Fort Worth superintendent finalist is impressive

It’s easy to see why Fort Worth school board members were so impressed with Kent Paredes Scribner that they’ve named him sole finalist for the job of superintendent.

Personally, he has a commanding presence with an approachable personality. He’s tall and has a firm handshake, with penetrating eyes and a quick smile.

Professionally, he’s an experienced educator who has worked successfully for seven years as superintendent of a large urban school district with all of the challenges of a mostly minority, low-income student population.

He talks passionately and convincingly about what makes for good education and what makes for good organizational leadership.

His parents are former college professors who now live in Dallas; his mother is from Veracruz, Mexico, and his father is from Maine. Scribner is fluent in Spanish.

In short, he seems to have the agreeable package of qualities you’d look for in the next superintendent of Fort Worth’s 86,000-student school district.

Everybody with experience in hiring knows you look at candidates’ qualifications on paper, check their background, probe them with questions in a formal interview and talk with other people who know them to make a decision that’s as informed as it can be.

The school board, with the help of a professional consultant, has done all of that in an excruciating process that, including one painful false start with a hire that didn’t work out, has taken more than a year.

In the final round, says board President Jacinto Ramos Jr., the nine trustees interviewed seven of the 67 applicants before unanimously picking Scribner as the lone finalist. Clearly, the criteria and qualifications and personalities all clicked.

“It took about five minutes” to make the decision, Ramos said. Reflecting on the difficulties of the long process and its ultimate result, he added that it was “almost what was meant to happen.”

The process is not over. There’s a state-mandated 21-day waiting period before the board can offer Scribner a completed contract and officially hire him.

Scribner must extricate himself from his duties in Phoenix and immerse himself in Fort Worth. He’ll need help from Interim Superintendent Pat Linares, who has been a godsend in running the district for more than a year.

Scribner would agree that, ultimately, it’s educational results among Fort Worth students that really matter. There’s reason to be happy that he’s coming aboard.

This story was originally published August 12, 2015 at 5:52 PM with the headline "Fort Worth superintendent finalist is impressive."