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Becki Couch calls out Shine and Grymes for their exscuses

I admit I was kind of tough on Mrs. Couch when she first got on the board. As an educator I expected a lot from her and it seemed to me she sat on her hands. Maybe she just had a lot of faith in a super that I believe bamboozled her and the city with promises of a quick turnaround. However something happened and she has evolved int one of the best board members we have had in recent memory, she is always prepared and passionate.

It’s got to be frustrating for her to watch Grymes and Shine bop in from whatever republican party affair they are coming from and mail it in and that frustration boiled over the other day in a discussion about the poor results of our IB program.

From the Times Union

Grymes said she could tell by Couch’s face that she had a problem with their discussion, but Couch accused Grymes of attacking her and staring at her during the meeting.
“Are you in love with me? You spent your time staring at me this entire meeting,” Couch said. “Gosh. Focus on the work. Quit staring at me the whole time. I’m allowed to have facial expressions. I don’t understand what this constant attack is on me.”
Couch said she does have a problem with such a steep decline in IB participation and performance.
“It bothers me that you guys can look at numbers for IB make excuses and think that it’s acceptable,” Couch told Grymes.

What were the excuses they made? Again from the Times Union.

“You can work harder and you can work smarter,” said Board member Scott Shine. “Some of that difference [in performance] is because they’re not in a dedicated magnet” like Paxon or Stanton.
Board member Cheryl Grymes said there are students whose parents want them in IB but the students don’t want to be there and do the work.

Um what?!? You can work both harder and smarter? I am not sure if that is how the saying goes. I wonder what that motivational poster looks like.

I think it is safe to say that they were both saying only kids and parents that attend dedicated magnets really care about their academics. which is crazy because for a while we were having great success at the non-dedicated magnets.

I can’t speak for all the schools but at Ed White, I believe the constant turnover of principals led to a constant churn of staff. Also I know a former IB director there during the time it was having great success and they feel like they were ran off by one of the revolving door of principals a sentiment felt by numerous.veteran and proven staff members.

Did you see what happened there? Couch wanted answers and Shine and Grymes just yawned and made excuses. Work smarter and harder, what the beep? Shine how about you take your own advice?

We have issues but one of the biggest is several board members who treat their position as a ticket to social status or as a line on a resume.

Keep calling them out Becki, the people of Jax won’t be snoozing much longer.

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