Education Panel Looking For Interim Chief Permanent Replacement Wanted Before Year’s End
The state Board of Education took the first steps toward replacing Executive Director Rayburn Barton on Monday, laying the groundwork for an interim director with a permanent replacement on the job before year’s end.
In a telephone conference call, the board decided to begin advertising within the state by midweek for someone to take over temporarily when Barton leaves June 20 to become the director of the South Carolina Higher Education Commission.
“What we need there is somebody who has the experience in management to hold us together for six months, preferably four months,” board member Thomas Dillon of Caldwell said.
Although no decision will be made before next week and possibly not even then, Barton made some suggestions for interim director to the board in closed session although he said he had discussed the job with only one of them.
No names were publicly discussed, but among those being mentioned initially to step in during the search for a permanent director were Marty Peterson, state budget director during the Evans and Andrus administrations and Boise-based representative for the University of Idaho, and Darrell Manning, former Transportation director and adjutant general of the National Guard.
During its 90-minute session - half of it behind closed doors - board members appeared most concerned with maintaining the momentum they have built on a number of projects, including the Western Governors University to provide academic courses via computer throughout the region.
“This issue of executive director is very important, critical,” board member Curtis Eaton of Twin Falls said. “But so are other things.”
The board intends to reassess the director’s job description, which has changed as the board has in the past nine years that Barton has held the job. It also wants to integrate information from a special management analysis now being conducted by Deloitte & Touche. It will receive a report on that analysis in June.