It’s in the news again.
Created in 1989, the Convention (often abbreviated as the “CRC”) has a number of laudable goals and features. It has been ratified by 193 countries around the world. The only two UN member states which have NOT ratified it are Somalia and the United States (which proponents of the treaty often cite as something that should be embarrassing to the United States).
There is much in this treaty which is admirable and non-controversial. There are some parts of it which are simply innocuous. And there are some parts of it which pro-family and pro-homeschooling advocates in the United States find objectionable.
But why all the hubbub over a UN Convention? Isn’t this simply a non-binding statement of principles?
For many countries, that might be the case (and probably explains why many of the 193 have ratified – for them, ratification has no practical effect on their own laws and practices).
But the effect of ratifying a treaty in the United States is different, because of Article VI of the US Constitution and the 14th Amendment.
Article VI (often called the “Supremacy Clause”) states, in part:
This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.
The Supremacy Clause makes all treaties ratified by the US Senate binding in all Federal AND in all State courts. Which means that the United States Senate should be very careful when it votes to ratify a treaty. It also helps explain why the ratification of a treaty requires a 2/3 vote of the Senate – Treaty ratification is akin to amending the Constitution, and comes close to it in its wide-reaching consequences and significance.
Non-Controversial Sections of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child include the prohibitions on kidnapping, child labor, child prostitution, and using children as soldiers. Ironically, the United States HAS signed and ratified both of the optional protocols which have been appended to the CRC: one on the use of children in military conflicts and one which prohibits child pornography.
Children’s “Rights” are the issue, and whether those rights may be asserted against parents
The problematic parts of the CRC are in articles 13-17 which enumerate children’s rights which all parties to the CRC agree to recognize. These rights are described in legal language which is at times ambiguous, perhaps deliberately so. They include the right to freedom of expression, the right to receive information, freedom of thought, conscience and religion, freedom of association and peaceful assembly, a right to personal privacy and a right to access mass media. And here is where the issues arise. It would be one thing to assert that a child has these enumerated rights and that children must be protected from any attempt by the state to interfere with them. But the CRC leaves open and unresolved whether a child has these rights and can appeal to the state to prevent any of these rights from being abridged by parents. Given the Constitutional status afforded treaties and the social activism of parts of the legal community, it is quite probable that these rights would be raised in legal proceedings against parents by advocates acting in the name of children. If the CRC intended to protect children from any abridging of these rights by the State (but not by parents), then it should have said so. Because it does not limit its applicability to actions against the states, in the US Courts, it would inevitably be invoked in cases of conflicts between parents and children, with the result that parental authority would be eviscerated and children would be free to make dangerous and/or inappropriate choices, with parents forbidden from interfering. To take but one example, if parents decided to enroll a child in a religious school, the child could object and bring action citing the CRC and veto the parents’ decision.
Ratification of the treaty would provide the basis for the state to intervene in parenting decisions regarding education, media, and friends. It would radically undermine the rights of parents to direct the care, upbringing and education of their children.
Outlawing corporal punishment
The CRC has been repeatedly interpreted by the UN, by its committees, and in other judicial settings as requiring ratifying governments to “prohibit all forms of violence, including corporal punishment, in the upbringing of children.”
For some, this is simply one more reason to support ratification. But the overwhelming majority of parents in the US believe that corporal punishment by parents is a legitimate form of discipline. In any event, the definition of child abuse and neglect is currently made by state law, interpreted by state courts. Ratification of the CRC would, in effect, be the enactment of a federal ban on corporal punishment. No matter how you feel about the issue, federalizing it will have terrible consequences for families.
The CRC also establishes a UN committee and requires ratifying states to submit a report on implementation of the CRC within two years and every five years thereafter. The Committee may request additional information, review, and comment on States’ reports, but it does not appear to have any enforcement authority. I view the Committee as, at worst, an annoyance. Various states have already received chiding comments from the Committee, but they have little practical effect, other than in the court of public opinion (which is to say hardly at all). Of far greater concern is potential enforcement actions of the US federal courts, acting with the authorization of the US Constitution’s attribution of legal authority to all ratified treaties.
Read the Convention for yourself
Here’s a link to the full text of the Convention (at the UN web site): http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/k2crc.htm
I would encourage everyone interested to read the text for themselves, paying particular attention to articles 13-17.
