Dr. Hollinger was hired in 2002. At that time the system was faced with financial challenges, overcrowded facilities with hundreds of portable classrooms, and technology issues that included a lack of internet access at more than half our schools and more than half of employees lacked basic computer training. That was then.
Today we are faced with many challenges including but not limited to serious financial issues, large scale workforce cutbacks, No Child Left Behind and graduation requirements, intergovernmental relations with the cities, legislature and county commission. The new superintendent will not likely be an expert in all of the challenge areas (no one could be). How should the system challenges we face be prioritized? What do you think?
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I think first and foremost a candidate for superintendent during such a challenging economic time should demonstrate an ability to manage our current financial crisis. It is alarming to me that in Baldwin County where the image has always been that we are doing better than the rest of the counties in Alabama, we had a mass layoff like we did this year and now are in a hiring freeze. Why is that so when Mobile County, the largest school system in Alabama and one infamous for its decades-long mismanagement, did not have a mass layoff and is continuing to hire teachers.
ReplyDeleteCandidates for superintendent should also demonstrate a willingness to make cut backs at the central office level in order to ensure that we are able to hire teachers in classrooms. That may mean volunteering to cut their own staff or salaries, such as the new superintendent in Mobile County did in turning down his bonus pay this year. If the superintendent is willing to climb out on that limb, I am more than willing to follow him. However, that does not at all appear to be the case at the current time and our priorities seem to be completely out of whack. We recently closed Vaughn Elementary School while we continue to run three different central office sites (one of which we recently paid to renovate). In addition, is the superintendent actually going to recommend the hiring of a new language arts supervisor (as was recently advertised) and is the board actually going to approve that recommendation when we are unable to hire teachers in classrooms? It really is about priorities and hiring a future superintendent who is equipped with the knowledge and experience to make sound financial decisions and the intestinal fortitude to make difficult cuts at the top to do what is best for kids. I fail to see how the above examples demonstrate that philosophy at all.