No one, least of all yours truly, denies that the Charleston County School District has a fraught load of problems that the sainted previous superintendent left for her successor. During Gerrita Postlewait's short tenure, she had seemed to understand how to proceed without getting stuck in the mud. No more.
What caused the superintendent to behave as she has is unclear. Certainly, the abysmal scores on an unbiased national achievement test (the ACT) may well have been a factor. Her initial request to the Board of Trustees to hand her the power to hire and fire principals passed with barely a discussion. The new meeting regime with only one per month meant for the public at large displaced input from the community but calmed the waters. Now her efforts to change the educational climate in some failing schools have blown up in her face. You could almost feel sorry for her--until you remember that she's paid over $200,000 per year to steer our schools in the right direction.
Who would want to be a teacher in Charleston County? Perhaps a glutton for punishment! So many flaws have appeared in the value-added system of teacher evaluation that most districts have already abandoned it. CCSD has come late to the party. What schools need is effective leadership from principals. Any teacher worth her salt knows that the principal makes or breaks the school climate. Question: is CCSD's system of assistant superintendents allowing its principals to do their jobs?
We might as well have a value-added system of parent evaluation, for all the good it would do.
Data driven?
How about common-sense driven?
Friday, May 26, 2017
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2 comments:
postlewaite didn't misjudge community reaction to change. one cannot misjudge an unknown. she would have first had to make an effort to talk to the community and get to know its people. she didn't. she sees herself as a ceo who shuffle people around like deck of cards.
postlewaite has done nothing to get to know the charleston community...nothing. so, one should not be surprised that it all blew up in her face. she collects a healthy paycheck while wrecking havoc in the district.
Would you rather have her predecessor?
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