It may have been only 15 parents and citizens who showed up last week, but the information and ideas flowed freely. Individuals who arrived with their individual concerns, left with new acquaintances and a sense of who are board members are, what they care about.
Congratulations to this "new" board for encouraging the public to help prioritize some opportunities and actions that will make our schools even better.
This is what Policy Governance requires - "linking" with the "owners of the system."
What a difference in mood and tone from the adversarial settings that have been standard fare for parents in the past.
And stay tuned for details of discussion items moving to the center of a public conversation. Better yet, share your own concerns here for comment. But next time you read of a 9-R Board open forum, make arrangements to attend; it will be worth your while and we will all benefit.
Example: A homeschooling parent whose son will enter DHS this fall raised a concern about dropping enrollment in arts and theater classes that may be inadvertently be caused by new graduation requirements. The groups urged further exploration of graduation requirements and a commitment to flexibility - and a commitment to individualized plans for all students. This is a community that thinks out of the box and wants every child to have an appropriate educational path.
Progress!
Read story in Herald about May 15, 2007 forum.
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22 comments:
I just read that unpaid school lunch charges will be turned over to a collection agency. Isn't the policy of 9-R to not let students charge lunches? Why can students continue to charge lunches, especially when a parent specifically asks that their child not charge a lunch? Why don't the schools follow this policy? I think 9-R must follow its own policy before turning parents over to a collection agency. That's ridiculous.
I am soooo sorry I missed it!!!
Heard Mary Barter was all touchy feely.
Guess she has finally realized she should keep her friends close and her critics closers.
Too little too late- she should just pack it up and move it out. She has had over 6 years to figure out how to communicate with parents and she has failed to care for 6 years. Why should we believe her now? I don't.
PS Just got the call from the school and my son owes $5 for lunch charge.
He had no idea and he has been out of school since monday 5/21. They had many opportunities to inform him. Now we hope someone is at the school to take his $5. If not this follows him to the high school and he will not be able to buy any lunches.
Let see, do I have this right. Hard to get any educational, behavioral records to follow your kid but a lunch charge- you bet!!!
Give me a break........
October 11, 2006, Chuck Slothower wrote an article about the election of school board member Bruce Anderson. Interestingly, The Herald had interviewed one of the other candidates PRIOR to the supposed "vote".
I would say that the school board, under Mr. Matheson's leadership, and with the approval of the School District Attorney, committed the same offense then, as Dr. Barter advised them to do a few weeks ago when electing the replacement for Matheson.
There can be no other reason why everyone knew who was to be elected prior to the voting, nor can there be any other reason, why only one of the seven candidates had been invited to attend the school board meeting back in October. How did they know which one to invite, if they hadn't had a secret vote prior to the public vote?
It's another one of those do as I say, and not as I do moments, the current Administration often feel compelled to do.
Taken from Herald article:
"Giddings, interviewed before the meeting, said he understood the board's decision.
"They need to build their team based on what they think their strengths and weaknesses are and who they think can complement them," he said.
Giddings said of Anderson, "He's an important and outstanding member of the community, and I think he'll make a good board member."
Durango attorney and former board member Chris Paulson accused the board of violating open-meetings law with Anderson's appointment. She said it appeared Anderson had been chosen before the meeting.
"It's clear that the decision was already made," she said. "There was a discussion, there was deliberation and a decision was made."
Board President Mike Matheson said he guaranteed that no decision took place before the meeting. School district attorney Reese Miller also said he believed the board acted in accordance with the law."
Uh huh.
My limited notes from school board work session with Bob Cito/CASB tonight 6/19/07, all comments made by Bob Cito, unless otherwise stated. I got the impression the board will put a RFP to about 25 other superintendent search committee companies. CASB charge about $20K all in, and the others are from that to $40 or $50K. The search is on, but between now and August, the board need to decide which company to go with. Floyd, Mark, Bruce and Tammy will run again in November. Cindy B is term limited. Melissa and Jeff are the only remaining guaranteed board members:
The communication process would involve school board, staff, community. Good leadership makes the difference for staff and community. The wisdom of a new superintendent is "how to lead".
Each district is unique and the right leadership is critical.
The process will provide opportunity to strengthen relationships between school board, district and community.
The process:
1 Detailed workshop will take place with the board of education (2 hours). I would ask you questions such as what are the challenges facing the school district right now?
