tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post965330984300325154..comments2024-03-28T02:21:17.452-07:00Comments on Seattle Schools Community Forum: Enfield Reverses Decision: Floe to StayMelissa Westbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17179994245880629080noreply@blogger.comBlogger84125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-41587926668943431962011-05-19T20:38:36.996-07:002011-05-19T20:38:36.996-07:00"someone graduating this year who has accepte..."someone graduating this year who has accepted a position with TFA to teach "in Seattle" and she is simply waiting to learn to which school she will be assigned. "<br /><br />Huh?! How the hell does a building hiring team select a "qualified candidate" if people are freakin' assigned?!<br /><br />So now principals are not only supposed to accept these minimally trained sweet nice people but you don't even know who the hell you're going to get?! How's a qualified certificated experienced teacher supposed to compete with a cypher?<br /><br />Sorry, hyperventilating here.StopTFAhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08605108615707039386noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-83379414157759584682011-05-19T15:57:02.857-07:002011-05-19T15:57:02.857-07:00Yes, Federal Way guaranteed spots (but I don't...Yes, Federal Way guaranteed spots (but I don't know if Linda Shaw's article said how many).<br /><br />"Although I remain convinced that we don't need TFA in Seattle, at the same time, I sincerely hope that teachers and parents will treat any TFA teachers as individuals and separate these idealistic young people from the larger organization."<br /><br />A civil and nice sentiment. It would be nice if ex-TFAers became people who cared as much about other people and their concerns for their children's education as they do for TFA.<br /><br />I am posting a couple of TFA stories soon that might cast some light on how welcome the TFA recruits will be.Melissa Westbrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12588239576000641336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-20894996583414159582011-05-19T15:01:14.414-07:002011-05-19T15:01:14.414-07:00What's the TFA contract with Federal Way like?...What's the TFA contract with Federal Way like? Anyone know if they have guaranteed spots to TFA?<br /><br />I ask because I do know someone graduating this year who has accepted a position with TFA to teach "in Seattle" and she is simply waiting to learn to which school she will be assigned. This is of course a much different version of events than what we have been lead to believe. So I'm curious whether TFA considers "Seattle" to just mean the larger Puget Sound area, and perhaps she'll be teaching in Federal Way as opposed to an SPS school.<br /><br />I really can't and won't say much more about this situation. The family is excited and the graduate is a lovely young woman. Although I remain convinced that we don't need TFA in Seattle, at the same time, I sincerely hope that teachers and parents will treat any TFA teachers as individuals and separate these idealistic young people from the larger organization.Lorihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07777580098975083499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-28797628336217193752011-05-19T14:26:59.372-07:002011-05-19T14:26:59.372-07:00Yes, we all know what the TFA contract says but......Yes, we all know what the TFA contract says but...<br /><br />Peon, your naivete is almost charming. Apparently you don't get TFA and their mission. And you think Gates won't pony up the money for the non-math/science TFAs? C'mon.<br /><br />It IS going to happen and the fix is in. I'll guarantee you right now that we'll have at least 15-20 TFA in our district by fall.Melissa Westbrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12588239576000641336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-9216270490549997902011-05-19T08:54:37.474-07:002011-05-19T08:54:37.474-07:00Because TFA interns will require conditional certi...Because TFA interns will require conditional certificates, the School Board will have to CERTIFY that this individual is uniquely qualified to perform their function and is so totally awesome who wouldn't want a whiff of their essence.<br /><br />The meeting the Board votes on one of these conditional cert applications will be VERY interesting.mirmac1https://www.blogger.com/profile/10183460709639638172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-38255987101871356022011-05-19T08:37:24.895-07:002011-05-19T08:37:24.895-07:00Again, that Wendy Kopp says she is hopeful that TF...Again, that Wendy Kopp says she is hopeful that TFA places 25 recruits here does not mean that it will happen. It's great to have lofty goals, but a goal is all it is. No contract to back it up.<br /><br />Further, hiring a TFA recruit over a professionally trained teacher would not make a principal very popular amongst his building staff and parents (and we see what effect a good relationship with building staff and parents has had in the case of Floe). My guess is a principal would take a lot of heat in his building for hiring a TFA recruit over a more qualified candidate.