Lawrence Journal-World opinion section

Kyle Hayden may be an excellent choice as Lawrence’s next superintendent of schools, but the process leading to his selection left something to be desired.

Last Friday, the Lawrence school board identified three finalists for the superintendent’s job. Just five days later, late Tuesday night, the board announced it had selected Hayden for the job. Hayden and one other candidate had been interviewed on Monday and the third candidate on Tuesday. The Journal-World didn’t have an opportunity to interview the final candidate until Tuesday. By the time a story about her could have appeared in Wednesday’s newspaper, the decision already was made.

The speedy conclusion of the superintendent hiring process was a significant contrast to similar searches to fill key positions at Kansas University and the city of Lawrence. Like the school board, the Lawrence City Commission also hired a consulting firm to aid its search for a new city manager and then screened the candidates in private. However, after the City Commission announced the names of its three finalists for the job on Nov. 16, the public had ample opportunity to learn about and comment on the candidates — including a public reception for the finalists on Dec. 17. Public meetings with various university groups also have become a standard part of the process for hiring deans and other top administrators at KU.

The job of Lawrence school superintendent is no less important to the community, and it’s disappointing that the school board didn’t give the public more opportunity to be involved. The finalists reportedly met with board-selected focus groups of district staff, community representatives and students, but there was no opportunity for the public at large to meet the candidates. And, with only five days between the announcement of the finalists and the hiring decision, the public had little chance to get to know the candidates.

Hayden, of course, was known to some local people because he had worked as assistant superintendent of business and operations in the Lawrence district for five years. Maybe school board members hurried the process because they were pretty sure Hayden, the known quantity, would be their eventual choice. Board members also had expressed concern that they needed to move quickly to fill this position because so many superintendents’ jobs around the state were open.

There’s no particular reason to think that members of the public could have supplied important input that might have swayed the board’s decision, but it’s too bad they weren’t even given that opportunity. It’s not the level of transparency Lawrence residents expect in the hiring of such a key community leader.