The Kansas state board of education narrowed the list of candidates to replace former state Commissioner of Education Andy Tompkins to five last week, after a national group that had been helping the board withdrew from the process. The board plans to convene Oct. 4 to discuss the candidates. Mr. Tompkins retired in July.
The process was dealt a setback earlier this month when the National Association of State Boards of Education withdrew as a consultant on the search, citing what it said was a failure in communication with the Kansas board.
The state board hired the Arlington, Va.-based group this summer to create a matrix for evaluating potential candidates.
At a Sept. 7 meeting in Topeka, though, officials from NASBE presented the matrix they had crafted, but “the board had little confidence in the process demonstrated by NASBE,” according to a Sept. 8 letter from Brenda L. Welburn, the organization’s executive director, to Steve Abrams, the board’s chairman.
