Something is getting ready to happen at Howard School, a place where so many different attempts and experiments have already taken place in recent years it is dizzying. So let me begin by saying I don't care what happens as long as the children who go there are soon performing at grade level by the time they leave. That's what we all want, including the kids.

It now appears the Tennessee Department of Education will quickly take dramatic steps in regard to the "persistently failing school" in its quest to obtain the much-sought "Race To The Top" federal funding. Howard will become somewhat of a pawn in the high-stakes megabucks game, a proving ground of sorts. That doesn't bother me, either.

So I'll go you one better; I wish the state would take the entire Hamilton County Department of Education and chuck it in the river. When the state has to come in because Chattanooga is either unable or unwilling to handle a "persistent" failure, it's time to wish superintendent Jim Scales "a happy life" on some other planet because he's performed just as badly as Howard's miserable graduation rates.

Let's see ... one week ago we were writing about fights at Brainerd High and East Ridge High where students had to actually be tasered. Then there was the YouTube video of two girls fighting at Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy that was flashed all over the world. Today's news is that two kids were shot over the weekend. So ask yourself; how are we doing right now at places besides Howard?

On the CBS News the other night there was a wonderful story about the Harlem Village Academy. That neighborhood is worse than Howard's South Market Street location, but there, we learn, each day begins with a massive pep rally and then the children go to school 10 hours each day. Each child is mandated to read 50 books a year and today 100 percent of its students pass state testing requirements.

Now, it's just been a year or so since Superintendent Scales asked the Tennessee Board of Education to allow Howard to open two hours later so the children could sleep late. Oh, that makes no difference, you say, but now, as the state moves quickly to take over the same Howard, let's also remember the Hamilton County School Board allowed that to happen in what was nothing short of a statewide embarrassment.

Late last week a parade of Chattanooga black leaders, many whom I admire, made an eleventh-hour plea to keep the current principal, a highly-respected man named Dr. Paul Smith, no matter what happens. What's troubling is that these same leaders didn't cry out when the graduation numbers have "persistently" lagged, nor did even one take a stand against the laughable theory the new Volkswagen plant surely won't mind starting the assembly line two hours later so its employees can sleep in. Please!

Check the pay scales of principals and teachers at Brainerd, Howard and Tyner compared to other schools. You'll find they are higher. Is this because these educators are more gifted, that they serve a better plate of learning? No, it is because that in the Hamilton County school system these days we literally offer "combat pay."

Go back to the Harlem Village Academies with me and you'll hear principal Deborah Kenny make a most-profound statement: "Education is the issue that solves all other issues." That ripple effect you'll see undoubtedly will affect fighting, gangs, shooting, truancy, but - more importantly - the precious future of a child who can read and write versus one who cannot.

At the Harlem School absolutely no talking is allowed in the hallways when classes change. If a student fails to score at least 80 percent on a test, that child is immediately sent to a tutor. Shyan Freeman, a fifth-grader, told the CBS camera he was afraid to go to class six months ago, but "now I'm doing so much better. They really care about me."

Another was more succinct: "This school is trying to set the example to other schools to put the discipline on the students. If we can do it, every other (student) can do it just like us."

No, I wish the state would throw our county's entire Board of Education out and then hire the good ones back. Only this time, let's give them the tough tools it takes to maintain order and the salaries where the teachers will get their morale back all over the city. I am certain it can be done - let's lead, and no longer follow.

How's that? Harlem principal Kerry will tell you how in just one sentence: "We hire really smart, passionate, driven people and then give them the freedom and the respect to run the classroom as they see fit." My simple reply is "Bingo!"

Now, let's beg the state to come in here and overhaul our whole engine. In a way, it makes you nervous since these are the same people who have Tennessee ranked as the No. 44 on the national list when it comes to education, but, then again, it can't be any worse than Howard's 51-percent graduation rate.

Don't worry about Dr. Paul Smith - trust me - he is so good and wonderful he'll quickly show he's better than anybody in Nashville, but, right now, let's let the chips fall where they may. As we all inwardly realize, it's time for something to "really happen" at several Chattanooga schools where the worst failing grades have actually come from the leadership at the central office.

royexum@aol.com