Let's call this split what it is
Matt Handelman got what he wanted: A good academic administrative job in Washington.
And the Coeur d’Alene School Board got what it wanted: Matt Handelman getting a good administrative job in Washington.
Everybody said all the right things after Friday’s closed-door special meeting of the board of trustees. Handelman was very proud of his four-year tenure at the helm of Kootenai County’s largest school district, and the board was very grateful for his service. But the idea that a love fest was regrettably finally ending, and that tears would be shed on either side, would be untruthful.
By many accounts, Handelman’s strength is on the academic side of the equation, and not the administrative side. His keen insight into curricula and the respect he garnered with many educators and parents was offset by serious deficiencies as the district’s CEO. The most egregious shortcoming was Handelman’s difficulty buying in to what the locals were selling.
A Coeur d’Alene Press investigation last June showed Handelman owned a Coeur d’Alene home, but was registered to vote in Washington. When you’re imploring Coeur d’Alene School District voters to support desperately needed bonds and levies, yet you’re not voting for them yourself, a shadow over your credibility can loom.
In Handelman’s case, that shadow was lengthened by the fact he was applying for jobs in Washington like he couldn’t wait to get out of town. And with big bond and levy issues staring the district in the eyeball just last month, school board members could be forgiven if they were hoping the public had forgotten Handelman’s happy feet at least long enough to vote “yes” twice.
Maybe it’s just coincidental timing, but the latest, greatest flap over district hiring policies and procedures sure smelled like a fuse that had finally reached the TNT.
We have no desire to heap dirty laundry on Matt Handelman’s legacy as superintendent, but we do want the record to reflect that his parting is nothing like sweet sorrow. He’ll put Cd’A in his rearview mirror this summer when he assumes his new role as chief academic accountability officer for a larger school district in the Vancouver, Wash., area.
The school board’s job now is clear, if not simple: Find a terrific candidate whose academic and administrative strengths are both beyond reproach.
Maybe hiring someone who also wants to live here isn’t too much to ask.