Karl Dean's power play to force his way into the selection of a new director for Metro schools is the wrong move for a mayor who says his first priority is education.
The move is wrong because Dean is not focusing his efforts where they could do the most good. Plus it not only makes wrong assumptions about the process of selecting a new director, it unnecessarily politicizes the process.
Under state law, both the interim director and the new director will report to the school board, not the mayor. By inserting himself into the process, Dean creates confusion. Will the new director answer to the school board or will he or she have loyalty to the mayor. Assuming Dean is sincere about his desire to help education, he is not serving the district well by sending mixed signals to a new hire. If he's not sincere, he's setting the district on a long, tumultuous path that can only lead to a battle between school board and the mayor. That battle will be about power, not what's best for students. The school district's needs are too great for officials to waste their time in an unproductive grab for power.
Dean's moves also make unfounded assumptions about whether the current school board can effectively select a new director. Before the process has begun, Dean has sought to substitute the decision of one person for a board that represents a broader section of the community and which is directly responsible to its constituents. That board's focus has always been on the operation of the schools and it is in a much better position to determine what skills are necessary in a new director than a mayor who has only held his position for a few months.
Lastly, Dean is missing the opportunity to have a much greater impact on education than he could ever have in trying to dominate the selection of a new director.
Many of the problems any urban school district faces originate outside the schoolhouse walls. Those distractions come from unsafe streets, decaying properties that can be used as drug houses and social issues such as employment, lack of child care services and other needs that result in children arriving at school unprepared for a day of learning.
If Mayor Dean truly wants to improve the quality of education in Nashville and boost graduation rates, he'll deal with community problems over which the school board has no control. If he can improve the quality of life outside of the schools, the new director will have a much better chance of seeing the district's children through to graduation.
Dean's input in selecting a new director is fine, but the effort to heavily influence the process won't result in better schools. Dean's real power to help education is in what he can do for the community, not in how well he can select a new director of Metro schools.
- Jim Grinstead
What's different about what Mayor Dean is doing than what Mayor Purcell did? It's the same Chamber of Commerce, business and faith based leaders doing what they've done for the last 8 years, talk to each other. And the Council is trying to be more efficient but it still fairly accurately reflects the city. It will be interesting to see what outside the box means. Which box does the Mayor want to get out of?
Posted by: jojoe | January 31, 2008 at 09:34 AM