Opinion: Iowa school districts should stop playing the search firm game

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The superintendent search firm game has always seemed shady.

In 2015, Cedar Rapids was looking to replace Superintendent Dave Benson and hired Chicagoland-based Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates . It’s the nation’s largest search firm. According to its website, HYA has guided searches in 1,600 school districts.

The thing about HYA is they recommend the search process remain confidential. So, as they see it, the effort to pick a chief executive at a public school should shut out the public. That way, candidates don’t have to fear being outed to their current district.

“It's lousy advice, to put it mildly,” I wrote in March 2015 . “There's no good reason why parents, staff and taxpayers