Everyone kicks PA.'s Education Secretary on His Way Out - Good Riddance [View all]

[JPZenger]

Unpopular PA. Education Secretary Tomalis has been replaced. Don't worry too much about him - Corbett appointed him to be an aide to the Governor at the exact same salary.

Most people involved in public education hated Tomalis for being an arrogant dick. However, he may have been replaced because the right-wingers didn't think he was enough of a dick - and didn't forcibly push through statewide tax-payer funded vouchers for private schools.

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http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-pa-corbett-tomlalis-harner-20130515,0,1590242.story

Excerpts:

"State Rep. Bernie O'Neill said Tomalis' background was a detriment. He did not have the experience of running a classroom or a school, O'Neill said. "He's never walked in those shoes," said O'Neill, a former teacher. "I am very pleased with the person who is replacing him because of his background in education."

Rep. Steve Samuelson criticized Tomalis and Corbett for creating an unfair playing field by excluding charter school staff from new teacher evaluations and trying to ease testing standards for charter schools. He also slammed Corbett for keeping Tomalis on the payroll. "Adding an additional bureaucrat is what the governor is doing here," Samuelson said.

Stuart Knade, interim executive director of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, said he hopes Harner fosters better relationships between the state and districts than Tomalis did.
"I think it's safe to say the working relationship between Secretary Tomalis and public school leaders around the state was not a productive product," Knade said."

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Meet the new boss - same as the old boss?

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/state/corbett-expected-to-name-new-education-secretary-687689/

The good news is that the new Education Secretary actually ran a large public school district in PA., (although that is an affluent suburban district where every child is above average). The bad news is that he never was a teacher. He spent many years in the military.

Excerpt from article:

"Mr. Harner almost became superintendent of Toledo Public Schools several years ago, but the deal fell apart due to Mr. Harner's requirement that he live outside the district and that the district pay to send his daughter to a $13,600 per-year private school, according to The Blade of Toledo, Ohio.

..."I found Mr. Tomalis to be arrogant and not to be an advocate for public education," said James Giel, president of the boards of the Shaler Area School District and the Allegheny Intermediate Unit. Mr. Giel said he recalled meeting with Mr. Tomalis two years ago at Hampton High School and "he didn't get the plight of those of us in public education."