Three options to screen for the right candidate:
Outside screeners (don't recommend)
Board screeners
Involve the staff and the community (recommend)
2 Staff and community engagement. I won't do this without their involvement. No board present. Build the focus for the search. It's the most time consuming aspect. General forum. Open meeting. From the beginning to the end, it takes 3-4 months (i.e. from hiring the firm to search for a superintendent to hiring the superintendent). Never settle for second best. We will do the search over and over for free, until you get who you want. In Fort Collins we worked with them for 2 years until we found who they needed. From the end of the meeting with the focus groups, it would take 2 weeks to put the information together.
3 Develop the promotional brochure and job application, the qualities we are looking for in a superintendent, use the material from the board and the staff/community, so that there are no surprises for the candidate. Each candidate would answer 3-4 questions. Someone could have the right resume and qualifications, but no commonsense!! The questions would give a clue to that. We are a national firm, even though we only serve Colorado.
4 CASB then advertises: nationally, AASA, www. and network with everyone.
5 CASB manage all the applications. CASB have a candidate list, but don't recruite perse. Having a college here is a plus to attract a good superintendent, as is having a hospital, an airport, etc.
6 Screening process is time consuming on the district. You will all be actively involved. CASB guide you. We do thorough background checks for you. (8-16 hours with board).
7 Critical decision making for the board. Eliminate people. Only bring 3 or 4 to interview. We keep you focused, because you only have so much energy.
Q: Jeff Schell: "Does just the board interview?"
A: "Involvement from all, but the board makes the final determination".
Mary Barter: "How many candidates are you getting for CO searches?"
Bob Cito/CASB: "Averaging between 20 - 30 candidates"
We recommend you have an informal dinner with candidates, board, spouses. Someone would "host" them, someone who can show them Durango from another prospective. A positive person to influence them why living here would be good. You are interviewing them, but they are also interviewing you/town/community.
8 CASB help you develop the 1st year plan for the superintendent. We provide the legal and PR aspect. For the final candidate, board members could do site visits at candidate's school district.
TIMELINE:
Sept: Staff/Community focus groups
Oct: Fine tune
Nov: Advertise
Dec: Select
Jan: Interview
Mary Barter: "What are the pros and cons of having me involved in the search?"
Bob Cito/CASB: "Most of the time the superintendents do not get involved".
The last 3 Superintendents of the Year came through CASB.
DHS, and Dr. Barter won't give my son a foreign language waiver. They developed a "compromise", as Mary wrote the other day, and suggested I should take it. I couldn't.
My son would sit a version of a foreign language, that is currently being dubbed by my intellectual friends as: "Language Lite". Sounds like a watered down beer doesn't it?
The Language Lite "compromise", that I refuse to take is this: My son will be guaranteed a pass, but he will only have to sit through a 75 minute class, 5 days a week, for two years and speak. He won't have to read or write. One assumes when his peers are reading and writing, my son will twiddle his thumbs, hum, look out of the window, make paper airplanes, doodle, or write some songs. When they have homework...my son will have none.
I met a retired professor from FLC at Who's Your Daddy last weekend, and he said he read about the foreign language debate and wanted to know why I didn't get Dr. Barter to agree to the following: "Why don't you send your son abroad for 3 months, and ask for the full immersion to be recognized under shared schooling and count instead?"
Aha! He thought that to be a reasonable and rational option. An exchange of sorts.
He was disappointed to hear that last year, 2006, I did just that. I offered the entire IEP team, and Dr. Barter a better deal than the FLC professor thought up when he read the Herald article. I suggested that I would send my son to Sicily this summer (2007), so that he could actually attend an Italian school, receive teaching by an Italian teacher every day, and be fully immersed in his paternal Sicilian family who do not speak a word of English.
Can you believe what Dr. Barter said? She said: "Oh..it wouldn't be recognized here, because the TEACHER (insert an Italian teacher from er...Italy), would not be highly qualified under the state of Colorado".
AAaaaaaaaaaaaagh.
Last Tuesday, at a board work session, they interviewed a man from CASB, called Bob Cito to instruct them on how to go about doing a new superintendent search.
The one thing that Bob said, that struck me in the head like a sledgehammer, was: "a superintendent can have the best resume and qualifications, and absolutely NO COMMONSENSE".
Oh yes! How true is that. Language Lite is not the first time Mary and I have disagreed as to what is best for my son. I'm not even a difficult parent, meaning I'm very easy to please for nothing more than commonsense.
