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Marsh-Carter on the departure of Superintendent Bedden

Nadine Marsh-Carter, the new 7th District School Board representative, today released this statement regarding the School Board’s recent decision to boot Superintendent Dana Bedden at the end of the 2016-2017 school year:

As announced by RPS, the School Board and Superintendent, Dr. Dana Bedden, have discussed worked on a mutual agreement that Dr. Bedden’s term as division superintendent will end on June 30, 2017. We are working to negotiate the terms of that agreement and to take formal action on the agreed to terms. As a member of the School Board, I thank Dr. Bedden for his contributions to our school division. We appreciate his service during the past 3 ½ years and wish him well.

Dr. Bedden’s transition is a personnel matter, so I am not at liberty to respond to more specific queries about this transition. It is the School Board’s intent to immediately seek new leadership and to create a new shared vision for RPS. We will be identifying an interim superintendent to take the helm on July 1st and implementing a strategic superintendent search process.

Please know that my commitment to expand opportunities that will improve our system’s outcomes – such as implementation of the Education Compact and adoption of a new RPS strategic plan – remain my priority. Our District’s residents can rest assured that the School Board is working diligently to implement policies that create the best environment for our students to enjoy improved educational outcomes as they learn, thrive and grow.

20 comments

Erin 04/24/2017 at 8:34 PM

That was a nice, long way to say absolutely nothing.

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ray 04/24/2017 at 8:53 PM

First Byron Marshall, now Mr Bedden. Richmond citizens are left in the dark yet again about the reason for someone being fired from a critical city position.

Why, time and time again, do our elected officials slam the door on open and transparent government? What are they so afraid of?

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John M 04/24/2017 at 9:28 PM

I just spoke to Nadine Marsh-Carter, and she stands by this.

She says that she understands how frustrating this is, and it sounds like she wishes she felt like she could speak on this – but says that she has to abide by the mutual agreement.

I didn’t go into the conversation to necessarily get a quote, I’m trying to understand what has happened.

She reiterated that getting caught up in this distracted from things like the compact and the strategic plan, and is a distraciton from moving from moving.

I stated that this looks like secrecy and non-transparency. Her response was “watch what we do in the selection process, that’s where the community engagement and transparency will take place.”

I personally like Marsh-Carter, but this a jump on faith – and I’m not sure how comfortable I am with trusting or knowing the new School Board yet. We’ll have a sense of where to land on this within a few weeks, it seems.

Until then, anybody who knows what up and wants to speak off the record on Dr.Bedden and the School Board, I’m at 804-564-1360 and murden@gmail.com 🙂

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mary 04/24/2017 at 10:28 PM

Be interesting to compare Marsh-Carter’s statement with that “promised” to CHPN per an earlier post –
“Our 7th District representative has promised a statement…”

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John M 04/24/2017 at 10:43 PM

This above is the statement she said that she’d send, came by email after my earlier comment.

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A parent 04/24/2017 at 10:46 PM

I voted for you, Nadine, and talked with you in the line in front of the City Hall East building on voting day. You’re accountable to your constituency. You were not appointed, you were voted in by the people. We’re owed an explanation

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BAF 04/25/2017 at 1:49 AM

I fully respect that personnel records are not public records. That is a good thing. So I don’t ask to know the circumstances of the matter. I just have one question for Ms. Marsh-Carter:

Did you vote in support or in opposition to remove Dr. Bedden? If there were multiple votes, how did you vote on each one?

We don’t need to know why you voted the way you did. We don’t need to know the circumstances that resulted in the decision the board made. Personnel issues are always confidential. But we do deserve to know how each member voted on the final outcome, starting with our own. That’s where transparency and accountability are owed to the constituents.

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ForwardTogether 04/25/2017 at 6:43 AM

Let’s just say the public is provided an “explanation” (just know government will never truly provide an explanation that is satisfactory nor fully truthful. Whatever the public receives will have a spin on it). So if we get this strongly sought after “explanation” then what? what is going to truly change at the individual, neighborhood, and larger richmond level? The public will never know the truth. We need to morn that and do not get distracted by this story and stay focused and apart of the plan to move forward. If we don’t we’ll still be asking for an “explanation” that we are never going to get. ?

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Kay9 04/25/2017 at 7:09 AM

Although Bedden is the Superintendent, he’s still an employee of RPS. As with any employment situation, the employer is not allowed to discuss personnel matters openly–or take the risk of being sued.

There is probably more to this situation than the school board being disappointed in his ability to move the needle as quickly as they desired.

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Guilty Mom 04/25/2017 at 1:22 PM

I was speaking with a part time co-worker Saturday night, who’s main gig is at MLK, about this. He claims that there is MUCH more to the story than not producing results, but the implication was that some sketchy stuff had been going on for awhile. Doesn’t answer any questions, other than the fact that “not enough results in a quick enough time frame” is a convenient excuse for other stuff

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Matt Conrad 04/25/2017 at 2:45 PM

Don’t forget that our school board member is also a seasoned attorney. To Kay9’s point, she’ll be as transparent as is prudent in these circumstances.

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Anita Garcia-Stein 04/25/2017 at 5:48 PM

I voted for Ms. Marsh-Carter too. I do not think the Board’s and Ms. Carter’s answer to the taxpayers is satisfactory.

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BAF 04/25/2017 at 6:03 PM

@12 Matt Conrad:

I don’t think her revealing her votes would violate any of Dr. Bedden’s rights.

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Bill 04/25/2017 at 8:55 PM

The only answer that is important is undisputed evidence that the public school system is educating students.

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Dubois2 04/26/2017 at 1:17 PM

Y’all, real question:

What are the potentially achievable “results” that we haven’t seen?

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Bill 04/27/2017 at 1:05 AM

Start with reading, writing and arithmetic

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Ed 04/27/2017 at 6:51 AM

Trump can’t disclose his taxes either. This is a political move and we will see forthcoming.

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