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8 Comments:
Choosing a superintendent is not an easy task. St. Louis got very lucky in the almost accidental hiring of Bourisaw.
But the powers that be see her as an obstruction which must be removed. Their agenda includes things along the lines of privatization, and, has been shown in other cities the first step is destruction of the power of the teachers' union.
A lot of constructive progress has been achieved by Bourisaw, doing a tight-wire act with slim board majorities. Blunt, Slay and the other republicans will not let democracy take its course---their agenda will be bullied into place----and the results will be damaging and contentious on a level not yet witnessed.
These people have the power----but not the ability to exercise it wisely.
1/28/2007 12:22 PM
They have some familiar ingredients----a former board president who does not like how things are going---and a vice president of their board whose wife used to be a teachers' union bigshot. Apparently, the 3-2 majority will quickly sniff out the anti-teacher, pro corporate krap Williams was trained to advocate, and he will not be given much consideration. There is nothing like Matt Blunt and Slay who will try to dismantle their board to get their way.Article published Wednesday, January 10, 2007
A conflicted TPS board
ALTHOUGH the Toledo Board of Education has elected new leadership, the board still shows signs of starting the new year on the wrong foot. Soon after Deborah Barnett and Steven Steel were elected president and vice president, board members resumed their bickering and back-biting.
It's past time to stop this foolishness.
Toledo Public Schools and the community expect the board to guide the district toward improvement, not put all their energy into that internal conflict. Ms. Barnett received unanimous support for the presidency, which at least shows her peers believe she can help the board resume its focus and steer the district in a positive direction.
And difficult times lie ahead: TPS faces a looming budget crisis and decreasing enrollment; it needs to hire a new superintendent; it needs a levy, and teachers are anxiously waiting for a previously promised salary increase.
However, the consensus the board needs began to fall apart after Ms. Barnett was elected. Mr. Steel was elected vice president by a vote of 3 to 2. In addition to voting for himself, he was joined by Ms. Barnett and Larry Sykes, the trio who dubbed themselves "3 for Children" in response to former board president Darlene Fisher and member Robert Torres' 2005 campaign theme for change.
Ms. Barnett deserves credit for trying to persuade her colleagues to concentrate on their purpose. She distributed a pledge for them to sign to aim for a "unifying purpose" and to establish a "sense of camaraderie." That's exactly what voters had in mind when they elected the school board. At this juncture, the public could care less about lofty words; they want the board to act on those goals.
It became apparent at the recent meeting that Ms. Fisher still doesn't grasp the team concept. She brought up that Mr. Steel's wife, Catherine Hernandez, is a TPS teacher who also was a member of the teachers union board of directors. That's old news, and whether it's a possible conflict of interest for Mr. Steel is a moot point. Ms. Hernandez resigned from the union post when her husband was elected.
1/28/2007 12:46 PM
Williams was not perfect. Williams should have tried harder to work with the teachers. That was a big failing. Downs never gave the guy a chance and harassed him. Williams suffered from being hired by Archibald, etc. The bringing in of Bourisaw was planned, not at all accidental.
All seven board members could have tried to work together. They chose not to, and we are in danger of a far worse fate with Blunt and Slay appointees possibly running the district.
Good thing that we are not at war with a country bordering the U.S. Both camps on the school board have been pretty incompetant.
I wish Williams the best. I am embarassed at Archibald, Downs, Jackson, ...
Principals need to be able to assemble the team of teachers and other staff that will work together well. Archibald and the other Slayters hurt the students by reducing Principal input. 420 hurts the students by seniority preventing Principals from making classroom assignment decisions that make sense.
1/28/2007 1:03 PM
The word is Michael Johnson his friend from the YMCA set up the interview for him.
Michael Johnson sister in law is on the Search Committee and Toledo and him and Williams are doing some things togther in Indiana.
Michael JOhnson is going to Indiana and Williams to Toledo. We lost two good leaders in our city.
1/28/2007 11:49 PM
Isn't it about time to leave Williams alone? Purdy and Downs are racist. Everyone knows this. Bourisaw is a racist ask her neighbors is south county. I hear she uses the N word often.
Try doing a background check on her, it will raise the hair on your back.
1/29/2007 12:11 AM
Every time someone posts this ridiculous crap under "anonymous", it discredits all anonymous postings a little more. I don't take any of them serious anymore.
"Purdy and Downs are racist...everyone knows this"
Give us all a frickin break!
1/29/2007 6:47 AM
12:11 sounds like obrien, or haas or hilgemann inbibing.
however, haas does not hesitate to sign his posts so most likely obrien or hilgemann.
1/29/2007 7:33 AM
If you believe Bourisaw uses the N word, then you must also believe the world is flat!
Sounds like a VOBrienette, doesn't it? Just because she uses the M---F--- word so loosely, doesn't mean someone else stoops to her level.
All the African Americans who work under or near her say what a professional lady Bourisaw is. O'Brien could take a lesson from her as well as the "sotted" Hilgemann.
1/29/2007 8:12 PM
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