Appointed or Elected if you have a preference ACT NOW

[Pamela Treacy]

Please refer to the News Sentinel story today on B8. I personally don't want an elected superintendent. You can search for all the posts that we have had on this subject. I just sent the following note to the boys in Nashville. This is so underhanded and backwards I am appalled. They say that people support this - I ask --"who have they been talking too?"

I read with surprise and disappointment today that Rep. Nicely received support from Representatives Campfield, Brooks, and Dunn yesterday.

First, why are you singling out Knox County and Jefferson County? If you feel this will improve education why not propose this state wide? Because you know this will not improve education which should be our goal.

You turn the schools into a politic ping pong ball. Shame on you is all I can say. This is underhanded and unprofessional.

Please reconsider your actions. Please do not vote for this amendment again. Vote it down!! It will not make Knox County a better place.

Pamela Treacy
329 Treyburn Drive
Knoxville, TN 37934

God is the Answer. Education is His solution. That is why he sent His son -- a teacher.

Educate each child. Build a nation.

[Debi]

We only elect one school board member. There are a total of 9. Now if we had free elections for all board members, then I would completely agree. In fact, we should do that anyway, that would sure put an end to one area of town with lots of money running the entire district's expenses. You cannot possibly believe that Autisn-East, Norwood Elementary, Northwest Middle gets the same attention to funding, building programs, etc, that West Knoxville gets?

Who is my elected school board member who is out there fighting for new buildings for special ed schools? You think Dan Murphy is spending any time on ensuring the students of KAEC are getting a new facility? Not. You think Thomas Deakins was as worried about the asbestos and mold at Ridgedale as he was getting Hardin Valley Academy going? Nope, Cindy Buttry largely has it all dumped in her lap and only has a 1/9th say-so in improving it.

[Kevin Johnson]

"Our education system is flailing, and needs the leadership of trained educators"

Are you asserting that we haven't had trained educators leading us in the past, and that is why our education system is flailing?

[Pamela Treacy]

I believe Deb is referring to the leadership role of an elected person vs. an appointed one and not our classroom teachers or adminstrative personnel.

However, if I understand the law correctly, you could not run for the position unless you had certain degrees like law degree for a elected judge.

However, it still reduces the pool to only local candidates. They is not good. And that is not because I don't believe there are qualified candidates here. It just reduces our options. I would prefer to have the more options.

[Indya Kincannon]

This is from the magazine Ed Week.

REPLACING SUB-PAR SUPERINTENDENTS IN MISSISSIPPI

Governor Haley Balbour (R) of Mississippi has just signed legislation that would replace superintendents whose districts merit an "underperforming" label for two years in a row, Michele McNeil of Education Week reports. In the case of superintendents who were appointed (accounting for approximately two-thirds of Mississippi's district superintendents), school boards would simply replace individuals.

However, more than one-third are elected, and these superintendents would have to be removed by the governor and the post then filled by a more complicated electoral process. Removed superintendents would be barred from running for reelection for four years. Because Mississippi is still covered under the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the U.S. Department of Justice must review the changes in election and voting procedures before the legislation can be implemented.

The genesis of the legislation is a move toward having all superintendents appointed by school boards. Mississippi is one of only three states, with Alabama and Florida, that have elected district superintendents. Critics say this system interferes with superintendent recruitment, since many qualified candidates are put off by having to run for office. Since elected superintendents must live in their districts, this geographically constrains the applicant pool too. "Clearly, we have some excellent elected superintendents," said Mississippi state board chairman Claude Hartely. "However, this system limits the pool from which you are able to draw. We want to be able to attract the best of the best, which means we may have to recruit from across the state and across the nation. Districts with appointed superintendents are able to do just that."

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/05/13/38miss.h27.html?tmp=374081093

[Ed4me]

Rep.Nicley is still attempting to get this pass.
The Bill is HB 3455 - it appears he will try again next week.
See update below: So it you are in support of "elected instead of "appointed" let your voice be heard.

