During the October 7th meeting of the Wissahickon School Board, the public expressed concerns about the board’s decision to forgo a search for a new superintendent and promote from within. The concerns arose after the September 30th announcement from long-time superintendent Dr. James Crisfield, who announced his retirement effective at the end of the school year, and the board’s statement that it intended to promote Assistant Superintendent Dr. Mwenyewe Dawan.

The true extent of public concern is hard to gauge, as the school board’s policy allows only five speakers on any given topic during the public comment period. Those who spoke felt that the district should have a transparent search to find the best possible candidate to replace Dr. Crisfield and pointed to how other districts have conducted similar searches. Generally, the speakers felt that the board had been less than transparent about its intention to promote Dr. Dawan and wasn’t following its policies regarding replacing a superintendent.

There were also alleged concerns that the district’s teachers and staff do not have a positive impression of Dr. Dawan’s leadership.

School board members expressed confidence in Dr. Dawan and believed that they already had the best candidate in-house. One member pointed out that Lower Merion and Central Bucks both did searches in recent years and hired the same candidate. Dr. Steven Yanni. Dr. Yanni went from Upper Dublin School District to a brief stint in Lower Merion and then to Central Bucks. This fact was used to claim that there isn’t a wealth of top-tier candidates and that by not promoting Dr. Dawan, they may lose her to another district.

Near the conclusion of the meeting, the school district’s solicitor stated that the board was under no legal obligation to conduct a search and was not violating its policy on the matter.

The board plans to take official action on the promotion during the November 4th meeting. You can view the video of the meeting below. It appears they made it so the video can’t be viewed using embed code. You can use this link to view.

Photo: Screengrab from Wissahickon School District’s video of meeting