Roy Exum: School Board Embarrassment

  • Thursday, December 29, 2016
  • Roy Exum
Roy Exum
Roy Exum
Somewhere around Charlotte, N.C., I can almost assure you two members of the search firm contracted to find us a school superintendent are scratching their heads. They wonder if the Hamilton County School Board is real, or if Wednesday’s 90-minute conference call will show up on “Saturday Night Live” or some similar venue as rare-form humor. At a Wednesday work session, the school board was absolutely embarrassing in my view yesterday.

The board was horribly unprepared for the call, since board chairman Steve Highlander assumed the eight members also received a list of the questions that would be posed.
So when the board was asked about the good, the bad, and the ugly, I would have laughed at the bewilderment if it weren’t so dadgum disappointing.

“I want someone with good character,” said one member, as though the search guys would throw in a couple of candidates with bad character. “I’m glad you said that,” replied the shill on the other end of the phone. “Good character is really important for a school superintendent,” he added as our august panel nodded towards the stone-faced HCDE employees who were watching.

“What we need is leadership!” said another, a comment that was bolstered by the unbelievable comment, “and that means the school board must be included in the big and tough decisions.” Hello? The superintendent works for the school board; it is the ‘super’ who must give an accounting and to now demand the courtesy as a job prerequisite is a sterling indication roles must be redefined.

The North Carolina expert pounced. “You are exactly right … the board must be included to have a cohesive operation and the best opportunity,” or some such pandering remarks but what slayed me was what was not said.

The slick-tongued moderator wanted to know what a potential applicant would hear when conducting his own research. The school board dawdled, saying the media has presented a false impression, that it “is a great board” when avoiding what an applicant will truly find like a running back avoiding linebackers. It was laughable, I tell you, and the truth is undefeated. Blaming the media is a blind man’s game – all of Chattanooga has clearly seen what has happened in the past year.

Not one board member told the search firm that all three of the last superintendents in Hamilton County left in haste and quite prematurely, this to the tune of a half-million in buy-out money. Nobody said 60 percent of our third graders cannot read at grade level and that 65 percent of our graduating seniors must take remedial courses before enrolling in college. If you were a potential hire, might this interest you?

Nobody told the search experts our buildings are falling down – one elementary school has just 30 percent of restrooms still usable. Our central office is bloated with overkill, our faculties are suffering at every school and our leadership efforts, farmed out some time ago to a non-profit with an annual payroll of $2-plus million, is in fact a tragedy.

The search firm guy told an anecdotal story about how one school district in North Carolina just hired a superintendent with a law degree. That’s who we need! Between the Ooltewah rape and the Woodmore bus catastrophe, the new superintendent will deal with court schedules for years to come.

Worse, the Hamilton County Department of Education will soon be invaded. Several communities within the county can take it no more, having formed feasibility committees to study breaking off and forming small but viable independent school districts within the county. There is also a very real chance the state achievement district may claim as many as seven schools, siphoning off even more state and federal funding from the HCDE. When you are finished hiding your head in the sand, the next superintendent is virtually guaranteed a dire financial realization.

Everybody knows President-elect Donald Trump realizes education in America is bad. He sees an easy fix with public-to-private vouchers. Go ahead, Google what has happened in Indiana in the last three years and you’ll see public education – as we know – will radically change in just a few years because the horizon is changing in a huge way. America doesn’t want failures, nor does Hamilton County.

Now, if I know what the true story is about public education in Chattanooga, the only way the school board will lure a candidate is to buy him or her with heavy cash. Yet there is no money there. So they speak of character and leadership. Oh my mercy …

royexum@aol.com

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