Tuesday, May 24, 2011

This Is How We Do It

School Board President Marshall "It's about the children" Weinberg finally provided a plausible explanation to his rogue search for a new school board superintendent.

He has finally offered an explanation to his behind closed doors approach to finding someone who we believe will put football before academics.

His quest is to find a superintendent who will "complete the DREAM," the DREAM being making the head football coach the athletic director, making the assistant athletic directors (plural) football coaches, and officially putting football at the top of the food chain, not just in athletics, but academics as well.

A superintendent who will be acceptable to the 'friends of the program' football boosters.

A superintendent who will know his role, and defer to the "experts"  as it relates to "their" team.

And what was Weinberg's excuse for perverting the selection process into a quest to find a superintendent who will "play ball" with the football boosters?

This is how we do it in Massillon.

"This is how we do it in Massillon," Weinberg said. "This is how it's done. This is how we go out and find football coaches. The best (applicants) do not just apply - we have to go out and find them" (The Independent, May 24, 2011).

Illuminating.

Sad, but illuminating.

This is how we do it in Massillon.

This is how we go out and find football coaches.

Uh, Marshall.

You are not hiring a football coach.

You certainly don't realize this, but a school superintendent is infinitely more important to the success of our children's education than who coaches ten football games a year.

This is the problem.

The "this is how we do it in Massillon" mentality.

Your priorities are screwed up beyond any rational explanation.

You have run off multiple superintendents.

You have run off a principal.

You have, for all purposes, sacked the athletic director so that the head football coach can have more control.

And word on the street is that you are about to sack the basketball coach.

But, we should all be relieved at your insanity manifesting itself into the governance of our schools because...

This is how we do it in Massillon.

This is the problem.

No school administrator in their right mind would come here and work for you as superintendent.

But you don't care.

As long as the football team is run according to the whims of the friends of the program football boosters.

Because this is how we do it in Massillon.