Montgomery's school system is in self-inflicted chaos

Who would want to take on the task of overseeing Montgomery's public school system?

That is a legitimate question.

Given the way outgoing Superintendent Melvin Brown was treated—he was pushed out the door, belittled, publicly insulted and vilified by members of the school board—what qualified, experienced and worthy candidate would ever dream of stooping to take this job?

Brown was forced on Tuesday, with the support of the Alabama Education Association, to release a video in which he refuted MPS board member Lesa Keith's derogatory comments about him and his family. Those comments concerned Brown's personal life and were, for some reason, made by Keith on a local radio talk show in Montgomery.

Brown asked Keith to retract his comments – a move that appears to be the first step toward a lawsuit.

But lawsuit or not, what are we doing here?

Don't public schools in general, and Montgomery public schools in particular, have enough problems and challenges in this state that there's really no reason to create more? Especially these kinds of embarrassing, nonsensical problems that only serve to damage the reputations of everyone involved and that certainly can't help a district find a new, qualified principal.

To that end, I called the superintendent of another school system near Montgomery—someone who makes significantly less than Brown—and asked him if he would apply.

The phone was dead.

A few seconds later, the person called back and said, “I'm sorry, but I just wanted to make it clear that I am absolutely certain that no amount of money in the world is worth dealing with this drama.”

And indeed, there is no better description than “drama” to explain what has happened in Montgomery over the past few weeks: Four people ousted a superintendent who seemed to be popular with pretty much everyone.

Having covered the Montgomery school system for years and followed it from afar for the past few years, I can't tell you how rare this is. A school board that led the district in the right direction and had the support of teachers, local leaders and the business community was considered a unicorn – a mythical creature that people had heard existed but had never experienced.

Brown was that guy. Until he clashed with a few board members over incredibly petty issues.

And then the bickering behind the scenes began. Sometimes the friction between Brown and a handful of board members became public at meetings, where snide comments or unnecessarily harsh remarks were made, but mostly the problems remained behind the scenes. That's why so many people were surprised to hear that the board had voted not to renew Brown's contract. And then they learned that Brown was resigning.

At some point, someone had to give in. Perhaps Brown could have done more to resolve the dispute. One of the four board members — a majority on a seven-member board — should have used common sense and considered what was best for the district and the thousands of children it serves.

But as is often the case with rulers of small kingdoms, power was worth more than chaos.

And so here we are, with chaos at MPS once again. And with it chaos for the city.

There is already a movement seeking candidates to challenge the four board members who ousted Brown. And there are talks of a mail-in ballot campaign against board member Arica Watkins-Smith, who will be on the ballot unopposed in a few weeks and is seen by many – rightly or wrongly – as the one who led the attack against Brown.

But none of this will make much difference unless some attitudes change in Montgomery. Until some people grow up and stop the absurd name-calling and public fighting, it won't make any difference. Until some people learn how to treat others in the workplace and what it means to be part of a team, it won't make any difference.

And until the adults put aside their pettiness and egos and put the system and the students above everything else, none of this will matter. Not even the slightest.