David Testerman

Last night while watching the nightly news I got the pleasure of watching David Testerman shout at a roomful of parents in an attempt to admonish them for wanting to protect their children.  

“Whats wrong with you people?”  Testerman shouted as he rose from his seat in anger.  

Mr. Testerman what is “wrong” with these parents is they expect the Chief Administrator for their public school system to fight for their children.  They absurdly expect when a major incident takes place within our schools for the protection of our children to be priority one.  When they see the person expected to be Chief Advocate instead focusing on telling people how the Hamilton County employees are not responsible it upsets them.

The outrage coming from the public, Mr. Testerman, isn’t about who is responsible for what happened in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.  The outrage is from what didn’t happen within the administration and the Board of Education.

You see, even if we look past the 48 hours it took Superintendent Smith to contact the school board, we expect to see an administration and board focused on finding out what happened and talking to the pubic about preventing similar incidents from ever happening again anywhere else in Hamilton County.  Coaches, instead of being suspended pending the outcome of the investigation, were shuffled to the book depot.

Finally the basketball team’s season was allowed to continue as if the events that took place were a single minor incident of trivial proportions.  Participation in team sports are invaluable to the growth and development of our youth.  It can teach them incalculable things about  life and working together to meet a goal.  These life lessons should not come at the expense of the safety or welfare of the students on the team. 

When at least three members of the team are assaulted by other members of the team and they still attend a tournament, people will be outraged, and rightfully so.

Later we have Rick Smith smiling for the cameras saying how the coaches and athletic director will be cleared of any wrongdoing and are not responsible for what happened.  Yet days later they are charged with failing to report  the incident to the Department of Children Services … something they knew was required by law.  Mr. Smith’s reasoning of their failure to report is that they failed to follow policy.

Mr. Testerman, when an event of this proportion happens would it not make sense for Mr. Smith or someone in his administration to have followed up with the coaches and asked if all the correct paperwork had been submitted regarding the incident?

There has been a clear failure in leadership regarding the handling of this incident.  The administration comes off as incompetent at best.

Mr. Testerman, you were elected by the people and serve at their will.  That means making sure a parent’s concern is your concern.  Maybe you’re too much of an insider to do that.  Maybe the fact that you’re cronies with the people you’re elected to oversee means that you can’t do your job effectively.  Maybe remaining a member in good standing of the Good Ole Boys Club is more important to you than serving those that elect you. 

Maybe, just maybe, it’s time for us to choose someone else.