Superintendent's Contract & Job Description

I recently requested and received the contracts and job descriptions of several Central Office administrators. I will be posting a number of contracts and job descriptions. I thought it would be appropriate to start with those of Mr. Johnson.

According to his contract, Mr. Johnson is receiving a yearly base annual salary of $160,000. I don’t think that this base salary is unreasonable considering the size of I-SS. (Note: This amount is about $10,000 less than what Dr. Holliday was receiving.) However, I do have to question the rationale for the additional compensation that Mr. Johnson receives.

In addition to paying his base salary, the School System also reimburses Mr. Johnson for his cost of Social Security, his contribution to the State Retirement System, and up to $5,000 for his participation in employer-offered cafeteria benefit plans. These cafeteria benefit plans include such things as vision, dental, and cancer insurance. These are benefits that other school employees must pay for themselves.

I don’t know the additional value of these benefits for Mr. Johnson but some time ago I determined that Dr. Holliday was receiving about $40,000 for these same benefits. I think that this is a way of hiding the actual compensation of the superintendent. The Board should be honest and just pay a reasonable base salary and let the superintendent pay for these other items just as other school employees must do.

I also have a question about one of the items listed on the Superintendent’s Job description under the section titled: MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS OR STANDARDS REQUIRED TO PERFORM ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS. In this section it states that the superintendent must be able to sit, stand, walk and drive a car. It seems to me that to require the superintendent to be able to sit, stand and walk is a clear violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This requirement is also in the job descriptions of other I-SS Administrators.

Superintendent's Contract: (Click on an image to enlarge it.)

Pages 1 and 2:

Pages 3 and 4:

Pages 5 and 6:

Pages 7 and 8:

Pages 9 and 10:

Page 11:

Superintendent's Job Description:

New Superintendent Update

Update: Audio clips have been added.

As I stated in my previous post Mr. Johnson was named New I-SS superintendent at the Board of Education meeting on Monday evening. Dr. Cash, Board Chairman, said that the decision was made at a previous meeting. I assume that it was made done during the closed session after the Committee of the Whole meeting last Monday. Click on the link below to access the official announcement on the I-SS web site.

Board Selects Johnson

Click on the link below to access the announcement on the Record and Landmark web site.

Johnson named I-SS superintendent

Prior to naming the new superintendent, Dr. Cash made a number of comments some of which are not included in those announcements. Some of Dr. Cash's comments are listed below.

“One of the most, if not the most, important responsibilities of a Board is to ensure the placement of a leader or CEO who shares the vision of the institution and is able to capably and responsibly nurture the institution in carrying out its mission. As the Board of I-SS began to consider who would be chosen to become our next superintendent,

we reviewed our vision to improve student learning by igniting a passion for learning and began to contemplate what leadership skills could help us all be excited about our focus on learning,

we thought about our mission …

we considered personal attributes and characteristics of a leader …

we reviewed recommendations made through the district advisory meeting process and the data obtained from formal and informal surveys throughout the education and civic community.

Resulting from this process, several common themes, skills, attributes, characteristics of our next desirable leader emerged.”

You may now listen to Dr. Cash's comments and announcement.

He then went on to make additional comments and stated some of the reasons behind the Board’s decision before making the actual announcement.

While I think that Brady Johnson is a good man and was an excellent choice for Interim Superintendent, I think that naming him Superintendent was a very premature choice. The reports of the area advisory meetings have not yet been publicized, the advisory meeting with certified personnel has not yet even been held, and there has been no public survey. The board made certain commitments regarding the selection of the superintendent that have now been totally discarded.

The Board is again stating that they really don’t care about students, teachers, parents, and the public. They made this decision on their own without the full input of the I-SS stakeholders. That is not a good for anyone but the Board. They were not properly carrying out the duties of their elected positions. Quite simply, they took the easy way out.

You may now listen to Mr. Johnson's comments.

New Superintendent Named

At tonight's Board of Education meeting Dr. Cash stated that Brady Johnson had been selected to be the new superintendent. Before making the announcement, Dr. Cash read a number of recommendations that were made at the various advisory meetings and stated that the Board had made their decision based on those recommendations.

