The state Board of Education’s firing of Superintendent Jorea Marple has caused a stir. Marple, who has spent a lifetime in education in West Virginia, has lots of friends and supporters, especially teachers in the arts who appreciated Marple’s enthusiasm for their subjects.
The West Virginia Education Association teacher’s union, which strongly backed Marple’s hiring in 2011, is especially miffed. In fact, the WVEA is even holding a candlelight vigil tonight in support of Marple.
It’s understandable that Marple supporters would be upset, but it’s important to note that the superintendent is a will and pleasure employee; the board has the right to change superintendents if a majority wants to go in a new direction, which is exactly what happened.
There is also some question as to whether the board followed proper procedures in firing Marple, since the action was not on last week’s meeting agenda. If the board is truly worried about that it could simply schedule another meeting, put Marple’s status on the agenda, and do it all over.
The real issue in education, however, goes well beyond the Marple kerfuffle. The more meaningful debate will be about the board’s long-awaited response to the nearly year-old independent audit of public education.
For example, will the board agree with or reject the audit’s suggestion that the state’s overly restrictive hiring practices be modified?
Seniority trumps all other attributes, including qualifications, when vacancies occur. Certainly years of service matter, but weighting seniority so heavily means the most qualified person doesn’t necessarily get the job.
Remarkably, the board can’t change that now; the hiring rules are written into state law, meaning it will literally take an act of the Legislature to change.
What is the board going to say about teacher evaluations? There is a huge debate in the education community now about how to measure, or whether it’s even possible to measure, teacher effectiveness. But if there IS a way, can teachers then be compensated, at least in part, based on their effectiveness, rather than just years of experience?
How will the board respond to the audit’s findings that the Department of Education can save up to $90 million a year through efficiencies? That seems like a big number. The more pertinent question may be how resources are allocated to get better results, rather than finding places that spending can be cut.
Are there ways to better utilize technology in public education? Too often reformers throw around technology as a kind of fix all-for problems; however, it’s reasonable to ask whether the state can better deliver some subjects through distance learning.
The public should get a look at the board’s response to the audit at its meeting tomorrow. No doubt everyone connected with education will flip through it to see how he or she could be affected.
That means we will have a rash of doomsday stories generated largely by fear of change.
What we need, however, is for the board’s response to be thoughtful and specific. Then it can serve as a foundation for our long-needed debate about West Virginia public schools.