Did I Hear That Right?

In the final Work Session of the Shelby County School Board 2.0, I can't have been the only person dismayed by the comedy of errors that unfolded.  This mixture of inherited, appointed, and elected individuals just can't quite seem to keep it together.

Blunder after blunder.

There was Commissioner Mary Anne Gibson carefully explaining the root cause of the transportation problems to the man now in charge of transportation, Hitesh Haria.  It was kind of her to take the time to clarify just why parents were so upset.  Except for her fundamental misunderstanding of how budget cuts work, and how they impacted who was eligible for bus service.  You see, according to Commissioner Gibson, the expansion of the hilariously-titled Parent Responsibility Zone (handily-acronymed as "PRZ", since it's not a "thing" until it has an "acronym") has resulted in an increase of what she actually called "new riders".  There are just so many new families using bus service now, that Central Office should understand that these folks are frustrated because of their difficulties navigating transportation services.

Except for the fact that the changes to the transportation system were specifically designed to save money.  The way that the changes saved money, partly, was that the number of eligible riders was reduced.  Commissioner Gibson correctly understood that the PRZ had been expanded, but failed to understand what that did - that by increasing the number of parents now responsible for their children's transportation, there was a reduced number of riders.  There are definitely new riders, but it's not due to an expansion of bus service - any new riders would just be new to local schools or new to a neighborhood far enough way from school that bus service is provided.  Commissioner Gibson had it right that parents were frustrated, but her explanation belied some very fundamental misunderstandings about the impact of some of her votes for budget cuts in transportation services.

Commissioner Kevin Woods had a real doozy, too.  He started off okay - after all, he brands himself as a fiscal conservative, actively looking for any trace of waste, fraud, or abuse.  In the discussion about the delayed paychecks to about 130 teachers, what Commissioner Woods wanted to do, we can only assume, was ask about the level of attention paid to the possibility of accidentally paying people who shouldn't be paid.  And his question did actually lead to the newsworthy acknowledgment that Central Office accidentally paid a dead person.  Computers!  Data entry!  [Insert cuss word here!]

But Commissioner Woods couldn't have been more disrespectful in how he asked his question.  My description just above is quite generous, as it turns out.  What Commissioner Woods actually asked was how the school district was trying to prevent giving anyone an "extended vacation".  I'm not sure there could be a more awful way to characterize the current financial status of those employees that the district has been forced to lay off.  It's not just the terminations - that Commissioner Woods voted for - it's the hurry-up-and-wait approach that the School Board took to its critical staffing decisions.  Take, for example, a Central Office person who had been working long enough to be eligible for retirement but who was not selected for the positions to which they applied.  Not only were they not eligible for the much-touted severance packages because they were eligible for retirement (this, for the record, is called "being forced into retirement"), but because of the timing of the district's selection process and the timing of the state retirement office, such an employee would wait for at least two months for any income after their last paycheck.  Such an individual would not be eligible for unemployment either, because their employment ended with the school year and they had filed retirement paperwork.  They just had to wait.

The School Board did not exactly take care to make sure that their terminated employees, employees who had devoted their careers to Memphis City and Shelby County Schools, were treated as well as they should have been.  Add to this shabby treatment, Commissioner Woods' classification of any errant payroll payment to such an employee as contributing to that employee's "extended vacation". 

This is the same Commissioner Woods whose seat is now in question, and who must stand for election again since Chancellor Armstrong threw out the August 2012 election results for the District Four race.  Commissioner Woods will again face former MCS Commissioner Kenneth T. Whalum, Jr.  After Commissioner Woods' low blow to the district's laid-off employees, Commissioner Whalum had no comment.  Because he wasn't there.  Because while he still collects his School Board paycheck, Commissioner Whalum is currently (still) refusing to perform a critical function of elected officials by not attending the public meetings of the body on which he serves.  Good luck, District 4!

Unfortunately, the mis-steps were not limited to our inherited, elected (?), and appointed public officials.  New cabinet member and Chief Innovation Officer Brad Leon, proudly thirty days on the job, still is not quite sure how Innovation Zone schools have been selected.  The Innovation Zone is, of course, his primary area of responsibility.  Thankfully, Dr. Rod Richmond was there to fill in the School Board (again) about the process for selecting Innovation Zone schools.

Other high points:  the ongoing inability of Commissioners to correctly identify whether a staffer's first name is actually that staffer's first name or last name, a refusal to compare an initial charter school application to a revised charter school application in order to understand what deficiencies were addressed, and an apparent lack of memory of the Board's recent reauthorization of a charter school in the bottom 5% of the state (wait, there are charter schools that perform WORSE than traditional public schools?  yes.  yes, there are. and, um, you voted for them.)

