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Hamilton County Schools superintendent adds innovation position, promotes 2
No one doubts the need for more and better innovation in Hamilton County Schools, but Superintendent Rick Smith's recent decision to hire an assistant superintendent of innovation raised a few questions.
He told school board members last week that money had been set aside for a couple of years to fund the position, but he'd been waiting for the right time to make the hire.
If the need and money were there, why did Smith wait?
School board member Dr. Jonathan Welch believes it may have been because the superintendent hadn't articulated a wider vision for the system until he did this spring when he toured the county in an attempt to raise $34 million for the schools.
Before this spring, he said, the "baseline" for the superintendent was "to keep things moving day to day." In the spring, the superintendent's stated vision was to create "the best school system in the South."
One of the areas in which Smith wants to increase funding is technology, which necessarily works hand in hand today with innovation. A superintendent of innovation would bridge the gap between technology and curriculum, more creatively leveraging the technology that's already in place, Welch said.
"It fills a gap between these two silos (technology and curriculum) that we've had," he said.
The new position was approved with little discussion and with only one dissenting vote, from Rhonda Thurman.
Welch said he didn't recall the position being discussed in school board meetings.
Smith said last week the new position will come out of the personnel budget and not take away funds designated to schools, which was Thurman's concern. If there is other money set aside anywhere, we would encourage the superintendent to fill in the school board - and the public - as to what the money is being held for or why it could not be moved into another budget to fulfill a classroom need.