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Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2008 > May > 19
Monday, May 19, 2008
Brathwaite: I might be interested if they are
Debra Brathwaite
I just spoke to Dayton’s Deputy Superintendent Debra Brathwaite and let me start by correcting an earlier blog post. Brathwaite is NOT a candidate for superintendent at Cincinnati Public Schools. I misunderstood some information I received Saturday.
Brathwaite IS one of three finalists at Princeton schools near Cincinnati, where she will have a second interview tonight. And that has put her in something of a weird position when it comes to questions about her interest in the Dayton superintendent job because she is pretty far down the line in the process with Princeton.
Brathwaite told me she intends to follow that process to its conclusion and so far has not been contacted by the Dayton school board about applying for the job Percy Mack will soon vacate. As a result, it was tough for her to answer the big question — does she want the Dayton job?
“I didnt know the superintendent would be leaving,” she said. “I’m going through with my process. Nothing has been advertised. It just happened. I don’t know what is going to happen next.”
I asked her if she had thought about what she might do if she were offered both jobs. She said she was not predisposed one way or the other.
“Of course I would explore where I am if given the opportunity,” she said. “But all of this just happened. Everyone was caught a little off guard.”
Brathwaite said it is no secret that she is interested in becoming a superintendent. She had previously interviewed in Lorain, Toledo and Akron.
“I encourage students to progress in their academic careers and I have to do the same thing,” she said. “I am a lifelong learner and I like a challenge and I am ready to assume that position.”
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A smart-aleck defense of Percy Mack
Mack and Williams
Right after Percy Mack announced he was leaving for a job in Columbia, S.C., several of his detractors struck a celebratory tone in the blog comments here at GOTB, although some of his supporters have since come to his defense.
One frustrated Percy Mack fan told me they had a suggestion for Mack’s critics. Since the district now has a superintendent opening and we know former Dayton superintendent James Williams is looking for work, why not bring him back? If Mack’s leadership was so bad, the Mack fan said, why not return to the era that preceeded him? It would probably only cost $250,000 a year to get Williams to return (Mack makes $140,000), he said.
For those who don’t know the back story, Williams’ eight-year run as superintendent ended in a firestorm of controversy. He was bought out by the school board (for about $240,000. Maybe he’d come back and work a year for free to make up for that?) in the middle of a financial crisis. The teachers’ union voted no confidence in him. Even the business leaders, who had been some of Williams’ biggest supporters, called for him to leave in the end.
By contrast, many Dayton business leaders still like Mack and he just got strongly favorable ratings in a survey of teachers and administrators. Even the president of the teachers’ union had some nice things to say about Mack in a story in The State newspaper in South Carolina Saturday.
The Mack supporter’s point was this. Some people don’t like Percy Mack. That’s to be expected. Superintendents who stay in one place for a while (it was six years for Mack in Dayton) will wear out their welcome by making tough decisions that make people angry. That is part of the job.
But would anyone really want to go back to what was here before he took over? (We’re sort of skipping over the short, troubled tenure of Jerrie McGill, but you get the point.) Mack detractors, would you give Percy Mack at least that? Would you rather have him than James Williams?
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