N. Car.; Dr. Catherine Cross Maple, deputy cabinet secretary for the New Mexico Public Education Dept.; and Michael Sentance, who was the secretary’s regional representative of the U.S. Department of Education.

Cheek, 54, has been away from direct education involvement for a while and has written articles about the controversy over teaching the creation theory or evolution in schools.

He said there is evidence of evolution in view “all around us,” but that a free society tolerates different views of people from different religious backgrounds. But evolution should be taught as part of the science curriculum.

Brothers said the board was aware of questions about Cheek’s writings on the subject and had discussed it with him during his interview. He said Cheek has “apparently written things on both sides of that issue. Currently, he’s quite comfortable with the evolution component.”

Brothers said there have been no surprises about any of the candidates and the board is united about the process of hiring a new commissioner to succeed John Draud who resigned last year for health reasons.

He also said the board hasn’t questioned its choice of four finalists from outside Kentucky, something which has been criticized. He said there was “some but not much” discussion of the criticism at Wednesday’s meeting.

Brothers said the board “discussed that issue previously,” at the time it settled on the four finalists. He said the board would have preferred finalists from Kentucky but felt the four they came up with were the most qualified applicants.

Both Maple and Holiday praised the board after their interviews and said Kentucky’s efforts at education reform made the job attractive to them. Each said they were drawn to the opportunity to lead a statewide education system.

“This is my pinnacle job, this is the job I’ve always gone after, leading at the state level,” Holliday said. Holliday, who is 58, said if he’s hired he expects to remain in the job for at least nine years.

Both Holliday and Maple said the recently passed Senate Bill 1 which requires the state to focus more deeply on fewer education standards represents the next step in Kentucky’s education reform.

“It’s a way to re-vamp and move forward with Kentucky’s education environment,” she said.

Brothers said the board will continue to do background checks on the applicants and review information and data it has requested from the four finalists.

But he said he’s confident the board will choose the next commissioner at its next meeting, scheduled for Friday, July 17 at the board’s offices in Frankfort.

RONNIE ELLIS writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort. Reach him at rellis@cnhi.com