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Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2007 > March > 09 > Entry
She’s the one! Calloway wins big job
Connie Calloway
Onetime Trotwood superintendent Connie Calloway has made the huge leap from the Northmont-sized Normandy (Mo.) schools to Detroit — one of the biggest and most challenging superintendent jobs in the country.
On Friday, Detroit’s school board picked Calloway as its new leader in a contentious meeting after a split 7-3 vote.
This puts me in mind of James Williams, another ousted local superintendent who went on to a bigger and better job. Can there really be that few good candidates for these big jobs that they have to keep recycling these folks?
Permalink | Comments (6) | Categories: Schools and Politics
Comments
By Virgene Mallonee
March 12, 2007 12:49 PM | Link to this
detroit must be despparate!!! They have my sympathy. I worked at Trotwood Madison for 20 years and she was not the person I hoped she could be. A lot of good teachers were non renewed and havoc entered a school district and made it difficult to feel comfortable with whatever position you worked at. Again any one who hires this woman is asking for it.By Lovetrotwood
March 12, 2007 9:47 AM | Link to this
Calloway was a terrible supt. for Trowood Schools. I was a teacher when she was there, She was a terrible leader. She practiced reverse racism policies,she talked down to her teachers, she mostly pointed the her fingers at others when it was she and her policies in in place. She accepted no responsibility for her ineptness. Can you believe that she is being rewarded for her poor leadership to head up a sinking ship, Detroit Public schools. No wander that place is in the shape it is in because they never researched where she has been. This is a great example of the Peter Principle.Her salary at TM was a joke. What she will be paid by Detroit will be a crime. She’ll screw up again and leave a millionaire, What a joke for the public.By Keith
March 11, 2007 10:54 AM | Link to this
I am not clear about boards being extensions of unions and the unions controlling the selection of superintendents of large school districts. I would expect boards to look for superintendents who can “control” unions so that the boards can effect whatever plans they have without “interference” from those teachers and workers. In fact, Rod Paige is not credible. He was selected because the dropout rate in Texas county was wonderful and had improved greatly, if I recall correctly. What had improved was the computer system, or more precisely, the data in the computer system improved. The data was manipulated. Based on those tremendous (nonexistent) improvements in dropout rates showing that he knew how to improve schools, we got him and No Child Left Behind (grin) from the new administration. Not someone I value for education improvement.By Mary
March 10, 2007 11:01 PM | Link to this
I mentioned in an earlier post about the DDN editorial on the “trade association” for superintendents when Williams left town. It is possible they are better (learn from their mistakes) each time they appear to screw up, and the situation they go into is better for their leadership style. However, as former education secretary Rod Paige said on CNN’s Lou Dobbs last night, boards that do the hiring of superintendents are also extensions of the unions and influence what is going on in school districts. He made the point that board elections are influenced by teachers’ unions which places them on both sides of the negotiating table. Superintendents are also part of the “system” and benefit from increases in salaries and benefits. The education business seems to be a very closed group all the way around.By Dave
March 10, 2007 3:33 PM | Link to this
Oldprof, CEOs generally make a lot more money than they would in other walks of life, and when they perform poorly, they have several years of their contract bought out. After a year or so off, they get hired for an even better paying position. Not a bad life, if you can look yourself in the mirror. Is being the superintendent of a large school system so much different?By Oldprof
March 10, 2007 1:20 PM | Link to this
To your final question, I pose others. How many people would sign on as chief executive of a service organization with an annual budget in the hundreds of millions in order to get paid only a little better than a long-haul trucker? Perhaps there are lots of superior candidates but they recognize inner-urban schools are an impossible, unrewarding task? How does the lack of long-term job security impact applicants’ decisions? Is Calloway by implication of Trotwood’s firing low-quality, or is Trotwood a troubled community where schools are nearly impermeable? Somewhere, I think the answers all of these questions contribute to the situation.