The records show, that Mary and her team, left my son with a 4th grade reading age for 4 years. Period. Nothing they said they could do, and nothing they did, remediated my son or taught him to read, write and spell to grade level. Nothing. Nada. Zip.
Why then, would I allow them to waste his time for 75 minutes a day, 5 days a week, for 2 years and let them "practice" on teaching him Spanish?
The records show, that the ONLY time my son passed his CSAPs, was when we paid for him to have a PRIVATE certified academic language therapist (CALT), and then my son passed that year. He also went from a 4th grade reading age to an 11th grade reading age in 18 months of CALT therapy.
We spent 5 years raising the bar of their academic expectations from 50% to 100% -- And now they want to lower the bar to 50% of the graduation requirements for World Language, and I'm meant to be happy?
The bottom line: My son will not be allowed to graduate! Ha ha ha. How ludicrous is that?
My only saving grace is that the principal has left, and Dr. Barter won't be here in 2009, and perhaps by then, we will have people who have commonsense in place, and one or the other of them will gladly give my son a foreign language waiver.
It is normal practice. It is common.
Is this what our school board had in mind when they set a World Language graduation requirement? To effectively force students to take half a class and get a guaranteed pass, just to prove a point? Did the school board actually mean to force students out of high school? To prevent them from graduating despite all the students hard work? Is this truly the message from a superintendent who only last month wrote a column (May 16th, see www.durangoschools.org) telling the PUBLIC, that 9R were going to shift into the concept "that parents know their child best?" Hot air.
I was there, on the 24th April 2007, for the World Language Work Session, when Dr. Barter told our school board that 9R DID give foreign language waivers. She had a discussion with Reese Miller, and he agreed in public that it could be done. Kevin Kilpatrick (now moved on), reminded me that Mary said that. I went to the Administration Building and asked Kristy if it was taped. Kristy told me that the secretary runs a tape. She picked up the telephone and called Sally Brennan, who assured her the session was on tape, and sitting in the vault of the building. (Oh gawd....they are probably deleting as I type!!!)
Meanwhile, Dr. Barter, by her actions, is pretending she never said that. Her last comment to me via email was: "I'm sorry, Anne. I have committed this time. I hope that your meeting goes well. Greg has worked hard to create this option for you. I still think you should give the compromise a try. Mary"
I will NOT compromise my son's education under Mary anymore. I have spent 7 years listening and obeying her compromises. I spent 5 years changing state law with Mark Larson, just to get our teachers to understand that a word like "Dyslexia" exists. I sent my son to Durango Mountain Camp for two years in a row at $4,500 a pop, just to instill in him that education doesn't have to be the way 9R portray it, i.e. Jamie was so disenfranchised with school, because of the way they treated him, and the fact he could not access the curriculum with his reading, writing and spelling level, I would do anything to shift his educational environment into one of a caring, positive climate. I hired a private Certified Academic Language Therapist, and together, Jamie was remediated 6+ grade levels ahead in reading, and 4 grade levels ahead in spelling -- all in under two years.
And now, Mary gets to twist the knife in his back, and tell him he can't graduate with dignity like his peers, when he alone, has probably had to work the hardest out of them all in the past 7 years?
What to do? Well, obviously, Jamie won't graduate, so what's the point of him staying in school? That's the message Mary and Greg are sending him isn't it? "Drop out, Jamie, no hat in the air for you my son."
Right now, this is what we are thinking of doing: Change Jamie's schedule, to include English and Math twice, i.e. he has to do both for 4 years, but with 2 years left to go, we want to double up on both subjects, because they kept him behind for 4 years in elementary and middle school, and according to the PLAN/pre-ACT test last October, Jamie still has a way to go if he wants to pass his ACTs.
We will use the time he would have in Language Lite classes, to give him MORE of what he needs. English and Math.
We will get upper level art classes for him, either through DHS or FLC, because he is thinking of going to art college.
We will put him in the ACT class, which teaches you how to do better in your ACTs.
Our aim is to get good ACTs, good transcripts, and more art (this is the child who has been penalised for being dyslexic, by continually losing his electives to get more of the same non teaching he has had for 7 years (the teaching that doesn't actually remediate you), just so they can pretend they are doing something, despite what the records show.
Keep Jamie in school, get the most that we can out of it, and when we have ticked all the boxes, got all our hours, passed all our classes, we will be forced to drop out.
Is this truly Dr. Barter's legacy to our school district? Forcing students to drop out/not graduate? This year alone, 5 (yes FIVE!) new schools are in the process of starting up. Isn't the community trying to tell her something?