Congratulations to Mr. Brady Johnson!

In a subsequent post I will give more information and some comments.

NIH Advisory Meeting

The next advisory meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 13^th, at North Iredell High School. The meeting will start at 7:00 p.m. Again, the main purpose of the meeting is to allow students, parents, teachers, and others an opportunity to participate in the selection process for the new superintendent. You may not think that the School Board is truly going to listen the public’s input, but if we don’t speak out that just gives the Board members an excuse to do whatever they want.

If the same process is used at this meeting as was used at the SHS meeting, the participants will first be asked to list the priorities that they wish the new superintendent to address. That is what should be the main concerns for the school system. After that, the participants will be asked to list the character traits, experience, or strengths that the new superintendent should possess.

I have another meeting Tuesday night so I will not be able to attend this advisory meeting. I hope several readers of this blog will attend the meeting and then leave some comments so we can get a report of the main emphasis of this meeting.

SHS Advisory Meeting

My wife and I attended the first of the Advisory meetings designed to allow the public an opportunity to participate in the selection process for the new superintendent. I think I now know what it is like to attend a Baldrige meeting. While Mr. Johnson and others were speaking my wife would inform me as they used Baldrige terminology. We even ended the meeting doing a plus-delta chart.

Brady gave a brief welcome and then turned the meeting over to two ‘volunteers,’ Paul and Terri, who had been asked to lead the meeting. I did not get their last names. Paul did most of the instructing of what we were to do. I did get the impression that Paul was actively involved in the last superintendent search. I was hoping there would be an open discussion, but as it turned out things were much more structured. There was really no opportunity to simply discuss what the participants wanted or did not want in a superintendent.

We were given a stack of sticky notes and asked to think about what priorities we would like the new superintendent to address and then write our ideas on the sticky notes with only one idea on each notes. The notes were taken and sorted by content and placed on different sheets of chart paper. Each sheet was given a corresponding category label.

As we were writing the notes Brady described the I-SS Proposed Strategic Plan for 2009 – 2012. The items on the plan are very similar to the items that were on the Strategic Plan Survey. Brady did allow for some questions as he went over the plan. For me this presentation of the Strategic Plan while we were trying to complete our notes was a big distraction and took away from the main task of the meeting. It may have even been a veiled attempt to influence the focus of the notes.

After Brady was finished with his presentation and after the notes were sorted the sheets were placed a different tables. The different categories were Non-traditional Student Programs, Personal Qualities, Funding, Harmonious Relationships, Staff Needs, and Student Achievement. Everyone was then asked to select a category and go to that particular table. The individuals at each table were then to group the sticky notes related to the particular categories into groups of related ideas or sub-topics and then to write a statement that described that idea. We were then each given four sticky dots and ask to go around to the various tables and vote for what we thought were the four main ideas of all of the ones listed. These will be tallied and put with the results of the other advisory meetings and then this would be reported to the School Board. They did say that they would also make a list of all of the ideas that were on the individual sticky notes.

Next, they asked what were the character traits or experience and the strengths we would like to see in the new superintendent. They had two chart tablets on easels and wrote ‘Strengths’ at the top of one chart and ‘Character Traits and Experience’ at the top of the other. Then everyone was asked to verbally suggest different strengths or characteristics to be listed on these sheets. Once all of the traits were listed on one sheet or the other, we were give two blue sticky dots and two orange sticky dots. We then were instructed to use the orange dots to vote for two of the listed strengths and the two blue dots to vote for two of the listed character traits/experiences. These will also be tallied and reported to the School Board.

Finally there was a chart divided into two parts with plus listed on one side and delta on the other. We were then asked to use sticky notes to list things that we thought went well with the meeting and place those notes on the plus side of the chart. We were also asked to use the sticky notes to list things that we thought should have been done differently and place those on the delta side.

