2012Sun22Jan

The Teaching Way

Permalink | Shortlink | Comments (7) | TrackbackFiled in polityTags: dr. casey wardynski, dr. cathy vasile, huntsville city schools, school board, teaching

On January 19th, the board met and enacted a number of changes, as has become their practice. I’ll have some comments on these changes soon; it’s been a sickness filled weekend around here. I thought before getting into those changes (new, centralized hiring of teachers, The Pinnacle Schools contract) I would share my comments that I made to the board on Thursday night.

It would seem that some comments do elicit a response from members of the central office. And those comments reveal the difference between a teacher’s approach and the approach taken by someone who doesn’t care about education.

Here’s what I said. [Editor's Note: These comments are slightly expanded from the ones I actually read to the board. During my comments, when I got to the list of changes in the boy's classroom, I did not have time to go into detail with those changes. I have placed the unread details in italics for clarity.]

__________

On January 9th, my boy’s report card came home for the second 9 weeks. On most items, he was doing well, but on one of his IEP goals he was not doing well. This item was one of the primary goals for the year. Because autistic children need to model behavior of non-autistic children, and because he has shown us time and again that his language takes off when he is integrated into a typical classroom, we are pushing for him to be around his friends in Mrs. McCord’s classroom.

In the first nine week period, he did extremely well going into Mrs. McCord’s class. His report read, “He is doing much better with going into the general classroom. He protests less, participates more, and seems to like his routine.”

However during the second nine weeks, he began protesting so much that they were not able to get him into the classroom on a regular basis. His report read, “He had some setbacks during the second nine weeks. We had some behaviors that had to be resolved, so he didn’t go into the general classroom as often as the first nine weeks. Regular schedule will resume in the 3rd nine weeks.”

What changed? Why did he regress?

Because of decisions made by this superintendent and approved by this board, my son’s classroom faced radical changes during the second nine weeks. During this nine week period, he has had to endure:

A Revolving Door of Aides: While the two aides who finished the year with the boy last year were eventually re-hired, only one of them was placed in his classroom on a regular basis. This was his only significant connection with personnel from the previous year. Then after about a month, this aide was reassigned to another location in the building due to the need to shuffle staff around to cover shortages. Currently he has two aides who began the year with him out of about six who have rotated in and out during that period.
Three and a half Occupational Therapists: Due to an overwhelming workload, Challenger Elementary has had three OTs in four months. One OT worked for basically one week.
Two Speech Therapists: Again, due to an overwhelming workload and an unwillingness to pay staff outside of the superintendent’s inner circle, Challenger Elementary has had two STs in four months.
An Entirely New Class: Because the central office attempted to fund special education on a minimal basis, there was a need after two months to take an Autism teacher from another school in the system, and move her to Challenger. Once there the boy’s existing class that had 11 students in it was split in half. While my boy’s actual room stayed the same, there were at least four classes in the system that were dramatically disrupted because the Superintendent wouldn’t fund the hiring of one additional teacher.

It seems plain to me why my boy would have a difficult time adjusting. In short, your decisions are hurting the very students you’re supposed to be administrating and supervising.

But it isn’t just special education students who are being hurt by your decisions.

When presenting the P-8 concept on September 15th, Dr. Wardynski said, and I quote:

We’re going to go down and have a discussion with the community, the PTAs and the principals and make sure that that concept fits with what the community would like to see. And then once we’ve got that, John’s already working on some concept drawings, come back to the board with a discussion about how that would unfold for board approval.

To date, this meeting still has not occurred with Mt. Gap parents. Yet on November 3rd, the board voted unanimously to approve this decision without having a discussion with the Mt. Gap community to “make sure that this concept fits with what the community would like to see.”

Because of this and the uncertainty surrounding this decision to combine schools, on January 5th, Mrs. Murphee, our excellent principal who has served our community for 15 years announced her retirement.

This hurts our kids.

Your refusal to allow parents to have even a voice in the decision making process is hurting all of our kids. These same type of stories are happening all over our community.

It’s time that our children came first.

Thank you.

__________

I’m please to say that since I asked no questions, spoke continuously, and kept my eyes down that my comments were not deemed a threat to anyone. At least as far as I am aware as I write this.

Unsurprisingly, my comments elicited no public response, but I did receive not one, but two responses once the meeting was concluded. Neither wished to respond to any of the issues that I raised concerning the boy’s classroom experience during the second nine weeks of the school year. No one ever wants to deal with issues surrounding their actions toward Special Education staffing this year.

