I would like to comment on Emily Ervin’s letter to the editor that was printed in the Saturday, May 23rd, edition of the Statesville Record and Landmark. The headline for the letter states the I-SS Superintendent’s position warrants hefty compensation. Ms. Ervin’s letter justifies her opinion by stating that the school system is the county’s largest employer and that the superintendent is there for the credit or the blame. If you look at the I-SS administrative chart you will see that there are over 30 central office administrators who do the actual work of running the school system. That includes the associate superintendent, assistant superintendents, directors, officers, supervisors, and coordinators. But, that does not include all of the principals, assistant principals, and instructional facilitators. How many of these administrators does Dr. Holliday supervise? According to the administrative chart it is just one, and that is Brady Johnson, Deputy Superintendent. The I-SS attorney, Mr. William McMillan, confirmed this at the April Board of Education meeting. He was at the meeting to speak to my assertion that Dr. Holliday supervises Mrs. Holliday, who is a central office administrator. That would be a violation of the I-SS nepotism policy. Mr. McMillan said Dr. Holliday does not supervise his wife because there are at least two administrative intermediate links between them. Why does Dr. Holliday deserve a hefty compensation if he only supervises one employee? And the real question is: why is the School Board spending millions of dollars to pay all of these administrators when the budget is as bleak as it is? As others have said, we should take that money and put it in the classrooms where it will do some real good.
This post was written by Paul Klaene.
