Parents voice concern over superintendent succession processes for Wissahickon School District

When Wissahickon School District’s Superintendent Jim Crisfield announced his intent to retire at the end of the school year, it was received with kudos and thanks. Many of the Wissahickon Board of School Directors praised his work for Wiss Nation over the past decade.

But it was the immediately following announcement of his replacement that caught the attention of many of the district’s parents. The parents brought their concerns to the public comment section of the Monday night meeting.

As previously covered by WissNow.com, Crisfield will step down from his role to retire at the end of this academic year, and the board simultaneously announced in its last public meeting his replacement would be Wissahickon’s Assistant Superintendent Dr. Mwenyewe Dawan.

Following the board’s praise of Crisfield in the board’s Sept. 30 public meeting, the discussion quickly turned to the future.

“Now, as a board, we need to move forward,” said School Board President Amy Ginsburg in the Sept. 30 Public Work Session, held the same day that Crisfield’s letter for retirement was officially submitted. “Fortunately, this board has given much thought to a succession planning.”

“Over 75 percent of Fortune500 companies promote CEOs from within the organization,” said Ginsburg. “And internal candidates fill anywhere from 50 to 70 percent of senior leadership roles in educational institutions.”

“This reflects the organization’s desire for familiarity with the institutional culture, a proven track record, and a reduced learning curve,” said Ginsburg. “Fortunately, we have the ideal internal candidate here in front of us for the past four years.”

The president went on in that Sept. 30 meeting to say that, once the intentions of Crisfield were known to the board, the board discussed the matter with Jeffrey T. Sultanik, the district’s solicitor, right away to “discuss our legal options and our policies,” she said.

“We all took the time to meet with Dr. [Mwenyewe] Dawan, and we all felt that her goals and her values aligned with those of our board and of this district,” said Ginsburg. “We realize as a board that we have the unique opportunity to promote an extremely qualified and sought after educator and leader.”

At that time, the promotion of Dawan was spoken of as a definite, and not a hypothetical option, with Ginsberg stating all nine board members agreed upon the choice.

Speaking to that end, several district parents then attended the Oct. 7 meeting, both in person and online, to say they were concerned about the seemingly rapid and pre-determined outcome for a new hire, without any consultation with the public.

Marc Kaman, a parent of two elementary school children in Wissahickon School District, called the board’s actions “

“It is the board’s responsibility to solicit input from the community,’ said Kaman, citing the board’s own website. “Your own policy provides that you are to act as the agent of the residents of the district. I seriously question how you could claim to act as our agent when you have been given no direction as to what we want in a superintendent.”

“Your failures here have been a serious dereliction of duty,” said Kaman. “It pains me to have to address fellow democrats about the actions that you have taken. Actions that disenfranchise.”

“Your decision to bypass a comprehensive, transparent process without public input is nothing short of shameful,” he said.

Kaman also cited board policy, stating that code mandates that the board “shall actively seek the best qualified and most capable candidate,” adding that by only honing the choices down to one, single candidate, no comparison could have been made.

While he noted that the board does have the ability to decide on the process, the code mandates that there must, in fact, be a process.

“And one that involves actually seeking candidates,” said Kaman. “And as you are required, yes, soliciting input from the community.”

Kaman said that no where he could locate in the board’s own policies would allow them to “abandon the process altogether, sidestep your responsibilities, in favor of your own unilateral, undemocratic, and frankly lazy appointment of the next person in the room.”

Kaman said that other neighboring districts have gone through multi-step processes to both inform the public and replace departing superintendents and is confused as to why Wissahickon would not do the same.

“What you have done is unprecedented,” he said. “I do not think Dr. Dawan has necessarily earned the taxpayers’ confidence in her ability to best serve the community moving forward, particularly in these increasingly challenging, unprecedented times. She has not earned mine.”

However, Kaman said, he would welcome Dr. Dawan applying for the role, as part of an expected process. She would then, he noted, be “compared to other candidates” before a final choice was made.

“If you continue going down the path that you are, you are setting the district up for failure, ensuring there is nothing but contempt for anything you or Dr. Dawan does moving forward, signaling that you have no interest in serving the community, and suggesting that maybe we should remove you, under Section 318 of the public code,” said Kaman. “Or at a minimum, you are signaling that you are not worthy of our vote should you seek re-election.”

Kaman’s demand was put bluntly.

“I urge you to suspend the vote for a successor or otherwise vote ‘No’ on Dr. Dawan in November,” he said. “And instead do your jobs and conduct a sophisticated, comprehensive, thorough search for a qualified candidate that we, your taxpayers, your principles, the parents of the student body, deserve and demand."

Another concerned parent, Lynn Simon, a resident of Whitpain Township, also shared her concerns over the process. First thanking the board for their service and time, she also wanted to offer what she called “constructive criticism” of the members’ recent action.

“There has been a lack of transparency and dialogue regarding several key topics at present, but namely the promotion of our assistant superintendent into the superintendent role,” said Simon. “As I stated in my email, you should have conducted a search, regardless of any factors which you claim precluded you from doing so.”

Like Kaman, Simon said that Wissahickon should be following a similar process as its neighboring “competitor” school districts, “all of which conduct proper searches.”

