Price goes to Michigan

Steve Price, the former Middletown City School Superintendent is in line for a job as the Saginaw, Michigan school superintendent. It did not take long for price to be considered for a new position

They don't take kindly to staged student walkouts in Michigan either so he better walk on rice paper IF he gets the job.

This reminds me about the process we used when we got Dr. Price. According to a recent Middletown Jornal editorial, the school board is not making the vetting process very open. Here is what the Journal said:

"In order to keep the taxpayers — who pay the district’s salaries and bills — from learning who has applied to replace Steve Price as Middletown’s next superintendent, the board has been going through an elaborate charade with the consultant it hired to assist in the search."

I only hope that the school board realizes that if we hire another buffoon, they will take the full brunt of the decision, as they should for keeping it a secret.

I have been to Saginaw. Middletown is no Saginaw. Not even close.

Saginaw superintendent candidates promise to live in district

By Tom Gilchrist | The Saginaw News
December 08, 2009, 10:09PM

One candidate for the Saginaw School District superintendent’s job on Tuesday night vowed to become involved in the community. Another stressed the importance of keeping kids involved in school.
Steve Price, one of two candidates interviewed by the district Board of Education on Tuesday, scored points with the board after saying he didn’t equate a safer school with a higher number of students expelled from classes.

Board member Norman C. Braddock found Price’s approach appealing.

“I liked the comment you made about the fact that when we see our student-discipline numbers go down, that’s a good thing,” Braddock told Price when Price asked several questions to the board.

“Our goal is not to kick kids out, but to keep ’em in, because by kicking them out all we do is feed the streets, and when we feed the streets, we feed the crime,” Braddock said.

Price, 54, worked for seven years as superintendent of Middletown City Schools in Ohio before leaving that job in June after reaching what he calls a “mutual settlement agreement” with the Board of Education.
“When I started doing more research on Saginaw, I kept thinking ‘This is Middletown, This is Middletown, This is Middletown,’ because the issues you are facing — with achievement, with the budget, with some of the student achievement gap issues, some of the race issues — those are the issues that I’ve been dealing with,” Price said.

Saginaw board members also interviewed Robert T. Becker Jr., 52, assistant superintendent for operations for the Williamsburg-James City County Public Schools in Virginia, on Tuesday.
Both Becker and Price told board members they plan to live in the Saginaw district if hired as superintendent.

“A superintendent has got to be the face of the school,” said Becker, a 1975 Arthur Hill High School graduate.

“You need to be at whatever event is there. You need to be at the athletic banquet, you need to be at the plays, the musicals, the celebrations, the fifth-grade graduation to middle school.

“You need to be at cultural events within the city. ... A superintendent should be involved in civic organizations, and if you’re not living within the community and you’re having to travel, to get home, there’s going to be a conflict.

“You live here, you work here, you rub shoulders with your constituents. You’re part of the community.”
Becker told the board of his role in working with his district custodial operations manager, director of technology and maintenance supervisor to cut staff last school year to reduce the budget by $3.2 million in the Williamsburg-James City district.

The Saginaw board will conclude its interviews of superintendent candidates Thursday, questioning Carlton D. Jenkins at 5:30 p.m. and Frederick C. Clarke at 7 p.m
.
Board President Ronald S. Spess said the board will meet Monday at 5:30 p.m. to pare the number of candidates down to “two or three” finalists. The board interviewed the first two candidates, Jose L. Valderas and Pamela Ross McClain, last week.

From what I've heard Price's track record on discipline was terrible and this is what many teachers disliked about him the most.  That he would not support discipline efforts in the classroom.

Funny but rings true stuff Mr. Presta.