Roy Exum
Citing “negativity” and “noise,” the Knox County school superintendent announced back in January that he was quitting. “We are at a strange place,” the exasperated Jim McIntyre told reporters at the time. “Educationally we are more successful than ever, but politically there seems to be more negativity and noise.
“All I’ve ever wanted to do is serve the children and the families of our community … however, the current political environment has become increasingly dysfunctional, at times overtly antagonistic and seemingly untenable,” said McIntyre, who just last week was named – get this – as the head of the Center for Educational Leadership at the University of Tennessee.
When McIntyre steps down in July – at the end of the school’s fiscal year – he’ll take a $227,256 severance package with him. His contract ran until July 2019, but, remember, he was the one who quit. His new UT position will pay $180,000. “Our (leadership) program is known for producing exemplary principals,” said UT’s Norma Mertz, “and we look forward to Dr. McIntyre having an ever greater impact.”
It is quite ironic that Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga are all in the process of searching for a new superintendent and even more unusual is the charge that all three changes are said to be due to “dysfunctional” and “political” school boards. Nashville hopes to elect a permanent superintendent during the first two weeks of May. Knoxville’s school board was unanimous in hiring Buzz Thomas as its interim three weeks ago, so the transition in the Knox County system could be as seamless as possible.
Thomas is president of a Knoxville public education initiative, The Great School Partnership, and he will take a leave of absence to serve the Knox County district. The school board will make no effort to name a permanent superintendent until after the August elections, and there is a policy in place that Thomas cannot be hired for the job from an interim position.
Responding to the fear that any interim position is the equivalent to a “dead duck” role, Thomas didn’t buy in. “My goal is not to circle the airport but to continue the journey … with several new members, the school board will have a different direction. The overall feeling is the new board should select its superintendent.”
There is a feeling the Hamilton County School Board may follow the same course. Four school board members are up for re-election in August, including current chairman Jonathan Welch, Rhonda Thurman, George Ricks and Donna Horn. Last week three former educators teamed with two blacks on the board to leverage Kirk Kelly into the interim superintendent’s position. The same five – a majority – could also foil any further attempt for change by installing Kelly as the permanent superintendent.
Welch, Thurman and Horn voted for the other two candidates, Shaun Sadler and Jill Levine, so Ricks, popular and jovial as he well may be, will be a target by those seeking change. Not only could Ricks’ defeat break the majority lock the public now fears, it would bring a new mindset to the board. Ricks’ opponents are Montrell Besley, Tiffanie Robinson and Annette Thompson.
The other three school board seats are also being contested. In District 1, Patti Skates and Jason Moses are challenging Rhonda Thurman who is running for a fourth term. Kathy Lennon is opposing Welch in District 2 and Joe Wingate will try to unseat Donna Horn in District 7.
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At the April meeting of the Knox County School Board, several members were quite surprised with a $6.5 million appropriation was approved for Inskip Elementary School. It passed on a heated 5-4 vote, if you could imagine such a thing. The reason? Board member Patti Bounds said it was a combination of the “Good Ole Girls” network and politics. How about that!
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The Metro Nashville Department of Education sent an email yesterday that said each of the three finalists they select will meet in a public forum before one is selected. Nashville is trying to be so transparent that the school board has asked the Tennessean – the newspaper – to live stream every moment of the superintendent’s search on the newspaper website and the newspaper agreed.
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The TNReady achievement tests have hit some more snags and it appears some students in Tennessee will not get the materials in time. The problems have mounted all year. As Governor Bill Haslam said over the weekend, “To say the performance of (Measurement Inc.) has been dismal would be generous.” Incidentally, the state entered into a contract with Measurement, Inc., last year that would pay more than $107 million between 2015 and 2020. State officials claim, to date, they have paid only $1.6 million “and will not pay any extra money for failures.”
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The claim that the Knox County Department of Education is thriving is not quite right; half of the current third-graders are not reading at grade level and fewer than half of all high school seniors score 21 or higher on the ACT (a score of 21 is regarded acceptable as “college or career readiness.”)
royexum@aol.com