Amato out as KC superintendent

[proud2BlibKansan]

Amato resigns as superintendent but will stay on as consultant
By JOE ROBERTSON
The Kansas City Star

Kansas City School Superintendent Anthony Amato has resigned but will continue with the district in a consulting role through December, according to a statement released Wednesday evening by the district.

Former Grandview schools superintendent John Martin will become interim superintendent, the statement said.

The statement, released before the start of the board’s regular meeting at 6:30 p.m., said the board and Amato had agreed in principle to a transition arrangement. Amato was not at the meeting or an earlier executive session.

“Superintendent Amato made progress in his tenure as leader of the school district,” Smith said in the statement. “However, both the board and Superintendent Amato reached the mutual conclusion that a change in leadership was the best way to ensure the long-term success of the program the superintendent has initiated.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Amato will end his tenure as superintendent immediately but will work as a consultant to provide continuity in the curriculum programs and other changes he brought to the district.

more . . .

http://www.kansascity.com/news/breaking_news/story/457354.html

[Hangingon]

1. Now the state of Missouri should take over and the KCMSD

should go away. 23 supers in 39 years with a 2 year - and shortening - tenure isn't going to fix a broken school district.

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. That's the national average for urban districts

Are you suggesting all states should take over their urban districts when they fire incompetent superintendents?

KC's last superintendent was on the job for 5 years. That beats the national average.

I would also love to hear what you think the state will do that the district isn't doing.

[Hangingon]

3. I am suggesting that the state step and take over a failing

district as they did with Saint Louis. Kansas City is a special case. It is a district with only a provisional accreditation. To date, the board does not seem to be able to find a program that corrects the situation - thus I assume the departure of last superintendent with the the 5 year aberration in the short tenure streak of KCMSD superintendents. Nor does the board seem to be able to stick with a superintendent's program long enough to see if it works. Suggesting that all states take over their urban districts is silly - an obvious attempt to draw attention away from the abject failure of the KCMSD. I noticed a sidebar story about the court upholding the state's decision to take over that district. Whatever the state could do has to be better than what the school board has done. Obviously it cannot be any worse. The state would at least provide stability. Personally I do feel sorry for KCMSD. It has many difficulties blocking its progress that will be difficult to overcome and I don't see success in the near future. I don't think my comments here differ greatly from the comments I read this morning on the Star's story on Amato's resignation.

[Telly Savalas]

4. I don't have much confidence in an entity with Matt Blunt at the top of the org chart

I hate to be a doom and gloomer, but I think that government at the municipal level in Kansas City is a lost cause. Whether it's the school board or city hall itself, the so-called leadership seems completely oblivious to the extent of our problems.

But I'm not exactly looking towards Jeff City as a beacon for salvation.

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. Good point

LOL

The state doesn't want to take over. They don't know what to do. The answers are pretty complicated. Until we can address crime and socio economic issues the kids and their families deal with AND address these issues as a community, our urban districts will continue to have problems educating our neediest kids.

[Hangingon]

7. Okay. You guys have it rationalized so KCMSD slides on down

It is crime, socio-economic inequity, "its all urban districts" bull, Blunt (and whoever comes along behind him) - anything but education. I just hate to see things that were once great go to pot. But you have found the easy excuse to keep on keeping on on the downward path - (death spiral?). And that is the true underlying problem of KCMSD. The board, staff and faculty lack responsibility and the will to turn the situation around. I don't take those comments by readers of the Star with a grain of salt. The "veiled" comment that there are unreported things about the Amato tenure strike me as more distraction. I suppose that this must be said of many of the other short lived superintendencies too. The comments on this story and the earlier one were pretty much the same. I think they reflect the feeling of majority of the readership. People are embarrassed and fed up. Constant turnover in administration, poor test scores and provisional accreditation are not impressing the residents. The people in Independence were fed up and they pulled their schools out. I believe that other schools are to be considered for closing too. That doesn't leave much in the district. So the state doesn't want KCMSD. The other districts don't want it either apparently. I can't blame them. I guess this village has to destroyed to save it.

