I sat thru almost all of the 8 hours of interviews. Dr. Hill is my choice,too.

Might want to consider choice #2....He would be taking a pay cut and is interviewing in other districts.

Dr. Hill was contacted by phone after the final interview and public deliberation. He indicated his acceptance of the WB job, despite the difference in salary and the other potential opportunities he was investigating.

Is the school board only giving tips to one community member only? Why didn't they call you themselves if they were willing to share that tip...they kept everything else close to their vest. I hope that they videotaped the interviews so that the community can see them.

Sounds like he will be great. I am impressed with his willingness to take a huge pay cut to come here. The fact that he will be our superintentdant for the next ten years according to Dr. Hersh brings great stability to the district, he will be 70 when he retires. Hope he does not take the job in his home town that he is currently also interviewing for, or the other one. I am assuming those districts will offer less money than WB. Do we know if any local candidates even applied ? We have some great people locally who I hope considered the position.

He's retiring. He'll get a pension plus $190,000 and perks from West Bloomfield. Sounds like a great retirement income. What's his motivation to come to West Bloomfield where our Superintendent is retiring because the challenges of being a superintendent are too great here. She had two more years left on her contract. He will definitely have to earn his bonus income here. Maybe , he will show a goodwill gesture by asking the board to reduce his salary from $190,000 to $150,000. Can you imagine how much that would endear him to all community members? He'll get at least five years out of that. We just have to hold our breath that the board doesn't give him other perks to make up for it.

This is THE BIGGEST decision this Board will make. Great credentials. Great interview. Could be a great superintendent.

BUT more back door deals without transparency. Why no REAL public interviews when the students, teachers, non-working parents could attend? Why weren’t these meetings filmed and broadcasted? Why no second interview for a position paying $190,000.00 a year? Why no public comments after the interviews? Why no discussion of the other candidates before the decision was made? Why was the Michigan resident and Harvard grad candidate rejected? Why no site visit? Why no interview questions about protracted contract negotiations, low staff morale and/or curriculum? Why didn’t the Board see fit to ask Dr. Hill why is leaving the Chicago area to take a job with 30% less pay here? Why no notice to the public that the Board would decide to make an offer at this meeting scheduling for interviews?

I wasn't at Dr. Hill's interview. I heard few were in attendance for the Friday interviews. I was there Saturday early morning for the interview of Dr. Brown, a Harvard educated African American woman with creative ideas, obvious intellect and strength, and an impressive history as an educator. I recognize that her experience was more urban than suburban but she surely had the skills and experience to adapt to the WBSD's needs. She stressed her varied accomplishments (which ranged from substantially increased proficiencies to the creation of a foreign language immersion program etc.), doing what's best for children, communication and transparency. I'd love to know why she was rejected. I heard there was no open discussion of the other applicants before the decision to tender an offer to Dr. Hill was made. I found it surprising that the Board would actually decide to tender an offer based on one interview. I do hope that Dr. Hill will be an asset and I have heard good things about his interview, but I am troubled by the process.

We all know why the interviews were not televised. The board doesn't care about community opinion when they feel it might not suit them. This school district community deserves better. If Mr. Hill, I don't think it's Dr. Hill, was as impressive as the board says, it would have paid big dividends to the board, to have the community see that. When will the board realize that this school community is filled with very smart business professionals that expect transparency and honest leaders. To the West Bloomfield School Board: Stop treating us like you don"t have to show your work. Hiring a Superintendent is one of the most important responsibilities that you have. It important to you and it"s important to us. Your arrogance and poor leadership style will be the undoing of the next superintendent just like it was for the current one. Wake up!

Most members of the public and the district's employees would hope that the board would be more sensitive to work schedules. Most of the interviews were held on a Friday during the day. The board didn't post the meeting times and dates with enough advanced notice for most people to make an appearance so why not televise the interviews. Why can't the board behave like they embrace the desire for the community to be a part of the decision making process for transparency purposes and to build confidence in their leadership. Did the public know that there would not be a second round of interviews of the finalist? Perhaps even an evening interview. Mr. Rath suggested a tip. If he was there to hear the announcement, kudos to him for being present. I'm looking forward to learning more about our new superintendent. He must have charisma to have won over seven board members with just one interview. If he can elevate our district's image and academic achievement, then the quick selection won't hurt the district. He will have to remember that he is not retired and the school board will have to get out of his way.

With all of the cuts being made in this district, how can they even justify a salary of $190,000??!!! Needs to be about half that amount. Then maybe all of the dedicated transportation and maintenance people could keep their jobs!!!