posted November 17, 2008
Readers will no doubt recall the citizen outrage over the renewal of school system superintendent Jim Scales' contract last summer, more than two years before it was set to expire. The five school board members who voted for the extension tried to justify their decision by saying that Dr. Scales was doing such a good job that they needed to "lock him in" for another four years so he wouldn't be lured away by another system.
That rationale was bogus on its face because the superintendent's contract doesn't lock him into anything. His contract is just like a football coach's contract - it protects him, not the school system. Dr. Scales can leave anytime he chooses, contract or no contract. But, if the school board wants to hire another superintendent during the term of the contract, they have to buy him out - just as the UT athletic department is having to pay off Philip Fulmer for not coaching the Vols the next several years.
Now, after the elections are all over, comes the revelation that the other part of the specious argument doesn't hold water, either. It turns out that the school board doesn't really think Dr. Scales is doing such a good job. According to a recent article by WRCB school reporter David Carroll, the superintendent was given a composite rating of only 4.95 out of 10 by the very people who voted on his contract extension.
The chief hypocrite of the school board is none other than my August opponent, District 2's Chip Baker. Mr. Baker voted for the contract extension and continually defended his vote all the way through the election, saying that we needed to keep Dr. Scales in place to continue the school system's progress.
But when it came time to evaluate the superintendent's performance, Chip Baker apparently decided that average is plenty good enough. At least, that is the way Baker rated him.
"Baker, who represents District 2, scored Dr. Scales as above average in only 3 of the 60 categories, including his grooming and participation in community activities. Baker rated him below average in 3 others, including staff morale and involvement, and long range planning. Baker even gave the superintendent unsatisfactory marks in recruiting personnel and monitoring the instructional program. Baker commented, 'We put programs in place, but do a poor job of evaluating them.'"
So, Mr. Baker, since you obviously don't think Dr. Scales is doing such a great job as superintendent, please tell us: Why did you really vote to extend his contract? Inquiring taxpayers, and parents, want to know.
Joe Dumas
Signal Mountain
* * *
Come on, Dr. Dumas. How can you call these folks on our school board hypocritical? They're doing the same thing now they've always done. With the exception of Rhonda "That Kookie Hairdresser" Thurman, all of them have been standard bearers for our director of schools. Additionally, Janice "Fingers" Boydston even gave him mostly excellent and outstanding marks in all categories. This is nothing more than the same stuff, just a different day. And all of them said he's a pretty dapper dude. That must count for something.
What more can we expect from those who, instead of demanding excellence in our school system and requiring all students to be in school at the designated time and ready to work they change the school operating time, will accept statements such as "it's better for the (troublemakers) to be in school than out on the street getting into trouble" or "we're not going to allow any more of this behavior, they are going to pull up their pants" from our director of schools?
With a forecast $20 million school system budget deficit this year, and a State budget shortfall of something over $800 million, which is greater than the entire State "rainy day fund," we should still be okay though. Our schools have all that new BEP money to count on. I mean, like, golly gee, we were promised $25 million weren't we?
And as far as your complaints about Dr. Jim "Pants" Scales' contract, there was at least one lawyer, the dude who wrote the new contract as well as being a practicing attorney, who was a member of the School Board and the School Board attorney didn't raise any red flags about it. So how can there be any problems? They're charged, both morally and ethically, to be good stewards of the people's treasure aren't they. Surely they wouldn't do anything untoward in respect to their designated responsibility.
We keep being told what a wonderful school system we have here in Hamilton County and that's the reason they need more and more money. Well, there are those few minor problems that need a little attention, problems like kids being busted in school with guns and ammunition, drugs, truancy, tardiness, buses that will show up at the bus stop 25 minutes before their designated time in the morning and 20 minutes late every afternoon, teachers being attacked in their classrooms, and children being given deference over teachers and other adults in a conflict, but these will be solved with more money too.
Personally, I'm waiting for our eight to one School Board to begin telling us the system is so good that we'll be able to issue baccalaureate engineering degrees rather than mere high school diplomas on graduation day. Some of my recommendations for courses toward this end would be:
Trigonometry Without Pie, or Pi
Teach Yourself Calculus in 21 hours
Laplace Transforms Without All That Trigonometry Stuff
Differential Equations for Dummies
Boolean Algebra Without Ones and Zeros
Mastering Semiconductor Physics in 3 Days
The Smoke and Mirrors Method of Scientific Experimentation
Mathematical Analysis of a Box of Rocks and a Pile Of Driftwood
Electric Power Generation, Transmission, and Distribution Without Electrons
The Art of No-Math Physics, With Force Analysis
The Zen of Electric Field Theory
Meditations of Sir Isaac Newton
Digital Logic Isn't Logical
Maybe then we could solve the global warming crisis our politicians are now telling us is a fact, when here it is the middle of November and we've already had snow flurries at least twice in the last month.
Royce E. Burrage, Jr.
Royce@OfficiallyChapped.org
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