First up was a brief conversation with Dr. Cathy Vasile, the Director the “Empowered” Elementary programs, which means that she provides direction to Mt. Gap Elementary. She approached me to say that they had scheduled a meeting with the executive committees of the PTAs of Mt. Gap Elementary and Middle. I asked if they had met with parents or the community yet, she said that the PTA boards were responsible for that.

I pointed out to her that this meant that my comment that the decision to turn Mt. Gap into a P8 school had still been made without making “sure that this concept fits with what the community would like to see,” but she disagreed with me about that.

Perhaps she believes that meeting with the executive boards of the PTAs is meeting with the community. As I wrote here, I disagree. The executive boards of the PTA are nominated to help direct the planning and organization of the PTA during the year that they serve. They are not elected as representatives of the community.

In short, as I stated in my comments, Dr. Wardynski did not meet with parents before the decision was made on November 3rd. He has still not met with Mt. Gap parents about this decision, and he most assuredly has not meet with the Mt. Gap community.

So Dr. Vasile and I will, as they say, have to agree to disagree on this point. Disagreements like this sometimes occur between educators and parents. But understanding usually follows.

As she walked away, she further shared with me that the reason that Mrs. Murphree was retiring was because she was about to have a grandchild.

It is not surprising for people to have multiple reasons for retiring. Nor is it surprising for different people to be made aware of different reasons. While I am no where near a retirement point, I have had the experience of leaving several positions in my life. As such, I’m fully confidant when I say that I have never told my boss every reason why I was choosing to leave a position. As I have long been advised, “Never burn bridges.”

Thus, I stand behind what I said in my comments on Thursday night.

I am thankful to Dr. Vasile for actually taking the time to stop and engage me in a conversation about my comments. It shows a professionalism and a commitment to serving the public that I’m sure that she learned during her many years in the classroom and serving as principal at Blossomwood Elementary. I appreciate her service to our community, and I appreciate her taking the time after a long day to discuss our differences with me.

Her dedication to working with parents and the public was thrown into sharp relief a few moments later with Dr. Wardynski walked by displaying none of the commitment to working with the public that Dr. Vasile showed me.

Rather than approaching me to discuss our differences, he chose to just address them as he continued walking without breaking stride. As I was speaking with some friends after the meeting, Dr. Wardynski walked past us and said, “Mr. Winn. The reason that Mrs. Murphree is retiring is because of her grandchild. As she informed us back in October.”

When he finished his statement he was back inside the boardroom while I was standing outside in the hallway allowing for no response, no discussion, no debate, and no understanding.

And his approach to me, more than nearly anything else he says or does, shows the character of his leadership. It also shows the fundamental difference between an educator and someone who has little to no interest in education. An educator stops to discuss differences; an educator doesn’t shout his opinion across a room.

Oh, and had he attempted to discuss our differences with me, I would have pointed out to him that Mrs. Murphree’s sharing her decision to retire in October is still at least two weeks after Dr. Wardynski announced his decision to merge the two Mt. Gap schools. But he is simply not interested in discussing things.

A teacher interacts, discusses, considers, debates, and listens. He or she may not agree with others, but there is still listening. A teacher doesn’t shout orders to parents across a boardroom. That isn’t the teaching way.

I wish we had a teacher leading our schools.

2012Mon16Jan

Privatizing Education

Permalink | Shortlink | Comments (14) | TrackbackFiled in polityTags: corporate education, dr. casey wardynski, huntsville city schools, school board

Public education is under attack nationally and locally here in Huntsville under the guise of “private organizations can do our jobs better.” Or as Dr. Wardynski puts it, “they provide services that we can’t.”

This isn’t true.

If a service can be provided, it can be provided by the public. The public may choose not to provide it, but it can be provided.

So it comes down to cost. Even though Wardynski likes to down play this as a part of his decision making, it usually is the primary reason why services are offered or withheld.

This is certainly the case with our soon to be approved contract with The Pinnacle Schools, which is designed to outsource our services to “problem” students.

So it would seem that the superintendent who in September announced that he didn’t believe in closing schools, is planning to close yet another one. (Providence Middle, Huntsville Center for Technology, Whitesburg Elementary/Middle, Chapman Elementary/Middle, Mt. Gap Elementary/Middle, New Century all make the list.) The Seldon Center, a program designed to be a stopgap for students facing expulsion, will be closed in February and privatized by moving the students to The Pinnacle Schools.