Overall, I would say that the basic procedures used in the meeting were good and could help if the Board really considers the results. However, there were some problems. The biggest problem was that there were not many teachers or community members in attendance. There seemed to be as many if not more I-SS administrators present and participating in the process. Now, don’t get me wrong, I think that the school administrators should participate in the process of selecting the new superintendent. It is just that there were a disproportionate number of administrators at this meeting and that tended to skew the results. For example, there were a large number of votes for the item relating to data driven principles. Apparently, these administrators want to continue using the Baldrige model.

I strongly encourage parents, community members, and teachers to participate in these meetings. If all of these advisory meetings end up being like this one, we are going to have another Holliday as superintendent. From the comments left on this blog it is obvious that most readers of the blog do not want that to happen. Thus, it is imperative that you attend at least one of these meetings and let your intentions be known. Encourage your friends and your children’s teachers to attend as well. The next advisory meeting is on Oct. 13^th at North Iredell High School.

Another problem I saw with the meeting was that there was only one School Board member in attendance. As you might suspect that individual was Mr. John Rogers. From what I could tell, Mr. Rogers did not actively participate in the meeting. But he was there to observe and to listen to what was said. Mr. Rogers, thank you for taking the time to attend the meeting.

Board Improvement Plan

At the I-SS Board meeting on Monday, September 14^th, the School Board approved the first reading of the I-SS Board of Education Improvement Plan for the 2009-10 school year. The five goals included in the plan are listed below.

1. Board of Education members communicate with district staff using approved procedure.
2. The Board of Education is accessible and responsive to the Superintendent, staff, and other stakeholders.
3. Board members use the district process and chain of command to resolve problems and complaints.
4. The Board of Education builds and maintains relationships with the community.
5. The Board of Education will ensure stakeholder input in the Superintendent selection process.

The second goal states that the Board is accessible and responsive to stakeholders while the fourth goal states that the Board builds and maintains relationships with the community. Will the Board as a group be truly responsive to the citizens of Iredell County? It seems like Mr. Rogers is the only Board member who replies to e-mails and attends community meetings. As the Board goes through the process of selecting a new superintendent it has an opportunity to show a true commitment to the public. Many have said it before, it is time for meaningful actions and not just words.

I-SS Committee of the Whole Meeting

The next Committee of the Whole Meeting is scheduled for this Tuesday, Sept. 8th, at 5:00 p.m. in the ADR Education Center. At this meeting the School Board will start the search for the new superintendent by having a representative of the NC School Boards Association give a presentation regarding the obligations of the Board as they carry out the process of selecting a new superintendent. I think it would be very beneficial for anyone interested in the selection process to attend this meeting. Remember that the new superintendent will be directing I-SS and many of us don't want I-SS to repeat the mistakes that have occurred under the direction of the previous superintendent. I think that most I-SS stakeholders would agree that the new superintendent must set a new course for the school system. One that, as was mentioned at the meeting with Mr. Johnson, will bring back the humanistic character of education to our schools.

There are a number of other items on the agenda as well. Some of these other items are the School Improvement Plans, Recommended Changes to the I-SS Strategic Plan, and the BOE Improvement Plan. Remember that most of the work of the School Board is done at the Committee of the Whole meeting. To access the full agenda for the meeting click on the link below.

Agenda

Report of the Meeting with Mr. Johnson

The meeting with Mr. Brady Johnson went very well. It was well attended both by teachers and citizens. Mr. John Rogers, School Board Member, and Mr. Larry Rogers, SHS Principal, were also in attendance.

The meeting started with Mr. Johnson telling everyone a little bit about his background in education as a teacher and as an administrator. He then went on to tell about the start of school and his goals as interim superintendent. As part of that he related some of the achievements of the school system such as the ABC scores, the schools that met AYP, and SAT scores. Mr. Johnson also told how the I-SS scores related to other schools in the state. Overall, I-SS is doing well. For example, with respect to the SAT scores, I-SS ranks 12^th in the state.

Mr. Johnson also talked of the principal’s focus group that was held last spring and that the three main issues brought forth from that session were inconsistent communications within the school system, the IFs were not evaluated by the principals, and that the Central Office did not value the input of the principals. To address those and other issues, Mr. Johnson said he asked the principals to meet and evaluate a number of school processes. He said that one of the processes that principals recommended fixing was the role of the IFs. Mr. Johnson then related some of the changes he put in place to do that such as having the IFs report to the principals and that the IFs will now be away from their schools only a half-day a week for ‘training’ instead of one full day a week.

