Memphis City Schools Superintendent Kriner Cash returned from his tour as a finalist for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools superintendent last week to a report showing his employees give him low grades as a leader.
The city district Cash leads is being merged with the suburban Shelby County Schools, and the commission overseeing the merger polled employees of both districts on a range of issues. Of the 1,225 Memphis City Schools employees who responded, most of them teachers, about 3.5 percent gave Cash an A, 14 percent B, 30 percent C, 22 percent D and 26 percent F (the rest didn't answer that question). They rated county Superintendent John Aitken much higher. (Read the report here; ratings of the two superintendents by Memphis City Schools employees are on page 18, and by Shelby County employees are on page 36).
Cash said 1,225 of his 16,000 employees is not a representative sample. He said his district is going through a stressful time, with budget-driven job cuts in the past, a merger in the future and a quest to rate teacher effectiveness in progress.
"You're not going to win a popularity contest" while trying to make a "sea change" in failing schools, he said. But Cash, whose recently deceased wife was a long-time teacher, said values their work.
"I have the highest respect for good teachers," Cash said. "Everything I do is with teachers at the helm."
Almost 1,000 Shelby County employees responded to the survey, and their view of the two leaders was an even sharper contrast. Cash got an F from 48 percent of that group, while 74 percent gave Aitken an A.
Cash said what he hears from his staff doesn't jibe with the survey results. "No one is paying a whole lot of attention to that here," he said.
Updated 8:30 p.m.: The same panel did a phone poll of about 1,200 members of the public in March and got similar opinions about Cash's performance (see page 16).
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80 comments:
Any chance our school board will listen? One should always ask the employees in the trenches. I hope he is not hired because he is the only African American candidate. Our school board seems to have an obvious agenda. Yes, the low performing schools need extra attention, but they are not the only schools in the district.
I am sure the BOE will not even read this article. In fact, this will give them more reason (in some conviluted manner)to hop on an airplane first class seats, stay in some high dollar hotel for 2 nights, eat ribs at overpriced restaurants, and then return and say. LETS GO TO VEGAS!!
Please hire Ann and be done with it. She has earned the right to get the job. What's the worst that can happen? If it doesn't work out after a couple years then the BOE can hire someone from outside.
Why are we even looking at Cash? Sounds like our great search firm should have brought us Mr. John Aitken that who I want to talk with. This Memphis community did a online poll basically rating both Supers to get a feel for who does a better job? Wish CMS knew that before chunking $65,000 on that crappy poll they shoved at us. In all we can learn from Memphis and that is to save some money or Cash next time. (no pun intended) I vote for #4 John Aitken ...........
Wow with that data CMS will probably fall in love with the guy. Sounds like Peter Gormans twin too me.
Sounds like Cash is looking for another job because Aitken is likely to get the job after the merger is complete.
Next?
In fairness, that urban school district has deep-seated problems, perhaps more grave than any other in the U.S., and it is not completely surprising the superintendent in the suburban district, where no doubt things appear sunnier, would get higher marks. The suburban guy might fare even worse than Cash if the two were to switch jobs.
Surprise. Surprise. And, so do the voters who would not even provide the city school system enough money to open the schools last fall, which is why a judge stepped in and ordered the suburban district to take over the Memphis city schools. And, if you think the suburban district wants anything at all to do with Cash, think again. Many would move to Mississippi, and private schools would spring up at a rate at which you would not believe. The fact that our BOE even brought him forward as a finalist shows you what our board is all about and who is calling the shots.
I agree. Hire Ann.
Cash would be a disaster. The other dude is too reminiscent of Gorman. If the board's goal is to make Ann the most desirable candidate, they've succeeded.
Anonymous at 4:27: That school system's problems are exactly what CMS is facing. Memphis City schools are run by elected officials, all of whom have been minorities with an agenda. The city of Memphis is the same. The metropolitan area's salvation has been its suburban towns both in Tennessee and Mississippi. Memphis is a template for what Charlotte/Mecklenburg is quickly becoming. Somebody better wake up and quickly.Memphis has FedEx, AutoZone and International Paper headquartered there. We have who?
