Thursday 12/05/08

MNPS Budget:

MNPS BOE member Gracie Porter (District 5-East Nashville) “I certainly am not a proponent of having classroom teachers cut from the budget.” (via City Paper)

She's walking a tight rope here, as are several BOE members. Porter is careful here to mention classroom teachers but she's well aware of the fact she got about 75% of her campaign money in 2004 from the unions that will be insisting not one job be cut. It's time to repay that war chest.

The Tennessean is suggesting that "One option on the table includes allowing all employees to take pay cuts so that no layoffs are necessary." Obviously, they didn't run that by Metro Nashville Education Association President Eric Huth. Wonder if the MNPS BOE would consider walking in solidarity with the staff and take a cut themselves? Actually, they could start by brown bagging it instead of eating catered meals at district expense.

And those of you combing through the budget and financial commitments should not overlook the obligations regarding health and retirement that contracts with those unions have committed us to. It's not just GM/Ford/Chrysler that have been hampered by those.

New Director of Schools:

The Board interviews the three candidates this weekend in the Board Conference Room. The first interview starts Saturday from 9 to 11, the second from 11:15 to 1:15 and the third one on Sunday from 4 to 6.

I'll repeat what I said a year ago, let's leave Chris Henson as Superintendent--if he'll agree to it. THIS is not the time to bring in someone new when our situation is so tenuous with the State of Tennessee and the whole applecart could be tossed over in just nine months. I see no sense in taking a chance on an understandably limited pool of applicants in a rush to get someone in the job.

If qualified candidates were scared off by the pitiful open records laws in this state then let me suggest we just go whole hog and bring back elected superintendents. The answer is not to pull this huge decision back into the shadows but to bring it fully into the light.

Nashville Board of Education members also have been advised by [consultant] Attea to avoid commenting on individual candidates. So school board members were hesitant to speak in much detail as to their perceptions of the quality of the applicant pool. (via City Paper)

This annoys me and is typical of the way the MNPS Board operates. It provides convenient cover and short circuits real discussion between the public and their elected representatives at a time when their input should be considered. I think voters and parents need to know what our BOE members think about these applicants and their qualifications.

And we don't need to be taking advice from this fellow:

"I've never heard of these people, and it is my job to know everybody," said James Guthrie, chairman of Vanderbilt's department of educational leadership. "Maybe one will just come in and dazzle us — we need to be dazzled now." (via Tennessean)

I'll repeat myself. We need a hard worker who will put the actual education of the children first. If they're good at helping the community understand what that entails and how their need for flash and dazzle is a distraction to the core mission---so much the better.

Rays of Hope

Between the Mayor's Special Education meeting featuring Mike Remus and the rehiring of Beth O'Shea some disheartened MNPS parents are beginning to hope again. If the BOE can stay out of the way and let Connie Smith, Chris Henson and Superintendent Mayor Dean have their lead their hopes for their children's attendance in MNPS schools may come true.

And so we begin anew

Garcia is gone. The search starts for a new leader for the MNPS system. If ever there was time for prayer...this is one of them.

I don't have any problem leaving the system in the hands of Chris Henson in the meantime. From the moment I met him he has always been friendly, helpful, gracious and very professional. I never got the impression from him that I did from others that I was the enemy in the camp. I don't think the BOE members should be in a big rush to fill this position. First order of business is to create a budget for the upcoming year...and there isn't anyone else better equipped to help them do that than the man that's been doing it, the new interim Director of Schools Chris Henson.

We also need to consider that this August 5/9ths of the board is up for re-election. Should the very folks that gave Garcia a raise last year (or extended his contract for 3 years the year before) really be the folks to bring in a new superintendent? My concern is that they believed what Garcia had been telling them all along. Will they also believe and fail to properly vet the information any new candidate will provide? A tool we have now that they didn't really have back in 2001 when they hired Garcia is the Internet. It's going to be easier than ever to check a candidates qualifications and BS factor---if the BOE actually takes the time to do their research.

My advice to the mayor...don't jump on this too quickly. Certainly, let the BOE know your opinion, offer whatever resources you have available but don't do their job for them, don't protect them from themselves. They made this bed, they need to lie in it a while. They don't need to create a separate search committee that they can later blame for not getting it right. They need to roll up their sleeves and earn the money they're being paid.

This from this morning's City Paper:

The troubles of the school system became directly linked to the city’s political life as well. First, in 2006, the Metro School Board saw a huge turnover in its ranks at the ballot box. The board members turned out of office were largely those who opposed keeping Garcia. The successful, insurgent board candidates were backed by major players in the city’s business community who built a protective political wall around Garcia.

As one of those turned out of office I appreciate this paragraph. And when the political players who have been orchestrating the makeup of the BOE and protecting Garcia start up again to present their favorite for his replacement, will the city pause to consider their track record?

Whoever replaces Garcia must recognize that we live in a new education world. One that is filled with more and more options and people with means and will are leaving the system. Will the new director recognize the changing educational delivery system landscape or will the be stuck in the old way of doing things? If they value brick and mortar and placating the adults running the system more than the needs of the students and their education consuming parents don't bother coming. If they realize that the public system is no longer the monopoly it was and is actually in competition with other education choices and is prepared to retool the system to meet those realities, lets talk about how they would bring Nashville into the 21st Century.


Karen Johnson has original documentation regarding Garcia's departure.