Scott Bean hasn't always been popular during his seven-year tenure as Utah's superintendent of public instruction. But then, people who are dedicated and innovative tend to stir controversy from time to time.
Bean, who announced his retirement this week, should be commended for service that showed he wasn't content to merely sit still and continue down well-worn paths.When he leaves office in January, Bean also will leave his recommendations to increase high school graduation requirements to 28 credits in required classes, up from the current 24, as well as a proposal to add specialists to elementary schools. Those decisions now will be in the hands of others.
Only recently did he back away from a proposal to lengthen the school day by 30 minutes in elementary grades and 45 minutes in secondary schools, a plan that generated plenty of debates. Bean changed his mind after talking to local school leaders and deciding a longer day was not needed in order to produce students better able to compete in the global marketplace.
A good leader keeps an open mind at all times and objectively evaluates all new information. A good leader also is unafraid to propose things that may be considered earth shattering. Certainly, public education is an area in which people tend to gravitate toward comfort zones. Bean didn't let people get too comfortable, and with good reason.
On the same day Bean announced his retirement, state education officials released the latest SAT scores of Utah children in the fifth, eight and 11th grades. They show that fifth graders' reading and language scores are slipping steadily below the national median, a cause for alarm.
All is not well in the Utah public education system. Bean realized this and tried to find remedies. He spent his tenure trying to prepare Utah schoolchildren to succeed in the 21st century. Education, as he said, is the "most significant thing we can do for children."
He will be missed. His replacement, Steve Laing, has big shoes to fill.