HEADLINE: Bradley County Schools’ McDaniel named state superintendent of year
THE RECAP: An association of Tennessee school superintendents have selected Bradley County Schools Superintendent Johnny McDaniel as the 2013 Tennessee Superintendent of the Year. McDaniel, currently in his fifth year as Bradley County’s superintendent, is now in competition for a national superintendent of the year award.
DREW’S VIEW: It says something about school superintendents in our state when they believe the very best among them is a guy who tried to justify a tax hike by intentionally bulldozing a perfectly good school.
After Blue Spring Elementary School was hit by a tornado in April 2011, the school’s insurer, Travelers Insurance, offered to pay the full $1.1 million cost to repair the school — which consisted primarily of roof and window damage.
Instead, McDaniel chose to use the insurance money demolish the existing Blue Springs school down and buy land for a new one. After doing that, he realized he hadn’t figured in the $7.1 million the school district would need to build the new school into the budget. That led to a frenzied effort by McDaniel and his cronies to pass a $32 annual wheel tax in Bradley County.