<br /><br />And lets not forget that SPS can only hire recruits whose placement fees are paid for by the STEM/Gates grant. I believe those recruits have to hold a science/math degree. That may limit the pool.<br /><br />There may be a push to hire TFA recruits at the district level (I'm not sure about that??), but there is a huge push back against hiring them at the building level (parents, teachers). Further, if and when SPS did get a recruit hired they wouldn't be able to quietly slip them in under the radar anymore. The spotlight is shining on TFA right now. <br /><br />Will SPS hire 25 TFA recruits? Who knows? Maybe, maybe not. We'll have to wait and see. When is the hiring deadline for this year? It must be coming up very soon. Lets keep an eye on this and see how this all plays out.anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03716725891562757052noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-73948969219717236462011-05-19T08:16:41.874-07:002011-05-19T08:16:41.874-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03716725891562757052noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-31484957344241722432011-05-18T14:56:50.632-07:002011-05-18T14:56:50.632-07:00Peon , you're right, SPS is not under contract...Peon , you're right, SPS is not under contract to hire 25 Corps Members.<br /><br />But:<br /><br />Wendy Kopp was very very certain that 25 CMs would be placed in Seattle in her <a href="https://www.kuow.org/program.php?id=23156" rel="nofollow">KUOW interview</a>. There is no Tier 1 or 2 hiring for high needs schools. The new head of recruitment for SPS came directly from TfA (his company website in his LinkedIn profile is still TfA even though his listed employer is SPS).<br /><br />That's why I put quotes around need.Maureenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18444916440000921599noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-35973277158391416792011-05-18T14:33:00.237-07:002011-05-18T14:33:00.237-07:00"And then there is the 'need' to find..."And then there is the 'need' to find 25 spots for TfA Corps members."<br /><br />I don't want TFA here any more than the next person, but lets keep the facts straight. We are not under contract to hire 25 TFA recruits. We are not even under contract to hire 1 TFA recruit. That TFA says they are hopeful that they place 25 recruits here (because 25 of their recruits have expressed an interest in coming to Seattle) does not mean that it will happen.anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03716725891562757052noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-23150541687686097342011-05-18T14:14:32.988-07:002011-05-18T14:14:32.988-07:00"(except maybe Hale as I think Jill Hudson wo..."(except maybe Hale as I think Jill Hudson would like alignment)."<br /><br />Melissa, what makes you think that Jill Hudson wants alignment? I'm not saying it's not so, I just haven't heard that before??anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03716725891562757052noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-68840960566422843782011-05-18T10:29:59.163-07:002011-05-18T10:29:59.163-07:00Off topic but somewhat revelant:
RIFs are out. Ca...Off topic but somewhat revelant:<br /><br />RIFs are out. Can we start a thread for parents to report how their school was impacted - would like to know how where the RIFs were made to start to get an idea where TFAers could appear. Especially interested in any RIFs at Garfield and Ingraham.Po3noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-69789369137031787152011-05-18T09:51:30.391-07:002011-05-18T09:51:30.391-07:00Maureen said:
And then there is the 'need'...Maureen said:<br /><i>And then there is the 'need' to find 25 spots for TfA Corps members. </i><br /><br />I agree that TFA could have been a factor. Perhaps FLoe was resistant to hiring TFA teachers for his underperforming population.SolvayGirlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12709893209963350066noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-59267655797281759342011-05-18T09:45:06.874-07:002011-05-18T09:45:06.874-07:00As much as Enfield's letter leaves Floe's ...As much as Enfield's letter leaves Floe's future undetermined, it leaves her own the same. <br /><br />Knowing that the school may be in the exact same position a year from now as long as Enfield is around, she will face some hefty opposition to her appointment to a permanent position now. <br /><br />And, of course, the whole episode makes it easier to turn over the school board seats up for re-election.<br /><br />Her only gains seems to be that she avoided some seriously ugly scenes at the meeting at Ingraham and the upcoming Board meeting, and she avoided the very real possibility of losing the appeal to the firing.<br /><br />She's as politically damaged as ever, however.Birdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16540428343439198125noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-7495788138337691402011-05-18T09:42:42.675-07:002011-05-18T09:42:42.675-07:00Geri Hamai was extremely divisive. So yes, some l...Geri Hamai was extremely divisive. So yes, some liked her & some didn't. However, her contract was not renewed in the first two years of her principalship. That was during the 'trial period' for principals at that time. Not sure if that constitutes firing or not.