Disloyalty to DRS is disloyalty to FAMU

The bright moment of the new FAMU Developmental Research School (DRS) superintendent being introduced at last month’s Board of Trustees meeting was muddied by the sight of Chairman Bill Jennings clapping his hands as if he is an actual supporter of the K-12 program. Over the past several years Jennings has shown himself to be anything but a friend of the Baby Rattlers.

June 30, 2010 was the date that DRS was saved from Jennings and the Holmes brothers. Ronald Holmes finally resigned from the superintendent position on that day after years of taking the school backwards.

Ronald let the DRS school grade on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) slide backwards from a “C” in 2008 to a “D” in 2009. The grade finally returned to a “C” in 2010. Ronald’s failure to recruit enough students to satisfy the demands of the 2009-2010 year’s budget threatened nine teaching jobs before FAMU President James H. Ammons  dipped into university coffers to provide a $425,802 bailout to deficits at the school.

On February 22, 2010 Rattler Nation reported that the BOT led by Jennings was complicit in protecting Ronald.

Jennings and R.B. Holmes (Ronald’s older brother) had a history of scratching each others’ backs. At the May 24, 2007 meeting R.B. nominated Jennings for the board chairmanship. Jennings then supported R.B. for vice-chairman.


Jennings went on to strongly defend Ronald after Rattlers expressed anger about his appointment as DRS superintendent later that year. Many Rattlers openly questioned whether Ammons actually had a choice when it came to the hiring decision in 2007. There was no doubt that as one of the seven critical votes that Ammons needed to become FAMU’s president, R.B. had the power to twist Ammons’ arm and make personal demands during the selection process.

Ronald had no experience as the chief administrator of any K-12 school. Jennings still defended Ronald’s credentials anyway.

"I would have a different feeling if ... it was someone who was clearly not qualified," Jennings told the St. Petersburg Times.

Shortly after R.B. personally nominated Jennings for reelection as BOT chairman in 2009, word spread on campus that there was an understanding that Holmes’ brother would not be summoned before the BOT to answer tough questions about what he had done to DRS. For that reason it did not surprise many FAMUans when Jennings declined to bring Ronald before the board to talk about the ongoing crisis at the K-12 school from 2009 through 2010.

Jennings’ silence on DRS led Rattler Nation to editorialize on June 2, 2010 that: “Holmes and Jennings, the two longest serving board members, have shown that they have no loyalty to DRS. Their only loyalty is to their own selfish goals.”

The lack of loyalty that Jennings showed to DRS cannot be forgotten now that a new superintendent is in place. Disloyalty to DRS is disloyalty to FAMU. FAMU deserves better on its in Board of Trustees.