Simon noted that the board may have come to realize the same conclusion, that Dawan was the best choice, but “in the absence of doing so, the claim loses all merit since they exist in a vacuum,” she said.

“The public should, at the very least, be informed on exactly what attributes you were looking for, what the goals are for the superintendent’s contract duration, how the candidates exhibit said attributes, and how they will work to achieve goals,” said Simon. “No detail has been provided to the public, and I can only speak for myself when I say I do not accept this lack of transparency.”

Simon said that other board initiatives seem to take months or even years to weigh the options, discuss pros and cons, and select a final option.

“The time change project went on for a year plus and involved the community surveys, listening sessions, consultants, etc.,” she said. “Why should the superintendent search be conducted any differently?”

The worried mother added that the focus may be on a national election, but that should not mean a loss of attention where it may matter most.

“If we are concerned that potential presidential candidates may move us from a democracy to an autocracy, we should be looking inward to ensure that isn’t happening on a local level, right in front of our eyes,” said Simon.

Per the board’s policy, the public comment was closed after five speakers on the same topic, despite other residents standing, awaiting a turn at the microphone.

However, a few parents stuck around for the end-of-meeting, second public comment session, which allotted for a few more comments regarding the hiring process.

Jen Rappaport, of Lower Gwynedd, voiced her concerns online about the lack of a transparent process.

“The community is trying to trust you,” she said. “The community is hoping that you lead us in the right way.”

While Rappaport called it “wonderful” that the nine board members agree on Dawan, she also asked “How do we know there’s not somebody else?”

“The community is wanting you to do the right thing for all of us,” said Rappaport. “I do think it is great that you’re all in agreement, there’s a lot of people involved here. You were selected by the community, and you should take into consideration what all these people tonight are saying.”

According to the school district’s policies, which are hosted online by BoardDocs, under Section 300 Employees, code 302 outlines the role and hiring of a superintendent. The code was adopted in April of 2002, revised last in December of 2021. It first outlines the superintendent’s role.

“The School Superintendent is the Chief Executive Officer of the school system, as well as the community’s preeminent educational leader,” states the code. “The Board holds the Superintendent responsible for the administration of its policies, the execution of Board decisions, the operation of the internal machinery designed to serve the district program and keeping the Board informed about district operations and problems. Therefore, selection of a Superintendent is critical to the effective management of the district.”

The policy is clearly outlined in the documentation regarding the regulations to be followed when a superintendent’s role is vacant, as well.

“When the position of Superintendent becomes vacant, the Board shall elect a properly qualified district Superintendent by a majority vote of all members of the Board,” reads the policy. “The appointed Superintendent shall enter a written contract with the Board stating the terms and conditions of employment and term of office. Such a term may be three (3), four (4) or five (5) years, beginning with the effective date of the appointment to the office.”

The method with which a replacement was selected is the main concern of area parents. It appeared as though the district did not conduct any search, and therefore violated the district’s outlined policies.

“When a vacancy occurs in the position of Superintendent, or when the Board determines to seek other candidates, the Board President will convene a meeting of the full Board to discuss the processes and procedures in which the Board will engage to seek a Superintendent,” states the policy.

While executive sessions are announced to the public, and one was at the Board’s last public meeting, a work session public board meeting on Sept. 30, the contents discussed in the meeting are not shared with the public or media. Personnel, which is often used to explain the need for such private discussions, is a topic that is permitted to be privately discussed, though there are limitations. The Board’s policy continues.

“The Board shall actively seek the best qualified and most capable candidate for the position of Superintendent,” says the policy. “The Board will determine the processes through which it will seek applicants for the position of Superintendent. Among the options the Board may consider are the option of conducting a targeted search for preselected candidates and the option of engaging the services of a professional consultant.”

As both options suggestions include a search process for a candidate, many parents demanded there be choice in the matter. However, the policy also states, “The Board will determine the process,” meaning the options will be up to those members of the board.

A solicitor standing in for Sultanik, called “Michelle” did say that the board had not done anything illegally.

“The district has a policy and a process that they followed,” she said. “They were not required to do a search outside of the district. They’re not required to do a national search.”

She also added that the fact that much of the process having been done behind closed doors is legal, as well.

“Under the Sunshine Act, they’re allowed to discuss the employment and appointment of an individual in an Executive Session, where many of those discussions took place,” said Michelle. “So under the law, the board has not violated the law in this process of choosing Dr. Dawan to replace Dr. Crisfield when he retires.”

Only one board member said he felt the process could have been more transparent.

“I think there are probably some things we could have done to make the community feel more in the loop on what was happening,” said Board Vice President Joe Antonio. “But again, at the end of the day, I don’t think it changes the validity and legitimacy of the path that we’re taking.”

As of Monday afternoon, only three job postings were listed on the district’s human resource’s page. None were for the superintendent’s position.

While no official comment has been made outside of the board of directors’ meeting, the decision to appointment Dawan is to be voted on in a future meeting. No estimated timeline was officially announced for that vote.

A Change.org petition was begun on the matter by parents in the district, and it currently has 270 signatures.