<br /><br />Parent in that schoolAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-83688367227305665422011-05-18T09:18:50.443-07:002011-05-18T09:18:50.443-07:00Dr. Gary has been given a newly created position w...Dr. Gary has been given a newly created position working alongside Ms. Andrews, so she is not being reassigned.Po3noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-65141622961271252342011-05-18T09:18:22.421-07:002011-05-18T09:18:22.421-07:00Seattle-Ed nailed it: "In her letter (probabl...Seattle-Ed nailed it: "In her letter (probably written by her new hire from Strategies 360), she essentially says, 'I'm still right, I still won't tell you why..." <br /><br />That would explain why it was such a blast-from-the-[recent]past. Different leader, same speechwriters.Chris S.https://www.blogger.com/profile/17016898261120819596noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-25378109392082329252011-05-18T09:13:07.653-07:002011-05-18T09:13:07.653-07:00Of course Helen knows Coberly was fired for his ex...Of course Helen knows Coberly was fired for his extracurricular performance. <br /><br />Anyone remember <a href="http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20020516&slug=principal16m" rel="nofollow">Geri Hamai</a>? While this says she was popular and beloved, that may have been true for a subset of the parents, not for all by any means.Dorothy Nevillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17108759281089768738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-34021921637886307442011-05-18T09:13:06.596-07:002011-05-18T09:13:06.596-07:00The brilliant film "The Constant Gardener&quo...The brilliant film "The Constant Gardener" comes to mind when I envision what's in store for the SE under Dusseault and Tolley. <br /><br />That film reveals the dirty secrets about how Big Pharma uses the poorest populations in Africa, often refugees, as test subjects for their latest clinical drug trials. <br /><br />Closely observing the Ed Reform movement for almost a decade, I see many parallels, along with the same honorably-intended rationalizations: "But we're trying to help these people...." So, what? Anything you do is above reproach and free of scrutiny? <br /><br />Would a drug company dare to try this in a wealthy suburb in the U.S. or Europe? Hell no. <br /><br />And so it goes with Ed Reform. Some will be helped, while many will be tossed aside, like say, about one third of all students attending Charter Schools who will be kicked out, or fail out, only to return to their local public schools, if any, with what's left of their self esteem destroyed. <br /><br />Meanwhile the idealists won't realize they've mortgaged their souls to the ideologues until it's too late, being further collateral damage in the wake of Ed Reformers. <br /><br />It's gone on for over a decade elsewhere, and for Seattle, the reformers continue to increase their foothold in the community. <br /><br />I believe Ingraham was targeted because it was perceived as weak after so many parents in North Ballard were upset about being assigned there under the NSAP. Combined with the new APP program slated for Ingraham, the time was ripe to insert a "company man/woman" who'd tow the Ed Reform line, with a fig leaf of "new beginning" and "change is hard" political coverage. <br /><br />Well, they were wrong. Way, way wrong. Kudos to all who supported Ingraham in this fight. <br /><br />While maintaining my healthy skepticism of downtown's motives, I am incredibly proud of the Ingraham community along with the entire SPS community of parents and families who rallied around the Ingraham cause and turned back this assault on our community. <br /><br />When they came for Ingraham, WE STOOD UP! Next year, when they come for Rainier Beach, WE'D BETTER STAND UP FOR THEM TOO! <br /><br />(Those who advocate for closing RBHS, btw, give me a break. What if it were your community school and most of its problems were caused by a criminal lack of support from downtown? We, as a city and community, own RBHS and they deserve our support as much as any other school. Let's help them, and not let the district experiment upon them.)<br /><br />The new Sheriff in Town? She works for US; not the other way around. We pay for the schools and we have a right to have the schools WE want, not the ones Arne Duncan, Bill Gates, or Eli Broad wants. <br /><br />Board? SI? You'd better be listening and paying attention. You woke up a sleeping Giant. <br /><br />Giant: Stay Awake!<br /><br />WSEADAWGAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-74404413031706488992011-05-18T09:01:50.459-07:002011-05-18T09:01:50.459-07:00Helen, you know Coberly was fired for cause, not p...Helen, you know Coberly was fired for cause, not performance. I meant for performance.<br /><br />I agree, Labor Law, the hearing would have been a dangerous thing for the district especially if Floe had asked for an open hearing (as he could have).Melissa Westbrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12588239576000641336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-87961844733396981952011-05-18T08:56:18.201-07:002011-05-18T08:56:18.201-07:00Make no mistake, this decision was made because of...Make no mistake, this decision was made because of one or more of three possible reasons:<br /><br />1) The PR fiasco and the need for damage control.