MNPS BOE---just say no
If I haven't made my POV clear here it is again.
MNPS BOE doesn't need to hire a director at this time.
We need to leave Chris Henson in place through the summer when we know where we stand with the state. THEN we should begin a director search when everyone knows just what the job is going to require.
- We don't need to hire someone just to have someone in the job.
- We don't need to have this BOE hire someone when, depending on the scores in August, they may be tossed out of office by the state.
- We don't need to have a new person come in and try and make changes that the state may very well not allow in August when the scores are known.
BTW: Maybe someone can clean up the Director's Cabinet page and actually create an Interim Director page to link to when bloggers and others refer to Chris Henson. The current page refers to Garcia as Director, still has Ben Wright and Woody McMillan on it and still doesn't have Melissa Bryant's photo. I'm sure she's not really concerned about it but if you're going to mention her there---BTW II: I know the BOE voted to provide Henson a few more dollars each month but if they're going to take my advice and leave him in the position for another year, they need to up that yet again for the next year. There is no way we can fully compensate anyone for putting up with all this nonsense but let's at least try.
2 comments:
Hear - Hear!! I am in complete agreement. I believe it needs to be taken a step further. Have the Mayor take over the district and appoint a board. The board can then do the heavy lifting and fire people in the central office and schools, consolidate services and revamp the way education is done in this city. Get rid of policy governance. The board needs strong leaders with real finance experience, business experience, etc. There are tons of businesses processes that need to be implemented in the way schools are done. No one on the current board is capable or willing to do this.
Start the whole thing over...now, please before we lose one more generation of students...or have Nashville's public schools passed the tipping point? Probably have...
One of the biggest challenges with education is the educators themselves. They have been in school since kindergarten and the vast majority of them have no other experiences to fall back on to make systematic changes. Well...now is the time to bring in non-educators combined with strong instructional leadership (just don't set it up the way it was when Johnson was here) and move this district forward. I would love to see a business person in charge of the district...
Nay -- that will NEVER happen in this city...unless the Mayor takes over the district...
I'd certainly like to see the Board do more heavy lifting. They seem to farm every decision out to some community study group or professional entity. If they can't do the work...why are they there?
Since shortly after I met policy governance in the spring of 2006 I've known it to be more of shield for accountability than anything else. The only part I've welcomed is the schedule of reviewing the Superintendent's performance--however even that lacks any real opportunity for rebuttal.
Another pet peeve of mine is the Board's policy on not commenting or criticizing. If they're supposed to be a deliberative body---how do you do that without honest criticism and comment? But no, they've got to present one unified face to the community. And with our open record laws (which I support) they're not going to duke it out in public and chance being quoted on a blog or have it appear on YouTube.
You're exactly right. It takes different people to run the system than actually teach the children. A degree in education does not mean you can run the system. I'm all for a proven CEO heading up the whole mess. I've written here before so much of the system is non-educational: transportation, health services, human relations department, procurement, accounting, maintenance of facilities...
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