TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Hernando Today

Obama Names Reformer As Education Head

ADVERTISEMENT

By JOHN REINIERS, More Than Words

Hernando Today

Published: January 14, 2009

Barack Obama picked Arne Duncan, CEO of Chicago public schools, as his man to be Secretary of Education. Co-Captain of Harvard's basketball team, with a short stint in pro basketball, this guy is in the mold of Rod Paige, Bush's pick in 2001 – another no-nonsense educator – a tough guy. (Quarterback at Jackson State, said he became a Republican because when he was growing up in Mississippi, "the guys who were lynching us were Democrats.")
Duncan is an oddity in that he had no educational background when appointed by Mayor Richard Daley in 2001 to head Chicago schools. His tenure has been marked by nothing but success as an "educational" innovator who demanded results. Yet, he is the product of a corrupt political machine. But so is Governor Rod Blagojevich and president-elect Obama. The moral of the story is that Chicago political bosses need legitimate successes too – such as in education and snow removal. Obama could have picked any one of the many educational elitists who loathe Bush's No Child Left Behind, but he chose Duncan, a strong advocate for charter schools, performance pay for teachers, and funding for No Child Left Behind.
Interesting. People with a competitive sports background know all about keeping score and accountability. Sports are all about measurements. Teachers unions are all about anything but... Even Obama has been as unhappy as conservatives are with the "tired old educational debates." Duncan took on the Chicago union by closing failed schools and forcing the staff to reapply for teaching jobs. He has opened 75 new smaller schools, including 67 charters. The president of the American Federation of Teachers was compelled to say she was "pleased" with the Obama's choice.
"New Leaders For New Schools" is an organization to watch. Its focus is on recruiting talented educators with leadership potential, and through a three year program, prepare them to become outstanding principals who can develop teachers and manage their schools with a focus on achievement. Duncan was one of the first winners of its annual Leadership award. A recent educational panel discussion I saw on C-SPAN included Jon Schur, President of New Leaders and an advisor to Obama, and Michelle Rhee, the no-nonsense dynamic Chancellor of Washington D.C. public schools, who sounded like somebody from the Dick Cheney "Darth Vader" wing of the Republican party with this zinger: "What I have learned over the past 15 months is that cooperation, collaboration and consensus building are way overrated."
Joel Klein, New York City School Chancellor, and part of the New Schools leadership team is committed to the idea of principals as being site-based managers of schools. Hernando Today published several pieces in the past several years in which I argued that if the key to any successful school is its principal, then political reform is necessary to empower the principal to do the budgeting, curriculum planning, and the hiring and firing. It was refreshing to hear this new school of educators on this panel talk confidently of the measurable improvements in their schools, along with their future goals – all because of empowerment. Ironically, high autonomy may mean tinkering with standardized testing schemes. That does concern me, but strong managers are innovators. Whatever works. And the proof is in the results.
Anyone who has been in business understands the need for decentralization and management span of control. This may sound brutal, but in the business world, as in the military, if a properly trained and empowered manager isn't producing results, the most efficient solution is to appoint a new one.
America is currently the world's technology leader, but globalization is creating serious competition. Our economic competitiveness will depend upon dynamic educational advances for our high-tech knowledge economy. The challenge for our educators is daunting. The average illegal immigrant has a fifth grade education, and 47 percent of all adult immigrants from Latin America have no high school diploma. "Anchor" babies (offspring of illegals born in the U.S. who automatically are citizens) increase annually at the rate of the population of Buffalo, New York. Talk about a never-ending story of under achievers! If we can't break the cycle of failure with our own high school drop outs, how can schools succeed with all of the above added to the mix? The answer: Leadership.
Principals in the mold of "site manager" proponents Duncan, Klein or Rhee find ways to get parents in these low achieving districts involved on parent councils by the creation of "parent academies," or parent coordinators." These are the kind of educators who make enemies of teacher's unions and/or some parents, but who firmly believe parents need to be successful participants in their child's education.
Obama threaded a needle with Duncan. (Somebody acceptable to moderates or conservatives.) His liberal left wanted to nudge Obama to select a darling of the teacher unions. Educators identified with New Leaders for New Schools are anathema to unions. But given that Duncan comes out of the infamous Chicago Democratic machine along with Obama, gives him a pass with the old union warhorses.
This appears to be the path Obama will be taking with his cabinet appointments. Put in a competent moderate as a figurehead, yet appease his liberal activist base by appointing loyal left leaning undersecretaries and deputies to the nominee's staff. These will be the people influencing policy and doing the heavy lifting.

John Reiniers, a regular columnist for Hernando Today, lives in Spring Hill.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT