School board gets low marks on listening to patrons

There's nothing that requires the Carson City School District to conduct an outside search for a new superintendent, but we believe they should do so anyway.

The board's internal pick for the position brings impeccable credentials and already knows the district and the city well. And if he would continue to run the district as well as his predecessor in the areas of financial responsibility and school improvement, the selection would be looked back on as a wise decision.

However, the public does have a stake in this decision and deserves to know, at a minimum, what this heir apparent stands for and what steps he would take to improve the district. That could be done in a public forum; only then will parents and other patrons become confident in this decision. We believe, in fact, that this candidate would be burdened by a lack of public confidence if this step is not taken.

But the course of action the patrons really deserve is to have the job opened up to other internal and external candidates ... exactly what patrons at the school board meeting Tuesday asked for. We should expect our elected officials to err on the side of responsiveness to the public.

The district itself could learn from such a search, even if its choice does not change. What new ideas would these candidates bring for school improvement?

Arrogance may not have been the driving force in why the school board rejected such a search, but it will seem that way to the public. It's likely they're just that sold on their candidate's credentials, just as the city was when it hired an internal candidate for manager recently without conducting a search.

But it will seem like arrogance to the public, and perception is everything when it comes to matters of governance. Just ask any voter on Election Day.

• This editorial represents the view of the Nevada Appeal Editorial Board.