There is also an interesting article in the Emory International Law Review by Prof. David M. Smolin of the Cumberland Law School, which identifies the issues pretty clearly. Prof. Smolin believes the objections to Articles 13-17 could be overcome by the adoption of “reservations” by the US Senate, and argues that the treaty is not self-executing and therefore should not cause concern. The treaty is NOT self-executing, but the US Constitution spells out the mechanism by which treaties become supreme law which must be followed by all federal and state judges. I think Prof. Smolin has missed this point.
Further Reading:
U.N. Fairy Tales About Children, Kay S. Hymowitz,
City Journal
Abandoning Children to Their Rights, Bruce C. Hafen and Jonathan O. Hafen, First Things
HSLDA has a series of articles, all linked from this page: http://www.hslda.org/docs/nche/Issues/U/United_Nations.asp
ParentalRights.org also has a well documented and footnoted article, 20 Things you Need to Know about the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
- RedHatRob
http://RedHatRob.com
David Oatney nails it on how the Democrats true allegiance lays with the Teacher’s Union and not the student’s best interest.
One of These Parties Is Not Like The Other
The idea that Tennessee Democrats want your children to have a quality education is exposed as a fairy tale with each passing hour:
Republican lawmakers are still working on a proposal to expand charter school eligibility before the end of the legislative session, saying the state could be in danger of forfeiting $100 million in federal stimulus funds.
Democrats and public school representatives say that the funds aren’t guaranteed regardless of what the legislature does, and that the state could very well receive the money without expanding charter schools.
The bill, introduced by Rep. Beth Harwell, R-Nashville, would open charter schools to all urban students eligible for free and reduced-price lunch programs. Nearly three-fourths of students in the Metro schools system qualify.
Harwell and other Republicans contend that Tennessee could lose out on $100 million as part of a $4.35 billion “Race to the Top” federal grant program for states that commit to education reform — including increasing access to charter schools. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is scheduled to talk to reporters today about President Barack Obama’s administration’s emphasis on the importance of charter school access to receiving the funds.
The federal funds in question are coming from an administration that nearly all Republicans in Tennessee (certainly this writer) disagree with vehemently on a whole host of issues and policy directives, including education policy. However, we know that this money can help a whole lot of Tennessee children receive a vastly superior educational experience. Instead of being forced to attend schools that are failing them as much for the violence and bad behavior around them as for poor funding, a chance is being handed to Tennessee to give some of the most disadvantaged of our children a better shot in life through a better educational environment.
The Democrats and their allies at the Tennessee Extortion Association are the reason that charter schools are not already expanded in Tennessee, and federal money be damned, they aren’t about to allow for an increased and superior number of charter schools to highlight just how badly they’ve managed to ruin the education of Tennessee children in the past couple of decades (mind you, any other times they would have their hands out like hungry rats to take every federal dollar they can). The Left always loves to talk about how they are the champions of “the poor,” but everyone knows that education begins the path out of poverty for most people begins with a quality education. When it comes to education, our friends on the other side really are elitists.
Continue….
More from the Tennessee Charter School Association…..
GOP still pushes bill expanding access to charter schools
Jun 08 ‘09 – Republican lawmakers are still working on a proposal to expand charter school eligibility before the end of the legislative session, saying the state could be in danger of forfeiting $100 million in federal stimulus funds. Democrats and public schoo… (more)
A trend for greater choice is slowly gaining steam, Indiana is now on the forefront….
Hoosier State Governor Mitch Daniels included a $5 million school choice tax credit program in his budget, which will be considered in the state legislature’s special session. According to The Brazil Times:
The Indiana School Scholarship Tax Credit program would provide a 50 percent state tax credit for charitable contributions to qualified scholarship programs serving lower-income families. Children in grades kindergarten-12 could qualify for scholarships to help attend the public or private school of their choice. The program passed the Indiana Senate with bipartisan support earlier this spring on two occasions.
Facing a large state budget deficit, some may be wondering why Governor Daniels would be supporting providing a new tax break. One reason is that his program is likely to generate significant fiscal savings for the state over time. In April, the Friedman Foundation analyzed the fiscal impact of the proposed tax credit plan and found that the program could save as much as $4.7 million in the first year.
If the Hoosier state becomes the newest to offer school choice, it could be a win-win for students and taxpayers.
