Approaching the finish line? Or jumping the gun?

The Saturday Chron says that the superintendent search is all but over:

Finalist to run schools is ex-Las Vegas chief
Garcia known for frankness, service in California districts

The search for a new San Francisco schools superintendent is down to one finalist -- former Las Vegas schools chief Carlos Garcia, The Chronicle has learned.

In interviews Friday, four San Francisco school board members said the selection process is down to final steps such as checking references before making an offer.

The four -- Mark Sanchez, Hydra Mendoza, Norman Yee and Jane Kim -- gave Garcia nothing but rave reviews.

While the board deserves praise for adhering to a disciplined search process, it is troubling to see this story leaked to the Chronicle before an offer has been made. This is how a good search can go bad in a hurry. With four board members cited by name in the article I have to question why they have let themselves leak this news to the media? Nothing good could possibly come from jumping the gun. If the story is correct, he knows to expect a cut in pay to come here, so why complicate the negotiations by blabbing to the media before any offer has been put on the table? For the record I'll note that Commissioner Mar has flatly declined to comment about the candidate or the process on our list. That is how it should be handled.

Let's hope the leak does not screw up Mr. Garcia's candidacy. It would be a shame to botch a process that has been executed in a timely way with a broad, inclusive input from so many stakeholders, and which has apparently identified a consensus candidate.

Update: An insider tells me that the leak did not originate with the BOE members cited in the article. The leak happened and the article was to be published with or without their comments, so the four commisioners chose to participate with the article. So it is a regrettable breach, but apparently not the fault of the BOE.