The State Board of Education on Wednesday could pick Kansas’ next education commissioner – one of the most high-profile posts in state government.

The process is expected to be no less factious for the board than other issues they’ve sparred over recently.

“I expect it to be divisive,” board member Janet Waugh said. “To me this is probably the most important decision we as a board will make.”

In the running are Sharol Little, retiring superintendent of the Manhattan-Ogden school district, and Alexa Posny, an assistant state commissioner of education.

A screening committee recently made five recommendations to the board.

The board didn’t listen to all of the screening committee’s recommendations, Waugh said. Not all of the candidates the board interviewed were the committee’s recommendation.

“There’s no real rules to any of this,” board member Sue Gamble said.

Here is some background information on the two finalists.

Sharol Little

Of the two candidates, Little appears to be the more embattled. She leaves the Manhattan-Ogden school district after several challenging years.

The board hired Little in July 2001 with a salary of about $140,000 – a figure that raised some eyebrows.

“Many people thought that it was too high and as a result she had to carry that burden that was not of her own making,” Manhattan-Ogden school board member Roger Brannan said.

Then there were other troubles. Declining enrollment. School closings. Personnel cuts. As superintendent, Little helped pitch a plan for regionalizing school districts, essentially collapsing smaller districts into larger ones.

“Essentially, during her entire tenure here, she had to fight a very negative public image,” said Larry Weaver, a Manhattan-Ogden board member from 1995 to 2003. “Things started badly. To a great degree, the rest of her tenure was colored by a kind of attitude in the community that, ‘If Dr. Little proposes it, it’s probably bad.'”

Little said it also was a time of growth for students and staff.

“We have a staff that has been excelling,” she said. “Even though it’s been a really difficult time, it’s also been a time of learning.”

Little announced her retirement in September. It was met with mixed feelings, Brannan said.

Before landing in Manhattan, Little led Dodge City public schools from 1997-2001 and was superintendent of the Winfield school district from 1993 to 1997.

In Dodge City, she helped pass a bond issue for construction.

It was the third time the district had brought the issue to voters, and under Little’s watch, the bond passed, said Beth Love, a board member.

“The board was very pleased with the work that she did here,” Love said.

As in Manhattan, Little left behind mixed feelings among residents in Winfield.

Jim Ratzlaff had been principal of Winfield High for several years before Little took the district’s top seat. He said the district was different under her leadership.

“I didn’t feel like we had … that great of a team,” he said. “We certainly did under her predecessor.”

He said about one dozen district staff members left the district, either by retiring or simply moving on.

“I just think, with that many people leaving in that short amount of time, I think that says something,” he said.

Ratzlaff retired in 1997.

“I worked long and hard until the last day I was principal of the high school,” he said. “I didn’t think it was always appreciated.”

According to the minutes of meetings, the board in March of 1997 voted not to issue a new contract for Little. In April, about two months shy of the end of her contract, the board placed Little on administrative leave.

Little said she left the Winfield district early to care for her sick mother. She also said she had a contract in Dodge City about that time.

Floyd Goff, who has been on the Winfield school board since 1995, said the board indicated it would not renew Little’s contract around the same time that she submitted her resignation. Goff said there were communication problems.

“We just didn’t think there was good communications going on between administration and staff,” he said. “We just felt there was a growing inability to communicate and somewhat a lack of trust in communications.”

Little wrote an e-mail to the Lawrence Journal-World discussing her past work in school districts. She said she has had to dismiss dozens of school employees as a superintendent and administrator.

“Some of these employees have mismanaged school funds, not done their job or have not been good for their job or for children,” she said in the e-mail. “All of these decisions are unpopular places to be, yet it is part of the job as superintendent.”

Alexa Posny

Posny has been at the state education department since 1999. Her first position at the department was special education director. In 2001, she became assistant commissioner of education.

Prior to her work at the state level, Posny was special education director in the Shawnee Mission school district.

Donna Bysfield, president of the school board and its only spokesperson, recalled taking parent concerns to Posny.

“I don’t think she was ever bothered or intimidated by a board member coming to her and talking with her about a complaint,” Bysfield said. “Neither was she defensive.”

Bysfield said Posny was open to talking with parents and focused on students.

“We were glad for her that she got the chance at the state position but very sad for ourselves that she was leaving,” Bysfield said.

From 1997 to 1999, Posny was an adjunct professor at Kansas University. And prior to that, she was a director at the Title 1 Technical Assistance Center in Overland Park. Among her duties in that post, Posny helped identify regional needs for curriculum and instruction.

“I’ve always focused on the students who are the most disadvantaged or the ones who are disabled,” Posny said.

State school board member Bill Wagnon said he was aware of some concerns about both candidates.

“No one comes completely pure,” he said. “I’m going to have to wait until the final analysis.”