It is and has been Ann all along, am sure of it and wonder if this comment will not be edited for stating it. The candidate forums were justification to prove a search was done, but the reality is the decision was probably already made, and the two gentlemen were brought in to reinforce the public's adaptation to that decision.
Do we want more of the same CMS as the past few years? Ann Clark may be best candidate but come on, things have to change dramatically. Is she really willing to step up and stop all the craziness? If she can articulate a plan to evaluate teachers, leave their pay alone (or improve it) and stop chasing principals away then maybe. Parents in the suburbs have to feel like they are getting some attention too, not just the priority or focus schools or lift schools or whatever we are calling them now.
Gonna be hard to move the chairwoman off of Cash.
Word is if Ann doesn't get it, many principals are retiring.
They should think about retiring if she doesn't get it, for Morrison is not all that good, his national "award" notwithstanding.
Memphis sounds pretty messed up.
Some of the same people who initiated "white flight" from the city in the 1970's are still around.
They promise a continuation with "the suburban towns trying to secede and start their own districts".
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/education/merger-of-memphis-and-county-school-districts-revives-challenges.html?pagewanted=all
5:22 Madam Chair cannot get 5 votes to make her motion to hire Mr. Cash (thank the good lord). Good bad or indifferent its Morrisons if he wants it. I think Fort Mill will take as many teacher and principals as possible. If you maxed your benefit why not cross the border as many have to double the pension? Its time teachers and administrators start thinking about their retirement.
Oh those darn teachers dont know didley squat and are of much lower IQ. Actually their negativity is a plus because it clearly proves Memphis teachers are just severely uneducated peasants incapable of relating to someone with much superior intelligence and education on a higher social academic and intellectual level so just scratch everything any of those peons say.
Mr Obama and Mr Gates can vouch for this.
Ha -- 4:56, you no doubt thought you HAD been edited. But no, your comment was just randomly selected for a trip to the spam basket, where I just retrieved it.
5:59, are you kidding? Cash has the one quality that the majority on the school board is looking for, its why they replace a conservative with a liberal, to get the votes to hire Cash. If they don't he will be out of a job!
Please Please DO NOT hire this man.
The real question to ask is - WHY did the teachers rate him low?
Anonymous at 5:51: You are about 100 years behind the times. Those suburban school districts in Memphis have never been a part of the city schools. Not until now and schools went bankrupt under their, uh leadership.Too smart, them. But it is too made. East Memhpis was a terrific high school 50 years ago.
Ha! Kriner Cash is an "automatic", a shoo-in for the Charlotte job. Face it, the little white girl and the no-body from Nevada were put in to "round out the field" - to make it look as if the hiring process wasn't biased ... which it was. Or is. Probably always will be.
With the problem areas being predominanty - but not exclsively - in black schools, and "community activists" such as Kojo Nantambu screaming his racist head off, few people who were so heavily anti-Peter Gorman will be satisfied with anyone who isn't black.
Kriner Cash can send the CMS program back to the Stone Age and he'll still be hailed as a hero. Or maybe he'll pull an Obama and blame everything he's incapable of dealing with and correcting on "the guy in the seat before him".
Charlotte K thru 12 public education: Doom City.
The BOE wants to get CASH and Charlotte wants to keep its Cash Cow. What's not to like?
'F's or no 'F's - one look at Mr. Cash and I know he is a shoe-in for Charlotte.
Bank on it.
I'm horrified at the level of hatred, apathy and ignorance you folks continue to reveal on all sides of the issues. Shame on you for not putting your differences aside and respectfully and carefully sift through facts without trashing any of the people. When you throw dirt, you lose ground and THAT'S the real reason your district isn't where it could be. You all couldn't come together at a Baptist pot-luck. Shame on you. Stop complaining, set a civil example of how to unite and let your concerns and voices be heard.
Perhaps teachers in CMS should have been given a chance to evaluate Peter Gorman before he left for newswhooore!
Anon 6:52.
Did you read the NY Times article I posted?
It went into the situation in enough detail.
Not sure what you read in my post that relates to what you said, though.
I don't think I said the suburban schools were a part of the other schools.
The article was about their MERGER, so I don't know why you'd think I thought they weren't separate.
