THE SOUND OF CIVIC DUTY

via ultimatespelling.com

Ask An Academic Professional About Civic Duty And Listen Hard.

You won’t hear about their civic duty or your civic duty, but the shared community.

Might not be your community either. Keep listening.

Civic duty is more than boundaries and lines drawn on a map, they say.

An academic pro, the teacher, counselor, the administrator, sees a bigger picture along with their place in it.

Listen hard and you’ll hear your place too. You won’t get a pass, so you’d better listen.

Academics have jumped through every hoop placed in front of them, cleared the hurdles between them and their success.

If academic achievement seems like a minor deal then you haven’t paid attention to modern Oregon education.

The states biggest school district produces the biggest success stories. Movers and shakers have come to Portland as superintendents. They’ve moved some things, shook others.

Take Ben Canada’s three years here.

From oregonlive.com:

Canada ousted a hand-picked deputy who didn’t work out but arranged a $200,000 severance for her.  Another administrator was awarded $400,000 after claiming he was discriminated against in part because Canada publicly promised that his job would go to a Latino.  He hired Steve Goldschmidt, brother of former governor Neil Goldschmidt, to oversee district human resources at a cost of $221,000 for 13 months of work.

Several school board members criticized Canada for proposing to cut 170 teachers to help close a $20 million budget shortfall — a plan he was forced to scrap.

He had a plan to take care of the people he needed to care for. Teachers? Not so much in the plan.

After Canada, Vicki Phillips made her splash before moving on to the Gates Foundation.

From wweek.com:

In 2005, six months after landing in Portland, Phillips fired Steve Goldschmidt, the chief of human resources who, under previous superintendents Ben Canada and Jim Scherzinger, rankled the teachers’ union. But an arbitrator declared Goldschmidt’s firing was without cause, and the debacle ended up earning Goldschmidt a $620,000 golden parachute.

Canada and Phillips started out trying to implement their academic visions, then something happened. To them Portland was either a rug to wipe their feet on or a stepping stone to the next job.

Both found the pot of gold before they left and shared it.

Academic success that rounds up to a half million dollar pay day is a success no matter where you look. Laying it on the back of teachers and students is unfortunate, but people forget about that stuff eventually.

Education is a dead end for some, a bonanza for others, and no one learned the lessons better than Rob Saxton.

Oregonlive.com reports with:

Oregon schools chief Rob Saxton is likely to receive $300,000 a year or more after he retires this summer to begin his new role as superintendent of an education service district.

Saxton, 55, said he accepted the new job because he wants to work more directly with students. He said he is officially retiring to start getting his public employee pension — and limiting his work in the new $161,000 job to part time to keep the pension flowing — “because I can.”

He knew the ropes and didn’t get tangled up; he knew the dance and didn’t stumble.

While Saxton might be a poster boy for an indulgent system to some, he was a good man based on colleagues comments.

That hardly anyone criticized him says more than any glowing endorsement from a paid shill.

Mr. Saxton is the answer to the question, “if you’re so smart why aren’t you rich?”

What is the sound of civic duty? Cha-ching.

Academic success comes in all flavors. What’s yours?