An actual real-life gold star should go to outgoing Commissioner Sara Lewis who has apparently been running a free, volunteer taxi service for carless parents who are told to report to the Gray's Creek facility for certain student services.  Commissioner Lewis noted that no public transportation is available to the office building, and that some parents just cannot easily get out there.  Hopefully, a solution will be forthcoming.

Shelby County School Board 2.0 will end this week after its last business meeting.  Shelby County School Board 3.0 will be back down to 7 members - well, six anyway - for the September meetings.  The old SCS and MCS board members are not the only ones who have been doing some posturing in the two years since Judge Mays brokered the 23-member School Board deal.  Often, the County Commission's 2011 appointees tried to cast themselves as the voices of reason, above the fray of the bickering of the entrenched legacy school boards.  Less than all of them are correct.  My take is that we're about to find out if they actually have picked up enough skills to govern:  to ask the tough questions, to take the tough stands, to stand up to the public, or the superintendent, or to the state as needed.  Too often, the folks who are keeping their seats have been happy to deflect, to distract, to roll their eyes, to step out of the room for important votes.  Once there are only seven (six) Commissioners left, it will be much more difficult to avoid more individualized public scrutiny. 

I, for one, am hopeful that the robust discussions and full airing of important issues to which we've become accustomed will continue.

Is Orange Mound for Sale?

Orange Mound is one of the most important neighborhoods in Memphis.  Orange Mound was the first neighborhood in Memphis built with the intention of having black residents.  This is in contrast to other black neighborhoods that turned into black neighborhoods due to white flight.  A number of prominent Memphians have their roots in Orange Mound, and Melrose High School continues to have a very active alumni group.  Orange Mound has seen violence and blight, and its schools have struggled.  However, in the face of all of that, The Mound remains, in many ways, a cohesive neighborhood proud of its heritage and engaged in its present.  As a Memphian, I've been pleased to see that the neighborhood has seen some resurgence in recent years.

Orange Mound is a neighborhood that is the focus of a great deal of education reform attention.

Last summer, Stand for Children plopped down a significant portion of its anonymously-donated $154,000 school board election money in Orange Mound.  The goal, depending on how you look at it, was to elect Kevin Woods or to keep Dr. Kenneth Whalum from being elected.  A couple of articles about those election expenditures:  here and here.  It's not looking good for Commissioner Whalum in his lawsuit regarding the election results.  But here's what he said shortly after the election:  "If our children are for sale, I need to know exactly how many votes they are worth," he said in a press conference Monday outside the former election commission offices Downtown, according to the Commercial Appeal in an August 6, 2012 article.

Let's just mention that Commissioner Woods is the same Kevin Woods that the County Commission is trying to protect by re-drawing the lines of the districts, so that the school board district lines would not exactly match up with the County Commission district lines.  If they don't make an exception for him, then Commissioner Woods would be in the same geographic district as Chairman Billy Orgel, and they would eventually have to run against each other if they both wanted to stay on the school board.

The Achievement Advisory Council, a group appointed by the Achievement School District, considered last fall which of the city's schools should be given to which charter operators.  The AAC actually recommended that two Orange Mound schools (Hanley and Cherokee Elementary Schools) be given to Aspire charter schools, a California charter looking to expand nationally.  The ASD declined to go that far and gave Aspire only one school, Hanley Elementary. 

The state closed Hanley Elementary at the end of the school year, but you wouldn't know it if you drove past it.  Trying to avoid the mistakes made by Cornerstone prep, Aspire won't be changing the school colors or the school name, hired a few Hanley teachers, and has been ingratiating itself (to the extent that it can) in the neighborhood.  According to the Commercial Appeal, it paid for a trip to California for community members to visit a school, it hosted a "game night", and planned to provide massages and pampering for parents at coming recruitment events.  So the state gave away the school, and now, as part of its "recruitment process", Aspire hopes that its "investments" in the "community" will yield enrolled students.  Investments like trips to California and massages.

And look at all the money Aspire has to "invest", according to the Commercial Appeal:  "It applied for and received $800,000 in innovation funds this year to cover startup costs."  In addition to: 
"[its] budget is based on receiving $7,797 in state and local funds per student. It will also get up to $300 per child for capital improvements, plus $1,500 for every special education child. It will also receive $300 for every child who qualifies for free or reduced lunches. It estimates 90 percent fit that bill, according to its application to the ASD.  It also anticipates up to $28 million from philanthropists as it builds out its network. In five years, Aspire intends to take over 10 low-performing schools here. Initially, it will serve K-5 students. By 2018, it expects they will be K-8 schools, with approximately 564 students in each."

