Friday Open Thread
Things continue to heat up in our district. The BEX IV scenarios are both puzzling and shocking. And, of course, for most people it is short time to digest these ideas before next week's BEX IV meetings throughout the city. (And again, I gripe that this district has 5 regions and the BEX IV scenarios affect people in all regions. Why only three meetings?)
I am thinking of trying to have a meeting to talk about BEX issues before the BEX meeting, either Saturday or Sunday. Would anyone be interested in meeting and going over maps and ideas?
Only director community meeting this week is Director Patu on Saturday.
I am thinking of trying to have a meeting to talk about BEX issues before the BEX meeting, either Saturday or Sunday. Would anyone be interested in meeting and going over maps and ideas?
Only director community meeting this week is Director Patu on Saturday.
Comments
-Smoking Mad
-Hopeless in Seattle
DeBell was careful to say that this "suport" for these ideas came either from staff or FACMAC but the public still needs to weigh in.
I urge you to bring neighbors as well as other parents because yes, these building decisions will affect neighborhoods as well.
We are also running close to the end of the legislative session. If it ends without charter legislation being passes and signed by the Governor, then BEX IV is somewhat protected.
However if McKenna wins and a new charter bill comes up, gets passed and signed before the BEX election in Feb. 2013, any charters created with the disttrict would have access to the money as well (at least under the curent legislation).
School turnaround mostly failing in Washington
If anyone is wondering why this is, a closer look at West Seattle Elementary would shed some light on the situation.
-we need to do better
curious
Yes, those of us who saw the tests thought they looked like the questions had come from about forty years ago. They also referred to phrases that student's would not ever be introduced to any more. All of the teachers talked about how dated it was for what our students are learning now.
With the technology that we have now, there is no reason why those questions could not be revised to be appropriate.
Teacher
DeBell was careful to say that this "suport" for these ideas came either from staff or FACMAC but the public still needs to weigh in.
Same as usual .... after all the decisions are made ... then the public can give input which is usually ignored.
Melissa, you are correct with a plan to hold a community meeting NOW. (Best wishes in getting community input to be taken seriously.)
TFA - no public involvement as the Vendors pitches to the public were considered public involvement. There are a huge number of examples that show public support is hardly necessary. Look at the SPS k-12 math program for example.
Looks interesting
I think this is a great idea and I'm surprised no one else has responded to this yet. Most "community meetings" are led by Board Directors or SPS staff. Usually the staff has agendas at these meetings, even if we don't know what it is.
Community meetings run by parents and/or non-staff seems like a great idea, or at least one worth exploring. A place where discussion can flow more freely. Kind of the offline equivalent of this blog. Meetings like this do happen, occasionally, but almost always because of some immediate "local" (geographic or programmatic) emergency. I'd actually like to see if something like this could get legs and turn into a semi-regular thing.
Really horrible: Families and Ed Levy cut out ALL funding to arts groups because they couldn't meet the 'matrix of quantifiable results' Tim Burgess and Holly Miller wanted. Ya know - like your reading scores go up 20 percent per year yadda yadda. The word that comes to mind is pathetic. What a sad commentary on Seattle politics and frankly on the levy. The spreadsheet mentality is out of hand. Give me a politician or gov. worker who says "We're doing this because we all know it is the right thing to do."
P.S. I hope this blog does some digging on that levy. Seem to be a number of philosophical and performance questions there for the hundreds of millions we are spending.
Ed Voter
Anyone else?
Also, agreed, the schedule for greater public feedback is far too abbreviated in scope.
Ed Voter
Two questions:
1) Was there any report out (powerpoint) at the end of the meeting? Or is that being worked on and will be presented at the next meeting?
2) I had the sense that the conversation was very seats driven, with little focus on program placement, either current programs or possible future programs. How much integration was there between the discussion of seats and programs?
FedMomof2
beth
-mullish
The danger, of course, is that not everyone agrees on what "the right thing to do" is. In many areas around the country that would mean bringing religious teaching into public schools. And it would totally pass muster with the public at large in their area. Or, what if a Superintendent in Omak said corporal punishment was the preferred method of dealing with bad behavior in their district "because we all know it's the right thing to do".
I agree the situation you point out sucks, but I hope you can see where your proposed solution leads.
Usually the staff has agendas at these meetings, even if we don't know what it is.
I don't feel like the Director community meetings have hidden goals (although there may be unfortunate exceptions) but meetings that are organized by staff often feel that way, with conversations that don't usually flow freely and openly from top to bottom.
Independent community meetings might turn out to be a dud, but I think it's worth trying. Look how successful this blog is.
Massive lost opportunity and frankly an insight into a mentality that is wrong for Seattle and wrong for kids. I really wonder if the public understands how their $$ will be spent and why. I am unimpressed and we're not even through the $$ distribution yet. This is a huge sum of $$ and zero media oversight. Blog: Help!! And talk about more than efficient $$ spend. Talk about philosophy. Like lack of using arts to expand the minds of all kids. They aren't widgets. Makes me so upset and so disappointed in our political 'leadership'.
Ed Voter
voter
Waiting with baited breath.
Oompah
That is a good question to ask about whether these scenarios match what FACMAC says and I will ask about that today. What was odd is that the one scenario with the K-8 mushrooms was voted down by FACMAC and, seemingly, staff and yet they spent a lot of time talking about it.
FedMom, not a lot of discussion around programs, seats and fit. There was some about Jane Addams but not in a real way. I will try to put up a link to the documents provided.
Ben
You bet. I wonder how much Burgess wants to hold back for Creative Approach Schools. How does Burgess want to use these dollars for Creative Approach Schools? To what extent does Burgess want to control our public schools? I could say there is a desire for governmental involvement, but the government seems to be Tim Burgess.
We need transparency. I'm not seeing it.
Boy, not a mention of Enfield in the article, and Melissa said that The Alliance didn't do a thing for her in appreciation of year in which she had to take over during crisis when the Alliance's Annointed Leader MGJ had to be fired. With Enfield dissing moving on, what do people think...is the Alliance a) still stunned, b)chastened c) scheming. Discuss!
And also, WTH is up with Morris positioning the Alliance as a)District friend b) District critic c) Independent Guardian of Funds. Choose 1. Maybe 2. All 3 = Not Credible. When do we get our expose on The Alliance, Rosenthal? There is so much wrong there IMHO.
DistrictWatcher
On the 2A/2B issue, it appeared that some Board directors asked Facilities to examine the 2B option with more K-8s. The FACMAC was nearly unanimous that 2B wasn't a good idea. However, staff still has to talk about the issue at the Board work session, since they have to explain to Board directors who wanted the option what the issues with the proposal are. So there might still be a lot of discussion about an option that is functionally dead. If 2B still shows up at the community meetings, then I would have more concerns.
