Dear Colleagues,
It is with extremely mixed emotions that I write to share with you my decision to retire from Suffolk Public Schools effective June 30, 2010. I will not endeavor to explain all of my reasons for retiring at this time but I do want to share with you that I have always known that I would know when it was my time to leave. I know that time is now.I want you all to know that I am very proud of what WE have accomplished during the past ten years. I won’t attempt to list those many accomplishments. We all know what they are. None of them could have occurred without your hard work and dedication. I have just been blessed to have been superintendent while WE have made so very much progress. I thank you for giving me permission to lead you for these last ten year. I have every confidence that you will continue to move this school system forward. I will be watching your progress and praying for your efforts.
To paraphrase Captain Picard on the final voyage of the Starship Enterprise: You are, without question, the finest team of professionals ever assembled. It has been my honor and my privilege to have served with you. Safe Journeys,
Milton R. Liverman, Ed.D.
Superintendent, Suffolk Public Schools
16 comments:
Based on the content of the letter, a more appropriate analogy rather than using a Star Trek quote the Superintendent should have used a Dirty Harry movie quote from the sequel Magnum Force ... when Dirty Harry's supervisor Lt Briggs states how proud he was that he never had to pull his gun from his holster in 20 years of service and Dirty Harry responded, "That's good, a man got to know his limitations." Apparently, the Superintendent does ... finally.
The real issue is the school board has the opportunity to pick a successor that can turn things around. Unfortunately, I don't think they have the metal acumen to pick that person ... mainly because they don't realize their own limitations ... and track record.
Liverman, 58, is the third South Hampton Roads superintendent to say he will step down this school year. The leaders of the Chesapeake and Norfolk school divisions also are leaving in June.
What is going on?
Wow the right, just and pious Doctor Milton Liverman is leaving. He is probably going to start some race based religious learning non-profit organization for children at-risk. Maybe he'll run for elected office or open up another evangelical ministry of "Show Me The Money". He already has a big Mercedes. Maybe he could become a learning consultant or a salesman for a high school jewelry company. The most important thing is he is leaving just when the school system is facing tough economic times and a growing number of schools are failing. Teachers and parents what do you think of him now; coward, quitter, loser, selfish, fill-in-the-blank.
The Superintendent of Suffolk City Schools paraphrases Star Trek in his resignation letter. My doesn't that say it all about the man. For the remaining school administrators the correct Vulcan reply is to raise your right hand part the ring finger from the middle finger and reply "live long and prosper". For the rest of us the middle finger will do.
I like all of the comments above. Perhaps Liverman can become a paid consultant to the mayor and then tell her how to run the city better, or at least get her to resign too. It looks like time may be the only way to rid our city of its least desirable players. Personally, I would love to see Dr. Debra Wahlstrom become our next Supperintendent of Schools!
No need to explain why he's leaving. He has mapped out the boundaries of mediocrity and made sure everyone stayed well within them.
The fact that he quotes a character from an outdated sci-fi TV show rather than a great leader or scholar is just sad.
Mediocre leaders = mediocre schools, and that's what we have in Suffolk.
The first of the rats has left the sinking ship and boy is he a big one. More will follow as the weight of city debt and the School Board's inability to manage the system floods the decks. As the water steadily rises over the deck rails, God bless you all and may heaven smile upon you.
To quote Doctor Liverman's letter; "I will not endeavor to explain all my reasons for retiring at this time...". He didn't give any reason which causes the reader to speculate.
6:58 comment about school superindendents resigning makes you wonder is Liverman angling for one of those positions. Every city employee that has left Suffolk has landed a job in a neigboring Hampton Roads city. Why shouldn't our glorious and beloved by very few, Doctor Milton Liverman.
A translation of Dr. Liverman's letter: Beam me up Scotty there are no intellegent lifeforms here in Suffolk.
Is it me or is Doctor Liverman wearing pointed ears and a secret decoding lapel pin in the photo?
Who will succeed him is already being discussed among the political insiders and special interest groups. Will it be a former administrator from PDCCC, NSA, SPSS or an outsider. People in Suffolk are insecure about reaching outside of the local gene pool or city boundaries. Our First Citizen would fill Liverman's shoes very nicely.
Milton good luck and many thanks. Before you chill, we hope someday soon you will find another community as stupid as Suffolk that can appreciate your diverse talents. We pray there will be administrators you report to as disconnected from reality as the Suffolk School Board. May you alway drive a Mercedes, wear $1000 suits and always with lots of bling. Peace out brother see you in church.
Education the final frontier, this was the mission of the Suffolk Public Schools Superintendent Milton Liverman, his ten year mission: to explore strange new programs, to seek out new spending and new bureaucracies, to boldly go where no rational man has gone before. Then break into the Star Trek Theme.
I think that this would have not been beyond D. Liverman. Only time would tell. An Ann Arbor Elementary school recently had a field trip that white students were not allowed to participate in.
An Ann Arbor elementary school principal used a letter home to parents tonight to defend a field trip for black students as part of his school's efforts to close the achievement gap between white and black students.
"In hindsight, this field trip could have been approached and arranged in a better way," Madison wrote. "But as I reflect upon the look of excitement, enthusiasm and energy that I saw in these children's eyes as they stood in the presence of a renowned African American rocket scientist in a very successful position, it gave the kids an opportunity to see this type of achievement is possible for even them.
Apparently, the principal also yelled at non-black students who objected to his blatantly racist field trip.
There will be considerable pressure to replace a black with a Black as Superintendent. It doesn't happen the other way in Obama's America. Whites to the back of the bus. A Black Educator with Ministerial links will be searched among the enormous pool of talent in Suffolk. My choise is his eminance The Very Reverend Charles Brown.
Honestly, this is the man you people entrusted for ten years with the education of your children? I'm surprised he's not wearing a Captain Video Helmet and a form fitting purple spandex space suit with footies when he meets with the school board.
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