Signs Point to Looney as New Director of Schools

When the Williamson County School Board convenes tonight at 8pm to (hopefully) bring the eight-month search for a new Director of Schools to a close, it's likely that former Marine Michael Looney will be offered the job over Dennis Dearden.

Looney, now in his fifth year as Butler County School Superintendent in Alabama, has placed first in two non-binding matrix evaluations conducted by the WCS Board in recent weeks. Looney was an overwhelming choice when considered against the other four semi-finalists. In that head-to-head comparison, Looney earned 44 points by being ranked above each of the other four candidates by eight of the 12 board members. Dearden earned 28 points while being ranked above each of the other four candidates by only two board members.

According to WCS Board Chair Pat Anderson (who ranked Interim Director Dr. David Heath above each of the other four candidates on the first matrix), the matrix results were much closer between Looney and Dearden after the second round of interviews. Those results, however, were not made public.

Interestingly, Board Member Terry Leve announced on his website that while he had ranked Dearden first on the initial matrix (one of the two board members to do so), he has since moved Looney into the top position after the second round of interviews.

Based on the foregoing, and the previous interview, my original ranking of 1) Dearden, 2) Looney and 3) Carroll, is now 1) Looney, 2) Dearden and 3) Carroll. I think it’s close. I think they all have strengths. I know they are different. Mr. Looney is a high energy motivator who immediately connected with staff and students during his tour of schools. It is my impression that he came in first with both staff and students, while I perceive that Dr. Carroll came in second with students, and Mr. Dearden came in second with staff.

The NBC affiliate in Montgomery, Alabama, WSFA Channel 12, reported on August 28 in a story by Bryan Henry that Looney's current salary of $121,000 to oversee 4,000 students spread across eight schools would likely increase by $60,000 if he's offered the task of handling 30,000 students and 37 schools in Williamson County.

Henry's story, filed the day after WCS Board members Barry Watkins and Susan Graham made a site-visit to Butler County, also notes that the average SAT score in Butler County (where students are not required to take the test) is 18.2. In Williamson County in 2008, the observed ACT composite was 22.77. (Henry's story incorrectly lists the Williamson County average score as 24 -- which is the district's current goal).

Tonight's 8pm meeting is open to the public. The decision the 12-member board makes will impact not only the parents and students of Williamson County, but every resident. Here's hoping everyone gets behind the ultimate choice once it's made.

When Spending $50,000 is "Visionary"

The Williamson County School Board currently has its hands full with the ongoing saga to find a replacement for the ousted superintendent Becky Sharber. As is well-known throughout the area, the 12-member board voted in December to fire Sharber effective January 1, paid Sharber full pay and benefits through the end of her contract in June, hired a search firm for $24,000 to find a new director, named Dr. David Heath interim superintendent and gave him a raise of $26,838 on elevating him to the interim title. When the school board members are up for re-election you may want to recall how they voted on this particular issue.

THOSE IN FAVOR OF FIRING SHARBER:

Pat Anderson (8th District)

Susan Graham (7th District)

Mark Gregory (11th District)

Terry Leve (6th District)

Tim McLaughlin (4th District)

Janice Mills (2nd District)

Barry Watkins (9th District)

THOSE OPPOSED TO FIRING SHARBER:

Gary Anderson (5th District)

James Bond (12th District)

D'Wayne Greer (1st District)

Janine Moore (3rd District)

Bill Peach (10th District)

Those who voted in favor of the firing have spent in excess of $50,000 of taxpayer dollars with ZERO results. Meanwhile, board member Terry Leve continues to spin the search on his own website and in e-mail updates as not really costing that much. Visit Leve's webpage to see the full text but here's a portion:

On May 14, I had the privilege to meet with officers from Brentwood Middle School’s PTO and Viking Athletic Club. We discussed the status of the current search for a new Director of Schools, the recent leadership change at BMS, and the critical importance of detailed and timely communication. For example, we discussed the misconception that the Board has spent $75,000 on a search that has not resulted in the hire of a new superintendent. Such is an inaccurate rumor. The Board has not yet paid its consultants, but will owe them only $24,000 if the search is successful.

While $75,000 may be inaccurate regarding the search, Mr. Leve, neither is $24,000 a true representation of the cost of this debacle. You're not even including the $78,000 in salary plus additional benefits paid to Sharber from Jan. 1 through the end of her terminated contract in June.

Mr. Leve has been an outspoken person on this issue and served as the lead negotiator for the board while coming to a contract agreement with search firm Ray & Associates. Here are Leve's reasons (sent in a May 12, 2009 update) for NOT choosing one of the final two candidates brought forth by the search firm:

"While both candidates have tremendous backgrounds, they both lacked the ability to communicate a clear, concise or powerful vision.  As I mentioned during our deliberations, one candidate when asked about personal beliefs, thoughts, philosophies, etc. only responded with "the research is inconclusive" and that the candidate did not believe in having a vision because that was up to the community.  The other candidate was so verbose that, by the time the allotted time for the interview had expired, only one-third of the questions had been asked.  The Board was left wondering about this latter candidate's vision, leadership and time management skills."

So, the candidates lacked a clear, concise, and powerful vision according to Leve. Pot, meet kettle. Mr. Leve and his "visionary" cohorts met back on March 26 to set goals and a vision for where Williamson County Schools are headed. Leve commented on it in his March 26 web update:

On March 26, the Board met again to discuss its goals.  The specific goal we discussed was:

By 2012, students in Williamson County will be well prepared to be successful in a global environment as evidenced by:

• WCS students will achieve an average score of 24 on the ACT.

• After collecting pre/baseline data, 90% of a random sample of WCS students will score proficient on a 21st Century Skills Assessment - such as the College Work and Readiness Assessment or the River City Assessment.

To accomplish this overreaching goal, we discussed three focus areas: learning, teaching and operational.

That's right, the visionaries who saw fit to oust Becky Sharber with full pay and benefits 6 months before her contract expired, opted to pay a search firm $24,000 to find a new director, and now appear to be leaning towards hiring the interim director from in-house, believe Williamson County students should be successful in a global environment by achieving an average score of 24 on the ACT and having 90 percent of them score proficient on a skills test. That's their big vision. Test scores. How will they achieve such lofty heights, you ask? Well, Leve and his fellow board members have sussed out a clear, concise, and visionary solution of three focus areas: learning, teaching, and operational. 

While Leve and the board offered concerns about a candidate's vision, leadership, and time management skills as an excuse for not offering them the job, Williamson County residents may have some concerns about the vision, leadership, and money management skills of Leve and the other 6 board members responsible for the current situation.

Meanwhile, rejected candidate Dr. Terri Breeden, (whom Leve says he supported) is working in her Virginia district towards having ALL children graduate bilingual by implementing foreign language programs beginning in kindergarten. Dr. Breeden also said during her interview that she believed there needed to be a sense of urgency to make this the number one school district in the nation. 

Sorry Dr. Breeden, Mr. Leve and the board have their goals and vision already set. No place for aggressive foreign language education and pie-in-the-sky dreams of being the best school district in America. We're too busy with our interim director reassigning principals from Blue Ribbon Award-winning schools back to the classroom --- wait a second, that's pretty visionary right there; not to mention clear and concise. Dr. Heath, Terry Leve, and the school board -- a match made only in Williamson County.