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Ellen Belcher: It's about kids, not the superintendent, at Dayton schools
Sunday, May 18, 2008
What Dayton needs right now is a George Voinovich.
The parallels are not perfect, but when Central State University was on the verge of being shut down on account of repeated scandal, then-Gov. Voinovich decreed that would not happen. The university is important to its predominantly black students, he said, and it is important to Ohio. He willed the school would be fixed.
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Then Voinovich got on the telephone and called university presidents and his directors in state government, telling them that he wanted them to loan some of their best people to the college for a period of months. Emphasis added: The assignment was not hit-and-run.
Dayton's schools are not being rocked by scandal. But Superintendent Percy Mack's decision to leave for Columbia, S.C. — coming on the heels of last year's levy defeat, followed by $30 million in cuts, and the all-but-official decision to put a levy on the ballot this fall — has brought the district to a tipping point. Just like the one Central State faced.
School board President Yvonne Isaacs, with Dayton Mayor Rhine McLin and business and neighborhood leaders at her side, should be bold and honest. She needs to step up and say that 16,000 children's futures are at risk, as is the economic future of the core of the region. Dayton and the wider community will never do well if the area's largest school system is allowed to become financially or academically bankrupt.
Isaacs should insist that choosing a successor to Mack will take time, but that the decision is too important to be rushed. She should say that the district is willing to pay well, and that she's secured a commitment from business leaders that they will supplement the superintendent's salary — if he meets certain objectives.
The statement is that everybody agrees on the importance of this job and the need for it to be filled with an exceptional person.
She should continue that the board has agreed that it needs an interim superintendent, and that that person will have the support of a team of people who will be volunteering in, or on loan to, the district. The team's mission will be to help the district's staff act on recommendations a consultant recently made for improving the schools and saving money. She should say that the group will include people with expertise in everything from finance to labor relations to transportation and food service.
The goal is to assure the community, families and teachers that the district's drive to improve is not stalled, that no time will be wasted, and that one person's leaving won't get in the way of the district's quest to improve.
Of course, Isaacs can say all of this only if it's true — and that's going to take some doing.
But here's the thing: Who doesn't think the school district could benefit from fresh eyes and earnest people eager to help? Who thinks Dayton can afford a slap-dash superintendent selection?
There are people in the community who could be prevailed upon to help. What about some of the retired executives, the retired public administrators? Surely there are individuals at area universities who have expertise they can offer and who would benefit themselves from being on the inside of a public "business."
If this sounds like a suggestion to throw resources at the district, it is — human resources, not just money.
There are some very good reasons for Dayton's school board to insist that it absolutely has to ask for a levy this fall. (The big one is that if a request doesn't pass this year, the schools will be financially limping until the 2009-10 school year because of how property taxes are collected.)
But it's impossible to imagine voters even considering approving a levy if they aren't convinced that extraordinary effort is being put into improving how the district does business. Before people are going to pay more, they're going to want to know that it's not business as usual, that they aren't the only ones being asked to do something that requires sacrifice. They're going to want to see things happening, to feel a sense of momentum and shared concern.
Even as his leaving is a loss, Mack's quitting is an opportunity. For too long, Dayton has expected too much of its superintendent, counting on him or her to be a cheerleader, financial wizard, curriculum junkie, neighborhood healer and union deal-maker. If, at least for a while, more people had to dig in and share these responsibilities, it would be a teachable moment.
Ellen Belcher
is editor of the
Dayton Daily Newseditorial pages. Her telephone number is 225-2286; her e-mail address is
ebelcher@DaytonDailyNews.com.
