So tomorrow night the board of education, at the request of the superintendent, will be voting on extending Dr. Wardynski’s current three year contract for an additional three years. Yep, five days before Christmas, the board is voting on giving the Superintendent a great Christmas present simply because he wants to show the district and the city just how committed he is to staying in the district as our superintendent.
Nope, that reason doesn’t make any more sense today than it did a month ago, does it?
Two weeks ago, I stood and asked the board to please provide the community with some reasonable justification for extending the superintendent’s contract half way through the first one, but, of course, they offered no response.
Big surprise, right?
Well, since they’re silent on the question, I thought I would go ahead and offer you 13 reasons why Wardynski’s contract should be extended for 2013. Someone please let the Board of Education know that I’ve done their homework for them. I’m sure they will appreciate it.
So, here’s the list:
- You think that teachers (and everyone else) should be run off in droves.
- You agree that special education children should fund the district’s recovery.
- You think it’s a great thing for special education to receive more staffing cuts than any other group.
- You believe that testing should be used to evaluate teachers rather than students.
- You think that passing a standardized test is the ultimate goal of education.
- You think it’s a good thing for the superintendent to threaten to quit rather than communicate.
- You think 81 arrests in a mere 53 days is a “sign of high standards.”
- You think that all of education should be privatized because it costs more, it allows us to have so much more influence over the education of our children (as we have now with The Pinnacle Schools.
- You believe that the superintendent should be allowed to offer plum jobs to his friends and that some should be treated differently because he likes them.
- You believe that anyone, even someone who costs more, with five weeks of training and no experience, can teach better than someone who costs less and has four years (at least) of training.
- You think a computer is a better teacher than a person and that anyone who disagrees should be called names.
- You think that schools should be merged and closed for no reason other than that the superintendent thinks it a good idea.
- You believe that the victims should be blamed when someone abuses them.
There you go. Thirteen reasons why Dr. Wardynski should have three more years to ruin (just in case you were wondering, no, I didn’t mean to type “run” there) our schools. If his contract is extended, 2013 will be a very unlucky year indeed.
If you wish to let your board member know that you think they should vote no on extending his contract, you need to contact them via email or phone before the meeting begins at 5:30pm tomorrow night.
I know it’s Christmas. I know you’ve got a billion other things you’d rather do. But guess what? The superintendent and the board know that too. This is why they’re voting on this right before the Christmas break.
They’re counting on you being too busy to voice your opinion about this decision. (By the way, that’s also why they’re pushing so hard to make the decision to move Grissom from its present location right now as well.)
If you think the extension is a bad idea, please contact the board member at the information below.
- District 1: Laurie McCaulley: lamccaulley@gmail.com
- District 2: David Blair: david.blair.hcsboard@gmail.com
- District 3: Jennie Robinson: personalbest@knology.net (256) 527-1425 (W) (256) 882-0925 (H)
- District 4: Topper Birney: topperb@knology.net (256) 883-2982
- District 5: Mike Culbreath: mwculbreath@gmail.com
If you think it’s not worth the trouble, remember those thirteen reasons are things that you voted to continue in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017.
Since when has the school board listened to the people who hired them? Hate to think it much less say it but our school board is bought and paid for by the fortunate few. They don’t care about the masses. They just don’t. As your post illustrates, Wardynski is doing the job he was hired to do. If black/brown/poor students manage to acquire a quality education it will be in spite of the board of education, not because of them.
HCS students across the board are getting an equally poor education on this school board’s watch. Let’s extend our concern to all the students — many of us who are committed to the value of public education are paying a pretty penny in taxes and getting no return on that investment. Why should it be any less regrettable for students who aren’t black/brown/poor?
“If you think it’s not worth the trouble, remember those thirteen reasons are things that you voted to continue in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017.” The one (of many) sad things about that statement is that he (W) will probably be long gone before the contract is ever up. His bad decisions and bad policies will eventually make things too ‘hot’ for him and he’ll exit the scene and the kids and teachers will be left in a worse mess then they are now.
It’s not that I don’t think it’s worth the trouble, I just don’t believe it matters to the BOE what we think or what we want. We (colllective) elected them, so we get the BOE we (collective) deserve. You get what you vote for.
If his contract is extended, he will have 5 more years to sit comfortably and dictate policy as he sees fit, with no fear of losing his job or having to cave to the wrath of the community. I emailed every Board member and not surprisingly, received zero responses, even though I requested one. These Board members need to be reminded as well that they represent a constituency, NOT themselves. Contracts are renewed or extended based on merit and accomplishment, not just because they were requested. Mr. Wardynski’s resume and expertise lies in economics, finance and policy making. I see no reference whatsoever to engineering or education. So why are we rewarding someone who sits up there on his throne pontificating about his engineering background and his imagined expertise in the process of education?
I am praying that they will vote him OUT!!!!