The More Things Change in Loudoun County, the More They Stay the Same

On Wednesday night the school board in Loudoun voted unanimously to  replace one long time educrat with another.  Dr. Edgar Hatrick is retiring in June after nearly 50 years in Loudoun public schools with 23 of those years spent at  the helm of the 70,000 student body.  He will be be replaced with a younger version, Dr. Eric Williams.  Like Hatrick, Williams has spent his career in public schools, most recently in York County Virginia in a school system with 12,000 students.  Williams is the longest serving superintendent in the Tidewater area.  Loudoun School Board Chairman, Eric Hornberger (Ashburn) said this about Dr. Williams,

“Dr. Williams is an innovative leader who cares passionately about effective and meaningful instruction, as well as the need to creatively engage students in the learning process,”

I have no idea what that might mean.  I have no idea how they define any of that but I’m fairly certain it doesn’t mean the reading, writing, and arithmetic.  School Board Member Jill Turgeon (Blue Ridge) said this about the new superintendent,

 “His knowledge of instructional leadership is admirable as well as his understanding and application of technology, not only for instructional purposes but for communication with the public as well,”

I think this refers to his active Twitter page and a blog that was rated the best blog among school superintendents. (Damning with faint praise in my opinion.)

Jill Turgeon also praised Williams as a ‘strategic planner and systems thinker’, adding,

 “above all, Dr. Williams stated time and time again that he wants teachers to recapture the joy and love of teaching while increasing student engagement and the ownership of learning.”

I think that means he wants teachers to enjoy their jobs and students to talk more in class?  And he likes to think about systems of some kind?   Perhaps someone can enlighten us as to exactly what these quoted phrases by school board members will mean to our schools.  I have never understood or spoken educratize well.

Dr. Williams contract will begin July 1st and continue through 2018 at a salary of $240,000, plus $1,400 a month for travel and moving expenses.  He must take up residence in Loudoun county within the next year and half.

Nowhere in any of the articles about the hiring of Williams is there any mention of cuts to the nearly one BILLION dollars given to the LCPS by the county each year.  Neither the School Board nor Dr. Williams mentioned the budget.   His ‘system thinking’does not appear to extend to the taxpayers of Loudoun County but does show more of the same educrat speak and support for teachers.  Not to say that we don’t love and support our teachers because we do.   Perhaps all of the reporters simply forgot to include the school board’s quotes about Dr. Williams’ plans for cutting the bloated bureaucracy and massive school budget?  However, I suspect that is not the case and the more things change, the more they stay exactly the same.

More here and here.