Of course, Mr. Johnson also spoke of the Baldrige plan and that he saw the Baldrige system as one that aligns everyone in an organization so that everyone is working together toward a common goal. He also added that in the past the application of the Baldrige plan has been somewhat heavy handed at that there were plans in place to take some of the pressure off teachers. Speaking of teachers, Mr. Johnson said that he sees teachers as partners and that every other employee at a school should be working to support the teachers.

In addition, Mr. Johnson described the tentative plans for the search for the new superintendent. He said the process would start Tuesday at the I-SS Committee of the Whole Meeting when a representative of the NC School Boards Association will inform the I-SS Board of their obligations regarding the search procedure. Mr. Johnson added that there would be advisory meetings held at each High School during which the public will have input as to what qualities to look for in the new superintendent. There will also be student advisory meetings and staff advisory meetings. Mr. Johnson also said that there would probably be some type of electronic survey. He said that he expected that applications would have to be in by December or January and that interviews would probably start in February with the final selection to be in March or April.

Following this was the question and answer period. There were a number of good questions and, although I am sure that not everyone was completely satisfied with all the answers, I do think it would be fair to say that Mr. Johnson took the time to sincerely answer each question. Someone asked why the principals were surveyed but the teachers were not. Mr. Johnson stated that he expected the principals to know their teachers and thus to speak for them. There were questions and comments about Baldrige and the role of the IFs. Mr. Johnson again said that changes were being made and that he met with the principals and the IFs together and that he would be meeting with just the IFs to clarify his perspective of their role in the schools. I asked how he was making it known that he saw teachers as partners and that other school employees were working for the teachers. Mr. Johnson said that he had visited some 14 schools and that he was trying to get to the others soon and that he was trying to meet with many individuals at each school. He said that he would like to meet with everyone at their staff meetings but that staff meetings were on Tuesdays and that it would take over 30 weeks to get to every school. Someone then suggested that if he did go to staff meetings that he should take time to meet with just the teachers so that they could speak freely.

There were questions and comments about the EC program and IEPs. As well there were some questions and comments about the continued fear of teachers to speak out. There were also some questions of Mr. John Rogers who at one point commented that in the past the Board would instruct Dr. Holliday to do certain things and that he would often turn around and do something else. That, of course, led to some other questions and comments.

In conclusion everyone seemed to be very appreciative of Mr. Johnson for taking the time to meet with the group and several individuals spoke highly of their interactions with Mr. Johnson in the past. I know that this is not a complete description of the meeting. I did not take copious notes but I did try to cover a lot of what was said. Perhaps others who were at the meeting could leave a comment and fill in the gaps in my narrative or correct me if I did not relate things correctly. I know that Janey Munday gave her impression of the meeting in a comment to a previous post.

Transylvania County Schools Superintendent Search

The Transylvania County Schools recently completed the process of selecting a new superintendent. As part of that process, their School Board conducted an online community survey. The survey asked individuals to rank the importance of a list of 20 characteristics desirable in their new superintendent. Leigh Kelley, Times-News Staff Writer, wrote an article about the results of the survey. The online version of the article is available at the link below.

Superintendent Search

The following comments are taken from the article.

When it comes to choosing the next superintendent of Transylvania County Schools, experience in the top role is less important than service as a successful classroom teacher or principal, according to the results of an online community survey.

Among the survey findings:

• It was deemed “very important” for a new superintendent to have strong people skills. This was rated No. 1 one out of 20 characteristics considered desirable.
• The ability to get parents, students, staff and the community to work together was the next highest rated characteristic respondents said they wanted in a superintendent.
• Understanding current school programs, communicating well with all groups in the community and being accessible and responding to concerns in a timely fashion rounded out the top five.
• Being an effective classroom teacher and/or principal ranked eighth out of 20 categories.
• Experience as a superintendent ranked 14th.

