Fortunately for me, Minneapolis attorney Marshall Tanick wrote an editorial in today's paper that perfectly expresses my views on the latest Minneapolis schools superintendent hiring. Thanks to Mr. Tanick, I don't have to take the time and effort to craft the words to clearly and succinctly express my opinion; he has done a bang-up job of it.
Here's a link to the editorial: http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/4897686.html
Here are the reasons I will be voting against every single incumbent on the Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education, given in this excerpt from the editorial:
"The board got itself into this mess in an extraordinarily inane way: It chose Peebles from a group of three finalists without negotiating a contract with her or apparently even discussing key contractual terms. Having selected her, the board then had very little leverage in the ensuing contract negotiations.
The normal procedure is for an entity to negotiate the contract, or at least the important portions of it, with an incoming executive prior to making an actual commitment. This method provides maximum leverage for the hiring organization.
In contrast, the board hired Peebles first, and subsequently negotiated a contract with her, leaving its guard down and making it virtually defenseless in the process. This is akin to signing a purchase agreement to buy a house and then negotiating the terms at the closing.
One can hope that the arrangement with Peebles will work out well. But past experience in Minneapolis and elsewhere teaches that an early and abrupt end of the relationship is a distinct possibility.The school board cannot claim that it was unaware of this risk. It had been warned of the importance of negotiating a contract devoid of these dilemmas (see the June 22 Commentary page article "Board should negotiate a smarter contract"). Regrettably, it chose to ignore that admonition
The School Board did not approach the contract with Peebles in a business-like fashion. As a result, Minneapolis taxpayers may take a significant financial hit because the Board chose to enroll in the School of Hard Knocks."
In other words, the School Board had every opportunity -- with no less than a literal forewarning -- to take the correct path in hiring the superintendent. Instead, ignoring both common sense and good advice on business-like contract negotiations, they gave away the store. Read the entire editorial at the provided link to see just how bad the contract is.
I do not have a good take on whether Peebles was the best qualified, although I have to suspect the character of anyone who would willingly take advantage of the kind of contract incompetence the Board has shown. It makes her sound more like a "gold digger" than someone who is interested in solving some educational problems.
Once again I am disgusted with the fiduciary malfeasance by "elected officials" aka politicians using "other people's (taxpayers) money."
Or maybe my perspective just needs to be adjusted. Instead of believing in the good of civic-minded citizens and politicians, and expecting high ethics and morals, I should realize the system has been, is and always will be corrupt and greed-centered. Then I can simply focus on getting my share of the public trough, and when I start cashing my six-figure government checks, I can say, "Well I got mine; screw the rest of you all."
Chris Johnson, Fulton
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