For the past month, I’ve been discussing opting out of the final STAR Enterprise assessment of the year with both my daughter’s principal and later with Dr. Cathy McNeal, whose title is Director of Research and Development but who is really is the new director of testing in the district. It hasn’t been a fun, or even a particularly polite (on the part of Dr. McNeal) discussion, but it has been eye-opening to see the level of disdain that our district has for parents who dare to ask questions about district practices.

It isn’t just the superintendent who refuses to have discussions with parents; he’s passed this practice on down to his district staff as well. In the end, thanks to a principal caring more about the students than a “policy,” we were able to get things resolved.

Here’s the story so far.

On March 30th, I wrote a post about the cheating scandals in Atlanta and pointed out how we’re ripe for just a scandal here.

WAFF contacted me on Tuesday of that week wanting to do a story about potential cheating here in Huntsville. I was told that the district was refusing to discuss the possibility, and that they wanted to run a story about it anyway.

I agreed to be interviewed about the possibility of cheating, and the end result of the interview was that the district made Lee Simmons a “curriculum specialist” with ties to Westlawn and the “phenomenal” growth there available to be interviewed. She claimed that cheating on the STAR test was “virtually impossible,” as there would be 30 different screens with 30 different questions all at the same time.

Except, of course, that doesn’t make cheating “virtually impossible” at all. All a teacher needs to do to improve STAR test scores in her classroom is assist the weakest student with the test, or, as has been documented, give the student the same test, every week, until they begin to improve.

Ms. Simmons seems to be a dedicated teacher, but she’s incorrect when she claims that cheating or modifying scores is “virtually impossible.” There are dozens of ways it could be done.

This is one of the reasons why I decided it was time for my child to opt out.

Opt Out: Start With The Principal

I like and appreciate Dr. Summerville. Overall, I believe that she has done a good job in an impossible situation, and it would seem that the Alabama PTA agrees as she was just named Principal of the Year.

As I know that teachers have absolutely no input or control on what assessments occur in their rooms any more (and this is just the beginning of the issue, isn’t it?), I went to Dr. Summerville to discuss my daughter opting out of the fourth time she’s taken the STAR Enterprise tests this year. That’s right, my girl, just like every other child in this district, has taken the STAR test three times already. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-15% of the students in the district take the STAR test every single week until they begin to show improvement on the test.

And that’s another issue that I have with this test. Rather than spending more time reading and working harder on understanding mathematical concepts, the district’s solution to a student who doesn’t show enough “growth” on the STAR test is to give that student the STAR test again.

And again.

And again.

We’ve been in school for about 28 weeks so far. Some of our students, the students who need the most help and assistance with the reading and math, have taken at least part of the STAR test each week during those 28 weeks.

We test until the results are where the superintendent wants them to be because that’s his understanding of what education is all about.

I’m sorry, but how, exactly, does this benefit the child who is struggling? How does it benefit the child who isn’t struggling when the teacher’s attention is entirely focused on administering a test to a group of students for the 15th time?

And so I asked that my daughter be allowed to opt out of the final STAR Enterprise assessment of the year because it is not improving her educational experience.

I was informed by Dr. Summerville, in a generous and caring way I might add, that she had been informed that this was not a possibility.

As our principals now have nearly as little influence on the direction of their schools as our teachers do on the direction of their classrooms, I thanked Dr. Summerville for her time and took my case to the person who said no: Dr. Cathy McNeal.

Opt Out: The District “Responds”

After informing Dr. Summerville that I would pursue this discussion with the district, I emailed Dr. McNeal to ask her to allow my daughter to opt out of the final STAR Enterprise test.

On April 9th, I wrote Dr. McNeal expressing my concerns with my daughter taking the STAR Enterprise test:

Dr. McNeal,

I’m Russell Winn. As I suspect you are aware, I have recently met with Dr. Summerville, my daughter’s principal at Mt. Gap, to request that she be allowed to opt out of the final STAR Enterprises test of the year. I have been told that this is not possible, but I have not received any justification for this position which disregards parental concerns over the education of a child.

I am requesting that my daughter be allowed to opt out for the following reasons:

As far as I have been able to determine, there is zero educational benefit to [my daughter] in taking this test again as she has taken it at least three times already this year (not counting the time that has been spent preparing her for this exam). I still hold this view despite speaking with Dr. Summerville for over an hour on Monday about this. In fact, I am now even more convinced that my daughter is not benefiting educationally from taking this test.

Thus, I am again asking that my daughter not waste her time taking the STAR Enterprise test any further this year, and I am requesting an explanation of your decision to exclude parental wishes from the educational process.

I would appreciate receiving this information in writing from you, but I am also willing to meet with you if you so desire.

My daughter is currently scheduled to take the STAR test during the week of April 29 – May 3 [The test has been moved up to April 24-25 due to a test scheduling issue. Yes, we test so often at the end of the school year that we have difficulty scheduling everything]. I would appreciate reaching some resolution on this matter before that time.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Russell Winn
256-457-2887

On April 10th, which was a fairly rapid response for someone working in the central office, Dr. McNeal responded:

The Alabama State Department of Education prescribed that a formative assessment be administered in all schools and school districts during the 2012-13 school year. The formative assessment is relevant in assessing students and preparing them for Alabama’s College- and Career-Ready Standards in Kindergarten through Grade 12. The STAR Enterprise formative assessment platform is a valid measurement of the curriculum and provides a pacing guide for each individual student’s learning progression. Opting out of the mandated curriculum is not a choice.

Cathy C. McNeal, Ed.D.
Director, Research and Development
Huntsville City Schools
256 428 6966
mary.mcneal@hsv-k12.org

Notice, the district’s first response to my request for my daughter to opt out was to blame the Alabama State Department of Education, and to imply that ALSDE required that students take the STAR test as the formative assessment that the teacher and district uses to determine where a student is as the school year progresses.

Formative/Summative Assessment

There are two basic types of assessment that teachers use. Both are useful and important to determining a student’s mastery of the material. The kind that most of us are familiar with is known as Summative Assessment. This is the test that is given once instruction has ended to determine mastery of the material. Formative Assessments are given before instruction on the material has ended to see if the student is mastering the material.

Think of the two like this:

Summative assessment is the spelling test that is given on the spelling words at the end of the week. The teacher gives out words at the beginning of the week for the student to learn to spell. The test on Friday where the teacher calls out a word, and the student writes the word (spelling it correctly) on a sheet a paper is a summative assessment. If the student spells the word correctly, they pass.

Formative assessment in this scenario would be the homework that a teacher gives to the student to assist learning the words before the summative assessment on Friday. Let’s say that the teacher assigns the students sentences to write with the spelling words for homework. When the student turns in that homework the next day, the teacher can assess formatively how well the student understands the word and whether or not the student is learning to spell the word correctly. The homework may, or may not, be graded. The purpose of a formative assessment is to inform the teacher how well the student is mastering the material. If a student is struggling on a formative assessment, ideally, the teacher will notice and adjust her or his instruction to assist that child in mastering the material before the summative assessment is given on Friday.

I say ideally for one reason: in a classroom with 27 third graders, one teacher has a difficult time individualizing instruction to keep both the student who is mastering the words and the student who is not engaged.

Nothing can be individualized 27 times.

And a standardized test, like the STAR Enterprise test, is the exact opposite of individualized instruction.

Sure it shows that the student is reading on a 9th grade or 2nd grade level, but when one teacher has a class of 27 students all reading at different levels as varied as seven separate grades, where is most of the attention going to go?

It’s going to go to the student reading below grade level because that’s how the teacher is being evaluated: by the weakest student in the class.

And will the teacher be allowed to use her training and expertise to help that struggling student? No. There just isn’t time because the student has to take the STAR test again at the end of the week.

Passing the Buck

You’re starting to notice a pattern here, aren’t you? No one wants to take responsibility for telling a parent, especially a parent who is such a trouble-maker like me, no. So, let’s blame the other guy.

Dr. McNeal, following Dr. Wardynski’s lead on April 4th decided to call the STAR Enterprise test a “state mandated test.” She, like Dr. Wardynski before her, has absolutely no evidence to support this claim.

Here’ s what the superintendent had to say about me and the STAR test on the 4th:

First, there’s what I would call idol debate. Um, there’s a “watchdog” apparently who thinks we shouldn’t do STAR testing. We don’t have a choice. Formative testing is part of the state now. You’re either going to do GlobalScholar or some other formative assessment. And we do STAR. We like it best. But if we weren’t doing STAR, we’d be doing GlobalScholar or something else. A debate about formative assessment’s not even a debate.

You may watch his comments below:

The superintendent likes to make claims that sound good, but for which he offers no evidence, and which, as it turns out, simply aren’t true.

Yes, the state does what districts to perform formative assessment. That’s completely true. Guess what, that’s been completely true since long before the superintendent even knew that he wanted to be a superintendent.

As I explained above, formative assessment can be as specific as a homework assignment.

What the state does not require, despite Wardynski’s claims to the contrary, is standardized formative testing. Neither does the state require the use of STAR Enterprise’s tests.

The state might require this at some point in the future, but it is not required now. Either our superintendent doesn’t know what he’s talking about (which is highly possible), or he was exaggerating what is currently required by the state.

Here’s a copy of a memo that was posted to the ALSDE site in September 10, 2010 that lists the requirements that a local district (LEA) should follow if, and only if the local districts chooses to administer formative testing like the STAR Enterprise test. At the writing of this memo, the state does not require formative testing such as the STAR test.

Since much changes in two and a half years, is there anything more current than this on the ALSDE site? Why yes, there is. On July 31, 2012, Dr. Sherill Parris issued another memo about formative, interim, and benchmark assessment. It is, in fact, the only official mention of formative, interim and benchmark assessment on the site that is in a directive format. The memo is entitled: Statewide Formative Assessment, and the opening paragraph reads:

Most, if not all, of you have heard that the Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE) will be providing a statewide option for formative, interim, and benchmark assessments beginning August 2012. Through a rigorous, competitive application process, GlobalScholar, Inc, was determined to best fit the needs of what our state is attempting to accomplish.

You’ll note the use of the word “option” in this paragraph. And you’ll notice the complete absence of any indication that formative assessment is now a state requirement. Guess what, if you bother to read the totality of the memo, not once will you find any indication that the state currently requires local districts to perform formative assessments.

(Oh, and this is a thought for another time, but can someone explain to me why we’re paying nearly half a million dollars a year to Resnaissance Learning for something that the state would give us for free?)

Finally, if you read your 2012-2013 Student-Parent Handbook, you’ll find on page 21 that the STAR test is listed as a “District mandated” test. It is specifically not listed as a “State mandated” test. The handbook also states:

The HCS Mandated Assessment Program for the school year 2012-13 will include:

Grades: 1-12 STAR Enterprise Math and Reading (3 to 4 benchmarks during the school year) STAR Enterprise Math and Reading Growth percentile will be included as a percentage of the student’s grade each 9 weeks for those students who show growth.

The handbook claims that this is a district mandated test that will be required “3 to 4 benchmarks during the school year.”

The state doesn’t currently require local districts to do formative assessment via a standardized tool such as the STAR Enterprise test. The superintendent and Dr. McNeal are mistaken if and when they claim that the state requires this type of formative assessment.

It’s Time To Opt Out

After all this round about, this “idol debate” as the superintendent likes to claim, I finally  arrived at a few conclusions:

1. The District is not using the STAR Enterprise test to actually perform formative assessment on my daughter. My daughter has show growth in all three of the assessments she took this year, and yet despite the district’s claims in the 2012-2013 Student-Parent Handbook quoted above that the growth percentile “will be included as a percentage of the student’s grade each 9 weeks for those students who show growth,” my daughter’s “growth” has not be included as a percentage of her 9 weeks grade. (In fact, when I asked about this, no one in the district seemed to know this was included in the handbook. Perhaps we should make the district sign the handbook showing that they’ve read it next year.) In other words, there is no evidence that the STAR test is impacting my daughter’s grades.
2. The STAR Enterprise test has not been used to modify my daughter’s education this year. My daughter is in a classroom with 27 other third graders and one teacher. This class was specifically designed to include both higher and lower performing students in the same room so that neither (yep, there are only two 3rd grade classrooms at Mt. Gap despite there having been three 2nd grade classrooms a year ago) third grade teacher has a class of just higher or lower performing students. Even if the district were pushing teachers to actually use the data found in this assessment in any way other than to cut and paste the information onto another report they’re required to fill out, (yes, that is exactly what happens with the report showing what your child “knows”), there would be no physical way a single teacher could individualize instruction for 27 3rd graders in a single class. It is not possible.
3. The STAR Enterprise test’s only purpose is to evaluate teachers, principals, and schools. The test doesn’t exist to help your child. It exists to abuse your child’s teacher. That’s all.

As such, I decided, after talking with my daughter and wife, that our girl should choose to opt out of the fourth and hopefully final STAR Enterprise test of the year.

The District Has Rights Because We Say So

When I informed Dr. McNeal of my decision she wrote (on April 11, 2013) the following:

The Huntsville City School System through its superintendent has the right to mandate tests.

That’s right, Dr. McNeal was convinced that despite my telling her that I do not want my daughter to waste her time taking another test that offers her zero educational benefit, that she would assert the rights of the district and the superintendent to overrule my wishes as my daughter’s parent.

In response to this assertion of district rights, I wrote the following:

I find it interesting that you choose to close by asserting the rights of the district and the superintendent, Dr. McNeal. You may be correct when you claim that “The Huntsville City School System through its superintendent has the right to mandate tests.” You haven’t actually provided any evidence of this, but you may be correct.

However, the rights of the parent to be an active participant or “partner” (as the student-parent handbook calls us), in my child’s educational process, are not subsumed to the rights of the superintendent or the district.

Parental rights take precedence over the superintendent’s rights when it comes to the education of my daughter. He does not have the right to force my daughter do to something that I will not allow her to do, including testing.

Dr. McNeal, I have attempted to address this in a respectful way that acknowledges that you (as a representative of the district) and I are partners in my daughter’s education. I have asked that my daughter be allowed to opt-out of the final STAR benchmark of the year. I have provided with you my reasons and justifications for requesting this. I have followed up by asking for evidence that supports your claims that this is a state mandated test.

You have responded by asserting that the rights of the district outweigh my rights as a parent when it comes to my child’s education.

Are you certain that you do not wish to reconsider this position?

I remain interested in discussing this with you further. If you can offer me a convincing justification that my daughter’s education will benefit from taking this assessment, I will reconsider my position. So far your response has amounted to “because we say so,” and frankly, that response is inadequate.

At the present time, my daughter, XXXXXXXX, does not have permission to participate in the STAR Enterprise reading and math benchmark assessments for the remainder of the 2012-2013 school year.