In doing so he offered two justifications: The Pinnacle Schools offers services that Huntsville City Schools “can’t,” and that privatizing the services will save money.

Let’s look at the first claim first: The Pinnacle Schools offers “diagnostic, assessment, education and intervention services for troubled teens, ages 12-18, and their families. Our programs are based on a medical model with 24-hour medical/nursing care.”

First, there appears to be nothing troubling about this organization. It seems that Ms. Karen Lee found herself in a situation where the school system wasn’t meeting the needs of her child, so she started an organization that would. Such action is indeed praiseworthy, and although I know quite little about it, I believe that The Pinnacle Schools is a fine organization.

However, there is nothing, absolutely nothing in that list that couldn’t also be provided by the school system, or the school system working together with other public organizations.

The school system is simply choosing not to do this. (And in many situations, we are offering services that Dr. Wardynski claims we aren’t offering. I assume that this is merely a lack of experience on his part rather than a deception, but on the 5th he claimed that Huntsville City doesn’t have “access to licensed therapists.” While he wasn’t clear about which types of therapists he was referring to, the system does indeed have access to and currently employs licensed therapists. Again, if the system wished to make this a priority, it could indeed have access to licensed therapists.)

But it will save money, right? On Thursday, January 5th, Dr. Wardynski claimed that Pinnacle could offer more services at a savings of about $7,000 per student. He claimed that Huntsville City spends $18,000 per Seldon student and that Pinnacle would offer more services for approximately $11,000 per student. (As you can see in the contract, this amount is somewhat questionable.)

And yet, this $11,000 per student does not include many cost centers that the system will still be required to pay under the contract. (You may download a copy of the contract here.)

The system will still pay for the following:

A1. Referral and Placement: HCS will designate a referral official to provide documentation supporting the referral. Furthermore, not every student referred to TPS will necessarily be accepted. (2)
A2. Assessment: HCS will provide extensive communication with TPS. (2)
A8. State Testing: “HCS will be responsible for any state testing that referred students may be required to take each year. HSC Accountability and Research will provide certified staff to administer all mandated Alabama State Department of Education Assessments” (3).
B5.b. IEP Implementation: “HCS may assign a certified special education instructor employed by HCS to visit the identified students at the program and consult with program teaching staff regarding adjustments related to academic or behavioral services for the identified students” (5).
B5.c. IEP Implementation: “Additional IEP services that fall outside the general scope of instructional strategies such as but not limited to speech therapy and other accommodations, will be administered by HCS outside the hours in which the identified students attend the program or adjustments can be made in the daily schedule to accommodate any HCS personnel that need to meet with the identified students to administer the additional IEP services” (5).
B6. Food Service: “HCS will be responsible for preparing and delivering required meals for RAISE Program students each weekday” (5).
B9. Program Evaluation: “The RAISE Program’s effectiveness will be evaluated based on criteria determined by both HCS and TPS. HCS will provide all necessary demographic and achievement data for students enrolling in the RAISE program” (5).

I wonder if those costs were included in the evaluation “proving” that TPS will be cheaper to operate than Seldon? Somehow, I doubt they were.

Additionally, while Ms. Lee stated that Pinnacle would be able to meet the requirements of the IEP, the very first paragraph under B5. IEP Implementation says, “a. HCS, the parent and the student must acknowledge that the identified student will be held to the same standards of conduct, academic progress expectations and attendance requirements as any other RAISE Program students” (5).

As a parent with a child who has an IEP, it’s clear to me that Ms. Lee has no understanding of what an IEP is. The basic premise of an Individualized Educational Program is that the individual student is held to individual standards of conduct, academic progress expectations and attendance requirements. That’s the main point of having an IEP.

But I don’t blame Ms. Lee for this. She is, by her own admission, new at working with students having an IEP. The problem doesn’t lie with her or The Pinnacle Schools, but rather with Huntsville City Schools’ leadership not understanding the purpose of an IEP.

If Dr. Wardynski had any experience at all, or perhaps if he were willing to listen to those who do, he would know not to sign this contract with that statement.

But he doesn’t. Or he doesn’t care.