Pretty soon, there will need to be a big meeting between Capital Projects and Curriculum & Instruction to hammer out some proposals for what happens in what buildings. My sense (and I'm not great at reading people, so this might be totally wrong) is that Capital was looking at what schools could be added to/renovated/replaced for a reasonable amount of money, and that those options will help drive C&I's decisions on where to place programs.
Another banner day for professionalism in the district.
Upon thinking about the story for a week, I hope Jennifer Gray and the other reporting staff member sue. I really do. It's the only thing that will change this district's attention to reporting potential student safety problems AND stop principals from unthically going after employees to save their own skin.
-critical-
beth
But, as it turns out, Sundquist had a nice party thrown for him when he was ousted (both to say goodbye and retire his campaign debt - he had debt with all those bucks?). Maybe they will be throwing a private goodbye to the superintendent.
Critical, that was an interesting non-discussion on KUOW. I think the panelists were shocked and, unfortunately, KUOW didn't get all the details right. But yes, it didn't come off well.
1. Neglected to investigate, or to follow protocol that is in place in order to protect children;
2. LIED when queried about the situation;
3. Retaliated against staff.
I'm curious how many of us would have our jobs after behavior like this...
As others mention above, it's really unfortunate the the panel couldn't seem to get their heads around the issues. Joannie just seemed to be too thrown off by hearing "foot kissing" to be able to critically engage her thinking ability.
Oompah
More than once she has said that certain outcomes/behaviors would have gotten someone fired at Boeing.
I wonder if Boeing found out that managers had not investigated a complaint of inappropriate behavior, lied that they did and then were caught in the lie.
And, after an investigation found they did not follow Boeing procedures and didn't even grasp what their duties were, one of them complained to the media that the investigation was not factual and wrong.
I'm pretty sure Boeing wouldn't take that and would have fired that person. But I'll have to ask Sherry about that.
I do find it quite unbelievable that Principal King can be insubordinate in this manner in the media and no one in SPS leadership is going to do anything?
The horrible tone that these two principals created at Lowell last year, caused so many of the staff to jump ship. There was not a formal investigation done on that. The unprecidented number of teachers and other staff who left is a testimonial to the fact that those principals did not create a healthy atmosphere. The climate survey conducted by the SEA
also indicated a "low performance evaluation" for those principals.
Yet, the school district still has them as principals. In fact, even after they had the results of the investigation in their hands, SPS stated that Gregory King would be retained as principal at Lowell for the remainder of this year and the next. This man should not remain as principal of Lowell, nor should he be moved to another school, where he likely would dismantle their faculty as well.
I have heard that Mr. King has a track record, starting with his schools in Atlanta. Former blogs have spoken about what a devestating principal he was. There was also reference to "credit card" issues from Atlanta. Why is this man allowed to continue?
Lowell supporter
Policy C56.00 requires the superintendent to establish an administrative process for approving new programs and it requires her to make that process publicly available.
Oops! She didn't do it. In fact, she adamantly refuses to do it. The board refuses to enforce the policy - not just the board as a whole but each individual board member refuses to enforce the policy.
I guess I was wrong. You are out of luck, Ben.
Let's look at it just in terms of direct financial cost. I would like to see King and Geoghagan reimburse the district for the cost of the investigation into C1 and C2, as well as the cost of the Yarmuth Wilsdon Calfo investigation and report.
Both of these administrators have first hand knowledge of the financial challenges the district is facing, and yet they caused the district to spend money that would otherwise not have to have been spent.
Narcissistic. Inexcusible. Pathetic. Shameful.
Oompah
They don't work. And there is an excellent reason why they don't work. The people who want K-8 schools send their kids to the school while they are in the elementary grades. The people who don't like K-8 schools don't send their kids to them at all.
The district can say that the school has a mushroom model, but that doesn't matter if the school doesn't really mushroom.
Think about it. Why would you send your child to a K-8 in the 6th grade instead of a comprehensive middle school? They will enter a class of kids who have all been together since kindergarten. All of the friend networks are well established. That social awkwardness bonus comes on top of reduced opportunities for academics and electives. It's just not an appealing offer.
Sure, there are some folks who will say that they chose it and loved it, but look at the numbers. The middle school parts of K-8s are not popular with families who were not part of the K-5 community.
The exception is Salmon Bay, but you have to wonder how much of their mushroom is coming from Thornton Creek.
Southender
I don't think the Thornton Creek kids are making as much difference as they used to now that they don't get transportation. The waitlist for 6th grade at Salmon Bay has all but disappeared.
Some bio info here:
McKenna bio
The fact that there's a "mushrooM" isn't really significant at all. If anything, it's a plus to people who seek an alternate K-8 experience in middle school but were happy with their more local elementary options - either traditional or alternative. It's the best of both worlds - a little bigger pond than a plain old k-8, but somewhat of an established cohort to relieve chaos. we need more choices and mushroom k-8's can provide that.
parent
--fungi challenged
They don't work. And there is an excellent reason why they don't work. The people who want K-8 schools send their kids to the school while they are in the elementary grades. The people who don't like K-8 schools don't send their kids to them at all.
Charlie, please don't just make things up!
TOPS has consistently had enough applicants for 6th grade to fill another class. Lots of people who were happy at their neighborhood K-5 (or who didn't get a K spot at a K-8) are looking for a 6th grade spot at a K-8.
And from my observation, the new 6th graders are disproportionately popular at K-8s because the other kids are getting tired of looking at each other!
I don't mean to imply that there is some huge pent up demand for more mushroom K-8s, but the ones that exist do work for a lot of families.
Tit for Tat n All That
DistrictWatcher
beth
26,000 applicants, 14,000 acceptances in hope of netting 6,000 freshmen. Admission to the UW remains highly competitive, with last fall’s freshmen class average GPA at 3.75 and average SAT scores above 1800. Data for next fall’s class will not be available until after the class actually enrolls in October, but indications are that scores will be even higher.
No financial aid package at our house yet (maybe I should go check the mailbox!).
Many private schools do give breaks - of all sizes - to eager students who want to go their schools.
-Wondering
Lowell observer
Lincoln parent
That may be why the unsubsidized loans are at 6.8%.
I disagree about your statement that mushroom-model middle schools don't work (and why).
Our son entered Jane Addams this year at 6th grade. He was at nearby John Rogers for K-5. He is doing well there, and we are happy with our choice. Our main reason for not enrolling him in Eckstein was that we felt Eckstein was too big. Jane Addams is also closer to our home.
If Jane Addams remains a K-8, I hope that it is allowed to "mushroom," and continue to be a middle school option for kids who attended another elementary school.