This Thursday night (6/4/2009), at 8:00 PM Pacific/10:00 PM Central/11:00 PM Eastern, I’ll be on the blogtalkradio show Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Conservatism.
The show is hosted by Babe Huggett (who blogs at TheRealityCheck.org) and Warner Todd Huston (who is a prolific blogger and owner of StopTheACLU).
You can click on the Life, Liberty link to go to the show’s homepage and listen to the show on your PC, streamed over the internet.
Hosts Babe Huggett and Warner Todd Huston discuss and examine current political events, put them in historical context and follow trends to their logical conclusions through a conservative, Christian viewpoint. Phone in comments from listeners always welcome! Call-in Number: (347) 237-4040
Hosts Babe Huggett & Warner Todd Huston dig deep & analyze the news with their usual insightful and historical approach all the while being as politically irreverent as possible! It’s time to spend your Summer 2009 vacation cramming & jamming with home schooling advocates, Kay Brooks & Rob Shearer, as they educate us tonight about the deliberate persecution of home schooled graduates, the dumbing down of students in government propaganda factories a.k.a. public schools & the erosion of educational liberty in Tennessee in particular & the USA in general.
Giving taxing authority to Boards of Education is a very bad idea according to Kay Brooks…
Well they had their ‘give the BOE taxing authority’ rally yesterday and surprise, surprise (not) the news is full of how this would be a good thing for MNPS. Less politics, more accountability, less bickering, yadda, yadda.
I don’t understand how having the Mayor, in consultation with the BOE, suggest a budget amount for MNPS and then the Metro Council passes the budget, after budget hearings asking about the needs of MNPS and its past performance (to include how they spent the money they got last time) is LESS accountable than handing over taxing authority to the BOE directly. Please remember, once the Council passes the budget they hand over a lump sum to the BOE who then has the freedom to spend that money as they see fit.
“The public is left out there with no idea which authority to hold accountable,” said Stephen Smith, assistant executive director of the Tennessee School Board Association.” City Paper
So the School Board Association instead of educating the public about the process so that we can make wiser decisions about who to hold accountable will “dumb down” the process to ensure this homework isn’t too hard for us. Bonus for the education system is they only have to persuade nine people that their pet project is worth reaching into your wallet. Remember, this is all about making it easier for the BOE not easier for taxpayers. I’ve absolutely no doubt that the BOE doesn’t enjoy have to go hat in hand to the Mayor or the Council but that’s part of accountability–having to answer for what you’ve done with what you got before.
And where should it stop? Maybe the police and fire departments should also have taxing authority. The same bogus argument about accountability could be made for them too. Personally, I value public safety over public education. And speaking about public safety…what about the health department? Maybe they shouldn’t have to suffer the inconveniences and embarrassment of making a case for their expenditures.
This from the Tennessee County Commissioner’s Association back in December of 2008:
“As things stand right now, the Tennessee Constitution would have to be changed in order to directly give school boards taxing authority. That takes time as such a proposal would have to pass two separate General Assemblies and then be approved by the voters. What could happen right away is that the General Assembly could lift the ban on existing school districts converting to special school districts. We have about 14 special school districts in Tennessee currently, but the law has prohibited the creation of any new special school districts for some time. Special school districts levy a property tax pursuant to a private act adopted by the state legislature that sets a tax rate for the school system. So it would take taxing authority away from the county commission, but would give it to state legislators who usually act based on the recommendations of the school board for the special school district.” (emphasis added)
How does moving this taxing authority up to the state level make our neighborhood schools and our school board more accountable? Looks like they’ll have the same excuse they’ve got now “Well, we could have done better but the Council/Legislature wouldn’t let us have the money we needed.”
And what we know about education spending is that the BOE will raise taxes to the maximum the Legislature will allow as quickly as it can with nothing but an election every other year for half of the board to slow it down. You’ll have nine folks, most of whom are less financial geniuses than the Metro Council, deciding how much of your money you’ll have left to feed and clothe and house your family because they see what they do ‘for the children’ as more important that what you’re trying to do for your own children with the money you earned.
According to the Tennessean the MNPS is 40% of the Metro Nashville budget. 40%! We’re getting close to the tipping point. This year the BOE wants $620 million dollars to education about 75,000 children. That’s about the current quote for the new convention center. And they’ve been spending about half a billion dollars for several years now. That’s $8,000+ for every one of those 75,000 students and that doesn’t include state or federal dollars. They’ve got enough money.
