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| Joe and Linda Payne |
Five years ago when The Payne family moved to Greenville I never would have thought I would be serving on the school board. As the years went by, my passion and concern for our schools only increased. I knew, and still know today, that strong schools are not just good for our kids; they are essential for a strong community. When the position became vacant, I applied and accepted the call to serve.
While I still feel called to support our school district, I know my call as church pastor is my first priority. While the folks at First United Methodist have been extremely gracious and supportive in all I do, I have come to grips with the fact that I cannot juggle the demands of both unique positions at the same time, along with that of husband and father. I’m letting one of them go, and this is it. This is my decision and no one else’s, and I feel at peace making it.
What an honor and a privilege it has been to serve on the board this past year! It has given me a tremendous respect for those who have ever served in this capacity in the past, as well as those presently serving. I am honored to have worked with Ben, Cindy, Sue, and Jim. I thank them for appointing me to this unexpired term. I also thank Susie, Carla, Jon, Guy, Dave, Barb, and the whole team at the central office. The Greenville City School district is in good hands.
I am proud of the direction Greenville City School district is going. Our state report card has continued to improve. In just a few years we have gone from a “Continuous Improvement” Rating to that of “Excellent” this year. We have a solid administration in place. We also have a great plan to upgrade our infrastructure so that our children will have the facilities they need to succeed.
To Ms. Banta, and Mr. Matix: should you be elected, I ask that you serve as a team player along with the other members of the board and administration, that you not come with an agenda, and that you always, always keep the interests of the children first. I trust Jim Sommer will do this also.
I want to thank those who have supported me. I thank my church. I thank those who signed my petition. I especially thank those who took petitions so that others could sign. To my wife, Linda, I love you. To my kids, thanks for allowing me to be your dad. Finally, I want everyone to know that when it comes to Greenville City Schools, I will continue to be it’s number one fan.
Just a couple of weeks ago, a young man I know came up to me looking so proud. He wanted me to see his state report card. I know that in past years he had been struggling to keep his grades up. So when I looked at his marks I was amazed to see that most of them were at the very top. Ladies and gentlemen, this is just one child of many, and there are others like him. We have good teachers, aids, classified staff, and administrators. We are on the right track in supporting kids like this young fellow. I urge all of you to join me in getting behind our kids so that more of them can succeed.
Wise decision Joe. This is akin to Custer deciding not to go to Little Big Horn. Best of luck to you.
ReplyDeleteThere is an old saying: "If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen". Sounds like Mr. Payne is making a smart move. I wish him well.
ReplyDeleteI wish I had known this before I voted early! Now I have wasted a choice!
ReplyDeleteWay to ad fuel to an already burning fire. This does not help the other school board members running. So many people have already voted absentee and there for he took away votes from other great candidates.
ReplyDeleteHe is trying to save face. Writing was on the wall. It is very unfair of him to have waited this long to quit. He should have resigned the night that Coach Kerns confronted and exposed him. That said, I have no ill will to the guy.
ReplyDeleteI do wonder how many early voters just wasted a vote. I, too, wish him no ill-will, but he should have made this decision long before now and maybe even given an endorsement to one of the other candidates (although that might have turned some against - you never know).
ReplyDeleteYou're right 7:42. He's saving face.
I also can't figure out why people would give thumbs down to the getting out of the kitchen comment above.
God bless this good man. He did not realize the tangle that he was getting into with this jaded community
ReplyDeletePoor Joe. He meant well just wasn't informed and made a few bad choices. He will soon be forgotten and hopefully replaced by more informed people.
ReplyDeletespineless follower who has no business being a school board member or anywhere else independent thought is required. He should have resigned the second he was exposed by Ms.Kerns
ReplyDeleteMaybe he can get a job with Mr. Studebaker
a follower exposed
ReplyDeleteJoe is a good man, father, and minister. I challenge any of you, who are negative, to get involved. I think that being a school board member is a thankless difficult job. Joe did not fit because he believed that he was working with good people. He trusted the wrong man.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if Joe is a good man or not. I do know he hurt two good young coaches because he refused to do the right thing. Studebaker's petty personal vendetta cost those two their jobs. Payne went right along and still has never explained his vote nor apologized. The BOE and this district deserve much better.
ReplyDeleteOh for pete's sake. And here I thought Jesus was the only one who had all the answers.
ReplyDelete1. I do apologize to those who voted for me early. It was a difficult decision to make, and it took some time to finally decide. At the same time, if you already voted for me, I do thank you.
2. So, you think I did this in order to avoid the heat? I'm bowing out while trying to "save face?" Really??? Tell me another funny one.
3. Every vote was my own. I made my own decisions, and cast my own votes. And believe it or not, any vote I made has nothing to do with my decision to bow out (OK, I know you won't believe any of this. Heavy Sigh.)
4. You are right that this is a thankless, difficult job. No surprise. School politics are almost as bad as church politics. You take the good with the bad.
5. Again, my reason for getting off the board has to do with balancing this job with that of being a church pastor. There have been no problems yet, and I wish to keep it that way. Who knows, you might see me again after I retire.
6. Having written all this, I'm sure I won't quiet the loud-mouths. So go ahead and spout off behind your "anonymous" tags. Whatever floats your boat. I can only pray that someday you will put your energy toward something more meaningful. If you ever want to show your face and discuss anything personally with me, you know how to find me.
7. Just as God rested on the 7th day, let's all just give it a rest, OK? There's an awful lot of good out there. Let's not miss it.
