Today's piece by Steve Brandt about David Jennings is a journalistic tragedy.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/362/4380339.html Someone who isn't planning to stick around to do the work and who doesn't have any experience at doing the work is telling us that he is starting a "discussion" to help the board think about their vision. Trouble is, the discussion is only going to last for another six days and then 15% of the students in the school system will be reassigned, buildings closed, staff relocated and we're supposed to think this is a good idea because someone down in Northfield thinks there isn't any other way to do it. > Now he's testing the loyalty of the third - the school board. Today the board willdiscuss his dramatic reorganization plan for next school year, a plan he wants it to vote on by the end of the month. > Why is this about the board's loyalty to someone who already has his severance check dated. What about loyalty to the taxpayers who voted in the board thinking they would have a school in their neighborhood to send their kids to. > His goal is to offer school choices that will entice parents to keep their children in public > schools rather than moving them to charter or suburban schools. His plan would close 10 schools > and affect another two dozen. > Where is the research that indicates that closing three schools around Sanford and forcing everyone to go to a building that has no track record at being at k-8, and no playground will not drive even more parents away? > Jennings could have stuck to ministerial duties during his regency - making sure buses run on time and employees get their paychecks. > But that's not David Jennings. He has always been blunt. Now that candor is caffeinated by an urgency over the future of public schools. Why are we making this about David Jennings? > ``If you love public schools and if you love the ideal of public education, you have to be a reformer and you have to be bold,'' he said. Why do we think Jennings knows anything about how to do this? And Jennings has been bold, specially with the reorganization plan he developed internally and unveiled publicly last week. He wants a board decision Feb. 24, after just two weeks of discussion. > > ``If you come to a meeting with no agenda, nothing will happen. I guarantee it,'' he said. ``The idea > that you can call a town meeting in Minneapolis and visit about it for four or five months and come > out with a comprehensive plan is laughable to me. It just doesn't work that way. > > ``There're too many territorial interests, too many political organizers, too many people who > worship process over outcomes, and it's too easy for nothing to happen, so you've got to start > somewhere, and that's what this does.'' So this is just a start. That's the problem, it's the ending that has me frightened. > . He resigned 16 days later after an outcry over lack of public input, questions about his qualifications and a lawsuit by black activists. > > As soon as the new leader arrives, he said, he will walk out the door of district headquarters at 807 > Broadway. ``Period. End of story.'' > > ``I'm out of the school superintendent business after this,'' he said. > Why are we making this about David Jennings? > > As a Republican from Truman, in agricultural southern Minnesota, Jennings was one of the state's dominant politicians in the mid-1980s. As Speaker of the House, he sought his party's > endorsement for governor in 1986, then abruptly withdrew from elective politics. He was appointed > state commerce commissioner by Gov. Jesse Ventura in 1999. > Uh, there's some gaps in the resume. What kind of shape was the Chamber in when he bailed out of there? > > His physique has softened since those high-visibility days. A fringe of hair, now gray, still runs > over his shirt collar, always tieless. Reading glasses perch atop his broad dome; bags slide down his > cheeks. His laugh is the rasp of a longtime smoker. > Why are we making this about David Jennings? ``This discussion was going on when I got here and I don't know how many years before that. What I did was drag the discussion out and put it on the table. . All I'm doing is calling the question.'' That's not quite all that has been proposed. > He regarded previous discussions of closing schools in the Longfellow area as inconclusive and > knew any closing plan would spark strong emotions and ultimately be decided in the political realm. > So he resolved to make any reorganization citywide and to develop a defensible plan internally, > using seasoned staff to scrutinize schools on multiple criteria. > It didn't work to include the public so this time the public isn't included, but he's saying that this will help "get the deciscions closer to the famillies." > Jennings isn't surprised by strong opposition from some teachers. > Did he even bother to ask them what they thought before he decided how to reorganize the schools where they teach? > > > The emotional toll makes it imperative to get it right, he said. ``To put people through this trauma > and only do it halfway is unacceptable to me,'' he added. When and how did Jennings become the expert on how to do it right? > Charlie Kyte, longtime Northfield schools superintendent who once tried to close a school, > sympathizes with Jennings.Now executive director of the Minnesota Association of School > Administrators, Kyte commends Jennings for his willingness to tackle the structural issues that his > predecessor, Carol Johnson, also recognized. That will make the job easier for Jennings' successor, > Kyte said. It makes me feel so much better knowing that someone in Northfield has been consulted? > ``Minneapolis simply does not have a problem right now that can be put off for a year,'' Kyte said. It makes me feel so much better knowing that someone in Northfield has been consulted? > Emmett Carson agrees. He's head of the Minneapolis Foundation, a periodic partner of the district. > His concern is whether the school board is willing to go far enough with Jennings' suggestion to > hand more authority to principals and site councils and then hold them accountable. Does Emmet live in Minneapolis? Where do his kids go to school? > ``When we hired David, we told him to keep going because we didn't want to lose the momentum > and we knew we were facing some very big challenges,'' said Judy Farmer, the board's longest serving member. ``I think it was clear that we didn't just expect him to stand still and tread water.'' We're back to the board vs. Jennings? Why are we making this about David Jennings? > At his urging, the district withheld experience and education raises last fall,.... Contrary to very specific language in the contract. The article ends with Jennings waxing on for a couple of paragraphs on his "mission in education." The problem is that he hasn't really demonstrated a competence with the issues surrounding education. He very clearly still has the ability to give great interviews. If only hanging your glasses on the end of your nose was all that was needed to be an effective leader in education... I think Steve Brandt intended to balanced and fair, the tragedy is in how far he fell short. Dan McGuire Ericsson 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. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ 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
