Asleep at the wheel

These two quotes should not be buried at the bottom of page 3B of the Tennessean. They should have been the headline of this story of the State of Tennessee's intervention in MNPS.

MNPS Director of Schools for the last 6 years with two more years on his contract Dr. Pedro Garcia :

"We didn't do what we needed to do, and that's the bottom line," said Pedro Garcia, Metro director of schools.

"It's frustrating for me because the principals are working so hard and the teachers are working so hard because their reputation is on the line. … No one wants to be in this situation."

and Gracie Porter 35 year professional public school educator and administrator:

"We've been asleep at the wheel," said District 5 board member Gracie Porter, who represents parts of east Nashville. "It didn't just happen. It didn't come yesterday. It didn't come overnight."

Hard work does not equal success. No one should get paid for 'working hard'. They should get paid for getting the job done, for success. Until we're freely allowed to pay great teachers and administrators for great work we're going to continue to have staff 'asleep at the wheel'. Until we wake up the School Board and hold them accountable for letting staff "sleep"--they'll keep sleeping.

In the meantime thousands of our children are dropping out or exiting the system without the education they need. They'll have plenty of time to sleep--without jobs.