A few weeks ago, Sandra Clark and Jake Mabe challenged their readers of the Shopper News to call and tell them the good, the bad and the ugly. If there were some of the Knox County Schools. The first couple installments have highlighted the excessive testing requirements, the bureaucracy of the administration and the low morale amongst the teaching professionals.
Instead of waiting until all the installments are published, two term School Board limit violator Indya Kincannon wrote a divisive, condescending letter that Sandra and Jake have published in the paper. The letter challenges that because the comments in the first two installments are negative. Kincannon says that the Shopper is doing a disservice. Evidently, giving all people a voice is void of any Kincannon logic. She goes on to say her own Kincannon polling of her 5th and 7th grade daughters is as legit as the ones published in the Shopper. That is derogatory to the teaching professionals that rely on the School Superintendent and Board to lead them in setting a proper example for public decorum in the debate of issues.
Additionally, Kincannon says the reason she first ran for the board in 2004, (When she replaced Paul Kelley) was because of how far behind the Knox County Schools were to her own Virginia education a generation before. If as she stated in the letter is true, why name the East Towne Mall Knoxville Centre school after the man that held her seat for many years and did not advance education in the manner that she received in Virginia?
This is a prime example of why teachers are afraid to speak out. The School Board members view them as children and devoid of having an opinion other than the group think of kool-aid drinkers.
Like a number of the BOE members haven’t been doing their own political gaming, hoping to hop in the political bed with Hasbeen, Puffman and Mac the Knife. The BOE needs to re-evaluate themselves and remember who they work for. The people,the students and the teachers.