A Catalyst Organization that Empowers and Energizes Prince George's County
We Deserve Better from Our School Leadership |
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/04/AR2009020401959.html Letters To the Editor Pr. George's Deserves Better School Officials Why is the county school system in such a state? We have the wrong leadership. Now add to that the slump in the economy, the highest foreclosure rate in the state, the budget deficit, the major cuts that must be made in the school board budget and the fact that we are working on our fifth superintendent in 10 years. We are headed for a derailment, and the citizens are crying out for change. So what can we do? Let's first put in place leadership that understands how to guide us out of this situation, instead of saying that most superintendents leave in three to four years anyway. Look at our neighboring school districts. Arlington County's superintendent has been in that position for 11 years. The superintendent in Montgomery County, the nation's 16th-largest school district, was appointed to the position in 1999. In Fairfax County, the nation's 13th-largest school district, the superintendent has been on the job since July 2004. The superintendent of Baltimore County Public Schools, one of the nation's 25 largest school systems, has been there since 2000. As the nation's 18th-largest school district and the second-largest school district in Maryland, we can't remain at the bottom. Prince George's residents need to take the school system back from the people who do not have our best interests at heart. We need to send a message to members of the school board that they will be evaluated individually and held accountable for their actions. Constituents voted for the first time in years for a new school board in 2006 whose members promised change from the old ways. What we have gotten, however, is the status quo.
We need to monitor where our tax dollars are going. The school board leadership approved a bonus and a raise for a superintendent on his way out the door and at the same time approved funds for the construction of a Board of Education facility to the tune of $36 million and counting. Board members have recently called for the closure of 12 schools in our poorest neighborhoods, inside the Capital Beltway. All these things are at the expense of the children. The board members say, "children first," but it seems more like "dollars first!" The elected school board named an interim superintendent, William R. Hite Jr., at the most critical time in our system, to manage an annual budget of $1.7 billion and a grants budget of about $1 billion. As he makes recommendations on the budget, will our tax dollars be used in the most expedient manner? Will our school budget be mismanaged while unnecessary programs are added, experimenting on our kids and putting children last? Each time we bring in these new superintendents, they create more positions which create more layers and more confusion for parents, teachers and students: in a nutshell, another bureaucracy. Enough is enough. We need to get back to a system that allowed parents direct access to the principal if we had a problem in the school, and we need a superintendent who understands that. We need to demand a superintendent who is committed to Prince George's, someone who will look at streamlining operations at the top, not cutting at the bottom. Someone who understands that a failing school system directly affects the image of the county and that you can't cut teachers and increase class sizes when we are second from the bottom. And finally, we must use our power at the polls next year and put the current school board on notice that constituents will vote in a competent, professional and more responsive board that will provide Prince George's residents with excellent customer service. Don't we deserve better?
Sandy Pruitt,
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