No matter how many times the Chamber and its partners say ‘accountability’ this plan is less accountability. They are calling black white and white black. They’re going to repeat that often, loudly and in full color brochures as long as we’ll let them. I say no. Absolutely no. If the goal really is accountability…how about we see those teacher value added scores AND we put the MNPS check register on-line?
Weapons of Mass Instruction
John Taylor Gatto has a new book out. That is cause for celebration. For those who are not familiar with him, a bit of his biography is in order. Gatto taught for 30 years in the public schools of New York City, specifically Community School District 3, Manhattan. He was named New York City Teacher of the year in 1989, 1990, and 1991, and New York State Teacher of the Year in 1991. In 1991 he quit his teaching job rather publicly, with an editorial in the Wall Street Journal which began thus:
Government schooling is the most radical adventure in history. It kills the family by monopolizing the best times of childhood and by teaching disrespect for home and parents.
You can read the rest of his provocative essay / editorial / resignation letter at his website: http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/underground/prologue2.htm
In 1992, Gatto published a revolutionary book, Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling. Seventeen years later, that book is still in print. Since 1992, he has been writing and speaking nationwide. Among other things he has been outspoken in his admiration for the modern homeschooling movement – though he didn’t homeschool his own children.
In 2001 he published The Underground History of American Education
. Extensively researched, the book is, in some ways, Gatto’s magnum opus. In it, he documents in detail the movement begun in the late 19th century to adopt the Prussian model of compulsory schooling in order to train docile factory workers and obedient soldiers. It is an eye-opening study. It can be ordered from Amazon, or read online at Gatto’s website.
And now we have his newest composition. In some important ways, I think it may be his best work. Many of the themes of his writing are repeated here, but they are more polished, more concise, more persuasively presented. And there are some provocative and startling new ideas here as well. Ideas that will (or should) make anyone involved in the education of children think.
The dedication opens poignantly:
I dedicate this book to the great and difficult art of family-building, and to its artists, the homeschoolers in particular . . .
From Gatto’s Prologue: Against School:
Do we really need school? I don’t mean education, just forced schooling: six classes a day, five days a week, nine months a year, for twelve years. Is this deadly routine really necessary? And if so, for what? Don’t hide behind reading, writing, and arithmetic as a rationale, because 2 million happy homeschoolers have surly put that banal justification to rest.
A little later, Gatto quotes H.L. Mencken with approval:
The aim of public education is not to fill the young of the species with knowledge and awaken their intelligence. . . Nothing could be further from the truth. The aim. . . is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to put down dissent and originality. That is its aim in the United States. . . and that is its aim everywhere else.
In chapter one (Everything You Know about Schools is Wrong) Here Gatto summarizes the startling and alarming statistics on literacy, gathered from a large and impeccable source, US Army induction records. In the early 1930s, the literacy rate for young men was 98%. By 1944, it was 96%. But by 1951 it had fallen to 81% – a startling decline. By 1973, the tests on young men inducted into the military revealed that male literacy had fallen to 73%. All of this in spite of the increased attention in the 1950s and 1960s on education. Spending on education had skyrocketed. New teachers had been trained and hired. New methods had been developed and adopted. What went wrong? Gatto suggests that education was never the stated purpose of compulsory schooling – control and conditioning was. He has quotes from the founding documents of public schooling to back up his assertions.
In chapter two (Walkabout: London), Gatto celebrates the lives of successful men and women who have achieved remarkable things without formal “schooling” (which doesn’t mean they weren’t educated!). Sir Richard Branson, David Sarnoff, & Bill Gates are 3 of his more important examples but there are others with life-stories every bit as compelling.
In chapters three & four (Fat Stanley and the Lancaster Amish & David Sarnoff’s Classroom), Gatto continues his examples and contrasts those who have learned how to think with the stunting effects of twelve years of classroom confinement.
Chapter five (Hector Isn’t the Problem) tells the tragic story of a student with behavior problems who is labeled and kept in school’s version of “protective custody. In Chapter six (The Camino de Santiago) Gatto begins to lay out one of the guerilla techniques he developed to help his students really learn – by helping them to escape the artificial setting of the classroom and observe the real world. Chapter seven (Weapons of Mass Instruction) expands on this theme and gives more examples of what Gatto discovered really helps students and how schooling systematically stifles them.
