Roy Exum
When the Hamilton County School Board meets later today, it will be the most important session of the year in this – a compelling and continuing series of “the most important meeting” of the year. Let’s face it, the school board has never been under such intense scrutiny from an irate public and late this afternoon will be the last monthly meeting before the Hamilton County Commission votes on the 2017 budget, one that includes over $400 million for public education.
County Mayor Jim Coppinger knows that to fully support our school’s budget request will necessitate a tax increase. The nine county commissioners know that the county school system has been found to be a disaster – this with the worst state results ever. But bigger than the rest, everybody involved knows there is a ticking time bomb that could play further havoc with as many as 16 schools that are either “at risk” or “on the verge of.”
The “time bomb,” as admittedly unfair as it may well be, is the way the ‘Good Ole Boy’ network, unnamed teacher’s union operatives, and the two black members, callously combined forces to pick a known “insider” as the interim superintendent last month. In truth Kirk Kelly, a prominent fixture in the now-ousted Rick Smith’s regime, is neither a bad nor incapable educator.
But that is not what anyone other than five school board members and the desperate GOB network wants. In a community that is desperate for radical change and a total “rebirth” of education, as opposed to a school system that no longer has the trust of the teachers, parents and students, Kelly’s coup was not only obviously staged but has promise of repeating itself when a permanent leader for the school district is chosen.
For that matter, school board members David Testerman, Rev. Steve Highlander, George Ricks, Karitsa Mosley and Joe Galloway could actually propose Dr. Kelly as the “permanent” tonight and there would be no way to stop it with the bloc of five votes overruling the remaining four. If indeed that were to happen, prying money from the Hamilton County Commission would be tougher than getting rusted lug nuts off a ’55 Ford.
You see, Dr. Kelly approached the County Commission on Tuesday, asking for an increase of $24.2 million, and – to be blunt – that isn’t going to happen. The commissioners have watched the HCDE become progressively worse in each of the past four years and, after a joint work session with the school board, several commissioners said they were appalled by the school board’s lack of direction and inept efforts. Bluntly? The County Commission has heard more than enough from the school board. The commissioners are fed up listening to continuous complaints about the schools.
In December a joint effort, partially funded by the school system itself, painted a dismal picture of the HCDE. The school board was as shocked as the general public, this due to a blatant lack of information. In fact, Smith’s rocky departure was due to the fact a critical report from the Tennessee Department of Education had been withheld from the board and the public for months. Dr. Kelly was over accountability for the HCDE, but Smith bore the blame.
Several commissioners insist they want to see who will become the permanent superintendent, alleging ‘status quo’ is now ‘status no.’ The school board, in the words of one commissioner yesterday afternoon, “must learn how to behave and begin to take their elected jobs seriously.” Behave? “Kirk Kelly’s hire was an open-faced joke. That is not the way to do what is best for the public and all nine (school board) members knew exactly what was going to happen.”
The latest dust-up between the commission and the school board is over a proposed cell tower at East Ridge High School. School Board Chairman Jonathan Welch has forcefully said he is “sick and tired” of talking about it yet it wasn’t mentioned at this week’s County Commission meeting. Is that odd or curious? Or is it more of the petty jousting that – in the end – will not meet all of the needs of the children in the district.
With the ask for $24.2 million in new funding virtually dead, the school board’s biggest order is to seek out and find the permanent superintendent, one who can look at the proposed budget and put it in place. Actually, anyone who applies for the job will want to see the budget and decide if they can be successful with it.
But why open a search, why hire a search firm, why waste a single dime if the bloc of voters on the school board already has its guy? In my way of thinking that is the top question to be asked tonight because, also in my thinking, the county commissioners are really eager to know what is going to happen “or else we’ll be throwin’ good money after bad.”
royexum@aol.com