Obama and McCain aren’t the only crusaders calling for change.
Former Kansas City, Mo. school district (KCMSD) board member and UMKC educator William Eddy, Ph.D., also is waving the banner.
But Eddy’s cry does not call for changes to the national economic landscape, nor is it a plea for health care for all. His task, however, is no less daunting: Eddy wants to reorganize the KCMSD.
Eddy, a former dean of the University of Missouri Bloch School of Business, served on the KCMSD board from 2004 to 2008. And it was this inside look that drove him to his current conclusion: “The system is broken.”
“I looked at things and said, ‘I can’t do this another four years,” he said. “I was so disappointed by the lack of quality of education the district was providing and concerned about the effectiveness of the board and district. I couldn’t stay around.”
But he made the decision after he had already registered for the position, so his name still appeared on the ballot.
“I was so afraid I was going to be elected,” he said.
Airick West narrowly won the position.
But Eddy, who holds a doctorate in organizational psychology, has not abandoned the school board. Instead, he has decided to reform it from the outside.
“As a lifelong educator, my goal is to simply try and make the community more aware of what’s going on down there and give it some options,” he said. “Keep it as it is? Or do you want to change it?”
Eddy wrote a synopsis of all that was dysfunctional with the school board and submitted the paper to them. And he didn’t mince words, either, accusing members of “patronage, cronyism, pay-offs and the whole business.”
“It’s like a company that just becomes so ineffective it just goes bankrupt. Only know one can come in and declare them bankrupt,” he said. “And they’re depriving kids of an appropriate education.”
And Eddy has the statistics to back up his assertion that students are failing, producing a copy of the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Annual Report Data for 2007.
“The average kid is far below what it takes to get into a four-year college in Missouri,” he said.
For example, the composite score for the American College Test (ACT), a college entrance exam, is 16.3 percent for Kansas City, Mo. School District students (including Lincoln College Prep and Independence students) but 21.6 percent statewide. And the percentage of students scoring at or above the national average is 10.9 percent for KCMSD, while it is 34.4 percent statewide. Further, the drop-out rate for grades 9 through 12 is 21.1 percent for KCMSD students but only 4.2 percent for the state.
One reason for this, Eddy said, is that some KCMSD teachers have chosen not to follow the state curriculum and instead change it to their liking.
“The problem with this is that students are tested on the state curriculum,” he said.
Another reason Eddy believes students are failing is because the district hires unqualified teachers.
“It’s not much based on competence or who is doing a good job or who is a professional. It’s based on who knows who, rather than a professional evaluation and solid standards. And kids don’t come into the damn equation at all. And that’s the problem,” he said, throwing his hands in the air in apparent exasperation.
“Teachers are getting by with behavior in this district they would never get by with in Blue Springs or Blue Valley,” he added. “So you can’t blame the lack of success on kids.”
And the end result?
“It has made the organization sick, and department, to have this going on,” he said.
But Eddy said “there are good people in the district.”
“They say, ‘How much longer can I survive here?’ And they leave.”
And students are fleeing, too.
Eddy said that enrollment continues to dramatically drop each year as more and more parents enroll their children in parochial or charter schools. He said Kansas City has the second largest number of charter schools in the nation. New Orleans is number one.
Eddy’s proposed solution?
“Citizens and voters need to move in and replace the board and bring in a CEO to fix this thing. Otherwise, it’s not going to get fixed,” he said. “I’m suggesting the community take a hard look at moving from an elected board to an appointed board.”
Eddy’s plan is based upon the book, “The Education Mayor,” by Shen Wong. The well-researched book details the results of a five-year study of what was required to turn-around dysfunctional school districts in the nation.
He said members of the appointed board would consist of leading citizens with an organizational background.
But these proposed changes do not come without great challenge.
“Some people do not trust local government – the city council – and there is distrust at the state level,” Eddy said.
Eddy also has hired a political pollster to conduct a study to determine how the community feels about the current KCMSD. The poll is sponsored by the Citizens Association and from donations received from concerned individuals and businesses.
While full results are not yet in, Eddy said the information gathered is not surprising.
“Early records of the poll show an overwhelming discontent with the school system.”
And, not surprisingly, Eddy said he anticipates opposition to his proposal from the school board.
“Clearly, one part of the resistance is (the school board),” he said. “No one wants to give up their power.”
But Eddy is not a man who is easily deterred from a goal.
“It’s time for the community to take a hard look at where we’re going or stop complaining and wringing our hands about it. Let’s fix it.”
(Part one of a series on the Kansas City, Mo. School District.)
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