A lot has happened in our Greenville Schools these past few days. To be very blunt, the whole mood is awful. Much of my waking hours has been spent thinking about all that has happened and seeking positive ways that I could contribute to help us all move forward. Very soon, I plan to submit some of my thoughts to Darke Journal and other outlets.
In the meantime, I and the other board members received an email this morning from our Superintendent, Susie Riegle, that I could not help but pass on to you. This news came to Ms. Riegle from Mr. Robert Batty, one of our high school teachers. These are his words (in italics):
The math department at GHS has some great news!!!!
We had 33 students take the AP Calculus AB exam this past May and the results are fantastic. The AP Scores are given as a number 1-5 with a 5 being the highest possible. A score of 3 or higher is considered passing by most universities, which equates to college math credits. Our scores are as follows:
13 out of 33 received a 5 (39%)
11 out of 33 received a 4 (33%)
5 out of 33 received a 3 (15%)
2 out of 33 received a 2 (6%)
2 out of 33 received a 1 (6%)
These students put in a ton of work before, during, and after school to achieve these scores. We are really proud of all of them. GO WAVE!!!!
This is one of the many examples of very good work coming out of our own Greenville City Schools, and I thank Mr. Batty for passing the news on to us. In the past I’ve noticed that we often fail to “toot our own horn” concerning our successes. In the future I hope to get more of these “good news” stories out to you, our tax-paying public. You deserve to be in the know.
Please join me in offering congratulations to these fine students on a job well done.
Thanks for submitting, Joe! I think we can all agree that this sort of communication is desperately needed.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to hearing your take on the recent controversial issues, but thanks for bringing this to our attention. Our strengths definitely need to be celebrated!
Mr. Payne. Maybe in your upcoming comments you can explain the actions of you and the other three board members. Please let us know the real reason the coaches were let go. Thanks
ReplyDeleteI think the first paragraph says that he will offer his thoughts on it soon.
ReplyDeleteThank - you for the positive information concerning the Math Department and their sucess. It doesn't address what happened that made the mood awful - this is where real communication is needed. Decisions made about the Greenville City Schools are to be made fairly and just, not as a personel agenda for the school board members. If you have the Superintendent and the Athletic Director both supporting the coaches, why wasn't their input asked for before a decision of this magnitude was made. You eliminated coaches from 2 work in progress to successful programs - and it was done underhandily. The programs suffer, the students suffer, the reputation of the school suffers. Positive actions bring positive results, are we there yet? No we are not, and with actions like this the board is making, we will never get there.
ReplyDeleteIn a very short time we are going to embark on a giant educational expedition concerning the new school, funding it and getting a levy passed. I hope that all of these anonymous people and everyone gets behind it. Perhaps we can make lemonade from lemons.
ReplyDeleteBob Rhoades
Dear Badge1,
ReplyDeleteI am the anonymous post at 10:40. My URL would not be accepted, but I posted anyway as I felt it was important to stress that communication & cooperation is needed. There is no effective communication or cooperation with this board ex: letting the Superintendent and Athletic Director out of the decision making process which affects the students, the parents, and the voting public. To make good lemonade from lemons you need an equal balance of water, sugar and lemon juice. At this point in time we only have lemon juice. Tess Osborne
I would say one way to move forward is to have resignation letters from ALL members that voted to fire the coaches, the members that said they were misinformed is just BS in my opion, you don't vote to fire somebody without asking some questions. Are they going to have a similar way of thinking on the new school, (well we built it this way because we were misinformed) We can't afford to have members making desiscions that won't think for theirselves.
ReplyDeleteI hate to say it but the Greenville Schools will continue to have issues as long as the BOE continues to manage the day to day operations of the schools instead of letting the administrators do it. School boards are in place to 1) set and oversee the budget 2) hire administrators and 3) set policies. Ask around other school systems, which I have, and you will find that other school boards function totally different than Greenville.