I don't think that mushroom K-8s can be used as the only solution to the middle school capacity crisis - we definitely need at least one more comprehensive middle school in the north end, but for our family, a K-8 was a better choice than an over-crowded comprehensive middle school.
Kim
Hugs at home from parents.
Hugs at school from the IA.
-Wink
I'd hug my kid too, if he had to endure King or Rina for a principal. With luck, john and peter will never have a time when they have to rely on the competence and integrity of their school's principal.
-think your name is apt
No hugs at school if you are a boy.
Only hugs for girls at school from the male IA.
-Wink
I believe that the district gave him only a reprimand because he probably was able to say that the district screwed up as well and how would htat look in court?
He has bigger aspirations and between those and his beliefs about how to treat staff, I'd be surprised if he is still here next fall.
It has space available in the middle school.
Salmon Bay is a mushroom K-8.
It has space available in the middle school.
South Shore is a mushroom K-8.
It has space available in the middle school.
Madrona is a mushroom K-8.
It has space available in the middle school.
-think your name is apt
I think you, peter p and others, will have to accept others won't move on - not on your timeline, not at your command. Maybe they will come to share your views - maybe not. But accept that the topic isn't going to go away anytime soon. Such expectations are both unrealistic and unlikely.
Why do you keep repeating this nonsense. I know all the major players, probably for longer than you. And I've talked with most of the teachers that left Lowell last year after being bullied beyond belief. If you don't think it happened, then you are obviously clueless about the realities of the situation. If you don't think it was unacceptable behavior, then I don't think it's worth continuing this conversation.
So rather than telling us to ask the current staff at Lowell (Greg didn't bully his favorites), why don't you go find the relevant staff members to ask? The ones who gave up their jobs because the building was too toxic to continue working in. Actually, I'm not sure I'd bother because most won't talk to just anyone, thanks to a fully-justified fear of retaliation. We've already seen how that plays out.
Or ask the families of the 20+ kids (half the cohort) who were there for k in 09-10 and are elsewhere for 2nd grade now. it was pretty obvious that the work environment was toxic. My child's wonderful teacher was one of the ones being targeted, and the crowding was obviously not sustainable or being dealt with. We got out, and so did lots of others. It's too bad, because Mr King did such a great job the first year, and such a lousy job last year.
--former Lowell parent
What a smug and smarmy hypocrite.
n...
Are you aware that Rina is no longer at Lowell? Rina is based at Lowell @ Lincoln which is currently, for all intents and purposes, quite separate for Lowell. Do you have students at both sites? If not, how can you know with such certainty what the climate is like for staff and families at Lowell@Lincoln?
As it happens, it seems to me the vibe is pretty good at L@L despite the summer move to a suboptimal building, large number of new staff, uncertainty over the future location of APP, threats of further splits, and now, this troubling investigation. It seems like the administration (Rina), teachers, and parents are really trying to make the best of a bad situation and grow and advocate for the program. It still remains to be seen how the fallout from the investigation affects us at L@L.
puff
So its true the vibe is good at Lincoln in spite of all the challenges that the site has. I guess I made it all up. Or maybe I have two kids.
eyes rolled back
-wondering
After a less than stellar experience with a big middle school with one child, I would never have selected one of the bigs for her younger sib. We went private, and re-entered at high school, but if we had had reasonable access to a good mushroom model, we might have gone that route. At any rate, those are my thoughts.
Been there, all done
Sure, there are some folks who will say that they chose it and loved it, but look at the numbers. The middle school parts of K-8s are not popular with families who were not part of the K-5 community.
Kay Smith-Blum, last Saturday at her community meeting, presented it as a K-8 with a middle school of a comparable size to a small comprehensive middle school (700?). Neighboring elementary schools would feed into the middle school portion as the default/guaranteed assignment. For example, the middle school at a Wilson-Pacific “Mushroom” K-8 would be the attendance area middle school for additional elementary schools (such as Daniel Bagley, Greenwood, and/or Green Lake). It would not be a "choice" for middle school unless the whole school is an option school.
--That's The Way I Heard It
While the teachers work hard, the program's weakness is due to the ineffective principal who sits in a darkened office and is threatened by strong outspoken staff, and has the House Admin making true connections to the kids.
There are many unhappy staff who keep their mouths shut, isolating themselves for fear of retaliation from the principal if they speak up. They watched him unjustly go after a veteran teacher last school year, whose students were making gains based on the district's testing because she didn't cowtow to him. He was successful in destroying that teacher's career and employment in the district, though she'd been championed a couple of years before. Additionally he has loss valuable staff to early retirement or transfers because they could no longer work for an inept administrator.
-BT insider
Their actions cost the district money.
Oompah
Nine students from Seattle Public Schools have been chosen for the first phase of the Washington Aerospace Scholars (WAS) program. Seven of those nine hail from Ingraham High School.
Here is the link:
http://www.seattleschools.org/
modules/cms/pages.phtml?
sessionid=f6281bddfe310eade69405f3
180ab628&pageid=263828&sessionid=f
6281bddfe310eade69405f3180ab628
Ingraham High School is not a STEM school, but it does have a strong overall academic program for students interested in math and science.
DWE
Also, re my comment that 'the vibe is good at Lincoln in spite of all the challenges that the site has". All I am saying is that is the feeling I personally have and have noticed among the parents I've come across. I am not implying this is universal.
I suspect feelings about this investigation are pretty mixed at L@L.
Some folks probably are eager to move on and put it behind them for whatever reason (i.e they think the investigation was a storm in a teacup, or they're happy with Rina's current leadership, or they just want to avoid further turmoil in the APP).
Some folks are probably want a change of leadership.
Some folks, like me, have mixed feelings- we want to avoid further upheavals, and Rina seems like she is doing a good job this year BUT...... we're clear that not investigating those reports, lying, and retaliatory action=not good!
I would speculate that parent/staff attitudes at Lowell (Capitol Hill) may be similarly divided - but unlike you I acknowledge I'm just speculating.
Puff
Would administrators take their responsibilities more seriously, if they utilized public education for their own family?
My H works at Boeing & we only fly Boeing built planes,
It doesn't do much for consumer confidence when administrators like Greg King, have their kids at Lakeside,
beth
It has space available in the middle school.
Salmon Bay is a mushroom K-8.
It has space available in the middle school.
South Shore is a mushroom K-8.
It has space available in the middle school.
Madrona is a mushroom K-8.
It has space available in the middle school.
How do transportation policies vis-a-vis comp middle schools compare? Comp middle schools seem to be able to provide it for a larger area? I am not sure that the above points are fair to make outside looking at transportation too?
FedMomof2
"I don't care to (belong to a club) send my children to a school that (accepts people like me as members) might have a principal like me."
