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Editorial
The Commerce News
February 9, 2000
Paying
Tribute To A Beloved Physician
Former patients and friends
of Dr. Joe L. Griffeth are expected in the hundreds Sunday afternoon
to pay tribute to the area's best-known physician.
As patients and co-workers have observed, Griffeth was cut from
the same kind of cloth as the late Drs. A.A. Rogers Sr. and A.A.
Rogers Jr., providing service at a time when doctors made house
calls, worked late into the night and generally sacrificed much
of their home and family lives to serve their patients. Not only
has Griffeth been a doctor for 42 years, but he has also been
a community leader, active in his church, rising to great influence
and office in Kiwanis International and serving on BJC Medical
Center's governing authority. He has also served as president
of the Jackson County Area Chamber of Commerce, was long-time
chief of staff at BJC Medical Center and was team physician for
the Commerce Tigers. Come to think of it, if something important
was going on in Commerce, chances are Dr. Joe Griffeth was involved.
In whatever he was doing, Griffeth was (and is) beloved, whether
by his patients or by foreign officers of Kiwanis International.
Soft-spoken, quick with an easy laugh, dedicated, Griffeth made
friends of all.
Now those friends will have a chance to show their appreciation,
to remember past happenings and to let Griffeth know how much
he has meant to the community. Let's launch Griffeth into retirement
with a resounding turnout Sunday, from 2:00 to 4:00, at the Commerce
Civic Center.
Letter
The Commerce News
February 9, 2000
Congratulations
To State Cheerleading Champions
Editor:
We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Commerce
High School Competitive Cheerleaders, the GHSA Class-A State
Champions for 2000. Your hard work has paid off big time. We
are extremely proud of you.
Thanks to Donnie Drew for his support at the Region 8-A competition,
and to Larry White for driving the bus and supporting the team
at the state competition in Columbus. Many thanks go to Diane
Cotrell for her dedication and effort this year.
A very special thanks goes to Tommy Martin and his staff at ProCheer.
Tommy believed in the success of a competitive cheer squad at
CHS before most of us even knew what one was. We appreciate his
faith in our children and the motivation and training he has
provided them. We also appreciate the students and fans that
have supported the team and have been steadfast "cheerleaders
for the cheerleaders."
Although the CHS team has only competed for two years, they placed
second in the region and state in 1999 and were region and state
champs in their second year. We are looking forward to many more
great seasons for the Commerce High School Competitive Cheerleaders.
Sincerely,
Elaine Roller - on behalf of the proud parents of the state champs
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Column
Mark
Beardsley
The Commerce News
February 9, 2000
 Eliminating Tenure A
False Hope For Schools
Gov. Roy Barnes seems to think that most
of Georgia's educational problems will be behind it if only tenure
can be abolished. A major key to improving schools, he says,
is to get rid of bad teachers.
The governor is wrong. Sure, tenure is an out-of-date concept,
and it prevents some teachers from being fired, but I've always
heard that schools are only as good as their principals. I would
add that principals are only as good as the superintendent.
It looks like the governor will succeed in getting tenure eliminated,
but probably only for new teachers. If one assumes Gov. Barnes
is correct about all those rotten teachers, the abolishment of
tenure will still have zero impact.
It takes teachers three years to earn tenure. During those three
years, they can be dismissed if they are bad. The reason bad
teachers have tenure is that bad principals allow them to get
tenure. A principal who will allow a sorry teacher to gain tenure
is no more likely to fire a teacher after five or 15 years than
he was during the first three years. Less likely, probably.
In fact, abolishing teacher tenure could be detrimental. It may
convince some good teachers to not apply in Georgia, fearful
that any disagreement with a principal say taking the wrong
side on a school merger controversy could cost the teacher
his or her job. (It is not too hard to imagine Commerce teachers
who voiced opinions in favor of merging their school system with
Jackson County suddenly out of favor with the principal and the
school board.)
But, I digress.
If principals do not fire poor teachers during the first three
years on the job, what expectations do we have that they will
fire them once there is no tenure at all?
I suspect most bad teachers survive for other reasons too. Maybe
they are well connected in the community, whether they be related
to political authorities or indispensable on the football field.
They are defended by their peers, the principal, superintendent
and school board. The "bad" teachers are always in
some other school or some other school system, or they are teachers
who don't "fit in" because they are not herd animals.
It matters little to me whether tenure survives. What bothers
me is the governor's belief that dropping tenure is crucial.
What is crucial is making our principals better personnel managers,
better able to get the most out of their staffs, to help strengthen
weak performers and to encourage excellence. The educational
bureaucracy, the requirement that education solve the community's
social ills, the daily struggle with unmotivated students, unconcerned
parents, all too often a lack of basic supplies and too many
children, all serve to dampen teacher enthusiasm. A third of
all new teachers leave education before three years, making tenure
for them a moot point, but illustrating the challenges of managing
a staff of educators.
The governor should turn his attention into making the classroom
environment better for the teachers. Adequate materials, reasonable
numbers, support and encouragement from above, stronger principals
and less state and local bureaucracy would all help more than
eliminating tenure.
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