Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2011 03:17:56 -0500
From: djsmith
Subject: Speak My Mind
After attending the meeting tonight I felt compelled to express my feeling about the meeting. This proposal to reconfigure our schools has caused more harm and ill-feeling between the schools in Chatham County than anything I have ever witnessed before. It is definitely time for the Board of Education of take a stand and make a statement.
Mr. Logan was put at the helm to lead and guide our school system and to make it better for the children of Chatham County. In just a few short weeks, he has been permitted to tear Chatham County apart and cause ill-feelings between the schools that may never be repaired. He has pitted community against community and school against school. This is not the job of a superintendent. It is his job to build cohesion and foster POSITIVE relationships and feelings between the schools and the communities. He has set Chatham County back instead of causing it to move forward. I set in the meeting tonight and I could not believe what I was hearing and seeing, If you were against the reconfiguration of the schools you were labeled as being a racist by speakers. There were teachers there from other schools who would not even applaud for a skit performed by children from another school. What does this say to us about these teachers? If it had been a group of parents or adults performing the skit I could have accepted the lack of response on the teachers’ part. But to not even acknowledge these Chatham County School CHILDREN with a clap of the hand cannot be overlooked and it is despicable. These are the people who work with children and I’m sure will tell us how much they love children. How could they have treated these children with such a lack of disrespect.
Our feeling against the reconfiguration of our schools has nothing to do with the schools being labeled as our ‘assigned’ school. We are fighting to keep our K-8 schools because they are our community schools. Can Mr. Logan and the BOE and others not understand this? The first reason given by Mr. Logan for the reconfiguration was money. Then he changed it to an equity of services. Money and equity of services can’t be used as the excuse to change our K-8 schools. And that is exactly what it is–an excuse.. We are a family, we look out for each other, we work together, we pick up the slack when it is necessary to get the job done, and we nurture and respond to each other’s needs and we ARE turning out students who do well when they go on to HIGH SCHOOL and COLLEGE. We’ll put our students up against any students who come from any Middle School and challenge you to compare the two. We place more value on certain things that go on in our schools than just more classes and more sports.
Kathie Russell, former BOE member wrote the following, “Logan is the best thing that ever happened to Chatham County Schools and take that into account in your reasoning. Please, let’s let the guy make a mistake – he is not all knowing – and now let’s help him correct it”.
I disagree with Ms. Russell’s statement that Logan is the best thing that ever happened to Chatham County Schools. The meeting tonight showed the damage he has caused in our county and in our schools. I do agree with you in that he made a mistake. He made a mistake in the way this was handled from the very beginning. I think he actually thought he would hastily get the BOE to approve this in the disguise of darkness on the parts of the parents and community. And that he deliberately used the budget deficit as the tool to advance his agenda. Thank goodness for Gary Leonard who was wise enough from the very beginning to not fall into the trap of taking him at his word that this was best for Chatham County Schools and insisted it be presented to the community. Mr. Logan has shown that he cannot be trusted and will use any measure to achieve his own personal agenda.
It is up to the BOE to decide if he can lead after this. He has lost the respect of the people and a true leader has to be respected in order for others to follow. Can we help him correct the mistake he has made? Can the damage he has done to our county be corrected? Hard feelings and prejudices have surfaced that were not there before.
The board should have been wise enough to have foreseen the impact this would have on the schools and the county when they decided to go forward with Mr. Logan’s recommendation.