-Grouch Marx
Beth
I also wonder at the timing. A lot of people report that King was a great prinicipal in his first year at Lowell, and totally changed after that. Showing his true colors after the settling-in period maybe - or were his own kids no longer attending the school by that point.
Just wondering whether having ones own kids attending the school would cause a principal to moderate their behavior so as not to adversely effect their own kids. When did the King kids stop attending Lowell?
Just wondering
Is this group in solidarity about not wanting to be split again?
Parents of the youngest kids and those brand new to the program may value proximity to home a bit higher, but trust me, you will grow out of that opinion over time. Ask other parents who have been around longer. Splitting this program once has greatly weakened it in many ways. Splitting into 3 would be the death knell.
Is there anything a large group of parents can do to prevent this? Yes, I believe there is, but there needs to be one voice and one action. APP is big enough to be heard if everyone bands together for their kids. So it's time to start organizing.
Starting with the BEX-IV meeting on Tuesday, pick a section and have (most) everyone sit together. Everyone, from elementary through high school - call your friends. If other non-APP families want to join in support, that's great. The lack of district support for advanced learning in general affects other families as well, especially Spectrum. When various proposals are discussed the group can voice its displeasure as a group. If/when the audience is asked for a show of hands it will be more difficult to ignore a large cluster.
But all that can be ignored if the district is dead set on splitting the program again. But there are two things that the district cannot ignore:
1) your money
2) your test scores
Someone on the discussapp blog brought up actively campaigning against a BEX levy that doesn't provide a home for north APP. That's a very strong position to take, and I'm not sure what kind of solidarity there would be in that kind of effort, but there's one way to find out. The BEX-IV meeting on Tuesday would be a great venue to explore this.
A much, much easier plan would be to simply say that if BEX-IV does not provide a home for north APP (both elementary and middle) without splitting the program 3 ways, everyone will opt out of both MSP/HSPE and MAP (except 10th grade, as required for graduation) for the next, say 2 years.
This is almost a no-brainer for most families. If you're in APP already, these scores do nothing to help your students, they are used to grade our administration (among other things, but don't muddy the water here just yet suep!).
It's trivial to opt out, you just give your principal or test administrator a note that says your kid is opting out. That's it.
This will only work if there are numbers to support it. 5 families opting out is not going to matter to the administration. 100 or 200 or more families opting out will get their attention. It will take effort to spread the word.
Opting out of district/state testing as a vote of protest has been suggested before and received limited uptake, either because the cause wasn't something everyone could rally around, or because it was too general/diluted. This is a very specific cause, and the district will very clearly either have a solution or they won't. With a plan and a (levy-supported) budget. I might go so far as to say requiring an MOU of some kind might be justified, given how slippery the district has been over the years.
Are families finally fed up and ready to support this? Or are people still willing to roll over and take whatever placating scraps the district feels like it can get away with.
Salander
Perhaps he gained a different perspective with his time with MGJ.
DW, I might reprint what you just wrote because you are right.
The time is now to stand up and be counted. No, "well that might be okay." And the refusal to take any of the standardized tests would be a great start.
You are right about the effect it would have particularly if Spectrum families chimed in. And they should because their program is getting weaker and weaker.
Julian
This persecution of senior teachers has happened at Lowell Elementary (both locations). Some of these teachers are our best, master teachers who should be respected and tapped as mentors and great resources, not targeted. It is unconscionable, immoral and hugely destructive for these principals to drive them out.
Salander -- Do you know if some kind of directive, overt or tacit, has been given to (certain? willing? weak?) SPS principals to get rid of veteran teachers? Clearly there is too much of a pattern of this behavior for this to be a coincidence.
What happened to the district and city's claim after Goodloe-Johnson was fired that it would end the culture of fear and intimidation in SPS that thrived under Goodloe-Johnson?
Why is this mistreatment of teachers still alive and well under Susan Enfield?
Maybe this would help determine if there is a pattern.
I know of at least four senior APP teachers who were targeted at Lowell last year and this. At least two of them, so far, 'retired' before they intended.
About a year ago, teachers were no longer permitted to have parents grade student papers, quizes, tests, etc. Parents were not allowed to record grades, or file papers in student folders. I can see why this happened, but it places a burden on teachers that can't be kept up with. As an APP teacher, it often took three hours to grade a math test. We weren't giving multiple choice type of tests, needed to evaluate a student's process, and write helpful comments. That was just one test, and there were many other labor intensive papers to grade from that same day. Parents who used to grade for us would be amazed at how long it took. I also forgot to mention that all these grades needed to be recorded in at least one or two places. Students retaking tests needed to have their grades changed. The time involved in these tasks goes on and on.
Then there is the need to file each paper in a three ring binder for each child. This is not a portfolio folder that you can slip a paper into. You have to open a binder and put each paper in at the right spot. That takes a lot of time. It really would take a full time secretary to handle all of this. Preparing for lessons, attending meetings, communicating with parents, and all the other aspects of a teacher's job, make this amount of paperwork unreasonable.
The school district doesn't hire secretaries for teachers, but that is what is needed. Parent volunteers were the ones who used to ease this load, making it possible to do. Now teachers get "dinged" if they don't have all their papers graded, filed, etc.
Is this the same for all schools?
Just wondering
As always, thanks for your ethical compass and keen intellect.
I know nothing about this investigation. However, I can speak to the overall issue from the standpoint of being a former veteran teacher of SPS. These were my observations:
1. The "let's get tough on teachers, especially the burned out out ones", is a national phenomenon; parents and administrators in SPS are not immune to the media brainwashing.
2. Part of the so-called reform is based on the weeding out of so-called deadweight teachers. New or insecure principals may think they can prove their moxy by firing a teacher or two--extra credit for a senior teacher. I know one senior teacher who was a victim of an unsuccessful termination attempt in SPS. (There is an analogy here to those principals who hired TFA, in my opinion).
3. Many of the principals in this district have very little teaching experience. The secure ones have respect for teachers who have mastery. The insecure and inexperienced (and SPS does have a surplus of these) view veteran, highly skilled teachers as a threat to their authority, influence with parents and/or staff, or some combination of these. I received fallout from a principal's insecurity in the form of snide remarks, both to me and to my colleagues about me.
However, these principals don't hesitate to ask experienced teachers for help if it benefits them. I had principal routinely pull me out of class to handle discipline because it "wasn't her thing." Later, she told me she sought my help because "you're mean" and that's why the kids listened to me.
4. Susan Enfield, herself, has shown no regard for teachers--see TFA (and its implicit and expicit message about veteran teachers); also, look at the never-happened but media-touted "Soup with the Supe" luncheons with teachers. Underlings (including principals) manifest and mirror the ethics of their leadership.
