THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 8, 1995 TAG: 9512080500
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALETA PAYNE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: GREENVILLE, S.C. LENGTH: Long : 155 lines
Cynthia Minton stands in front of Blythe Academy, the public elementary school where she is principal, where students as young as 5 are learning a foreign language, where two infants are on the waiting list for the kindergarten class of 2001.
Blythe is one of six magnet schools started during the brief tenure of schools Superintendent Tim Jenney, one of three finalists for the Virginia Beach superintendent's job. Charged by the board with revitalizing Greenville's fading inner-city schools, Jenney started the magnet program - now in its first year - with $1.5 million of the district's $300 million budget.
Minton is torn because she believes Jenney deserves credit for getting the program off the ground under difficult circumstances, but she also wants to keep him in Greenville to make sure the innovative schools that offer intensive instruction in foreign languages, science and technology or communication arts flourish.
``I wish I had something bad to tell you about Dr. Jenney,'' she finally says. ``But it would be a lie.''
The truth about Jenney is that a lot of people say they like him, that they are pleased with what he's done for the schools in Greenville and that they wish he wasn't interested in leaving so soon. They also say, however, that they understand why he'd look elsewhere. Jenney, by his own admission, is frustrated by a board at war with itself.
Board watching has become something of a spectator sport in this sprawling Southern county.
At school board meetings, community members sometimes berate the 12-member board for two hours before any official business takes place.
Board votes often are split 7-5, the majority made up of a group accused of micro-managing. They eliminated a policy, for example, that prohibited board interference in the superintendent's day-to-day running of the schools. Meetings sometimes last until 4 in the morning. During one session, a board member threw her microphone before storming out.
``If we weren't dealing with the factors we're dealing with here, I wouldn't be looking (for another job),'' Jenney says, seated in his office decorated with collectibles of his favorite author - Mark Twain. But, he adds, ``This is an issue of where can I be most effective, and I think I can be effective in Virginia Beach.''
A former elementary and junior high school teacher, Jenney is in his fourth superintendent's post in 12 years. He had served in districts in Michigan and in Tulsa, Okla.
Supporters describe him as a visionary and a strong manager of finances who has strengthened the ties between Greenville's schools and its business community, meeting with the leaders of new companies to find out what they would like to see in the schools.
They cite the magnet schools program, his reorganization of the 56,000-student district's administration and a ``customer-friendly'' information line that he has set up so that parent and staff questions are answered by a real person rather than getting lost in voice mail.
That he has done this with a tumultuous board in such a little time is impressive, they say.
The Greenville board went looking for someone who ``wanted to try things a little differently and wasn't afraid to jeopardize the status quo,'' said Grier Mullins, executive director of the Alliance for Quality Education. ``Things weren't going badly here, but we needed to be innovative. We needed to look at some sacred cows.''
Though he was hired with that charge, board interference often stifled his efforts.
``The board has not let him run this company,'' said Mullins, whose organization provides grants to local schools. ``Essentially, they tied his hands in a lot of those areas.''
Even board members concede that Jenney is not the problem.
``I think there are a lot more things he could have done and hasn't been able to do because our board is so dysfunctional,'' said board member Margaret Burch.
For his part, Jenney said he tries not to take the infighting personally. And, while he has some concerns that the makeup of the Virginia Beach School Board that hires him could change with the May election, Jenney said he doesn't think the same set of factors would emerge in Virginia Beach as they have in Greenville.
``I don't think it could clone what happens here,'' he said.
Jenney said he was asked to apply for the Virginia Beach job, but there is much about the 75,000-student district that drew him. He has wanted to lead a large school district, a factor in his rapid movement through jobs, he says. He thinks the school district is ripe for trying new programs, including additional magnet schools and alternative programs.
The size of the district - Virginia's second largest - gives it the potential for influence in statewide issues. He sees the possibility of boosting both per-pupil expenditures and salaries given the district's strong tax base. Building a relationship of trust and collaboration between the city and the school district, and reinforcing the connection between good schools and a good quality of life, are critical to such an effort, he said.
The district's financial situation - a $12.1 million shortfall in the last fiscal year and a potential shortfall for this year that has produced stringent spending measures - is a problem, but not an insurmountable one, Jenney said.
``I've not known those issues not to be fixable,'' he said. ``With proactive positions and good, prudent fiscal policy, I think it can be overcome in a relatively short period of time.''
In Greenville and Oklahoma's Union Public Schools, where he served as superintendent for four years, Jenney and his staff won awards for financial reporting and are credited with improving the financial status. He has more than doubled the reserve fund in Greenville since arriving. Jenney credits his success in financial matters to good mentors and to surrounding himself with a strong support network of finance and human resource managers as well as assistant superintendents.
``If (financial expertise) is there, you nurture it,'' he said. ``If it's not, you build it.''
``If you balance the organization so that everyone has a stake in the bottom line, I think you end up with a quality product.''
In both school districts, he has brought in some new administrative staff and promoted others from within. He declined to say whether he would do the same in Virginia Beach. ``I don't think that's a point I need to discuss at the moment. . . . I still only have a 33 1/3% chance.''
Jenney has been a proponent of year-round schools in both Tulsa and Greenville. The proposal caused considerably more controversy in Oklahoma, where it was eventually attempted on a limited basis, than in Greenville, where the board is expected to approve a year-round magnet school that would start this summer.
Jenney notes studies that show the benefits of year-round education, particularly for low-achieving students, because it limits the need for remediation. But Jenney believes all students can be helped by year-round education, and, if given the job, he might pursue such an effort in Virginia Beach.
Among those who think Jenney would be good for the Beach schools is someone who knows the city well, longtime resident and former City Manager Aubrey Watts, now city manager in Greenville.
``He knows that there's turmoil (in Virginia Beach) and he's dealt with turmoil here,'' Watts said. ``He dealt with a board that'd divided and he's managed to get good things done.''
Watts said Jenney has a good relationship with both the city and county councils. While those bodies do not have the financial ties to the school district that they would have in Virginia, the schools must still work with them on issues affecting quality of life in the area.
``I still have the utmost regard for Virginia Beach,'' Watts said. ``I wouldn't want to see anything but the best successes in Virginia Beach, and I think Tim could be a part of that.''
Representatives of parents and teachers - often two of the toughest constituencies to please - also say Jenney has done a good job for Greenville.
``He's very goal-oriented, very determined,'' said Jerry Sizemore, president of the Greenville County PTA. ``As a parent, as a concerned citizen, I have appreciated his courage, his direction and his goals.''
Some of the administrative moves and the decision to allow magnet school principals to choose their staffs did not sit well with all employees, but Betty Crain, president of the Greenville County Education Association, said her group's been pleased with what Jenney has accomplished.
``He listens to our concerns and addresses them if something can be done about them,'' she said. ``You can depend on what he tells you. He's not wishy washy. He takes on a job and gets it done.''
``I just hate to see him go,'' Crain said. ``Seventeen months is not enough time for anybody in their job. But I don't blame him.'' by CNB