Dive Brief:

• In an Indianapolis Star column published Wednesday, Gordon Hendry, at-large member of the Indiana State Board of Education, wrote that Superintendent of Public Instruction and Board Chair Glenda Ritz causes unnecessary chaos.  
• Hendry, a Democrat, claims his essay against the Republican-turned-Democrat does not stem from partisan affiliations, but rather what he sees to be a sad, unproductive shift in the way meetings are run.  
• Ritz and the board are under a lot of pressure these days. Not only did Indiana drop the Common Core and commit to creating new standards for the upcoming school year, but the U.S. Department of Education flagged its NCLB waiver application, forcing the state to submit a new one.  

Dive Insight:

"As a Democrat, I don't know why the superintendent insists on creating conflict where rational debate should instead exist," Hendry writes before explaining that he hopes Ritz will begin to "promote an agenda of ideas instead of more empty, anti-everything rhetoric."

While Indiana's situation is unique, it is not the first state to have board-versus-superintendent issues. Wyoming recently hired a consulting firm to help study the way other states divide power among Boards of Education, since it too was struggling with chaotic board meetings.