If you follow my Twitter account (@EricCeleste) — and if you don’t, why you don’t like awesome things? — you know that the agenda for the DISD board meeting says the trustees will consider Miles’ contract situation on July 12. Couple quick things about this:
• Miles, remember, is about to enter the last year of his contract. Also recall that I think they should extend his contract two years. They will probably only offer him one.
• Why do it now instead of in August or September, as they normally would? I’d like to say it’s because I told them to. But the reality is that if the board doesn’t re-up Miles soon, he’s gone by September. Buh-bye. Too many nibbles from too many other districts, just as I suggested. The bottom line: People in other districts are impressed with what Miles is doing, ESPECIALLY given the lack of support he’s gotten from the board and the cadre of status-quo-ers with whom he has to deal. How good could he be, they ask themselves, if he had a board that supported him?
• Is Bernadette Nutall pissed? What do you think? Of course she is. She’s let it be known that she is none-too-thrilled to be called to a July meeting when she could just as easily have crapped all over Miles when school started.
• Will this be ugly? Could be. The anti-Miles folks will use this an example to bring up every gripe against him, those that are legitimate (his communication problems in his first year; the feeling he works better under a tighter leash) and most of them stupid (the b.s. Coggins report, the b.s. auditor’s report, etc.).
• Will the board ultimately give Miles an extension? Probably. Nutall, Foreman, and Blackburn are against it and will probably remains so. Jones was hard against Miles but, like with her last vote on his future, is smart enough not to come down against him unless she’s sure she’s on the winning side. (Public service announcement: Everything Tod Robberson writes is wrong.) Morath, Bingham, and Solis back him. Cowan and Micciche are on the fence but, I think, ultimately understand the district needs continuity, and the board must for once prove it can act like a board of trustees and not meddling CEO-wannabes.
• Does he deserve an extension? Without question. I’ll tell you why tomorrow — in one post about the district’s astonishing 2013 performance (I know I promised it Monday … sorry, fact-checking) and one post comparing Miles’ contract to others in Texas.
