Here is the article that I posted earlier that would not open..... Not long into his tenure as the DeKalb County Schools superintendent, Hugh Taylor told me he would like to be as well thought-of as his Fort Payne City Schools counterpart, Jim Cunningham. With apologies to Jerry Reed, he’s a long way to go and a short time to get there. The handing of two high-profile basketball coaching vacancies illustrates it. The decision to get rid of Neal Thrash as the Fyffe boys basketball coach after some type of “investigation” still raises more questions than we’ve gotten answers. Thrash was dismissed with a letter, given no due process, citizens — those taxpayers who fund the system and the salaries of all involved — were given no chance to sound off on the matter, and the hiring of a replacement hasn’t gone any better. Assistant Superintendent Brian Thomas told me this week that no successor to Thrash would be named until August, when all coaching supplements are suggested by Taylor to the school board. However, the Mountain Valley News on Thursday published a report that indeed Heath Thrash has been chosen as the next Fyffe coach. Which is it?There’s nothing to tell, or there’s a recommendation? Contrast that to the way Cunningham and Fort Payne High School Principal Brian Jett handled the aftermath of Anthony Reid’s decision to resign and move to Florence. Cunningham was as transparent as you could expect. He didn’t divulge the names of candidates out of respect for their current positions. However, he was happy to keep the public informed on the process for as long as it took to get to Danny Anderson’s hiring Thursday night. He made sure Jett was available to discuss the hiring with me — in turn, making sure you’ll get the details. Cunningham is committed to transparency and accessibility. I don’t get that impression from Taylor, and it’s a shame. He thinks I’m picking on him, and I’m not. I really, really want him to be successful as our county’s superintendent, but it won’t happen if we the taxpayers keep getting mixed messages — or none at all — from the Central Office. David Clemons is president and publisher of the Times-Journal.His column appears in the paper’s weekend edition. Email: dclemons@times-journal. Twitter: @scoopclemons.
Posted on: Thu, 26 Jun 2014 23:46:13 +0000
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