Dr. Barter is nothing more than the Evil Wicked Witch of the southwest. She is doing this on purpose to my son, because of who his mother is. Heck, there had to be some punishment to sitting through 7 years of board meetings and writing letters to the editor and Uncle Tom Cobbly and all, didn't there! (ha ha). There can be no rational explanation as to why she would publicly declare a foreign language waiver to be permissible, and then take it back under the guise of a stupid time wasting compromise.
She has messed with my son's education for 7 years, and I will not allow her to mess with it anymore. Frankly, seven years on, I'm all Bartered out. The vitriol mind is exhausted, the river of bile has run dry. I can't even bring myself to tip another bucket load on the Wicked Witch. I'm simply sick of the sight and sound of them all.
I'm saddened to read a principal I held in high regard, and whom I expected more from, make comments to Semple, Miller and Farrington that held no factual basis for the young student in question.
You know the public school system is corrupt, when the administrators lie through their back teeth to their attorneys and the federal government.
As a parent, who feels the pain of injustice metered out by administrators, watched the suffering incurred by the very children they purport to "care about"; I often wonder why these people remain in public education?
Some say it is for the salary, the health insurance and pension: even if they complain it is a few thousand below the national average, it is still about twenty thousand above what other employees in Durango would receive, therefore, if they choose to live here, it is a Kings Ransom!
Sometimes I wonder about revenge too, and then about forgiveness. Perhaps it is easier to forgive the staff who hurt your children, and just leave the rest up to karma? Someone or something has got to be paying attention to their misdeeds? (I bet they all go to church too, and fake it).
Revenge by the way, is on the level of "How dare they do this to my son?" and "How can I make them pay?" -- not on the level of violence.
I wonder if these very administrators who lie to save their own skin, and who are effectively setting the "gold standard" of influence over our children, ever stop to pause and think, about the lessons they are actually teaching our children?
I suppose they are teaching our children how not to behave? We can reassure our children and say: "Don't grow up and be like Mrs. So and So, or Mr. Such and Such, because they are morally corrupt, and emotionally bankrupt! They are afraid for their job, and don't care about you as an individual."
I guess these people's rotten example of humankind is a good lesson after all. I would hate my child to grow up like them.
The "Just Happy To Have Job" excuse is so boring.
Teachers - How do they work for those that tie their hands?
How can they work for those that tell them they can't or they must Not? Why don't they stand up and say something? How do they do it?
Questions answered with one phrase.
"Happy to have a job in Durango. What a beautiful town." Kids? Oh yeah, the kids. Why they got into teaching in the first place, opps they forgot.
Sad, isn't it?
Some of us wonder why? I stopped wondering along time ago. It makes no sense. But hey, not much common sense around 9-R no matter how hard you may look.
At the board meeting tonight 6/26, the board found the Superintendent out of compliance with BSR-4. I'm not too sure what policy that is (will have to look it up on the board docs), but I'm thrilled. Not because I have an axe to grind, but because for 7 years I've sat there and listened to the things that are wrong or broken, and then watched the board pass the superintendent every time.
What was so brilliant, was that one board member made a motion to pass Dr. Barter, and nobody would second it.
Then another board member made a motion to find Mary out of compliance, and 5 of the board agreed.
YES!! You see, I am happy, because when things are "broken", you cannot fix them whilst everyone pretends things are perfect.
Now that we know BSR4 is out of compliance, we can all work towards putting our district back into compliance!
It's easy. It's transparent. It's refreshing, and it's honest.
I am so, so, happy, that the board are doing the job the community voted them in for.
Bravo!
OH!! The other great news!!! Finally, after a lot of promises from previous board presidents to do this -- it has been done!!!
DCAT will be hired to video tape the board meetings!! Oh yes!! It only costs $5,880.00 I think, and it was another unanimous vote: 5 for it/2 against it.
Why would Floyd and Mark be against it, is beyond me? I would love them to tell me why they didn't want the meetings video taped. It can't be the money, as Cindy pointed out, it is only the head of one student. And after all, how much did we waste on the survey that caused all the trouble? About double I should think, once we paid the legal fee's.
We are sick and tired of the district pretending they didn't say something at a board meeting, and then not being able to pull the tape and watch it word for word. We are sick and tired of "someone" in the administration, editing the video tapes that we used to get.
