Everyone from Jerry Tipton to Pete Thamel has thrown in their 2 cents worth on the Eric Bledsoe situation and no one is looking deeper into this whole thing than the surface. And the answers are really right there for all to see. Curiosity killing you? Good. Let me explain.
I did some checking with some folks at a couple of local school systems here in Kentucky about if the Eric Bledsoe situation could have occurred here in Kentucky the same way it is being reported to have happened in Alabama. My answers are a resounding yes. People in different schools all had the same answer. We are not supposed to talk about that. No one, and I mean no one out of the three Kentucky School districts I talked to was allowed to go on record concerning what can happen in any particular school system when a student changes schools. You have to remember that all teachers for the most part are now being judged ( and sometimes paid) on how well they do their jobs. If it comes to light that a particular teacher, or school system for that matter is not getting the job done when it comes to educating their students, then all Hades will break loose. That is why no one will talk about it. They do not want someone from another school claiming that a kid would not have been sent on to the next grade level, or that a kid is behind in certain subjects because the system is faulty. Teachers
AND Principals here both told me that they have been told that terminations have occurred for less. Add to that the fact that the Privacy Act makes it against the law to talk about a kid that way unless you are under subpoena or you have their permission, it is a literal minefield for the people to talk about it.
My money says that the Principal’s quote had everything to do with that, and nothing to do with Eric Bledsoe or his grades in the manner everyone is assuming it does:
"“It isn’t normal for a person to do that or be allowed to do that,’’ former Parker principal Joseph Martin told the Birmingham News. “Had I looked at the transcript, I wouldn’t have allowed him to do that. By the time he got to us, I guess what we had to do … Well I ain’t even going there with that. I’m going to my grave with that.’’ Teachers and Principals alike go into fits when a kid arrives in their school in a situation like Eric’s. In grade schools it is easier, because there is more time to get a student up to speed. When Eric arrived at Martin’s school, there was no choice but to take drastic measures to get Eric up to speed because there was very little time left to do so. Theschools get paid on the amount of students they have succeed. If a student fails, the school makes less money. So even at the High School level it is all about the money. The Principals and Teachers are caught between a rock and a hard place because they need their funding to operate, and if they say anything out of line, they are subject to dismissal, and have violated a federal law to boot.Why would that Principal take the chance of being terminated for talking to a reporter? As he said in the quote, he already determined that had he seen that transcript he would not have allowed Eric to do that. The Principal is being hammered for doing his job and doing it the right way. I applaud the Principal for not only doing what he was supposed to, which is do his best, and get his staff to do their best to get Eric prepared for college, but for not going into detail with that reporter. Had he of done that it would have been a crime. Literally. Now, all of the other nonsense aside, I think that Eric’s school did the very best they could to help him prepare for going to college, and they did it the best way they could with what their system allows. And for that Eric and John Calipari have to take hit after hit, and have their reputations pounded by people who have no clue how tough it isfor some people in life who are less fortunate to catch a break. Eric caught one because he could shoot and pass and dribble a basketball. My money says that the school was not concerned about that ability as much as it was about his ability to get into college. And that is what they get paid to do."
Could I be wrong about all of this? Sure. But there is a much better chance that this theory is correct than Pete Thamel and his derogatory posts. Teachers and school officials have the hardest job in the world, because they are usually expected to work miracles with nothing but thin air. They are underpaid and way under appreciated. And now they have reporters breathing down their necks because they had to find a way to legally get a kid up to speed so he could go to college, however unconventional it may have been. They get my applause and my appreciation. And they should get yours too.
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