And that’s why he wants to privatize education in the city of Huntsville. He’s not actually committed to public education. He doesn’t understand it. He doesn’t believe in the value it offers a community.

He’s privatized the hiring and training of principals. He’s privatized the hiring of unqualified “teachers.” Now he’s privatizing the services we’re offering to some of our most vulnerable students.

He was placed into his position by corporate interests. This $1,596,000 for the RAISE program (for up to 125 students at a rate of $12,768 per student) and $433,438 for five beds at the Elk River Treatment Program (at a rate of $86,687.60 per student) for the next year is just the beginning of his paying them back.

The Board will likely approve this $2,029,440 contract on Thursday.

2012Sat07Jan

You Made People Uncomfortable

Permalink | Shortlink | Comments (48) | TrackbackFiled in polity, venomTags: dr. casey wardynski, huntsville city schools, questions, school board, standing silently

Standing silently, making eye contact, and making people feel uncomfortable are now considered threats at Huntsville City Schools Board of Education meetings.

Honestly, I really don’t know why any of you believe what I post here about the school board. Most of the time, if I didn’t see it for myself, I wouldn’t believe it either.

You’d think by that point, I’d be over my ability to be shocked by the board and the superintendent, but the six of them just kept pushing the limits of credulity. They claimed that they knew they were meeting IEPs because they weren’t being sued. They thought paying $1.9 million dollars to recruit unqualified “teachers” to teach when they could instead hire qualified teachers for $1.9 million less was a great idea. They suggested filing a grievance would be the best way to get a response, and then moments later decided that the grievance policy didn’t apply to them.

If I were writing a novel, no one would ever publish it. It’s too ridiculous.

And Thursday night, the ridiculousness continued.

This all started on December 15th. That night, I read my statement, and with about 90 seconds remaining, I stood, silently waiting for an answer from the board for approximately 80 of those seconds. I did not move my hands nor my feet. I stood still, making eye contact with each of the board members as well as the superintendent. When my time clock approached 15 seconds remaining, I said, “Thank you,” and I took my seat.

It seems that standing and waiting about 80 seconds for an answer to a question that I’ve been asking for three months is considered threatening, or so I was informed by Mr. Alfred Lankford, the head of Board Security, in a private discussion Thursday night before the board meeting. Mr. Lankford tapped me on the shoulder as I was sitting waiting for the board meeting to begin, and asked me if he could speak with me in private. As he and I have spoken to each other often at meetings before, I quickly agreed. While looking for a private room to have our conversation, he asked for Mr. Jeff Broadway the other board security officer to join us. Mr. Broadway did not speak during our discussion.

I want to make one thing clear. I like Mr. Lankford and Mr. Broadway. They are both nice guys, and I am fully aware that they have a difficult job. It is not my intention to make their job harder.

Thursday night I was informed by Mr. Lankford that if I wish to speak during the Citizen’s Comments section of the board meeting, I would not be allowed to stand silently waiting for an answer. I would have to speak and then sit down. The consequences of pulling this “stunt” again would mean that I would be banned from all future board meetings.

Mr. Lankford went on to inform me that I had made “everyone” feel uncomfortable and that he considered my actions as a threat. He certainly hoped that I didn’t intend to threaten others.

I asked him if this new rule was being applied to everyone or just to me, and he said everyone. He followed this up by saying, “This was my call as security, so don’t blame Dr. Wardynski.”

I had a difficult time not laughing when he said this to me.

He then told me that if I had questions for the board, I should ask them via email or in a private meeting. I suppose that Mr. Lankford was too busy watching for threats to actually listen to the content of my comments. Sometimes silence speaks much louder than words.

We concluded our meeting with him asking me if I understood the consequences of what would happen if I tried my “stunt” again. I assured him that I did, offered him my hand and left to take my seat to wait for Mr. Blair to read his Citizen’s Comments preamble at the end of the meeting.

Before allowing citizens to speak at the board meetings, Mr. Blair reads the following text:

The Citizen Comments section of the board agenda provides an opportunity for public comment on any item concerning public education and provides for any resident up to three minutes to fully present his or her position on a particular issue. Speakers are required to include their name and address before speaking. A speaker cannot delegate his or her time to another person. Speakers will not be limited unless they become repetitive and no new information is provided. The time clock is displayed in the front board station. We request that no one make any disparaging remarks, comments or statements pertaining to the good name and character of any individual. Finally, please do not expect any board action or response on a request or a comment made under this section. This will allow the board the opportunity to responsibly study, research all expressed concerns, issues or requests.