[Telly Savalas]

8. All I'm saying is that Jeff City lacks the responsibility and the will to fix it too.

That's not an easy excuse. That's a fact. If you disagree, then please offer some specifics on what a corrupt organization headed by a right-wing ideologue would do to improve things. I'm not saying that the current school board knows what they're doing. I'm simply questioning how Jeff City would translate into an improvement.

And proud2Blib's observation that KC's education problems are closely tied to crime and socioeconomic issues are on the mark. It's hard to foster an environment conducive to quality education in areas plagued by high poverty and drive-by shootings. Yes, these things are beyond the purview of a school board and yes, they don't give the school board a pass for being incompetent, but they nevertheless are realities which can't be ignored.

KC's schools (as well as the city itself) are on a death spiral as you say. We need competent, creative, and passionate leadership to fix it. That seems to be a bit much to ask though.

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. Well said!!

:applause:

[Hangingon]

12. It does appear that the state doesn't want to take over. Too bad.

What would he state offer? Perhaps simple continuity. It takes time for a program to start paying off. With the revolving door for superintendents this has not happened.

Problems of our urban core are real. It is time to stop using them as an excuse for failure of the schools. Sure it is hard work dealing with these problems, but that is a know fact for anyone being hired by KCMSD -or any other inner city school district.

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. It's not rationalization, it's an explanation

Kansas City doesn't have a lock on failing urban schools. It is a nationwide epidemic. Like I said, until we address our rotting urban core, our schools will continue to fail. Schools are no more excellent than the community they serve.

The comments on the Star's website are mostly by ignorant people who don't have all the facts about Amato. When those facts come out, the community will understand the board did what they had to do by making him resign. They also deserve some credit for not firing him as that would have cost them $500,000; his contract stipulated that.

The faculty and staff in the district do NOT lack responsibility. It is their persistence that finally forced the board to act. They are also the only stakeholders who really do care about the kids. For many of the kids in KC, their teachers and principals go above and beyond to give them what they deserve and then some. Every single critic of the school district should have to spend one day in one of the schools seeing first hand what the teachers do for these kids and how deeply they are committed to advocating for them.

Every critic of the school board should run for election to the board. These board members most often run unopposed. Elections are in April. Let's see how many candidates are on the ballot.

[Hangingon]

11. No surprisess in your response

Why don't you deal with KCMSD. You are paid to teach students and meet educational standards. KCMSD has not done that for decades.It is not an answer that we we can't have passing schools until we cure all ills of society.

What a wonderful opinion you have of the residents of greater Kansas City. And just when will all those facts come out? It seems the school board has contract clauses that keep Amato and the CFO from talking. How much is the Amato buyout going to cost? It too is undiclosded and Amato has an option under Fedral law to reject.

The faculty doesn't lack rsponsibility because they pressured the board to get rid of an administrator who pressed hard for results. Wow - the faculty can accomplish something then - not teach kids but they can set up a situation where they finish their thity while going ROAD.

[proud2BlibKansan]

13. Without insulting you,

I will respectfully say that you are not part of the system, and not even a member of the community, so therefore, you really don't know what you are talking about.

I DO deal with the KCMSD. So I definitely have a better understanding of the system than you do. I am also one of many who have tried to fix it while others just criticize.

Amato is not receiving a buyout. He is staying on as a consultant. IF he was offered a buyout, that is not undisclosed. His contract says if he is fired he will be paid for the time remaining on his contract. That is public information.

Like I said, once the details of his dealings are disclosed, the community will understand why he had to go. In the meantime, do some homework and find out why he was fired from his previous superintendent positions. He pulled the same tricks in KC.

[Hangingon]

14. With equal respect

I no longer reside in the Kansas City area but I lived there for several years. I still have family and many friends there.

