Roy Exum
The most over-used phrase at the meetings of the Hamilton County School Board runs along the lines, “The only thing that really matters is the children. We must remember the reason we are here is to help the children.” Yet earlier this week, when the school board did nothing to eliminate the biggest educational hurdle our students and teachers must overcome, it was more like a death sentence for our children’s future instead of a lifeline.
In the four years Rick Smith has been the superintendent, it is evident for all to see our school district has suffered, increasingly, every year. Our test scores are failing, our teachers are stifled and parents are understandably furious. When Smith announced Tuesday that he plans to work out the remaining 3½ years on his contract, the after-shock was staggering in the community.
It was believed that a special called meeting of the School Board on Monday night would be his Waterloo but, no, in a clever way that hid the board members’ true cards, the nine-member board voted 5-4 to keep him. Had the Bard, that being William Shakespeare, heard several commissioners loudly say they “had no idea of the outcome,” he would have wistfully smiled and softly repeated his famous line from Hamlet, “The lady doth protest too much, methinks."
Since 2016 dawned, I can never remember such a harsh glare as our public schools and its board have just attracted. There is open scorn and public ridicule from every corner after a Chattanooga 2.0 analysis revealed 65 percent of our high school graduates who enroll at Chattanooga State must take remedial classes. Far worse, there are statistics that prove less than one-in-four of those who enroll in the remedial classes will ultimately succeed at Chattanooga State. That’s frightening.
Chattanooga State is suddenly the most important learning center in our town. If a high school graduate can get “a certificate” – not necessarily a diploma – that attests that student has the sufficient training in technical areas - they are almost guaranteed a job making $30,000. But as we bemoan our rising poverty in our community, the graduation rate for blacks and Hispanics at Chattanooga State – read this slowly – is the lowest out of 14 community colleges in all of Tennessee. This isn’t hard to follow. That is a direct result from having the worst metro school district in Tennessee. It is that simple.
These are sobering figures. When high school seniors are poorly prepared, tragedy and poverty become as one. The freshman retention rate at Chattanooga State – remember that tuition is free – is just over 50 percent. These diminishing numbers are alarming and the universal worry for everybody involved is that our failing school system – with 60 percent of our kindergarten students deemed “not ready to learn” – will never thrive until the school board makes hard, but so very obvious, decisions.
Many now believe that Rick Smith is not just the reason we are deficient in nine of 10 areas in state testing, his poor leadership and his collection of “good ole boys” are now the biggest barrier in our community’s steep climb out of this quagmire to recovery. He is, no doubt, a lame duck and no longer commands any bearing.
His ability as an administrator has been roundly questioned by newspaper editors and TV reporters for months and, with an estimated 75 percent of those who live here who don’t want to see him retained, how in the world can Rick Smith possibly be an advocate for our public schools? There is absolutely nothing for him to sell. Solid facts prove it.
If he approaches the Hamilton County Commission for increased funding, I’ll venture they won’t dare think about throwing good money after bad. You wouldn’t do it. The school system’s physical plants are in a horrid state of disrepair and last summer, when Smith went on a poorly-advised road campaign in a quest for $34 million for building repairs, he was soundly rebuffed in a total embarrassment.
In my opinion there is absolutely no way Rick Smith will ever be effective in any community setting in light of the harsh Chattanooga 2.0 findings and ghastly hazing at several schools. Far worse, there is no quick fix where we now find ourselves. If we have 60 percent of our third graders who cannot read on grade level, how are they ever going to catch up in the years ahead?
Parents’ biggest concern is that those third graders are now in a vicious and relentless cycle and, as they continue, the chances for over half of the children we must educate are certainly not promising. Next year 60 percent of our fourth graders – or more – will still be not reading at grade level. Connect the dots; the odds that these children will be defeated are short odds. This situation is perilous and the school board knows it better than we do.
It is my belief a radical change is the lone solution. Without the business community becoming actively involved with education in a myriad of ways, radical change will simply not occur and Smith has been told –very plainly – that our business and civic leaders find him inadequate. The reason? These are results-minded people and in the past four years Rick Smith has performed in a miserable and uninspired way.
When the school board failed to act Monday night, they sent our students and teachers in an already fractured and rudderless school district on a suicide mission. It is inevitable, this based on Smith’s previous results. Every number, depressing as each may be, is sharp and clear and now every parent in town knows this. According to school board chairman Jonathan Welch, Smith misled the board, which should be grounds for automatic dismissal. No one has any confidence in Rick Smith except for school board member Joe Galloway, who continues to lavishly praise “Mr. Titanic” in a way nobody else can possibly comprehend.
It is my opinion, as well as most others who have followed this fiasco, the only course of action if, indeed, Smith refuses to renegotiate, is to fire him in much the way a losing football coach, a disgraced college president or any other poor performer is dutifully terminated. If he sues the school district, pass out copies of the Chattanooga 2.0 report because, as one who helped furnish the figures, Smith most certainly cannot refute the findings that prove his failures.
Suspend him without pay, just like he did to the Ooltewah basketball coaches, and replace him with an interim who has the promise, the instant ability to lead, and the clear focus of former Marine Corps Colonel Shawn Sadler. Shaun is ready to go. Right now.
So is Rick Smith, whether he likes it or not. He must go. Right now.
royexum@aol.com