Chapter eight, (What is Education?) is a thought experiment in which Gatto imagines what the goals and methods of a new school, a humane school would look like. No testing, flexible time commitments, no walled compound:
I know how odd this all sounds: first I tell you reading, writing, and arithmetic are easy to learn as long as they aren’t taught systematically, and now I tell you that the very “comprehensive” school institution which Harvard called for in the 1950s is ruining our children, not helping them. I know you’ve been told by experts that the complicated world of today requires more school time, longer school days, longer years, more testing, more labeling.
Well. . . you’ve been bamboozled, and I hope your own experience will confirm that by little reflection. How do you think millions of Americans learned to be literate on desktop computers, and all the rest of the paraphernalia of the information society? Not at school, that’s for sure.
Chapter 9 is a personal plea from Gatto entitled, “A Letter to My Granddaughter About Dartmouth.” In it, he advises her to take a few years off and work until she understands herself better. And then he gives her a frank appraisal of what she will, and won’t, learn at Dartmouth.
Chapter 10 (Incident at Highland High) was my favorite chapter in the book! Gatto relates two incidents. The first was the 2008 incident in Germany in which a sixteen-year-old girl was forcibly removed from her home by a group of fifteen policemen and city officials. Her crime – she was being homeschooled and did not want to attend the local public schools. Gatto reprints the letter he wrote to the German ambassador in the US. He also relates his own experience in dealing with official repression and over-reaction. In 2004, while giving a talk to the students at Highland High School in Rockland County, NY he was interrupted by three police officers who burst into the auditorium and announced (via bull-horn) that the assembly was over and all students were to return to their classrooms. The superintendent of schools had found Gatto’s talk to be so inflammatory that he called the police to stop it.
In his Afterword, Gatto announces, An Invitation to an Open Conspiracy: The Bartleby Project. Inspired by Herman Melville’s Bartleby the Scrivener, a boycott of standardized testing:
Mass abstract testing, anonymously scored, is the torture centrifuge whirling away precious resources of time and money from productive use and routing it into the hands of testing magicians. It happens only because the tormented allow it. Here is the divide-and-conquer mechanism par excellence, the wizard-wand which establishes a bogus rank order among the schooled, inflicts prodigies of stress upon the unwary, causes suicides, family breakups, and grossly perverts the learning process – while producing no information of any genuine worth. Testing can’t predict who will become the best surgeon, college professor, or taxicab driver; it predicts nothing which would impel any sane human being to enquire after these scores. Standardized testing is very good evidence our national leadership is bankrupt and has been so for a very long time.
His solution? When the tests are handed out on test day, Gatto urges young people to write across the front of the test, “I would prefer not to take your test.” And don’t. “An old man’s prayers will be with you.”
Weapons of Mass Instruction is a hardback, 215 pages. It can be purchased directly from Greenleaf Press for $24.95 by clicking on any of the links in this review.
- Rob Shearer
School choice for the disadvantaged, this is becoming increasingly more difficult for the entrenched self-interest of the teacher’s union to thwart.
AP
A comprehensive proposal to make thousands more Tennessee students eligible for charter schools is gaining steam in the Legislature although opponents claim it will hurt regular public schools.
The State of Tennessee’s jihad against homeschoolers continues.
It began in late 2007 and continued into 2008. An employee of the Department of Education, nominally in charge of the office of non-public schooling was criss-crossing the state making a presentation in which she declared that the diplomas issued by Tennessee’s church-related, category IV schools “were not worth the paper they were printed on.”
As a result of her presentations, other agencies and departments of the state began to reject diplomas issued to homeschoolers when a high school diploma was required by law for certain regulated categories of employment. At first it was the Tennessee Police Officer’s Standards and Training Board (POST) which refused to allow a homeschooled high school graduate to continue serving as a sheriff’s deputy, even though he had completed the police academy taught by Walter State Community College and already been hired by the sheriff’s department.
Then the Department of Children’s Services refused to allow a homeschooled high school graduate to continue to work in a daycare as a caregiver, because the law stipulated that a caregiver must hold a high school diploma recognized by the state of Tennessee.
Now comes word that just this past week the Tennessee Board of Cosmetology has refused to permit the licensing of a young women because her high school diploma is from a church-related category IV school.
