It seems very wasteful for school districts to compete nationally for superintendents.

Instead of promoting from within, they go to expensive search firms that specialize in big-name and big-salary candidates. These firms encourage bidding wars between school districts that are trying to get publicity by landing a celebrity hire.

For what? If the district is organized properly, the superintendent should be simply setting goals and doing little administrative work to justify a huge salary.

We end up getting overpriced, self-promoting people who have no ties to our community and are only good getting publicity, enhancing their resume, and then moving on.

Douglas Tatelman, Renton