Regardless of which side you were on in the "weighted grades," "zero period," "Wayfinder School," "Paly Sexual Predator Scandal 1," "Paly Sexual Predator Scandal 2," "3 year union contract" or "Budget Deficit" and "Special Ed" controversies, it is undeniable that McGee has taken this district on a lurching journey from crisis to crisis. There have been countless times since his arrival here when the normal business of the district had to stop so that the board could respond to one mess after another. This means that the staff and board which should be attending to the education of our students is being forced over and over to pay attention to one damn thing after another.
My point is not that I am on one side or another of these controversies. It is that we shouldn't have so many out of control controversies at all. There are too many. Since he arrived it has just been one damn thing after another and I am concerned that the educational mission is now suffering.
There are some very significant concerns about how students are doing that are not being addressed. For example, while everyone was screaming about the failed leadership at Terman Middle School, or bogging down in the latest crisis in special ed, test scores at Barron Park Elementary for all students -- not just minority and poor students -- have hit the sub-basement. No one is doing anything about it. I suspect no one even knows about it. But that school is in crisis and the principal is flailing. Last year during the EMAC crisis (another unnecessary crisis), McGee acknowledged the issue and promised the board a report. He never delivered it.The news is bad. No one even knows.
What about our a-g completion rate? Remember when we made a-g the graduation standard? Every student should have had all a-g requirements other than Algegra 2 starting with the class of 2016 (last year). The math department was especially racist so they got 2 extra years to teach Algebra 2 to all students. Well, how are we doing? Did everyone get everything other than Alg2 and are we on the way to that?
McGee has no idea. Take a look at the board packet from the last meeting. He says we have no data on this. That is such a significant failure on his part that it alone is a basis for questioning his leadership and priorities.
I McGee does a poor job with managing subordinates. His management of personnel and special ed are particular failures but the budget crisis is also squarely on him. He does not manage effectively and that is in part why we are experiencing this situation. Looking at the test scores for BP and for underrepresented minority students district wide, It is reasonable to ask whether these repeated management failures are now affecting student learning.
So what is the board doing? Why aren't they calling him to account? This district used to have a rule of "no surprises." It's in the board protocols. Kevin Skelly got (rightfully) blasted into the stratosphere by the board and this newspaper for the surprise of the OCR findings.
That now looks like the good old days.
This board is so overwhelmed with surprise after surprise after surprise that they no longer even react. Surprise! The union asked to bargain the full day kinder but it didn't happen on time. Surprise! Surprise! There is no money left because our CFO really screwed up! Surprise! The superintendent is starting a new school and didn't tell the board! Surprise! Barron Park is failing! Surprise! Weighted grades somehow turned into a catastrophe because McGee couldn't figure out how to broker a solution before it went nuclear! Surprise! Same thing with the Terman principal! Surprise! Kevin Sharpe was accused of grooming a student for sex and Max and Scott left him in the classroom FOR A YEAR! Surprise! There is an all-out revolt over weighted grades that should have been managed by quickly just sending new transcripts to the University of Oregon! It was obvious that was going to blow up -- it's his job to handle it before it does. Surprise, surprise, surprise.
At this point the board just sits there, unable to keep its agenda, unable to get to the poor minority achievement on the agenda, or the fact that apparently McGee has failed to track it or collect data, because of yet another crisis that McGee failed to manage so that it did not take over the board agenda. The board meetings are now split between an hour of needless drivel in the "Superintendent's Report" and hours of bashing and screaming from out of control crises. No wonder our students are not being put first. Who can even focus on that?
In addition to his poor management of subordinates and his failure to manage community relations to prevent crisis from overwhelming the work of the district, McGee also has failed to handle our funds reponsibly and now the district is broke. Full stop.
Finally, he has also failed to comply with the law over and over. He spent over a year in open defiance of the public records law. He failed to ensure that Title IX was followed more than once (Kevin Sharp and Ronnie Farrell). He didn't even take board minutes for more than a year. This is minimum performance stuff.
Is Max McGee up to his job?
You could say -- this isn't worse than other supers. We had the Francis termination, Mandarin Immersion, the Calendar, OCR, and Everyday Math. True, but that was a handful such meltdowns in 15 years, versus many more just in the three years of McGee. The trajectory is not good.
Is it time for him to move on? This is not an academic question as the time to renew his contract is approaching. Our most vulnerable students (Special Ed, Barron Park, minority HS achievement) are already showing signs that things are not going well for them I think our canaries in our coal mine are already sick or dead.
Again -- this is NOT about weighted grades. I don't have a dog in that fight. This is about sound, competent management.
