I posted this petition late Saturday (Aug. 13) afternoon as a way for people to show their frustration and disapproval of the State Board of Education deciding on Thursday to hire a non-educator from Massachusetts to be state school superintendent.
Response has been tremendous with 1,350 signees within the first few hours. The vast majority of respondents are educators. They are stunned at the board’s decision.
Once upon a time teenager’s bought 45 RPM records, the ones with the big hole in the middle, to listen to songs that today are known as “oldies.” You know, the ones I still like. I mention this because back then Billboard magazine published a weekly list showing which songs were most popular and which ones were heading toward the top of the chart. The really fast moving songs had a bullet beside the title on the chart.
This lead to the expression “up the chart with a bullet.”
And with that bit of trivia now lodged firmly in your head, it is safe to say that our petition is “moving up the chart with a bullet.”
If you have not yet signed, please do by going here.
Dear Larry Lee,
I signed your petition regarding the State Superintendent, Mr. Sentance. After doing some reading and searching, there is not a lot of readily available information on Mr. Sentance. Can you suggest media sources that may be helpful in understanding this issue more?
My best source has simply been ole reliable Google and Google News. But you need to go way back as he has not worked for the Massachusetts ed folks since 2001
http://www.alsde.edu/sites/boe/SI%20Applicants/Sentance%20Packet%20Redacted.pdf
This will take you to the packet of info she sent with his job application.
Thank you so much Larry Lee. I respect your work and I am grateful for your investigative journalism, you are a gem in the community. I did an interview with Birmingham ABC33/40 today and I have now mixed feelings about signing your petition based on the research a few friends of mine have done on business and political ties of all of the candidates. Here are some of my thoughts. I may have been wrong about State Superintendent Mr. Sentance. I regret now signing and promoting the petition. There is not much information out there on what Mr. Sentance will do for Alabama. Is he collaborative? Will he listen to the stakeholders, teachers, parents, administrators, superintendents, board of education? Does he care about teachers? Does he know what he is doing? Can he work with the State Legislature? From what I can understand from watching his interview and talking with people who know a lot more than I do in regards to the State Board of Education and previous State Superintendents and their business and political ties, Mr. Sentance may be the one parents want. So far it looks like he has the fewest ties. Massachusetts has the best education in the nation, but they spend twice as much as we do. There has been mixed reviews about charter schools in that state and negative reviews on school segregation. One thing I do know, I don’t want someone who has strings attached to him. And, we all need to continue to pay attention, read and voice our concerns. Watch ABC3340 tonight for coverage at 6. I hope that Mr. Sentance proves his critics wrong. I may be wrong again.
Mr. Sentance’s interview: http://www.alsde.edu/sites/boe/Pages/VideoLargeItem.aspx?ID=915