There was also a way for people to leave comments. I hope that the I-SS Board will do a similar survey. And, as others have mentioned about school surveys this should be completed using an independent online survey source and not through the I-SS web site. The School Board should get the results without having anyway of knowing who left a particular comment or ranking.

Unfortunately, the article did not give the full results of the survey. I agree with the top ranked items in the Transylvania survey. What other characteristics would you like to see in the new I-SS superintendent?

School Board Meeting

The regular Board of Education meeting will be held on Monday, August 10^th, at 6:00 p.m. in the Iredell County Government Center on Center Street. Click on the link below to access the agenda for the meeting.

Board Agenda & Minutes

Although there have been a number of positive steps taken since Dr. Holliday resigned, we must continue to be vigilant. We must make sure that the focus of the school system remains on the students and that the teachers are given the tools and the proper support needed to ensure the success of all students. Also, the Board will soon begin the process of selecting a new superintendent. The citizens of Iredell County need to send a clear message to the entire Board that it is essential that all stakeholders be allowed to fully participate in the selection of the new superintendent. Therefore, I am asking everyone to attend the Board meeting on Monday. And when I say everyone, I mean everyone. It does not matter if you agree with me or not, now is the time to come together for the sake of our children and grandchildren.

Thank You Mr. Johnson

In my previous post I wrote about my conversation with Mr. Johnson. I thanked Mr. Johnson for meeting with me but I forgot to include a word of thanks in my post. As I mentioned in my previous post, Mr. Johnson invited me to meet with him. He did so soon after being named interim superintendent. He had asked me to wait until he officially took over the reins of the school system before I posted anything about the scheduled meeting. Mr. Johnson did not have to contact me and ask me to meet with him. He did not have to meet with me on his first official day as interim superintendent. I am sure he already had a full schedule. Mr. Johnson did not have to apologize to me for the actions of Dr. Holliday. But he did. That shows that Mr. Johnson is not only a true professional but also a true gentleman. I wish Mr. Johnson the best as he endeavors to guide the school system. Thank you, Mr. Johnson for meeting with me but especially for agreeing to take on the responsibilities of interim superintendent.

Chance Meeting With I-SS Board Member

As I was walking in Wal-Mart today, Mr. John Rogers, Jr. stopped me and we talked for a while. I have to admit that I did not recognize him at first. I thanked him for taking a part in selecting Brady Johnson for the interim superintendent position. Mr. Rogers said that we should start seeing some changes once Brady officially takes on the duties of the interim superintendent. Mr. Rogers also said that if any one has any suggestions for the School Board to please pass those suggestions on to them. I asked Mr. Rogers if the public was going to have some input into the selection of the new superintendent. He said that there would be a public forum and that it would probably be held in Mac Gray Auditorium at Statesville High School. So it does look like there will be some positive changes made. I know that there are many people looking forward to August 5th.

Record and Landmark Editorial

The following is taken from the editorial titled I-SS Making Strides that was printed in Thursday's edition of the Statesville Record & Landmark. Unfortunately it is not available on the paper's web site.

The article starts with the statements:

Iredell-Statesville Schools officials aren't completely satisfied with the district's showing in the Adequate Yearly Progress report for 2008-09.

That's the right and politically correct thing to say, but the results - combined with rising SAT scores and graduation rates - provide another sign that I-SS is moving in the right direction.

The article then ends with the following statement:

Parents, teachers, and taxpayers should expect Mr. Johnson and other top administrators to continue on the course set by Dr. Holliday until the school board advises otherwise.

Yes, I-SS has had a number of successes over the last few years, but as has been pointed out in this blog, many of those successes have been in spite of Dr. Holliday's initiatives rather than because of them. As the records have shown, Dr. Holliday has spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer's dollars to implement his version of the Baldrige plan. A plan that has alienated many students, parents, teachers, teacher assistants, and other Iredell Citizens.

As many people have commented on this blog, Mr. Johnson is known to be an honest and professional man who has the student's best interests at heart. I personally hope that Mr. Johnson is given the freedom to change the focus of the administration away from the superintendent and toward the students.

