Analysis: A high-profile public job search, unfolding outside the public view

It might be the most important public hire in Idaho this year.

Yet the search for Boise State University’s next president is cloaked in intrigue.

Sure, there’s a slick looking search website — with not one but two pretty photos of trees on campus in full bloom. There are rosters for the State Board of Education’s search committee — and the subcommittees that held listening sessions on campus this spring.

But there’s no timetable, because that’s open-ended. There’s no cost estimate for the search, because that’s fluid. And there are certainly no applicants’ names, or even a tally of unnamed applicants.

The State Board answered some, but not all, of EdNews’ questions this week. Here’s what we know about the process so far.

A confidential vetting process

The search is being headed