Sure Joe, whatever makes you feel better. You had a chance to speak and explain your coach vote the night Coach Kerns asked you for an explanation. You were silent. Perhaps you need to once again just remain silent.
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty sad that JP can apologize to people who might have voted for him early, but he still hasn't apologized to the two coaches he helped "fire" for no good reasons. Kerns and Albright are the ones JP needs to apologize to. And, it pitiful to see him say it was an honor to work with the others on the board (two of whom, it appears, intentionally mislead others with false or nonexistent information). JP says his votes were his own, well, if that's the case, then any possible bit of respect that I could have had for him, just went out the door. One down...three to go.
ReplyDeleteNo need to try and explain anything now, Mr. Payne. You wrote your public letter and pulled out of the race. Let it go. There will always be critics, but in my opinion, your "rebuttal" just makes your reasoning look more favorable to those who say that you are "saving face". I wish you the best. Now, be quiet and let the election go on.
ReplyDeleteVery well said 11:49. To this day he has given no explanation or apology for his vote on the coaches. He seems very defensive and arrogant in his response to the voters criticizing. I am very thankful he is gone and cannot wait to remove Studebaker and the other cronies. They are not fit to represent or serve this district.
ReplyDeleteCan we seriously drop this... wow. You all are worse then drama inside a high school. If you all you put as much time into doing something constructive for this city as you do mocking the BOE. Greenville might actually be something. This place will never change at the rate in which you all are taking it.
ReplyDeleteOh how times have changed. Perhaps serious change in coming someday; I guess only time will tell
I'm with Terence. For those of you who had a problem with JP, he walked away, which is presumably what you wanted. Stop tearing at old wounds and look to the future.
ReplyDeleteWell, there was ONE (1) School Board Member who didn't vote for the removal of the 2 coaches unlike Joe and the other 3 members. That LONE MEMBER is fortunately running for his 3rd term and is worth your vote. That responsible Board Member is JIM SOMMER.
ReplyDeleteGood riddance. We can do much better.
ReplyDeleteTerence. You are a very young man. Spend a few years actually paying taxes, raising kids and dealing with a school administration before you come here to preach to us about how we feel about this issue. Easy for someone who has no skin in the game to comment. We do not need you telling us how to think.
ReplyDeleteFine then enjoy running your city into the ground.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is, the fact you think I have nothing in this game. When really I have just as much in it as you. When I graduate from college because society tells me I have too. I will be $40,000 dollars in the hole. I graduate from college, suppose to find a house, a job. You are so right I have NO skin in this. O yah, and still pay taxes just like you are.
My entire family has always been in Greenville; the city and the history about is amazing. There will be no one in the City of Greenville in 20 years at the rate this is all going. I would like to include Greenville in my future.
Sadly, there are folks here who want to run off any sort of change.
In response to Keaser: If the other person wouldn't have said it, I would have. Until you have to do all the things you listed....pay back college loans, get a house and job, pay taxes and ALL the other bills you'll have to pay (none of which has anything to do with people's comments about being glad Payne is gone, by the way)...until then, you should probably hold your tongue. Some of us old folks who have had to do ALL those things for many years don't appreciate a kid spouting off about what he thinks we're doing to run our city in the ground. You're always preaching roses and sunshine, but real life isn't always so rosey. You should re-read your comments. You don't even address the problem or seem to be aware of why people are upset Coach Kerns and Coach Albright tried to come back and make a difference in basketball programs that they both felt strongly about and had each played in during their years at GHS, and this is how the BOE treated them. The BOE deserves every bit of slamming people can give them!(Except for Sommers) Why would you defend them? You should, perhaps, be a little more willing to see the flipside of the situation. From your previous comments, you sure don't act like you give a crap about the bad decisions made by the BOE, only about smoothing it over and moving on. There are still the worst two board members that need to go, so people shouldn't forget what they've done.
ReplyDeleteY'all need to get over the coach deal. Kerns is lucky to still have a job after her disrespectful display at the BOE meeting! The Kerns camp is what is keeping this "thing" alive. Her coaching record speaks for itself. If you watched any games you would know. Funny you don't hear the Albrights causing a fuss. Mike has too much class for that. Its all about Kerns. They just can not get over the fact that for once she did not get her way.
ReplyDeleteHere is a prime example why, I can't understand any one would vote for a new school at this time when the people running the show can't be trusted with making sound decissions.
ReplyDelete9:28 - I was at that BOE meeting and Ms. Kerns handled herself quite well given the situation and having been provided no reasons for the non renewal. Oh wait, the reason for her non renewal was lack of experience, but, yet, the BOE turned around and hired a varsity volleyball coach with even less experience and both JV and freshman coaches with NO experience. EXPLAIN that will you? Ms. Kerns finished the season at 500 and was fired. The volleyball coach finished the season at 500, so does she get fired too? What about football? Double standards everywhere. The excuse given to Albright was not raising the bar high enough in one year. After the coach who had been there the year prior to Albright, Albright was a huge improvement. Their record improved even after going back into the GWOC and having to play MUCH tougher teams then the previously played county schools for several years before that. Someone said it best, earlier, when they said those two deserved the apology from Payne before the early voters did. The support for Ms. Kerns and Mr. Albright was outstanding. Given your negative comment, I wouldn't be at all surprised if you weren't from the Studebaker or Bowman camp.
ReplyDeleteI see several comments on the decision not to renew the 2 coaches. I wonder........did these coaches coach any children or grand children of the School Board Memebrs??????
ReplyDeleteTo 10:38; INDUBITABLY!!!!!
ReplyDelete