Sincerely and respectfully,

Russell

Russell Winn
256-457-2887

As I would imagine it is needless to say, Dr. McNeal offered no convincing justification that my daughter’s education would benefit. She would once again simply offer the reasoning that we could not opt-out of the test simply because the district “says so.”

Cutting and Pasting Responses

A week later, I wrote Dr. McNeal back again to see if there had been any change in her opinion concerning my request that my daughter be allowed to opt out of the STAR test that she’s already taken three times.

Rather than engage me in an honest discussion, Dr. McNeal chose to basically cut and paste her response to me from an earlier email assuming, I suppose, that I had not responded to this email once already. So much for being partners with our schools in education.

She wrote, for a second time:

As stated in the original April 10, 2013 e-mail response to this request:

The Alabama State Department of Education prescribed  that a formative assessment be administered in all schools and school districts during the 2012-13 school year.  The formative assessment is relevant in assessing students and preparing them for Alabama’s College- and Career-Ready Standards in Kindergarten through Grade 12.  The STAR Enterprise formative assessment platform is a valid measurement of  the curriculum and provides a pacing guide for each individual student’s learning progression.   Opting out of the mandated curriculum is not a choice.

As stated in the Huntsville City Schools Student Handbook 2012-13 pg. 21 and referred to in your e-mail dated April 11, 2103:

STATE MANDATED ASSESSMENT PROGRAM 2012-2013

The State Mandated Assessment Program for the school year 2012-2013 will include:

Grade(s) Assessment

• 3-8 Alabama Reading and Mathematics Test + (ARMT+)
• 5 & 7 Alabama Science Assessment Grade 5 and Grade 7
• 3-8 & 11 Alabama Alternate Assessment
• 3-12 ACCESS for Limited English Proficient (LEP)
• 8 EXPLORE
• 10 PLAN
• 9-12 Alabama High School Graduation Exam (Fall, Mid Year, Spring, Summer)
  • *No student takes all the tests listed above, nor is all day devoted to testing on the specified number of days.

 The possession of a digital device (including but not limited to cell phones, MP3 players, cameras, or

• other telecommunication devices capable of capturing or relaying information) is strictly prohibited during

the administration of a secure test. If a student is observed in possession of a digital device during the

administration of a secure test, the device will be confiscated.

 If a student is observed using a digital device during the administration of a secure test, testing for the

student will cease, the device will be confiscated and is subject to search, the student will be dismissed

from testing, and the student’s test will be invalidated.

HCS MANDATED ASSESSMENT PROGRAM 2012-13

The HCS Mandated Assessment Program for the school year 2012-13 will include:

Grade(s) Assessment

• 1 – 12 STAR Enterprise Math and Reading (3 to 4 benchmarks during the school year)
  • STAR Enterprise Math and Reading Growth percentile will be included as a percentage of the student’s

grade each 9 weeks for those students that show growth.

• P – 1 STAR Early Literacy (4 benchmarks during the school year)
• 9 – 12 ACT QualityCore End-of-Course Assessment for the following classes:
  • English 9 English 10 English 11 English 12
  • Algebra I Algebra II Geometry PreCalculus
  • Biology Chemistry Physics U.S. History.
  • The QualityCore grade will be included as a percentage of the student’s final grade for the course for

those students that show growth

Cathy C. McNeal, Ed.D.

Director, Research and Development

Huntsville City Schools

256 428 6966

mary.mcneal@hsv-k12.org

Honestly, why would someone even bother cutting a pasting a previous response that had already been debated? But since she did, I wrote her and my daughter’s principal on final time asking them to allow my daughter to opt out of the fourth and hopefully final STAR Enterprise test of the year.

The district is nothing if not repetitive.

It seemed that the question would be decided on the day of testing, which had been scheduled for the week of April 29th.

The School Changes Its Mind About Trumping Parental Rights

When my daughter told me on Friday, April 19th that the school had moved the STAR Enterprise test dates up a week, and that they would happen tomorrow and Thursday rather than next week, I again wrote to my daughter’s principal to confirm.

She chose to respond by calling me back that evening. During our brief and friendly conversation, Dr. Summerville told me that my daughter would be allowed to opt out of the final STAR Enterprise test this year. She didn’t want to “make a big deal about this” and that she didn’t want me to check my girl out of school.

It is decisions like this one that help to explain why she is the PTA Principal of the Year this year. It’s a shame that we don’t have more educators like or (or more educators in general) at the district level. They could learn a lot from watching Dr. Summerville.

So after a month of passing the buck, after a month of the district leadership–including Dr. Wardynski as you saw above–claiming that they don’t have any control over what tests our kids are forced to take by the state, after a month of the district claiming that their rights supersede a parent’s rights to determine what is best for their own child, the school decided to do the right thing.

For this I am grateful. I only wish it hadn’t take so long.

The first STAR test is scheduled to be administered tomorrow with the second to follow on Thursday. I am hopeful that the school will keep its word and not attempt to test my daughter.

The TakeAway

So what does all of this mean for you and your student?

First: I am not suggesting that you opt your child out of any test based solely on my experiences. If you believe that your child is benefitting from taking a test multiple times, then you shouldn’t do a thing. Allow the district to administer the test to your child.

I am not attempting to tell you what is right for your child. I am simply relaying to you the processes that I have followed with this district.

Second: Should you decide that your child should opt out, you cannot take “no” for an answer. They will tell you no. They will tell you that if you keep your child home on testing day, that the test will simply be administered upon their return. They will tell you that the state mandates the test. They will tell you that the district mandates the test. They will tell you that the district’s rights to test your child out weigh your rights and responsibilities as the child’s parent.

Simply put, unless you have been ruled unfit to be the legal guardian of a child, no one has the right to force your child to do anything that you do not wish for your child to do.

Please remember, I am a teacher. I am not a lawyer. If you want or need legal advice, please hire a lawyer. All I am relaying here are what I believe to be true. Now, I am, of course, convinced I’m right on this matter, and I believe that the school has finally agreed to not test my daughter supports that idea. But you should make up your on mind on the matter.

Tomorrow will mark our first step to taking back our schools. The superintendent, the board of education and the district leadership like to believe that this is their school system. Every time Dr. Wardynski makes an executive decision, as he is doing with the rezoning issue, he demonstrates once again that the public doesn’t matter in public schools in his mind.

This is our district, not his. And opting out of this abusive, waste of time test, is a good way to show him this.

The post Parents May Opt Out of Testing appeared first on Geek Palaver.

I was planning to write about my adventures in opting out of the STAR Enterprise test next, but it seems that the board and the superintendent with the assistance of The Huntsville Times reporter Challen Stephens has decided that today, without any prior public discussion of the issue, was a good day to announce to the city that we should “Get Ready for the Rezoning of Huntsville City Schools.” As such, the discussion of opting out will have to wait a day or so.

Today Mr. Stephens, as a mouthpiece for the superintendent and the board of education, told the city that, “it’s time to redraw school zones throughout Huntsville.” He went on to write:

But change itself should not come as a surprise. Huntsville almost two years ago hired a retired Army colonel to fix its school system, and the board made a point of asking him to end the 43-year-old court order to desegregate city schools. Rezoning is a small part of the plan to do just that.

It’s a shame that Mr. Stephens decided to reprint what basically amounts to a press release from the board announcing this as if the decision has long since been made about rezoning. But he went further by claiming that no one should be surprised by this necessity because we all knew this was coming when we hired Wardynski and the board made achieving unitary status one of his priorities.

This sounds awfully good on paper; it’s a shame that there’s so little truth in this statement.

No Mention of Rezoning

You see, I’ve attended all but three board meetings held during Dr. Wardynski’s tenure. The three that I missed, I watched from home or on the DVD recordings available from ETV.

I’ve heard every single public discussion concerning unitary status that has occurred at a board meeting. Every single one. And you know what, not once since Wardynski was hired has there been a single public mention of rezoning during a board meeting.

Not one single mention.

So, I’m not sure what Mr. Stephens is basing his claim that “change itself should not come as a surprise.”

When the district, when the superintendent specifically state that rezoning will not occur, I’m sorry, but it does tend to come as a bit of a surprise, no matter how the Times might wish to spin it.

Wardynski Told Public No Rezoning

On January 14th, Dr. Wardynski met with the public to discuss moving Grissom High School to a new location just behind Sam’s Club on South Parkway.

During this meeting, Dr. Wardynski was asked a question about rezoning that he responded to fairly (for him, anyway) directly.

Q: Are you considering rezoning with the new Grissom?

A: No. If there is [any rezoning], it will be for currently zoned students, not transferring students.”

Dr. Wardynski went on to say that he “will not have students transferring across town – students will go to new schools at Johnson or Butler in their home school zone.”

As I said, for him, this was a fairly direct and to the point response to a direct question. It’s a shame that Mr. Stephens was evidently unaware that Wardynski had long since told us that there would not be any rezoning of Grissom High.

So yes, it does indeed come as a surprise that rezoning is now being presented as a necessity.

And really, since evidently not even the board has seen the final plan (which is nearly impossible to believe, by the way), I do have to ask how Mr. Stephens knows that “Rezoning is a small part of the plan to do just that.”

And again, if the board hasn’t seen the plan yet (as the article claims), how does Mr. Blair know that “the current plan would not rezone Blossomwood into Lee High?” How does he know that “I think Huntsville High stays pretty strong” (quite a reassuring endorsement, isn’t it)? How can Dr. Robinson claim, “I’m not seeing anything that gives me a great deal of concern?” (And really, can anyone name anything that Wardynski has done that has given Robinson “a great deal of concern?”)

What we have here is another attempt by Wardynski to use “the press” and the board of education to push his agenda on the city without any public input at all.

Even though there has been zero mention of rezoning in a public meeting, even though Dr. Wardynski himself assured the public at the town hall meeting that there would be no rezoning, we’re already being told that anyone who has a problem with this “plan” simply hasn’t been paying attention.

It seems that it is instead the Huntsville Times that hasn’t been paying attention. Isn’t that actually the only job the paper has? Shame they refuse to do it.

This is Our City. These are Our Schools.

This city belongs to us, the people. It doesn’t belong to the Huntsville Times. It doesn’t belong to the Huntsville Board of Education. It doesn’t belong to Dr. Wardynski. It belongs to us.

It’s time to remind Dr. Wardynski, the feckless board of education, Mr. Brooks and the Times that this is our city.

If you wish to do this, you may wish to speak during the public comments section of the board meeting scheduled for Thursday night at 5:30pm. If you wish to speak on this or any issue, you have to sign up before the meeting. The easiest way to do this is to email Debbie Jennings the Superintendent’s secretary at debby.jennings@hsv-k12.org. Tell her that you would like to be placed on the citizens’ comments list representing yourself to speak to the issue of rezoning.

You should demand to see the rezoning plan. You should insist that the public have input into developing the plan.

The district employees and the board of education work for us. They owe us specific answers without pushing for acceptance of the “plan” before we’ve even seen it.

The post Rezoning Without Involving the Public appeared first on Geek Palaver.

Tonight that the Huntsville City Schools Board of Education, the board presented a resolution to honor those individuals who are retiring from Huntsville City Schools this year. The resolution was read at the beginning of the “Celebrations” part of the meeting that they have at the beginning of most of their meetings. The resolution presented tonight to the board for its approval by Dr. Cooper was read as follows:

Resolution

Whereas the Huntsville City BOE Huntsville Alabama wishes to honor all personnel retiring from the HCS, and

Whereas these retirees have diligently served the boys and girls of this community for a significant number of years, and

Whereas, their services have been rendered in an unselfish manner, not only to the students and the school system, but to many areas of community life, and

Whereas, their loyalty and dedication to providing quality public education have exerted a tremendous and positive influence upon their associates, and

Whereas they are held in high esteem by their friends, and colleagues.

Now, therefore, Be It Resolved that the Huntsville City Board of Education, the superintendent and staff, as well as administrative, teaching and support staff do hereby express appreciation to retiring personnel, and

Be It Further Resolved that be extended best wishes for good health and happiness throughout the retirement years, with a sense of personal achievement that come with knowledge of a job well done.

Adopted this twenty-first day of March 2013

Join me in celebrating our retirees.

This resolution was followed by what could best be described as seven seconds of polite applause from the board and those in attendance. Once that “uproar” died down, Dr. Cooper moved on to about 20 minutes of honoring our sports stars from around the city.

Interestingly enough, all of the sports stars that were honored tonight actually received an invitation to attend the board meeting so that they could receive copies of their resolution and be honored in person. Some were even given the opportunity to share a few words with the community about their achievement.

Interestingly enough, none of our retirees who have “diligently served” this community for a “significant number of years;” none of our retirees who have rendered their services “in an unselfish manner;” none of the retirees who have “exerted a tremendous and positive influence” were actually invited to attend this meeting.

Now granted, if they had been invited to attend, the Fire Marshall would likely have needed to cite Dr. Wardynski for code violation, as I don’t believe the board room at Merts is certified to hold more than about 50 people at a time, but surely something could have been worked out. Perhaps we could have had them line up on the steps of Merts for a photo shoot?

177 Volunteer to Leave

You see as of the reading of the HR report tonight, a total of one hundred and seventy-seven teachers, administrators and support staff have decided to either retire or resign since September of last year.

And 177 would have clearly never fit in that tiny board room with its uncomfortable chairs.

And there’s no way that the superintendent would have wanted a photo of the 177 standing on the steps of Merts all together at one time.

I mean honestly, what kind of message would that send to our community? It’s much better that those steps simply remain empty, and that our “resolutions” be free from showing the faces of the 177 who have decided to leave this district in the past seven months.

Who knows, after all, what they might end up saying if given a mic? They might let us know that if they had their choice that they would have preferred to continue teaching a few more years. They might have let us know that they really didn’t want to leave this year, but the move away from teaching towards endless testing made the decision easy. They might have let us know that they simply couldn’t take the hostile working environment that the superintendent has created here for the simple purpose of driving away some of our best and brightest teachers and most dedicated support staff that had made this system one of the best.

What Huntsville Used to Be

I write what I know, and nine years ago my wife and I moved here to Huntsville (not to Madison, Huntsville) because of a simple reason, our first child was about to be born. And so we moved here because we knew that Huntsville, despite being in a state that isn’t exactly known as an educational powerhouse even in the south (thank goodness for Mississippi), Huntsville was an exception to that stereotype. Huntsville bucked that trend.

We knew that our children would receive and excellent and competitive public education.

But because of the rubber-stamp attitude of the board before (and after) Wardynski, this is no longer true. And with the total disregard that our board offers to our teachers, I’m afraid that Huntsville will not be the exception in the state any longer. We now tend to fit right in.