Anonymous at 7:24: As long as Kojo calls the shots at CMS, the suburban kids will get short changed. And, as long as the suburban kids get short changed and the urban kids don't have much to show for all those extra dollars, the hate and apathy will continue. Probably even get worse. Much worse.
We pay our money; they get the spoils. They do nothing with what they get. Our kids could do a lot.
"Cash said 1,225 of his 16,000 employees is not a representative sample."
Apparently, Mr. Cash is unfamiliar with the concept of statistical sampling. You don't really need the majority of people responding to get a good feel for the overall.
His lack of understanding of this feedback is proof of his lack of leadership. These numbers SHOULD concern him, but apparently don't!
What more do you really need to know?
Anonymous 7:24:
So, are you assuming that anyone raising questions about Mr. Cash based upon this survey are "hating"?
If so, please tell us what you think constitutes appropriate measures for evaluation! We need to base it on something... what else do you suggest?
It certainly sounds like those who know Mr. Cash best have reservations... are you suggesting that we should just ignore that?
Anon at 7:40
I read the story in the NY times. I particularly focused in on this paragraph:
"Tax money from the entire county is distributed to the two districts based on student population. Memphis, with 103,000 students, compared with 47,000 in the county, gets more of the money, though the suburbs contribute more per capita.
Fearing that suburban politicians and Tennessee’s Republican-dominated legislature might alter this arrangement to allow more tax money to stay in the suburbs, Memphis voted in December to surrender the school charter..."
Always about money. The minorities in Memphis wanted more of everybody else's.
The urban minorities even wanted more of the suburban minorities' money. Gimme, Gimme, Gimme; they don't care who they take it from.
Anonymous 7:24:
Perhaps you should save your "horror" for the continued lack of success with CMS considering the dollars spent!
Pretending there isn't a problem helps nobody!
The first stage of recovery is acknowledging that there is a problem.
Hopefully people will actually look at the survey numbers. If so, they will see that the sample of respondents was small compared to the whole. Statisticians love to tell people that their survey is a representative sample of the whole. Well a sample of a little over fourth of the whole the isn't a good representative of the whole. On another note, how did these busy teachers and administrators find time to even complete this survey?
Individuals need to stop their inclination to just read a headline in a news story and believe it. Consider the source. Everyone has a "dog in the fight" in media and unfortunately the days of objective journalism are far and few between and we as responsible citizens have to do our own research to be truly informed.
Anonymous at 7:24: When the school board chairman and her liberal friends appoint a liberal to replace a conservative in a district that has ALWAYS been conservative, do you really think there is any chance at uniting? When somebody throws sand in your face? Really?
Please, please, please Ann Clark!!!
While I certainly rank Cash at the bottom of the 3 candidates, there are some oddities about this survey. Recipients were selected at random which is good, but then invited to click into an email link.
That would seem to skew the results as generally only the most motivated or incentivized reply to email surveys.
It's quite possible then that most of those who completed the survey were mostly those who wanted to lambast Cash.
In reality then, I can't put any stock in these survey results. Though I'm sure there will be enough other data and stories to come around to fill out the picture of Candidate Cash.
Why don't we stop assuming for one second that how teachers feel matters at all, in any decision anyone in CMS makes.
Anon at 8:07. Hve you seen pubic ws similar similar results? Your guy is a loser and anyone who knew anything about Memphis could have told you tht. Guess the school board didn't talk to anybody in Memphis before they flew this guy in for an interview and used their precious time on him, not to mention the fact that there might have been a worthwhile third candidate out there worth interviewing. Makes me feel even more certain that this was more about partying at the Peabody and on Beale Street than about finding a good school superintendent.
Make that last post "where the public was polled by phone with similar results."
Let's see--for years we've had non-profits such as the Community Building Initiative and Meck Ministries supposedly working "to achieve racial and ethnic inclusion and equity in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg community". These non-profits, often abetted by the media, have played to the "cold hearted suburbanites" theme, while the cash cow suburbs have paid and paid and paid.
So where are we today? Part of the city is so fed up that they are ready to secede. Suburban parents throughout the county would like to see the school system split up so that "equitable" can for a change apply to their students. And the school superintendent selection process has come to this: If the board appoints Cash many will say it's because of his race. If they don't appoint Cash many others will say it's because of his race. Our lovely non-profits have encouraged race to become such a charged issue (more bucks for them) that it is destroying the city.