Once again, it bears repeating: The State of Tennessee recognizes these diplomas for the awarding of HOPE lottery scholarships. The University of Tennessee and all of its campuses recognize these diplomas for purposes of admission to college. The state community college system recognizes these diplomas for the purpose of admission to a community college. Vanderbilt, Sewanee, Rhodes, King, Belmont, David Lipscomb, & Lee University all recognize these diplomas for admission to their college degree programs.
It is only the few state boards where the Department of Education has some influence that have rejected them. Homeschooled kids are smart enough to enlist in any branch of the armed services, attend any public or private university – but according to the state of Tennessee they are not qualified to work in a daycare, serve as a police officer, or dye someone’s hair.
Folks, this is outrageous. This is the petty tyranny of a unionized bureaucracy. The educrats cannot stand the fact that a few courageous families have said “no thank you” to the government-monopoly factory-model one-size-fits-all public school system. Perhaps they have been emboldened by the Obama administrations shut-down of the Washington DC voucher system. Who knows?
The Tennessee Legislature has the opportunity to correct this bureaucratic jihad against homeschoolers. They can over-rule the Department of Education and restore some sanity to the state’s policy on education.
The Tennessee State Senate is scheduled to hear SB0433 this coming Monday, May 4th. Here’s the official summary of what that bill does:
“Schools, Home – As introduced, requires that diplomas issued by home schools be recognized by all state and local governmental entities as having the same rights and privileges of diplomas issued by public school systems. – Amends TCA Title 1, Chapter 3.”
Tennesseans, call your senators and urge them to vote for SB0433.
For more information, see Kay Brooks’ TN Home Ed website
and updates on http://www.redhatrob.com
Another way in which to allow attrition to slowly discourage illegal attraction to Tennessee…
Legislation considered by a Tennessee House Judiciary subcommittee on Tuesday would prohibit students from going to a state public higher education institution unless they can establish citizenship or prove they are lawfully in the United States.
The bill, which was deferred, has put education concerns at odds with those who want to rein in illegal immigration.
Last fall, the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) reported having about 2,500 full-time foreign students, plus 1,975 part-time foreign students.
“We allow (non-citizen) people to go to public institutions if they pay out-of-state tuition,” Laura Blackwell Clark, assistant professor of Educational Leadership at Middle Tennessee State University, told the subcommittee. “This bill is seeking to close the door to the opportunity for a person who is undocumented to attend a public institution of higher learning. … I’m asking you to think about this and to not support this bill. My belief is when we block educational access to any of the residents, any citizens, any non-citizens, any people who are part of our American community, we do our community a disservice in the long term.”
Back in February, the state’s Fiscal Review Committee said the bill would not have a significant cost.
But in mid-March, a corrected cost estimate was issued by the committee after the TBR and University of Tennessee systems said the legislation contained more than $1 million in recurring costs.
Officials from both systems claimed they’ll need more than 30 support personnel to verify the citizenship and legal status of students, plus office space and equipment.
A controversial education head in Williamson County, it will be intersting to see how she does for the folks in Franklin county.
Sharber reportedly offered job as Franklin County superintendent
By Mindy Tate,
Williamson Herald editor
mtate@williamsonherald.com
The Grundy County Herald Chronicle is reporting this morning that the Franklin County School Board named former Williamson County Superintendent Dr. Rebecca Sharber as its next director of schools by a vote of 7-1 last night.
In a story online at www.heraldchronicle.com, Reporter Ian Skotte reported that School Board Chairman Mike Cunningham was the lone vote for Dr. James “Kip” Stevens.
After the votes were taken the board then went into the negotiations process. It’s reported that Dr. Sharber is expected to collect an annual salary of $110,000 a year, the story said.
According to the Herald Chronicle, during her interview session, Sharber informed the board how it’s important for a director to be a leading voice in the community and that the director should work with local community organizations.
Dr. Sharber also reportedly pointed out the importance of working well with the County Commission.
“It’s important to gain the trust of the County Commission,” Sharber was quoted as saying. “I’d be interested in their ideas for education.”
In December, the Williamson County Board of Education voted to send Sharber home six months before her contract ended after she announced in August she would not be seeking renewal of that contract.
She was appointed director of schools in 2004, having served as interim director in 2000-01. From 1988-1996, she was the elected superintendent of schools in Williamson County.
Last week, she missed out on an opportunity as director of Shelby County Schools when the board chose to make its interim director its permanent selection.
Posted on: 3/31/2009
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