The following editorial is from The Oregonian.

Gov. John Kitzhabers education board is supposed to oversee Oregons entire education enterprise from preschool to college, encompassing many thousands of employees.

So what does it mean if the board cant effectively manage one guy?

Rudy Crews inattention to Oregon, his careless travel spending and his frenzy of extracurricular activities might reveal as much about the Oregon Education Investment Board as it does about the departed Crew himself. If the board wants a more committed education leader, it must set the stage for that commitment to occur.

Following a national search led by his board, Kitzhaber picked Crew last year as Oregons first chief education officer. This high-profile hire of the former head of New York and Miami schools was part of a massive shake-up that included concentrating more power in the governors office. Crews $280,000-a-year task was to lead Oregon to new heights of educational achievement, and he quickly had a positive impact by helping with strategic planning.

But the Bahamas beckoned, as The Oregonians Betsy Hammond reported. So did Washington, D.C., Santa Fe, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and seemingly every U.S. city with an available flight from the Portland International Airport. Crew took more than nine weeks of paid time off during his 52-week jaunt in Oregon, billed the state for thousands in personal travel expenses, tried to get the state to pay for goodies such as first-class seats and skipped town regularly during the legislative session.

The revelations reflect poorly on Crew, who left a couple weeks ago for his new job as a college president in New York. He already had broken his pledge to stay in Oregon at least three years, and it appears he spent much of his stint racking up frequent-flier miles. Even as a known job-changer, big-city player and famously restless figure, Crew outdid himself.

Yet the Oregon Education Investment Board, chaired by Kitzhaber, owns a share of the responsibility, too. The board approved his hire and OKd an arrangement that allowed Crew to continue paid gigs on the side, including adviser to two for-profit education companies. The board and governor also showed such deference at the outset that Crew felt comfortable spending a good deal of his time on other pursuits.

Kitzhaber tapped board leader Nancy Golden, a retired Springfield superintendent and trusted voice, to serve as Crews interim replacement. Golden said Wednesday that Crew gave notice not long after his frequent travel emerged as a concern. She also said theres a lesson here: Education leaders need to be transparent about their time and clear about their priorities (not to mention physically present) to maintain their credibility.

Shes right. Likewise, the board itself needs to lay out clear expectations for its next hire an achievement compact, if you will to boost the likelihood of engaged, sustained leadership. The board cant afford another Crew, and apparently, neither can Oregon.