Birks Says Bye

The picture is well chosen. This is what I will remember Birks for: celebrating herself (while wasting our money). We had a good laugh this morning about her farewell email. Paraphrasing: Vast achievements during her tenure.

Or a Trumpian moment.

Best wishes Dr Birks. It just didn't work out but it doesn't mean there isn't a better place for you somewhere else. New Haven is a funny place that thrives. A great friend of mine calls it the most tribal place he has ever lived. That being said, you just never fully grasped the players or the landscape. You operated on an island. Collaboration would have gotten you a long way. This was a very hard lesson for you to learn, in this way, in front of a whole city. But, best wishes and may you continue to grow.

As I read her final statement, I see she takes:

—> credit for things she did not do.
—> credit for ideas she never had.
—> $150,000 of ill-gotten taxpayer dollars for work she didn't — and never could've — accomplish.
—> no responsibility for the countless screwups

So in the timeless words of Ice Cube, in the role of Craig Jones in Friday, I can only offer, "Bye Felicia."

Go cheer for yourself somewhere else.

If I underperform, (fail miserably?), will someone pay me a year's severance just to get rid of me?

I can't believe she began March 2018. So much drama in less than two years....

I think that she did not realize that she was being hired as a hatchet-(wo)man...one who comes in an clears house to balance a budget. She may have thought she was hired as a transformer.

To the next Super--spend a year or two figuring out how things work in New Haven. Do not try to change anything. Learn the system (and you might learn that people come in and try to change the system too much. Disruption should not be a core principle because disruption is inherent in the system as it is and it DOES NOT WORK).

I googled accreditation and NEASC came up. There are new standards. Maybe the new Super needs to be very familiar with these (and so does the BOE).

But I'm just a ...

The tragic tenure of Dr. Birks was the result of a decision of the Board of Education to select one of the least experienced, least qualified persons for this crucial job. This is what happens when politics prevailed in the selection process, and common sense, wisdom and logic were ushered out of the conference room.
There was one superior candidate who appeared to meet every standard of a expectation of many of the stakeholders in the community, but politics dictated that Dr. Birks must be the choice. Despite the public's warnings, pleading, protests, petitions and appeals to the Board not to select Dr. Birks based on her record, her resume and her lack of experience, the Board ignored the warnings, and voted for Birks anyway.
Three board members over a year later publicly admitted that their vote for Birks was a major mistake, after a long train of poor judgment and bad decisions from the superintendent became clearly evident to anybody who would admit the truth. These late revelations cost the school district tremendously in human and financial resources.
If the majority of the Board had only listened to the students, the teachers, the parents and other members of the community when they presented their admonitions against hiring Birks!
Instead they listened to Mayor Harp.
No one need have any animosity toward Dr. Birks. She was placed in a position that was too complex and too troubled for her to handle effectively.
The board should have recognized that before they voted to hire Birks.

Another under-recognized mistake was giving her a 3-year contract. One year or 18 months would have revealed these problems without the cost. Hindsight is always 2020, but in this case many argued for a shorter term right from the beginning. Hope the Board will take it as a lesson for next time.

Jill the Pill: just so we're all clear, no candidate will accept a one year contract for a job like School Superintendent. No search firm will accept an assignment offering a one year contract so get that out of your head. A three-year contract is the norm. The problem wasn't the length of the contract, it was how Birks got hired.

@jepadilla

"No ADEQUATE candidate will accept a one year contract for a job like School Superintendent."

Which means this candidate may have jumped at it. I would also like to know just who thought her and her background was worth a quarter-million dollars a year. That is ridiculous. May the Deltas take this loss and keep walking.

Checking: Superintendents have always been well-compensated. Branford, with 3K students, pays its superintendent over $200K. https://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/branford/entry/2.5_percent_salary_increase_for_super/
Birks was likely making that much in Hartford. Luring her to NHPS, with a chance she would not work out, required a larger salary and a multi-year contract.
Going forward, lets hope Tracy can actually balance the budget and drop the happy-talk and spin Birks indulged in. If she does well as in an Acting capacity, she can be hired long term. That method has worked reasonably well for the police, twice.

@1644

You swung and missed by $70k or $80k.

https://www.hartfordschools.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/06202017_BOERegularMeetingAgendaPacket_Revised.pdf

Hartford BOE writes their agendas in comic sans?

@Jill_the_Pill - That's just precious. And it explains a LOT about the city of Hartford.

Checking-
What's your obsession with the Deltas? Do you think the Deltas are a monolith? Do you think their cache is in the least beat adversely affected by Birks' soft firing? You are trying far too hard dear.

Checking, I was off by $30k. In any case the market rate for a system of New Haven's size and complexity would be about 250k.

Then why wasn't Tracy hired before Birks and Harries?

>>> "Then why wasn't Tracy hired before Birks and Harries?"

Putting aside Birks' political connections and whether Dr. Tracey even had her superintendent's certificate when Garth was hired (I don't know), the past decade in education has had a fad for tech-style "disruption" -- as if improvements could be made by tossing the whole system up in the air, making everyone precarious, and somehow, by survival of the fittest or something, everything would get better . . . or at least cheaper . . . . or at least make work for friends in various ed-tech, charter school and corporate sectors.

Dr. Tracey represents continuity, stability, human relationships, and a kind of careful but difficult educational bureaucracy that is out of fashion. You can only grow strong by building from a solid foundation, and that is why I am optimistic about this change of leadership.

Choo Choo

The runaway train has made an ebrake stop on Meadow Street with windows and a few wheels missing off a few cabooses....

This could have all been avoided when the selection process was taking place... When board members Joyner and Torre did not support Birks to be the Superintendent along with 2 dozen speakers and 1000 opposing signatures that should have been enough...but nooooo TH, Goldson, Cotto and Redente voted anyway.

It is not enough for Goldson to say he made a mistake... someone should have ran against him..He said he was a system person..system people are problem solvers not problem makers..those 4 board members made a costly mistake that will affect the New Haven Taxpayers.

IMO, while Torre was not as outspoken, Joyner was so right about his decision not to hire Birks. Goldson voted for who the mayor endorsed maybe because of a personal/financial reason like maybe a relative is employed with the city. Who knows.....

Birks lacked experience from day 1 and was considered to be the least qualified..3 years teaching experience, favored charter schools over public school mission and a former employer that was involved in a kickback scandal. It is a no-brainer, Birks was not qualified from Day 1.

I agree with Joyner, the board had enough concrete flaws to just let her go with out a severance. Another pay-out courtesy of the taxpayers...I believe the Board of Education need to be comprised of previous educators with education credentials with no sketchy past backgrounds period. That way taxpayers like me will be assured the board members have 1st the best interest of the children's education and then accountability to the taxpayers.


Ed Joyner have always been reputable, upright ethical educator. His work, his wife's and family contributions to NHPS speak volumes in the public school system and in the community. So just the value of his opinion should have been considered.

Pleassssseee QUIT TONI QUIT!


As the engine putters along🚉