It won't help my son. Dr. Barter clearly told us all at a board work session in April on World Languages, that the district gave foreign language waivers. Now she is kicking my son out of school by not providing him with one, and refusing to allow him to graduate. Of course, it is supposed to be on the secretary's tape, in the vault, but if I asked for the tape, I bet it will be edited, based upon past experience. "Oh Anne...I'm sorry...we cut the tape off short, and nowhere on the tape does it say that Dr. Barter said the district give foreign language waivers". Something like that, in my opinion, anyway. There can be no other reason why we can't get one.
Now, we will get the real thing. No editing. Totally transparent. Everyone accountable.
Bravo again!
What an exciting night, I'm sorry I missed the first 50 minutes!
Progress is a fine thing. There might be hope for our children yet.
Oh! I am totally wrong. The board did not find Dr. Barter out of compliance last night, but they found themselves out of compliance with BSR4. See below:
"Thanks for your thoughts. Let me clear something up for you. We did not find Dr. Barter out of compliance on BSR4 - we found ourselves out of compliance for not doing our job correctly and documenting when policies are out of compliance. That is our job and I feel we are not doing our job by always passing reports through as in compliance when we know they are not. It was us I was admonishing this time. Thanks for your continued support."
I apologize for totally misunderstanding that one. I'm shocked too, that I misunderstood it.
PIO spins the truth yet again. From today's E-notes:
"The board suspended videotaping about a year ago after residents complained of poor sound and video quality."
Ha ha ha. Not true.
Read: http://www.durangoherald.com/
asp-bin/article_generation.asp?
article_type=opin&article_path=/
opinion/opin040209.htm
"Anyone following public efforts to tape and televise Durango School District 9-R's school board meetings could be forgiven for wondering what the district has to hide. About the only excuse not offered so far is that a dog might eat the tape."
Remember this reason? Uh right Diane....A Parent gets 3 minutes to "grandstand"...uh huh....in between crying and weeping because their child can't read. Uh huh.
"Diane Doney, 9-R director of business services, said broadcasting the board meetings has led to "people who come here and grandstand for the camera. ... It doesn't always present the district in the best light."
http://www.durangoherald.com/
asp-bin/article_generation.asp?
article_type=news&article_path=
/news/06/news060817_4.htm
Yup...the residents were complaining.
"I think we proffer as a substitute for Ambien for insomniacs at 3 in the morning," board President Joel Jones said,"
qaorwWe should change the name of this blog to "Annetalks.org"
Critical issues in education don't go away just because it's summer vacation. Here it is July and the latest posting is from May 21st. Where are the "details of discussion items" that are "moving to the center of a public conversation?" 9R's PIO is probably gloating over the fact that, after the spot fires of this spring had the blogosphere burning up, no one seems to be screaming anymore. This is how they win.
Perhaps Anne can just create her own blog site.
God knows she has the information and ability to communicate much in the way of education, resources, laws and regulations.
As to what is being done this summer and the attitude that all are laying low is not anywhere near reality. We are working hard, have several complaints, ocr and federal. Attending all or most board meetings. Do people realize they are still in session? Writing letters to the editor, preparing for the new principal of the high school and how and when we will meet with her. I am also looking forward to working with the new Director of SPec Ed for 9-R.
Anne and company are also on Steering Committees for new private schools in town and advocating for families of children with Learning Disabilities. No we have not stopped or taken a vacation, break. We can not afford to let off on the pressure we bestow on those given the responsibility of educating our children.
As to the PIO, she makes her own Dog Food. I think that pretty much sums it up. No one takes her seriously, so I don't spend my energy on her.
Anonymous should be grateful Anne is out there on the front lines. She's fighting the good fight. Since they school board has opted to start their meetings at 5 I can't make it any more so I appreciate Anne being there for all of us and holding this administration accountable.
I have been working with the Coalition for Better Education by contacting our representatives, urging them to aid in the dismnantling of NCLB. I have available, for anyone interested, copies of Elizabeth Jaegers informative booklet titled 'What Every Parent, Teacher, And Community Member Needs To Know About No Child Left Behind. I consider it a must read for all who take an interest in public education. If you would like one give me a call...259-6470.
The CBE has also been asking our legislators to consider the implications of the Supreme Court ruling striking down the use of race as a way in which school boards can promote diversity. If race is off grounds for the promotion of diversity, why is continued tracking and categorizing according to race NOT off grounds under NCLB legislation?
So take heart, Anonymous, the battle still rages. The people in the trenches refuse to give up...that's how WE win!
