KENNEY: An Early Test for Spotsy Schools: People or Politics?
Spotsylvania's public schools need a superintendent the conservative-led Board of Supervisors like and trust. Will they keep him around? Or pay the exorbitant severance fee?
by Shaun Kenney
COLUMNIST (and Mild History Fanatic)
One would think that the election of Speaker Don Scott (D-Portsmouth) would have garnered more attention than it has. Consider when Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn was handed the gavel just four years ago, Virginia achieved two notables: our first female speaker and our first Jewish speaker.
Not only was our first black Speaker of the House sworn in by a black Virginia Supreme Court Justice, but something more notable happened that many observers missed and many insiders caught. Unlike Filler-Corn who performed an overtly political house cleaning, Scott’s first act of leadership was to ask Paul Nardo to remain in his role as clerk.
Bruce Jamerson long held the position after House Republicans finally took control of the chamber in 2000 for the first time since Reconstruction in the early noughties — serving under both Democratic and Republican speakers and despite a rather heated and contested 1998 transition.
Traditionally, the Clerk of the House of Delegates has never been a political role. Democrats had long appointed the clerk as an apolitical slot for the simple reason that there were no Republicans to contest the lower chamber. As recently as the 1960s, Democrats at one point enjoyed a 96-4 majority in the House. House clerks were practically lifetime appointments given to competent, trustworthy, and openly friendly human beings who loved the institution of the House of Delegates and the rich history of Virginia as a whole.
Speaker Scott: Serious Power Move, Sir
Lest one be persuaded that Speaker Scott knuckled under to political realities in a 51-49 chamber, with one masterstroke Scott demonstrated a degree of political savvy often lacking in Washington much less Richmond.
For a delegate to rise to Speaker of the House in just his third term in office is an unheard of achievement. Yet there’s no small secret as to how. Scott is the sort of progressive who came into power just as the old school Northam-era Democrats were on their way out, and while the old school disciplinarians were winner-take-all types, Scott’s brand of progressive politics understands a basic truth — it takes two lungs to run a marathon.
One of the developments of the last two decades is the temptation to politicize every appointed office. We see this in Washington most certainly as party appointees gets swapped out every 4-8 years. When Mark Herring was elected Attorney General in 2013, there was a complete house cleaning at OAG, one that Jason Miyares did not pay back in similar coin. More locally, one is beginning to see the politicization of county administrators, city managers, and school superintendents as one faction overrides another.
Politicizing the apolitical only turns the position into a small-scale version of the spoils system — the very opposite of a thriving democracy.
Of course, the vapor barrier between Red Virginia and Blue Virginia may be thin indeed — Goochland vs. Henrico, Fairfax vs. Prince William, any city vs. her surrounding localities — yet as these positions politicize, there is a tactile shift from a multipartisan leadership style commonly reflected in the Virginia Way and the monolithic non-partisan style which too often merely reflects the values of one party alone.
Payback Isn’t the Public Interest: Rebuilding Trust Means Breathing with Both Lungs
Case in point for folks locally? The fate of Spotsylvania Superintendent Mark Taylor remains in the balance.
Despite the 5-2 orientation of the new Spotsylvania School Board, the temptation to evict Taylor from his present position may prove more expensive than keeping him for the duration of his contract.
Yet more to the point, the conservative Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors is in no mood to be generous. With federal subsidies ending and Richmond looking to cut corners — not to mention Youngkin’s car tax proposal — the five-letter word that Spotsylvania’s Republicans are going to be looking for from their school district is simple: TRUST.
Lorita Daniels — the newly minted chair for Spotsylvania School Board — has already made a bit of history of her own. The present majority ran on restoring the trust forfeited by the latter majority. Yet the conservative-led majority also ran on preserving the public trust. Who then would serve as the best conduit between a school system in desperate need of investment and a conservative board reticent to yield additional resources? A closed door pick?
Or Mark Taylor?
Now that would be a power move indeed.
Not only would the present majority rewind the last two years of chaos, but they would also retain the best possible ambassador for public education to Spotsylvania’s conservative majority on the Board of Supervisors where Taylor is a known quality.
Such a move would demonstrate that the new majority in Spotsylvania intends to govern the way it campaigned, and most notably, would send the signal that Daniels et al. intends to move forward with intention rather than be governed by outside forces. Placing Taylor in their pocket — even if just for two years — only strengthens the hand.
People Over Politics: An Early (But Hard) Test
Yes, this is tough medicine.
Yes, this would be a 6D chess move. Yes, Taylor is one of the few personalities who can communicate the need for additional funding to a traditionally reticent and conservative Spotsy BOS. And yes — deep down everyone knows it is more cost effective to keep Taylor rather than jettison him or spark a legal fight where lawyers win and taxpayers lose. Amateurs talk tactics; professionals talk logistics — and this is logistics.
Making haste slowly may not please the partisans, but the wider community would see a new board chairman demonstrating a leadership style in the pattern of Speaker Scott which plays the long game — not to mention saving the school system six figures in severance (and six figures more if it inevitably goes to court) during tough economic times. Not to mention the lost political capital with an early stumble out of the gate.
Let’s face it. We could do with a dose of calm right about now. Speaker Scott’s leadership in Richmond early on is a great example to others — Republicans and Democrats — to put people over politics. Spotsylvania should do likewise.
Whacking Mark Taylor might make the present majority feel great for about five minutes, but the long-term consequences of a short-sighted decision will impact public education in Spotsylvania in a direct and negative way.
Keep the honeymoon going and illegitimi non carborundum. That’s the secret of good leadership, after all.
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What is the political capital that Taylor brings to the BOS? The BOS twice fired him. Once as county attorney. Once as county administrator. Taylor and the previous Board majority created a culture of fear in SCPS employees. How can that be changed when the ‘retaliator- in-chief’ remains in place? What about his lack of integrity and conversion of banned books while refusing to account for them for the proceeds, your tax dollars? What about his ducking long respected media interviews while choosing to the interviewed by very questionable Facebook and web sites? I cannot see a glimmer of hope for Taylor among informed and intelligent people. That leads me to one solution. Fire Taylor for cause and replace him with a qualified and legitimate new superintendent. Finding cause should be no more difficult or challenging than hunting cows.
Taylor is part of the problem. For starters, he has yet to tell the school board what happened to hundreds of banned books that have somehow disappeared on his watch. That's taxpayer dollars wasted and from I've read, I believe what happened to them is illegal. He held a religious book festival on county property. He has consistently snubbed his nose at the public, keeping them in the dark, as did his mentor, now-departed Kirk Twigg. I assume his contract as superintendent is iron clad, so he will have to be paid. (I agree, legal battles are not worth it.) It is the legacy of Twigg that taxpayers must pay for. Once they realized Twigg's true nature, they ousted him. I say, as I've said in the past, pay Taylor. Make him the highest paid janitor in the state. And then hire a qualified superintendent.