Lofton's response
In Tuesday's Trentonian, you'll read about Trenton School Superintendent Rodney Lofton's response to the fiasco that left hundreds of city students corralled into a gym rather than attending classes the first few days of school last week.We were pretty harsh with our school superintendent-as-a-clown front page, and Lofton - as the school district's top official - deserved it.
But you've got to respect his response to such harsh criticism, and Mayor Doug Palmer's subsequent public flogging of him.
Rather than cry about being picked on unfairly, scream racism, or point the finger at someone else, Lofton's only public statement has been to own up to the problems, apologize to students and parents, work as fast as he can to fix the problem, and pledge to do better in the future.
That was the public response.
Let's hope the behind-the-scenes response is the only thing that's going to make a dent in problems like this in Trenton's schools ... a take-no-prisoners assault on the tenure system and protection of incompetence.
Lofton needs to fire some people ... maybe a lot of people ... and he needs Doug Palmer's support to do it.
Labels: Doug Palmer, Rodney Lofton, Trenton School Department
posted by Trentonian Editor at
11:54 PM
6 Comments:
I also hope that he does better on behalf of the students in Trenton. However his initial comment about an investigation led me to believe that it was games and lies as usual.What happened to his other investigation? I do not know if he is willing or able to make the hard decisions that are needed to turn the district around. He came into the district talking a good game but did not follow through.I think that people have not been honest with him for example why would the district rehire Blanchard when she was fired a couple of years ago.The person who was responsible for HR hired unqualified and uncertified people. Her contract was non-renewed by the school board and what did Lofton do in response to the board's actions...promote her.The state identified people responsible for the Sherman Avenue Annex fiasco and what did Lofton say"No tenure charges will be filed" and what did he do?He sent the administrators on a paid vacation.He is not getting good advice however he is the chief school admistrator and should be able to see through the politics and smoke screen instead of diving into the politics and creating more of a smoke screen.I wish him luck because he needs it.
I think you are all missing the point here - They hired a consultant to work the schedules at $50,000 and the price tag ballooned to $500,000! Follow the paper trail - did they get paid for this disaster? Do an OPRA request and see if they got paid - There's an adage that says "Trying to fail is not worth the effort". Trenton could have saved $500K and still had the disaster on their hands... How did we do schedules 20 and 30 years ago? By hand is the answer, and by the hand of dedicated employees who did their jobs. Today nobody does anything except hire consultants and then watch them screw up. Personal responsibility is all I ask from my public employees - How about you?
Speaking of Blanchard, she is not the only administrator fired by the Trenton Board of Education, only to be re-hired by the Board. Former superintendent Bernice Venable fired the person who ran HR when the Sherman Ave scandal broke. That person previously hired an unqualified/uncertified person who ended up on Sherman Ave. I'm sure this information was never shared with Lofton. Subsequently, Lofton, rewarded her with a new position. Question? What present day board members voted to fire the now transitional HR administrator, and, did the same board members vote to rehire her? In addition, why wasn't Lofton informed of the HR administrators history by his legal staff? Everyone seems to have something to hide and Lofton should bring in his own people. He should have integrity within his cabinet, which he obviously does not. Lofton is not receiving the help or truthfulness he deserves while trying to run one of the most difficult districts in the state. There are many situations of this sort that have been intentionally hidden from him. He continues to receive incomplete information. This will lead to his being viewed as part of the continuous games played within the Trenton Board of Education, only serve to make him look like many former cookie cutter superintendents.
Anonymous. Thank you for reporting real information on this tragedy called a school district. If nothing else, Lofton, should check out the facts you reported. Then maybe he'll know who to trust and who is possibly involved in this obvious plan to destroy his credibility as an educator. Lofton demanded an investigation of the Sherman Ave scandal. What were the result of the investigation? Wouldn't seem to be much, everyone got away scott free. What did his lazy legal staff do about it? What they always do, shuffle papers and collect big fat checks. Time to also clean that house. Several previous superintendents have honestly tried to bring about change in the district, however, the so-called board/executive cabinet members began to undermind them from day one. Which it would seem they're doing to Lofton. Lofton, should get rid of any dead wood that consistently contributed to the deterioration of the school system. Check out who voted for what. There simply have been too many failures for too many years. The real questions have not been answered. The persons responsible for this mess are being overlooked. Lofton, should never forget the ole boy(women included) club that look out for one another. Perhaps, that's how the slug called the HR director got rehired. He should bring in his own people, which would allow him a resonable chance to succeed.
I agree that Lofton should bring in his own people but perhaps he has no people to bring into the district. He should look for some serious educators and a cabinet that will assist him in moving the district forward rather than backwards. He has two years to do this and turn the district around and it can be done.But first Carolyn Gibson must go.
As long as Carolyn Gibson and Sharon Larmore remain with the Trenton Board of Education, the districts problems will increase. Each of these women are inept at representing the Board of Education with any genuine form of professionalism. They amount to no more than gossip mongers who continue to work from the inside to undermind, under cut and manipulate their positions, to their personal advantage. Gibson's department has the largest turnover rate in the district. Simply, no employee can work with her. Larmore, has no clue. She cannot possibly be an attorney. She's sloppy, inept, a disgrace in Administrative Law Court, and does absolutely nothing regarding issues pertaining to student services. If Lofton has no idea what's going wrong with the district,these two would be a great place to start.
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