Mayor Slams Sacramento City Unified School Board
SACRAMENTO-
When Sacramento Unified School District Superintendent Johnathan Raymond resigned his $250,000-a-year job shortly after renewing his contract, FOX40 asked the obvious question: Why?
“Ask my wife,” he said.
Quips aside, the reason Raymond gave was family- that his wife wanted to leave the embattled Sacramento School District be closer to their extended family.
But in a recent forum on education- Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson suggested a different reason.
“You had a guy who came in, wanted to do all the things they talked about, and just realized ‘I’m beat down.’ As a result, you have the right guy, wrong school board,” Johnson said.
Johnson and his wife Michelle Rhee are reformers when it comes to school performance- specifically turning to charter schools and charter school practices for help.
And indeed, Superintendent Raymond was known for running Sacramento schools more like a business, and less like traditional academia.
“I’m just going to say it. And he might say I’m putting words in his mouth – he had a very unfruitful experience here for four years, and had enough,” Johnson said.
“The mayor is entitled to his opinion. He’s not privy to a lot of the information that goes on at the Board level. He doesn’t sit in on closed sessions, and he doesn’t go to our meetings,” said out-going School Board President Patrick Kennedy.
Kennedy said the district has made marked improvements in the last 4-5 years, despite budget cuts and declining enrollment.
And as for what model of education the School Board prefers going forward?
“I think the Board is interested in doing whatever it takes to serve the kids,” Kennedy said.
Read more: http://fox40.com/2014/06/19/mayor-slams-sacramento-city-unified-school-board/#ixzz359R9csHS
