Rhonda Thurman: Col. Sadler Is The Best Interim Superintendent Choice - And Response (4)

  • Wednesday, April 20, 2016

This Thursday the school board is set to interview the three candidates for interim superintendent. Those three candidate are Jill Levine, Kirk Kelly and Shaun Sadler. Given the current state of Hamilton County Schools it is evident to me the system needs a complete overhaul. The question then is this - which one of these three will do what it takes to start this school system in a different direction? 
 
Jill Levine continues to be touted as the principal extraordinaire who turned around Normal Park Elementary and what is now Normal Park Upper.

That is just not true. Anyone could be known as a top notch principal if they could play by the same rules as Mrs. Levine. Normal Park Upper and Lower schools had their zones redrawn sending those living in Hill City out of Normal Park to Red Bank Elementary. Other students were hand-picked by Mrs. Levine to attend her school. Then a neat little scheme was devised to continue the elite pool of students coming. For $5,000 you could get your child into the "self-funded" pre-k at Normal Park. Some parents were paying $5,000 years in advance to insure their child would have a place when their child's time came. After paying $5,000 for pre-k, your child was guaranteed to go on to kindergarten through 8th grade. I have been told that the practice of guaranteeing students admittance to kindergarten after pre-k has been discontinued because, after all, it is against the law to pay for admittance to a public school. However, there is no way to check because they guard their list of students like Fort Knox. I have also been told that the price now for the "self-funded" pre-k at Normal Park is $6,000. I want to know if we can educate a child for $6,000 at Normal Park, why can we not do that in every school in the county? Like I said, it is against the law to pay for a place in a public school and, since HCDE has never seen fit to investigate this, it is time for the state to come in and check it out. 
 
I have lost count of how many teachers and principals have contacted me saying how much they resent the fact that Mrs. Levine gets all the glory when she was playing with a stacked deck. Principals also resent the fact that Mrs. Levine is the only principal who has not been moved in the last 10 years. They all ask if she is such a great principal why she has not been put into one of the I-Zone schools to perform her magic? That is a good question. For these reasons and many more, I cannot vote to force our principals to work for Mrs. Levine.
 
Kirk Kelly is a very smart and humble man. However, I just do not see any way he will be willing to do what is needed to move HCDE in a completely different direction. While I really like Kirk Kelly personally, I think his forte is crunching numbers and compiling data and the position he is in currently is exactly where he needs to remain.
 
That leaves Col. Shaun Sadler. I talked with Col. Sadler over an hour. I asked if he was willing to look at the budget and start with a zero base budget. He said he thought that was the only way to get the budget under control. He wants to look at the complete organization and evaluate each department. Col. Sadler is married to a teacher so he knows that K-3 is the time to insure students can read, (he wants to evaluate the current reading curriculum), and waiting any later only makes a student's educational experience much harder. We talked about many things and I was quite impressed with his vision for education. I think being an outsider, Col Sadler has the best chance of totally taking Hamilton County Schools in a new and better direction.
 
I know there are those who insist upon having a superintendent with a doctorate in education. I think back to Dr. Reynolds who was at the helm of the Chattanooga City School System. Dr. Reynolds married another doctor in the school system and then lied about it because it was a violation of the nepotism policy. The Chattanooga City School System went out of business. Enough said.
 
Then we had Dr. Register who gave us the single path diploma, closed enrollment that Hamilton County enjoyed for decades, implemented the new math that our students will never recover from, expanded the magnet school program, started magnet school transportation that has cost millions every year since the merger and he started schools the first of August because he essentially wanted year round school. Dr. Register also started the consulting teacher program and handed over the keys to the central office to the Public Education Foundation.
 
Dr. Scales said he wanted to save money in the central office, but he wanted to cut positions and bring in his friends from out of town paying them more money. Dr. Scales also wanted to destroy vocational education by closing Sequoyah and making it part of Soddy Daisy High School.
 
So, having a doctorate in education is not always the silver bullet. If it was, we would not be where we are now.

Rhonda Thurman

* * *

After reading the opinion articles regarding the current three interim candidates for superintendent of our schools. It occurs to me that the people on the school board are going to vote for their favorite without really evaluating the people.

That is great that Ms. Levine has turned Normal Park around and maybe there were some things going on there that weren't supposed to be, but the parents at that school, while sad that their principal could leave, will say only positive things about her.

Then there are the people who find Dr. Kelly, who is just as qualified, and will say positive things about him.

But Col. Sadler has a background in military and that will get things done. He comes in and really gets things changed. We need that in our school system. A big change. We need someone who will get rid of the "good ole boy" mentality and hold people accountable for their actions. Being military, I would believe he can get respect from the system, parents, and students. If we could go back to where the students actually showed respect for themselves, teachers, and family then maybe we wouldn't have the issues we are having today.  I am sure that there are some people that think that if we have someone with a military background become the superintendent, that they will be running like the military.   What is wrong with that?  Actually, it is what we need until things do get straightened out.   

Please take the time to talk with Col. Sadler.  It sounds like Rhonda Thurman has done just that and likes what she hears from him. I think all the school board members should take the time to talk with each and everyone of the candidates, and more than just 15 minutes. 

