I return from my vacation to find the new School Chief, Dr. Casey Wardynski re enacting General Sherman's march to the Sea, firing teachers and Principals left and right, armed with S. 310, the Students First Act, sponsored by Sen. Trip Pittman and Rep. Chad Fincher. Don't let the name Student's First fool you.
The Students First Act would allow school leaders to operate schools efficiently and effectively. Citizens demand elected and appointed school leaders be accountable to the public so they must have the authority required to operate schools to meet student needs.
Translation, school boards can fire and hire tenured teachers without going through that pesky old Teachers Union (AEA).
Make no mistake: AEA wants to preserve the status quo and is targeting the very heart of Students First in an effort to remove “deference” from the employer decision. S.310 provides a full due process hearing before any termination decision can be made by a school board. The superintendent has the burden to prove that an employee should be terminated for cause. After the decision, a hearing officer would consider an appeal and give deference, or weight, to the school board’s decision which is based on the evidence presented at the hearing. In other words, the hearing officer can not substitute judgment or disregard the employer’s decision, but determines whether or not the school board’s decision is justified and proper.
Which brings us to the dismissal of the Davis Hills Middle School teacher Jo Anne Thompson, and Hampton Cove Elementary School Principal, Fillis McGhee.
Thompson, who according to my sources, is not only a fine person but is an effective language arts teacher at Davis Hills Middle School, was fired for, get this, taking time off during the first week of school to attend the Baptist Church national convention with her pastor husband as she's done for the past NINE years.
Wardynski previously told The Times that Thompson had gone on her trip despite being denied permission by both him and new Davis Hills principal Kirus Johnson. Thompson allegedly told Wardynski she had already purchased her airline tickets and that she'd been allowed to take the time off for the convention for the last nine years.
The allegations against Fillis McGhee are more serious.
The school board voted unanimously to cancel the contract of Fillis McGhee, who was accused of nepotism and fraud by Wardynski. Wardynski said that McGhee had used her position to secure a job for her sister and had falsified documents to get her 2-year-old niece in the system's pre-K program.
Wardynski also said McGhee falsified professional learning plans for several of her teachers, including forging the teachers' signatures on some of the documents. The principal also allegedly charged parents for an after-school tutoring program and had them make the checks out directly to herself.
Note I said the allegations against McGhee are more serious. Under the old law the school district would have to prove the allegations are true. Under the new law, allegations are enough to get you fired.
My sources confirm there is a special interest faction associated with Hampton Cove Elementary who do not want an African American leader at the predominately white school because she was approving too many majority to minority transfers.
Both Thompson and McGhee are fighting their dismissal and this will be the first test of S.310.
According to this comment at al.com Wardinksy is doing what he was hired to do.
Casey you have to break the mold and prove you're not afraid of minorities, democrats, liberals, aclu types and the entire entitlement crowd! Do that, and you'll be doing the job you were hired to do! Oh yeah, not to mention striking down all racial transfers. And that includes allowing not allowing whites to racially transfer either. If you don't like where your child goes to school, move to where they can be zoned into a school of your preference, that's what I had to do!
So now we know why Wardinsky was hired, and what he was hired to do.