There were no changes to the preamble from the previous meetings I have attended.

After the meeting, I approached Mr. Lankford for some clarification.

Seeing me, he smiled and jokingly asked why I didn’t speak tonight. I informed him that it had never been my intention to speak tonight, but that I did have something that I needed him to clarify for me.

RW: So, let me make sure that I understand your position.

AL: Okay.

RW: You, and others, believe that a person standing silently is making a threat?

AL: Well, there was a lot of staring as well.

RW: You’re right. The board members were staring at me. I was making eye-contact. But again, you believe that is making a threat?

AL: You made a lot of people in the audience uncomfortable. You can’t do that. I’m not sure that the board even noticed. It’s my job to make sure that people aren’t uncomfortable in the board meetings.

RW: Listen, I want you to know that it was not my intention to threaten anyone. Nor did I intend to make your job more difficult. If I did, I’m sorry.

To those people sitting in the audience on Thursday, December 15th, I would like to offer you my apology as well. It was not my intention to make any of you feel threatened nor to make you uncomfortable. If I have caused your Christmas holidays to be less than a joyous occasion, please let me know so that I may apologize to you personally. My questions, on the other hand, were specifically intended to make the board uncomfortable. It seems that it worked.

Waiting quietly for answers, making eye contact, and generally making people feel uncomfortable are all off limits now. At least for me. I would therefore suggest to Mr. Blair the following changes to his “Preamble” to Citizen’s Comments.

The Citizen Comments section of the board agenda provides an opportunity for public comment on any item concerning public education and provides for any resident up to three minutes to fully present his or her position on a particular issue. It also provides us an opportunity to appear to care about the little people as we pack up to go home. Speakers are required to include their name and address before speaking. A speaker must show the expected reverence due to the board of education when approaching the board. A speaker cannot delegate his or her time to another person. A speaker should approach the board slowly and quietly as the board members are easily threatened. We suggest that speakers keep their heads down at all times as eye contact with your superiors is inappropriate. Speakers will not be limited unless they become repetitive and no new information is provided or unless we’re just sick of hearing from you. The time clock is displayed in the front board station. God help you if you make any disparaging remarks, comments or statements pertaining to the good name and character of any individual. Finally, please do not expect any board action or response on a request or a comment made under this section unless you have sued us. This will allow the board the opportunity to pretend to responsibly study, research all expressed concerns, issues or requests and quietly dismiss them without embarrassment to us or harming our reelection campaigns.

2012Thu05Jan

Internal Reviews Only Review The Past

Permalink | Shortlink | Comments (10) | TrackbackFiled in polity, venomTags: dr. casey wardynski, eli broad, huntsville city schools, school board, teach for america

No, old man, you have not hurt these people if they are of good conscience. But you must understand, sir, that a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between. This is a sharp time, now, a precise time–we live no longer in the dusky afternoon when evil mixed itself with good and befuddled the world. Now, by God’s grace, the shining sun is up, and them that fear not light will surely praise it.

–The Crucible, Arthur Miller

In a press release yesterday referred to in the Huntsville Times, Dr. Wardynski announced that the “internal review” of the business practices the district conducted eight years ago has resulted in sending a report to the Alabama Department of Education and the Alabama Ethics Commission about one unnamed individual who might have directed some of the district purchases towards a family member’s local business. The story has since been updated under the following headline: “Huntsville City Schools tightening business ethic.”

This is an excellent practice by the superintendent. If there are those who are abusing their positions of trust, they should be held responsible.

But let’s take a closer look at this for a moment. As you know, I think that questions are the crucial component to helping us understand our world. As such, it’s important to raise questions about “events” such as this.

Why did Dr. Wardynski think it was important to issue a press release concerning this single “finding” from eight years ago? Why was it necessary to go public with this information that would typically be handled in private (particularly since “he’d rather not identify the employee”). What does Wardynski gain from this?

We’re told that one employee may have “purchased ‘parts’ for the district from a business owned by a family member.” What does Dr. Wardynski tell us in this press release? He tells us that he and Mr. Spinelli are watching out of how the system spent its money eight years ago. He tells us that he can be trusted with our “two most precious resources: [our] children and [our] tax dollars.” He tells us that those who abuse that trust will likely be fired. He tells us that he will in the coming weeks, “redesign the district’s purchasing and property accountability policies.”

