URGENT: Director of Smith County Schools Evaluation

Parents & Residents of Smith County
Time Is Ticking
JULY 21st Is The Next SCBOE Meeting
At the June 16 Meeting the School Board agreed to fill out written evaluations on the Directors performance and turn them in by the July meeting. The appointment of the Director is one of the only things the Board has authority to do and his evaluation should be important to anyone interested in the schools. There was no discussion about allowing any public input or involvement. In fact, it appears that the members of the school board do not realize that they are public officials and should ask for your views.
As residents and parents of Smith County we all need to do three things:
1. Call or write your Board member and give your honest opinion on the Director.
2. Call or write all Board members and tell them your own opinion even if they are in a different district. They are responsible for a whole system not just their district.
3. As tax payers we need to ask them for a public hearing so anyone can have a reasonable opportunity to state his/her views before the whole Board. We need to remind the Board members that they are our representatives and they should at least be willing to listen. This is the first evaluation of the Director and is only done once a year so now is the time to have your say.

For a complete listing of our School Board Members with contact information go to: www.gordonsvillehighschool.blogspot.com

I recently sat in on a school board meeting where the board members had little or no say so. The members are there to represent there district on concerns not to just set and agree with everything Mr. Lewis says. What makes him always right? It is though he has some members in his so called back pocket. Just how much money does Mr. Lewis make to play God? I am glad to see that maybe the board members can get a say and for those that have not been so called bought off stand up for your community that put you in office and open your eyes to what is going on and stop believing hear say and get to the truth of the matter. Teachers are special people that we depend on to teach our kids and for some reason Mr. Lewis has alot of personal anger against some that want to stand up to him. So, please take a long hard look at his years in office and stand up and sound off for your kids in your neighborhoods. The public put you in office not to always agree but to stand up and speak.

We need board members to listen to the public before they finish any evaluation of our Director. There are a lot of unhappy residents in our county that have dealt with him with little to NO action taken to resolve any issues.
Our new members started out good & strong only to be pushed down by Pat Massey & Larry Wilkerson. I'm not sure what Mr. Lewis has over them but they are definitely in his pocket. The Director is supposed to be evaluated like any other employee, so why did Massey & Wilkerson fight so hard against about doing it. Is there something they are afraid of? If Mr. Lewis is doing his job properly then why not allow an evaluation? Does the public know that they have fought this and he has never been evaluated since taking the job in 2000?
How can the board members feel confident in renewing his contract without any evaluations or public input? Everyone needs to call Massey & Wilkerson to find out why they feel Mr. Lewis should get a free pass.

We all know Larry and Pat bow down to the almighty Roger but how about the rest of the board. Anyone witnessed them in action at the meetings?

We all know Larry and Pat bow down to the almighty Roger but how about the rest of the board. Anyone witnessed them in action at the meetings?

don't forget Scotty, he's a buddy too. Amazing to see grown men with no ability to thinkn for themselves. It's sad really.
too bad morals aren't a requirement ..
oh but then we'd be losing some staff members as well, wouldn't we ladies?

I think we as a community need to clean house within our school system starting with Mr. Lewis & Mrs. Fox and work our way down from there.

Just bumping this up so the good people of Smith County can see i.

Something must be done.

The day of the good ol' boy should be no more.

I read the blog in the link. I am not surprised Roger Lewis never did anything about the complaints these parents brought forward that is his signature. He has not listened to parents in our county for years. Why because we have allowed it. He allows the bad teachers, coaches and all his buddies to do whatever the flip they want to for the good of our kids. When you have teachers grabbing and cussing our students we as a community need to take issue with that. We have a director passing up qualified folks by putting his buddies in jobs. We are losing good teachers, principals and helpers in our school system only to get more and more of his buddies in.

What I find completely nuts is that this family had to hire an attorney to force Lewis to do his job, while he sat their with the school attorney their taxes paid for. What happens to those parents that can’t afford to hire an attorney do their kids just have to suffer? Are we as parents suppose to keep our fingers crossed that our children aren’t being verbally and physically abused when going to school in Smith County? Are we to wonder if our children are being treated equally and fair in Smith County? We all know that Roger Lewis has his favorite schools, principals and pet projects that get to call all the shots. Why is it we allow that? Don’t we as a community pay for our schools and his salary in our taxes? If he works for us then why are we allowing him to destroy our schools?

Everyone in this community wants to give him kudos for our high scores but isn’t it really the teachers and students that are doing all the work? Does Roger Lewis only care about these kids getting the scores while they are in school to make him look good or do the scores he likes to brag about there to help our kids in their future? Why doesn't he work with the school counselors to help more kids in our community get into college? If our scores are so high in this community then why is the college drop-out rate so high after these kids leave our county? Maybe because he cares more about his report cards then our kids being prepared for their futures.