I know that there are some of my readers who, like certain members of our board, believe that a younger teacher is absolutely a better teacher. I know that there are some readers who believe, like certain administrators, that older teachers tend to turn a school into a “wax museum.” I know that some in this town believe just as one of the now retired board members said last year that it’s great to have young, inexperienced TFAers in the classroom.

I do not agree.

Teacher of the Year Among the 177

It seems that for once the Huntsville Council of PTAs and I actually agree on something. You see this year, the Elementary Teacher of the Year for the city of Huntsville is one of those teachers that the board of education was “resolved” to honor tonight. She has taught multiple generations of families and is still going strong. She stays after school nearly every day to help her students (and even those who were never in her classroom) understand difficult concepts. She’s constantly offering new books about new approaches to teaching to her peers and to her parents to help to find a way through the perilous path of elementary school.

She lives and breathes elementary education and has more knowledge about meeting students’ needs in her little pinky finger than Wardynski and our board of “education” will ever know.

She is an amazing teacher and leader, and we’re losing her and all of her knowledge and wisdom because, as David Blair once said, Wardynski is doing exactly what this board of education hired Wardynski to do. His primary job, his primary goal is to run off our best teachers.

But you know what the amazing thing is? I know a ton of our teachers and support staff in this district, and I know many of the 177 who have quit or retired. Of those that I know who have quit or are retiring at the end of the year, all of the wonderful things I had to say about the Huntsville Elementary Teacher of the Year (not to take anything alway from her, but I know she wouldn’t mind) apply to those other teachers, librarians, and staff as well.

Let me say it again: every teacher, librarian and staff member that I personally know who is planning to retire are among the most dedicated, committed people in our district. And we’ve lost them.

And the board continues to unanimously approve HR report after HR report without asking a single damn question about why our teachers are rushing to get out the door.

In May 2011, the board approved a reduction in force of 259 people. That was one of the darkest periods of our district.

So far in seven months 177 have left on their own. I’m horrified to write this, but by the end of May 2013 the 259 we RIFed in 2011 will seem small by comparison.

The absolute least that Wardynski and this Board could do is have the decency to look these 177 in the face. But then bullies do tend to also be cowards.

__________

To any teacher, administrator or support staff person who is leaving Huntsville City Schools: I invite you to share your story in the comments below. You may do so with the assurance of anonymity; honestly, I don’t even know who you are most of the time. I ask you to share your story with us for just one reason: we need you to help educate us one more time before you leave.

I hope that in the telling you may find closure and peace knowing that you have indeed given your all to help this city’s schools survive the wasteland that Wardynski and the Board are creating.

And sincerely, I thank you for your service to my children and to all our children across this community.

You will be missed.

The post 177 (And Counting) Volunteer to Leave appeared first on Geek Palaver.

Here in Huntsville, the teachers and staff of our district, most of whom have given their time, their money, their very lives for our schools, are being systematically insulted, embarrassed, bullied, and abused on a daily basis.

They are being told that they are not dedicated. They are being told that anyone can do their jobs. They are being labeled as rude, inconsiderate, hostile, and insubordinate.

They are being treated like children who are incapable of thinking for themselves.

They are being hit, spat upon, bitten, and threatened by both students and their supervisors. They are being hit, spat upon, bitten and threatened by students, and their supervisors are ignoring the issues of safety and are, in fact, threatening the teachers jobs if they report it.

And they feel like they are completely and totally alone in this.

They have difficulty knowing whom they can trust.

They have a tough time trusting each other because of the district’s policy to pit teacher against teacher in test scores. Star Test results have become a zero sum game to the superintendent. He’s convinced that there can only be one winner. If you’re not number one in your grade, you’re a loser.

They can’t trust their principals because they tend to be the one carrying out the abuse. People who are themselves being abused by their supervisors often become abusers in turn. This is regularly happening in Huntsville. Principals who are looking to complete just one or two more years before they can retire, are doing whatever they can to let the shit flow down hill. (I’m please to say that this isn’t the case with every principal, but it is the case with many of them.)

This zero sum game has hit them, too. They’re being told that if their test scores in reading and math aren’t “the best in the district” then their successes are irrelevant.

They can’t trust their professional organizations because the representatives of that organization are regularly taking a go-along, get-along approach with the district leadership on issues such as reinstating scale raises, and school turn-around models.

They certainly can’t trust the feckless board of education that rubber stamps every abusive action the bully of a superintendent wishes to enact.

Some of them even celebrate the our educators leaving.

A zero sum game hurts everyone. But that’s what Wardynski wants: he wants everyone to hurt and to quit. So far 165 teacher and staff have decided, enough is enough, and have either announced their retirement or just walked away.

One-hundred and sixty-five since September 4, 2012.

If we don’t do something now, that number will increase by a factor of five at the end of this year.

And you and I as parents are the only ones who can do anything at all to make this better.

If you think this isn’t happening at your child’s school, you are deluding yourself. This abuse is happening everywhere in this district because abusing others is all that our insecure, immature superintendent seems to be good at.

If you care about your child’s education, if you care about living in a town that values education, please consider doing at least one of the follow:

1. Talk to your child’s teachers, support staff, and aides in person. Tell them that you can’t believe the pressure that they must be working under and that you’re sorry they’re facing it. If this is the first time you’ve spoken to them this year, don’t expect them to open up to you first. They can’t. But don’t let that drive you away.
2. Tell them how much you appreciate what they have done for your child this year. Be genuine and specific. You won’t believe how long it has been since they’ve heard a simple thank you.
3. Take them a small snack, or if you see them out in town, take an opportunity to pay it forward. Celebrate the gifts that they have given your children publicly and loudly.
4. Call and write their principal, and tell the him or her how much you appreciate the work that your child’s teachers have done for your child. Be specific. If you know that they have gone beyond their jobs descriptions (believe me, they have), let the principal know.
5. Call and write your school board member. Tell them about how hard your teachers, support staff, and aides are working. Ask them to please do more to support them and to end the hostile working environment they have allowed to grow.
6. I would suggest you write Dr. Wardynski, but honestly, he doesn’t care. Communicating with parents is nothing but a hassle to him. You would be wasting your time.
7. Call and write your State School Board member about the abuse that you see for yourself here in our district. You may contact Mary Scott Hunter at hunter@maryscotthunter.com or (888) 531-1312.
8. Talk to your child. Ask him or her about school and what’s happening. Trust me, as much as we adults sometimes think we are shielding our kids from harsh realities of life, we aren’t. Children always know. Always.

It’s time to stand up for the people who are willing to lay down their lives for our kids.

Do It Now. Please. Otherwise you’ll likely soon find your child in an empty classroom on the losing end of this zero sum game.

The post Wardynski’s Zero Sum Game of Abusing Teachers appeared first on Geek Palaver.

In a surprise move, the board actually discussed yet another new site location for Grissom High School tonight. Since there were objections to the first “Weatherly Road” site, they have talked with the Hays family and have instead settled on a site that is directly south of that site, immediately behind Sam’s Club on South Parkway.

Here’s a picture of the “new” new Grissom site.

Supposedly this location is “even better” that the first new Grissom site that was originally considered just north of this location in the reddish area pictured above.

Dr. Wardynski, with his trademarked smirk, even made a point of thanking all the people who “were worried about this issue. They helped us get a better piece of land.” (Dr. Robinson, ever the cheerleader, can be heard in the background giggling at this remark.) Dr. Wardynski completed his comments by saying that they would be bringing a proposal to the board to vote on this new site in April.

Then Dr. Robinson chimed in. Dr. Robinson is the board member for Grissom High, and there has never been a Wardynski nor a development proposal that she didn’t love.

Here’s what she had to say about this presentation.

Robinson: I just want to say how excited I am to see this. I’ve been waiting, and waiting, and waiting, and I know the community has as well, for just, for something definitive. And y’all have done a remarkable job of negotiating this and finding the very best possible piece of land, and I can’t wait to see what we do as we go forward. Just to clarify then, we will have a contract at some point in April? According to this timeline?

Wardynski: If not sooner.

Robinson: If not sooner? Excellent. And the key piece of concern is what happens to the existing site, and plans are in place there, and so we should have that also in April, if not sooner? Some sense of what that will look like?

Wardynski: We’re working on a separate agreement with the city.

Robinson: But the assurance is, that whatever goes into that site will add value to the neighborhood. We’re not hanging a for sale sign on it. It’s not going to be an empty space. It’s going to be a partnership that will really increase the value of that . . .

Wardynski: (interrupting) It’ll become city property. And their intentions, I’ve been talking to the mayor, is theater, gym, athletic facilities, and maybe some other additional features. s

Robinson: But again, it’ll be a strength to that neighborhood. It’s sort of a part of a package?

Upchurch: The words up there “Community Asset” came right out of Mayor Battle’s off . . . uh mouth. I used his words.

Robinson: Thank you, very much, everybody, for your work on this.

She’s really excited about this.

And you’ll notice how she and Dr. Wardynski are speaking of this: it’s a done deal. Back in January during the single community meeting that they held, they (Wardynski, Upchurch, and Wilson) made a point of telling the community that no decision had been made yet concerning the location of Grissom.

Then on Saturday, Councilman Olshefski told the Times:  ”Dr. Wardynski is getting ready to come out with a plan, that’s going to show what happens if the school moves over to another site.”

I guess this is that plan. And you’ll note that the plan made no mention of leaving Grissom in its current location. As Robinson referred to this plan, this is “something definitive.” In other words, when they bring a recommendation to the board in April (if not sooner), Wardynski will recommend exactly one location: directly behind Sam’s Club.

Rebuilding on the current site is a dead deal. It’s time to put your house on the market. The current Grissom will be closed in three years.

Robinson then followed up her sycophantic praise with another “interesting” claim:

But you know, I would also note that the letters that we got, and I think we got ten of them, were from out of state. They weren’t from the local community. They weren’t from people who had concerns for the needs of our children. And that’s our prime responsibility. So, you know, while I appreciate their efforts to share with us where archeological remains are located so they could continue to hunt, we have a responsibility to educate our kids and provide the best possible resources for them, and I think we’ve done that.

So evidently, the only opposition that Robinson received was from groups who were out of state and only concerned about hunting. She received no other “letters” from “the local community.”

“Interesting,” isn’t it? Someone asked me after hearing this: “Did you check to see if her pants were on fire?”

Wardynski, ever one to suck up to the business interests in this town corrected her statement that they were doing this “for the kids,” by saying:

Well, and I always think we’re here to add value to our city. And for the folks in that area (which are whom, exactly?) this ought to add a  nice boost to property values, growth and all that.

And so we close on the truth. What really concerns Wardynski isn’t the kids and their education, but rather “adding value to our city.”

One question, Dr. Robinson, if I may. If you’re right that the community fully supports this plan to move Grissom from its current location, then why exactly was this discussion held under an agenda item entitled, “G. High School Update“? If the community truly does support the moving of Grissom High to a parkway location, then why was the agenda specifically and intentionally misleading? Surely it wouldn’t have taken that much more time to write, “G. Grissom High School Update,” would it?

(Not to worry. I’ll be sure and send you this question via certified letter tomorrow morning. What’s that address again? Oh that’s right, you don’t publish your mailing address on the district’s website, do you?)

No, they couldn’t let people know what they were talking about tonight because then people in the community might have actually shown up for the meeting to hear Robinson claim that the only complaints she’s received were from out of state.

Then people in the community might have been their to see Mr. Upchurch celebrating his easy presentation to the board in the hallway once he had been dismissed.

Then people would have been there to ask questions about this move and the motivations driving it.

Then, people would have heard Wardynski state that this decision was made to “add value to our city.”

They were, in fact, so afraid that the public might show up that they couldn’t even give the public 24 hours notice that they were talking about Grissom again.

These are the moves and actions of cowards who obviously do not believe that the decisions they’re making are the best for “our children” as Robinson claimed.

They are the best decisions for the Hays family and all the developers who are just chomping at the bit to start building a new subdivision in that area.

That’s what this board cares about. They’re just too cowardly to admit it before a room full of citizens who might call them out for putting developers ahead of children.

Rumor has it that land moving equipment was seen on this location today. So much for involving the public in this decision.

The post Another New Grissom Site to “Add Value To City” appeared first on Geek Palaver.

If you are having issues downloading the documents from the district’s site (I’ve heard that some are), you may download them directly from this website as well. These are Word Documents, and there are three separate files. The first is “code of student conduct FEB FINAL“. This file contains all of the student conduct information found in the 2012-2013 Student-Parent Handbook plus the new additions of the discipline procedures for technology infractions.

The second document is “technology infractions final“. This contains just the three additional pages that have been added to the Code of Student Conduct. I have also posted the entire contents of this file below.

The final document is “Homeroom Signature Form – technology“. This is the roll sheet that students are being told that they must sign.

These files were downloaded from the district’s website just before noon on February 26, 2013.

Starting at least as early as Thursday, February 21, 2013, the district distributed to the schools a new computer use policy, and they began asking teachers to read this policy to students in their classes. Students as young as five-years old were then asked to sign a roll sheet that states:

Students: (Have students read)

By signing below, I acknowledge I have received, read, and discussed the Huntsville City Schools Technology Discipline Procedures for the 2012/2013 school year.

Students are then told that they must write their name and sign their name stating that they have “received, read, and discussed” the new technology discipline procedures.

New Tech Discipline Procedures

By itself, this is a bit disturbing. As I wrote last week, they are once again changing the ground rules that the students and parents are expected to play by. The problem here is that the district is implementing this new policy, and requiring students to sign it without parental notification or consent.

That’s right, students at least as young as five years old are being asked to sign a notice that they have “received, read, and discussed” these new discipline procedures without getting parents involved. In fact, they are planning to do a robocall about this new policy in the near future, but they are specifically waiting until after the students have “received, read, and discussed” this policy before calling parents.

If a student refuses to sign this roll sheet, they will not be allowed to take his or her computer home with them in the future.

And guess what? By having your child sign a document as a roll sheet, they’ve made it impossible for you as a single parent to ask to see the document, as it contains the names and signatures of up to 30 other students as well. Wardynski has read his Kafka, I presume.

Updated Code of Conduct

The updated code of conduct is 27 pages long. It is basically the Official Student-Parent Handbook that was sent home at the beginning of school with students with three additional pages. You may download just the updated Discipline Procedures for Technology Infractions if you prefer. These pages read:

Huntsville City Schools

Discipline Procedures for Technology Infractions

This is a companion document for Huntsville City Schools Code of Student Conduct.  Refer to the Board Policy and the Code of Student Conduct for additional information.

Technology offenses will be handled as set forth below.  Technology discipline offenses will also result in the restricted use of personal mobile computing devices while on school grounds.