Ironically CBI especially decries the lack of "racial trust" in our community, when they in fact are the ones creating distrust and resentment.
your placement firm failed to bring the best candidates. the local candidate will leave anyway. she is burned out. F for the search.
Let's see. A guy tries to reform a dysfunctional school system and now he isn't popular among the employees. Have any public school reformers been popular among their employees? Most can't make it more than a couple of years if they mess with the status quo.
Whichever of these candidates is chosen will have his/her resume at someplace like news corp. in a couple of years. Miss McCray and her crew wouldn't have it any other way.
This is really disheartening. People are jumping to conclusions based on limited information. Ann is not the solution for what ails CMS. She represents the status quo and as a result things will stay the same. The good old boy system will prevail under Ann. The other two candidates are outsiders and would be better suited as they are not connected to the system. Face CMS is an urban district and as such they need someone who understands the problems that plague an urban system. Finally, if things continue down the current path, 4 yrs without raises, 135 hrs added to the year by extending the school day 45 minutes, and 5 additional days beginning 2013-14 regardless of whom is superintendent I am sure they would receive a failing grade as well. Teacher morale is not at an all time high in CMS.
With such an important decision, can we throw all of them out and start over? It has always amazed me that such expensive searches usually find the bottom of the barrel instead of the cream of the crop. All three of them have no clue what the real problems are and view teachers as expendable commodities -- just a number.
If you are interested:
http://businesstn.com/content/newsmaker-qa-dr-kriner-cash
http://www.mvgazette.com/article.php?3144
http://tri-statedefenderonline.com/articlelive/articles/3711/1/Supt-Cash-wins-mixed-reviews/Page1.html
http://hechingerreport.org/content/in-memphis-classrooms-the-ghost-of-segregation-lingers-on_7673/
Real estate brokers, moving van companies, and homebuilders are licking their chops more heavily now in the 360 degree circle of both states.
Also private and charter schools are growing faster than CMS and this will continue at a faster pace.
White flight is putting it mildly. Its more like Mach II rocketing.
Look for CMS to reduce by 50% to 60-70,000 students mainly in the inner inner to mid inner city and of course there will be more and more half vacant school closings.
Meanwhile Ballentyne ramps up to split off from Charlotte and this will be followed by more new cities such as Lake Norman and Lake Wylie for starters.
After the big shakeout Charlotte will down to 2-300,000 pop again like Atlanta.
They keep cramming everything in the sardine can inside belt uptown but thats just a gimmick.
Rumors are even the Charlotte Observer plans to relocate to SC and build a new office just below Carowinds off Gold Hill Rd beside the 3A Knights future major league team.
LAST 6 MONTHS OF MEMPHIS NEWSPAPERS STORIES
REPORT NO UPRISING AGAINST DR. CASH…NEITHER DID OUR SEARCH FIRM
I reviewed all the news stories in the Memphis Commercial Appeal back to November 2011 and looked for any that contained “Kriner Cash.” Six months of reports do not confirm the survey results released about Dr. Cash recently.
There are stories about an administrator’s bad actions at a party at Dr. Cash’s house. Stories about the state taking over some MCS schools. There are stories about increases on the number of schools not performing. There are stories comparing Shelby Co. schools to Memphis City Schools. There are stories about why economically disadvantaged students don’t perform anywhere in the state.
But aside from a few editorials from readers, there are no stories that backup the survey.
Ann Clark, Heath Morrison and Kriner Cash are excellent finalist. They got to this point by besting 86 other contenders.
The search firm, ProAct, promised to filter candidates for just such relationships that are being reported in the Observer. Did ProAct and the Commercial Appeal both fail to see what now is presented as fact?
My guess is the damage is already done. That’s unfortunate.
Bolyn McClung
Pineville
..."besting 86 other contenders" means nothing.
So did Gorman.
Look at the vitriol Gorman dealt with.
How do we know one or two of those other 86 are actually better than the three we have to choose from?
In the end, Cash, Clark or Morrison will be first and second loser and will join the other 86 as not being good enough, right?
