Not that anyone asked me about the search for a new commissioner

a crocus for new beginnings

I expect that we'll have the names of the finalists released at some point--the Board is doing public interviews in April--so ahead of that, here's my thought: 

I hope they hire someone who can run the Department. 

I know this is seen as a high-profile position, and people have ideas about those with "VISION" and so forth.

The thing is, though, that the Commissioner's actual job isn't that. Setting vision is the job of the Board, not the Commissioner. The Commissioner's job is implementation. 

The Commissioner runs (we hope!) a several hundred person organization, which oversees the education of nearly a million students in Massachusetts. They propose and then implement state regulations,  the state standards, and the myriad of interactions that involves districts and the federal government.

It's actually supposed to be the opposite of a glamorous job. You want someone who reads fine print; who knows laws; who can manage people who work for them and who can diplomatically manage relationships with those who don't.

And I hope someone who can both recognize and have the ethics to be public when it isn't working. 

I worry a lot that people see "oh, the COMMISSIONER" and think headlines. A good one won't.

I don't know that we'll get that. I hope we do.