Dr. Timm Mackley took a page from “The Wizard of Oz” earlier this month when he recognized five long-time Knox Educational Service Center (ESC) employees with honorary “Doctor of Thinkology” degrees.
Mackley, now in his 15th year as ESC superintendent, emphasized the importance of experience over titles during a school year opening breakfast at Mount Vernon Nazarene University. The Aug. 13 program drew more than 100 employees from the ESC’s two programs – Knox ESC Preschool and the Knox Learning Center.
“Many professions have titles,” Mackley said. “The military has titles. Religion has titles. Politicians have titles. We have titles in education too, mostly being in higher education.”
When he earned his PhD at Ohio State University, Mackley said, the diploma came with the title of “doctor.”
“I’m not impressed with my own PhD,” Mackley said. “With all due respect to OSU, the experience I have had is more important to me than sitting in classrooms to earn a PhD. Where I am today is based on experience, not on the courses I took.”
Mackley played a video from "The Wizard of Oz" during which the wizard tells Scarecrow that he is as smart as anyone else; he just doesn’t have a diploma. He then proclaims Scarecrow to have an honorary Doctor of Thinkology degree.
“I got to thinking: If the Wizard of Oz could do that, so can I,” Mackley said, emphasizing that highly experienced employees make the ESC’s programs for children successful.
“They don’t have to have PhDs to make a difference,” he said as he presented honorary Doctor of Thinkology degrees to five employees:
– Amy Calkins, 28 years, preschool teacher assistant
– Elizabeth Springer, 19 years, preschool intervention specialist
– Candy Crawrford, 26 years, Learning Center teacher
– Delaine Cunningham, 20 years, Learning Center secretary/receptionist
– Carla Douglas, 46 years, ESC central office manager
Mackley amplified his comments after the program.
“We had some fun today with 'The Wizard of Oz' theme, but I want to say again that I am very serious about the importance of the experience that these employees bring to our programs,” he said. “They – and others – don’t have to have advanced degrees or titles to be critically important to the work we do for children.”
Knox Preschool serves children ages 3 to 5 at the New Hope Early Education Center in Mount Vernon and at satellite campuses in Centerburg, East Knox and Fredericktown. Knox Learning Center, located in the former Mount Vernon West Elementary building, is an alternative school serving K-12 students who have difficulty learning in a traditional school environment.
The ESC, located in the Knox Technical Center at 109 Martinsburg Road, also hires classroom aides and provides other services for its client districts: Centerburg Local, Danville Local, East Knox Local, Fredericktown Local and Mount Vernon City.