5. The incredible turnover in HR is ripe for fostering non-compliance with basic labor and equal protection laws. I suspect that this has more than a little to do with this issue, as well. A functioning HR department creates a culture of making employees mindful of these laws, the ethics behind them, and the consequences of violation. These messages were basically absent during my final years.
--enough already
I didn't include the most distressing piece of all:
The utter impotence and ineptness of SEA. Members can expect to find more real support from HR than SEA.
SEA has been the weakest link in this system for years. Sadly, another round of the same was voted in this past week.
Not sure what the staff was thinking--if at all.
--enough already
I am speaking both from first hand knowledge and what others have told me about their experience.
What a waste of money we spent on union dues.
also had enough!
We can comment on Principal King's work/behavior as a principal. We are not going to talk about his personal life nor that of his children. Where they went to school, even if it was the school he was at, is not up for comment.
Enough already, I have high hopes that Paul Apostle in HR IS going to be an HR leader such as you described.
One interesting thing that I am hearing from different thread discussion is that Cris Carter over at Hamilton seems to be slowly splitting teachers and parents there. I understand that clear communication seems to be lacking.
Mr. Carter and Mr. King are both former TFAers. Maybe this manner of being a principal comes from TFA training.
Yes, the L@L staff and parents are in solidarity about not wanting to be split again.
At the recent PTA meeting it was determined that parents are overwhelmingly in favor of retaining a single cohort APP program north of the ship canal.
The staff had already presented the same view on the matter.
Anything else will be disastrous for the program which has already suffered too much upheaval, loss of experienced teaching staff, and lack of district-led curriculum support/professional development.
Our kids don't deserve to be treated like some little moveable widgets that can be fitted in here or there to fill some gap or fulfill SPS admin's latest agenda.
puff
While it pains me to say it, it feels like a lot of attention is given on this blog to schools where parent involvement is stronger, and the populations are predominately white.
I know Melissa, Charlie and Dan that you've spoken up about the inequities in education for students of color and/or those who are in less affluent communities (of which Broadview has become), but most of the comments seem to not address academic excellence for these populations and how we're going to make that happen for those students as well.
I understand you hear us Melissa. Thank you.
I would hope and expect that a principal's understanding of her/his job, their understanding of pedagogy, their ethos and humanity would come from more than a short stint as corps members at TFA (and aren't most short? After all, it's an "education leadership program," in their own words.)
I would hope that becoming a principal entails years of teaching, years of getting to know various ways of learnings and the multitudes of outcomes, years of observing how to nurture a staff while playing flack against outside distractions yet finding budgets...somehow...
Yet if they are first exposed education via the short period of TFA training, which covers none of the nuance, none of the range of real teaching, nothing else, it seems than "reverse planning" to just test questions...
If they believe certificates or lengthy preparation (or even just student teaching) doesn't matter, that education is just about the MSP/HSPE scores in classrooms, just about working 24/7 (who cares about the educator's family, anyway?), just about competition, and if they ARE to be our future leaders of educators in buildings, we have trouble ahead.
Here is the link to the KUOW program featuring Ann Dornfeld's discussion of Lowell at about minute 27:00
KUOW fan
KUOW fan
Except where central administration might WANT what is going on in the buildings, and direct it. For instance, I'm relatively certain that principals were more than encouraged to hire TFA applicants. How else do you explain one principal choosing a TFA over 100 other applicants?
Make no mistake that central has some pull in the buildings.
PIP plans can pile on an impossible amount of demands upon a teacher. Usually in a year, all teachers work on just two or three of the goals for effective teachers. They can pick several of the points listed under their selected two goals. Teachers on the PIP plan can be given all the goals on the list. They are given pages and pages of goals, with all the points they involve. There is no one alive who could do these plans. Their purpose is to insure that a teacher will be completely broken down, and that there will be no problem in documenting some shortfall somewhere. Not only that, but by coming into the teacher's room daily and staying until some aspect can be found, this documenting takes place fairly quickly.
When the veteran teachers , who had a strong relationship with the staff in their school, showed their colleagues their PIP plan, the colleagues were truely horrified to see what was being asked of them. They all shook their heads and said that they could not possibly do that. It was utterly unfair.
Unfair, but legal. Our SEA just says that the principal has followed allowed protocal and that there is nothing that they can do. Usually, they don't even take the time to hear the story, as they really can not do anything to stop this process or ask that the documentation be true. They just say it is your word against theirs. There is nothing that can be done.
And so a principal can get rid of any number of senior teachers that they want, and receive cudos from the district for reducing costs.
HR listens, but I have not heard of any cases where they have helped the targeted teacher in the end.
Eye Witness to this shame
APP AC meeting @ Lincoln: 6 30pm- 8 00pm
BEX IV meeting @ Eckstein: 7 00pm (I think)
- Decisions, decisions...
Mrs. Geoghagan is hoping for mercy from parents and the district for this recent legal scandal. I am all for mercy for people. The only problem with letting her stay as principal is that she was a person who did not demonstrate mercy. I do not want to see her in a position to ever do what she did to teachers through her oversite of PIP plans. She is a danger to any school that she works in if she has the stomach to do what she did last year.
I am sorry for other schools who have principals who use these tactics. They get away with it because there is nobody watching.
HR and their administrators do nothing but support them. In our case, we are lucky that Rina made a legal error this time. That is the only way that she appears to be a concern. In the perfectly legally ways to target teachers, she would get away with targeting enough to continue on for years.
Former Lowell teacher
-ST
It pained us deeply to see colleagues injured. I am in a better position now to do what I can about exposing the unfairness of PIP plans.
I hope that in the not too distant future the SEA will be able to actually do something to protect teachers from unfair PIP plans. SEA will need to make it a bargaining point that they hold to. Usually, SEA gives away everything other than salary. They trade away class size and everything that is important to teachers. SEA only has power at bargaining time. The school district has a long track record of knowing that , in the end, they will give everything away other than salary. All those things that they give away are what really matter to schools. SEA has no power over anything until the next bargaining contract. They never do help individual teachers.
Realistic about the way it is
APP AC meeting @ Lincoln: 6 30pm- 8 00pm
BEX IV meeting @ Eckstein: 7 00pm (I think)
Check again on the APP AC meeting, I believe it has been rescheduled for Monday because of the BEX IV conflict. Go to both!
in agreement
:0
Together we are string.
Actually there was a bit of rhetoric in my question. I know that the vast majority of APP wants to avoid another devastating split. The real question is:
Does the group have the resolve to actually do something about it? Because it's now or never.
People need to come together on this, and there's a very limited time frame, and very limited ways to exert any meaningful pushback. Having watched this unfold last time, if someone doesn't start organizing the group to take some kind of action quickly, it's probably over.