Wow! Did this article generate a wave of comments. Here's the bottom line from what I see. Morrison and Cash are unknown quantities. No matter how you slice it Ann is the only person we really know anything about. Good, bad or indifferent if we want to take less of a risk we go with Ann. We do not like everything she did, but she has made a commitment to do better. Good point that Gorman looked good on paper. Morrison looks good on paper and has charisma. Okay could be. Cash is definitely a nonstarter on any level. So buy a ticket and take our chances. Do we feel lucky, well do we?
Bolyn , You can have Dr. Cash for the district your grand kids go to school in. Not mine ! This guy is so sleazy I cannot beleive you of all people cannot smell him. Your Google button may work , BUT your common sense left along time ago.
Bolyn, all you have to do is click the link in the first sentence of this post to get a Commercial Appeal story posted this weekend about the survey, which begins: "A majority of Memphis City Schools teachers have little or no confidence in Supt. Kriner Cash." I wish I were savvy enough to have dug up something that eluded the local press, but I came across this when keeping an eye on local news reports. That doesn't mean this survey is the final word on Cash and how he'd perform here, but it does seem logical to report on it, here and in Memphis.
Interesting piece from the Memphis Flyer..status quo and deja vu...
Here's a blurb that is interesting but the whole article is here:
http://www.memphisflyer.com/CityBeat/archives/2012/04/11/so-long-kriner-cash
It's interesting that Cash is applying for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg job because four representatives from that system, including former Superintendent Pete Gorman, came to Memphis in December to meet with the Transition Planning Commission.
No matter which of the three finalists gets the Charlotte job, I think Gorman did them a favor by lowering expectations. He was pretty candid in his Memphis comments.
"Progress has been painfully slow, and at the rate we are moving in Charlotte it will still be 15 years before the achievement gap is closed," he said. He also said "you can't close schools well" and questioned whether the task is "physically possible."
Ann Doss Helms, a reporter covering education for The Charlotte Observer, told me Gorman was sort of "a rock star" superintendent in his early years. He didn't sound like a rock star when he came to Memphis. He sounded like a man who has learned from hard experience that there are few if any real rock stars in public education and that fame and popularity are fleeting.
This is why I keep saying it won't matter who we hire.
Just pick one.
As members of the expansive 20 county 3.5 million density suburban coalition that include all these surrounding suburban metro counties in both NC and SC please be advised that we strongly believe CMS should pick the best qualifed candidate who has demonstrated exceptional leadership and character building within his school system taking it to phenomenal heights of national academic achievement (to the best of our knowledge)
Therefore we collectively would like to recommend the selection of Dr Cash next CMS Superintendant.
Thank$ and the best of luck from your good friend$.
Very Truly Your$,
The Metropolitan Suburban Interstate Coalition Explosive Growth Project Committee
*and $ponsors in real estate, banking, education, financial, home builder$ plus associate$ such as Fox New$ and the RNC.
(and get ready for the new exodu$ into the promised land of milk and honey)
our motto: "give us your rich robust warm energetic ambitious huddled ma$$e$ of wealth and properity"
So when we do hire a new superintendent, if it is one of the two outsiders, will he be greeted "like a rock star"? Will the press pursue him relentlessly (probably ordered to do so by editors and publisher)? Will some holier than thou citizens suggest where he should live (and then turn on him if he doesn't take their suggestions)? Will love turn to hate in three to four years, with some on the board who supported him turning on him as well? Or have we learned our lesson and just let him go about the business of getting to know the system and then running it well? Why do I doubt that?
11:06, the new superintendent may get a bit less media frenzy than Gorman did, simply because of the shrinkage of the local press corps since 2006, plus competition from the looming DNC. Morrison would get the most attention on where he'd live, simply because he's the only one of the three with school-age children, so choosing a home means choosing schools.
What I heard in the past from Charlotte teachers is that the school board is the main problem. They don't support the superintendent unless the media is on the case which means they only support someone brought in. Most changes incoming superintendents from outside of Charlotte made were things that had been suggested in the past by but shot down by the school board.
April 16, 2012 7:24 PM
You better your own mirror. Cash is a bum.
