There is a fast building movement to part ways with Superintendent Vitti. Several of Gary Chartrand's cronies, Cheryl Grymes, Trey Csar and Warren Jones are heating up the airwaves in protest of the district getting rid of the super. I believe their arguments are both weak and not inspired by what's good for the city's students and teachers.
I am sure on the brink of tears Grymes said in the Times Union
I am sure on the brink of tears Grymes said in the Times Union
Board member Cheryl Grymes said she was “in shock” and opposes to holding a vote Friday on Vitti’s job status. She pointed out that Smith Juarez recently suggested hiring a mediator to work with the Board and Vitti, an idea she believes is a good one.
From her prior stint on the School Board, Grymes said, she remembers how upset the community was when that board forced Larry Zenke to resign as superintendent and appointed an interim. “It’s toxic for the community,” she said. “It’s creating chaos.... There were so many ‘what ifs.’ What if he leaves and takes a lot of people with him?”
She said Vitti has been accused of being disrespectful to board members but recently Smith Juarez has been disrespectful to him.
What's toxic and creates chaos is the superintendent and the board members like Grymes who have let him run roughshod over teachers and the community. Pratt Dannals, and Joey Wise were both let go during the school year and the district chugged along. Also has she just sat on her hands as she saw the super be disrespectful? Furthermore if he took a lot of his people with him, then good all the more reason to make a change.
Then there is Warren Jones
Warren Jones won Hall’s seat in the primary. He urged Smith Juarez Monday to take no action on Vitti’s job.
“The Board ... has less than two months to serve together. The Board will have two new members in November ... Respectfully, I request that the new Board be the one who makes long term decision(s) about the direction of our district and its leadership.”
Jones said in an interview the board should also consider the financial cost of “buying out” Vitti’s contract.
“That money could be used for a number of different purposes,” he said.
Sigh, in 2012 with three lame ducks on the board and with Gary Chartrand leading the charge they hired Vitti and nobody in the community including Warren Jones so much as batted an eye. Nothing he says can be taken as credible especially the, save some money line. If there is a cancer you don't go, hey lets save some money and let it spread, furthermore I don't want to scoff at the few hundred thousand dollars it would cost to buy him out but the district has a 1.7 billion dollar budget and it would be a drop in that bucket.
Then there is Trey Csar of the Jacksonville Public education fund
Trey Csar, president of the Jacksonville Public Education Fund, said that leading public schools is difficult and bound to stir up disagreements among Board members and the superintendent. But he urged them to consider working through the difficulties.
“The option of working through a mediator is a much easier solution than hitting the reset button,” he said. “I’d hate to see this Board go down the path (of termination) before they’ve exhausted all opportunities to come to consensus .... I think that’s still possible.’
Trey has a vested interest in Vitti remaining super as increasingly where the district ends and JPEF begins has become blurred. Also has Trey not been paying attention? All opportunities to come to consensus have long since been exhausted.
I wrote earlier about how Scott Shine has been coming to the defense of his man crush, the superintendent, I also don't think it is a coincidence that he, Grymes, Jones and Csar have financial ties to Gary Chartrand, the puppeteer pulling the strings behind the scenes.
I don't know if Vitti's last day will be Friday, i do however think that the people defending him aren't doing so out of the goodness of their hearts but because of the dollars in their wallets.
AJS used to work for Chartrand foundation but apparently she doesn't need his $$ like some people on the board. She has plenty of her own.
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