The School Committee, in all of its interminable intelligence, has signed an employment contract with Superintendent Carol Woodbury for – not the requisite three years – but for SIX more years.
It’s like a death sentence for this district.
We’ve already had six years of Carol Woodbury and, as a result, our district has shown a remarkable decline in measurable performance indicators and a mass exodus of students to other school districts and charter schools. We are paying over $3 million in tuition to those schools. Her supporters (naive and misinformed, though they are) would have us believe that parents are pulling their children out of this district because of the budget controversy each year. Parents do not go to the extra expense and inconvenience of transporting their kids to neighboring [better] schools because of budget controversies. If they still live in Dennis or Yarmouth, they will still be dealing with budget controversies each year, whether or not their child[ren] attend school here!
And when will any of them acknowledge the irrefutable fact that we would have no budget controversy if we weren’t losing $3 million in school choice and sending tuition? When will any of the supporters on the School Committee acknowledge the facts that our graduation rate is worse, our attendance rates are worse, our matriculation rate to colleges are lower and nearly every other measurable indicator is sub-par in our district? These are the reasons parents choose other schools over ours. Plain and simple.
The incompetence of the School Committee members who agreed to Carol Woodbury’s six-year contract is second only to their arrogance. And it is not lost on those of us who really do care about the educational product being provided to our children that this was done just a couple of weeks before the voters could yet again speak loudly at the polls by electing new members who may actually respect the will of the voters. It is not lost on us that, by electing to grant a six-year contract, they are thumbing their nose at the voters for – not just this upcoming election – but for many elections to come.
Who do these people think they are? Judge and jury, apparently. And they have sentenced our children to death by a thousand paper cuts in so doing. Again, shame on them. This School Committee continuously proves that they are small-minded, petty, short-sighted, egotistical and largely ignorant of the cancer which is growing (and being fed by them) from the top of this district. The proverbial fish rots from the head, folks. Plug in!
Let me put this a little differently. The voters of our towns have consistently spoken loudly at the polls that they have no confidence in the leadership of this district by voting against every override, electing new members to the School Committee and they have voted with their feet by leaving the district. In essence, the voters are saying that they are not interested in investing any more money, time, energy or effort into the current leadership of this district. The voters are not satisfied with the product being provided by this leadership. It’s not that complicated, but the School Committee members (those that voted in favor of a six-year contract anyway) don’t seem to get it.
Let’s say the board of directors of ABC Widget Company hires a new CEO. Under that CEO, the financial reports begin to show that sales of widgets take a dramatic downward turn and profits begin to diminish. Customer complaints about the widgets increase every year under the CEO’s leadership and faculty and staff begin to show evidence of deteriorating morale. Meanwhile, other competing widget companies begin to show such a dramatic increase in sales that they must open new branches and expand their production in order to keep up with the demand. The board of directors of ABC Widget Company go back to the bank and to its investors year after year, asking for more money – but the bank and the investors continue to tell the board that they see no credible evidence of value and/or return on their investment and they refuse to increase their investment or lend more money to ABC Widget Company. The CEO of ABC Widget Company refuses to acknowledge or is incapable of recognizing that the source of declining profits is the poor quality of the widget being produced and the board of directors does not hold the CEO accountable.
This is the definition of incompetence – at every level. And this is exactly what has happened in our school district. The saddest thing about it is that we are not manufacturing and selling poor quality widgets, we are sacrificing our children’s education.
Any parent who chooses to support this failing leadership should look into the mirror with shame. Blindly following the path this district is on is not only neglectful, but downright immoral. What will it take to make the blind followers demand more for our children?
We all deserve more and it is time we demand it.
DY Voice of Reason 