Wow. I just read the litany of things Mr. Vickers is going to accomplish if elected to the School Board. The only thing he left off was walking on water across Soddy Lake.
Some of the things on Mr. Vickers’ “magic list” will be very easy to accomplish because they are already in place. For instance, he says he is going to form a community advisory board. District 1 already has one of those. It is called the North River Learning Community. (HCDE has five of them in all.) The purpose of these Learning Communities is to get input and ideas from faculty and parents across District 1 to bring them together. This is just one of the many things Mr. Vickers is obviously not aware of.
Mr. Vickers also says he will visit each of District 1’s 9 schools at least once a month. That sounds like a noble goal. I just wonder how a man who works for a “fortune 50” company (T-Mobile) and is a “businessman” is going to get this much time off work? I know this businesswoman has a business to run and I cannot take that much time off. I will tell you, principals do not like School Board members hanging around their school in the middle of the day. When School Board members show up, principals have to stop what they are doing and “babysit” them. If principals are doing their job, they do not have time for this. I much prefer for a principal to call and let me know if there are issues I need to address. If there are, I take them up as soon as possible with the Superintendent.
Other things on Mr. Vickers’ ”magic to do list” have already been addressed or are in the process of being completed. For instance, Soddy Daisy Middle has a new roof and awning. The outside has been painted as well as other repairs. There is talk ongoing about widening the entrance to the school. There are repairs to the restrooms and ceiling that have also been addressed. I recently had a meeting with Steve Henry, (SDHS), Jane Reynolds, (SDMS) and Kim Roden, (Soddy ES) (Jill Hall, Daisy ES, was unable to attend). We discussed the need for a new Soddy Daisy Middle building on the current Soddy Daisy Middle campus.
As for the Sale Creek football field that “seems to be forgotten”, Earth to Vickers. The football field is already there. It was put in by coaches, players, faculty and community two years ago. $2.5 million was appropriated last year for Sale Creek’s football field house, concession stand, restrooms, bleachers, parking lot and lights. Justin Witt, HCDE Director of Facilities and Maintenance, had a pre-construction meeting with the contractor earlier this week. Construction should start very soon. So, Mr. Vickers, Sale Creek’s football stadium has not been “forgotten”. It has been in the works for quite some time and it is well on its way to completion, hopefully by the end of the year. This is one project he can mark off his list as already “done”.
There was a flyer that went out today containing so many inaccuracies I do not have time to address. As Ronald Reagan would say, “Well, the trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant, it is just that they know so much that is not true.” One of those things stated on this flyer was that I “took away teacher sick pay.” I took it away? What am I a king? I will call this what it is, a lie. First of all, it takes five votes to do anything on the Board. The fact is, last year, the Board voted to increase the pay for teacher’s unused sick days from $30 a day to $40 a day. Mr. Vickers really needs to do his homework.
Seems Mr. Vickers continues to have a problem with my age. Once again, I will use a quote form Ronald Reagan - “If you will not use my age against me, I will not use your youth and inexperience against you.”
Rhonda Thurman