Commenters on the AJC Get Schooled blog had a range of reactions to the state school superintendent runoffs. On the Democratic ticket, voters chose Valarie Wilson over state Rep. Alisha Thomas Morgan. On the Republican ballot, voters gave a narrow edge to Richard Woods over Mike Buck, so narrow that a recount is expected. Here is a sampling of comments:
Cy: Who cares? Whoever wins will continue to screw up education in this state. I have just about given up on teaching in this state, and a lot of people agree with me. In my building alone, almost half the people (including my excellent principal) left for better places. The pay sucks, the support sucks, the lack of direction sucks, parents are the absolute worst, and the overall mentality towards education in general sucks. I suspect and encourage more Georgia teachers to follow me across the state line.
Shelley: Whoever wins on the Republican side will hammer Wilson as a metro Atlantan pro-teachers union advocate. They will also hammer her on her opposition to charters and school choice.
Lynn: Valarie Wilson offers a concern and knowledge of students and public schools that the others do not have.
Living: With Woods and Wilson faring well, it's clear that education reform in Georgia will grind to halt, and reform, rolled back. Wilson has no chance to win the general election, which if Woods wins, will become a referendum on Common Core. If Buck wins, I will be curious if Morgan chooses to endorse him in lieu of her party's nominee.
Edumacate: When I spoke to Woods four years ago, he was very supportive of using nationally normed tests (e.g., ITBS) and throwing out Georgia tests that could be manipulated. He actually made sense — that is, before the tea party got to him. I'm hoping some of the ole Woods is still in there.
Clarity: If I were a Republican, I would have voted for Buck. After watching the debate, I got the idea that he was not in favor of charter schools/vouchers, and I've seen firsthand what can happen when districts are allowed to work outside state regulations. There's a school in a poor area where the district is running a pilot program where high school students are put in a computer lab with a paraprofessional to take computerized math lessons. This is not the way to go; students do not learn math best by computer. They need trained and certified human teachers to teach them.
Reeves: It sounds like Woods is trying to fix the teacher evaluation system that was designed to satisfy the feds and Race to the Top. That system is useless and even harmful. Principals are encouraged to evaluate low at the beginning of the year and high at the end so the principal's school shows growth, and his or her own evaluation score is raised.
DG: It doesn't matter all that much who wins this race anyway; the governor appoints the state board of education, and the superintendent cannot do anything without the blessing of this appointed board. In other words, for the the state superintendent to be effective at all, he or she has to keep the governor happy. We saw what happened when John Barge stood up to Nathan Deal.