What aren’t we being told here? The list is fairly long:

The employee is not named.
The family member’s company is not named.
The value of the “parts” is not listed.
The number of other “findings” is not revealed (but the implication is that there are numerous findings that directly resulted in the system going “bankrupt” last year).
The reasons why the board commissioned but subsequently ignored a report from the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama (PARCA) are not discussed. (By the way, if you’re interested, you may read the PARCA report entitled, “Analysis of Non-Instructional Expenditures, Staffing, and Operating Practices in Huntsville City School System” by clicking on the link.)

So again, what does Dr. Wardynski gain from revealing that 8 years ago there may have been an employee of the system who purchased some parts from the company of a family member?

First, he gets good press. A week ago the Times asked “How has Huntsville’s new superintendent fared in his first six months?” The responses to this question were decidedly mixed on Al.com, and rather negative on the Time’s Facebook page. Immediately after that, the Times also ran a story showing that a “Third Huntsville school employee regains job after layoff appeal.” Having a new story that clearly shows that he’s “tightening business ethic” is a dramatic improvement in just a week’s time, don’t you think?

Second, he gets the opportunity to silence employees. He’s already shown that he’s willing to go after principals, coaches and teachers (not to mention his propensity to get rid of aides and therapists), but now he’s showing the entire system that if you’ve done something that could be considered questionable even in the previous decade, you will likely find yourself answering questions before the Ethics committee.

A frightened workforce is a pliable one.

Now, you may be thinking, as with the Deputy Governor Danforth from The Crucible that, “them that fear not the light will surely praise it,” but I ask you, if you have a boss who is willing to spend the time and resources of the third highest paid employee of the system reviewing decisions from the past decade, would you be willing to question him? He’s already shown himself unwilling to be held accountable by the public and parents; he certainly isn’t going to be held accountable by those who report to him.

Finally, (well for now anyway. I’m sure that there’s much more for Wardynski to gain from redirecting attention away from his decisions and back to those decisions made before he arrived in town.) he gets to draw the press’s and the public’s attention away from the hundreds of thousands he’s paying to his friends as he expands the central office’s payroll. He also get’s to draw their attention away from the millions that he’s funneling toward Broad Foundation interests.

Here’s a chart comparing the upper echelons of the district’s leadership from January 2011 to January 2012.

We are spending just shy of twice as much on the leadership of the central office as we were just a year ago.

One final question comes to mind as I consider Dr. Wardynski’s press release. If we are indeed entering a new era where were are doing our best to protect tax dollars, if we are indeed in need of a redesigned purchasing and property accountability policies, if we are indeed tightening our business ethic, will this new ethic include the no-bid contracts with PROACT Search, SUPES Academy, and Teach for America, (which together total $2,310,000 in contracts over the next five years) that the Superintendent recommended and the board approved? Will those types of purchasing of services also be placed under Wardynski’s newly found interest in making the system accountable? They seem to be far more concerned about “parts” from eight years ago and far less concerned about the whole that’s being spent right now. Will these contracts also be reviewed by the Alabama Board of Education and the Alabama Ethics Commission?

Somehow I doubt it.

A witch hunt is always useful and profitable for the hunter.

__________

I will be in attendance. As always, the meeting will be broadcast on ETV (Comcast 17, Knology 99), and at the Huntsville City Schools website. I will also be live-tweeting the meeting @russwinn. You can follow on Twitter or on the Geek Palaver Facebook Page.

2011Sat31Dec

Hopes for the New Year

Permalink | Shortlink | Comments (4) | TrackbackFiled in polity, spiritTags: dr. casey wardynski, huntsville city schools, speakup, spirit, teaching

A simple tick of the clock that humans assign such importance. Would that life actually cared about things like a new second; we would surely be more attentive to each moment, each action, each decision that we make that makes life harder for those around us.

But we’re not. Life isn’t like that. Life doesn’t care that the new year is coming. It doesn’t care if our neighbor is hungry or thirsty. Life is selfish. It’s concerned only for its continuation. The only ticks of the clocks that actually matter to life are the first and the last.

But being human means that our lives are more than mere existence. Being human means that we develop our essence over those ticks of the clock. We develop whom we are. We hope for whom we will become.

