Banda Road Show Empty Talk?
I attended the first community meeting for Superintendent Banda at Mercer Middle School last night. I think this is the first time that he has actually been exposed to Q & A from the community.
It was a grave disappointment. I don't know what I was expecting - a little candor would have been nice - but all of his answers were empty talk that sounded reassuring without actually giving any reassurance. It was political to an extreme, so slick you'd think the guy had been dipped in teflon.
Nearly every statement he made was contradicted moments later by himself. We're starting by listening and getting to know the city and the culture, but we're taking immediate action, but only on existing initiatives, except for some new initiatives. We're getting to know the culture and we're working to change the culture, but a lot of the culture has already changed but there's still a lot of work to do but it will take time and you should see progress soon. We're going to get a permanent Director for Special Education as soon as possible, but we're not looking for one right now. We just hired a totally qualified replacement for Bi Hoa Caldwell, whats-his-name, another retired principal who doesn't have any particular expertise with special education and he's going to do great things, but he's not going to do anything new, but he's going to continue our existing momentum, but we aren't changing fast enough, but we're going to do better with leadership, but we don't have any leadership now.
It was like watching a guy play tennis against himself.
Regardless of the topic - special education, advanced learning, bilingual education, curriculum - it seems as if he and his cabinet were just talking about that and he regards it as important and a critical issue. It was also clear that he did not have command of the details about anything, which only makes me wonder what the heck the cabinet was talking about. Why would he be talking to the cabinet about advanced learning. Shouldn't he have been talking to Bob Vaughan about it? Shouldn't he have been talking to someone in special education about that, instead of talking to his cabinet about it? What did they talk about? Apparently they talked about how important all these things are and how they are all critical issues.
Mr. Banda didn't say a single thing that committed him to anything. He left the building after 90 minutes completely uncommitted.
If you plan to catch one of the stops on his road show, see if you can get him to say anything meaningful. When he says that he intends to "stay the course", see if you can get him to say what course he is on. When he says that they will continue the existing initiatives, see if you can get him to provide a list of those initiatives. See if you can get him to announce who has the knowledge and authority to enforce IDEA when our principals fail to follow it. See if you can get him to describe any kind of vision for advanced learning. See if you can get him to explain how we can both use program placement to manage capacity and place the programs where the students live. See if you can get him to explain what he means when he talks about flexible capacity at schools; it just sounds like portables to me. See if you can get him to commit to a timetable for a review of the instructional materials for math. See if you can get him to commit to anything.
Finally, be sure to ask him why anyone in the community should ever trust the District when the District has never kept a single promise to students or communities. Ask him which unfulfilled promises he will be fulfilling first before he asks for our trust.
I don't think I would be so grumpy about this if the man had demonstrated any candor at all. Every word he said was chosen for how it would play with the audience, not for how it reflected his true thoughts. I never saw anyone work so hard to talk so much and say so little.
Come see the show for yourself. The next performance will be this evening, Tuesday September 18, from 6:00-7:30 pm at Rainier Beach High School.
Other opportunities, all at 6:00pm:
Come see the show for yourself. The next performance will be this evening, Tuesday September 18, from 6:00-7:30 pm at Rainier Beach High School.
Other opportunities, all at 6:00pm:
- Monday, Oct. 1, Bryant Elementary School, 3311 N.E. 60th St.
- Tuesday, Oct. 2, Concord International Elementary School, 723 S. Concord St.
- Monday, Oct. 8, Hamilton International Middle School, 1610 N. 41st St.
Comments
At the same time, I prefer inartful to the slick talking points presentations of Susan Enfield. But I guess Lesley Rogers will have to coach Banda somemore.
The special education crisis is compounded by Banda's token engagement with SpEd parents and advocates, who would gladly help right the ship. Instead we get retired principals who think SDI and IDEA are nifty, but optional.
Me thinks that IF charters pass AND IF Bex IV fails, he may not necessarily stick around beyond 3 years because things in this District will get really hard (as if they aren't hard enough).
Hope I'm wrong.
One could say bravo to the appearance of being willing to listen to the community and being willing to take it slow to make sure you are getting it right. I get that the Directors are tickled by his collaborative approach. But I need to see more, hear more, a lot more, to buy-in. How about some broad pronouncements, like high school should start later, the math curriculum is bad and needs to be replaced, special Ed needs a leader, TFA for our District is not a fit. Lift the curtain, Mr. Banda. You got the job, you have the contract, so tell us what you really think. Pick some low-hanging fruit and just go for it.
We like you, we really do, that's why we chose you. So, please know that I support you and give you the benefit of the doubt, and will give you time to become enmeshed, but, please don't try my goodwill with political gobbeldeegook because it just raises my suspicions as to what kind of boom is going to be lowered and when.
Have faith in us, we (or most of us) have faith in you.
--scared and scarred
He has said that about sped, but actions speak louder than words.
We need some stability.
Please Mr. Superintendent - make a stand and give us a chance to support you!
-Maple Leaf Dad
What is right? What is the purpose of these community meetings and how well did the last night's meeting fulfill that purpose?
According to the school district web site, the agenda for the meetings are:
"The Superintendent will briefly talk about his vision for the School District and will follow with informal conversations."
But the superintendent essentially said that he did not yet have a vision for the School District. He said that he was going to take some time to listened and learn the culture. The absence of any vision leaves the meeting's purpose a little... pointless. It would be like the newspaper announcing "ORDINARY DAY" with a huge headline. Imagine someone arranging a meeting to tell you that they had nothing to tell you. Wait! You don't have to imagine it. You can attend exactly such a meeting with the superintendent.
But, if he does not say anything, then, how do you know he's not? Iron hand in velvet glove? Perhaps, or, perhaps not. The point is that when he says nothing, we really don't know where he stands.
-- scared and scarred
- Disappointed
We all knew who the best candidate was but unfortunately he felt that he couldn't do what needed to be done before he retired.
Dora
So, now we have Mr. Contemplative, and it is not working well. Here is what I wish. While I think that having someone spend a few months figuring out what works and what needs work is a good thing, there are a couple of things that are either raging fires (SPED management and service delivery, for one) or total no-brainers (improved math materials at whatever grade levels replacement is already past due, with massive waivers for anyone else who wants them and can figure out how to write a grant or rob a bank to fund them). This simply isn't hard. If you have a school where a majority of the teachers actually LIKE, and think they are successful at using ED and CMP -- well, keep at it. For the OTHER schools, who either want to switch the entire school, or want to go with some hybrid or other plan -- really, how hard can this be. Unlike MGJ, Dr. E., Carla Santorno, etc., he has NO skin in this game. He had nothing to do with dressing the emperor and can easily say -- yep, the man is stark naked!
Being thoughtful shouldn't prevent him from picking low hanging fruit. He would have gotten an immediate jump in test scores in math next spring. And he would have made thousands of families so much happier with Seattle public schools!
Come on, Mr. Banda! Start now!
Mirmac1
Just goes to show, as Menkin said: Change is not progress.
To me, guts is courage. Courage implies both intelligence AND boldness. MGJ was "bold," I guess, but it was boldness coupled with pride and an overwhelming contempt for those whom she was supposed to be serving. Doing "something" (when it turns out to be the wrong thing, with the wrong process, for the wrong reason) is NOT always better than doing nothing. In fact, it is often much, much worse.