Defining insanity in Clayton County
Insanity reigns in Clayton County as the board hires a new superintendent that SACS says is not qualified:
The majority of the 40 citizens in attendance – including state Sen. Roberta Abdul-Salaam (D-Riverdale) – shouted at the board and demanded a chance to speak out against the hiring of corrective superintendent John W. Thompson.According to the article, the new superintendent will be paid an annual salary of $285,000 and $2,000 a month for housing. My friends, the average member of Congress only makes $169,300 per year. I can't find the most recent statistics, but I'm sure the Governor of Georgia doesn't make much more than $150,000 annually. The President of the United States only makes $400,000 a year.
[...]
The board refused to hear comments from the audience, instructed police to intervene and voted 5-0 to hire Thompson. Board members Michelle Strong, David Ashe, Sandra Scott, Yolanda Everett and Lois Baines-Hunter approved the contract.The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools gave the district nine mandates to meet by Sept. 1 or lose accreditation. Those mandates include hiring a permanent superintendent and establishing a capable board. This would be the first school district in the United States to lose accreditation in the past 40 years. A loss of accreditation could mean difficulty getting into colleges or universities, obtaining pre-kindergarten funding and a drop in property values.
"They need to go," Abdul-Salaam said after the meeting. "If SACS says hire a permanent superintendent, in what world or universe do you hire a corrective superintendent? If SACS says the man is not qualified, in what world do you hire the man?"
The head of SACS and two state board of education members appointed by the governor to help Clayton have all said Thompson is not qualified to save the district's accreditation.
I realize that whoever takes this job is going to have a lot to deal with, but this seems like an awful lot of money for someone who, according to the head of SACS, isn't even qualified for the job.
Meanwhile, the Governor's appointees that have worked with Clayton to keep the system from losing accreditation say there is no chance that will not happen.
Comments
Only good thing I saw is that he is "allowed to make changes without the approval of the board regardless of policies or procedures in place". Maybe that means he can fire the bunch of them!!! However he also gets 30 days paid vacation and 2 paid days per month to do consulting work outside the district... in ADDITION to regular vacation and sick time... Sounds like he won't be around much to do anything. And all that for a contract that ends in a little over a year... And he can hire consultants and create a new position without budget limitations. Sounds like Clayton county is getting gang raped!
Posted by: Classical Jazz | April 27, 2008 10:11 AM
A friend who lives there told me that the long term goal of the School Board is to make the County 100% black. By making the schools so bad, whites, Asians, and other minorities that care about education will leave.
Posted by: mike123 | April 27, 2008 12:17 PM
In what world, indeed? Any explanation other than graft and kick-backs boggles the mind. Even the scenario postulated by mike123 seems too bizarre for reality. On the plus side, maybe this will improve the property values in neighboring counties with better school systems.
It is all too obvious at this point that the Clayton school board does not WANT to retain accreditation. Amazingly, there seems to be no legal recourse for removing these board members, who, whatever their agenda, obviously care not at all for the students in their school system, nor their families. The residents of Clayton County should be lynching their school board members - or at least, tar and feather them, and run them out of town! I certainly have a pitchfork and a couple of torches I would be happy to donate to the cause.
Posted by: Troy Casey | April 28, 2008 10:25 AM
This is just another example of the "elected" failing to recognize and acknowledge that they are elected to serve the desires of the "electors". It is also a perfect example of the taxpayer allowing those same "public servants" to usurp all authority over them. Shame on us all.
I do not advocate anarchy nor even destructive civil disobedience but the time has come for the citizens of this nation to do more than complain while reading the new paper or watching the news on tv.... I can't believe that only 40 citizens showed up for such a meeting and that 40 people allowed this kind of dictatorial action to take place. Sometimes you just have to take a stand . I would encourage the senator from Riverdale take all steps available to cut off all state funding to Clayton County after all just about every problem in that county is about who is going to control the money so CUT OFF THE MONEY and then they won't have anything to fight about. I don't want to hear "but what about the children" It is more than obvious that the school board could not care less about the schools, children, teachers or any of the issues they should care about.
I know that the education of many in Clayton County will be harmed but again the taxpayer of Clayton County and not the school board has made a choice to allow this kind of power struggle to continue.
I fear for this nation in that we and I include myself at the front of the line,have allowed these leeches in public office to attach themselves to the arteries of our lives unchallenged and suck the very life blood from us and we have allowed them to abuse us at will.
In closing I do want to ask an off subject question. Nationally the values of our property have fallen by some 25 to 28% why has our property tax remained the same as it was pre devaluation? I will let you know what they tell me as I am calling the