Hard Choices Loom For School Chief

By: Editorial | TriCities.com
Published: May 21, 2008

Jack Barnes is on the verge of becoming the head of the Sullivan County school system.
The deal isn’t inked yet, but the School Board voted 5-2 Monday to extend an offer to Barnes, who currently holds the system’s No. 2 administrative post.
There are positives and negatives to hiring an internal candidate. Barnes obviously possesses a great deal of institutional knowledge, but what the system really needs is someone who will shake things up. Frequently, outsiders are better suited for the role of change agent.
This is not to knock Barnes, a well-respected professional who has spent his entire career in the system. Barnes, 56, started as a junior high science and biology teacher, and worked his way up the career leader to assistant director of schools.
But Barnes, if he accepts this offer and becomes director of schools, will face considerable challenges. He will take control of a school system with declining enrollment and an inventory of school buildings that isn’t aligned with present needs. The system needs to close some schools in areas that have lost population; build new schools in booming areas, like Piney Flats; and shift students among the schools to achieve some sort of enrollment equilibrium.
Past efforts to right-size the system have faltered for lack of a dynamic leader. Closing schools is never a popular option, even when it is the most rational option. Communities slated to lose their school will invariably rise to fight.
Perhaps Barnes is the right leader to sell a careful, targeted plan to slim the school system so that it can better meet the needs of students and be a good steward of tax dollars. The jury is still out.
At Monday’s meeting, Barnes said the three top issues facing the school system in the near future are the budget, annexation and declining school enrollment numbers. Closing under-used schools didn’t make the list. Neither did building new schools. Those must be two priorities of any new administration.
Give Barnes the benefit of the doubt. He might have been dancing around the issues in an attempt to avoid alienating anyone before he gets the top job. Dealing with “declining enrollment” could be a euphemism for closing schools.
Barnes’ words aren’t as important as his actions, but they do matter; they frame the debate. If he is to be the next director of schools, he must speak frankly about the hard choices facing the county. Then lead as long-delayed decisions about the size of the system are made.

Hard Choices Loom For School Chief

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