Well, after filling out all those forms, interviewing, answering questions and touring the county the dust has finally settled and Robertson County has a new Director of Schools.
Dan Whitlow the current Director of schools for Robertson County is retiring at the end of this school year. It was down to five candidates last week, then three and now one. The candidates were chosen by outside counsel (Wayne Qualls) and approved by the school board.
Mike Davis, currently Dir. of Schools, Wilson County has been announced as Robertson County’s new Director of schools. Mike Davis from Oneida, Tenn. currently serves as director of schools for Wilson County. He was the director of schools at Scott County School System in Huntsville. He retired from the military in 2004, after 32 1/2 years in the Kentucky National Guard. Received bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a history minor in 1972 from Cumberland College, Williamsburg, Ky.; master’s degree, for elementary and secondary principal in 1976 from Union College, Barbourville, Ky. Completed the Rank 1 Program (master’s degree plus 45 hours), with certification for school superintendent, from Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, 1978.
When Mike resigned from his current position as Wilson County Schools Director last December 4, 2012 and local news covered it. See link for full story: Wilson Co. Director of Schools Davis resigns
To see the other candidates Mike was up against go here.
Mike won by a pretty good margin, out of the 6 total votes available Mike walked away with 4 of them. Michael Schaffer walked away with the other two votes.
“The Board has spoken and I look forward to working with Mr. Davis to ensure a smooth transition.” Dan Whitlow, Director Of Schools
Be sure to welcome Mike to the community and his new job in comments below.
Jim Ball reporting.
Here’s some interesting facts about Chuck Cagle. He is not concerned about the effect the rezoning of Robertson County Schools is going to have. Just how much money he can make.
Printin’ Textbooks is like printin’ cash.
Why is Chuck Cagle so darned interested in helping Common Core become the latest unproven expensive teaching fad? Because if Common Core goes through in its current form, it will require every student in Tennessee to have a brand new textbook that complies with the new Common Core curriculum. And them books ain’t cheap, either (especially the pornographic ones).
Yep, major book publishers stand to make millions selling books and materials to the state and to school systems that were forced to buy new books because of Common Core. And who is by far the biggest textbook publisher in the world? Pearson. And who is Pearson’s lobbyist (c’mon now, you know the answer, don’t you). Chuck Cagle! In fact, Chuck’s lobbying generated huge sums paid him by Pearson over the last couple of years.
And who, pray tell, plays a major role at the local level in deciding what textbooks get bought with taxpayer money? Why, the School Superintendents, silly. And who represents the School Superintendents in Nashville as their personal lobbyist? (This is an open book test. Feel free to go back and figured it out. Hint: it’s Chuck Cagle).
PARCC Testing, 1-2-3. Testing, 1-2-3
And don’t get us started on PARCC testing. For the uninitiated, PARCC tests have caused great discomfort among teachers who face evaluations based on a test that hasn’t even been written yet, but the real discomfort should be felt by the taxpayers who will pay millions more for the PARCC test (some estimates predict the PARCC test will eventually cost more than double the current TCAP tests) as well as tens if not hundreds of millions more in unfunded mandates to local schools systems for purchasing the computers required to take the new PARCC tests. Gee, we wonder if Chuck works for the computer manufacturers too?
And who runs PARCC? Yep. Pearson.
Scooping up taxpayer cash like an Electrolux set on “Maximum Suck” is okay, as long as you keep it in the family…
Ah, but now we come to the piece de la resistance (that’s French for: “We are so screwed”).
So far we have learned that Chuck Cagle is helping himself to taxpayer money by lobbying for TOSS and doing legal work for local school systems. Add to that the six-figure income from representing Pearson, the textbook publishing and testing giant and you begin to see the enormity of his empire.
But we have saved the best for last. Not satisfied with just fleecing taxpayers and doing the bidding of companies that fleece taxpayers, Cagle has added yet another revenue stream – his wife.
Sandra Cagle has a very important job. According to LinkedIn, she is a regional account manager, overseeing Tennessee and several other southeastern states. Among her duties is running the Common Core sales department for the company. And the name of that company? (Wait for it, wait ….TA DA!) Pearson!
Yes, you are reading this correctly. Pearson, the company that is pushing Common Core, the same company that stands to make millions from new textbooks, the same company that will make millions every year from administering new standardized tests required by Common Core, the same company that pays Chuck Cagle huge fees to represent them – that same company also pays Cagle’s wife to hustle Pearson’s Common Core products in Tennessee.
WOW. BREATHTAKING, ISN’T IT ?
And to think we were all told that Common Core was just about “raising standards” for our precious little school children. Man, were we stupid or what?
Now that legislators know the SCORE, the big question is what are they going to do about it? Whatever they do or don’t do, you can count on it being a big, BIG issue in the August primaries.