Class I – Minor Offenses 1.19 Technology Infraction (a – e)

a)Unauthorized or inappropriate written/oral communication, use of E-mail, websites, apps, games, messaging services, chat rooms, or other non-school related activity.

School personnel may authorize educational use of the above applications during school hours or otherwise when school is not in session.

b)Use of non-directed profane, inflammatory, or abusive language.

c)Downloading, loading, storing, creating, unauthorized files, images, video, music, apps, data, or programs that do not result in damages to person or property.

d)Unauthorized transmission of personal information over the internet.

e)Activity that may be disruptive to the school environment

Consequences

•Classroom warning

•Possible loss of device access

•Temporary loss of device access

•Parent contact

•Referral to administrator

•Before or after school detention

•In-school suspension not to exceed three (3) days.

Class II – Intermediate Offenses 2.36 Technology Infraction (a – l)

a)Negligent care of or vandalism such as malicious attempt to harm or destroy any HCS device resulting in damage less than $200.

b)Changing software/hardware configurations.

c)Downloading, loading, storing, or creating unauthorized files, images, video, music, apps, data, programs, or viruses resulting in damages to any HCS device.

d)Taking pictures, audio, and/or video without subject’s or school’s permission.

e)Use of unauthorized anonymous and/or false communications such as, but not limited to Google Chat, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo Messenger.

f)Unauthorized change of program settings or any behavior or activity that damages or disrupts network performance on school devices.

g)Sending, transmitting, accessing, uploading, downloading, or distributing inappropriate, obscene, offensive, profane, threatening, harassing, pornographic, or sexually explicit materials intended to harm or demean staff or students.

h)Deletion, examination, copying, or modifying of files/data/device settings belonging to other users including staff, students, and district to include sharing, using, or modifying usernames and/or passwords.

i)By-passing the HCS Web filter through a Web Proxy.

j)Cheating (refer to HCS Code of Student Conduct, Section II, 2.33)

k)Subsequent offenses that may be disruptive to the school environment.

l)Action violating existing board policy

Consequences

•Temporary loss of device access

•Parent contact

•Referral to administrator

•Before or after school detention

•In-school suspension

•Out of school suspension not to exceed five (5) days

•Possible referral to law enforcement

•Restitution in vandalism instances for actual loss, damage, or repair

•Indemnification – HCS may be indemnified for any losses, costs, or damages including reasonable attorney fees incurred by the district relating to any breach of the Acceptable Use Policy

Class III – Major Offenses 3.25 Technology Infraction (a – h)

a)Any activity that voids the device, service agreement, software license or warranty such as, but not limited to jailbreaking or rooting (process of hacking a device to bypass digital rights management software).

b)Unauthorized entry to program files/hacking.

c)Harassment (refer to HCS Code of Student Conduct, Section III, 3.24)

d)Vandalism such as any malicious attempt to harm or destroy a HCS owned device resulting in damages in excess of $200.

e)Sending, transmitting, accessing, uploading, downloading, distributing, or publishing obscene, offensive, profane, threatening, harassing, pornographic, or sexually explicit materials that result in personal injury to staff or students.

f)Use of school/district’s Internet or email accounts for financial gain or personal gain, or any illegal activity.

g)Offenses on multiple occasions that may be disruptive to the school environment.

h)Any use that violates local, state and/or federal laws or regulations

Consequences

•Loss of device access

•Parent contact

•Referral to administrator

•Before or after school detention

•In-school suspension

•Out of school suspension not to exceed ten (10) days

•Suspension and/or recommendation for Superintendent Level Probation or expulsion and forfeiture of device.

•Restitution in vandalism instances for actual loss, damage, or repair

•Indemnification – HCS may be indemnified for any losses, costs, or damages including reasonable attorney fees incurred by the district relating to any breach of the Acceptable Use Policy

How many five-year olds do you think understand a single word of that change? How many seventeen-year olds? Honestly, how many parents, even?

But wait, there’s more.

$750.00 Fines

In addition to these changes, there’s also the new statement on the splash screen that I wrote about last week.

Thanks to a close reader for pointing out that my interpretation of this splash screen wasn’t actually correct. When I first read this, I believed that they were raising the fee to repair/replace a device from either $250 for the netbooks or $600 for the laptops to $750.00.

However, what this screen actually states is that:

“Intentional misuse of this device (including destruction, defacement, installation of unauthorized software, or download of unauthorized programs) may result in disciplinary action including expulsion and a fine of up to $750.00)” (sic)

What I believe (I could be wrong) that this means is that if a student misuses the laptop, in addition to the “Consequences” listed above there may be a fine of up to $750.00.

If the computer is damaged and “misused” then the district could send you a bill of up to $1,350.00. ($600.00 replacement fee for the laptop and a $750.00 fine.)

This fine is covered under the Consequences for Class II and Class III offenses which state:

Indemnification — HCS may be indemnified for any losses, costs, or damages including reasonable attorney fees incurred by the district relating to any breach of the Acceptable Use Policy.

That’s right. Your five year old has been forced by Huntsville City Schools to sign a document that states that she has “received, read, and discussed” the steps by which she could be expelled from school and charged up to $1,350.00 without your knowledge or consent.

Not Legally Binding Without Consent

Now, clearly this isn’t legally binding. A minor cannot enter into a binding contract of this sort without parental consent. They would be laughed out of any court that they tried to take this to.

So why are they doing it, and why are they doing it without getting parental consent first?

The only reasons that make sense to me are:

1. They’re trying to intimidate the kids.
2. They’re trying to intimidate the parents who don’t know better.
3. They’re hoping to lessen the blowback from the community about these changes by keeping them quiet until the students have already signed off on them in the hopes that they can then say, “Look, your child has already agreed to this, so there’s no need to complain.”
4. They’re just that convinced that they can do whatever they want in our schools.

Honestly, does anyone in their right mind think that these laptops are a good idea now? It’s time to return these netbooks and laptops to the schools and leave them there.

Just make sure that you ask for a receipt when you do.

The post Students Sign New Tech Discipline Procedures Without Consent appeared first on Geek Palaver.

Remember Frank Spinelli? You know, the CSFO that Dr. Wardynski “brought” with him to Huntsville from Aurora, Colorado at a cost of $130,000 a year? Remember the night that Dr. Wardynski made a point of saying he was ignoring any rumors about sexual harassment that involve “strong leaders” such as Mr. Spinelli?

Do you remember that Dr. Robinson told us that Mr. Spinelli “has authority for certain expenditures” which include the hiring of the LEANFrog auditors who were supposedly at the time finding that there was “significant opportunity for fraud” in the district?

How about the time when Mr. Spinelli claimed that there were “no documents responsive to your request” concerning $28,790.00 of district funding that had been paid to LEANFrog over four months spanning 2011/2012? Clearly the “significant opportunity for fraud” in the district didn’t include spending nearly $30 grand without any paperwork of any kind.

Still don’t remember who we’re talking about? Well then what about last October when Mr. Spinelli offered his resignation and then, the same night, his consulting company was hired at a rate of $175 an hour?

That was quite a raise for Mr. Spinelli who, according to Dr. Wardynski, had family concerns that he needed to take care of in New York.

State Code Violations

At least it was until Mr. Culbreath, the new District Five board member started asking questions of the Alabama Ethics Commission about the legality of paying Mr. Spinelli as a consultant to his former employer within two years of his employment. Alabama Code Section 36-25-13, “Actions of Former Public Officials or Public Employees Prohibited for Two Years After Departure” is fairly clear when it says in paragraph (a):

No public official shall serve for a fee as a lobbyist or otherwise represent clients, including his or her employer before the board, agency, commission, department, or legislative body, of which he or she is a former member for a period of two years after he or she leaves such membership. For the purposes of this subsection, such prohibition shall not include a former member of the Alabama judiciary who as an attorney represents a client in a legal, non-lobbying capacity.

Thanks to the questions Mr. Culbreath asked back in October 2012, Mr. Spinelli’s contract as a consultant with the board was ended. In Mrs. McCaulley’s words, the board “severed all ties.”

Except they didn’t.

The Tie That Binds

I was watching, as always, to see if the four-year contract that had been approved in September 20th Temporary Agreements (four years doesn’t seem too temporary to me, but whatever) would be formally rescinded. Strangely enough, it never was. My thinking at the time was, “well, maybe they’re just running behind.”

But then, Mr. Spinelli showed up for the January 8th board meeting. Now, there’s no rule that says that he can’t attend a public board meeting, but since he so often seemed to be somewhat put out by having to attend the meetings when he was employed by the district, it seemed strange that he would choose to attend a meeting without being paid to be there.

Maybe he was just going to dinner afterwords with Wardynski and Aaron King, who was there to tell us how great Wardynski’s Digital Initiative was at Huntsville Middle School? Who knows. It seemed like old home week once the meeting adjourned.

Except maybe he was being paid to be there after all.

Spinelli and LEANFrog

You remember the LEANFrog contract that paid Mr. Headrick $28,790.00 in funds, without any documentation whatsoever? (Of course you do, I just reminded you.) Well, that number has dramatically increased since February 2012. You see, since November 2011 until October 2012, LEANFrog has been paid $715,308.59 according to the district’s check registers.

Nearly three quarters of a million dollars in one year paid to LEANFrog to find “significant opportunity for fraud.”

And now it seems that Mr. Spinelli, whose own company’s hiring was deemed unethical and illegal, has now returned to Huntsville City Schools as a LEANFrog consultant.

Yep, the company to which Mr. Spinelli oversaw the payment of $715,308.59 for the period of one year has now hired Mr. Spinelli to work with Huntsville City Schools.

Reportedly, Mr. Spinelli currently holds a five-year contract with LEANFrog to work with the district. I don’t have any word at the moment on what kind of salary he’s pulling in. Anyone wanna bet it’s around $175 an hour?

Is it illegal for LEANFrog to have hired Spinelli? Well, I’m not a lawyer and I don’t play one on TV, but I can, you know, read. And when I read the code cited above, it seems to me that if it was illegal to hire Spinelli’s company as a consultant firm, it’s also illegal for LEANFrog to hire him as well.

But let’s assume that the board actually did their due diligence. (Nope can’t type it without laughing either.)

Let’s assume that it is completely legal for Spinelli to work for a company that he basically hired to work for the district.

Unanswered Questions

This turn of events raises several interesting questions.

1. How can it be ethical for a company to hire the person who gave them such a lucrative contract? I know this happens all the time in Washington, but this is Huntsville. I’d like to believe we have slightly higher standards than our legislators. (Nope, couldn’t type that without laughing either.)
2. Why is a company like LEANFrog, who makes their living on their reputation, so willing to throw their reputation out the window like this?
3. Why does Spinelli, who voluntarily resigned his position, want to be a district employee again so badly? (I never got the impression that he actually liked living in Huntsville.)
4. Why is Mike Culbreath, the one ray of light on this school board, suddenly so silent on the rehiring of the employee he single-handedly kicked out just three months ago? (So much for being “worth watching.”)
5. (And this is the big one.) Why is Wardynski so dead set, so willing to violate state code, state ethics laws, and simple common sense, so committed to having Frank Spinelli on his payroll? Surely there are other qualified certified accountants in this town, state and nation who don’t bring with them all this baggage?

If nothing else, this should give you insight into how Dr. Wardynski operates. When he doesn’t get what he wants the first time, he keeps pushing, cajoling, and manipulating until things go his way.

Common sense be damned. Education be damned. Teachers be damned. Students and parents be damned. Whole neighborhoods be damned. Ethics and the Alabama State Code be damned.

He reminds me of a two year old who didn’t get the cookie that his mommy took away from him: he cries, screams, kicks, and finally climbs up the cabinet knocking the cookie jar over, ruining the cookies for everyone just because he didn’t get his way.

I really wish we were dealing with a rational adult in the position of superintendent. Heck, I’d even settle for a teenager.

Welcome back, Mr. Spinelli. It hardly seems you were gone.

The post Frank Spinelli Returns to HCS via LEANFrog appeared first on Geek Palaver.

I’ve wondered for a long time exactly where Dr. Wardynski’s support was coming from. Now we have it from the horse’s mouth.

Not Teachers

You see, he hasn’t ever had the support of teachers, you know, the only group of Huntsville City School employees that actually care about students and education. To be frank, the overwhelming majority of teachers in this district know that Wardynski is killing our schools. Once the damage is finalized, and we continue to see a declining enrollment, declining test scores (on evaluations that Wardynski can’t manipulate like the ACT scores), and an increased exodus of superb, experienced, and highly qualified teachers who have dedicated their lives (not just 5 weeks and then two years on a whim) to the art of teaching children, it will be clear that we should have put a stop to this man’s drive to destroy public education long ago.

But then it will be too late.

Not Parents

He doesn’t have the support of many parents in the community any more either now that he’s subjugated student safety to his own political agenda.

While he tried to buy off parent by giving their children laptops, (to break, to collect dust as teachers returned to actually teaching children rather than playing computer games) but over time, most parents have seen this as the silicon snake oil that it is. Students are still easily distracted. Students are still having to carry huge backpacks. Student are still having to open textbooks (you know those things that don’t shatter when a 8-year-old stumbles, and that don’t take 10 minutes to get to today’s reading selection) to learn.

Other parents have had their eyes open to the reality that Wardynski doesn’t actually give a damn about their children for a long time. We’ve known how Wardynski actually felt about the needs of special education children long before he began raiding the special education funding to pay for all his pet projects.

As children are challenged less often to allow for ever increasing “testing,” more and more parents will realize that Wardynski isn’t looking out for them or their children.

Development for Business

So who exactly is he looking out for? He said it tonight in the meeting:

“Our indication is that it will lead to development,” Wardynski said. “In this area (on Bailey Cove Road), we don’t see growth, we see sustainment.”

That’s it. Development is the motivating factor in this decision.

And no, he ain’t talking about childhood development. He’s talking about business development and nothing else.

The only group of people in this town whom still seem happy with Wardynski as superintendent (aside from the Ann Roy Moore haters) is the business community. Yep, the Chamber of Commerce is thrilled with him.

Why?

No Financial Miracle Worker

Well, first they’ve bought into the myth that Wardynski has turned the finances of this district around.

This is not true. The finances of this district were turned around before the man was hired. Dr. Richardson, who despite being a bit of a despot actually does care about public education, deserves all the credit for the financial turn around in this district. He’s the one who made the cuts that resulted in the change.

Wardynski has expanded spend, especially spending on himself and his friends. He has not cut it (well excluding refusing to even consider reinstating the STEP raises that have been frozen for 19 months now and his continual game playing with the Special Education budget).

He deserves, in other words, zero percent of the credit for our financial turnaround. That “miracle” happened before he got here, and it happened because our teachers continue to fund it by working for less and less money without a raise.

