Transparency has become a very big word for many organizations, and for some good reasons.  People want to see what goes on behind seemingly closed doors of business and public organizations.  While businesses (public and private) have very legitimate reasons for privacy, that privacy has been abused so often people have lost faith in the organizations that use it.

An example of this loss of faith is my own- the Project Labor Agreement that was added shortly after Prop S was passed, and the majority of the school board was elected.  It’s clear, at least to me, that the PLA was fait accompli before the election, but that nugget was withheld from the voting public in a purposeful move intended to get the wobbly proposition passed.  I supported the fiscally-irresponsible proposition but, like many others I suspect, would have opposed it if the PLA was revealed as part of their gambit.

In the words of George W Bush, “”There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.” Or whatever.

Now those same masters of transparency want to put on a little show in the barn called,” A New Superintendent, the Transparency Charade“, and that show will be opening soon.  The NSTC will star the school board, but is actually a reality show with us, the general public, as a cast of thousands.  And we are to be extensively polled, our opinions will be sought, we will have a voice, we will be engaged, partnered with, brought it to the process, heard, have our chance to speak, thoughtfully considered, reached out to, and otherwise pandered into believing we actually control the system, and have the power to change it.

We know what George Bush would try to say.

This barn show is nothing but an enormous waste of taxpayer resources and school board time.  It’s a smokescreen meant to divert our attention from the dismal display the board has been putting on.  It’s a screen to hide little details like our children will have five days less in their school year, when our valuable teachers don’t have the time to teach to the federal minimum standards. Because the teacher’s job is not tough enough already.

But.  It is transparent, and we should like that, right?

I don’t.

I voted for what I believe to be qualified board candidates.  People who held themselves up as leaders and by doing so indicated an ability greater than mine to make good choices for our children. Granted, the people for whom I voted didn’t win.  But the people that did win, should lead and interview and make decisions as if they have the qualities and capabilities they claimed when they ran for public office.  The NSTC is a cop-out.  They are telling us that they can’t possibly decide what their employee should be able to do, and instead we should do it for them.  Notice this has the additional benefit- if it does not work out (as several superintendents in the recent past) it’s not the board that’s to blame- it’s the cast of thousands of citizens that appeared in their reality show.

Further, what kind of candidate is willing to participate in Survivor: A New Superintendent, the Transparency Charade? First, eliminate all superintendents that are currently doing excellent jobs in markets other than San Diego.  A successful superintendent wishing to winter in our paradise is not going to risk his/her current position by applying in public for another outside their own district.  It’s career suicide.  So- what kind of job search is this, where you eliminate the best candidate pool right from the start?

Oh.  It’s a transparent one.

And what kind of candidate will be willing to leave a rewarding private-sector job for a position where the leadership with whom they are slated to work cannot focus it’s intentions without all the public outreach they plan?  Without the pleading to the public to share their decision making burden?

The field of candidates who will step in that pile is very narrow at best.  And I suspect probably not the most qualified.

But it is transparency uber alles.

How about common sense instead?

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