This from the Daily Independent:
The choice
...Dr Terry Holliday will assume his new position on Aug. 5 and will receive $225,000 a year, or $20,00 more than he was earning in North Carolina.Members of the state school board had nothing but praise for Holliday.
“Dr. Holliday has built his reputation based upon an emphasis on what is best for kids,” board Chairman Joe Brothers said.
Former state Sen. David Karem, now a member of the state education board, said Holliday also is a likable man with a strong personality. “I think he will sell very well across the state,” he said.
Holliday said he has never been subjected to a more thorough background check than the one he underwent for this job. Such close scrutiny of candidates is a positive school board members had to learn the hard way. Two years ago, the board hired Barbara Erwin as education commissioner, but immediately afterwards, many holes in her resume were found by the media and educators [numerous problems first reported by Kentucky School News and Commentary], forcing Erwin to resign before her first day as commissioner.
If the school board had employed the same type of scrutiny with Erwin that Holliday said he underwent — and if the firm the school board had hired to help it select the best applicants had done it job — the embarrassment over Erwin’s hiring could have been avoided.
“This board went through an arduous process,” said board member Dorie Combs. “I believe we have the right candidate for the right time.”
Let us hope she is right.
The Kentucky Education Reform Act is undergoing its first major review since its enactment almost 20 years ago. As commissioner, Holliday must be a strong defender of keeping and strengthening what is right about KERA while changing where the reform act has fallen short of meeting its ambitions. The goal should be not to abolish KERA but to make it better.
While he has never worked in Kentucky, Holliday is familiar with KERA. The new commissioner said he likes the way the law sets high standards and holds both schools and teachers accountable. He said Kentucky has earned a national reputation for the improvements it has made in the elementary and secondary education, and he wants to be a part of that success story.
We do not know enough about Terry Holliday to pass judgment on him. We only hope he proves to be as good as school board members believe he will be.
10 comments:
Richard
Great job with keeping readers up to date on multitude of topics. You provided great access to Justin Bathon's video and the eval of KERA with Debra Dawahare and Bill Hoyt report. I agree with commentary that we do not need to throw out what is working with KERA. This weekend I have carefully reviewed Senate Bill 1 again alongside Race to Top guidelines. Given history of KERA, we should be in great shape to apply for funding to keep what has worked with KERA and move to new components as addressed in Senate Bill 1. Thanks for great blog site.
Terry Holliday
Thanks Commissioner.
I'm having a little trouble squaring Kentucky's current position on charters with Race to the Top but certainly agree that Kentucky is well positioned in other areas. I look forward to your leadership on SB 1 implementation and meeting you in person.
Richard
He's wooing you Richard. Beware!
Kentucky, get ready to "work." All you have to do is to sell Baldrige!
Richard, he's playing you. Beware!
As an educator, Dr. Holliday will have little effect on the way I run my classroom or the way I teach. His suthority ends in Frankfort.
You think so? Read "Beshear: Holliday very capable and distinguished" on this blog
a quote: "Dr. Holliday is a very capable and distinguished educator and administrator. I welcome him to Kentucky where he will work with some of the best classroom instructors and school administrators in the nation.”
http://theprincipal.blogspot.com/2009/07/beshear-holliday-very-capable-and.html
You also need to go and read about the Gallup-McKinley County School District and how the teachers there are being treated under the Baldrige Banner (and yes, they have union)
Hope I'm wrong and that things go swimmingly for Kentucky teachers under Holliday...
BUT, forewarned is forearmed.
I will say it again: Dr. Holliday's authority ends in Frankfort. He will not tell me how to teach.
I follow a state-mandated curruculum, and the superintendent is far too busy, as is my principal, to tell me how I should deliver the core content. Dr. Holliday, I'm certain, knows very little about Kentucky core content.
I do my best, make myself available to my students, but I resist anyone who tells me that I should use a specific instructional strategy.
Good luck, my Kentucky compatriot, you are going to need it.
To July 29 9:52pm: Perhaps you should follow a fellow bloggers advise and email 20 or so ISS teachers for their opinions. It is Doc's way or the highway..period... Many before you have said the same thing. I do wish you good luck!
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