What is Janice Fox's job? If her job is taking the reports then we need someone new. I have come to an understanding due to her actions that Janice Fox’s only job in our school system is to do what Roger Lewis tells her to do. When you have a complaints coordinator telling parents to move to another school to correct the problem we as a community need to step up to make sure she is moved to another school system.

My biggest wonder is why did the board that we elected to look out for our community not step in to help this family. Are they just going to sit there to take orders from Roger Lewis? Do they sit in these meetings Roger Lewis is running only to talk about what he allows them to talk about? I read in the blog where they gave their contact information but did this family ever get to speak with any of them or did they receive any help from one of our board members. Do we want people in office that are looking out for Roger Lewis and his buddies? Think about that - Call your school board members to say “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.”

who pays for the upkeep on the building known as the Smith County High School Field House?? I know the funds were raised by the booster club but did they create a trust for the care and upkeep?

Teachers are afraid of the big bad wolf. Any lawyer can tell you that there is a huge difference between what is unfair and what is illegal. If it's not specifically written in the contract, the educational leadership in Smith County can do whatever he/she wants. The legal community in Smith County has known this for years, as well as the state office of discrimination and human rights.

When it all "hits the fan" so to speak, history has shown that teachers and their organization tend to run and hide, bury their heads, and "not get involved". Job security. Tenure is only the illusion of security.

The only true security is to kiss, well, you know.

Legally, just as ignorance of the law is no excuse, not knowing everything in the School Board Policy is no excuse. Has anyone ever had the opportunity to obtain a copy of the thick binder filled policy? History has shown that many of the board members haven't read it either unless some policy is on the agenda.

So, the only real power the public has is to show up at board meetings, use your vote to elect someone who will listen to the public, ask questions at a meeting, etc. You can also be put on the meeting agenda to address the board. Go for it.

Until you the public does something other than bitch about it on a comment board then nothing will be done. Find yourself a leader, get out a board meetings, stage a protest, write the letters to the editor of the Carthage courier and demand investigations. There is nothing more powerful than the "Voice of the People" When one person starts talking you know how information travels.

Over the summer I had something come up with a student. It was a Felony and when I took it to Mr. Lewis he was scared to do anything about it. He had to wait to hear from the lawyers and the board on what to do. I found the policy and pointed it out to the lawyers, the board and Mr. Lewis but it still took them 3 months to do anything about it. Mean while this student who committed a felony on child was able to walk around free willed at our high school and also was able to do after school activies. Ya are children are real safe when we allow felonys to walk the hall even if they are kids themselves.

the whole board,mr.lewis,and ms.,fox should be kicked out.they are a bunch of blow hards that blow mr.,lewis when he says jump!he doesn't care about any of these schools.he doesn't have the balls to run the education dept.,or the board members to.they should take larry wilkerson out and let the people beat him like a red-headed stepchild.he is such a back stabber.

i know mr.lewis personally and professionally. i know he has no self interest in the position he holds and that no one could be more dedicated to the education of children in smith county. he is a man of integrity!!

what turnip truck did you fall off volsmann?? you must thinking of another Rogie Lewis, one who doesn't cheat on his wife, drink like a fish and has better sense than to be caught coming out of a motel in Nashville with a co-worker. Rogie has been cloned !!!!:O

volsmann wrote:

i know mr.lewis personally and professionally. i know he has no self interest in the position he holds and that no one could be more dedicated to the education of children in smith county. he is a man of integrity!!

Pay me upwards of 80 grand a year with a contract in place that keeps me making that money for the next 4 years even if i get canned and i would put on an air of integrity and ACT like i cared about my job also!!!!!!!!! Thats right folks his contract states that if they get rid of him within that contract period he still gets paid! How do you like that for your superior school board elected officials, doing a good job arent they? We, the people, have NO SAY in who our school superintendant is anymore remember? Yeah he has a "self interest" in the job he holds its called money.

What board members are up for election this fall?

Smith County school system??? They are so far behind that it is pitiful. I attended school up north and let me tell you, in high school I was taking college level classes. Not to mention I took the two year health classes that taught you your medical terminology and Human anatomy & physiology 1 & 2. Plus, lets see I took calculus and psychology. I was a member of HOSA also. Most of you dont even know what that means inless you are in the medical field. I have seen some of the second graders homework. It was the same stuff that I was taught in Kindergarden. I am sorry to say but something needs to be done about this school system here.

i suppose i represent the minority opinion in that i believe from personal experience the director and the board are trying to advance education in smith county...are there hard decisions?of course...are all decisions popular?of course not...but to think any of these men have Mr.Lewis thinking for them tells me you do not know these men!!!