I am really weary of people saying that we just can't know because we are not part of the system - it is so condescending. I am sure Bush says the same thing about criticism of his actions. This makes me think of the saying, "War is too important to leave to generals". You might keep in mind that the tax payer is the one who will make a decision based on their perceived facts of the system. Perhaps voter apathy in Kansas City will preserve the status quo you wish.

I used the word "buyout". The Star refers to a "settlement" by the board to avoid paying the rest of the contract. "The school board Wednesday night agreed on a settlement with Amato that would waive Amato’s $220,000-a-year contract and replace it with a lesser consulting contract that extends through December.

The settlement is not final because a provision in the federal Older Workers Benefit Protection Act gives Amato seven days to revoke the agreement, said the school board’s attorney, Maurice Watson.

The school board has declined to reveal details of the agreement until it is final. In the past, some board members had said the district would want to avoid simply buying out the rest of Amato’s three-year contract.

Amato was not available for comment Thursday."

It doesn't clear that Amato agreed to the settlement and he has time to revoke it which would apparently require the payment of the rest of his contract.

Paying superintendents like paying replaced football coaches is galling but happens.

I am no fan of Amato. He appears as well qualified as any superintendent. He was handed a difficult problem - fix KCMSD - by a board that thought he was the right guy. He brought in some new programs, pressed standards and pushed. Apparently he alienated the school board and the entrenched staff. My concern is that no superintendent will every be able to solve the problems when the deck is stacked this way. That is why the state should step in. Continuity and detachment would hopefully provide an atmosphere that would bring change. The new interim superintendent does not give me confidence that he will bring improvement. His past two assignments have not been successful. And the Star article sounds like the same old same old.

“This is not a coup,” Martin said. “I’m not coming to upset, move, fire or crucify people. The assumption is that my role is to make it work.”

“What I understand is that Amato started some decent programs and that he got off on some issues,” he said. “We will be continuing the programs and bridging the educational gaps. The role of the interim is to make things work.”

So, looks like the losers are the kids who are stuck in a provisionally accredited school district. Too bad for Kansas City.

[proud2BlibKansan]

15. I am not in favor of maintaining the status quo

Amato wasn't the answer. Like I have said repeatedly, he was up to his ears in misappropriated funds. Would you rather they let him stay and risk losing state and federal funding because this man refused to abide by the regulations that accompany that funding?

The financial games this man played were horrendous. He has done this same thing everywhere he has worked. He thinks rules don't apply to him but he is a tyrant who imposes draconian rules upon those who report to him.

He ignored board policy on everything from reconciling his credit card statements to making changes in the length of the school day and school year. I am not saying his ideas were bad; many were great. What I am saying is he went about implementing his ideas without following LEGAL protocol.

You can't lead a large bureaucracy and ignore rules. Because of this man, the district is being audited by the state and the feds and is facing future audits by organizations who gave grant money to the district.

The result of his leadership was constant chaos. Even a simple thing like canceling school on a snow day was a major screw up. First, school was dismissed early. Parents were notified. Then a half hour later, school was not dismissed early. Parents were notified again. Buses arrived early and took high school kids home 3 hours early. Elementary schools were told to hold kids until regular dismissal time, even though buses had arrived early to take the kids home. In the middle of all of this chaos, the district's phone system went down.

(That was another of Amato's promises - to improve an aging technology system. And he did nothing while it just got worse.)

He went through 28 (TWENTY EIGHT) top level administrators in just 18 months.

He refused to pay an area non-profit $1.5 million the district owed them. That case is in court now.

The man needed to go.

Yes we need to change the status quo, but hiring an incompetent lunatic isn't how to do that.

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. The state took over St Louis because of finances

KC isn't in trouble financially as St Louis was.

There is so much more to this story about Amato that The Star has not reported. So you need to take those comments on their story with a grain of salt.