He Listens and Obeys

The business community supports him because unlike parents, he takes their calls. He listens when they speak. And he does what they ask.

So when they said:

“Look Casey, we know you just spent $6 million dollars expanding Grissom, and we know that you said that you wouldn’t build another high school for decade when you were finishing the New Lee/New Century (or whatever its name is), but we’ve got all this land just going to waste behind Sam’s Club, and you know, we’d really like to build some expensive houses over there, so we need you to move Grissom to the other side of the parkway. To make it work, we’ll even tell Tommy (Battle) to build you a new road. Oh, and get this, we can call it the Weatherly Road site to confuse everyone.

And when they call, Wardynski listens. And takes their call.

Excuse me, but what the hell does real-estate development have to do with student achievement? How are students being served by having to drive to school rather than walk? (You can’t cross the parkway on foot you know.) How is education improved at one of the most celebrated and awarded schools in the state by this move that ignores the needs of students and parents?

About a year ago, I wrote that you should care about the abuse that this man has heaped upon Special Education students and families because one day soon, he will do it to your kids, too.

Guess what? That day has arrived.

Someday the Chamber of Commerce will realize what a mistake they’ve made in backing this man, too. Wardynski doesn’t care about education. He doesn’t care about teachers, parents or students. He doesn’t care about Huntsville. Wardynski cares about Wardynski. And as soon as he gets a better offer, he’ll leave to mess up yet another district in another state.

The sad thing is that the Chamber won’t realize it until after schools have closed, property values have plummeted, and the city of Madison is bursting at the seams with expatriates from Huntsville.

If you want to make a difference in this plan, the only hope that I see is in convincing the chamber of commerce that they need to look past what they see as an immediate benefit to the long-term health of our community. If we can’t, I truly fear for the future of the Rocket City.

The post Wardynski “It Will Lead To Development” appeared first on Geek Palaver.

Ms. McCaulley, Mr. Birney, Mr. Blair, Dr. Robinson, and Mr. Culbreath:

In extending Dr. Wardynski’s contract tonight, the five of you, unanimously, voted to support the following:

• Teachers (and everyone else) should be run off in droves.
• Special education should fund the recovery from the debt that four of you created.
• Special education should receive more staffing cuts than any other group during a time of reduction in force.
• Testing should be should be used to evaluate teachers rather than students.
• Passing a standardized test is the ultimate and only goal of education.
• The superintendent should not be required to communicate with the public.
• That 81 arrests in a mere 53 days is a “sign of high standards.”
• Education should be privatized even when it costs more, and reduces the influence that the public has over it.
• The superintendent should be allowed to offer plum jobs to his friends and that some “teachers” should be treated differently because he likes them.
• Anyone with five weeks of training and no experience can teach better than someone who costs less and has four years (at least) of training.
• Computers are better teachers than people, and that anyone who disagrees should be called names by the superintendent.
• Schools should be merged and closed for no reason other than that the superintendent thinks it a good idea.
• The superintendent should blame the victim when one child (or group of children) abuses another.

These are just some of the things that you voted to continue tonight. These are the things that you were applauding. These are the things that you were patting yourselves on the back for.

You should be ashamed.

Just one simple fact clearly illustrates just how far off track the five of you actually are.

Seven days after 26 people were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary school you spent four minutes talking about the safety of our children. (And 90 seconds of that was spent with Dr. Robinson telling Dr. Wardynski just how amazing he is.)

By comparison, you spent 28 minutes talking about property management.

You should be ashamed.

Oh, and don’t worry about responding to me. I’ve learned that the board doesn’t actually “study any concerns” brought to it. Feel free to ignore any issue I’ve raised here. Four of you have been doing so for the past 18 months anyway.

I just wanted it to be clear that these are the things that you voted to support tonight.

I know it. You know it. The public knows it.

You should be ashamed.

Sincerely,

Russell Winn
Parent

The post Open Letter: BOE Extends Wardynski’s Contract to 2016 appeared first on Geek Palaver.

So tomorrow night the board of education, at the request of the superintendent, will be voting on extending Dr. Wardynski’s current three year contract for an additional three years. Yep, five days before Christmas, the board is voting on giving the Superintendent a great Christmas present simply because he wants to show the district and the city just how committed he is to staying in the district as our superintendent.

Nope, that reason doesn’t make any more sense today than it did a month ago, does it?

Two weeks ago, I stood and asked the board to please provide the community with some reasonable justification for extending the superintendent’s contract half way through the first one, but, of course, they offered no response.

Big surprise, right?

Well, since they’re silent on the question, I thought I would go ahead and offer you 13 reasons why Wardynski’s contract should be extended for 2013. Someone please let the Board of Education know that I’ve done their homework for them. I’m sure they will appreciate it.

So, here’s the list:

1. You think that teachers (and everyone else) should be run off in droves.
2. You agree that special education children should fund the district’s recovery.
3. You think it’s a great thing for special education to receive more staffing cuts than any other group.
4. You believe that testing should be used to evaluate teachers rather than students.
5. You think that passing a standardized test is the ultimate goal of education.
6. You think it’s a good thing for the superintendent to threaten to quit rather than communicate.
7. You think 81 arrests in a mere 53 days is a “sign of high standards.”
8. You think that all of education should be privatized because it costs more,  it allows us to have so much more influence over the education of our children (as we have now with The Pinnacle Schools.
9. You believe that the superintendent should be allowed to offer plum jobs to his friends and that some should be treated differently because he likes them.
10. You believe that anyone, even someone who costs more, with five weeks of training and no experience, can teach better than someone who costs less and has four years (at least) of training.
11. You think a computer is a better teacher than a person and that anyone who disagrees should be called names.
12. You think that schools should be merged and closed for no reason other than that the superintendent thinks it a good idea.
13. You believe that the victims should be blamed when someone abuses them.

There you go. Thirteen reasons why Dr. Wardynski should have three more years to ruin (just in case you were wondering, no, I didn’t mean to type “run” there) our schools. If his contract is extended, 2013 will be a very unlucky year indeed.

If you wish to let your board member know that you think they should vote no on extending his contract, you need to contact them via email or phone before the meeting begins at 5:30pm tomorrow night.

I know it’s Christmas. I know you’ve got a billion other things you’d rather do. But guess what? The superintendent and the board know that too. This is why they’re voting on this right before the Christmas break.

They’re counting on you being too busy to voice your opinion about this decision. (By the way, that’s also why they’re pushing so hard to make the decision to move Grissom from its present location right now as well.)

If you think the extension is a bad idea, please contact the board member at the information below.

• District 1: Laurie McCaulley: lamccaulley@gmail.com
• District 2: David Blair: david.blair.hcsboard@gmail.com
• District 3: Jennie Robinson: personalbest@knology.net (256) 527-1425 (W) (256) 882-0925 (H)
• District 4: Topper Birney: topperb@knology.net (256) 883-2982
• District 5: Mike Culbreath: mwculbreath@gmail.com

If you think it’s not worth the trouble, remember those thirteen reasons are things that you voted to continue in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017.

The post Thirteen Reasons To Extend Wardynski’s Contract Tomorrow Night appeared first on Geek Palaver.

Update: So you know those visits to the classrooms that Mr. Robbins took today? He visited Columbia, Weatherly, and Davis Hills to see the digital curriculum in action. Well in case you were wondering, I’m hearing from parents that those visits were planned for and staged. Parents were told to make sure the laptops were charged and ready to use. The laptops that were relegated to occasional usage in favor of [shudder] textbooks were trotted out for the visiting dignitary. I’m sure that will come as no surprise. The rooms that Mr. Robbins visited today were all informed of his visit, and like nearly every other classroom in this district, those classrooms haven’t made active and regular use of the computers for the past two weeks.

Again, if Mr. Robbins wanted a realistic assessment of the digital initiative, he should have been willing to open tonight’s closed meeting. He should have asked someone other than the Huntsville Council of PTAs to organize his visit.

Tonight, Mr. Michael Robbins “a senior advisor for the U.S. Department of Education” is meeting with a group of “parents” to hear real, honest, and heartfelt opinions about the digital transition. Didn’t hear about this? Of course not. The Huntsville Council of PTAs decided that the only way to get these real, honest, and heartfelt opinions about the digital transition is to have the meeting behind closed doors, out of the sight of the public and that the only parents who are deemed worthy of having a real, honest, and heartfelt opinion about the computers in this town are PTA Presidents. So tonight from 6-8pm at Grissom High, Mr. Robbins will meet with the PTA Presidents and whomever else the Huntsville Council of PTAs deems worthy of attending so that he can hear from people who are not likely to rock the boat by telling him the truth.

PTA Presidents who have spoken their minds about the reality of the digital initiative have been told that if they want their schools to remain open that they had better get on board and stop making waves.

Care to take any bets about how many PTA Presidents will be speaking the truth to power tonight?

The only reason that the digital transition is “working” at this point is because the computers have been replaced with textbooks in the classroom.

But that goes against the sound bite that the Secretary of Education wants to hear. Arne Duncan has long since decided that whatever the education “reformers” like Eli Broad wants is good for American students. Regardless of what research shows. Regardless of what parents have to say.

In fact, they are so afraid of what parents might tell them that they believe that they will hear the truth by meeting with only those parents who are not allowed, either by propriety or under threat of closure of schools, to actually speak the truth.

Mr. Robbins is a native of Huntsville. He was educated at Grissom High, but now he is afraid to hear from parents–who have no agenda other than the health of their children’s education–concerning the intentional ineptitude of transitioning an entire district to computers even though they knew that the network couldn’t handle the load.

The only reason that this year hasn’t been a complete waste of time for our students is because our teachers, despite being beaten down by this administration, have refused to allow the digital transition to destroy their kids’ education. They have stopped using the computers and returned to reliable pedagogical methods.

But that doesn’t fit Mr. Robbins’ plans. And so the meeting remains closed to the people who pay his salary, who paid for his trip, who paid for the very school they are meeting in.

And once again the Huntsville Council of PTAs is doing their best to silence any voice that might point out that the latest pot of gold at the end of the “reform” rainbow is a myth. Unless of course you’re Pearson, HP, Microsoft, or Eli Broad.

For a century we have bounced from one miracle cure to another. And not once have we stopped to ask parents and teacher what they think we should be doing.

As Diane Ravitch said in The Death and Life of the Great American School System:

We will continue to chase rainbows unless we recognize that they are rainbows and there is no pot of gold at the end of them. We certainly cannot address our problems unless we are willing to examine the evidence about proposed solutions, without fear, favor, or preconceptions.

The district, the Department of Education, doesn’t care if there is nothing at the end of the rainbow for students. All they care about is themselves. And that’s wrong.

And the Huntsville Council of PTAs is once again demonstrating that their motto, “Every Child . . . One Voice,” is meant to be taken literally. And that one voice will be used to silence even the very people that the P(arents) T(eachers) Association are supposed to represent.

One voice indeed. All the other voices are not invited.

The post Updated: Huntsville Council of PTAs Restricts Parents’ Voices appeared first on Geek Palaver.

Blaming The Victim

At the end of citizens’ comments tonight, Dr. Wardynski offered a response to the calls from the community to make our schools safe by blaming the victim for being in places where they should not be (like the bathroom), blaming parents for not raising their children better, and blaming the community as a whole for creating the problems in the first place. He accepted no responsibility of any kind for the incidents of violence that were shared with him tonight.

And the board of education nodded their agreement and shook Wardynski’s hand while Mr. Blair called out parents in the seats for raising questions about the ridiculous claims Wardynski was making.

Here is the video and transcript showing his response to parental concerns. Please watch it if you did not watch the board meeting live. You will be astonished by his statements and David Blair’s yelling at citizens to “Hush!”

So under a variety of statutes, policies, federal laws, we monitor student behavior in our schools closely. We know when students get in trouble; usually it’s when they’re not where they’re supposed to be. They’re in a bathroom twenty minutes after class has started and all the other classrooms are full with kids who are learning. They happen in stairwells, when a child’s in a stairwell where they’re not supposed to be. And all the children are in the classroom where they are supposed to be. That’s the preponderance of where we have discipline problems. We don’t have problems in the classroom of children having their clothing removed or being bullied. Because that’s where the adults are that are supervising them. It’s when children stray from where they’re supposed to be that we begin having trouble. Well, we do a lot to prevent that.

[Citizens raise questions.]

Blair: “Hush! Quiet!”

Wardynski: “This is a business meeting.”

Blair: “Quiet.”

Wardynski: We do a lot to prevent that. We spend a great deal of money on security systems. We spend a great deal of money on security officers and on security personnel. And their work is to ensure the children are where they’re supposed to be and they’re in class. And that they’re behaving the way that their supposed to behave. But when that doesn’t happen, children do become victims of a variety of indiscipline incidents, and they can be incidents of bullying. They can be incidents of skipping class. A whole range of things. And we have a policy manual that we ask parents to sign. And we ask children to sign. And that policy manual prescribes where children are supposed to be, what they’re supposed to be doing, what the consequences are when they don’t do that. And it also talks to parents about that. Cause we’re not alone in this job.

Gangs don’t start in schools. They start in communities. They start in households. Indiscipline may take place in schools, but it begins in a variety of locations. And so we expect to be full partners with parents and the community when we deal with problems of gangs, bullying and indiscipline, all these other matters. And so when we look at security tapes, we know what’s going on. And when we get statements from students who say they didn’t see anything, and then we can see them on cameras, we take action. And in a variety of situations recently, we have taken action. We’ve suspended children from school immediately without any witness statement from victims.

The victim did not cooperate in many cases. The victim did not provide information of children’s names in many, many cases. In fact, they gave statements that said they didn’t know anybody. But when we see them on TV cameras, we take action and they’re put out of school. They’re put out of school under the policies of this district, which are prescribed and signed to by parents and students, called the policy handbook of Huntsville City Schools. Now.

[Citizens raise questions.]

Wardynski: “This is a business meeting.”

Blair: “Stop.”

Now, when people ask for transfers, there’s policies that prescribe that as well. They’re outlined in the parents student handbook. If a safety transfer’s required, that’s governed by state statute. And we have to have evidence. We don’t just move children between schools. We need evidence. Because the evidence also leads to the cleaning up of the schools and the removal of children who cannot behave. There’s no evidence in many of the situations we’ve heard of recently. We have video tape, and that’s all we have. The video tape doesn’t cover necessary areas of the school. So we take action and we remove people when we have evidence and we have cooperative folks who give us names. And the kids are gone. That’s the way the system works.

And when it works properly, you see a decline in indiscipline. And that’s what we do see. So, when one looks to the schools for the first seven weeks of the year last and the year before last, one can see we’re down 60% from last year in terms of indiscipline that would be characterized by, uh, fighting, the natures of things that are listed on this chart: threats, disorder, harassment, menacing. 

