I’ve been in the middle of taking a break. The pace I had been keeping up here on the blog had gotten to be a bit much, and needed a breather. Unfortunately, the Dougherty County School Board couldn’t accomidate me by not doing something so supremely stupid that I’d have no choice but to jump in.
In case you didn’t know, they’ve narrowed their selection for a new School Superintendent down to their finalists…or should I say finalist?
Out of 39 candidates, they narrowed it down to one finalist. The winner? Joshua Murfree, the Athletic Director for Albany State. A man who, as the Albany Herald put it, “has no experience in kindergarten-12th grade education other than to go through the grades himself.” WALB notes that Murfree was ranked 37th out of 39 candidates, and the Herald mentions that Murfree has ties to a member of the School Board…the same one that called for a vote, Anita Williams-Brown.
Two, just two, of the School Board stood for what was right and voted against this ridiculous move. Frankly, I have to stand with those members.
The law says that we have to educate our children. For those who can’t home school or afford private school, that means public education. The least that can be done is for the School Board to find a qualified head for the school system, and Murfree doesn’t seem to be it.
But the kicker is that this is actually the usual business for elected bodies in this town. Once again they throw what’s right out the window and engage in cronyism, corruption, and whatever other shenanigans seem to be called for in their corrupt little minds.
Heaven forbid that the board follows the law, which requires them to release the name of three candidates, not just one. Heaven forbid they look for someone who can turn Dougherty County Schools into a beacon for the rest of the state to follow. Heaven forbid they…oh, I don’t know…do something right!
Frankly, it’s time to replace the vast majority of elected officials in Albany and Dougherty County. One I’m going to say to leave alone is David Maschke. Every time I look, he’s standing on the right side of most every thing. He’s got my support, and he’s pretty much alone right now.
I urge every resident of Albany and Dougherty County to let the School Board know how you feel about this. If we are going to have public schools, then we damn well need to at least hire the best and most qualified to head them up!
“The Herald mentions that Murfree has ties to a member of the School Board…the same one that called for a vote, Anita Williams-Brown”
Does anyone know what the ties are?
They were linked through a non-profit they were both involved in, though Williams-Brown apparently claims that the group is no longer “active”. But a pre-existing relationship is sufficient to raise eyebrows if nothing else.
Racism…plain and simple..I can go into the specifics, but as an outsider, when the people of Albany can overcome racism (from both sides) and fear of outsiders (who point out the blatant racism) Albany will remain one of the 5 poorest cities in the nation.
Check out what the Bartow County School System is doing:
http://www.daily-tribune.com/index.cfm?event=news.view&id=3F572750-19B9-E2E2-673348C024DC45A7
There was another article about the board unanimously voting to fund the lawsuit, but it has been removed for some reason.
I’m following the Dougherty County school superintendent fiasco from California. It seems to be a convergence of all that is wrong politically and intellectually with our community’s local government and its leadership. Still, I think what happened is forgiveable — if those responsible would just say, “We messed up, we’re sorry, we’ll never let it happen again, and we’re going to start over and do the right thing.”
Like with the property revaluations, downtown redevelopment and the bus transfer station, I will be devoting a lot of energy and ink to this topic with little hope that it will do any good.
And for what it’s worth, I think Joshua Murphree might have been a great superintendent. But he was part of the shenanigans and needs to remove himself from consideration.
I don’t expect much from school board members so I’m seldom disappointed but in this case they have exceeded my lowest expectations. Murfree may be a great guy and the man for the job but if he ranked near the bottom in any category the Board should have had the good sense to follow commonly accepted procedure before pushing forward and forever tainting his tenure. Had he ranked clearly on top in all categories there would be less of an uproar.
But the good news is that we
have high quality people such as Ken Hodges seeking public office….NOT!