Bob Roth for Muscogee County School Board

Post #19. The Parent.

My mom passed away in 2012 at the age of 87. She was a terrific mom and I miss her. The highest level of education she attained was 8th Grade, then secretarial school, then full time work as a secretary. My dad made it to 9th Grade before he found full-time work in a men's clothing store. While neither of my parents made it to HS, they both new the importance of education and drilled it into their five kids. Not only would the five of us complete HS, all of us would go to college! That's a mindset that stuck with their kids, and it is the same mindset that my wife and I passed along to our four kids. And it works.

Being a parent is a full-time job. It's tough, with long days and very little time for yourself. Yet it is the parent who enforces rules in the home. And rule #1 must be, go to school and get an education. This entails checking homework at night to ensure its complete or working with them if they need help; reading a story to your children; teaching proper manners; and to respect others as they must respect themselves. However, we live in a society where parents either do not know how to be responsible parents, or don't care enough to learn how to be responsible parents.

Below is the County Student Handbook. It's 65 pages of information dealing primarily with standards. It appears parents today need to be told behavior standards for school. In all my years raising my four kids, I never read a single student handbook. I didn't need to. I knew what it took to be a responsible parent.

Elect Bob Roth to Muscogee County School Board. It's time to hold parents accountable using this Handbook.

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Students in the U.S. are performing worse than their peers were 10 years ago, according to new, district-level test score data released Wednesday. https://nyti.ms/4wu4Rgf

Post #18. The third part of the equation.

Students form the third part of the triangle of success (Teachers – Parents – Students).

Muscogee County students are expected to meet clear academic and behavioral standards with consistent accountability and attendance. Today, there is a running list of misbehavior which is the very thing that separates a private school from a public school in our county. Private schools do not tolerate a disruption to their learning environment, but public schools do. So, how do we fix this problem?

It won’t be easy, but we begin with focus on the one area we can control – that is the learning environment for children. My plan calls for the implementation of a ‘No-Excuses’ model. This includes –

**Assigned seating and dress code.
**Explicit behavioral rules from the County’s Handbook - posted in every classroom - with immediate correction made for minor disruptions.
**Clear consequences to students -- and parents -- for disruptions in school / on buses as well as missed days of school.
**Accurate reporting of bullying, violence, stealing, etc. without limitation on the number of suspensions

A child’s job is to get an education. A school's function is to provide that education. If a student doesn’t want to follow the rules, they can use the door as they are quietly escorted off campus. Our schools and teachers are being bombarded by an acceptance of intolerable behavior due to a host a reasons that the county simply cannot fix. We can continue down this path of enabling poor behavior where the problem lies in the family. To change behavior in our schools requires a changed behavior in parents and no educational program is designed or funded to deal with both of those problems.

There is nothing greater than watching a child learn to read and grow as they get older. A child’s reward is the gift of learning and that must become our focus in Muscogee County schools again. Not the wrap-around services that focus on a family's problems. That is not our charter. As we say in the miliary, if you defend everywhere, you defend nowhere. Let’s return to focusing on the learning environment of our students. That is what we can control jand that is what we must fix.

Vote Bob Roth for Muscogee County School Board!

Post #17. Principals. The first line leadership.

A quick story. My wife worked in Norfolk, VA at a Title 1 school. That school was very similar to the 11 failing schools in Muscogee County, but it had one thing going for it -- the principal. The principal was educated and experienced, but that wasn't what made her and her school great. It was her "demand" that teachers grow their kids. She demanded excellence from her teachers, from the students, and from the parents. She didn't lower the bar; she raised the bar and challenged everyone to meet the standard. And they did! This is the type of principal I am referring to when I talk about leaders as principals!

** In Muscogee County, that's what we need out of our principals. We must identify, train and install the best leaders as our principals. They will demand change and push our schools to improve in every measure. Principals hold the key to success.

** Second, I will ensure the Muscogee County Staff supports Principals, and not the other way around. The County staff needs to do the grind work so Principals can focus on leading their schools.

Vote for change! Vote for Bob Roth!!

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Post #16. "So, what's your plan?"

That's a great question. Let's start talking about my plan and ideas for the county. My plan focuses on 'Teachers – Students – Parents and Leadership!'

Today, let's talk about Teachers.

1. New hire teachers would be assigned by the county, not hired by a principal. Each school must have their share of experienced and new teachers.

2. First year teachers do not work in failing schools. Why would we put an untested teacher in a school that is failing? That's crazy, but that is what's happening.

3. Mature, successful teachers would be assigned as mentors and paid higher salary. We need our teachers who have proven themselves in the classroom to be assigned as Grade level leads and mentors for younger inexperienced teachers. For this, they deserve a higher salary.

4. The County assigns their best teachers to failing schools. Today, the policy in the County prevents more than a couple teachers to transfer out of that school. Well, if it's failing - why are we keeping the same teachers? No, the county assigns teachers and then pays them a much higher salary for working in tough learning environments.

5. Bonuses are not for everyone. Bonuses go to the teacher who have shown their kids grew. It's quite simple, you want to make more money - then results matter.

