Final "Up Yours" from OPS Superintendent

None

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Well, we all got one moreglorious up yours by the departing superintendent of
the Omaha Public Schools. The othernight, doctor Cheryl Logan appeared before the
Board of Education with some parting comments. Six months ago, she left the
job, but stuck around to ensurethat each of those forty one thousand dollars

(00:21):
per month pay and benefits checks cashedand somebody's thought that was okay. These
final public comments, like most ofher others, were eye popping, even
though they shouldn't have been. Withthe exception of kfab, have rarely been
aired on any of the local televisionstations or put into print by newspapers or
websites. This time again ignored bythe local media. She used the Hollywood

(00:46):
movie classic The Wizard of Oz allegoricallyto describe her experience at ops. Complained
about too many people around here withoutcourage, brains, or a heart,
too many bades out west, withthe good ones confined just to the north.
At each day's turn, she wassurrounded by flying monkeys, figuratively whisking

(01:08):
her away to a locked room whereshe no doubt feared for her professional future.
As you know in the movie,Dorothy never actually was transported to a
faraway place over the rainbow. Itwas all just a bad dream that doctor
Logan as how we allegorically describe whatit was like having you. History will

(01:33):
objectively record that during her tenure,absentee and truancy rates spiked, test scores
cratered morale is Solo teachers exited thesystem with historic quickness and volume. Physical
violence between and among students was commonin the hallways of school buildings. The

(01:56):
transportation program became a model of repeatedcompetence. Enrollment dropped dramatically, which drove
the percentage of kids on free andreduced lunch to new highs. She once
appeared on a public zoom call voicingracist implications toward families in her own district.
And it was doctor Logan who wasthe object of a public meeting last

(02:19):
year at which a fifteen year oldOPS student calmly, collectively publicly detailed each
of her colossal management failures, concludingwith a plea to the board for her
dismissal. That episode was groundbreaking,not just in Omaha, but across the
country. But you know, it'snot all her fault. Cheryl Logan didn't

(02:44):
seize this job in a coup.She didn't invade Omaha behind guns and tanks.
Nobody was forced to hire her.Rather, Cheryl Logan was interviewed,
lightly vetted, ultimately placed in chargeby the elected Board of Education with virtually
no word about the inconvenience of governanceor oversight. It is they, with

(03:05):
many co conspirators, who are responsiblefor this seven hundred and thirty million dollars
per year raw deal, which iswhat the forty eight thousand kids and their
families are getting. Cheryl Logan didn'tlet down ops families. The community did.
The next Omaha mayor who publicly questionsachievement, management, standards, or

(03:25):
performance of the Omaha Public school systemwill be the first one. The next
city councilperson, county board member,philanthropic or corporate leader, state senator,
congressman who offers solutions for these dreadfulproblems will be the first ones. In
some cases, there have been privatediscussions, but near that I can recall.

(03:46):
Other than topics about school funding andtaxation, few have ever called out
these failures and then lead on remedies. Lots of school districts to which you
can easily transfer the parochials are bursting, school rates are zooming, all of
which have given politicos and others aneasy escape and paves the way for another

(04:08):
Cheryl logan. That's where I amtoday. I call on all of you
to prioritize the needs of these kidsand families. That doesn't mean more money.
That means convening to collaborate on ideas, plans, reforms, to raise
expectations, after which results will alwaysfollow. My children are grown. Life's

(04:28):
opportunities have taken them away from Omahaand Nebraska. There are a little chance
either will return to raise a family. So I don't have a dog in
this hunt, other than great concernthat each year too many young people go
into and out of this system,ham strung