In Bentley's successor, Norfolk seeks short-term fixes

NORFOLK

The school division needs immediate improvements to its 10 schools lacking full accreditation, and the School Board wants someone who can make that happen as its next superintendent, Chairman Kirk Houston said Thursday.

"We're not looking for a superman," he said a day after the board accepted Superintendent Richard Bentley's resignation, but "right now, we can't afford the luxury of only long-term solutions - we need short-term solutions."

In the eyes of the board members,

Bentley didn't offer those solutions during his 16 months. The superintendent did nothing so egregious that he could be released for cause, Houston said, so the board unanimously agreed to give him $236,540 in severance pay as provided by a contract clause allowing him to be cut loose early for other reasons.

Houston cited a general agreement across the board that its relationship with Bentley"is no longer productive." He said personality issues were not involved.

Neither was race, Houston said: "Although I'm certain there'd be speculation on that, that did not inform or influence this direction." Norfolk's student enrollment - about 31,000 - is majority black; Bentley is white.

Bentley was the first white permanent superintendent in Norfolk since Roy Nichols left the job in 1997 after a four-year tenure.

Bentley did not return a message to his cellphone Thursday.

Karen Jones Squires backed Bentley's hiring when she was on the board last year; she did not seek reappointment when her term expired in June.

During the search, the division was struggling with a testing scandal, as well as stories in the news about a guidance counselor who gave students anti-abortion fetus dolls and a teacher who anointed pupils with "holy oil." Lagging accreditation and state Standard of Learning scores also were an issue.

"We were under a lot of pressure to get someone hired," Squires recalled Thursday.

"Maybe no one person can have all the strengths required of this job nowadays," she said. "The thing is, we've just got to have it.

"With the children in the school system now, we have one shot. We can't take two to five years to work it out."

As the board starts its next superintendent search, it still faces issues of accreditation and test scores.

With 10 of its 45 schools missing full accreditation this fall, the division has one of the worst records in the state. The ratings are based largely on the Standards of Learning tests, and high schools also were hurt by high dropout rates.

The division paid a superintendent recruitment firm about $27,000 plus expenses when it sought candidates to succeed Stephen Jones last year. It also used a recruitment consultant when Jones was hired five years before.

Houston said the board has not ruled out using a consultant again but is leaving all options on the table, including the division doing its own recruiting.

Asked whether the board would offer the job to Associate Superintendent Michael Spencer or any other Norfolk Public Schools administrator, Houston simply reiterated that no options were off the table.

Spencer, who started his Norfolk career in 1995 as Maury High's principal, was interim superintendent last summer between Jones' departure and Bentley's arrival. He earned an extra stipend for his additional duties.

Earlier this month, Spencer agreed to become the next headmaster of The Williams School, a private school in Ghent. He said Wednesday that he will delay moving to Williams until he's no longer needed as Norfolk's interim.

Steven G. Vegh, (757) 446-2417, steven.vegh@pilotonline.com