Pamela Taylor says: > I admire Barb's agenda, and I totally agree that > no superintendent will come armed with all the > answers. That is why I stated we should not simply > look at credentials. Look for the best candidate to > do the job that needs to be done.
I totally DISAGREE that the Board should hire a superintendent that comes without answers. The Board should hire someone who has proven that they know what works. That is, the person should come from a school district where it can be shown that they have had a truly significant impact on student achievement. That would pretty much rule out anyone from the MPS, including Mr. Jennings. I know what needs to be done. I can articulate an agenda with specific programs and backup my many of my proposals with research. If I, a lowly educational grad student, can do this we can certainly expect a candidate for district superintendent to do it as well. I believe that credentials tell you little or nothing about about how effective a candidate will be. Credentials tell you that someone is well versed in the status quo and THE STATUS QUO IS NOT WORKING! > If anyone out there knows of good candidates, homegrown > or otherwise, is ther a law stating you cannot make viable > recommendations to the school board? They may or may not > use them, but at least its being proactive, and helping to > move the search and selection process along faster. I have nominated someone. I would like to see the opponents of Mr. Jennings make a nomination. If they don't think that Mr. Jennings can do the job, then let them tell us who can. At this point we might as well concede the fact that Whites need not apply. Let's go ahead and find a person of color who can actually close the achievement gap, not someone who will be just another token appointment. One of the school board members in Memphis cried when Carol Johnson was selected. Do you know why? Because she will do just as much in Memphis as she did here. The sad truth is that the person our Board will hire will do nothing of substance to change the MPS. Why? Because the power structure in this city is happy with the way things are and they are too afraid of losing what they have now to risk making any reforms. Michael Atherton Prospect Park REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