<br /><br />If you want to call effective damage control a sign of good leadership, I would counter that not creating the PR Fiasco in the first place is a sign of BETTER leadership.<br /><br />2) The Board was getting nervous and may have leaned on her.<br /><br />As we all know, the gang of four are up for re-election. Each director got in the neighborhood of 150 letters from outraged community members. This fiasco has raised the profile of candidates in two of the districts, and has district 1 mobilized to find a candidate. Nothing pisses off the board more than when their subordinate makes their life harder...<br /><br />3) The decision was going to get creamed on appeal.<br /><br />The fix was in on this firing--clearly Enfield was part of that fix. No hearing examiner worth his salt was going to buy the line that it was a long and carefully considered process when Floe was "blindsided" by the unsatisfactory evaluation on Monday and the Interim Supt. announced to the whole world that he was fired on Tuesday. 99.9% chance of a very embarassing reversal...possibly even a summary judgement of the hearing examiner at the pre-hearing conference.<br /><br />This reversal was damage control...pure and simple.<br /><br />The only silver lining for Floe is that Ms. Dusseault won't be his supervisor next year and that maybe he can start fresh with a new person who won't be out for his head from day one.Son of a Labor Law Expertnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-56809253880556117972011-05-18T08:54:09.562-07:002011-05-18T08:54:09.562-07:00And then there is the 'need' to find 25 sp...And then there is the 'need' to find 25 spots for TfA Corps members. <br /><br />Do we know who is replacing Dr. Gary at RBHS? (<a href="http://saveseattleschools.blogspot.com/2011/03/principal-assignments.html" rel="nofollow">This old thread </a>says he's going to Interagency. It seems to me that that could put Kaaren Andrews back in the mix?)Maureenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18444916440000921599noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-72386309610192518142011-05-18T08:48:49.926-07:002011-05-18T08:48:49.926-07:00he has *never* seen a principal dismissed.
What a...<em>he has *never* seen a principal dismissed.</em><br /><br />What about Alex Coberly? <br /><br />Helen Schinskehschinskehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10316478950862562594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-60387475312314471402011-05-18T08:31:01.934-07:002011-05-18T08:31:01.934-07:00Thank you Stu and Charlie. I read this entire let...Thank you Stu and Charlie. I read this entire letter as a long-term set up. I listened, we did everything possible to help Floe, he still failed. When he's fired again at some point next year it's going to be a huge case of "I was right all along, now please stop interfering."<br /><br />Having been watched co-workers go through the "supportive" process and read some of their goals, I have nothing but scorn for the entire process. I don't know what it looks like for principals, but for teachers it is nothing but hours more work, and "experts" who don't necessarily know anything about the population they are trying to help serve. The process is nothing but a shill game to sell curriculum and burn out already struggling teachers. <br /><br />former teacherAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-75453303541884420342011-05-18T08:25:56.286-07:002011-05-18T08:25:56.286-07:00I expect that Enfield has felt some pressure to fi...I expect that Enfield has felt some pressure to fire someone at the principal level. <br /><br />I wonder if Floe was targeted because Dusseult was the one Ex Director who could be counted on to plow through all the work involved to get rid of him. The other Directors may not be as on board with the process or may just not be thought to be as capable of (driven to?) do that sort of work (some of them may be spending more time trying to help their weaker principals improve.)<br /><br />Another factor is that many of the weak principals have been moved around so much that they might not have a long enough record at their current school to use against them.Maureenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18444916440000921599noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-10046387955905257282011-05-18T08:17:58.331-07:002011-05-18T08:17:58.331-07:00I would like to hear from the supporters of Bree, ...I would like to hear from the supporters of Bree, as well as Dr. Enfield as to why they should retain their jobs after creating such a mess. What we witnessed was extreme unprofessionalism on the part of administration, and yet, you still have people that support that, with a Ed reform ideology I would suspect. Ahh, you know, just my opinion, but hearing the other side would be interesting to say the least.cdubshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13004130492118509510noreply@blogger.com