Cheatham gets praise for race and poverty initiatives, but criticized for top-down management style.
There was something strained about Jennifer Cheatham’s news conference at Mendota Elementary School, where she announced last week that she is stepping down as superintendent of the Madison public schools.
It wasn’t just that Cheatham got choked up, as did school board president Mary Burke, and the other speakers who came to give glowing testimonials at Cheatham’s send-off.
The diverse group standing behind Cheatham (who, she noted repeatedly, have her back) included Madison College President Jack Daniels, Centro Hispano Executive Director Karen Menéndez Coller, Mendota Elementary Principal Carlettra Stanford, the entire school board, and district executive team.
Glaringly absent were any teachers or school staff.
Teachers are afraid to go on the record criticizing Cheatham, even as she leaves. They cite her top-down leadership style, a culture of fear, increasing pressure to do more with less, and, above all, the feeling that Cheatham has not had their backs in making what she describes as “transformational change” in the Madison public schools. (See cover story for an in-depth report, page 12.)
It’s no secret that it has been, in Cheatham’s own words, a “trying” school year in Madison. A series of racial incidents, sexual assaults, a demoralized, stressed-out staff, and a squeezed budget have all made 2018-2019 unusually rough.
But in her farewell press conference she struck a valedictory note. Cheatham listed achievements including the Personalized Pathways program and the Early College STEM Academy. “We’ve put the district on an upward trajectory, accelerated growth for students of color, centering a commitment to doing all it will take to achieve black student excellence.”
Burke got teary when she talked about hiring Cheatham six years ago: “We knew then she was a very special leader; she has exceeded all expectations.”
Of course, neither Cheatham, who is leaving her $240,000-a-year position to help shape “the next generation of equity leaders” at Harvard, nor the board, which must recruit her successor, is going to announce that we have a divided district, a demoralized staff, and a scary budget picture.
In assessing Cheatham’s legacy after six years as superintendent, school board member Cris Carusi says “she has launched good initiatives to directly tackle the problems of race and poverty.” But “her very top-down approach caused problems.”
Arriving just after Act 10 disempowered teachers, and the Race to Equity report exposed Madison’s extreme disparities, Cheatham seized the moment of crisis and pushed through a series of initiatives — some successful, some not. Her top-down style got things done — but also fostered division and distrust.
Take the recent sexual assault at East High School. Students and staff there were appalled when the school district’s head of security, Joe Balles, seemed to wave away the incident, saying, “kids will be kids.” Balles later apologized for his “poor word choice,” but Cheatham avoided the whole, difficult subject, even in direct meetings with East students and staff.
Then there is the explosive issue of race in the Madison public schools.
Centro Hispano’s Coller said that when she first moved to Madison she “didn’t know the depth of the challenges that face our community ... I didn’t know the level of support that our kids of color needed.”
Cheatham courageously confronted the issue, Coller said. “I could not have been more grateful for the friend I met in Jen Cheatham,” Coller said. “She stood up for us when she stood for black excellence.”
Mendota principal Stanford agreed. She thanked Cheatham for her leadership and all the support she has provided Mendota over the years. “We became one of Madison’s first community schools,” Stanford noted. “We’ve lifted up black excellence and we are poised to do so much more.”
But in talking to teachers, it comes out that many feel Cheatham threw staff under the bus in order to prove she was cracking down on racism by getting rid of teachers who were involved in high-profile racial incidents.
“Is the district response exacerbating things, making people more afraid?” asks East High School history teacher Amanda Pustz. “I don’t know if that makes people confront their inherent bias.”
“Part of what happened is it feels less safe for many of our staff and families to talk about race,” says Carusi.
Teachers say the district seems like “Big Brother,” with administrators looking into their grade books, and taking a threatening rather than a supportive tone, holding teachers responsible for student achievement. And many feel they’ve been left alone to deal with disruptive kids under a behavior plan intended to reduce suspensions.
The emphasis on optics, and on loyalty to the boss, are symptomatic of problems the district is going to have to get over if it’s going to get better.
At the news conference, reporters asked about rumors that Cheatham’s successor had already been chosen behind closed doors. Cheatham and the board denied it.
Now is the time to involve the community in picking Madison’s next superintendent through an open, transparent and democratic process.
Ruth Conniff is editor-at-large for The Progressive magazine.
