Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Education / Politics / Woods School Board Snaps Out of State of Denial, Confesses Shortcomings to Mayor
Posted by Jeff Woods on Wed, Jan 28, 2009 at 5:42 AM
The surprising part is that it took the board so long to figure that out. Our schools are dropout factories, and they have failed for five straight years to meet student achievement standards. The state has taken over many of the administration's functions, and the mayor is threatening to disband the board and run things himself if schools fail for a sixth straight year.
Yet until yesterday, the board remained in a stubborn state of denial and publicly pretended none of this was happening. If anything's wrong, board members said more than once, it's a PR problem. Now, here they were almost apologizing to Dean. It was a touching moment.
"The board understands we did not do our job as well as we should have done our job," board chair David Fox said, promising to turn over a new leaf under new superintendent Jesse Register.
"We want to be sure we keep our finger on the pulse," board member Mark North said. "In the past our process has sorta broken down. We're going to work on that. We want to make sure our reports are about the forest and not the bark on the trees. It will take some time to perfect this process."
Perhaps we have entered a new Era of Good Feelings between the mayor and the board. Or maybe board members are merely feeding Dean a line of bullshit to try to save their jobs. For his part, the mayor listened politely, his face scrunched up in a look of skepticism. When it was his turn to talk, he outlined all his school-related activities. In a little more than a year in office, he's almost built satellite school system. He's opened a truancy center and "after-school zones" to stop kids from playing hooky. He's raised private money to bring Teach for America and the New Teacher Project here. With his support, new alternative high schools for at-risk kids are opening next fall.
As the mayor talked about all this, school board members admitted once or twice that they were clueless. "I haven't heard of that one," Fox said at one point. "Where is that?" Gracie Porter asked about one program.
"I like the thinking out of the box," Karen Johnson offered helpfully when Dean finished.
Register attended the meeting, too, of course. He seems like a happy-go-lucky guy, and he didn't have much to say. He promised a "60- to 90-day rollout" of unspecified reforms, but he wasn't exactly reassuring about the future.
"I feel like we're remodeling the plane while it's in flight," he said. Maybe we need a new pilot.
Comments (6)
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Regretfully, I have come to the conclusion that the Scene is about as clueless on the education as the school board.
Hey Boyd: Would you mind giving me a call at Scene HQ? I'd like to ask you about something. -pete
MNPS will never become the high performing district that it could be as long as they continue to promote people based on personal feelings. Additionally, the lack of qualified African American males that are promoted and retained in adminstrative positions is a serious problem. Black males are discipline more severely than their white counterparts for minor infractions. Nashville has truly become an mainstream African-American Urban District and our main issue some from a student sub-group that is not well represented in the schools or central office. The qualified African American male candidates are black-balled and held back due to the White good ole boy system. Even the black who are in central office positions work to hold back other black due to the crabs in a barrel mentality." Jess REgister has no clue what he has gotten himself into. The school board has no clue. THE MAYOR NEEDS TOTAL CONTROL OF THE DISTRICT!!!! Mayor Dean is the only one who has realistic and effective solutions. The State can't run the State. They have no clue either. Connie Smith is a power hungry numbere cruncher that can careless about kids. She has a chip on her shoulder because Dr. Garcia treated her like crap. Speaking of crap. Dr. Garcia was the worst decision the school board ever made. He was a tyrant, and advocated for the use of fear an intimidation. He was far from charismatic and cared more about advancing his career than the kids!!! It is time to get back to the major focus of education - THE KIDS!!! That is who I work for everyday. I give me last, my all, and my best everyday to help each of them to succeed. TAKE IT OVER MAYOR DEAN, PLEASE TAKE IT OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!