Sincerely,
Bill Bowlby
Dr. Barter's Evil Twin showed up last week, and sent me a threatening email:
----- Original Message -----
From: Mary Barter
To: Anne Spence
Cc: Priscilla Huston
Sent: July 03, 2007 11:39 AM
Subject: Waiver of World Language Graduation Requirement
"Anne, I am sorry that you have rejected the proposed modification of the requirement developed by DHS. Dr. Priscilla Houston, Director of Student Achievement, will be contacting you as she would like to understand your rejection and discuss another alternative with you.
If you reject yet another alternative, I will need to talk to you about what your options are. There are legal issues, some of them complex, around Jaime's status as a special education student and Jaime's status as an open enrollment student of which you may be unaware.
Happy Fourth of July! Mary"
As if intimidating me by telling me my son might have "legal issues" and his status as a dyslexic at DHS under open enrollment is...er...suddenly a problem after being an open enrolled student for the past 6 years isn't bad enough, she then wishes me a "Happy Fourth of July!"--Ha ha ha.
Oh...to add insult to injury, after corresponding with me for 7 years, (always saying "Oh..I'm sorry...but NO..you can't have anything recommended by the experts on dyslexia for your son") -- she can't spell my son's name.
Whilst staying in a Gnat Pit in Grants over the weekend, I went on line with my Blackberry, only to read the wonderful article in the Durango Herald.
I am so happy someone with a conscience gave the Herald a copy of the "secret" survey, because it just confirms to all, that in my opinion Dr. Barter is a nasty piece of work.
My favorite quote came from a teacher: "Once you understand that our mission in 9-R is to agree with Dr. Barter, then you really don't need to know anything else".
If ever a personal opinion of Dr. Barter was proven, it is this one. Just because I don't agree with her lack of commonsense about the education of my dyslexic son, (and I'm only asking for a foreign language waiver, so as not to waste his time for the next two years, and so as to double up on Language Art and Math, his two weak areas, which comes highly recommended by some of America's leading experts on dyslexia) -- i.e. I'm asking for something that exists, that doesn't cost money -- Dr. Barter still manages to stomp all over us with her size 14 boots.
I just found out that when exercising our rights under IDEA 2004, we are in a protected activity. Besides having the right to be free from discrimination or harassment based on disability we have the right to be free from intimidation, retribution, retaliation, and coercion.
I'd like to see Dr. Barter spend her time trying to remove us from DHS, because she just discovered something about "legal issues" and "open enrollment" being a problem, after my requesting a waiver for the best part of 2.5 years.
I wonder how much of tax payers money she will spend (in my opinion), on her "personal" attorney in trying to boot us out of DHS for no reason, other than the fact I disagree with her?
Will someone at DHS remind their boss, that we are talking about a child's education here? Isn't that why they all went into Administration within a school district in the first place? To care for our children?
When a teacher at DHS tells you that they are losing so many good students over the new graduation requirements, you would think that Dr. Barter would simply sign on the dotted line, i.e. work together with parents to ensure the best possible route to graduation, instead of exerting so much energy in bullying us into submission.
I'm not backing down, because I've spent 7 years backing down to the detriment of my son's education. Unlike Dr. Barter I do listen to expert opinion. (She told my husband and I: "I'm not going to argue with the experts".) No. She's just going to ignore their advice.
Oh -- to Anonymous (any number of you) -- I can't help writing when the Administration do things that are unfair and unjust, but I like the idea of this being AnneTalks.Org. LOL. Actually, I don't. It's scary to think nobody else cares enough to show up at board meetings to stand up and be counted. Teachers who complain to us about situations, need to find the guts to put it in writing to the school board. One teacher said; "Take this to your board"...and 1.5 hours later told me eye watering news from within. I said she needed to take it herself. It's her board too and whilst those who work in these conditions do nothing, then the sycophants who run the show continue to ruin our children's education without being held accountable.
The reason there have been no postings here since May, is that the person who writes the posts has been abroad for 6-7 weeks, and not because we think education is on a summer hiatus.
We still attend board meetings and do lots of other stuff.
It would be nice to see more of the community at board meetings, but people I know tell me there is no point in attending, because nothing ever changes, and those who do try to bring change for the best get intimidated, or fear losing their job, health care, and pension. Or in my case, get emails threatening legal action and problems over "open enrollment".
I can't wait for June 2008, and Dr. Barters retirement day. God help us if the new school board in November decide to give her another year.
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