As expected, Rep. Frank Niceley (R-Strawberry Plains) made another attempt on Thursday to permit certain counties and cities to elect their superintendents. On Tuesday, Niceley tried to amend HB 3857, a bill sponsored by Rep. Gary Odom (D-Nashville), which deals with proprietary schools. The tabling motion on the amendment failed and the bill was rolled to Thursday. Niceley then changed his strategy and decided to amend a different bill - HB 3455 by Rep. Gerald McCormick (R-Chattanooga). Only this time, many more counties other than Knox and Jefferson were included. Those counties were Cumberland, Bledsoe, Roane, Union, Campbell, Washington, Meigs, Polk, Fentress, Morgan and Overton. This confirmed our earlier alert predicting that many more legislators would try to include their school districts if they saw the amendment had life.

Rep. Ulysses Jones (D-Memphis) moved this latest amendment to the table and, like Tuesday, the tabling motion failed. Then, Jones reminded McCormick of his commitment to refer the bill back to committee if any amendments were placed on the bill. McCormick reaffirmed that commitment and seconded Jones' motion to re-refer the bill to the Calendar Committee. That motion passed with 50 votes, signaling how extremely close the vote on this issue is.

So, is the issue dead for the year? Unfortunately, no. There are more bills that will be heard next week that open up the appropriate caption for elected superintendent amendments and all bets are that Niceley will try to amend each and every one of them. Therefore, please continue to contact your representatives and ask them to oppose these measures. Your calls and e-mails this week were successful but we cannot let up now.

[Roxy Hodge]

I understand and agree for more options, but if I want a job in another city, county or state, you apply and if accepted, I would relocate to that city. So why cannot "outsiders" still be considered and searched for and let the voters have a voice? I don't want a politician, but basically that is what we already have in our representations.

[Pamela Treacy]

How would you suggest this would work?

You apply for a job, go through a 3 month recruitment process, get selected as the top candidate and then you are asked to raise money for a campaign, campaign for approximately 6 months and if you lose you are out all that time and money.

I am curious how you see this working. I don't see how you can have people outside the area run for office. They would have to make the decision to move here first.

Last, since all but three states appoint rather than elect - Tennessee would not be as appealing to any strong candidate if they had to go through this process.

[Roxy Hodge]

I am not sure which way I prefer but just questioning why the oppistion to voting and have questions about it. Could the voters/public not have the same info about the canidates that board has and that info be made public? Does the board go to interview them or do they come here on a regular basis for interviews and meetings, where do they get the information to confrim whom they want to appoint that we could not receive? Also as you mentioned we voted in our school board, but as we spoke about before, some of those are/were un apposed so we cannnot vote them out.

[Pamela Treacy]

I see the confusion. You are suggesting a totally different process. The traditional elected vs. appointed process is part of the regular scheduled election cycle.

Keep up the discussion -- I now understand where you are coming from.

You want a special election when the recruitment process is being implemented by the school board. Is that right?

[Jamey Dobbs]

Questions about Knox County's process: Didn't citizens have a voice in the process? Didn't they have a chance to respond to the School Board survey and express priorities? Can someone say how it was incorporated?

[Pamela Treacy]

Jamey, I will respond to your questions as a continuation of my response above.

While citizens didn't have a right to vote, they did get to participate in the recruitment process. They were asked what they wanted; they were invited to watch the interviews; they were invited to ask questions; and they could call their school board member and tell them who they liked.

I believe the school board did everything they could to engage the public in the decision making process.

I can't confirm if each of them received emails telling the board member who their preference was. I guess that makes the case that all emails to public officials should be classified as documents under the "open records” act.

Perhaps one of our school board members is willing to come forward to let us know if citizens provided them with specific feedback on the person they liked best.

Roxy is suggesting that we would then take the informaiton from the recruitment process and then have an election. Roxy, let me know if I understand this correctly. It's an interesting idea, but . . .

I am not sure how that would work. Would the candidates campaign like a politician, would they have to seek funding, do we have the budget for the election if it is not done the same time as the regular elections. (We didn't have a budget for a special election to fill the term limited openings.)

I am very curious how you see this working.

[Indya Kincannon]

I got feedback from constituents, and others throughout the county, regarding their preferred candidates for Superintendent. I appreciated the input and used it to help guide my decision. We also sought input at every stage of the search process and got good feedback via internet surveys, public forums and regular meetings.