If the principal selection process had been open and transparent this conversation likely wouldn’t have taken place.

The charter lists “recommend personnel for submission to the Superintendent for hire” as the first duty of the School Leadership Team. That recommendation was not sought. However, it is worth mentioning that while there is language in the charter which requires the principal to provide a seat for a SLT member in the interview process, there is no such language requiring the Superintendent to do so.

In all honesty, had the SLT been involved and had the process been completely open and transparent, it would likely have come to exactly the same outcome. But people will believe what they will. In the absence of an open and transparent process we will never know for certain. And for some folks the process will never be open and transparent enough.

Bruce is a proven principal. The Academy at 5th Avenue as a new school will do well with a veteran principal. I hope that Bruce’s track record for turning around failing schools will serve our children well as he works to get the Academy at 5th Avenue started on a good footing.

And I hope Karen and Rodney know how much we value them. Rodney Thomas and Erin Wheeler are two of the first people I met when moving to the area. These two extremely professional and high caliber individuals are in no small part responsible for our family’s decision to move to Decatur. Erin is now principal of Clairemont. And I have no doubt that if he wants it, Rodney’s time will come.

And let us not forget that Dr. Gloria Lee is still working hard at Glennwood. She will see us through the move to our new school, and the transition to our new principal.

Agree that cheap, ersatz, on-line graduate degrees from for-profit unaccredited “higher education” institutions are a problem, not just in education, but everywhere. Part of the problem is hiring and promotion systems that only superficially look at credentials, not at the value of those credentials or at actual skills and performance. The other problem is that busy professionals, often with a family to go home to at night, end up resorting to on-line graduate degree programs to get those credentials needed to advance their career because those are the only options available. They either need better flexible and/or on-line options from bona fide, accredited, academic programs or a chance to advance based on their performance vs. on their paperwork.