It's also time to start educating newcomers, those with the youngest kids, who may not yet understand why splitting the program was bad, and why splitting it again will be even worse. We all need to work to bring them up to speed as well.
Spectrum families are having different, but related, problems. It's more difficult for them to organize as a single group because they are geographically dispersed, but the more people that come together on this, the better -- for ALL. It can set some precedent that the district should try to fix problem areas instead of destroying things that are (were) actually working well.
1. If the SEA is as dysfunctional as it sounds, why don't teachers get together and see what it would take to decertify the union and form a different one? Decertification campaigns tend to put the fear of God into unions who have become lazy and corrupt (or inept) -- because they have to actually make their case again to members. I know nothing about labor stuff (I don't even like unions very well, though I can see why they are needed and useful -- to a point), but I cannot fathom why Seattle teachers put up with paying dues to these jokers. Find a better group. There has to be a way.
On retaliation. What the spineless SEA says notwithstanding, I think there are a number of really serious problems (for the District, ultimately) in devising PIPs that are essentially impossible to accomplish -- and I assume that the HR commission might be very interested in seeing the plans, talking to ordinary teachers about what THEIR improvement goals look like, talking to those on PIPs about what THEY were asked to do, how much support (as opposed to terrorizing) they got, etc. While I agree that an employer can generally just make life so unhappy for a disfavored employee that they just "leave," there are limits, and it wouldn't surprise me one bit to find out that the District has far exceeded them (another problem of having a dysfunctional downtown HR department). I hope all these teachers kept their PIPs, and have some records, or good recollections, of how they were administered.
Braessae
Caveats galore: I have no clue whether what I was told was an accurate description of what was said, though if I seriously doubted the person who related the conversation, I wouldn't say it here. I also have no idea whether the Lakeside employee who supposedly said it might have been mistaken -- though the person's position would be one where she/he would have been in a good position to know. So -- caveats and grains of salt everywhere. But here is why I thought it was interesting:
First, if it was the last two or three years, it would coincide pretty neatly with the AOO split, the arrival of King, and the reports from APP teachers of significant interference with veteran teachers' methods of teaching gifted kids, project-based learning stuff that had formerly gone on, teacher harrassment and attrition, etc. It also dovetails alarmingly well with MGJ's tenure in Seattle, and her absolutely dreadful (my opinion only) effect on learning generally.
Second, it made me realize that there we have very few ways in which current tests administered to APP would show significant declines in their learning -- because they pretty much "test out" of most of the tests we give them (MSP, MAP, etc.) They are already way above the benchmarks, the 99th percentiles, etc. They would have to fall much farther than most kids before the declines would show up -- and frankly, many of those kids are so smart, they are NEVER going to fall that far. There ARE tests (the ones given by the the University's gifted ed folks, SATs, etc. that actually start to measure growth in these kids -- and the differences between them, but we generally don't give those. But I thought that (IF what I heard was accurately related, and IF the underlying statement is true -- that these kids are learning less and are less prepared for rigorous middle school curriculum than they used to be) the time correlation (with MGJ, King, the APP split, etc) is troubling. And the only way an APP parent would know is if they knew what was being taught and learned by kids in the private schools that often feed into Lakeside -- and how many would know that?
Braessae
Final nails in the coffin. First, even if someone at the District administrative level cared, there is no way to confirm any of this. The records of private schools are, well, private. If it were true, Lakeside would never make something like this public. The parents of kids who apply wouldn't even know (unless maybe their kids don't get in -- but there are lots of reasons why one child is accepted and nine others are not), and in any case, how would they know what used to happen with admission in prior years? There is no baseline, and no aggregated data to back up any claim.
Second, given how cranky folks get about APP, about the only thing that could be worse would be an APP kid with the temerity to leave the system altogether for an "elitist school like Lakeside!" Those would TRULY be the "spawn of the devil."
So, IF what was told to me strikes any note of truth with any parents of APP elementary kids -- it seems to me that those parents ought to look into it, talk to the middle school APP teachers (the ones who have been there 5 or 10 or more years) about whether THEY have seen any negative effects on learning in the past 2 or 3 years, double down on their demands for teachers and administrators who are qualified and capable of, and experienced in, teaching gifted kids, and who have the freedom and administrative support to do so, renew their demand that the District supply the written and tested curriculum that was promised as part of the APP split, and push hard for no further degradation to the program through further splits of the cohort, more "curriculum alignment," or more attrition of the most experienced, valuable teachers. Oh, and a permanent north end home.
Braessae
And yes, I am confident enough in Lowell that her younger sibs are there..
Another Parent
-Love to hear more
What does that mean? Are you talking about a private test or a medical condition?
Would love to, but after the blogger changes I can't seem to post over there anymore. Feel free to copy my comments and post on that site, as I agree it would be useful.
While you're at it, you could suggest losing the "verification" code, which happily, Melissa has done here. I hope it hasn't caused a huge upsurge in spam behind the scenes.
You are right to be concerned about the educational preparedness of Lowell students as compared with a few years ago. I have not heard directly from anyone at Lakeside, but it does not surprise me in the slightest, as I have heard from those who know best - the teachers themselves. This has been happening for several years now, and unfortunately, those with knowledge and understanding of the long term changes are mostly gone, many in just the past year. New teachers have no long term perspective to understand just how much the program has lost in recent years.
The reasons go deeper than the split and the arrival of King, and while the curricular materials may exacerbate the situation, they are not really the root of the problem either. The problem is that the district is actively encouraging the program to "grow", which by its very definition means taking in more kids who are not at the same cognitive and achievement levels as in the past.
There are certainly different perspectives on the merits of this, but honestly, if kids' needs can be met in a well-supported regional (Spectrum) program, why encourage them to join APP, which is a more costly program due to transportation, and (was supposed to be) designed for kids who have needs that truly cannot be met in a local or regional program.
Regardless of the specific testing/qualification details, empirically we have incontrovertible proof that standards to enter APP have been lowered over the past few years. Yes, there are long term trends that kids are getting smarter, but at a very, very tiny fraction of the changes we're seeing in SPS.
What comes with growth? Overcrowding.
What comes with overcrowding? Splits.
What comes with splits? A lot of bad stuff, but one thing is buildings closer to people's homes, which encourages more parents to enroll their kids. Even if they feel their child is borderline, why not? It's close to home, and Spectrum is being torn down.
So there's the cycle.
The only way to break this cycle is to carefully consider ways to reduce enrollment in APP, with the hope of keeping it a program for those kids who truly need these services, rather than "the place to be". A robust APP program is not one that you want your child to attend, it's the program that you begrudgingly attend in spite of the long bus ride because nothing else works.
