HASSO HERING

GAPS posted this image of the two finalists for superintendent on the school district’s website.

Albany schools are giving the public a video look at the two finalists for the job of superintendent. You can find both videos on the website of Greater Albany Public Schools here.

As you will have heard by now if you’re interested in the topic, the school board announced the names of the two candidates on Monday night.

They are Cydney Vandercar, the interim superintendent of Eugene School District 4J, and Andrew Gardner, superintendent of the North Santiam School District in Stayton.

The district employed a professional search firm and a local, community-based interview and screening committee to find candidates to fill this job. What’s noteworthy to me is that they came up with finalists that already have the same jobs at nearby districts, one bigger and the other smaller than GAPS.

In the videos, in response to softball questions they had been given in advance, Vandercar and Gardner talk about their careers in education and their accomplishments. If they ever got hard questions, those presumably were asked during the private interviews that led up to them becoming finalists.

The district asked viewers to give their impressions of the videos. But if you want to do that, you’ll have to be quick. The deadline for comments is 5 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 26.

The videos also are presented with a dubbed translation in Spanish. This is in keeping with the district’s practice of bilingual presentation of all its written and digital dealings with the public.

The school board expects to announce its choice for superintendent next week, at a board meeting scheduled Thursday, Feb. 3. (hh)