Sunday, Feb. 05, 2012

Successes mark Tata's first year, but several challenges loom

tgoldsmith@newsobserver.com

One year ago, Tony Tata stepped into the job of Wake County school superintendent amid questions about how he could refocus a school system in flux and a school board in turmoil.

Now Tata can look back on shepherding the district through a new student-assignment plan, developing a budget that avoided teacher layoffs, bringing relative calm to the board and moving Wake back toward full accreditation for its high schools. Tata also has won over many of the skeptics who questioned how a retired U.S. Army brigadier general could lead one of the nation's largest school systems.

"I sleep well at night knowing that I left everything out on the field," Tata said recently after touring Vance Elementary School in Garner. "I get up and get after it again the next day. I am driven by the desire to serve the students, the parents and the staff as well as I can."

But as Tata marks his one-year anniversary, he faces challenges, such as implementing the assignment plan and pulling more budget tricks out of his hat. He also faces a new Democratic school board majority, none of whom voted to hire him.

He's also dealing with resistance from some parents who feel their options under the new assignment plan leave them worse off than before. "We are supposed to have all these great choices, but the lack of actual seats at my closest-proximity school is dismal," said Robin Stewart, 41, of Raleigh, whose daughter attends Joyner Elementary.

"I thought I always had the opportunity to return to my base and that's not true," Stewart said. "We are not getting a real choice."

A test of Tata's continued support could come as early as this week, when Republican school board members say they will push for Tata's contract to be extended beyond its June 2014 term. "I'm a little concerned that some people won't extend it because they want to prove that they're in charge," said Republican school board member Chris Malone.

Democratic school board vice chairman Keith Sutton is less eager. "Any talk about extending a contract would be premature. There are steps that you'd want to take before you start talking about that."

But Sutton is also quick to praise Tata for having "calmed the waters" in the district. "I think he's done well and is certainly on the way to being a successful superintendent," he said.

Early skepticism

Tata's public perception wasn't nearly as uniformly positive when the school board hired him on Dec. 23, 2010, with only Republicans backing him. Critics questioned the vote's timing, his limited education experience and his commentary on conservative websites.

Tata stopped his political commentary after coming to Wake, saying he was focused solely on being superintendent. He said he's turned down dozens of interview requests to talk about topics such as the death of Osama bin Laden and the revolutionary turmoil in Libya and Syria.

Tata also met with as many groups as possible, including critics such as the state NAACP, which decried his hiring. He said he was also on pace to visit all 165 schools in his first year.

"He's been leading from the front," said Republican school board member John Tedesco.

Former Wake student Monserrat Alvarez and others picketed outside a speech that Tata gave to the Wake County Taxpayers Association last January. Alvarez admits to some lingering suspicion of Tata because of the partisan vote to hire him.

"He has done a good job, but I still have some doubts about him and how he came here," Alvarez said.

On the other hand, Harvey Schmitt, president of the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, says there's no question about Tata's support from the business community. "From the perspective of the business community, he has won a great deal of respect," Schmitt said. "He has done a good job of meeting the challenges he's faced and positioning the school system moving forward."

Mark Elgart, president of AdvancED, the Georgia-based group that accredits Wake's high schools, said Tata's level of support was apparent when a review team came to the county in November. If progress continues, Elgart said, the high schools should regain full accreditation by next January.

"He has clearly gained the confidence of the board and the community," Elgart said.

Challenges ahead

But heading into year two, Tata faces pressing challenges. One to watch will be families' responses in March when they find out if they got their schools of choice under the assignment plan.

At the same time, Tata is also drafting a budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year that deals with the loss of $28 million in one-time federal funds that saved 500 teaching jobs last year. Board members credit Tata's lobbying state legislators for helping stave off deeper cuts from K-12 education. But the state faces another lean budget year.

Democratic board members are expected to ask for more money from county commissioners to help offset relatively flat funding for the past few years. Tata said he'll ask for a "realistic budget" but added that it's premature to announce whether he'll seek more from the county.

"It's going to be tight, but we're going to make a recommendation that right now does not cut teachers or anyone in the classroom," Tata said.

The funding challenges will have to be solved with new board leadership. "I'm trusting the superintendent and the staff on this (assignment) plan," said Christine Kushner, part of the board's new Democratic majority.

The other two new Democratic school board members - Susan Evans and Jim Martin - have gone head-to-head at board meetings with the superintendent. Tata calls the interactions with the new board "fair and healthy discussion."

Martin responded to a request for comment by emailing that a formal, closed-door, board review is a more-appropriate forum for discussing Tata's performance than a debate in the media.

Malone, the Republican board member, said some board members aren't showing Tata the respect he's showing them. And Tedesco warned that Tata's performance has been so strong he could be lured away if he gets too hard a time from board members.

Sutton, the Democratic board member, downplayed those concerns. "Certainly the tensions are visible. But I'm not going to get into who's respecting who or who's not respecting who. I don't think he's the kind of person who'd leave because he was disrespected or feeling tension."

For his part, Tata said he's not looking to leave. "I love the job, and I'd like to stay as long as Wake County would have me," he said.