Rarely have we had such a clear-cut case of watchdog journalism making an impact as the work Statehouse reporter Laura Hancock did on the selection of a new state school board superintendent, writes Chris Quinn.
Former Ohio State Board of Education Vice President Steve Dackin, right, next to board President Charlotte McGuire at the December state school board meeting. He resigned from the board to apply for state superintendent of public instruction, then abruptly resigned from that job 11 days after starting. We talk a lot in the media about watchdog journalism, about asking government leaders hard questions and shining a spotlight on what they do.
School board Vice President Steve Dackin oversaw the search for a new superintendent, collecting applications and other information from the people who wanted the job. Then, to everyone’s surprise, he abruptly resigned from the school board days before the application deadline and applied for the job himself. His colleagues promptly named him a finalist.leading the search and then applying himself.
The school board should have rejected Dackin outright, because of his obvious conflict of interest and because state law required him to quit the school board at least one year before taking a job as an employee. Instead, despite what Laura reported, the board named Dackin superintendent.for the 11 days he served.
With a formal investigation clearly launched, Dackin evidently took a closer look at how much trouble he was in for taking the job and quit. We suspect he turned down the compensation to show investigators that he did not profit by breaking the law. We’ll have to wait for the Ethics Commission to finish its work before knowing whether Dackin’s quick exit and declining of compensation gets him out of criminal charges.
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