So what does it cost to buy your way into Orange Mound?  Maybe not as much as you expect to get out of it.  Fair trade?

It will be interesting to see what else Aspire has up its sleeve in terms of its expenditures of philanthropic and California tax dollars, all in the name of gaining more Tennessee tax dollars.  Looks like there's cleared area off to the side of the parking lot.  Can't be a playground - Hanley already has a pretty new one in its courtyard, and Orange Mound is not exactly under-parked.  Wonder if Aspire has another "investment" in mind . . .

Board Members Getting on Each Other's Last Nerve

One of the really fantastic things about the current ridiculously large, dysfunctional Shelby County School Board is that it is really diverse.  You've got millionaires millionaire millionaires and retired teachers.  You've got folks who only leave their municipalities (or neighborhoods) to come to the board meetings, and folks that don't have to buy groceries because they go to so many nighttime events.  You've got earnest up-and-comers and some - well, you get the idea.

But we knew that this could not be all rainbows and sunshine, right?  Not only did we not really expect all of these folks to get along, but actually, for the purposes of good government, we don't actually want them to all agree with each other all of the time.  I'm not saying we need some more "Days of Our Lives" drama, but we should have robust discussion on these critical issues - where the real philosophical disagreements are publicly aired and pushed against each other.

When this happens, we really get to know who our publicly elected representatives are and we find out how we really feel about them.  The most important part is that we find where we agree and disagree with them on policy matters, so that we can figure out where our collective dealbreakers are, and vote accordingly.  For instance, last week we found out that Commissioner David Reaves believes that public school discipline should continue to be based on principles of the Old and New Testament.  Let's hope he hasn't read Leviticus.  And however this Martavius Jones resolution against David Pickler goes, the conversation about the nexus between public dollars and private business as it relates to Board commissioners is an important one.

We're now a year in to this Board, give or take a couple of members losing an election, and a couple of new appointments.  But we're starting to see more and more soapy moments.  I intended that as another "Young and the Restless" reference, but folks are getting themselves worked into a lather.

I've mentioned before that Commissioner Chris Caldwell can overstate his position.  During a recent discussion on employee benefits related to increasing the employee's share of the premium for both current and retired employees, Commissioner Caldwell sympathized with the district staff making the presentation who, admittedly, stood at the podium for over an hour while Commissioners discussed the efficacy of the staff proposal.  But he didn't just sympathize with them.  He thought his colleagues on the Board had engaged in public discussion of this (critical, very important) proposal for far too long.  So his proposal was that when Board commissioners disagree with the staff proposals, they should stand up for as long as it takes to discuss the proposal, just like the staff members.  Commissioner Sara Lewis, who had several questions and comments about the proposal, did not take this as a friendly suggestion.  Commissioner Lewis asked Chairman Billy Orgel if commissioners were permitted to chastise each other.  Commissioner Caldwell found himself in the awkward position the following week of feeling, upon reflection, that perhaps he had overstepped and he apologized to his colleagues.  But with that kind of proposal, it's hard to say who got on whose last nerve first.

And Commissioner Caldwell is not the only commissioner to throw some shade on Commissioner Martavius Jones with a little dramatic side comment.  At last week's meeting, Commissioner Caldwell moved to appoint MCS General Counsel Dorsey Hopson as the interim superintendent.  This took several commissioners by surprise, and Commissioner Jones moved to substitute Dr. Roderick Richmond as the interim superintendent.  As part of that discussion, Commissioner Kevin Woods told Commissioner Jones to "stop dividing this Board."  It is unclear who Commissioner Woods was sticking up for in this situation - Dorsey Hopson was an unconventional choice, and it would seem likely that more than one person would be considered for the interim position.  But perhaps it wasn't enough to disagree, perhaps it was more important to question a person's motives and accuse them of willful division for the sake of division.  How very "Santa Barbara."

Now these are all grown-ups.  I'm not all that worried about Sara Lewis' and Martavius Jones' self esteem and ability to withstand a little criticism.  But it's worth noting who is making things personal - or at least overly dramatic - and who is not. 

I understand that some could argue that Commissioner Jones has made things very personal with Commissioner David Pickler.  But I think most of that has to do with their tortured history, and not the actual allegations.  As I've argued before, if any Commissioner became aware of this kind of situation with any other Commissioner, I would hope the Commissioner who became aware of it would raise the issue for public resolution.  Because they have an obligation to do so.  We can disagree on the surprise motion, but Commissioner Jones didn't try to undermine Commissioner Pickler by spreading rumors - he kept it public, as it should be.  We'll see what happens in the Ethics Committee.  It's also worth noting that what we don't see with these two is public sniping and snide comments - they both pretty much point to the intense papers they've submitted.

