SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Leaders of an Illinois school district seem more concerned about where school administrators live than how effective they are at their jobs.

In the next week, the Board of Education of Springfield Public School District 186 is set to rewrite board policy to clarify that district administrators must live within the district, reports WICS.

Anyone not complying will be given time to change residences, according to the news report.

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“Basically, these administrators have to move back in the district,” school board Vice President Adam Lopez said. “If they do not comply, they will be terminated, or if they are a tenure teacher they will be able to go back to the classroom as a tenure teacher.”

This decision demonstrates that school board members are willing to sacrifice continuity of leadership and the quality of education by terminating administrators who may only live a few miles outside district boundaries.

The decision comes at a time when the quality of instruction in public schools is a foremost issue in this country.

School districts need experienced, quality leaders, and as long as they are able to meet the requirements of the job and get to work on time, does it really matter where they live?

The policy is important for public relations reasons, according to Lopez.

“Parents like walking down the street and seeing their principal or the administrator outside in their yard, or their kids going to school with each other,” Lopez told WCIS. “That means a lot.”

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Memo to Lopez:  Parents also want their children to receive a top notch education under the guidance of the best available administrators, and we would bet most don’t care if they live three counties away.

The Board has decided to nail down this policy just as it searches for a new superintendent. There is no telling how many qualified candidates may fail to apply because of this new regulation.

Who loses in that scenario? The students and parents who may be denied the services of great educators for no good reason at all.