Saturday, January 31, 2009

Cheerleader Butzon Butts-in to CCSD Again

Thanks to Saturday's op-ed in the P & C [see Help McGinley with Hard Work of Improving Education], we are now informed that those opposing Superintendent McGinley's plans were people who think the poor and black can't learn.

Gee, I wonder what the parents at Brentwood, Schroder, McClellanville Middle, Fraser, and Charlestowne Academy would say about that! Not. Not to mention the other "stakeholders" who worked so hard to put together counter-proposals that McGinley and the CCSD School Board ignored.

Jon Butzon--the executive director of the Charleston Education Network--sounds impressive, doesn't it? I'm impressed with how much he takes home (must be up to $80,000 per year by now) for attending CCSD School Board meetings and writing two or three op-ed pieces per year. And his qualifications for that are what? And what is the Charleston Education Network (apart from being part of the edublob)? [See entries for CEN and Butzon on this blog.] Who pays his salary? Who calls the shots?

Here's what a commenter wrote back in July of 2007 (just a sample of a heated conversation):

"The waste and inequities that CCSD has forced on Dist. 20 are common issues that unite both white & black downtown public school advocates. Butzon & CEN have been noticeably absent on all fronts. A united downtown is a scary prospect to some. It would seem that all the special interest groups that live off the crumbs that CCSD throws them, from Dot Scott to Jon Butzon, the NAACP to the Chamber of Commerce (what a strange mix), none can afford to have a bunch of loose cannons downtown calling for public school reforms."

My nominee for controller is Joe Riley.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I thought we had the same curriculum in all of our schools with Dr. Goodloe and Dr. McGinley's "coherent curriculum", supposedly implemented years ago.
And is Mr. Butzon actually admitting we have bad teachers in our bad schools?
Interesting...all this time I thought CCSD's game was that lack of parental involvement caused our bad schools to be bad.

Anonymous said...

If the truth be told, I think McGinley, Butzon and Green really don't want parental input. Look how much grief they get when parents are involved. Maybe that's why they hire consultants to handle their community meetings. It keeps those bothersome parents at a distance.

Next time Butzon sends a valentine via the Post and Courier, the editior might want to make a statement in the spirit of full disclosure. The Post and Courier's parent corporation is a major contributor to the Charleston Education Network. The largest single expense for CEN is Butzon's salery. So you could say Butzon is almost on the payroll of the Evening Post Corporation. It would be nice if this were posted at the end of his periodic preaching from the P&C's pulpit. It would be better if the Evening Post would just terminate its support for this useless special interest group.

Anonymous said...

He's involved because he's paid over $60,000 a year plus benefits to run his mouth and lobby on behalf of special interests. He's done nothing but that for over 10 years.