Roy Exum: ‘So…Run Us Together’

  • Monday, April 18, 2016
  • Roy Exum
Roy Exum
Roy Exum

In August of 1992, Jill Keegan arrived at the James Lewis Elementary School to begin a two-year stint in the revolutionary “Teach For America” program. This is where the brightest and sharpest minds of America – right after college – give two years of their promising lives helping to teach the nation’s most poverty-stricken children. Both teacher and student learn far more than they ever would otherwise.

The elementary school where Keegan had been assigned was one of the very worst in the country. Located at the time in what was the Murder Capital of the United States, the dumpy school in pre-Katrina New Orleans was so bad it had no air conditioning, this where temperatures still hovered around 100 degrees most days and the ever-oppressive humidity was even worse.

Keegan was hardly ready for this. Born in the Bronx, she had majored in classical piano and education at one of the “Seven Sisters” – graduating Cum Laude from Wellesley, generally regarded as the best women’s college in the world. Now, in the slums of News Orleans, she found herself in a suffocating pressure cooker of a classroom with her supplies for the year. Neatly stacked on her desk, were 12 pencils, one pad of paper, a box of chalk, a board eraser and a small roll of tape.

The next day her third grade class arrived. All coming from The Saint Thomas projects that ranked as the No. 2 spot in the city for murders, the 29 faces that looked at her had come from a second grade where they had been “taught” by four different teachers the year before. Remember, 12 pencils for 29 children – the odds seemed insurmountable. My bet is that anyone, including Jill Keegan, would have failed.

Listen, it was so bad that one day the children arrived at school hardly ready to learn. It seems there had just been a drive-by shooting in the projects and each of Miss Keegan’s children – with no adults around -- either had to step over or around the body of the victim. They told Miss Keegan they could see the bones sticking out. And instead of fulfilling her two-year commitment, Miss Keegan taught the third grade at horrifying James Lewis Elementary for the next five years.

In short, I would have lost my bet on a wonder woman. And I’ll not bet against her ever again.

During lunch Sunday afternoon “Miss Keegan” became my newest best friend. You know her better as Jill Levine, who moved to Chattanooga after meeting her husband while he was in Tulane Law School. The success she has had from turning Normal Park Elementary – which had 214 students and straight F’s by state standards when she took her first principal’s job – into Normal Park Museum Magnet School is legendary all across the nation.

Today Normal Park has 850 students – pre-K through eighth grade – and a waiting list with twice as many names. It is consistently ranked as one of the best public schools in the state, Jill was named as the National Principal of the Year several years ago and … oh, yes … she is the lone female among three candidates to become the interim superintendent of the Hamilton County Department of Education later this week.

The plan is that Levine and two others, acting Superintendent Kirk Kelly and retired Marine Col. Shaun Sadler, will each be given 15 minutes to answer questions before an interim is selected. A national search will then take place for a permanent replacement for the ousted Rick Smith.

I now must admit – freely -- that this is a huge mistake. When I talked with Shaun Sadler, and was swept away by his uncanny common sense and a 25-year stint in the Marines where he knows more about everything from logistics to organizations skills than any CEO I can name, we talked for over two hours as he became my pick for interim. He still is.

But thanks to a year that Jill just spent in Washington as a Principal Ambassador Fellow to then-Education Secretary Arne Duncan, I now believe an educator should indeed be the superintendent of our school system. Jill taught me this in just an hour and a half during a very frank conversation.

“So,” she suggested with the wisdom of King Solomon yesterday, “Run us together … put us on the same ticket. I’ll be the ‘Super’ and Col. Sadler will be the COO, or executive superintendent of operations or whatever you care to call it. I think a business model of the department has merit but we aren’t making automobiles or furniture … we are producing well-educated children who will be the leaders of tomorrow and, if there is one thing I can promise you, each one is different. Our teachers are the key to producing results.”

You and Col. Sadler as “a ticket? You’ve never even met Shaun. How can you suggest a team without meeting the teammate?

“I’ve read everything written about him. I’ve talked to people and I believe we are both good enough team players that we are already focused on the exact same goal: let’s do what is best for the child. Shaun is obviously well-suited for what he does the best. I know I can take this school system and make it thrive. I can guarantee it. All I ask is you give me the chance to explain how,” Levine told me.

“There is just one request and, while I don’t want to speak for Col. Sadler, I feel he will agree: Let’s go ‘permanent’ right now,” she said. “Anytime a Fortune 500 company has an interim CEO, the stock drops. Plus, any interim is going to make tentative decisions. And, finally, it leaves the entire district in another state of flux. Neither our students nor our teachers deserve that after the last four months we’ve had. Let’s get this over with and start moving now.”

It is obvious no permanent candidate can present a resume that will equal Jill Levine. “My best – and worst – qualification is that I’ve been in the HCDE since 1997. I know how it works, both good and bad. I don’t allow those who don’t produce to stay employed – good and bad. There will be some people who will leave if I get hired. There will also be some who will want to come back. These things will work out but the time to begin the real-turnaround is right now … not a year from now.”

How about the school board? “I can work with any of them. As a matter of fact, Rhonda Thurman is somebody I would love to do things with. She has faulted some of the things we have done but, like others who have doubted us, she’s celebrated our achievements too. I agree with her a lot, too.

“I was stunned the school board hadn’t seen the complete budget last Thursday. My idea would be to have a conference call with all the board members every Friday. There would also be an informative, truthful email to every teacher every week. It is important for people to know everything,” she said. “As a faculty member of HCDE, I know the lack of communication has been horrible. But that’s not that hard to fix … just ask our Normal Park parents.”

The biggest sticking point in the superintendent’s replacement is whether it should be an educator, should it be someone inside the system, and the demand it must be a proven winner. Jill Levine fits every check mark. With aces. By recruiting Sadler to join her, she sees a quick way to align the infrastructure, to appease the gross neglect in maintenance, and to institute the Chattanooga 2.0 movement, where she already serves on two committees.

“I think this could be a very exciting time for education instead of critical and, with the wonderful community support increasing quickly, I am certain we – together – can be successful. I know it because at three different places I have been we have done it.”

So let’s get going. We have what appears to be a winning ticket.

royexum@aol.com

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