Public Evaluation of Marion Supt "Uncomfortable" but "the Law"

This from the Lebanon Enterprise:

Board excited with superintendent's progress

Board chairwoman asks superintendent

to move here by next school year

Superintendent Donald Smith has been sitting at the helm of Marion County's school district for more than six months now, and according to the board of education that hired him, he's made a great deal of progress.

Last week, the board and Smith sat down for Smith's mid-year evaluation. In the past, superintendent evaluations have been done in closed session but that changed in 2008 after the attorney general ruled that such evaluations must be public,
except when they might lead to discipline or dismissal.

After eating dinner together in the central office board meeting room Tuesday of last week, the board began the evaluation. Board Chairwoman Sister Kay Carlew made it very clear that she did not feel comfortable doing the evaluation in open session.

"I feel uncomfortable evaluating anybody in public but I certainly will follow the letter of the law," she said. "But I wouldn't want to be evaluated in public. I have heard everyone on this board express the same thing. Donald, just know that this is a first for us." ...

...According to Smith, the leadership team at central office is made up of seasoned employees with many years under their belts and it took them three to four months to understand his leadership style.

"There was a lot of leadership things, in my eyes, that wasn't getting done here," he said. "I was able to pull everybody in... I feel like we have three or four people who are managers. We need leaders." ...

...Smith said he wants to begin acting more as an "irritant" and less like a "bomb," which is what he may have portrayed when he first took the position of superintendent.

"I used to be a bomb - but no more screaming and hollering and spitting at you," he said. "You can't take my passion away but there is a way to deliver to folk and just move on."

School board member Bernard Miles said he was glad Smith brought that up because he had been told that some people felt like they had been hollered at by Smith, especially during the opening day of school.

"But, I have seen some change. I see you handle yourself different in situations now," Miles said...

...Another hot topic during Smith's evaluation was a discussion about placing the most qualified teachers with the students who need them the most. For instance, if there was an effective math teacher at school A - why not put that teacher in school B, which has very poor math scores. While it would be controversial, it could improve test scores and help students succeed, Smith said.

"But, I'd have to move Mt. Everest first," he said. "The teachers work for the district and not the school. Unfortunately, they think they work for the school."

While moving teachers around to where they are needed most in the district might be the "right" thing to do, it's not the popular thing to do, Smith said. But, he's willing to take that risk if it will help students succeed, he said.

"In order to make this happen, it's got to be a district initiative," Smith said. "When you start making these decisions, it could be a political nightmare. But, I will fight the political nightmare if our graduation rate goes up and our gaps close."

Carlew said she and the board would also be willing to take that risk...