Thank you for this excellent article raising such essential questions and introducing us to Dr. Neaves' philosophy of leadership. It’s sad that the ineptitude and lack of care of the previous superintendent defined my kids’ high school years at Berea Community. The financial damage is considerable, but Hackett’s real legacy is the negative experiences, lost opportunities, and the erosion of educational standards that hundreds of families and students endured during her tenure.
It is so encouraging to see a leader who is well-qualified and up for the huge challenge of restoring financial health for the district as well as setting high academic and organizational standards and giving teachers, admin, and staff the tools and support they need to meet them. Reading this article is the first time I’ve felt real hope that Berea Community can rebuild the values, standards, and strong culture that have made it so well-loved in our town for decades.
Thank you very much for your comments, Katie. I believe that in the end, whatever happens will be the responsibility of the Board. What Dr. Thomas said to the Board before he left, "Your ONE job is to hire a competent superintendent," and I would add that it also is to keep an eye on what happens after the person is hired. Sadly, that did not happen during your kids' time there.
Oh, of course—that’s a whole other ball of wax, especially the financial side. It’s still hard for me to even understand how all of that happened. I’m not sure if a school board functions exactly like a city council, but if it does, and the administration is the primary/only source of financial information other than individual board members doing FOIA requests or something, then consistently receiving inaccurate or incomplete data would make it very difficult to make sound financial decisions. That said, I’m not letting the board off the hook *at all*- there were myriad red flags beyond the financial issues that were seemingly willfully ignored for years by these elected officials.
The takeaway for me when I completed my investigation into the whole mess was that the Board did not qualify their choice well enough to know that Dr. Hatchett did not have experience with budgeting. That is the number one skill a superintendent has to have after an understanding of pedagogy. Dr. Neaves also does not have any experience with budgeting according to the board Chair Morgan, but Dr. Thomas told me that he was working with Neaves on that before he left. And that is why it's important that Neaves said he pretty much isn't doing anything without the financial director Nathan Sweet right by his side.
Thank you for this excellent article raising such essential questions and introducing us to Dr. Neaves' philosophy of leadership. It’s sad that the ineptitude and lack of care of the previous superintendent defined my kids’ high school years at Berea Community. The financial damage is considerable, but Hackett’s real legacy is the negative experiences, lost opportunities, and the erosion of educational standards that hundreds of families and students endured during her tenure.
It is so encouraging to see a leader who is well-qualified and up for the huge challenge of restoring financial health for the district as well as setting high academic and organizational standards and giving teachers, admin, and staff the tools and support they need to meet them. Reading this article is the first time I’ve felt real hope that Berea Community can rebuild the values, standards, and strong culture that have made it so well-loved in our town for decades.
Thank you very much for your comments, Katie. I believe that in the end, whatever happens will be the responsibility of the Board. What Dr. Thomas said to the Board before he left, "Your ONE job is to hire a competent superintendent," and I would add that it also is to keep an eye on what happens after the person is hired. Sadly, that did not happen during your kids' time there.
Oh, of course—that’s a whole other ball of wax, especially the financial side. It’s still hard for me to even understand how all of that happened. I’m not sure if a school board functions exactly like a city council, but if it does, and the administration is the primary/only source of financial information other than individual board members doing FOIA requests or something, then consistently receiving inaccurate or incomplete data would make it very difficult to make sound financial decisions. That said, I’m not letting the board off the hook *at all*- there were myriad red flags beyond the financial issues that were seemingly willfully ignored for years by these elected officials.
The takeaway for me when I completed my investigation into the whole mess was that the Board did not qualify their choice well enough to know that Dr. Hatchett did not have experience with budgeting. That is the number one skill a superintendent has to have after an understanding of pedagogy. Dr. Neaves also does not have any experience with budgeting according to the board Chair Morgan, but Dr. Thomas told me that he was working with Neaves on that before he left. And that is why it's important that Neaves said he pretty much isn't doing anything without the financial director Nathan Sweet right by his side.