One way to do this is to tighten up the testing criteria. But an even better way is by strengthening our Spectrum programs around the city instead of destroying them. Carrots work much better than sticks! Both are probably necessary to some degree. Unfortunately, the support (and thusly, the reputation) of Spectrum these days is terrible, and reputations take time to build or rebuild. Even with a concerted effort, that will take time. Let's hope our new superintendent will take some steps in this direction.
There are other ways to accomplish stability in enrollment numbers. The most simple and reliable is to simply say there is a limit of N students in each of north and south regions. That might sound terrible to some, but it's managed well in other areas (see Paradise Valley, AZ). The alternative here in Seattle looks like it will be the dissolution of APP over the next few years.
- Hopeless in Seattle
Lowell teacher
But thanks, SPSLeaks -- because I would love to see one, and get some teacher feedback on how reasonable or unreasonable it is.
Braessae
Nor do I think capacity and "splittability" should be the criteria -- because those aren't inherently bad -- they are just botched by THIS District.
I do think, though, that you are right on the concept of admission criteria -- AND on the deleterious effects on APP by destroying Spectrum and refusing to provide meaningful ALOs. I wish someone at the District level cared enough to do an internal review or audit of the program to determine whether the admissions criteria are appropriately set -- and whether the "next programs down" -- Spectrum or ALO should be enhanced (or brought back from the dead, or whatever) to restore health to the advanced learning programs generally.
Strategically, I don't want to argue for a higher cutoff in a world where Spectrum is being exsanguinated (sorry, watching too much House lately), and ALO is a fiction -- because of the panic it will cause in borderline Spectrum/APP families whom you would strand with no options. If this is to be done at all, it needs to be done by:
1. Rebuilding advanced learning at the Spectrum/ALO level; and
2. THEN looking at how you best place kids (for the KIDS' benefit) between these programs. Because historically, when Spectrum has been viable, LOTS of potential families have shown a strong desire and willingness to place their kids there, rather than in APP. THAT is what will take pressure off APP growth -- and do it without denying access to kids. It all worked pretty well (except for lack of access to Spectrum, because it was not protected by "gifted ed" classification) -- once upon a time.
Brassae
Braessae
I need the evidence from Lowell and Broadview and anywhere else teachers are being hit. I have also talked WEA into investigating SEA.
Everything being said about the PIPs is true. Mine started out with 73 areas for improvement.The principal of my school has never been a teacher so I guess he thought he would just cover all his bases. I knew I was doomed from the moment he began telling me he was going to "support me to improve". My parents and students give me their full support. This lifts my spirits but all their phone calls and letter writing have come to nothing.HR is complicit. Please tell your stories so the investigator has a road map to follow. No problem if you are afraid and want to be invisible. I will give him/her the link to the blog.
Salander
Even if you believed that those colleagues needed to take their teaching up a notch, were the plans really about improving teaching and learning, it wouldn't have to be about intimidation. Giving them three preps/new courses to teach along with an improvement plan is a recipe for failure.
To me, knowing that the administrator observing daily was there to hinder and not help would be so horrible.
The bottom line: Agree to retire and the harassment stops.
These colleagues later signed a non-discloure agreement with HR so I doubt if they'd share with SPS Leaks....
--Old School music
As it was, I usually worked from early morning until about ten at night on school. I took time out for dinner, usually eating out, so that I could eat rather quickly. There is so much to a teacher's job, that it always took that amount of time for me, even though I had many years behind my belt in the same grade level.
That's why when I was handed a PIP plan that would have taken me another full time job to do, I just sobbed. I had to say that I could not do it. On the spot I had to agree to retire. I had loved my career, but I knew that I would just be butchered over parts of the new requirements that I couldn't keep up with. That happened last year. I had seen other colleagues go through this process and I knew it was a true butchering. I could not take going through that. I had already gone through enough last year up to that point.
Years ago, principals would have had a hard time proving that a teacher should be let go. Now, with PIP plans, there is no difficulty getting rid of even the most competent teacher. This is full-proof, and legal for the principal. SPS is giving administrators the "extra personnel" needed to do this documentation. They don't even need to represent the situation accurately, as a teacher's written side is just attatched to their personnel file. Nothing trumps what a principal has said, and nothing stops this speedy process.
This creates so much saddness in a school, as colleagues know that what has happened was undeserved. Their day could come up at any time, but not likely until they are on their fourteenth year--or more.
The principal looks like they were a mover and a shaker, and saved the district lots of money. They fare well with their administrators. It's kind of like getting an "A."
teacher from last year.
Maybe her teaching isn't great . . . or maybe it is. But the plan isn't fair because it isn't giving her the time to prove her stuff. She gets praise more often than not but then another issue arises. It is never ending.
If there is a pattern, perhaps SEA can bring some sort of collective action to the District? I hope so. What I've been watching is unfair and hurtful. Usually veteran teachers are masters of the craft. Everything in our world is upside down.
n...
n...
In some other districts, teachers have their own unions. We are clumped with a lot of people who weaken us because the District can appease a lot of smaller groups to the detriment of teachers. I believe Northshore is one of these districts. A good friend who worked as an IA was paid much less than IAs in Seattle but teachers were paid more.
Before anyone grumbles about taking money from poor IAs, remember they have no responsibity, no accountability, no long hours (unless they do it to themselves) and generally less of everything. When I was a Title 1 teacher, my scope of responsibility was extremely large while my IA's in math and reading had little to no responsibility. That was a long time ago. Maybe things have changed.
I also remember that at one union meeting when a representative for secretaries asked about their pay increase, Roger Erskine (yes, that long ago) said that Seattle secretaries were already paid the highest in the state and he didn't think the bargaining team could go to that well again.
Teachers always came last. I'd be interested to know what other people think of a teachers-only bargaining team as opposed to something for everybody.
n...
Looking at school budget and sitting in on BLT meetings, it came as no surprise to see veteran teachers being pushed out because they are old and expensive. I saw it in our school with a very green, 1st year principal who has very little teaching credential. What surprised me was the lack of support by the younger teachers for the vets. The school gave the vets a lovely send off, but "it was a pity, glad it wasn't me" party. Wierd.
Many here have addressed programs, gaps, and testing and they are topics my family and friends have discusseded as well. We've noticed kids in ES who get promoted and yet are several grades behind. And this is at well off schools N. of downtown, not just the usual suspects. These schools are the ones who can't seem to cross the gap. What surprises me is despite the money hired for tutors and x tra work with these kids, is the lack of planning and follow up these kids get. For those of us who tutor this group 3 X/week, it confounds us how there is no focus or clear plan during the school year or from year to year at where these kids should be, why their specific problem areas are not ID'd and mapped out, what they should be working on, and assessment to see if they have gained competency of particular skill set or learning goals (if they have them).