[Picture changes to the single slide being displayed on the screen.]

We’re down 40% from two years ago. And the reason we’re down is the cooperation of parents, the cooperation of teachers, children who are where they need to be, security systems and staff who are making sure they are where they need to be. But again, we need the cooperation of parents, and we need the cooperation of community. Schools don’t do it alone. We do a great deal. And a great deal is being done. Uh, we had a nice presentation here last week on gangs and our community. Uh, there was never an idea that gangs begin in our schools, but they do come in. And it’s our job to deal with them when they’re in our schools, but of course we need the help of parents and community and so forth to deal with them when they’re not in our schools. Bullying: that doesn’t begin in our schools. It comes into our schools. Now it may take place in a bathroom. It may take place in a stairwell. It may take place in a hallway. And when we take notice of it, we take action against it. And that action’s a variety of things from education, and a No Place for Hate program, to suspending and disenrolling students. And those students are brought before disciplinary action immediately when we have information we can action.

[Citizens raise questions.]

So these are the results that we see. And these are the results that are governed by law, and statute, and policy. And so, when we have the cooperation of folks, we can draw that green bar down even further.

So many good things are also happening in Huntsville City Schools. For example, today we had help of over 600 hours of volunteers who went into our schools to read to children in our pre-k programs. Volunteers came from all over our city, all over our school system, and so they’re helping us build strong kids, strong relationships with adults, um, and a future that’s going to be very bright for those kids. So we work to educate kids in our classrooms and that’s where the reading took place today. And we work to improve the behavior of children both in the classroom and when they’re not in classrooms where they belong. And we will continue to do that. Thank you.

“Where They’re Not Supposed to Be”

In the first 45 seconds of his five minutes of comments, Dr. Wardynski told the parents, citizens and entire community six times that if a child is being bullied, it’s because they’re “where they’re not supposed to be.”

In other words, it is entirely the victim’s fault for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“This Is A Business Meeting”

Rather than actually listen to the people whom he claims later in his comments he needs cooperation from, twice Dr. Wardynski loudly states, “This is a business meeting.” As if that statement predetermined his right to espouse offensive and dangerous ideas of blaming the victim for being attacked.

You’re right, Dr. Wardynski. This is a business meeting, and you are our employee. As such, it’s your responsibility to listen to the questions and concerns that are being raised from the community in response to your comments.

Mr. Blair, you should be ashamed. But I’m sure you’re not.

“Gangs Don’t Start In Schools”

“Gangs don’t start in schools. They start in communities. They start in households.” In other words, assuming that we have a problem, it isn’t actually our problem. It’s the problem of the community and the household.

Well, Dr. Wardynski, sometimes gangs do start in schools and denying that is not addressing the problem. The National Institute of Justice definition of a gang does not list any characteristic which would preclude the formation of a gang in a school.

But either way, let’s call this for what it is: shirking of responsibility by the superintendent. Just as he sought to place the blame for violence on the victim of that violence, now he’s seeking to place the blame for gangs on anyone other than himself.

And really, Dr. Wardynski, if you actually expect to be “full partners with parents and the community” as we work together to address problems, it would help if you would actually communicate with your partners rather than shout them down in public meetings. 

“The Victims Did Not Cooperate”

Why would you ever expect them to do so when you’ve just told the entire city that it’s the victim’s fault if they’re victimized?

“We Have To Have Evidence”

At this point, Dr. Wardynski simply just stops making any form of sense. “There’s no evidence in many of the situations we’ve heard of recently. We have video tape, and that’s all we have.”

Um, I’m fairly sure that a video tape is actually considered evidence, Dr. Wardynski. In fact, just seconds earlier, you were claiming that, “But when we see them on TV cameras, we take action, and they’re put out of school.”

If video tape isn’t evidence, why are you putting students “out of school” based upon it?

“When It Works Properly, You See A Decline In Indiscipline”

You also, as was pointed out to you tonight by one of the parents you were shouting down, see a decline in indiscipline when you establish an informal policy of requiring discipline problems to be handled in the classroom, and no where else.

When teachers are told they cannot report discipline problems, well, discipline problems are going to decline.

Your chart showing a 60% decline in discipline problems from last year is a completely manipulated number. When he claims, “And these are the results that are governed by law, and statute, and policy,” he’s absolutely correct. These numbers are the result of an unwritten, but heavily enforced policy, that requires that teachers no longer report discipline problems to the office.

Still not convinced?

Dr. Wardynski spoke non-stop for over five minutes on the issue of discipline problems occurring in the schools. And even though he had been specifically and directly accused of ordering teachers to stop referring discipline problems to the principals of the schools, twice, at no point during those five minutes did he say:

The claims that I’ve ordered principals and teachers to handle discipline problems in the classroom, and not to report them to the principal, are ludicrous.

Nope, not once, did he say that or anything like it.

Strong Leaders

Dr. Wardynski likes to pontificate on the qualities of “strong leaders.” At no time has anyone ever defined strong leadership as a refusal to accept any responsibility. Until now.

And the board of education continues to not only let him do it, but give him bonuses for it.  And because they are terrified for their own safety, they brought the metal detectors back out tonight. I suppose parents and students asking for safe schools are considered threatening now as well.

I do, however, wish to thank district security for the restraint and basic human decency that they showed tonight. David Blair and Casey Wardynski could learn a thing or two from them.

Dr. Wardynski blames students for going to the bathroom. He blames parents for allowing their students to go to the bathroom. He blames the community for allowing the development of gangs. He blames everyone else for the failure of his policies of refusing to allow teachers to report discipline issues.

He has made our schools unsafe. He’s put our children at risk. He’s done it intentionally and willfully, and he’s blaming us for his actions.

A few days ago, I took a some grief for going so far as to claim that Dr. Wardynski has no decency.

I was being far kinder to him than he was to the victims he was abusing tonight.

The post Wardynski Blaming the Victim, Family, and Community appeared first on Geek Palaver.

On September 20, 2012, Dr. Wardynski announced that with the board’s unanimous approval of the Human Resources report, Mr. Frank Spinelli had resigned as the CSFO for the district. He would be leaving the district immediately due to family situations in New York City. There was some speculation, much of it started by Dr. Wardynski himself, about why Mr. Spinelli would resign after just 13 months on the job. Now we know.

Spinelli Receives a 180% Hourly Raise for Four Years

Mr. Spinelli resigned on September 20th, at least in part so that his company, Cadre Consulting, Inc., could be hired on September 21, 2012. Assuming that Mr. Spinelli is the one offering the consulting to the system, he could earn up to $175.00 per hour offering advice to Mr. Jason Taylor, the district’s Finance Director and acting CSFO upon Mr. Spinelli’s departure on the 20th. That hourly rate represents a 180% raise over his hourly rate of $62.5 while he was the district’s number three employee in terms of salary.

Here’s a copy of page two of the Temporary Agreements that were unanimously approved on September 20th, by the board without discussion.

As you can see, line 13 shows that a consulting service, here spelled, Cadri Consultant would “provide consulting services to the Chief School Financial Officer beginning on September 21st and running for the next four years. These services would be paid for out of the General Fund at a rate of up to $175.00 per hour, and this company would report to the Superintendent.

At first, this seems innocuous enough. Just one more consultant group hired by the Superintendent to do the work of district employees. It seemed fairly typical until I reviewed what Dr. Wardynski had to say about Mr. Spinelli when he was praising his incredibly short tenure as CSFO.

Here is a transcript of what Dr. Wardynski had to say:

When I arrived in this school system, we were 19 million dollars in deficit. And uh, today we are 9 million dollars in surplus. The majority of that distance that has been covered is due to our chief financial officer Mr. Frank Spinelli. Uh, tonight the board as accepted his resignation. Uh, in June, Mr. Spinelli notified me that he would need to be spending a considerable amount of time away from Huntsville City Schools due to situations involving family members in situations in New York. And I asked him to help us get through the remainder of the summer. And to bring on a new leader, which is here before me, Jason Taylor, whose run finances, uh chief of finances since June. Frank, uh, spent several days each month back here helping us. Burned up a lot of leave and came back and helped us, uh, get the folks trained, to do the budget, and get ready for end of year. And so Frank will be missed as well. He’ll be at Mr. Taylor’s disposal going forward. So as of yesterday we announced the position of Chief Financial Officer. And in the interim, Mr. Taylor will be our chief of finance. Of course if he seeks to stay in that position he’ll be chief of finance if he seeks to compete for chief financial officer, uh, he’s welcome to do that as well. So two losses to our district. Two people who made us stronger, but two people who importantly laid a foundation. And when you’re a leader, you see yourself as a transitory person. And your job is to prepare the way for the next set of leaders. And both of these individuals have done that. So they’ve laid a foundation so that we don’t go back. We build on that, and we go forward.

Two points caught my attention in Dr. Wardynski’s comments: first, he claimed that Mr. Spinelli “burned up” a lot of leave from June until September traveling back and forth between Huntsville and New York City.

Burning Through A Lot of Leave

Assuming that his leave package is similar to other education administrators in the state, at the most he would have earned approximately one day a month of sick leave and up to five days per year of personal leave. Thus he shouldn’t have had more than 13-18 days of sick leave (5 days of personal leave would have converted to sick leave on his anniversary, and an additional 5 days of personal leave. Being out regularly from June to September would have burnt through a lot of leave considering he would have likely accumulated just 23 days in the 13 months he was employed. But the second point was more interesting.

Spinelli to be at Taylor’s “Disposal Going Forward”

Wait a second. If Spinelli has resigned, how exactly is he supposed to be “at Mr. Taylor’s disposal going forward?” That seemed, at the time, an extremely strange comment to have made. Surely if Mr. Spinelli is leaving due to family concerns as Dr. Wardynski claimed, he wouldn’t want to be at Mr. Taylor’s beck and call “going forward.”

But when I saw the Temporary Agreements report from that night, and noticed the four-year contract offered for Consulting Services for the CSFO, I began to wonder.

Spinelli Currently Consultant with Cadre Consulting

Here’s a screen capture of Mr. Spinelli’s LinkedIn Wall from October 2nd. As you can see, he’s recently updated his employment information to show that he was previously employed by Huntsville City Schools, and that he is currently employed by Cadre Consulting, and (interestingly enough) United Cerebral Palsy of Huntsville & Tennessee Valley, Inc.

UPDATE: For the record, he is listed as a Board Member for UCP of Huntsville rather than an employee as it is listed on his LinkedIn page.

UPDATE: I have received the following information Tracy Cleniewicz, the Development Director of UCP who writes: 

Mr. Frank Spinelli was an unpaid, volunteer member of the Board of Directors for United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) of Huntsville & Tennessee Valley, Inc. Mr. Spinelli requested a temporary hiatus from his board duties in June for personal reasons and, as a result, became a non-voting member and was not required to attend bi-monthly board meetings. Mr. Spinelli submitted his official resignation from the board in early September, which was reviewed and approved by the UCP Board of Directors at the Sept. 24 meeting.

I wish to clearly state that it was my intention to neither be critical of UCP or Mr. Spinelli for his involvement in UCP. I was merely pointing out that according to his LinkedIn page he was still affiliated with this local organization. As that has been shown to be incorrect, I will remove any reference to his being currently affiliated with UCP of Huntsville from the post. I believe that Dr. Wardynski’s statement that he would be available to the future CSFO is sufficient to demonstrate that he is the representative of Cadre Consulting for the district at a rate ranging from $85-$175/hour in either case.

[By the way, one of the better definitions of Cadre is: "a cell of indoctrinated leaders active in promoting the interests of a revolutionary party." So, Spinelli is moving from one Cadre, to another, and then back again. Apt, isn't it?]

That’s strange. Mr. Spinelli, who needed to “burn through his leave time” traveling to New York City over the summer to handle a “family situation” was evidently going to have enough time to continue his work as a board member with the HCP of Huntsville & Tennessee Valley.

And then I noticed it.

Cadri Consultant/Cadre Consulting: Separated At Birth?

Mr. Spinelli is a “Consultant” with Cadre Consulting, and for some unusual reason he has been since 2009 – Present (3 years).

Really, you’ve got to wait a second. I thought that Mr. Spinelli was an employee of Huntsville City Schools for at least 13 months of those three years? Was he moonlighting? Did he have the Superintendent’s permission to continue his employment with an outside consulting firm while working for the district?

And what about that name? Cadre Consulting is remarkably similar to Cadri Consultant, isn’t it? And since Dr. Wardynski clearly stated during his remarks on the 20th that Mr. Spinelli would be at Mr. Taylor’s “disposal going forward,” and since Mr. Spinelli is still on a board of directors here in Huntsville, well then it seems reasonable to assume that the spelling issue on the Temporary Agreements for September 20th is just a typo, right?

An Honest Mistake

Surely that wasn’t an attempt to hide the fact that Mr. Spinelli is still being paid by the district despite his resignation, and not only still being paid, but at a minimum he (or someone in his company) is receiving a 36% increase in hourly salary. At the most, that hourly salary increase jumps to 180%.

And it would further seem that the “going forward” part of that deal is expected to last for four years.

Oh yeah, Mr. Spinelli’s original contract with the district was for three years. In other words, not only is he receiving a raise, but he’s also receiving a two-year contract extension.

So now our district, which supposedly cannot afford to even consider reinstating our teachers’ STEP raises that have been frozen since 2011, can suddenly afford not one but two CSFOs.

Friends Of Casey

It truly is good to be friends with Dr. Wardynski, isn’t it. He’s quite generous with taxpayer monies where his friends and supporters are concerned.

It’s a shame that he doesn’t consider teachers and students who are struggling in ever increasing class sizes because “we just cannot afford to pay for teachers” to be his friends.

Please keep this in mind the next time someone tells you that we just simply cannot afford to give our teachers even a 1% raise every four years. Our district can certainly afford to give raises; they’re just picky about who they give them to.

And teachers don’t count.

I wonder if Spinelli went ahead and factored his new raise into the district’s 2013 budget that the board approved on September 4th? I wouldn’t bet against it.

The post Spinelli Resigns Receives up to 180% Raise appeared first on Geek Palaver.

UPDATE: Because WAFF has edited their story to remove the name of the high school where the female student is being transferred to, I have removed it as well. However, Dr. Wardynski did in fact reveal the name of the high school in his original comments to WAFF. I have included a screen capture of the story below with the name of the school blurred out below. I’m pleased that perhaps Dr. Wardynski thought better of his decision to tell the world where this student was being transferred to, but he still did so. Along with Merts Center Monitor, I agree that he and the board need to be fired for their handling of this situation.

