I many times have said Louisville is one committee away from greatness. Good lord, the committees in this town—where good ideas do happen, then quickly die.
Think about this: In the last 30 years can you think of two major projects proposed by a committee that actually got done and transformed our city?
I can. Airport expansion after landing the UPS Hub and Waterfront Park, which saved downtown. Airport expansion was cooked up by a group of civic leaders and kept quiet until the details were dropped on all of us, with the support of then Mayor Jerry Abramson.
Now think about what’s happened with JCPS over those same 30 years. After an upward trend in the 90’s, now look at where we are. Talking about a possible state takeover. Shouldn’t JCPS be right up there with UPS and Waterfront Park successes??
The school board did the right thing in hiring Marty Pollio as the new superintendent. He started as a social studies teacher and worked up the ranks through good and bad bosses. He wants to give more control to good principals to run their schools like great CEO’S, with guidance from the central office, which presumably, would understand what they need now.
I once asked the principal of my boys' elementary school why the test scores were so high, why I had teachers telling me they fought to teach at that school, why graduates flocked back to say thank you. She told me hey…I’m past my official retirement, I don’t’ have the guillotine over my head, that pressure on me, so I focus on what’s right for the school and the staff and run interference without fear
So I have no problem with this group of 70 business and religious leaders who have been meeting privately to move Louisville forward. It’s called SCALA, created by 86-year-old David Jones, SR, the founder of Humana. Jones grew up in the west end and went to public schools. He credits his education for everything. He knows what we all talk about: a better school creates our next leaders, entrepreneurs and is attractive to companies looking to move here. He’s got Reverend Kevin Cosby in the group, his son David Jones Jr, the president of Bellarmine, and Spalding to name a few.
The group believes the school board should be given less power to micromanage the district AND more power should be given to the superintendent.
Yes, yes and more yes. Now that’s a committee decision that would work. No one likes to hear our schools are a mess. But we’ve let it happen to the point it’s quicksand for JCPS. A business would have already failed. Let me know what you think: dproffitt@whas11.com