And so we assign importance to ticks of the clock: birthdays, holidays, and the beginning of a new year.

There is hope that we will be more than we were before. Here are a few of mine.

I hope that I will love more than I have been loved. There’s little doubt in my mind that I am loved. Every smile from my boy, every hug from my girl, every kiss from my wife proves this to me every day. What I’m not so certain about is that I’ve loved others more. Without being too Schindler, I’m certain that I could have done more. I could have done more to speak for the voiceless. I could have; I will do so.

I hope that the areas where our community comes together, like in our schools, that we will find a way to work together to help all of our kids. All kids are our kids. They are all our responsibility, our duty. And we must fight for them all. We must say to those who are behaving in such a way that some children matter less than others that they are wrong. We could do more; we will do so.

I hope that our teachers, aides, principals, therapists, and volunteers will know how much we value and appreciate the work, the damn near impossible mission that they have taken upon themselves. We must fight for them as they fight for all of our kids. We must value them as they value all of our kids. We must support them as they support all of our kids. We must respect them. We must make certain that they know that they are indeed the most important people in our system. We could do more; we will do so.

I hope that those who have entered our community only seeking what they can take from our community, and particularly from our children, will accept our invitation to leave. Your selfishness is not welcome here. I could do more to make this clear; I will do so.

Finally, I hope that my children will learn to value questions, to ask them boldly, to speak for themselves and others, to scream against injustice, to love selflessly — especially those whom others ignore, abuse, hate and dismiss. I could do more to show them this in my life; I will do so.

These are my hopes for the new year. I will work to make them come true.

May your new year hopes also come true with the tick of the clock.

__________

(Oh, and PS. I hope that Alabama rolls over LSU on the 9th. Just sayin . . . Roll Tide.)

2011Fri30Dec

Assessing Wardynski’s First Six Months

Permalink | Shortlink | Comments (5) | TrackbackFiled in polityTags: dr. casey wardynski, huntsville city schools, salaries, school board, school closings, special education cuts

Wow, it really is nice not to have to think about Huntsville City Schools on an hourly basis. It’s been a nice vacation.

But on Tuesday, the Huntsville Times reported that Thomas R. Skulina, and independent arbitrator who served as the hearing officer at Clark Sharp’s employment hearing, said that Dr. Wardynski’s hiring decisions since July directly impacted his decision in favor of Mr. Sharp retaining his position as a mechanic with Huntsville City Schools.

This is the third of nine hearings so far that the system has lost and that RIFed employees have won. Of the nine hearing that have occurred, three of the employees who lost, represented themselves. Of the six who had representation, the system has lost half.

There are 27 decisions still pending.

According to the Huntsville Times, Skulina criticized Dr. Wardynski hiring practices and expenditures on “employee recruitment.”

It would seem that others are taking notice of the strange approach to hiring that Dr. Wardynski has implemented immediately following one of the deepest reduction in force in the past ten years.

Skulina wrote:

These invoice charges [of $670,000] were cited (in Sharp’s appeal) to underscore the point that enough adjustment in the work force had been made and did not necessitate the termination of this [Sharp] employee, who conceivable (sic) saves money for necessary services.

By my count, Skulina significantly underestimated the Wardynski spending spree.

Some of the invoices that Skulina referenced included the Teach for America Contract (which was cited incorrectly as being up to $550,000. The actual total for the contract over the next five years is $1.9 million), Dr. Cooper’s salary which was $7,054.74 above the maximum posted salary, hiring Aaron King for the newly created position of “Director of Transition” at a salary of $59,211 a year.

Skulina also reference Wardynski’s bonus salary, and the purchase of new computers for students. (He didn’t mention the purchase of new computers for the central office.)

In other words, despite the superintendent’s constant claim that he’s not spending money on the central office, even independent arbitrators are noticing that he’s spending more on himself than on staff or students.

Hopefully other arbitrators for the other 27 pending hearing will see the same thing.

Wardynski’s approach has been to spend money without regard of the long term impact. He seems completely unconcerned about cuts in services, larger class sizes, closing schools, hiring his friends, or repaying the Broad Foundation for his “training.”

Sadly the board of education is enabling all of these decisions as well.

We’ve already, in five months, matched the legal spending the system paid in the previous nine months before hiring Wardynski. With only nine of 27 cases decided, the legal expenditures for this system will easily clear $1 million this year.

