Dean’s Departure Poses Challenge

At a time when the performance of public education has become a national concern, the early retirement of Orange County Department of Education Supt. John F. Dean poses a fresh challenge. The case for public education needs an advocate with a broad platform in Orange County, and it is important the county Board of Education itself does not quietly slip into a kind of ideological cell for those whose true mission is the dismantling of public education.

The province of the county board is not what the title might suggest to those unfamiliar with the county’s array of local school boards. The real day-to-day action in county education occurs at those levels, which is one reason there was such a strong community response to the recent death of a popular local superintendent, Peter A. Hartman of Saddleback Valley Unified.

But the county board is an important focal point for education, and its superintendent is strategically placed as an advocate.

During his tenure as overseer of the county education system, Dean went beyond the role of providing support to local school districts. His administration attended to delivery of board staples such as alternative and corrective education, and the relationship between local districts and the state. He also became an advocate for education across the county. Dean and other local educational leaders such as Supt. James A. Fleming of Capistrano Unified have kept Orange County’s special educational concerns before the public. Dean also has spoken out for education at critical times when the county was crafting a bankruptcy recovery plan and during the statewide debates on voucher initiatives.

The announcement of his departure well before the expiration of his current term gives the county board an opportunity to select a worthy interim replacement. This would place a good candidate in position to win election as an incumbent.

The board in recent years has been targeted by candidates with no fondness for public education. Some have tried to slip into office below the radar screen, avoiding public scrutiny and aiming to use the board as a staging area for ideological agendas. The comments of board member Elizabeth Parker recently on the task facing the search committee served as an acknowledgment of this problem.

The board would do well to select someone who continues in the tradition established by Dean of maintaining a high profile for public education. The superintendent can be an intermediary for local districts with Sacramento.

As a directly elected public official, the superintendent is free of obligation to a board that might have its own agenda. Dean’s departure also offers a chance to affirm this independence, and to continue the important work of providing financial and support services to the county’s diverse school districts.