ReplyDeleteMr. Payne. I just watched the video of Rachel Kerns confronting the BOE about her not being retained. She is the most passionate and caring young coach I have seen in a long time. She knows names of elementary girls who want to play ball and works with them tirelessly. That program has shown great improvement under her and was headed for a bright future. I am the grand parent of a very athletic and talented 4th grade girl. She would love to play for a coach with the kind of passion and caring Rachel has.You say you are going to address this issue soon. May I suggest that when you do you explain your nonanswer when Rachel posed her question about what the problems were. You sat there and said nothing merely pointing to Studebaker. It is evident you simply went along with him on this and you don't have any knowledge personally about the situation. That or you were afraid to step up and make your opinion made in a public setting. I hope it was not the latter. It will be easy for you to expound on the problem in a forum like this, I wish you had said something in the meeting. I mean no offense or disrespect here. I just wish the BOE would allow the Superintendant and athletic director do their job. Are we supposed to trust you to pass a costly levy for a new school? I wonder what kind of underhanded deals will be going on with that? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteWow this man throws out good news and all of you continue your beat down. Seriously all of you clock out and go home...
ReplyDeleteCongrats Math department that is certainly a heck of an achievement!!
And some should go back to their cracker-jack radio stations.
ReplyDeleteThere have been some very good points made here.
In Perspective
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, an ounce of good math education is worth a pound of great coaching. Sporting competition is, after all, a zero sum game. No matter how much effort is placed only half of the teams will win. Taking the United States from 15th or 16th in the world to 8th or 9th will dramatically improve the well-being of everyone in this country. Math, unlike sports, is not a zero sum game. Even the students that scored the lowest in their AP group are winners. It’s time that we focus on who we hire to teach math and science and leave the coaching assignments to chance instead of the other way around.
Mr. Payne, I support your 4-1 vote and I hope you and others don't change your mind. Don't be fooled by young teenagers putting out half truth, I went to a few girls baskeetball game and it was obvious we were just coached. I support the BOE. And Congrats to the Math Dept
ReplyDeleteMr. Payne, I also agree with the vote. It is quite obvious who was doing all the negative posting. Stick to your guns and don't let them bully you guys. Thanks for your service to the district.
ReplyDeleteMr, Payne, Thanks so much for the good news. I think the BOE is doing a great job. And thanks to all the BOE for all your hard work and time you all put forth. I know its not an easy job. Keep your head up and keep going forward, not backward. As a tax-payer I support your 4-1 vote. I also think there is alot half truth out there, any people really have No clue what went on. No, I never attended a basketball game, but I'am sure you all have the best interest of all the students and tax-payers. You all have my vote. thank you
ReplyDelete4:03-are you kidding? I'm a parent of a player in the girls basketball program. Every other parent I've spoken with has been in support of Coach Kerns and thinks she has done just fine in her two short years of coaching. The BOE meeting was packed with supporters for the two coaches which proves you are in the minority. And if you think this whole mess was caused by "a few immature children and coaches" then you are sadly mistaken. If you felt so strongly about your point of view, then why weren't you at the BOE meeting to voice your opinion? Probably, because you know you are one of only a couple people who want Kerns out. No person spoke against the coaches. Everyone was in support, which included 100 signatures on a petition. Why are you so against Coach Kerns? Do you have a daughter in the program or one that recently graduated? Youth program participants, current players, and former players were in attendance to support Coach Kerns and voice their concerns over her "firing". When the board members make a mistake (which they did in this case) then they need to make it right. BOE members cannot make decisions based on limited information and then apologize and think that will fix everything. An apology doesn't fix anything, it just makes the board member who messed up feel better. If a board member sticks with a bad decision, simply out of stubbornness, then that shows they obviously don't listen to the public. The public spoke loud and clear at the BOE meeting and they said, "Hire the girls and boys coaches back for this next year"!
ReplyDeleteMr. Payne, thanks for the great news.We all must move forward.Although I have no children in the Greenville schools anymore, I support your vote, I have looked at both sides and totally agree with boards decision.
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