I suggest that we thank Mr. Johnson for agreeing to take the interim position and offer him our support.

Brady Johnson Named Interim Superintendent

The following is taken from the I-SS web site.

The Iredell-Statesville Schools Board of Education tonight at a specially called meeting named Brady Johnson the interim superintendent of the school district beginning August 5. Johnson‘s selection comes following Friday’s announcement that current superintendent Dr. Terry Holliday will be leaving the district to become the commissioner of public education for the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

“On behalf of the entire board of education, I can say that we are confident that we made the right decision for Iredell-Statesville Schools,” said board chairman Dr. David Cash. “The board’s priority was selecting someone that would continue to move our school district forward as we begin the important job of choosing a permanent replacement for Dr. Holliday. Brady is certainly well-suited to ensure that our schools continue to build on their current levels of success.”

The board of education will begin advertising for Holliday’s position immediately, although no specific deadline has been set for announcing a replacement.

Click on the link below to read the full article.

Johnson Unanimously Selected to Serve as Interim Superintendent

Janey Munday's Message to the Baord

Now that Dr.Holliday is leaving, I strongly urge you to look closely at the replacement for his job. Not only the immediate one but the person that will replace him full time. We need someone who has been in the system and has strong ties to our community. Not someone who will come, make a name for themselves on the backs of our employees and students, and then leave for greener pastures. I am sure that you are aware of the unrest in our schools and community because of the Baldrige program. I ask that you not hand over the reins to someone who will continue to force our teachers to use a program that so many of them are unhappy with, but will look for someone who has had success without this stress. I also hope that you will make it possible for the citizens of Iredell County to have an input into the process.

Thank you for your time,
Janey Munday
Retired teacher

My e-mail to the Board Members

I-SS Board Members

I know that the task ahead of you to find an interim superintendent and a permanent superintendent will not be an easy one. I am asking that you approach this as you have with other tasks, and that is with the best interest of the students in mind. In addition, I am asking you to make this process as open as possible. Students, parents, I-SS employees, and the citizens of Iredell County should all be allowed to participate in the selection of the interim superintendent as well as the permanent superintendent.

All I-SS students and employees have to be given the opportunities and the support needed to achieve true success. This can only be done in an atmosphere of encouragement, transparency and accountability. We must find a superintendent who not only brings a different approach to education but who is also open to the suggestions of others.

The Baldrige approach has brought some success to the school system but it also had a number of disadvantages. First, it forced teachers to instruct all students with the same methodology. Students are not cogs on an assembly line. Teachers have to be free to find an approach that works for the students in their classes. Second, there was no openness to other ideas. Teachers were discouraged from trying different approaches. Teachers were discouraged from going to conferences and meetings in their subject areas. This led to frustration for the teachers and for the students. Lastly, there were thousands of I-SS dollars spent to implement and maintain the Baldrige plan. This money was taken from other programs and initiatives that could have benefitted the students. Thousands of other schools have achieved great successes without using the Baldrige plan and I-SS can do so as well.

Paul E. Klaene

Kentucky's Loss, Iredell's Gain

The Kentucky Department of Education is reporting that Dr. Holliday has been selected as the next Kentucky Education Commissioner. The following is taken from the press release.

Terry Holliday, superintendent of the Iredell-Statesville school district in Statesville, North Carolina, has been selected as Kentucky’s fifth commissioner of education. His salary will be $225,000 annually, and his first day in office will be August 5. The contract is for four years.

The Kentucky Board of Education announced the selection today at a special-called meeting in Frankfort. Chairman Joe Brothers said that Holliday exemplifies the qualities the board sought for the next commissioner. “Terry Holliday has a proven record of accomplishments, and chief among those is his work to raise student achievement levels,” Brothers said. “He is a strong leader who understands the importance of collaboration and communication among partners, including parents, educators, community leaders, businesspeople and elected officials.

For more of the Kentucky press release click on the link below

Holliday selected as Kentucky Education Commissioner

To access the related article in the Record and Landmark, click on the link below.

