The recent attempt by some school board members to oust Miami-Dade County Superintendent Rudy Crew is going to be a part of my upcoming article in ASBJ, tentatively titled, “We Know What Works in Education, So Why Aren’t We Doing It?”
That’s because a key finding in my article is that stability in a school system’s top leadership is key to successful school reform.
No school board member is going to be surprised by that conclusion. Yet, as Miami-Dade County makes painfully clear, being obvious isn’t the same as being easy—even when everyone wants to do the right thing.
The effort to terminate Crew’s contract may have failed by a 5-4 vote, but with the Miami Herald describing Crew as “embattled” and a community leader describing school board meetings “like a train wreck,” does anyone believe that the district’s leadership is 100 percent focused on student achievement?
This kind of dispute is why so many school reform efforts fizzle out. Schools only improve when the school board and superintendent work together on a common vision—and work hard to sustain their reform effort year after year.
Yet that partnership is easier said than done. While Crew has won national acclaim for the work he’s done in the last few years, a series of missteps—including a combative attitude toward critics—has hurt the superintendent at a time when a budget deficit makes him politically vulnerable.
There are times, of course, when a school board must say good-bye to a superintendent. But there also is a time for a school board to bite the bullet, accept that the superintendent still can get the job done, and redouble its efforts to rebuild a working relationship that’s in the best interest of students.
What’s the right call in Miami? I don’t know. I just hope that both Crew and his critics on the school board remember what their continued dispute puts at risk. Months of bickering will distract both the school board and administration from their focus on student achievement. The enthusiasm for reform among principals and teachers will wane as they wait to see which way the political winds blow.
And, if a change of leadership is in the cards, that means months of delay as the school systems waits for the selection of a new chief schools executive—and yet more months for this new leader to learn about the school system. And then there’s the danger that the new superintendent will want to put his or her stamp on things, and past reforms, which still need time to take root, will be tossed aside—and years of work will be wasted.
Things may yet settle down in Miami-Dade County. But the dangers are real enough, which makes the school system a timely example of how fragile the conditions for successful reform.
Del Stover, Senior Editor