Amidst the rants of the other blogger and the comment about the OSBA from one of the commentors it seemed important to get some facts straight before I made this posting....so here goes.
1. According to a Lebanon citizen, an OSBA representative explained that any eligible candidate with no negative evaluations is eligible for placement in any pools they might create, they could possibly set themselves up for litigation if they did not include his name in a pool for which he was eligible. Therefore, would they not have to include other names that might have similar negative possibilities?
2. The other bloggers rant about the changes to "10 years ago" for LHS begs the question, "how was education different then?" I asked a few people who were there then and either still work there or substitute there.
Here are some comparisons...
Ten years ago...alternative programs and credit make-up options were offered for students who struggled or made poor choices, or just plain didn't fit in a regular setting. Now...there is no where for these kids to go except drop out or if they are lucky get one of the spaces at the Community Services Consortium, or remain in the classes they act out in. (Apparently, once they figure out that they will not be removed, they can become very difficult, because they know nothing will happen to them.)
Ten years ago...administration removed disruptive students from classrooms with out the teachers having to jump through several hoops. Now...teachers are expected to keep students no matter how disruptive they are because there is "no where else to put them." (See loss of alternative programs above.) And on top of that they are marked down in their evaluations if they acknowledge a problem in their class.
Ten years ago...advanced classes for all grade levels in Language Arts and Social Studies, as well as several other subjects ON TOP OF the AP classes that were offered, some of which we no longer offer. Students specialized in subjects and received certificates in multiple areas for going all the way through an advanced sequence of classes and maintaining a 3.5 GPA in that area. Now...APLA, AP Calculus, AP Biology and a handful of College Now courses which are pretty much only for Seniors and maybe a few Juniors are all that are offered at LHS. Students have no lower grade advanced classes to provide scaffolding for advanced study and provide a program that is consistent with the needs of students heading to university (not just community college.)
Ten years ago...freshmen took "Freshman Core" which had every freshman taking Language Arts, Social Studies, Science and Core Skills (similar to study skills) ALL YEAR LONG for half the day in the SAME group of kids with the SAME three teachers. Now...in the academies, students might take 2 semesters of LA, 1 of Social Studies, 1 semester of Science, and there is no guarantee that they will have the same teacher.
Ten years ago...school would start with over 400 brand new students to LHS. Now...schools starts with less than 300.
Ten years ago...there were 8 secretaries and 4 counselors. Now...there are 13 or 14 secretaries (depending on who you ask) and 5 counselors.
Ten years ago...the teachers knew and respected each other and would jump in to help when there were problems. Now...teachers stand in their doorways and watch as others get injured trying to break up fights.
Ten years ago...teachers were regularly observed and supported and critiqued for their performance. Now...teachers are only observed when administration absolutely has to.
Ten years ago...teachers would never send kids to the Seven Eleven during class time and excuse tardies as long a the kids brought them a drink back, they would never encourage kids to miss class if there was going to be a substitute the next day, they would not ignore policies and directives. Now...there are no consequences if you are a friend of the administration, or they are not comfortable with confrontations. (Note: that is supposedly why admin gets paid more, their job in not supposed to be easy or fun all the time, and you have to be the grown-up and hold others accountable.)
Ten years ago...teachers knew what to do during fire drills, pep assemblies, duty, fights, etc. Now...they don't.
Ten years ago...students didn't get away with swearing, dress code violations, breaking rules, violent behavior, vandalism, insubordination, defiance, intimidation and harassment. Now...they do.
Ten years ago...the administration respected the teachers and staff.... enough said.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
I think that you make really good points. I am not sure how this happens. It cannot land on one person, at a certain point, the teachers have to have some self discipline and pride. A lot of the teachers were there 10 years ago and there today.
I am extremely disapointed in the finger pointing and confrontation. The "fire them all" mentality doesn't help anyone.
There are some good adiministrators at the High School (Kim Masog)they need support, not just from the Disrtict Office, but from the teachers. As long as the teachers are allowed to choose who their pricncipal is, or not follow the chain of command. The problem will continue to exist.
As far as the support staff, think about the additional rules and policies that have come into place in the last year. Confidentiality and additional requirements for record keeping, it takes people. This seems to be an odd drum to beat, leave this alone.
Ed Sansom, is not the best choice for the job, interim or permanent superintendent. Lebanon deserves better, our kids deserve the best possible superintendent. We need a leader with a proven track record, and a consensus builder.
Thank you for this post. Nicely stated and rings of truths.
"1. According to a Lebanon citizen, an OSBA representative explained that any eligible candidate with no negative evaluations is eligible for placement in any pools they might create..."
I could be wrong, but I thought Robinson had received some mediocre (if not negative) evaluations in the past. The settlement states that only the most recent evaluation is to be removed from his file.
It's kind of a moot point, at any rate, since any hiring committee worth anything is going to take a more comprehensive look than simply the last evaluation, aren't they? The possible inclusion of someone with a bad evaluation from a previous job shouldn't be reason enough to throw the entire OSBA process out, should out?
And how unfair would it be for any superintendent who has ever received a bad evaluation to be barred from the OSBA list, making it that much harder to even get an interview?
Ironically, you bringing this to light offers a possible explanation of why there are so many candidates for the job in the first place. It would also seem to suggest that there wouldn't be as many candidates if not for this process.
As a student who was in the building ten years ago, I can only speak to a few of the items in your list. This is one of them:
"Ten years ago...teachers would never send kids to the Seven Eleven during class time and excuse tardies as long a the kids brought them a drink back..."
This is factually incorrect. Many of my peers left class with permission to run to 7-11 and other local stores to purchase things that had no bearing on anything academic. I'm not saying it is or isn't a problem; I am saying it happened.
This is another:
"Ten years ago...students didn't get away with swearing, dress code violations, breaking rules, violent behavior, vandalism, insubordination, defiance, intimidation and harassment. Now...they do."
I can remember plenty of instances in which those things happened and students got away with them.
Like I said, I can't necessarily vouch for the accuracy of some of the other statements, but I do know that at least the above two are false.
(One final note: Personally, i would have avoided making blanket statements about all teachers or administrators. You can almost always find someone for whom the statement is not true. And yes, I am thinking of the very last statement.)
It has been 23 years since I went to the high school and I will tell you one thing, we did NOT leave to go to seven eleven during class time. Our teachers would not even think twice about letting us go during class. We were there to get an education during that time.
But, back then we did not have to have a police officer in the school either.
There needs to be more team work in the whole school system or our students are going to suffer more!
Post a Comment