Holliday selected for Kentucky post

The following is taken from The I-SS News release found on their web site.

Kentucky Board of Education members this morning voted to hire Iredell-Statesville Schools Superintendent Dr. Terry Holliday as the state’s next commissioner of education. Holliday was one of four finalists for the position.

“My family and I are certainly excited about this new challenge,” said Holliday. “But leaving Iredell-Statesville Schools will definitely be a bittersweet experience. During the last seven years, I have come to love not only our schools, but our community and its people.”

Iredell-Statesville Schools Board of Education Chairman Dr. David Cash says Holliday’s selection as the Kentucky commissioner comes as no surprise.

According to Cash, the board of education will begin work immediately to name an interim superintendent. “We certainly want to build upon the solid foundation we currently have in place,” said Cash. “Right now, we want to maintain stability and work to identify the best individual who can help our district continue on its path of success.”

Cash said the board will be discussing the interim job with a handful of internal candidates. “We’re very fortunate. Our school district has developed a pool of highly-motivated, talented leaders who we are confident will continue to ensure our young people succeed,” he said.

The board will begin meeting with potential candidates for the interim position during a special called meeting on Monday afternoon. Cash said it was possible that the board would make an announcement about an interim replacement for Holliday at the conclusion of the meeting. Once an interim replacement is in place, the board will begin advertising for a permanent replacement.

For more of the I-SS press release click on the link below

Superintendent Becomes Kentucky's New Education Commissioner

Now is the time to take action. Contact the School Board members and let them know that they have to concentrate on what is best for the students. Students, parents, teachers, teacher assistants, and the citizens of Iredell County should all be allowed to participate in the selection of the interim superintendent as well as the permanent superintendent. Apparently, the School Board is planning on meeting in a closed session on Monday with no input from the public.

The contact information for the Board Members is listed below.

Mr. Bill Brater (District 5) 529 Catspaw Lane Statesville, NC 28677 704-528-3531 billbrater@bellsouth.net Dr. David Cash (District 2) 149 Foxglove Drive Statesville, NC 28625 704-873-3269 davidcash@iss.k12.nc.us Mr. Charles Kelly (District 6) 132 Blueberry Hill Drive Statesville, NC 28625 704-873-7578 cskllll@bellsouth.net Mr. John B. Rogers, Jr. (District 3) 851 Wesley Drive Statesville, NC 28677 704-873-7777 johnrgrsjb@aol.com Mrs. Karen Watson (District 7) PO Box 4533 Mooresville, NC 28117 704-660-8018 ktwatson@iss.k12.nc.us Mr. Keith Williams (District 4) 1724 Jones Street Statesville, NC 28625 704-878-6559 keith.williams@iredellmemorial.org Dr. Kenneth Wilson (District 1) 293 Rash Road Olin, NC 28660 704-876-4515 kenwilolin@yahoo.com

Holliday Praised in R & L Editorial

Post updated on July 9th.

The Statesville Record & Landmark has an editorial in today's paper in which they talk about Dr. Holliday's bid to be Kentucky's next education commissioner. Here is a link to the on-line version of the editorial.

Kentucy bound?

The editorial states that Dr. Holliday's selection as one of the finalists for the Kentucky position is an honor for I-SS and that it comes on the heels of Holliday's selection as NC Superintendent of the year and the selection of I-SS for a 2008 Baldrige National Quality Award.

The editorial does not mention the selection process for the Superintendent's award. There was no statewide vote taken and the I-SS teachers/teacher assistants were not asked for their opinions. Dr. Holliday simply submitted his own application for the award and had his buddies in the Central Office write letters of recommendation. Then the NC superintendents association looked at the applications submitted and decided whose turn it was to receive the award this year.

Speaking of the Baldrige award, the editorial does not mention the amount of money that the Baldrige effort has cost the school system. In the time that Dr. Holliday has been superintendent, I-SS has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in salaries for Central Office administrators whose primary job is to push the Baldrige model, thousands of dollars a year for Baldrige materials, thousands of dollars for Baldrige Consultants, thousands of dollars for Baldrige training, and thousands of dollars for travel to Baldridge seminars. This is all money that could have been used to provide the resources needed in the classrooms and to keep the 70 Teacher Assistants from being fired this summer because there is no money left in the school budget to pay them.

