Barbara Erwin is the board's top choice. They've sent her a contract to sign and expect to hire her next week. Here's what I've found about Erwin:
There's an error on her resume. It says she was "TASA 1998 Texas Superintendent of the Year". That's not true. The head of the Texas Association of School Administrators says his group has no such award. Erwin accurately proclaims that she was a nominee for AASA National Sup't of the Year in 1999. She apparently listed the same recognition twice because TASA nominates a local school chief for that national honor. Erwin was named TASB's 1997 Texas Superintendent of the Year. Erwin told me by phone that listing her as 1998 Superintendent of the Year was probably a mistake and not an embellishment. Ky. Board Chairman Keith Travis says the board will look at any possible discrepancies in Erwin's resume before voting on her hiring. Board member Doug Hubbard says the mistake "is a big deal" and he blames the search firm for failing to do a better job digging into the backgrounds of the three finalists for the job.

I had phone interviews with a number of people who worked for her and werre involved in three of the four districts where Erwin has been local superintendent. The picture all of them paint is basically the same.....Kentucky will either love or hate Barbara Erwin. Everyone describes her as hard working, innovative, extremely bright and able to connect with parents. They also describe her as divisive, vindictive and a micromanager with poor people skills. One former administrator under Erwin in Allen, Texas claims she drove away more than 40 administrators in three years, adding "if you want someone to clean house, she's exceptional". Another says he would "absolutely hire" Erwin. Erwin has had problems with her local school board at each of her last three jobs.

Travis says he's happy with the nominees and heard no rumblings about reopening the search process. Hubbard says the board's search committee did the best job possible with less than stellar work by the search firm.

Travis also says HE considered applying for the state commissioner's job but didn't file an application when the search committee decided all applicants must have an earned master's degree. Travis doesn't have a master's so he didn't apply. Travis says he told his fellow board members to set the best criteria to get the best candidates and he has no hard feelings because they set the standards too high for him to meet. Part of this story was first reported by the Murray Ledger newspaper in January.

Lastly, Governor Fletcher, Robbie Rudolph and Education Secretary Laura Owens flew to Bowling Green to meet with the three finalists for the education commissioners job. They were there when the state board was interviewing the candidates, but did not sit in on the board's interviews. According to Travis and Hubbard, the governor welcomed the three candidates and talked with them individually. Fletcher did not meddle in the search process or try to convince board members that one candidate was better than another, according to the board members.