Rod Paige Replacement -- Hispanic vs Most Qualified

Rod Paige hasn't even begun the confirmation process for his appointment as Secretary of Education, and already there is controversy over his replacement for his old job as Superintendent of HISD.

The HISD school board wants to hire "the most qualified person for the job," regardless of race. Hispanic leaders want to ensure that the most qualified person is Hispanic, and one group has started it's own search for a replacement.

Now Houston City Councilman Gabriel Vasquez gets mentioned as a possible replacement and there are protests -- not because he isn't qualified, but because he has "baggage." (He worked to reform the bilingual education program when he was on the school board, so that it now focuses on teaching students English as quickly as possible.) http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/metropolitan/787232

I just wondered what your thoughts were, especially those involved with the HISD system, or attending HISD schools, and/or are Hispanic.

I do not want to start any race wars -- just get some insight into why people feel so strongly about this issue.

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