6. Finally, a Teacher's greatest responsibility is for creating and maintaining the learning environment in their classroom. They enforce discipline, push all the children in their classroom to learn, and do not accept lower standards. Today, kids yell back at teachers, they swear, they damage school property, they attack teachers physically, and on and on. This has to stop and the teacher in the classroom is critical.

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Post #15. MCSD Superintendent Dr David Lewis since 2013

I have met Dr. Lewis, and I believe him to be an upstanding individual who truly cares about the children within the district and their well-being. However, when I see numbers like this, I have to question the Superintendent and the School Board. Below is the Superintendent's pay over the past 10 years.

This is obscene!

**2015–2016: ~$180,000–$190,000 (estimated range). Based on typical contract levels early in his tenure.
**2017–2018: ~$190,000–$200,000 (estimated). Gradual contract increases common in long-tenured superintendents.
**2019–2021: ~$200,000–$210,000 (estimated). Salaries trending upward statewide; no major reported jump yet.
**2022–2023: ~$214,750. Documented salary: $214,750.66 in 2023
**2024 (before pay raise): Approximately $240,000 range (estimated contract adjustment).
**Late 2024 (after pay raise): $288,000 annual salary which is an 18% pay raise that was approved by the school board!
**2025: $288,000. Confirmed top salary in the district.

Fire the School board! Vote Bob Roth and let's get our salary structure under control.

Post #14. MCSD is allowing schools with poor attendance to play catch-up the rest of the year. Here’s what they are doing. State required GMAS testing is almost complete. As students finish, they can come in early in the morning before school starts. This extra time in chair is then applied towards the students missed attendance. This extra time allows the school to reduce the number of days missed for that student. On the surface, it seems harmless. But dig just a bit deeper and you discover the travesty of what MCSD is allowing to happen.

This extra time has nothing to do with the curriculum students missed. Nothing! As accepted by the county, students can be reading, taking AR, using instructional apps, or anything learning related for receiving credit towards attendance recovery. The county uses the term “attendance recovery” for this policy.

Starting tomorrow, teachers in the county are asked to let students in early and help students sign in on a designated form each day until May 21st. The purpose for allowing this is to recover as much attendance as possible for the remainder of the year for poor attending students. It’s not tied to the student’s curriculum. There is no testing or checks on learning occurring. It’s simply a matter of time in chair without a purpose. All for the purpose of skewing data so the county appears to have improved the attendance problem.
Change the school board now! Vote in new leadership! Vote for Bob Roth

Post #13. Let's take a deeper dive into what has happened in Muscogee County since 2015. Look at these statistics from 2024.

--Overall staffing increased from ~4200 to ~4500
--Yet the number of students decreased from 32,000 to under 30,000.
--The number of teachers on staff remained relatively flat. Total numbers increased slightly from ~2000 to ~2090 which is a 4-5% growth.
--However, Math proficiency was at ~31% in 2015 and dropped to ~24%!!
--Reading proficiency was at ~31% in 2015 and remained at ~31% showing no change!!!
--Worse yet, the School District ranked #103 in the State of Georgia in 2015. In 2024, it ranked #156. The district's rank dropped to #156 out of 180 school districts in Georgia.
--Finally, in Muscogee County - 11 out of 45 elementary and middle schools are on the statewide failing list. This means that these 11 schools are performing in the bottom 5% of the state.

Why is anyone on the School Board still being elected? Because people don't know. Spread the word. Vote the incumbents out - vote new leadership with direction and purpose in! Vote Bob Roth

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Post #12. My apologies to my followers for not posting in a few weeks. My brother passed away on the 4th of April and I was in charge of his funeral. We conducted the funeral on the 18th of April in Cincinnati, Ohio. I spent the next week working estate affairs as I am his executor. So, it's been a trying past couple of months. But I am here and ready to keep the train running! Let's do this Muscogee!!

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Post #11. Mississippi focuses on K thru 3 and finds results. Take a look at this graph. From 2013 to 2022, Georgia 4th grade reading proficiency declined. Why? How many more statistics do we need to tell us our School Board is not getting it. Vote Bob Roth and let's turn this around.

Post #10
A quick follow up on my brother. He passed away on Saturday evening and is now in the hands of God. The funeral is on the 18th of APR in KY. I told my brother before he departed that I would see him again, and not to worry. I told him to watch over me and make sure I didn't do anything dumb. My brother is in a much better place today, and for that I am grateful.

My brother was born in 1958 with cancer, lost a dad at the age of 9 to a heart attack, and had run-ins with the law as a teenager on multiple occasions. Our mom didn't have any money. She worked to pay bills and volunteered at the local Catholic school to help offset tuition. My brother graduated high school in the middle of the pack, and got loans to pay his way through college, graduating as a structural engineer. Dad told mom that the plan was for us to go to college and get a degree so we could have a better life. Our dad had a 9th grade education. Our mom had an 8th grade education, but they both knew the importance of education and impressed that upon us kids. That's the role of a parent and that's the message I intend to send to the parents of students in Muscogee County.