Thursday night the DeKalb County Board of Education will present the public with their evaluation of Superintendent Hugh Taylor.

The rating system is based on a 1-5 score on a number or different topics. The results are not expected to be favorable.

This evaluation is coming at the worst possible time for Taylor who has recently came under fire for the handling of the Neal Thrash situation at Fyffe High School. Much of that has been due to the lack of information that the public has been given, which has led to a non-stop speculation and caused many to draw their own conclusions.

Taylor is a first term Superintendent. Unlike the Fort Payne City School System, Taylor has been chosen in a partisan election by the people of DeKalb County and not hired by a board.

Barring any personal feelings that you may have towards Taylor or any member of the board, is this right?

If the names are removed from the issue, and it’s based purely on principle…is it right that a partisan elected board is allowed to publicly evaluate a partisan elected Superintendent?

Pros:

• The board has no real power, this allows them to inform the public concerning perceived weaknesses and areas they desire for improvement in an attempt to gain leverage.
• When used over time, this can demonstrate changes in performance.

Cons:

• He is a publicly elected official and is to be held accountable to those that elected him.
• This could lead to increased tension and gridlock that causes the DeKalb County School System to suffer.
• This could become more personal than professional.

The relationship between the superintendent and the board has been strained. Human nature tells me that this will lead to increased tension.

Regardless of your view on the first 2 years of Taylor’s term, this is setting a potentially dangerous precedent.

If I’m not mistaken we already have an evaluation system for the Superintendent…it’s called an election and it happens every 4 years.

Discussion of the evaluation at the April 22 BOE Meeting: