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| The school district's enrollment has been declining over time, while the county's population (and neighboring public school districts' populations) have been increasing. The governance structure is one MAJOR reason why. This can be fixed on Tuesday with a YES vote for an appointed superintendent |
I make no apologies for the tone of the below post. I write this only because I fear the future course of this district if we do not fix the underlying structure of this school system. The current structure is a backwards, broken model. I'll explain what I mean below, but first, I must say something important:
There is no magic bullet to fix our public school system locally.
Elected or Appointed--whoever the Superintendent is starting in 2020 will not possess a magic wand to fix the system.
But the current system is BROKEN.
How do I know? Well, let's see: I have three kids that went through the system, I went through this same system, I've traveled and lived all over the country and the world in places that have GREAT public school systems, I have many friends and family members that have gone through this system and/or have had kids in this system or have worked in this system---and I spent 10 years of my life as a School Board Member in this system where all I tried to do was MAKE THE SYSTEM BETTER!
It is challenging on many fronts. I''ll save space here but would point you to this post that describes the real problems in detail.
So knowing that we have unique challenges locally and that there is no panacea--we next go to the governance structure.
Is it really best to give all the power to one person? I say NO. That's why most districts do not give ALL POWER to the superintendent as we do here in Escambia. What we do here is abnormal.
Sure, those who benefit from the current structure and those that do not understand the inner-workings of this district will say things like:
"The school board has to vote to terminate or hire employees---and they make policy and control the budget" And sure, as a practical matter that is true--but it is much more complex than that.
Under our current, broken system: The board can only vote against a superintendent's employment recommendation for very specific causes as delineated in statute. Translation--it does not happen.
The board can only create policy "upon the recommendation of the superintendent" which under the current system means simply "if the superintendent wants it and agrees with it"
And with respect to employment decisions:
Whoever the superintendent picks--is the person that fills the position. Check the record if you don't believe me.
When it comes to termination recommendations--yes, the board has the final say. But I will say that the superintendent's staff and all employees of the district (over 6,000 full, part-time, and contract employees) are 100% loyal to the superintendent only--as he and he alone approves their year-over-year contract renewals (except for tenured instructional personnel--who are becoming more and more rare since SB 736 was passed in 2011)--and so once a termination decision comes down from the superintendent's office, there is a huge force of loyalists that will lobby for the recommendation. They don't have any loyalty, and show no deference, whatsoever, to school board members. Why? Because under this current structure the board has ZERO power to do anything unless and until the elected superintendent says "yes." Zero power.
So a lot of employees are terrified to buck the system.
And heaven forbid a board member vote against a superintendent's employee recommendation. Instant "pariah" status--there it is, you got it.
Look no further than the Coach Benny Washington Vote for proof...
We have MAJOR problems in our district that require a specialist that is fearless to confront.
Here is what we don't need, any more, in Escambia County schools......
--We don't need a system where employees are told NOT to share important information with school board members who are statutorily obligated to "supervise and control" public education. We don't need any more Newpoint fiascos....
--We don't need a system where the superintendent forces school administrators to sweep SERIOUS
discipline issues under the rug to the detriment of teachers and students to achieve "Better" Discipline statistics to avoid negative press coverage.
--We don't need a system where student discipline referrals are "ripped up" by administrators that are job scared and that force good teachers and good students to absorb this conduct like human sponges
--We don't need a system where good teachers are micro-managed and force-fed reams of checklists and paperwork to complete (put on the hamster wheel) in an endless loop that never results in any meaningful progress and simply burns good teachers out...
--We don't need a system where money is spent and decisions are made for political reasons---not for sound, principled reasons grounded in the best interests of students, parents, teachers, and taxpayers.
--We don't need a system where it is all about politics, patronage, legacy hires, and "who" works where and "who" supported the last superintendents' campaign.
--We don't need a system where draft consent agreements from radical social justice groups are never presented to the board of education--but rather are held and implemented unilaterally over time to minimize negative press headlines.
--We don't need a system where 5 board members can tell the superintendent to do one thing, and the elected superintendent thwarts the will of these five board members and DOES THE OPPOSITE!
--We don't need a system where board members have to SUE THE SUPERINTENDENT to receive requested district records from the superintendent's staff.
--We don't need a system where the political superintendent can actively work against or for board members that will "support" his vision.
--We don't need a system that continuously loses students while surrounding districts grow exponentially---and still keeps building new, unnecessary facilities to curry favor with builders who are also campaign contributors.
--We don't need a system that allows [CONDONES] social promotion and unfair grading practices that unfairly influence graduation rates.
--We don't need a district where student-on-student and student-on-teacher bullying is not seriously challenged--but rather tacitly condoned by feckless, media-scared inaction.
--We don't need a system that creates artificial successes that do not align with reality
We need a wake up call and we need to start respecting teachers and parents and students again!
We have MASSIVE issues outside of the broken governance structure that require all of our attention on STUDENTS. But if we are trying to solve these problems AND fight the press and maintain "message discipline" by stifling information and silencing dissent from elected school board members that are trying to help-------------we are never going to get where we need to go. NEVER.
Please vote YES on Tuesday for step one (1) in fixing our schools. And know this: Fixing our governance structure by allowing the board to pick the best educational professional to administer our schools is just this-----STEP ONE.
The hard work starts after that first step, step one.
But we won't ever get to step two if we can't get past step one.
15th from the bottom is not good enough-- that's where we are no matter who presents alternative data, facts, and statistics. 15th of 67-----we can do better!
Vote YES for Escambia Schools on Tuesday at the end of the ballot. Please do it. Please.
YES for better leadership.
YES to put students, Parents, and Teachers first---not politics
YES to end the King Superintendent model in Escambia County.
VOTE YES!
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