The editorial also mentions the improvements in SAT scores and graduation rates but does not mention that those improvements are due to the dedication of the teachers and teacher assistants and that those improvements were attained in spite of the Baldrige model and not because of it. The editorial does not mention the amount of stress that all the assessments and data collection has put on the teachers and students. The editorial does not mention the number of excellent teachers who have left I-SS and have gone to other school systems where the value of the teachers is appreciated and where teachers are freely allowed to use their skills for the benefit of the students.

I say that Dr. Holliday's application for the Kentucky position is just another example of his self promotion and that I am proud to be one of Dr. Holliday's vocal detractors.

I wanted to add that saying that the Baldrige award is an national award gives it way more credit than it deserves. It is true that the Baldrige is a national award in that any school system in the country can apply for the award. But in reality only 11 school systems applied for the award. That means that I-SS was selected the best of those 11 applicants. There are thousands of school systems in the US. If the Baldrige model is such a great educational method, as Dr. Holliday advocates, then why are there so few school systems using it? There are thousands of school systems achieving great successes without the burden and cost of adopting the Baldrige model. I am sure that, with the right leadership, I-SS could do the same.

Our Job Is Not Over

Just because Dr. Holliday is one of the finalists for a position in Kentucky does not mean we can let our guard down. He might not get the position and if he does, we will have to make sure that the School Board sets up a very public process for finding a new superintendent. One that truly involves all the citizens of Iredell County. Then we will have to start working on changing the membership of the Board. The current Board has allowed Dr. Holliday to rule without any checks or balances.

In a previous post, I suggested that we find some way of identifying the members of our group. In one of the comments someone suggested that we wear red, white, and blue since these are the colors of our flag, and since our mission is to work for freedom for our teachers and children. That sounds like a good idea to me. So, if there are no objections, lets wear the colors. You can wear an armband, a shirt, a scarf, or whatever. Just show some red, white and blue.

Happy 4th of July!

Holliday, Going, Going, Almost Gone?

According to an article in today's Record & Landmark, Dr. Holliday is one of four finalists being considered by the Kentucky Board of Education to be the state's next commissioner of education. Click on the link below to read the on-line version of the article as well as some excellent comments.

I-SS superintendent in running for Kentucky job

Thanks to the person who mentioned the article in a comment to a previous post on this blog. We can only hope that Dr. Holliday gets the position. I just feel sorry for the citizens of Kentucky, especially since I am a native of Kentucky and have many relatives who live there. If you want additional information about the candidates for the Kentucky position you can check out the Kentucky School News and Commentary blog at the link below.

http://theprincipal.blogspot.com/

The blog also has links to two YouTube videos of Dr. Holliday speaking at the 2009 Quest for Excellence conference. In one of the videos Dr. Holliday mentions that one of the pivotal moments for the change in the I-SS leadership team occurred when he hired Brenda Clark. Dr. Holliday then goes on to say that he was able to save a couple hundred thousand dollars by changing her from a highly paid consultant to a poorly paid school district official. Of course, Dr. Holliday doesn't mention that Ms. Clark has a four-year contract starting at $129,900.00 per year. I guess that if your making over $200,000.00, then $129,900.00 may not seem like much. Try comparing that to what teachers and teacher assistants get paid. No wonder Dr. Holliday treats teachers and teacher assistants as if they are a dime a dozen.

Finally, how many times has Dr. Holliday mentioned that he really liked I-SS and that he has had offers for other positions but that he turned them down because he wanted to stay at I-SS until he retired in 2011. Now we learn that he has been actively seeking at least one other position. Don't get me wrong, I am glad that Dr. Holliday is wanting to move on. I hope he does, and that it happens very quickly. But, I think that it verifies what many have been saying for some time now. You can not trust what he says because he will tell you one thing and turn around and tell someone else something completely different. We need a superintendent who can be trusted to truly look after the needs of the students rather than bolstering his or her own ego.