The thing is with larger class size, wider range of abilities in one classroom, and the talk of differentiation accompanying the LACK of differentiated actions, kids are NOT getting what they need to learn. Even more troubling are kids who are underachieving (may be quite bright) with behavioral issues who are often not in the classrooms to learn so they fall even futhur behind. Wierd.
Which brings me to my last point. The sense that AL programs may not be up to snuff. I would say you can extend that beyond the AL programs. In some schools where you always have strong test scores, parents are working harder outside schools to supplement because MAP and MSP are geared to assess the generic or the minimum. For parents and kids who want real learning, doing well on these tests aren't good enough. In schools where spectrum is being dismantled, there is some shift to move kids into APP or alternatives with stronger academics, smaller class size, or different teaching/curriculum emphasis. Of course, these movements aren't easy and require a lot of networking and luck to make it happen especially when schools are over capacity. Hence the conundrum we read about here.
It's such a FU. But as long as we keep having pity parties and glad it's not me (or my kids), guess we'll keep this blog abuzzed.
-dystopic education
Are the non-disclosures in fact legally "bullet-proof"? Have any of the exited teachers consulted attorneys outside of the union?
Since SPS is so infatuated with data, is there data on the number of teachers exited which indicates their number of years teaching, and whether a non-disclosure was signed?
What about publishing redacted PIP's from the exited teachers, or from all teachers at one particular school? Some way to compare and contrast in order to explore whether there's been any management "missteps"?
Not knowing the risks or penalties to exited teachers breaking the non-disclosure, what action does SPS need to pursue against a disclosure-breaker? What if there were a whole lot of disclosure breakers?
- just wondering about courses of action
-dystopic education
Do I understand though, that the "threat" for disclosure is that the District will then claim firing for cause, making the employee ineligible for unemployment comp? Seems to me that if the Commission concludes abusive firing practices -- that would work to negate any claim by the district that they had cause to terminate employment. It also wouldn't sit well with me, if I were the unemployment securities folks, to have the employer and employee "colluding" to determine whether termination of employment is for cause or not -- and using unemployment money as "hush" money. It seems to me that if the District wants to buy silence, they should do it with their OWN money, not taxpayer money. Oops. Wait -- District money is taxpayer money TOO (unless Gates et al are giving out grants for the purpose of funding senior teachers' severance payments -- I wonder if they have thought of it).
So how is it that our taxpayer dollars are being used to further such blatant abuses of power?
Board?
--Unhappy About Abusive Termination Practices
Former teacher from last year.
Safety is not a concern at Lowell.
Gregory King is often unavailable or not in the building. An elevator was stuck in 2011, maybe a week before the chaperone incident in December, leaving an assistant and several students with severe medical conditions inside. It took over 10 minutes to even find him to let him know. He was in the building. Not a very big one, might I add. Everyone else was panicked and he was "unavailable."
After December's news-worthy events with a parent chaperone, several urgent safety plans needed to be set into place. Gregory's own ignorance of updated district procedures regarding lockdowns was identified. He used outdated codes to set the lockdown into motion. His emergency plans do not reflect the updated requirements by the District, and he is aware of that. I sat in a meeting in which an employee stated that they had been trained in the new system, and yet the staff has yet to receive any such training. If you look at Lowell's plan, it's old and no longer used.
-To this day, there is no discipline plan at the school set in place for students to remain safe. As a result, students have left the building, are showing immense violence and aggression towards both student and staff, and know that are no serious repercussions to their behavior. My concern was for a student I am connected. Students aren't even safe with each other. Having talked with staff, this seems to be incredibly frustrating and Gregory has been incredibly silent. This is a SERIOUS safety risk. Gregory's response has been that he hasn't wanted to get involved, to let teachers decide how they want to handle things. It's absured. They need support form an administrator who they can trust will handle safety concerns promptly and with the necessary level of intervention.
-Again, Gregory is often unavailable or not in the building. As a result, 2 or 3 teachers have been put in place to deal with discipline issues for the whole school--one of which is my student's friend's teacher, the 5th grade teacher. This has taken significant time away from their instructional time and the students' learning. I'm a bit perplexed what his salary is going to--certainly it's not leadership. Why are these teachers not receiving additional pay for the additional weight of running the school? These are also the teachers that have planned the handful of staff meetings that have actually taken place. Where is GK's mind? On leaving. On his own education. On Superintendent of Somewhere.
-There have been no staff meetings regarding procedural protocol that I am aware of. This is why the event in December happened; it's why teachers are left groping in the dark or leaning heavily on other teachers for information that should be coming from administration. And we've seen what happens when that's not in place.
-Please do not be misled. This is not isolated and this is not a misunderstanding. This is negligence that has left staff frustrated and our children incredibly unsafe. I would not be surprised if he received a vote of no confidence this year, or at least an incredibly negative climate survey. Staff are not happy. They are fed up. And rightly so.
-got out of dodge
You should also not make assertions about the kids or staff in the school being safe, since you are not there on a daily basis and we do indeed feel safe and happy with the environment.
I am in the school on an almost daily basis, speaking with staff and parents alike and the feeling at our school is pretty good despite all of the negative press. I think the coming survey will reflect a growing confidence and general happyness with the culture in our school.
I'm curious about what "light" Melissa you have to shed on the issues there.
Watching My Back
n...
You'd have to define "model of education" for me but do I think everything is wrong? Nope. Do things need to get better in some ways? Yes. Do I believe there is a national crisis in public education? Only for the children that are in the opportunity gap.
Not to say everything is rosy for the other children - public education is not a static project. It evolves and shifts and rightly so.
N, do not give up. We talk, we discuss, we support, we advocate and I say this all the time but I believe we are poised to some great things in this district. There is some lining up of the stars but it will depend on our new superintendent and the directions our state takes in the next decade.
If we chart our own course - as a district and a state - and not allow ourselves to be taken down a rabbit-hole with only our fingers crossed as data, I think we will do better all across the board.
Thanks for your optimism, Melissa.
n...
TeacherVoice.com
next DECADE.....holy crap batman.....
-Annie
Ugh. If it's true, it is unhealthy, and a crying shame.
-think your name is apt
Five staff memers and myself went to the creative schools seminar together and were charged up about it. And just today there must have been six or eight staff laughing in staff lunchroom. Doesn't feel like the gloomy place that you describe.
The feeling that it would be difficult has nothing to do with Gregory, but convincing the SPED staff who number about thirty and another twenty five Lowell @Lincoln staff to vote root something that gives them no benefit. We felt that people are conservative by nature. We felt that on its own, the creative schools approach will be a hard sell even in the best circumstances.
As a side note, you must have noticed that the largest group there was Lowell, sitting with Gregory. The constant banter about the lack of cohesion from the staff, or mistrust of Gregory is just not true. Whatever happened last year does not exist at our school currently.