Dr. Bounds: The Day After

I'll admit when I heard a few weeks ago that Dr. Hank Bounds was interested in the top post at IHL, my reaction was something like "he may be interested, but the interest is not mutual." I mean, Dr. Bounds is an experienced, accomplished leader in K-12 education. I had no doubt that he would not be heading the state department of Education for long, but I figured he would be hired away by another state or the federal department. He was that respected.

I did not think about it until a couple weekends ago, while enjoying dinner with a colleague, the conversation turned to the IHL post. We discussed a couple of potential candidates and Dr. Bounds' name came up. My reaction was again, "Really? I don't see it."

On Monday this same colleague called to inform me that Dr. Bounds had been offered the position and will accept it in a Tuesday press conference. I felt confident enough in the source to post it, and the Mississippi Education Blog was the first to report this as fact, not rumor.

So what does this mean for K-12 education in Mississippi. The attention now turns to the search for the next state Superintendent of Education. We need someone that will continue the progressive thinking that Dr. Bounds put into place. That person does not necessarily work at MDE, nor is from Mississippi. There should be a true nationwide search for the next leader. While there are some good leaders in Mississippi, we need to get the very best that we can.