[Vision2020] Rush Earns Idaho Education Board's Top Job

[Sue Hovey]

Mike is from Moscow--grew up here with his family.  Kirk, his dad, taught in 
MHS and Imogene his mom, was a supportive parent of her high school kids.  I 
can't imagine Mike doing anything other than an outstanding job.  I am proud 
of him, but not surprised he got the appointment without the outside search. 
He has his hands full and he will do well.

Sue H.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tom Hansen" <thansen at moscow.com>
To: <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Sent: Saturday, May 24, 2008 6:55 AM
Subject: [Vision2020] Rush Earns Idaho Education Board's Top Job


> >From today's (May 24, 2008) Spokesman Review -
>
> ---------------------------------------------
>
> Rush earns Idaho education board's top job
>
> Interim director's work on budget, morale cited
> Jesse Bonner
> Associated Press
>
> http://tinyurl.com/3ohj3m
> Dr. Mike Rush greeting Governor Otter.
>
> BOISE - The Idaho state Board of Education has skipped a national search
> for an executive director and instead appointed interim director Mike Rush
> to the position permanently after he helped bring the agency back from the
> financial brink.
>
> "They're pretty pleased with the job he's been doing," board spokesman
> Mark Browning said Friday.
>
> The board appointed Rush as interim director in September when trustees
> came under heavy fire from both Gov. Butch Otter and the Senate Education
> Committee for accounting miscues that left the board with a $1.4 million
> deficit last year.
>
> The board also flubbed an $18 million federal grant to help low-income
> students attend college. Board President Milford Terrell, who conceded
> earlier this year the board was a "dysfunctional family," was forced to
> ask private foundations for matching state funding so Idaho wouldn't lose
> the federal grant.
>
> As interim director, Rush ordered a complete audit of the board's fiscal
> procedures and helped stanch an outflow of personnel amid a morale crisis
> that preceded his arrival.
>
> "He has put us on a path that we will finish the year in the black with
> our budget," Browning said. "Good people attract good people. When you
> take a guy that has that kind of stability, that attracts stability."
>
> The agency's woes made it a frequent target of the Senate Education
> Committee during the 2008 Legislature.
>
> Critics on that panel, including Sen. Mike Jorgenson, R-Hayden, had
> encouraged the board to conduct a national search for a new director, a
> new chief financial officer and a new chief academic officer. That's after
> the agency's two previous directors, Dwight Johnson and Karen McGee, were
> hired from within the ranks of Idaho state government.
>
> Jorgenson said he's now satisfied Rush's selection is appropriate - even
> though Rush's previous job was as administrator of the Division of
> Professional-Technical Education, housed within the Board of Education.
>
> "If it were anyone else that was appointed from the stockpile, I'd be
> disappointed," Jorgenson said. "But Mike Rush is a terrific guy. He's
> worked under some tough conditions. I'm satisfied that Mike is probably as
> good as the board could have gotten on a national search basis."
>
> Senate Education Committee Chairman John Goedde, R-Coeur d'Alene, said
> Rush was a good choice.
>
> "I've got a lot of respect for Mike Rush," Goedde said. "That job seems to
> be eating people alive over the last couple of years. Hopefully he'll last
> longer than the last three directors did."
>
> The board hired Rush after an executive session this week in Boise.
> Trustees approved a salary of $110,000 per year for Rush, including a
> $7,000 bonus for the work he did as interim executive director.
>
> ---------------------------------------------
>
> Seeya at Farmers' Market, Moscow.
>
> Tom Hansen
> Moscow, Idaho
>
> "People who ridicule others while hiding behind anonymous monikers in 
> chat-
> room forums are neither brave nor clever."
>
> - Latah County Sheriff Wayne Rausch (August 21,
> 2007)
>
> ---------------------------------------------
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>           http://www.fsr.com/
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>
>


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