"The situation may not be so much about how a superintendent could fail an exam, but whether such an exam is a useful measuring tool – and what happens when those charged with raising standards are forced to live up to them." — Amanda Paulson in her Christian Science Montior article about the Massachusetts school superintendent who failed a required basic literacy test three times.
I’d say that when the standard is whether the highest education official in town should be able to read and write basic English, it’s a no-brainer. The worst part about this situation is the way Massachusetts state officials have rallied to Laboy’s defense, the governor himself proclaiming that it wasn’t as important for the superintendent to pass the test as it was for a teacher in the classroom.