ED, Libka comments on sacking Gilchrist [D209]

Robert Libka, Proviso Township High School's chief education officer, recently fired his deputy superintendent, Dr. Kelvin Gilchrist.

From Forest Park Review (Seth Stern):

Libka declined to comment on the reasons for the suspension, but said that the decision to suspend Gilchrist was made independent of any board of education members, and that all board members were notified at the same time.

Here’s how a competent chief executive would have handled firing a senior lieutenant with a divided board of directors.

The chief executive would have discussed the issue with the leaders of both factions. “I know we’ve had differences in the past, but my deputy isn’t working for reasons A, B & C.” Then the board members would have countered with their analysis. The chief executive would strive to build consensus on whether to fire the deputy and when. If no consensus could be achieved then the chief executive would act while acknowledging the dissenting point of view.

Of course, trying to achieve consensus is more productive when the underlying personnel move actually makes sense.

Libka is part clumsy and part dishonest. He shouldn’t have fired Gilchrist without first consulting the board. But Libka has trained himself to reflexively say, “No board members were involved in this personnel decision.” Apparently he doesn’t grasp that it’s inappropriate to have board members direct hiring and firing, but that there are times when he should be consulting the board.

But who thinks Libka sacked Gilchrist without consulting with board president Emanuel Christopher Welch first? Libka could attend every Sunday service, tithe 10% and wear a Jesus tie every day of the year and I still wouldn’t believe him.

Getting people to believe you is more likely when the story you’re peddling actually makes sense.