Joe Dumas

Members of the “Back on Track” school board candidate team will ceremoniously sign a covenant with Hamilton County residents before tonight’s board meeting.

Hamilton County Board of Education member Rhonda Thurman and hopefuls Joe Dumas and Gregg Juster said they’ve been thinking about making a promise to voters for several months and decided now was the time.

“We were going to do this before, but (the proposed new contract for Superintendent Jim Scales) just validates it. It was perfect timing,” Ms. Thurman said. “It is reminding taxpayers why this needs to be done.”

The school board will vote tonight on a new, four-year contract for Dr. Scales. The “Back on Track” members say the new contact is an example of the “back room deals” they oppose. They claim school board members have privately discussed the plan and want to get Dr. Scales in office again before a new school board is elected in August.

The remainder of the candidates’ covenant includes promises to put 90 percent of school funding into the classroom, to re-emphasize the reading curriculum and to evaluate training, travel and consultant costs.

Signing the covenant is nothing more than a “conspiracy,” said school board member Debra Matthews, who is running against Mr. Juster for her District 4 seat. Ms. Thurman’s claims, including that Ms. Matthews and school board member Janice Boydston discussed Dr. Scales’ contract with former superintendent Jesse Register recently over lunch, are unfounded, Ms. Matthews said.

“All they want to do is keep the public in an uproar,” she said. “I’ve never been in the back room, and I’ve never cut any deals.”

After board members vote tonight on Dr. Scales’ contract, Mr. Juster said he plans to speak to the board. Citizens should have a chance to give their opinions about the contract before a vote is taken, according to all three team members.

But citing the Tennessee Code, Ms. Matthews said the superintendent’s contract must be the very first agenda item. The public must be made aware of the vote 15 days before it takes place, but will have no say in the issue before the vote.

“It’s evident that they don’t know policy and procedures,” she said of the “Back on Track” members. “They need to get their facts together, and they need to be honest with the people.”

The covenant appears similar to Dr. Scales’ Strategic Plan 2011, which outlines fiscal, academic and operational goals for the school system, said school board member Chip Baker, who is running against Dr. Dumas for his District 2 seat.

“I would strongly suggest they read the 2011 Strategic Plan and endorse that,” he said.

Signing their names to a list of promises is a way to remind the public what the team believes in, Dr. Dumas said.

“In politics sometimes they say the public has to hear your name seven times before they remember it, so they probably need to hear your message that many times, too,” he said. “We need to aggressively get our message out there.”