Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Who Got a 5K Bonus?/Ditto Lawrence County


Most of our readers probably know that Jennifer Gray and Keith Lankford from the Shoals are among six finalists for the position of superintendent of Decatur City Schools. That means there's a 33% chance this area will be losing an educator/school executive.

We've received some e-mail about there being a conflict of interest in this search, and we do plan to address this later. Today we want to discuss why these two want to leave the Shoals.

Certainly Jennifer Gray's current position as school principal is a step down for the former Lauderdale County superintendent, so it's hardly surprising she's seeking this job. How about Lankford?



He's been at Sheffield two years. That city's schools need strong leadership. There's certainly more of a chance for Lankford to make a real difference in Sheffield than there is in Decatur. The cost of living is also less in Sheffield, so why is he eager to leave?

There are rumors that some are seeking a raise for Lankford if he remains in Sheffield. That may just be pie in the sky, but there are five thousand realities in Lankford's recent pay. Yes, the school board gave Mr. Lankford a 5K bonus for his last year's work. Is Lankford's seeming interest in the Decatur job simply a ruse to get more pay?

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The CFO of Florence City Schools Connie Wallace has been gracious enough to contact us with some information. When the new middle school is complete, the portable classrooms will be returned to the company from which they're rented. No more portable classrooms in the foreseeable future.

Mrs. Wallace has also informed us that the new middle school construction is right on schedule. Kudos to everyone making this happen!

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We were quickly informed after we published yesterday that the puppy-dropper wasn't from Franklin County, but from Lawrence. We don't have a great many stats from Lawrence at our fingertips, but we'll be compiling them for a future blog.

What we said about Franklin is still very true. Let's hope someone gets the ball rolling on some positive measures extremely soon.



 

1 comment:

  1. Jennifer Gray was run out of her position at Lauderdale school system. Between lack of security at the schools and the issue with kids not being able to eat lunch because they owed money. Steve Modas brought this lunch issue to the attention of everyone because they would not let him set up an account to pay for those situations. Oh and also Gray would yell at students and tell them they was a lowlife and would never amount to anything. That's just part of why she left her position.

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