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F ~ Fail

I don't think I am the only one in the world that thinks they can "fix" what is broken.  At some point in your life I am sure you have said to yourself, I could do it better.  In enters the job of superintendent of our local school system.  I am not sure 100% what is going on but here are the facts.

1. She has been the superintendent for 10 years.
2. Our school system is 22 million in the hole.  Which is a lot of money but only one months expenses.
3.  They decided not to renew her contract that was supposed to end in June 2011.
4. What the board decided was not to renew her contract and let her have a 6 month contract for transition, that was this summer.
5. She got a lawyer (a good one) and renegotiated her newest contract (approved last night) to get paid through Dec. 2011 but resign as soon as the new superintendent is in place.  Stating she is doing it for the school system. (I will refrain from commenting) Basically she is resigning with pay instead of completing her contract plus gets the six months salary that was offered in the summer.

I feel like the board should have never offered her 6 more months salary.  If she wasn't doing the job good enough to continue in a new contract, cut your losses and run.  A new superintendent should be able to figure it out.  We are talking about a position that is basically the CEO of a 200 + million dollar business. I wish that school systems would run things more like big business than trying to stay within education to find a leader.  I understand there are contracts in education and you just can fire someone but if you have cause and they choose the fight it, fight back? I think the system is scared of her or her lawyer.  (I am trying to focus because my soap box has many issues today).  Name a CEO that could run a company 22 million in the red and keep their job for an additional six months to help the new guy?

I understand that she has a doctorate and has been in the system for many years.  I am sure she knows education inside and out. I hope that she has done some good for the system.  I am not so sure she knew how to run a multimillion dollar business.  Proof is in the pudding, am I right?  I am irritated because I am sure she makes $200,000 or more a year.  She most definitely thinks she is being mistreated and her lawyer has made it very clear they will go to litigation if they choose to terminate her contract.  Which she has the upper hand.  It will cost the school system less to just pay her to walk away.  UGGGGGG!  This is our TAX MONEY!   A bonus for walking away?

At what point do you as a CEO admit that your leadership has gotten the whole system into this mess?  I am so tired of the attitude of people in general.  How can you be the leader of a system in the red and not admit you have something to do with that?  Why is it that we owe her anything?  Why is it that people think they are being treated unfairly when the outcome is negative?  If you look at the system as a whole it is a mess and yes it is the person at the top that gets the heat.  I say the fact that the school system is in debt is her report card.  

Right now the system is reeling to get the help needed to fix this mess.  They are spending who know how much money on "experts" to help get back on track.  They are having a specialist come in to look at the proration of the school system.  I think it is safe to say that schools will be closing.  23,000 kids 33,000 capacity.  The figures are staggering.  This didn't happen overnight.  About a 1/3 of the schools are almost half capacity.  What a waste of funds.  One school has capacity for 700 and only has 282 students.  I have a hunch on why.  I looked into this school when we first moved here and I told Mark we can not move into that school zone.  I took one look at the stats and I ran!  There seems to be some deeper issues in this system that are not being addressed.  As a parent and outsider I see it daily.  

So what is the answer?  I have a few ideas which I voiced via a survey.  First let's look outside the box.  A CEO can run a company regardless if their customers.  Should the person be a principal that worked they way up the chain? I say, not necessarily.  Should they have education experience in their background, it would be a plus. The survey asked if we should look within our system.  NO!  I say find someone that has gotten another school system out of a mess or a business back into the black.  In a school system this big there are many minions to complete the tasks for running a school system efficiently.  Does the superintendent need to be the end all to education or just know who, what, when and where to put people?  I could go on for days.  I pray the board makes some better decisions for the future of the system and the future of my kids education.

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