Ann Doss Helms , When Morrison moves to Charlotte do you really think he cannot pick which school his kids attend? Gorman sent his daughter to Carmel and even brought in his own pal to be principal. Test scores are down about 30% since and teachers have run from the distruction he caused. Dont kid your self Heath will bring some staff as of course we need it to CMS. He can write his own deal and a neighborhood is not going to dictate were he lives. I would advise him to look at Fort Mill for a home and commute. The folks from the Chiquita/CHamber did and they seem to like it.
4:06, Gorman bought a house in the Carmel zone. I can't imagine why a new supe would buy in one zone and transfer his/her child to another neighborhood school; probably could do it, but what a vote of no-confidence in the home school. It would be interesting to see a superintendent's child in the magnet lottery, huh?
No, it would be interesting to see a supe's child in the magnet lottery and not be selected.
Doesn't matter as our next supe does not have children.
Ann , You dont seem to get the point. Pete brought in his own buddy to be the principal at Carmel for his daughter. Okay first step is say it. Any therapist is going to tell you that. The guy has TRASHED Carmel Middle's grades and staff investigate it.
Bolyn , Your vote of confidence for the failure that Mr. Cash is supports my view of you. A small time country boy from Pineville with no children in the current CMS system. Go fix your computers and stay out of education find a hobby pal. Your pal Ericka cannot get the 5 votes to sell the Cash boy.
6:32- Heath Morrison has 2 kids per his speech so your statement is false. I hope he buys Pete's house and we send him packing. Not that we can all probably agree on and help with.
7:15 Ann Clark has no kids so my statement was true.
7:33 Thats accurate and I like Ann as she knows the issues and is up to speed. Her biggest negative is she wont play the "uptown game" . Her emphasis is actually on CMS/Education and improving it. Thats why she wont gt the nod which is terrible.
Ann is gorman in a dress....... She is up town.. One of her ladies just got rid of nixon and 5 other long time proven leaders... This is a take over..
Her biggest negative is she wont play the "uptown game"
That's like saying Cavity Sam on the Operation Board Game isn't going to play the game.
I still cannot get past the arrogant guy's statement that "he would not work for someone with less experience than himself; he would go home first"
For such a terrible school district he is leading, he sure has an inflated self-perception.
I think he is job hunting because he's about to lose the one he has.
But what kind of dogs do the candidates own? Wild guess Ann owns a cat!
CMS Superintendent Search -
Deja Moo; the feeling we've all been through this bull before.
TO ANON 7:13P
Two grand children in CMS.
My son graduated from CMS
I graduated from CMS.
My neighbors have children in CMS.
Your point on not having children in the system is, well pointless. McElrath, Tate, McCray and Waddell don't have children in the system. In the past it was White, Leak, Dunlap, Ross and McGarry.
I support the activities of my grandsons' school and know the principal well.
Gladly pay my Mecklenburg prop taxes(though I won my appeal)so that schools have resources.
I look forward to supporting any community leader who takes their time to challenge CMS to be the best it can.
Being from Pineville is a real plus. It's a great place to live. While Charlotte has Sweepstakes shops popping-up everywhere, it has none because it found a way to preserve the good life. When there are national holidays the U.S. flags flies from every downtown light pole. We even have a bake shop that serves good ol' American apple pie.
Life is better when everyone finds something important to support.
Bolyn McClung
Pineville
He's a classic narcissist.
Bolyn, Again you have no kids in school. I am sure your grandkids principal just loves when you get his ear. I agree you need some support and their are groups for that funded by our County. So please take your ball and your Mr. Cash and motor pal. As you can see a CMS graduate (you) is not a good thing (mirror).
So we are grading on a curve. The C- candidate looks great because the other 2 got a D or an F?
This is like the realtor who shows you 2 overpriced, run-daown homes so you fall in love with the other home you otherwise would not buy.
Can we please get a BOE that has a clue what they are doing?
In Memphis - contact states that teachers can't speak openly to press abour administrative personnel with reprimand.
In Memphis - contract states that teachers can't speak openly to anyone about administrative personnel without reprimand or dismissal. That's why survey participants were so low. Also, After last strike, "Teachers can't strike" was added to the contract negotiated by the MEA too.
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