So, we can spend money on lawyers. We can spend money on central office staff. We can spend money on computers. But spending on teachers, instructional assistants, and therapists isn’t allowed.

The Huntsville Times has asked recently for people to share their opinions about the new superintendent’s performance after six months on the job. I assume that if you’re a lawyer, in favor of closing schools, nepotism, or the head of a multi-million dollar foundation then you would have to say that Wardynski is the best thing that has ever happened to Huntsville City Schools.

If, on the other hand, you’re a parent struggling to get an appropriate education for your child, I’d have to say that the assessment of his first six months is quite dire.

Dr. Wardynski and the board are destroying Huntsville City Schools for a generation of students. Thankfully others are starting to notice.

2011Sat24Dec

The Waiting

Permalink | Shortlink | Comments (8) | TrackbackFiled in spiritTags: advent, christmas, family, inclusion, love, theology

You are all Children of God

–Galatians 3:26

And so it is Christmas Eve, a time when everyone is waiting. Waiting for Santa. Waiting for presents. Waiting to see the looks on the kids’ faces to make sure they’re happy with the toys they get. We’re waiting, always waiting

But that’s the problem with Christmas Eve and Advent; they suggest that we should be waiting for something, some miracle from above, some thing to happen to us.

But there just isn’t time.

There isn’t time to wait when children are being abused.

There isn’t time to wait when women are being dismissed as second-class (or even third-class if they’re pregnant) citizens.

There isn’t time to wait while hatred because of skin color grows.

There isn’t time to wait while whole nationalities are being kicked around for not being rich enough to buy their way into the country.

There isn’t time to wait while our city becomes convinced that only those who can count do count.

There isn’t time to wait while homosexual teens are being beaten, mocked and spat upon for being born different. In case you haven’t noticed, we’re all born different.

We’re all freaks and weirdos. We’re all illegals, second, third and last-class citizens.

We’re all the 99%. And we’re the 1% too–when we open our eyes enough to see the suffering that our getting is causing.

We’re all special-needs. We’re all black, white, women, men and children.

We’re all Children of God.

The miracle of Christmas eve isn’t that God came once. The miracle isn’t something we have to wait fro from the heavens. The miracle is that faith calls us all God’s sons and daughters. The miracle has already happened. So what exactly are we waiting for?

As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

–Galatians 3:27-28

Advent and Christmas Eve aren’t about waiting for miracles. They’re about creating them. Our friends, our enemies, our sisters, our brothers, our parents, our neighbors, our strangers, and especially our Children, bless them every one, our Children can’t wait any longer.

It’s time for us to be the miracle that our would needs. Just in time for Christmas.

2011Thu22Dec

To Be Enough Time

Permalink | Shortlink | Comments (1) | TrackbackFiled in spiritTags: family, love, parenting

Stephen King wrote once that God punishes us for what we can’t imagine. There is truth there. Yet the opposite is also, always a possibility. This is why life is so interesting.

God also amazes us with what we can’t imagine.

At 5:43pm eight years ago today, this happened to me when into my life came the girl.

Birthdays are hard on me. Not mine. I couldn’t care less about those. But the kids’ birthdays always kick me in the heart. There, as Croce sang, never seems to be enough time.

Life is a constant sprint. Running to the kitchen making sure that the strange smell coming out of the toaster isn’t dangerous. Racing to school. Speeding past the cop to get to ballet. Screaming down the hallway as I hear water splashing on the floor next to the tub. Our lives together are together. I think I’m getting at least that much right, but our lives are fast. And that breaks my heart.

I’m terrified, especially on birthdays, that I’m losing her a little more every day.

She’s flying past me as I try to grab hold of a moment. A moment where I can make the world better with just a raspberry on a belly. Just one moment where I can stop and hold my baby girl in my arms. Just a few more moments where she’s playing dress-up rather than actually getting dressed up.

[to go out and away]

But again, my imagination fails and God steps in to amaze. For every moment I spend wishing for her to remain my baby, I’m amazed by the beautiful, loving, funny girl that she has become. I’m stunned by her intelligence, shocked by her wisdom, surprised by her beauty.

I’m amazed, constantly amazed, that I get to spend my life watching her grow, helping her grow, pushing her to grow even though I don’t want her to, into such a caring young woman who is starting to seek out her own path in this world.

And for that, there might just be world enough, and time.

Happy Birthday, my sweet little girl. I love you.

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