This is the best opportunity to get someone in the position that has a fresh perspective, that can see things from a different side and make the changes necessary that will benefit our students and teachers. The school board knows where the problems are and there are probably some issues and problems that the school board doesn't know about because they have been handled at the school level, which doesn't seem to be always working.

So school board, please vote for the right candidate - and that would be Col. Sadler.

Amy Smith
East Brainerd

* * *

I agree with Roy and Rhonda.  A U.S. Marine is exactly what we need as the school superintendent in such a hostile environment.  And by all means, require him to wear full dress and pack heat.  If anyone on the School Board moves when he is present without permission, allow him to shoot them in the foot.  They are accustomed to doing that to themselves anyway.
 
Charlotte Parton
Chattanooga

* * *

I guess it was about a week ago that I read an opinion that wanted me to believe that just because three animals gang raped a kid with a pool stick, the superintendent lost his job. Sorry, sir, but that's not even a part of the big picture and don't go trying to re-write recent memory when the ink in the history book hasn't even had time to dry. But what struck me most is that I didn't have enough outrage to reply to that ridiculous sentiment and I think I know why.

In this our city, first a crazy attacks and kills many at recruitment centers. Chattanooga came together wonderfully then but remains deeply scarred. Then, the three animals have their way up in Gatlinburg and a reality show-like chain of events followed that. Roy Exum kept me up to speed and said what I was thinking so I let that smolder. Now a gang king pin got shot at Sky Zoo and there was an insanely dangerous stampede of lunatics in SUVs that was called a "funeral procession" that almost killed a person I love. With that, I woke my funky head up and spooled up this discovery that I had allowed myself to become a numb, ptsd dullard. A zombie. But then, all I actually know about zombies is what I see in commercials for that stupid TV show so I Googled it and got two definitions:

Zombie: 
1: a corpse said to be revived by witchcraft, especially in certain African and Caribbean religions and
2: a tall mixed drink consisting of several kinds of rum, liqueur, and fruit juice.

I'm 6'1" and some people say that's tall so I guess I was a drunk zombie. And since nobody else said anything about that procession and the insanely dangerous car chases that went on after that (I saw one guy on a crotch rocket at about 95 weave in and out of heavy 55 mph traffic with a car in hot pursuit about two feet off his back tire. Two other cars did the same thing about three minutes later). We're all ptsd zombies and we all better wake the heck up. We have a problem that needs to be addressed right now, okay?
 
So what the heck does any of that have to do with the school board? I would say that if there is anybody who'd deserve to be a ptsd zombie, it's any one of the people on the school board who were misled and voted accordingly. The humble pie the board has had to eat since Gatlinburg is about the size of a football field. While I admit that I did laugh at what Ms. Parton had to say, I believe there is large evidence for a case to be made that the board was "thrown under the bus" on several occasions. Therefore, I say they get a pass.

But I also hope beyond hope that they extract themselves from this understandable funk and let what appears to be good reason prevail. 

Understand, I am so way out of my league here and my opinion probably should be considered commentary from the peanut gallery, but it would seem that a proven and capable guy with what seems like a sound plan who is crazy enough to dive into this mess should be hired to do just that: dive on in. Hire the Colonel, give him an open canvas, demand communication and transparency and let him begin to fix our schools. He has no friends or enemies within the system and he can be totally objective. That's critical.  

Fixed schools that are presently low performers, obviously, would be a critical component to a long term fix for this insane gang situation. And if we need an interim dude to address our present gang related anarchy, let's do that too.
 
Savage Glascock
 
* * *

I am from another area of this nation, a place where it was not at all unusual to have retired military serving as school administrators, principals, assistant principals, and teachers. I will be forever grateful for that experience, and I am pleased to say that the military influence at my own public high school was critical to placing us number 13 in the nation academically. Our graduates went on to some of the most distinguished universities in the country, many on full scholarships. (And despite what Ms. Parton seems to believe, no, these retired military personnel did not come in full dress or packing heat)  

For the very first time,  I can see the same improvements happening here in Hamilton County with the selection of Col. Shaun Sadler as Hamilton County School Superintendent. Former military personnel bring with them extensive leadership abilities, integrity, high expectations, planning and organizational skills, flexibility, discipline, efficiency, teamwork, the ability to work under pressure, and an aura of self-respect. Hamilton County is even more fortunate in that Col. Sadler brings a host of key private sector business and leadership abilities with him to the superintendent position, something that the other candidates lack. And let's not overlook his highly-respected Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, either.

I would like to see such leadership characteristics and results adopted here in Hamilton County schools. Further, I would like to see Col. Sadler recruit similarly qualified retired military personnel to serve as principals, assistant principals, and teachers. With his influence, I believe there would be a critical turn-around in area schools within a few years. It works. And isn't that what we all want for our failing schools?I believe that it is time to think outside of the box, and I believe that time is now.

I do not personally know Col. Sadler, but his resume and background are exceptional, offering experience that we would be foolish to overlook in our search for a new superintendent. I agree with Ms. Thurman and Ms. Smith.  I believe that Col. Sadler will do an excellent job as Hamilton County School Superintendent and will bring with him tremendous experience now lacking in the local educational establishment.

Mya Lane

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