According to a report yesterday on WAFF, an unidentified 15 year-old female student at Butler High was attacked on September 17th by at least three other female students. As Nick Lough reports:

According to the victim’s mother, the attackers walked into the Butler High School bathroom as her daughter was fixing her clothes. The attackers then started punching the 15-year-old in the ribs, ripped off her two shirts and bra, and took off with the clothes, according to the girl’s mother. The victim’s mother said her daughter was forced to walk down the hallway topless as she looked for help. The mother claimed she learned about the attack when her daughter came home from school. The victim’s sibling learned of the attack after seeing a post on social media.

As is often the case when a woman or girl is attacked, the abuse didn’t end with the cessation of the violence.

After her mother took her to the emergency room and reported the incident to the Huntsville Police department, she asked Huntsville City Schools to transfer her daughter out of Butler High School.

As Atticus Finch taught Scout, let’s walk around this mother’s skin for a moment.

Seeing the World Through Another’s Eyes

Your daughter is attacked in a school bathroom by at least three other girls. She’s beaten, stripped and forced to walk topless down the hallway of the school to seek out help. Her ribs are bruised from the attack. Your other daughter hears about it on Facebook or Twitter (which is much easier now that every high schooler has a computer, an internet connection, and ready knowledge on how to circumvent the filters that block social media sites), and you? You don’t find out about it until your bruised, injured, humiliated daughter gets home to tell you about this yourself.

What would you want? What would you demand?

A transfer is the leastof what I would be asking for. And yet for a week and a half this simple request was denied by the district and the superintendent.

Wardynski Does The Right Thing ONLY When Forced To

So tonight, after Wardynski discovered that the media storm was beginning, he contacted WAFF and told them:

“Until the investigation is complete, Huntsville City Schools will grant an immediate temporary transfer for the student to xxxxxxxx High if her mother has concerns for her safety,” said Dr. Casey Wardynski on Thursday, according to a school spokesperson.

There is so much wrong with this, it’s difficult to know where to begin.

First, why did our “strong leader,” take a week and a half to arrive at the conclusion that a person who is beaten and forced to walk topless down a school hallway seeking help might have some concerns about safety?

Second, why did this decision only occur after the parent decided, reluctantly, to take her case to the media? If the district agreed that a fight occurred, why wasn’t that enough? Clearly this girl’s safety is at risk; she went to the hospital, the police are soon going to arrest a person involved in the case. Those incidents, and those incidents alone are sufficient to warrant something as insignificant as a transfer to another school.

District Claims They’re Investigating

The district claims that, “they have no proof at this point that she was stripped.”

Excuse me for a moment, but SO THE HELL WHAT?

Why isn’t being beaten by at least three other students, who were still attending school, ENOUGH?

This is completely inexcusable on the part of our district.

Video Backs Student’s Story

Further, there is a video recording that supports the claim that the girl was stripped. Butler has video cameras throughout the hallways of the school. The bathrooms are monitored constantly by these cameras. Her flight from the bathroom to the principal’s office was captured on video. I have been told from multiple sources that this video conclusively collaborates the student’s story.

And yet, for a week and a half the district refused to grant her a transfer.

Wardynski Violates Human Decency and Potentially Violates Federal Privacy Laws

And on top of this, Dr. Wardynski is so insensitive to the needs of a student who has been attacked, he violates her again by telling WAFF where they are planning to transfer her. This never should have happened. Again, walk in this mother’s skin for a moment. She’s terrified to send her child to school, and there’s the superintendent telling the press that, “if her mother has concerns for her safety,” we’ll send her to xxxxxxx High on a temporary basis.

Would you want your daughter’s attackers to hear from the superintendent where your daughter is going to be sent?

Wishing to seem generous and caring, Dr. Wardynski, in order to quell a potentially serious public relations issue, put his own needs and his own well-being before the well-being of a 15 year old girl.

For this, he should be fired.

Furthermore, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) specifically protects a student’s privacy by restricting whom has access to information about the student. You can read the list for yourself online, but suffice it to say that the news media is not authorized by the Federal government to know “any information from a student’s education record.“

By revealing where the victim is being moved to the press, Dr. Wardynski revealed specific and detailed information from this student’s education record.

For this, he should be fired.

Update: WAFF has removed the name of the school from their report. I do not know why they have removed it, but I have decided to remove it from here as well. 

However, Dr. Wardynski,  DID reveal the location where the student would be transferred to temporarily last night. Here is the evidence:

Putting Students At Risk For The Sake Of Propaganda

This past Thursday night (9/20) at the board meeting, Dr. Wardynski pulled out all the stops to rally public support for his failed “digital transition.” He had parents, business leaders, teachers, students and as many district employees as he could find speaking out in favor of his plan to convert the district to the Pearson way of doing things.

One of the many reports he offered in favor or the digital transition was from Judy Rushton, Director of Pupil Services. Before she rose to speak, Dr. Wardynski offered the following “short story:”

We were together with our principals about a week ago? And several principals, some in this room, came up to me and said, “Dr. Wardynski, we don’t have any discipline problems, anymore.” I said, “Really?” So I asked Judy to pull up the data.

Judy Rushton then shared the following information with the board:

The first twenty days of school, uh, last year compared with the first twenty days of school this year for Out Of School Suspension, last year, the system as a whole had 510 days of out of school suspension, and this year we have 201. For In School Suspensions last year the first twenty days we had 431 as a system. This year we have 215, which is about 50% decrease.

Then wanting to capitalize on this “miracle,” Wardynski said:

And I asked the principals why that would be. Three of them volunteered, right off the bat, the students are engaged. They are now engaged, and uh, we don’t have discipline problems anymore. That’s what we expected to see. [Ed. Note: Funny, when you look at data expecting to see something, you usually find it.] What drove us in this direction was Project RED study which was done nationally, 2,000 observations across schools, school systems. And the key findings are when you take this [digital conversion] approach, not just one to one technology, but content, professional development, leadership, uh, the key pieces have to be in place, uh, the things you’re going to see, uh, dramatic decrease in student discipline problems, dramatic increases in student achievement.

“Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics”

As Twain once quipped, it’s easy to allow statistics to show what you want them to show.

This is particularly true when the person with the expectations for what the statistics will eventually show is in charge of the method and standards by which those statistics are collected.

Teachers, all across the district, have shared with me that they have been instructed to not send students to the office for disciplinary issues. Teachers have been ignored by students, verbally abused by students, and even hit by objects thrown by students because the students know that the teachers cannot do anything about it.

It’s easy to miraculously improve discipline issues when you suddenly change how those issues are reported.

Resource Officers (security guards) have been told that they cannot report any incident unless they witness it for themselves.

Butler has two Huntsville Police Officers and three security guards on a campus containing approximately 600 students (in a building that could hold twice that number with ease.)

It suddenly seems a lot more likely that our discipline issues have actually increased from last year, and all that has decreased is the frequency with which those issues are being reported.

And so, for the sake of supporting his transition to digital computing to decrease (in his mind at least) the importance and need for a qualified teacher, Dr. Wardynski has put our teachers, our schools and our students at risk.

He has placed more importance on a machine than on the life and well-being of a 15 year old girl.

For this, he should be fired, immediately.

Our Kids Are At Risk Because of Wardynski

My heart goes out to this family. I cannot, I’m glad to say, imagine having to go through what they are going through right now. I cannot imagine having to fight off one group of attackers only to immediately be forced to fight off the superintendent, the central office, and the board of education as well. I’m glad they have an advocate fighting along side them.

The entire city should be standing up fighting along side them as well.

Because here’s the thing: all of our schools are increasingly at risk today because of the decisions of the Superintendent. And any one of our children could be next.

Last year, I wrote about why you should care about what Dr. Wardynski is doing to Special Education children. I made the case that what Wardynski is doing to SPED kids, he will soon be doing to non-SPED kids.

Today, he’s proven me right.

The post Wardynski Puts Propaganda Before Student Safety appeared first on Geek Palaver.

Why is it when a public teacher does something wrong, everyone immediately calls for her (or his) head, but when a private company does the same thing, or usually something far worse, everyone rushes to defend it? This is indeed The Pinnacle of Hypocrisy.

The History

According to Karen Lee, CEO of The Pinnacle Schools, Dr. Wardynski and the Huntsville City Schools Board of Education knew that her sons had been arrested for drug trafficking in December. As reported by WAFF’s Nick Lough, Lee said, “When my sons were arrested I let them [Superintendent/BOE] know and that was before the board vote took place. I let them know immediately what was going on and that this was the situation.” The Board and Superintendent knew and yet yesterday they chose to defend The Pinnacle Schools’ actions.

If you’d like to read the background on how all of this information came to light, please read the excellent Merts Center Monitor blogs on the issue beginning on September 11, 2012: (“The Pinnacle of Hypocrisy,” ”Why Didn’t The Huntsville Times Report That 24 Pounds of Marijuana Were Confiscated December 9, 2011,” “The Pinnacle Debacle: Who Knew What When,” and “Thank You Crystal Bonvillian. Innocent Until Proven Guilty. Nepotism.” If not for this blogger’s work, none of this would have ever come to light, and Eric Lee would still be working as a counselor with Huntsville City Schools students staying at the Elk River facility. I would also recommend reading The Huntsville Times article published yesterday: “Huntsville school officials defend alternative school after owners’ sons face drug charges.”

The arrests occurred on December 9, 2012 a week after Karen Lee made her sales presentation to the board of education on December 1st. (The Times got the date wrong). According to her statement to WAFF, the board of education knew of the arrest “when my sons were arrested.” In other words, they had just under one month between being informed and their next discussion of The Pinnacle Schools agreement to think about the implications of contracting out the district’s students to a private organization. And they did it anyway.

This is a dereliction of duty.

During the board work session on January 5, 2012 concerning the contract with The Pinnacle Schools, the board spent about thirty minutes discussing at length how HCS students would be better served, for less money (even though it actually costs twice as much), by The Pinnacle Schools as opposed to The Seldon Center.

Anyone care to guess what not one person in the board room discussed during the January 5th meeting? That’s right. There was not one mention of the arrests of Lee’s sons, despite the fact that during her presentation she used her son’s troubled youth to sell her services.

The Board and Superintendent’s Response

Mr. Blair is right: It’s often unfair to judge a parent for the actions of her children; however, when the parent sells the district a $1.2 million dollar contract by referring to her sons, well, it seems to me that she is pointedly upholding their actions as a model to follow.

But no one in the boardroom mentioned it.

As Merts Center Monitor points out, either they believed this information “unimportant,” or they “banked on the public not finding out or not caring.” Neither option is good for our schools or our students, is it?

On January 19th, the board met to vote on the contract and spent about another 10 minutes discussing it. Evidently the district added language to the contract that required The Pinnacle Schools to hire “a diverse staff and will be purposeful in recruiting and retaining staff from diverse backgrounds.” I doubt that addition was made to include those with a recent, and as yet unsettled, arrest for drug trafficking, but I could be wrong.

It’s clear that the board and superintendent knew things that I didn’t.

The contract was unanimously approved.

This is the same contract that Blair said was, “carefully” examined by the board. It seems that careful examination doesn’t include the public’s right to know, does it?

The Board And Superintendent Defend Pinnacle

During the months that followed, Eric Lee served as a counselor at the Elk River facility until Thursday afternoon, yes Thursday afternoon. An individual with an unresolved drug trafficking and weapons possessions case was serving as a counselor at a facility designed as the last stop to help students who might themselves have drug abuse, trafficking, or weapons possessions issues (as detailed in Class III – MAJOR OFFENSES in the 2012-2013 Official Student-Parent Handbook).

Perhaps the board thought no one could be better suited to work with “those” kids than someone with an open arrest case?

While I do not know that the board knew that Eric Lee was a counselor working at Elk River, we do now know that they knew he was an employee with The Pinnacle Schools.

They knew, they did nothing to stop it, and they defended it.

This. Is. Wrong.

Why It Matters

So why would any of this matter? The contract is signed. Why should anyone care at this point? Haven’t all of our children done things to embarrass us? Surely, Mr. Blair was right when he said that parents shouldn’t be judged by their kids, right? (And my all time favorite:) This is old news.

Here are a few reasons why this matters, today:

Corporatized Education means that the public, and in particular parents, no longer have any voice in our schools.

From February until Thursday, September 13th, a person with an unresolved felony arrest was actively working as a counselor with Huntsville City Schools students. As Lee told the Times on the 13th, “her son would remain an employee, just as any employee would if they were charged with a crime but had not been convicted.” Perhaps she should have made it a bit clearer by saying, “but had not yet been convicted,” but either way this represents a radical departure from the standards applied to all of our other teachers and counselors in Huntsville City Schools. And that’s the problem.

As I was told on a Facebook discussion yesterday, “Outside groups cannot tell any business how to handle internal issues.” Exactly. Once we subcontract our public education funds to a private business, we no longer have any say over the quality of the education that occurs there. We no longer have any say over the hiring practices/employment policies that occur there. We no longer have any say over what happens in those schools.

And that’s the problem.

These are our children that we’re subjecting to the whims and fancies of a private corporation that seemingly has two concerns: 1. To make a profit, and 2. To make sure her own children have a job.

This matters because the public no longer has a voice in public education.

Eric Lee was actively dealing with his own drug/criminal activity while attempting to “counsel” children.

While it is true that an effective counselor is one who can identify with those whom he/she is counseling, no one is capable of counseling others out of a situation they are in themselves. That’s like trying to tell your neighbor living in a hole how to climb out while you’re stuck yourself.

The Pinnacle Schools claims under their values, “We will never violate the trust placed in us.”

Public School Teachers are held to a higher standard.  

Do you remember Coach Keith Henderson? Coach Henderson was arrested for DUI on August 14, 2011. According to Coach Henderson, he made repeated requests to meet with Dr. Wardynski, and all of those requests were refused. Coach Henderson was fired four days later by the superintendent.

I apologize to Coach Henderson for bringing up this painful time in his life; I’m pleased that he is currently employed by Arab City Schools.

For the record, Coach Henderson was never convicted of the DUI charge.

Why is it okay for our students to be counseled in a private setting by someone with an outstanding drug trafficking charges against him, but if a Huntsville City School employee were facing the same charges, they would be fired nearly immediately?

Why is the Huntsville City Schools Board of Education, which voted unanimously to fire Coach Henderson, now defending The Pinnacle Schools’ decision to keep Eric Lee in the classroom?

This is what having money and connections will buy you in this town: more money and an active and vocal defense when you or your employees do something wrong.

Corporatized education can evidently do no wrong in this town. And it seems from the point of view of our board and superintendent that public teachers can do no right.

What Coach Henderson did was wrong. But if the board and superintendent can defend Eric Lee and The Pinnacle Schools, then they owe Coach Henderson and his family an apology.

