Update, Monday March 7, 2016: Despite my seemingly airtight prediction below, the Hamilton County School Board voted NOT to buyout Supt. Rick Smith’s contract. Read all about it, here.
Original column from March 5:
In 20-plus years of covering Hamilton County schools, I’ve seen some weird things. I could fill an entire column with this weirdness, and surely someday I will. But if you had told me ten weeks ago that Superintendent Rick Smith would soon be chased away, the TNReady achievement testing process would be a total disaster, and that the first week of March would be dominated by threats, fights and arrests….I would have booked a long vacation. Let’s take a deep breath together, and take ’em one at a time:
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire Superintendent?
Come Monday at 5:00 p.m., School Board members will most likely send Smith packing with a parting gift valued at $269,000. A couple of weeks ago, I predicted a vote of 5-4, or maybe 6-3 in favor of Smith’s proposed buyout. I’m sticking with that prediction despite the fact public reaction has been strongly against a buyout. But I think most Board members will be swayed in favor of the buyout because A) it might still be cheaper than what Smith could win in a court case, fighting for the amount of his full contract ($721,000 through June 2019), and B) they want to get this over with.
In case you’re wondering what $269,000 would buy for students and teachers, here’s a partial list:
248 new Mac desktops…or 90,000 lunches for students…or 150 “smart” whiteboards….or the annual salary for 14 bus drivers….or 634 new iPads….or 3,611 new textbooks for high schools…or $97 to every teacher for basic supplies.
Wow, that’s a lot of stuff. Just keep in mind that if the Board takes Smith to court, and he ends up winning, you can multiply all those numbers, times 3. It’s widely believed that while Smith has not been a good communicator (with Board members and the public), and that he has presided over a period of low test scores, he has not, strictly speaking, violated the terms of his contract.
As soon as he cleans out his office, he’ll be replaced for a few days by a “temporary” interim superintendent. Somebody has to sign the checks, and be responsible.
Since no one currently in Central Office is apparently interested in the top job, and many are reportedly on the way out, let’s just say a new day is coming. If there is indeed a “good ol’ boy” network at HCDE, it will soon go the way of “The Dukes of Hazzard.” Just a loud, colorful memory.
The Dishonor Roll
Meanwhile, if this past week is any indication, maybe we need a Marine, or at least a few good men (and women) to stamp out the recent wave of threats and violence. It got started at Ooltewah High, as if it didn’t have a big enough cloud hanging over it already. Once social media and news outlets reported the bathroom wall threats, copycats inevitably followed, at too many schools to mention (even outside Hamilton County). Thankfully the threats were unfounded, although there were a handful of fights, a few arrests, and plenty of new policies on bathroom visits.
For whatever reason, some of our middle and high school students have been acting out like bullies, criminals, or even worse, presidential candidates. I’ve been working hard to put out some positive stories about great students, but they’re getting drowned out by the scary ones.
Security cameras are being added, metal detectors are being reconsidered, and police officers are more visible. The next superintendent already has a top priority: restoring parents’ faith in the safety of their children. Come to think of it, I can’t help but think some parents might need to get more involved with their children. Do they know how they’re acting? If not, can we hire a superintendent in charge of parents?
Getting Testy about “The Test”
The cherry on top of this disaster fudge cake has to be TNReady, the annual statewide achievement test. As Jerry Seinfeld so famously asked, “What could possibly go wrong?” After being told by actual teachers in actual schools that the online test wouldn’t work, the state pushed it out anyway. It did work, for about fifteen minutes, but it needed to work for five days.
So borrowing a page from 1965, the state decided to test kids the old-fashioned way, with guaranteed-to-work pencils and papers. With four weeks of breathing room, a March 9 testing kickoff was confidently announced for Hamilton County schools. Field trips were re-scheduled, curriculum plans were re-arranged.
Spoiler alert: now it gets weird. As of Friday March 4, the testing materials still haven’t arrived, so Hamilton County is forced to postpone yet again, to (hopefully) the week of March 14-18. Yes, just a few days before spring break. Let’s call off a few more field trips, and shuffle a few more plans.
After all, this is such an important testing process, the results will be back (estimated) in October at the earliest. So the data being collected on your child’s progress for this school year will arrive just in time to help them three months into the next school year. That makes perfect sense to someone, I guess.
Not to worry, though. A retired teacher tells me the testing gurus have their best people working on it. He even sent me a behind-the-scenes photo, seen below:
My personal choice for Superintendent would be Jill Levine. She could handle it!
Are you Serious?! Jill Levine is only for the rich non Europeans. Remember how she did the HILL CITY kids
I really wish people would give Mr. Smith a break. People act like he did all these things. He didn’t. Yes, mistakes were made, which he acknowledged, but it is much easier to see in the rearview mirror. It isn’t exactly like there is a class for administrators on how to handle a crisis like the one at Ooltewah. There probably will be now, unfortunately.
I can understand why Mr. Smith was reluctant to make comments too quickly. We have seen how the news jumps on stories before they have the facts and makes a mess of them. Sometimes they have destroyed people’s lives in the process, such as the case of RIchard Jewell.
Mr. Smith has worked really hard and served the children of this school district honorably for a long time. The rabble rousers are always looking for a pot to stir. When they have cooked this one until it is thoroughly burned, they will start another working on another pot. Just watch. I would suggest a little appreciation for Mr. Smith’s long years of good service is in order and let the man retire in peace.
Elsie Smith
PS – There is no way I would take an administrative job in the school system in this county. There are a lot of really fine people in this county, but the riff-raff chew people up and spit them out. I swear some of the people find that their sole source of entertainment. Maybe that is why we can’t keep a police chief or a school superintendent.
I once had many close contacts with Rick Smith when he was the Asst Superintendent. I wasn’t always in tune with his decisions, but I appreciated his involvement in trying to discover all pertinent issues that related to the decisions. I did support him for Superintendent. I lost contact with him after that. Still involved somewhat with the school system, as many complainers & parents should be. I wouldn’t want the job, no matter what it pays. Not sure what the answer is for the low performing schools. I personally know some very dedicated teachers in these schools who are also very discouraged. Mainly they are discouraged with parents & the disrespectful students. Now sure how this is Rick Smith’s doing.
Parents, get involved with your kid’s school, volunteer, get to know the teachers, teach your children respect…
As far as the violence threats are concerned. Find out who is responsible & prosecute. Many years ago when I was pursuing my MBA at Sothern Cal, we had so many bomb threats during semester finals that we had situation alternatives. If there were signs up saying situation A, we went one place to take finals, if B, we went to another place. We would always have at least three alternatives. Not as easy as when you only have one building to go to.
Applause to Elsie Smith on this one. Well said..