Van White speaks out on superintendent candidates

The two finalists for Rochester City School superintendent have been criticized as being the wrong people for the job. They are Doctor Carlinda Purcell, whose last superintendent job lasted a year and a half in Alabama, and city school principal and longtime Rochester civic leader Tim Mains. Both made the cut...for very good reasons according to school board member Van White.

School board members have not been allowed to talk openly about the candidates...until now. Van White tells us he thinks it's important to include the public in the process of the superintendent search. He believes many are misinformed about the finalists.

For example, we've heard a lot about candidate Doctor Carlinda Purcell and how her last superintendent job only lasted a year and a half. Van White says prior to that Purcell was a superintendent for 7 years and he talked about her proven track record to increase attendance rates.

As for finalist Tim Mains, Van White says even though he has never been a superintendent, that's no reason to believe he wouldn't make a good one.

 “I have also heard people say that Tim has never been in the classroom. While it's true Tim was a counselor, but Tim was also a social studies teacher for 7 years, not to mention - it should not be forgotten he is a principal at a school," says White.

“Doctor Purcell had a proven track record of increasing her graduation rates in her district. Doctor Purcell also had a track record for improving the well known achievement gap between African Americans and Caucasian students.”

The next step in the process, both finalists will be interviewed privately on Friday. Van White still hopes a decision will be made soon but says there is still a possibility that neither one will be chosen.