Hundreds of people stood and cheered last Thursday when the School Board announced that Superintendent Clifford Janey will be leaving.

Cheered? I just wanted to throw up.

Should Janey leave? Probably. Is this the right time? I donít know. One thingís for sure, though: this isnít the right way.

It may have made some School Board members feel good to throw stones at Janey over the past few weeks. It may have made some people feel good to humiliate him last week with their cheers. But as teachers-union president Adam Urbanski says, ìOnce a decision has been made to let someone go, itís not too much to ask to let him go with dignity.î

Six of the seven School Board members decided that Janey should leave. They hope this will defuse the emotions surrounding the budget problems. Maybe it will. But removing Janey wonít solve all the problems. And it may compound some of them. For starters:

The School Board has to quickly hire an interim superintendent --- and start looking for Janeyís replacement. This is a very tricky time for that work. Whatever budget the board adopts this month, it will be only a piece of paper. The interim superintendent will have to implement that budget --- move staff around, guide schools through the loss of librarians and counselors (if thatís what weíre facing). And help schools deal with the influx of students from programs like Josh Lofton and SHAPE, which serve students with some of the most intense needs.

The interim will have to lobby for more state aid. And supervise budget adjustments when we learn what that state aid will be. And start preparing the next budget.

The interim will have to hire new administrators. Forty-eight people --- including some of the districtís most highly respected principals --- are retiring this year. Thatís 17 percent of the districtís administrative staff.

And that doesnít count the administrators who will lose their jobs to budget cuts ñ somewhere between 20 and 70, administrators-union president Dick Stear estimates. While those cuts will save money, the district will be losing history --- the knowledge those administrators have --- at a time when a new superintendent will need that history.

The district will also have to hire some new teachers; how many isnít yet known. The budget crisis is forcing layoffs of more than 500, but thereíll undoubtedly be some vacancies in positions that arenít being abolished. Urbanski guesses maybe 150.

Who hires the teachers? The districtís human relations department --- which, says Urbanski, is losing three of its top people to layoffs.

And Patti Malgieri, head of the Center for Governmental Research and a close observer of the school district, points out one of the biggest challenges for the interim: helping the district ìre-establish financial credibility.î

Then thereís morale, which Dick Stear calls ìterrible.î ìIt has never been worse,î says Urbanski, ìin Central Office or in the schools.î

Part of the morale problem, no doubt, is due to the looming budget cuts. Itís hard to be upbeat if youíre afraid youíre going to lose your job. Or if youíre keeping your job, but your working conditions will get worse: class sizes will grow, and youíll take on the role of librarian or guidance counselor. And youíll be getting a new class of students who are falling behind and didnít have the benefit of summer school.

But my sense is that the attacks on the school district and its personnel --- from the public, from other elected officials, from business leaders, even from some School Board members --- are also taking a toll.

The School Board needs to rally the community around the school district --- around teachers and administrators and service workers. These are the publicís employees, for peteís sake: public servants in some of the nationís toughest (and most underpaid) careers. We donít encourage them to do a good job --- we canít encourage them to care for our children --- if we dump on them all the time.

There are tough days ahead, and not just over the next few months. Dick Stear thinks this yearís state clampdown on school spending may be just the beginning.

Adam Urbanskiís assessment of the district at this time: ìWeíre in big trouble.î

<sub14>Wow, Jack!

<text>For a minute, I thought heíd finally figured it out.

ìDoyle fears ëdevastating effectí if graduates are not employable,î read the headline on a recent Democrat and Chronicle article.

ìIf we canít get our work force out of the city school kids,î County Exec Jack Doyle told the D&C, ìweíre going to be hurting.î

You betcha.

But Doyle wasnít issuing a community call to action. He wasnít suggesting that state legislators act immediately to solve the City School Districtís budget crisis. He wasnít urging a regional program to tackle the concentrated poverty of the school district. He wasnít offering to give the school district more of the county sales tax.

No indeed. He was yelling at the School Board --- and at his favorite demon, Mayor Bill Johnson. Shape up! Shape up!

The district absolutely must get its financial act together. And no, money isnít the ultimate solution. Frankly, weíre asking the district to do an impossible job: to overcome the effects of concentrated poverty.

But the district does have to have enough money to pay teachers competitive salaries. It does have to have enough money to provide the programs and services that the state and federal government mandate but donít pay for.

It does have to have enough money to train its teachers, to keep its buildings in decent shape, to provide crossing guards. And some of us believe it needs enough money for things like elementary-school librarians, art and music classes, sports, unique programs like Wilson International Baccalaureate, AP classes, School of the Arts, School Without Walls.

Some of us believe the district needs to be able to reduce class sizes, pay aides --- do whatever it can to cope with the catastrophic effects of concentrated poverty and racial segregation.

Money wonít make those problems go away. But without adequate funding, the problems will be worse. Much worse.

<ding>n

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