■ 17 November 2011 | 7:17 AM
Fix it, Phil
Posted to: Norfolk schools Phil Shucet
Well, it's official.
Richard Bentley's brief tenure at the helm of Norfolk Public Schools is at a close, after just 16 months in the superintendent's office.
Cheating scandals preceded his arrival and accreditation problems mounted once he was on the job.
Bentley's replacement has to be found. And soon.
Problem is, where will the city find a smart person willing to step into that mess? Especially now that it's apparent city officials have finally lost their patience with chronically under-performing schools.
Time for some out-of-the-box thinking. The last thing the division needs is one more uninspired PhD trying to escape some other school system.
What Norfolk schools need is - are you ready? - Phil Shucet.
Think about it. The guy The Daily Press once dubbed "Mr. Fix-It" has a track record of jumping into stagnant ponds and quickly turning them into pristine bodies of water.
In 2002, Shucet was hired to fix a slew of problems at VDOT. When he left a few years later, James A. Bacon wrote: "There's no way the state of Virginia could pay Philip Shucet enough to reward him for what he accomplished as commissioner of the Virginia Department of Transportation. In three-and-a-half-years there, he reduced VDOT staff by more than 1,100 positions and payroll by more than $67.5 million. And he did so without the slashing and burning so often associated with cost cutters."
In 2010 Shucet waded into that mismanaged cesspool known as HRT. He immediately ended the HRT habit of making promises it couldn't keep and unexplained budget overruns - all while opening the doors and windows of that agency to public scrutiny. Now the Tide is up and running, the bus system is being streamlined and Shucet is due to leave the temporary job at the end of January.
What's that you say? Shucet has no experience running a school division? Hmmm. I've checked and can't find that he had any experience running a mass transit agency before he went to HRT, either.
It's unlikely Shucet would want to be the city's next school chief. Norfolk shouldn't be too proud to beg.
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Parents may be the problem...
...but that's just making excuses. Instead of a state-funded boarding school for gifted kids, as was proposed recently, why not a state-funded boarding school for kids coming from impoverished backgrounds? That is the only way many kids in systems such as Norfolk can change their lives.
I am sorry, but to give
I am sorry, but to give Shucet another state or city job would be ridiculous. He may be a cost cutter, but if you drive the highways around here, you will notice the roads are deplorable. Laying off people and cutting corners are great, if the roads are fixed.
I am sure he can find a way to fire teachers, but he doesn't know anything about educating students. We need somebody with a vision, not somebody with a sharp pencil to just cu. As far as his tenure with HRT, it was such a joke to start with anybody would have looked better. Its not personal, but maybe he needs to go back to his private company .
How About. . .
Shucet for president.
After reading this mornings paper
This idea has even more merit!
The School Board is looking for "short term solutions". I have a couple of ideas, but that is for another posting. The schools need a leader, Shucet has proven himself that.
Agreed
I have to agree that parents are the solution to Norfolk Public Schools problems, but the hankincarrollton's comments about subsidizing single mothers is just rude. In actuality, many of these single mothers are using these subsidies to pull themselves and their families out of poverty and ignorance, get better jobs and homes in better neighborhoods.
It is the lack of responsible male role models that needs to change, and that will take men stepping up to the plate and accepting their responsibility as fathers.
Actually
Hank never said anything about gender. What Hank believes is that no one should bring a child into the world without having a pretty good plan for how they are going to provide for that child. Life doesn't always go according to plan, and we as a country are certainly capable of assisting those who genuinely need assistance. But that should be a last resort.
Hank agrees that both males and females alike should bear their responsibility, and that public assistance should never be the first avenue pursued.
Hank's sisters were taught, metaphorically, that an aspirin tablet is a perfectly effective birth control device, if held between the knees.
Hank is a lifelong monogamist.
Actually,
If the men "stepped up" to fulfill their responsibility, the mother get's her benefits cut or eliminated entirely, which means there is a financial incentive to keep the father out of the picture and these days, the fathers are more than happy to never show up at all.
The baby didn't produce itself and I think that BOTH parents need to be held EQUALLY accountable for what they have produced-and then sent to public schools.
A modest proposal
If we want to improve schools, we should stop subsidizing the worst producers of the raw material for the educational process -- single parent low income households. Better raw material, better end product.
Small expectations for whomever....
The Norfolk School System will continue to have problems as long as so many of the kids come from homes that provide little if any incentive to learn. A shortage of reliable male role models is also a big problem. One new Whiz Kid admenistrator will make little difference.