I found this Colbert I. King column in Saturday’s Washington Post inexplicable. He attacks the team that Victor Reinoso, Washington D.C.’s deputy mayor and point person on school reform, is putting together on the grounds that they get paid too much. Full disclosure, I know several of the people involved here, but that’s beside the point. Shouldn’t King attack them if they don’t produce some results in a few years? That’s fair for a team of 11 that costs the taxpayers about $1.1 million. But right now it’s completely premature. It could well be that this is a great investment to bring in really talented people and assemble the kind of team that can really deliver results. Time will tell and if they can help turn this ship then they’re worth every dime and then some.
This reminded me of these attacks you frequently see on superintendent salaries. In both cases there needs to be some reasonableness, of course, and there is here, but the bottom line, so to speak, is that it costs money to get top people who can deliver the goods. Give them a chance and hold the cheap shots in the meantime.