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PUT STUDENTS FIRST!

I really don’t know how to say it any clearer.

I woke up this morning actually hopeful. I was looking at the Huntsville City Schools website last night (yes, I’m that boring), and I noticed two things:

  1. They’ve posted a few additional special education positions on the Employment Link.
  2. The Board is having a special meeting on Tuesday, August 2nd at 4:00 pm to address personnel matters.

I was hopeful that Dr. Wardynski and the board might actually be working to making certain that our classrooms are adequately staffed.

Then I woke to the Headline in The Huntsville Times entitled, “System Hustling To Fill Jobs.”

I thought, “They are moving in the right direction for a change.”

That hope didn’t live long once I saw The Huntsville Times article, “New Huntsville schools’ CFO, program directors could be hired next week.”

According to Bonvillian, the meeting on Tuesday appears to have nothing to do with staffing in the classroom, but rather adds more staff to the central office.

Concerning Wardynski, Bonvillian writes:

“With the start of school in just over a week, Wardynski is under pressure to fill several top spots in the central office.”

Really? Who is pushing for this? I haven’t met anyone who thinks that the central office staffing needs are more important than the classroom staffing needs. Except that is perhaps Wardynski (who has his aide).

There’s a story that needs to be followed. Who has enough influence on Wardynski to get him to fill positions? It clearly isn’t parents, or students, or even the threat of potential legal action.

So I wonder, who does have the ability to put pressure on Wardynski? That’s the person I need to meet with.

Look, I recognize that there are central office positions that need to be filled. I’m sure the system does need a CFO. (Although, I would like to see the former CFO salary taken off the books before we add yet another one at $114,000 a year.) But the classroom staffing needs should be a much higher priority.

If not for the classroom, the central office is pointless. You would think Wardynski and the Board would know this by now.

Put the Students First!

 

Russell
"Children see magic because they look for it." --Christopher Moore, Lamb: The Gospel according to Biff, Jesus' childhood pal.

2 Comments

  1. Why are we surprised, when will we learn, meet the new boss–same as the old boss: the supe was selected by a self-righteous, unrepentant Board that 1) engaged in secret dealings that allow an ex-superintendent, who with their assent wrecked the HCS economy, to make a $100K doing exactly nothing; 2) have made no effort to stop paying full salary to a demoted CFO who was also instrumental in wrecking things and whose work they should have been monitoring; 3) paid a hatchet man who will not have to live with the consequences of his actions $600 a day to keep their pride (tell me again why it would have been a bad thing for the State to have taken over the HCS), 4) and now is sitting back doing exactly nothing as school opening approaches to insure compliance with the law. The priorities remain business as usual — let’s take care of ourselves first, and then throw the scraps to those whose welfare we were elected to protect.

    1. For me, it comes down to wanting to support my school system rather than constantly criticize it. As I wrote to Wardynski before it dawned on me that he was again filling central office positions rather than classroom needs, I believe in public schools, and I want to defend them.

      Maybe someday I’ll be able to.

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