9 MAR 07: BAKER MUDDLED

The staff of Baker Middle School had an after-hours meeting Thursday afternoon, and learned their Principal is being replaced. In fact, she reportedly considers it a demotion. So has anyone checked for her name yet in the police blotter?

Dr. JoAnn Thomas-Brown says she was called into Superintendent John Phillips's office Thursday, and told she was being reassigned. She leaves the Baker Middle School Principal's job after today, and becoming a teacher at the Woodall Learning Center. Wow -- a couple of Russell County principals never had to give up their titles, and they were arrested.

(The Muscogee County Schools web site shows Baker Middle School actually is affiliated with a "Woodall Satellite Program." So I suppose it could have been worse - and the Principal could have been told to go coach the cheerleaders.)

The Muscogee County School District refused to give a reason for the change, calling it a personnel matter. But one teacher told me Dr. JoAnn Thomas-Brown is being moved out of Baker Middle School on the grounds of "low morale." What could that mean -- poor sales in the school magazine drive?

There seemed to be plenty of support for JoAnn Thomas-Brown at the after-school meeting. In fact, a few people made quickly-written signs protesting her transfer. One said, "What about the children" - as if a transfer from Baker Middle School actually would be bad for them.

It's a sad but true statement that Baker Middle School does NOT have the best reputation in Muscogee County. The administrators tried to make it a year-round school, but that was abandoned due to poor attendance in the summer. You'd think the students would realize the new school building has air conditioning.

The school district has tried year-round school at Baker Middle. It's tried uniforms and hundreds of computers. It's tried after-school programs and Saturday "academic camp." Yet students still have trouble meeting Georgia education standards - as if "average yearly progress" in that part of Columbus takes two or three.

Some principals play extra-large roles in a school's success, and become legendary for it. (Phyllis Davis at Rigdon Road Elementary comes to mind.) But others tend to have more of an "office personality," and really don't play that big a role in the success of students. Perhaps that was JoAnn Thomas-Brown's undoing. If you don't know her name, she's getting the blame.

Baker Middle School teachers made it clear Thursday -- they do NOT believe changing principals is the answer. One said a switch will destroy school morale, instead of improving it. But hold on here - Pat Riley stepped in as Miami Heat basketball coach last season, and the team won a championship.

I can't help thinking of sports comparisons, when I consider the shifting of Baker Middle School's principal. The "season-ending" CRCT exams are only a few weeks away - and let's face it: Superintendent John Phillips can't trade away low-scoring students for future draft picks.

Is the Muscogee County Superintendent acting like a latter-day George Steinbrenner, in removing the Baker Middle School principal only weeks before test time? Or is there a deeper reason for this change that no one's revealing? If she hustled her office computer into her trunk Thursday night, that might be a clue....

Another Baker Middle School teacher may have been closer to the truth, when she told the late TV news it's time for parents to become more active. She may have meant rallying around the principal, but perhaps Baker parents should be more involved in their children's education overall. If they do that, the initials "A.Y.P." would mean something other than "average yearly pain."

A new, still-unnamed interim principal will be on duty at Baker Middle School Monday. But I'm not sure that person will make that big a difference on the upcoming CRCT exams. After all, Harry Truman stepped into a much bigger job in 1945 - and he didn't fumble away World War II.

Now for other notes from a marvelous Thursday:

+ Georgia NAACP President Ed DuBose called on the state legislature to approve a formal apology for slavery, similar to what Virginia lawmakers did. Talk about thinking big! DuBose still can't get Columbus Council to apologize for the Kenneth Walker shooting.

+ The Alabama Legislature voted to give itself a raise of more than 50 percent. Some lawmakers noted they haven't had a pay increase in 15 years - so it's either act while the economy is strong, or apply for work at that new poultry processing plant in Phenix City.

+ Hardaway High School had its first-ever "Hawk Walk" - a parade in the hallway, preparing for today's semifinal game in the Georgia girls' basketball tournament. Now that's a display of school spirit! Not to mention being careful not to ruin that new running track....

+ Georgia assailed Auburn 80-65 in the Southeastern Conference men's basketball tournament. Auburn coach Jeff Lebo called it a "road game." Yet the attendance at Atlanta's Georgia Dome was less than 15,000 - and one-third of them probably were Kentucky fans with nothing else to do.

+ Instant Message to the Columbus Sports Council, wherever you are: If Dothan can host a division-one conference basketball tournament, isn't it time we tried again to have one? Or is one night with the Harlem Globetrotters more entertaining than three days of Mercer and East Tennessee State?

COMING THIS WEEKEND: A man with one leg and a bicycle.... and the finalists are announced in our Blog Special Event....

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