government
A-4 • OCTOBER 21, 2013 • Shopper news
Virtual Academy is bad public policy
Striking the band Seldom does the University of Tennessee create what has become a food fight between top leaders on campus but that is what has happened with the exchange of comments between Pride of the Southland Marching Band director Gary Sousa (now on paid administrative leave) and UT Chancellor Jimmy Cheek.
Victor Ashe
As Chancellor, Cheek is the public face of the UT Knoxville campus. He normally comports himself in a very professional and above the fray manner. He represents decorum. Therefore, it was really surprising to see his very public letter to Sousa accusing him of whining and petulance. Normally that is said privately if at all. Clearly, Sousa has fully antagonized the Chancellor who, with his hot letter to Sousa, has elevated the issue even more than it was already. It has guaranteed intense media coverage. As a taxpayer I have never liked the idea of paid leave which Sousa now has to the end of the semester. The first 2014 semester does not start until January. This is a paid vacation. Surely there is something he could be assigned to do to earn his pay beyond staying off campus. Since Sousa has tenure it is virtually impossible to fire him short of proving a criminal act. It would appear to violate his First Amendment rights to try to bar him from speaking to employees, students or fellow faculty members. The sooner this issue is resolved the better for the band, which is a source of pride for all, and the entire UT campus. While Cheek could not have prevented Sousa from his actions, he might have been better advised to leave the verbal broadsides to others. Attacks on subordinates seldom solve the issue but they are food for a hungry journalist. ■ Mayor Rogero won a huge victory last Wednesday when the Transportation Planning Organization
When you listen to teachers and staff of the Tennessee Virtual Academy, it’s easy to say, “Give them a chance.”
Sandra Clark
(TPO) voted to keep the James White Parkway extension off its 5 year plan. Rogero has regularly attended TPO since she became a member in 2011. She has made friends among the other members for attending and staying for the whole meeting. This paid off last week when her views prevailed. She won the support of all voting members from Blount, Anderson and Loudon counties in addition to the Farragut mayor and several others from Knox County. ■ Sevier County Mayor Larry Waters had never attended a TPO meeting until last week. Most TPO members did not know him and his pleas for the parkway extension suffered accordingly. If one wants to influence a group, then one needs to be present for all the meetings, not just those which attract the cameras. ■ County Commission chair Brad Anders voted to put the JWP extension back into the 5 year plan before he voted for the plan without the extension once that failed. Knox County Mayor Burchett voted for the extension saying he wanted more public debate after opposing the JWP extension a few months ago. ■ The message here is that the hard work of Rogero paid off. If Waters and others want to influence TPO in the future, they should start by attending the meetings and not sending staff. ■ Contrary to the report last week, city Fleet Service director Keith Shields does not receive a car allowance of $5,800 a year. He is one of a few city directors who do not receive this. ■ Next Friday, Oct. 25, at 2 p.m. the Knoxville Botanical Gardens will host a ceremonial planting of two blight-resistant American chestnuts. This is part of an effort by the American Chestnut Foundation to restore the chestnut tree after an estimated 4 billion mature trees from Maine to Georgia were killed by an Asian fungus known as chestnut blight. The public is invited to attend at the Gardens located in East Knoxville on Wimpole Avenue as well as view the gardens on the 47 acres of the former Howell Nursery.
They will tell you about the kid with cancer who couldn’t go to a regular school. They will talk about the skinny kid who was bullied, or the fifth grader who couldn’t read. But when you walk away you remember that we’re talking about a huge amount of tax dollars here. At $5,000 per student, the Virginia-based K12 Inc. is raking in $14 million a year
– maybe more as the year wears on and more students opt out of regular school. K12 officials talked to the Union County school board last Thursday. The board voted unanimously to extend K12’s contract for another three years. County Commissioner Mike Sexton showed up to claim pride that in this one thing, Union County is first. The superintendent of schools, Dr. Jimmy Carter, endorsed the contract extension. Maybe Carter was seeing dollar signs, too. Union County Schools gets a four percent administrative fee per year – more than half a million dollars. Principal Josh Williams said 300 kids from Knox County are enrolled in the Virtual Academy. That represents some $1.5 million that could have come to Knox County Schools.