We can all agree that this is all breathlessly dramatic, no?  Whether it's a farce or a Greek tragedy or an afternoon soap opera, Chairman Orgel has decided that the Board needs to meet more often in preparation for the merger.  If these folks aren't already getting on each other's last nerve, they will soon.

But maybe it will be like last night's "Budget" community session, where only 11 of the 23 Commissioners bothered to show up to listen to public comments in person.  With such dismally low attendance, it should be easier to get along.  Well, that, and the fact that none of the Board commissioners were allowed to talk.

In Other Litigation . . . Whalum!

My post earlier today about Commissioner Kenneth T. Whalum, Jr.'s Twitter incident reminded me that we're still waiting to hear how his School Board race turned out.

The August 2011 decision from Judge Mays explained how the parties (which included the former Shelby County School Board and Memphis City School Board) agreed to merge the school boards.  It's hard to give a short version of this, but everybody keeps their seats until the date of the merger in July 2013.  In addition to the 7 SCS Commissioners and the 9 MCS Commissioners, the Shelby County Commission appointed 7 new folks.  For a total of 23!!!!  Those 7 new folks come from geographic districts which will comprise the new School Board districts of the merged school district.  So this past August, while the municipalities were moving forward with their referenda, the "unified" district had elections for the 7 recently-formed seats for terms that will extend beyond the merger date.  Also in the mix is the very real possibility that the County Commission will add more seats to the School Board at some point after the merger date.

Clarifying:  for the School Board election in August, the 7 appointees could run for the seats to which they were appointed, and their challengers could be other (former) SCS or MCS School Board Commissioners (who would otherwise "fall off" of the Board next summer) or non-incumbents.  School Board Chairman Billy Orgel ran unopposed.  School Board Commissioner Vanecia Kimbrow decided not to run.  The other appointees all ran for their seats with mixed results.

Appointed to the District 4 seat, Commissioner Kevin Woods had to have known that Commissioner Whalum would be interested.  Commissioner Whalum is the pastor of New Olivet Baptist Church, and my sense is that among those who support him, they strongly support him.

It turned out to be a very close election, with Commissioner Woods winning by 108 votes.  The margin was large enough not to require a recount (originally reported as 88 votes, but certified at 108 votes), but Commissioner Whalum sued for a re-vote.

Admittedly, the August 2012 election was a calamity for the Shelby County Election Commission.  Incorrect ballots, and what seemed to be general incompetence surrounding some of the redistricting is a huge cause for concern.  My initial perception was that the problems seemed to occur mainly in the county, and not so much in the city.  And Commissioner Whalum seemed to be hoping that these overall problems may portend some judicial support in his dispute.

However, at a recent court hearing, it turns out that there were problems with ballots in District 4.

Now here's the Stand for Children part.  Stand for Children, like many other organizations, put out a list of its electoral picks.  They picked Commissioner Woods for the District 4 seat.  Stand for Children is still a relatively new organization in Tennessee, and is seeking to establish its relevancy and its muscle.  Well, Stand for Children sure made a splash in the August 2012 elections.

It's reported that Stand for Children spent $153,000 on the School Board races, and at least $40,000 in District 4.  School Board races are generally funded on much less (approximately $10,000 on the high end), so this much of an infusion is notable in local school board races in this area.

I think there are reasons to be concerned about Stand for Children, not the least of which are its out-of-town donors seeking to influence local School Board elections.  At the national level, Stand's founder, Jonah Edelman was recorded using strong anti-teacher union language and eventually forced to apologize for his (sarcastic, gloating, and disrespectful) tone.  Locally, Stand is clearly very "reform" oriented.  Though I'm not convinced that Stand is really a grassroots organization of any kind, it appears that the organization does listen to its recruited members - at least locally. 

But I don't think Stand did anything illegal or improper under the current version of campaign finance regulations.  I don't agree with the current version of campaign finance regulations, but I think Stand abided by them.

I'm not a fan of Commissioner Whalum, but I'm not exactly thrilled by Commissioner Woods, either.  Commissioner Whalum's attendance at School board meetings is spotty, and his press conferences are numerous.  Commissioner Woods' children attend private school, and I find him to be inconsistent in his philosophy.

All of that said, Commissioner Whalum can be good for comic relief and this lawsuit gives him lots of opportunities for one-man press conferences.  It will not be good for Memphis if this election was decided by the Election Commission's errors.  And we do believe in the rule of law, after all.  And so we sit, hoping for a quick resolution by Chancery Judge Kenny Armstrong.