I haven't posted on District 150 administration in a while, because I wanted to sit back and see how things were going. However, as I read comments on another blog, it's becoming clear that things are not going so well.
The reports of disorganization are not letting up. There are allegations of teachers not getting paid; errors in payroll; six and seven year olds lost on school buses; no textbooks; master schedules late coming into schools; teachers/principals terrified of the good Dr.; spies in schools; allegations of giving large contracts to friends and colleagues in North Carolina; rumors that black leaders are questioning decisions to hire and fire; key administration employees opting out AND NOW a petition to remove the BOE!
The petition doesn’t offer much information, but it is said to be sponsored by "Citizens Concerned about Peoria Peoria , Illinois School District " and it can be found here:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/remove-district-150-school-board/
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/remove-district-150-school-board/
It will be interesting to see if this will gain momentum. Do you think the BOE will give a damn one way or the other?
5 comments:
Emerge, all though I do not always agree with you, I do check you blog every day. Sunlight is the best disinfectant. Do I believe that the board gives a damn about anything people think about them? No. Mainly they do not have a vested interest. They say they do. For years I have all ways heard "children first", that has rarely been the case. Someone should write a book on the fiasco that is District 150. Maybe it could be called, "How not to run a successful school district". From closing all the shop classes, to the teachers from China, to pulling buses out of the ditch with Ford Explorers. If it weren't for all the damage, it would be funny.
The only two signatures on the 'petition' are from Canada and the UK.
I'm not sure how long the petition has been up, I just noticed reference to it this morning over on the Chronicle. Considering how fearful I am hearing people are of Dr. Lathan, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if locals didn't sign it.
I don't know why anyone, anywhere would willingly accept the role of superintendent in any school district. Talk about a powerless position...
Emerge, you gave a great example of a local school board that succumbed to a select group of community members with an agenda...rendering the Superintendent impotent.
Isn't there a D150 school board member who was hand picked/recruited onto the school board in an effort affect change? I wonder why this board member hasn't been able to deliver...or at least been more vocal if she's unhappy with the state of affairs.
Perhaps there is much more to running a school district than previously understood.
Public education has become the whipping boy for all of societies ills. If the private sector had a REAL answer to the problems in public schools, you can bet that we'd see all sorts of corporate sponsored schools around. Instead of those kinds of school are folding up their snake oil wagons and leaving town.
Sunlight IS the greatest disinfectant. Call your building principal, dean, superintendent, teacher, school board member, bus driver, school security officer, and invite a dialog. Express your appreciation for the job they do. Develop a relationship. And then, ask them if they would be willing to let you 'shadow' them during a work day. Express your desire to understand what their job entails.
Emerge, I know I've mentioned to you that teachers are rarely taught how to include volunteers in our classrooms during our teacher prep classes. And parents certainly never get training about how to be effective as volunteers the classroom or school building. I'd be more than willing to share my successes and failures from both sides of the 'desk'.
The bottom line is that in my 20+ years in education (as an educator and parent) I have NEVER experienced a person employed by any of the agencies I've worked for in public education who has taken their job because of anything other than their desire to serve/help students.
I've known many who, after having worked for a public school, have left their positions (or been relieved of them) who, in hindsight said that they had no idea what working in education meant.
There are a lot of us - parents and educators - who are waiting for a hero. But there aren't a whole lot of us doing anything but posturing and spouting off.
(As an aside, I think I saw via social networking that there's a community driven public safety organization that's recruiting....)
District 150 is in serious trouble. It will take EVERYBODY working together to turn it around--not one person making others live in fear. As usual the fall out is the students. If the superintendent doesn't like the building administrator, you get 40 kindergarteners in a classroom.
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