ZeroIntelligence.net

Update 30 April 2004: Perry gets the benefit of some tolerance (at bottom of post)

Alexandria Superintendent Busted For Drunk Driving
Schools Chief’s Arrest Sparks Criticism, Support
Alexandria School Chief, Board Discuss DWI Charge
Zero Tolerance — For Mistakes or Second Chances

Last Friday, Alexandria City Public Schools Superintendent Rebecca Perry was arrested for driving drunk. Her blood alcohol level was 150% of the legal limit.

Perry became the city’s first female superintendent when she took the job in August 2001. She had previously been superintendent in Mecklenburg County in Southside Virginia and had spent 21 years in Fauquier County public schools as a teacher and administrator.

She has apparently done a bang-up job as superintendent. The district has only a single school left on the “needs improvement” list under the federal No Child Left Behind law and she just made the necessary personnel moves to address it. As you might expect she has a good relationship with the school board and enjoys the support of many parents. As you’d also expect, she has some detractors - people who think she’s too aggressive or pushes her changes too hard.

So what? What does it matter if she’s the best thing since sliced bread? She broke the law. She broke a hot button law and her actions directly undermine her own authority and the strength of the message she is responsible for sending to the kids in her school district.

And it was Perry’s predecessor, Herb Berg, who won an invitation to the White House to tout the success of T.C. Williams High School’s zero-tolerance policy toward use of drugs and alcohol. Berg in 1999 proudly announced that Alexandria schools had “a zero tolerance for any kind of behavior that might lead to an escalation. If we think of our principals as traffic cops who can issue a ticket or a warning, they are delivering on their promise to parents to write tickets and not let students off with just a warning.”

Perry deserves a ticket and not a warning, just like her kids get. In this case that ticket is a pink slip.

(Tip credit to Thief)

UPDATE

Alexandria Panel Retains Schools Chief

By a vote of 7 to 1 (one member* of the 9 person panel did not vote) the Alexandria school board has voted to retain Superintendent Rebecca L.Perry. Surprised? Neither am I. Attempting to implement a zero tolerance style verdict against a contracted worker is simply not possible in the adult world. They only stand up when implemented against people who are not allowed their full slate of citizens’ rights.

The board placed several conditions on her continued employment — including shortening her contract by a year, to end in June 2005, and requiring her to enroll in an alcohol counseling program. But her contract, worth $168,000 a year, can be renewed.

Perry, who did not attend the emergency meeting, the fourth since her arrest early last Friday and the first to be open to the public, issued a written statement accepting the conditions. The statement repeated the apology and the plea for forgiveness she made Tuesday.

“I deeply appreciate that the School Board has chosen to give me a second chance,” she added. “I pledge to do whatever I can to share the lessons I have learned from this experience with our students and community.”

As Thief noted when sending me this story update, “Let’s hope that this incident leaves America with at least one school official who knows the value of a second chance whenever Zero-Tolerance comes up.”

I couldn’t agree more. Ms.Perry, your first task is to work on removing the zero tolerance policies you were lucky enough to bypass.

* Board member Melissa W. Luby who was in the car when Perry was arrested and had recused herself from considering Perry’s future.