JWP: Still dead By Sandra Clark Mayor Madeline Rogero displayed political acumen in besting Mayor Tim Burchett, arguably the county’s best politician, in a fight that did not have to be. Burchett and Rogero initially stood together against the James White Parkway extension, but Burchett retreated to a position of “let the people be heard” by sup-
porting TDOT’s strategic ploy of a slight redesign and a call for public hearings. When Rogero knocked the estimated $100 million extension off the Transportation Planning Organization’s priority list, both Burchett and Sevier County Mayor Larry Waters were absent and the Knox County representative voted with Rogero.
Josh Williams, principal of the Virtual Academy, and Karen Ghidotti, a representative of K12 Inc., listen to discussion by the Union County school board. Photo by S. Clark Test scores are no better for Virtual Academy students than for regular students in Union County. State Rep. Harry Brooks sponsored the law that en-
abled the Virtual Academy to take a full share of state funding for students it enrolls. It’s a law that’s bad public policy. It should be undone.
But last Wednesday, Waters tried to get the JWP extension back into the TPO’s priority list (without which it cannot receive federal funds). Burchett seconded his motion and then went down in flames on a 3-10 vote. Brad Anders, Knox County commissioner from Karns and Hardin Valley, also voted yes. And then, Burchett voted with Waters on the short end of a 12-2 vote to adopt the priority list without the JWP extension.
It’s clear by his votes, if not his words, where Burchett stood. He stood on the side of road builders, Sevier County and perhaps some Knox County businesses at John Sevier Highway and beyond. He stood against local businesses on Chapman Highway from downtown to John Sevier. He stood for the past and against those who have invested in South Knoxville’s future – the urban wilderness. Luckily, Rogero won.
Drama-free forum for drama-free election By Betty Bean Someone at the League of Women Voters’ candidate forum last week asked incumbent City Council member Daniel Brown where his opponent was. He smiled and shrugged his shoulders. One of his colleagues snickered and said, “He’s in the restroom.” Then everybody guffawed, since candidate Pete Drew hasn’t shown up for anything this election season, which makes him no better or worse than about 98 percent of the city’s registered voters who will probably not show up on Election Day. Not that there’s much to show up for, since three of five incumbents are running unopposed and there’s no mayoral contest to draw attention. The League is doing its best to generate attention to these races. Its website announced that it was participating in something called National Voter Registration Day on Sept. 24, which was the day of the city primary (if you didn’t hear about this event, don’t feel like the
Della Volpe
Staples
Lone Ranger – this reporter didn’t, either). LWV forums are dramafree events rendered devoid of embarrassment by presubmitted questions and strictly enforced rules and time limits. This one almost got interesting when somebody asked the fusty old question about supporting consolidated government, and Duane Grieve (unopposed, 2nd District) responded with a nifty little mini-rant – “Look at the city, look at the county. Look at the difference between the two. Who’s written up the most?” – but was admonished by moderator John Becker who reminded him that there was a reporter in the room. Becker, of course, was
kidding, because surely nobody would really want to shut down a provocative answer at a political forum, not even when the question – should city and county governments be consolidated – is one that has been asked and answered with a resounding no every decade or so since the middle of the last century. The other candidates also reminded the audience of that fact. The contenders in the only real race in this election cycle, the 4th District race between incumbent Nick Della Volpe and challenger Rick Staples, sat sideby-side and chatted like old friends. Della Volpe, a pugnacious lawyer who has mortally ticked off police and firefighters, was restrained and gentlemanly and passed on an opportunity to talk about the city’s pension problems (the issue that earned him an opponent). Staples, an employee of the Knox County Sheriff’s Office who is low key and affable, stuck in a few gentle barbs by promising to be a listener rather than a talker.
GOV NOTES ■ The 8th District Republican Club will meet 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 22, at Carter High School, 210 Carter School Road. County Mayor Tim Burchett will speak. ■ The Center City Republican Club will meet Thursday, Oct. 24, at Shoney’s, 4410 Western Ave. Dinner begins at 6 p.m. and the meeting begins at 7.
He mentioned his mother a lot, working her struggles as a small business owner into his answer to a question that was prefaced with the allegation that Knoxville’s gender pay gap makes us the third-worst city for working women. Altogether, the League should be commended for making the effort to stage this forum, even if no red meat was served. There’s only so much you can do.
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