Mr. Blair, and the rest of the board of education for whom he spoke on Thursday, should be ashamed.

I don’t believe that Dr. Wardynski has it in him.

And finally, the main reason that this matters:

Because ALL of our students, even those who make mistakes, MATTER.

Dr. Wardynski likes to claim that every student in our district deserves a high-quality education. This incident proves that neither he nor the board actually believe that.

It’s far past time to rid our public schools of those who hate public education. We need to start with the Superintendent and the Board of Education.

The post Why The Pinnacle of Hypocrisy Matters appeared first on Geek Palaver.

During an interview last night on WHNT, the Superintendent finally let teachers teach, temporarily at least. Yep, WHNT, the first mainstream news outlet to address the issues with computer usage in the district, got Dr. Wardynski on the record saying that teachers were allowed to use the resources available to them to meet the needs of their students. I’d be excited if we weren’t a month into the school year already.

Here’s the story if you haven’t seen it already.

Paper Allowed In Classrooms Again

When asked about teachers being told that they cannot use paper in the classroom, Dr. Wardynski responded:

First of all, I’m telling you that never happened. But even if it did, they’re not obeying cause I see plenty of worksheets. And I see plenty of printing and when I see it, I don’t say a word, so wouldn’t you think if I’d given an order like that and I see it going out I’d say something about it? My main comment is, do what it takes to navigate the distance from where we were to where we need to be. Use the resources you need to do and if that involves using something from last year, do it.

Before we move on, lets pause and consider the superintendent’s terminology here for a moment. “They’re not obeying . . . .” That’s an interesting choice of words, isn’t it? Sounds an awful lot like a parent whining about a disobedient child, doesn’t it. (And this from the man who made a point of calling out teachers for whining back in February.)

I’m sorry, sir, but we’re not in the Army, and neither are you, anymore. Please learn how to speak and address adults. When you do, then we can talk.

Setting that aside for a moment, this interview was broadcast at 10:00pm last night (2200 for the Superintendent). If you look closely at the window in Dr. Wardynski’s office, you can see that it appears to still be daylight outside when the interview was being recorded.

Betcha can’t guess what happened around 1200 yesterday afternoon?

Teachers Get Permission To Use Books Hours Before Interview Airs

If you guessed, “Teachers were told for the first time that they could use actual, real textbooks in their classrooms to teach their students and meet their educational needs,” well, congrats. You’ve won the prize.

For the first time since the start of school three and a half weeks earlier, the district is officially allowing teachers to distribute and use textbooks (which have only recently arrived in many schools) in their classrooms to meet the needs of our students.

So much for making every day count and making sure that students progress at their own pace. It’s kinda difficult to do that when the network goes down every 15 minutes and there are no books allowed in the classroom. And it doesn’t help that the superintendent is still watching which classrooms are logged on and which aren’t.

Is Big Brother Watching?

In reference to the “heat mapping” of classrooms Jerry Hayes ask with a I-know-this-is-a-stupid-question-but-I’ve-got-to-ask-anyway smile if this was “Big Brother watching?” Dr. Wardynski had this to say:

Well, this a world of technology. In order to manage a system like that, you’ve got to be able to respond to who needs help and this is our work place, and if you’re in the work place and you’re trying to use the technology, it would be pretty hard for us to help you what antennae, what classroom and that sort of information so this is part of your work place. This is part of the work place at the Arsenal. This is part of the workplace at Cisco, any big firm that’s got a wireless system, this is the way it’s managed.

So the answer to the question that he was asked is yes. Despite the jocular approach Mr. Hayes chose to take in asking, the answer is yes, Big Brother is watching. Big Brother was watching before. Big Brother is watching still.

But teachers should feel free to use those old-fashioned, ineffective, irrelevant, absurd, ludicrous, stone-aged textbooks if they want. Of course there will be no repercussions from the superintendent whose orders are always followed . . .

Risking It All To Teach

He’s right about being “disobeyed.” Thankfully many of our adaptable teachers had gone ahead and found ways to make the first month of school productive.

They were willing to risk reprimand (which many received during the first few weeks for not being “on-line” enough). They were willing to risk their jobs and their families’ well-being to ensure that the first month of school wasn’t lost.

If you want to see a true hero today, go visit your child’s classroom. The people you see in there are underpaid, over worked, stressed, worried, fearful, beaten down, disappointed, and discouraged. Many of their peers and friends have quit. Many more are looking for ways that they can. And yet despite that, despite being called “ankle-biters” by their boss, they teach on.

And do you know why they teach? It isn’t for the money: they haven’t had a raise in years, and the Superintendent definitively stated on September 4th that he would not support reinstating the cost of living raise (despite the fact that he received a bonus of $9,220.00 last year and is eligible for another $10,000 bonus this year). It isn’t for the time off: their summer vacations were constantly interrupted this year so that they could improve their teaching skills and for the Pearson “training” fiasco.

They teach because they love kids. They teach because they believe that education improves everyone’s lives. They teach because they can.

For this, every parent in the district should stand up and cheer for our teachers. It’s past time we did that for them anyway. We should let teachers teach.

Persistent Questions: Why Are Teachers Afraid?

I am, by the way, grateful to WHNT for being the first of our local media to pick up on the story that everything might not be perfect in the “New Frontier” as the district’s cheerleaders like to call this shift. However, one central question kept flashing in my mind’s eye during the interview with the superintendent in which Mr. Hayes had to hold up a single, anonymous letter from one teacher brave enough to raise issues and questions.

Why is it okay that the superintendent has created an environment in our schools where teachers are afraid to raise questions about the pedagogical methods being forced upon their classrooms?

Why, in other words, were teachers scared to speak on the record about the educational environment of our schools? Could it be that Dr. Wardynski doesn’t actually care that much about technology in the classrooms? Could it be that the primary goal of all the inept changes being forced on our teachers this year is actually intended to simply get teachers to quit?

When you consider that a plan that even the superintendent claims should take twice as long, “We’re doing the work of six months in three,” it’s difficult to come up a good justification for making such a shift in such a hurry, isn’t it?

That story, frankly, is far more worrisome than nearly anything else discussed in this news story.

But that question wasn’t asked.

The post Let Teachers Teach appeared first on Geek Palaver.

Picture this. You’re in a classroom with 27 third graders using year old netbooks for the first time.

Running on these systems is Windows 7. While this is probably the best version of Windows Microsoft has ever produced, it’s still Windows running on cheap Dell hardware that’s a year old. The system has problems starting up and shutting down. If you close the lid, sometimes the netbook goes to sleep. Sometimes it crashes. If you fail to shut it down appropriately, Windows, in Bill Gates’ infinite wisdom, pops up the extremely unhelpful– at least to an eight year old– “Windows Error Recovery” screen.

This screen has four options:

Safe Mode

Safe Mode with Networking

Safe Mode with Command Prompt

Start Windows Normally

If you’re a bright 8 year old, which one will you choose? You could choose most any of them, couldn’t you? If only the mouse worked right.

While the superintendent is right about kids being natives in computer usage, their native language is GUI not TXT. They’re used to pointing and clicking, not using the arrow keys to move a highlighted bar up and down.

But these are the screens the you’re faced with. You’re eight, what do you do?

As with all school children, perhaps you raise your hand to ask for help from your teacher. Maybe your teacher can help fix this and make this digital initiative something that is actually inspirational.

But your teacher is trying desperately to get 26 other kids to log onto the system, too.

“Desperately” you ask? Indeed. “Desperately” because she’s been told that the district is closely monitoring every detail, every bit, of information coming out of her classroom. They’re monitoring the number of people connected to the network. They’re monitoring how long they’re connected. They’re monitoring what the students are doing while they’re connected.

They’re watching.

And it’s completely clear that her job depends on the central office liking what they see. Suddenly, the superintendent’s dream of being able to make every classroom teacher do exactly the same thing at exactly the same time is within his grasp. Big Brother is watching and like a malevolent, digital Santa Claus, he knows if the computers are sleeping or awake. And a computer that isn’t booting properly suddenly takes the highest priority in the classroom.

It’s more important than math or reading. It’s more important than classroom management. It’s more important than education.

“Desperately” is an understatement at this point, isn’t it?

Her “ratings” will fall all because some child’s year-old, cheap hardware running software that’s known to crash didn’t start up right. Her job is on the line, by design of a poorly implemented “digital conversion” plan that even the Pearson people (well, outside of their sales department, anyway) don’t like.

And so the children sit confused, while the teacher, who was trained to excite young minds with the joys of learning, turns into a technician running from crisis to crisis just trying to get computers to boot.

This is the school system that Dr. Wardynski has created: a system where teaching is reduced to showing third graders how to get Windows to boot. I suppose I should have been happy with the system when it merely reduced teaching to test proctoring.

And for some insane reason some in Rocket City, which once could claim to be the most creative city in the nation, cheered.

__________

If you’re not happy with the direction the system is heading, today’s your chance to begin to make a difference. If you are happy with the direction the system is heading, today’s your chance to help it along.

Please, take a few minutes today between 7am and 7pm to go vote.

If you live in District 1 or District 5, you have the opportunity to change the makeup of the School Board.

If you live anywhere in Huntsville, you have the opportunity to help schools for another thirty years by supporting the 6.5 mil ad valorem tax renewal.

Yes, despite my opposition to Dr. Wardynski’s “leadership” of our district, I support this renewal for one simple reason: Not renewing this funding source for our schools will destroy our school system once and for all.

I’m completely convinced that Dr. Wardynski would be happy either way. You see, The Broad Foundation specifically seeks out districts that are in financial distress for their minions to operate in. People who are desperate are easier to control. If the renewal passes, Dr. Wardynski will continue business as usual.

If the ballot question fails, however, he’ll get to fire a bunch of teachers and continue his plan to remake our district in the Broad image.

It will be a nightmare if the tax renewal fails.

Please, take a few minutes today, and go vote.

The post Trading In Teachers for Technicians appeared first on Geek Palaver.

There’s an excellent conversation happening on yesterday’s post Caveat Emptor Computers in the Classroom. If you care to know what your children’s teachers really think about the digital conversion, give it a look. In addition to those details, there was one question in particular that stood out to me.

What else should we be doing?

This really is the central question in the face of overwhelming financial support and an army of advisors. What can we do when our superintendent thinks he’s the only person of intelligence in the city? What can we do when our elected board, who were hired to represent us, ignore their constituencies and tell the superintendent that he should feel free to ignore us as well?

What can we do when Eli Broad, the mayor, the city council, the Arsenal, the committee of 100, the Huntsville Council of PTAs, and even the Huntsville Education Association are all drinking the same Kool Aid as they march to the beat of the Wardynski drum?

How can just one parent who is scared about the quality of education our children are receiving possibly hope to make a difference?

How can you make a difference?

What else should we be doing?

Here are a few suggestions.

1. Talk with your children every day about what they are doing in their classrooms and how they feel about it. I realize that this is like saying you should open your eyes before you try crossing the parkway during rush hour, but it is the first step. Your kids are your best source of information concerning the quality of education they are receiving. Of course, their first response will typically be, “It was fine,” as they put their earbuds into their ears, but you need to draw more information out of them. Ask them about what they studied in English. Ask them about what they’re reading. Ask them about their math, science, social studies, and language studies. Ask them about their art and music classes. Ask them about PE. Ask them how many other kids are in their class. Ask them how they feel about their teacher. No one else (especially not the superintendent) can evaluate your child’s education better than you. But it will take time and effort for you to do so. Take that time. Every single day.
2. Talk to other parents in your child’s classroom. Get to know them. Form a FaceBook group for the class so that y’all can talk with each other quickly and easily. Ask them what their children are saying about school and the classroom. Often times, despite our best efforts, our kids just simply don’t want to talk to us about what happened during school that day. If you’re friends with other parents in the classroom, you can glean information from them on the days when your kids clam up.
3. Talk to your teachers (and anyone else working in the classroom). How often do you have a conversation with your kid’s teacher? At the teacher conference at the beginning of the year? When there’s a problem? Make a point of talking to your teachers at least once a week. This doesn’t have to be an extensive conversation/meeting. It could be as easy as a quick email to them to say thanks. But get in touch with them. Make sure that they know you’re interested, engaged, and that they can call on you at any moment. Yes, our teachers are overworked and buried under a ton of red tape these days; however, unlike the superintendent, I have never heard a single teacher say she (or he) doesn’t have time to talk to a parent. They want your help.
4. Support your teachers (and anyone else working in the classroom). They’re human, and they’re overworked, underpaid, stressed, frustrated by a lack of support from their supervisors, and often have to deal with irrational people with irrational fears. They need to know that you appreciate the miracle they are working to produce for your kids. You would be amazed at the difference a simple thank you note makes, which is truly a sad commentary on our world, but yes, simply saying thanks to your teacher (and reminding your child to do so as well) makes everything go much more smoothly.
5. Get to know and support your principals (and everyone else working in the building). Again, our schools are under an extraordinary amount of stress these days. Everyone is attacking them. Having a person simply say thank you makes a difference.

Those are the basics. Every single parent with a kid in a school should be doing these things already. But you’re probably thinking, “Thanks Russ, for reminding us that water is wet.”

And you’d be right to do so.

So, what else should we be doing?

1. Join your PTA. Just because the Huntsville Council of PTAs thinks he’s the superintendent of the year doesn’t mean that everyone who is a member of the PTA agrees. Volunteer. And then be vocal about your opinions. If you think a decision by the superintendent is a good one, say so, and say why. If you think a decision by the superintendent is a bad one, say so, and say why.
2. Talk to your friends and associates about your opinions. Again, as my dad used to say, opinions are like butt-holes: everyone has one and most of them stink. Make sure your opinions don’t stink by backing them up with a justification and research. Don’t be afraid to stand up for what you believe in.
3. Talk to your board member. Yes, they will listen to you, at least at first. Depending on the issue you raise with them, they may even do what ask them to do. When you see for yourself that there are a lot of issues that they ignore you on, then you can move on to step four.
4. Vote them out of office. This Tuesday, August 28th, the District One seat (currently held by Laurie McCaulley) and the District Five seat (currently held by Alta Morrison) are both on the ballot in those districts. Ms. McCaulley is running for re-election. Ms. Morrison is not. Because of a complete lack of responsiveness from Ms. McCaulley on issues I’ve raised with her in the past, I cannot support her for reelection. As I have written before, I support Ms. Pat King for District One, and Mr. Carlos Matthews for District Five. I believe both will be far more responsive to the public than anyone on our current board has proven themselves to be.
5. Talk to Dr. Wardynski. Again, see for yourself the traits I’ve described countless times on this blog. Once you see for yourself, make it a point to hold him accountable. Ask questions and insist that he engage in a discussion with you. He works for you.
6. Attend the Board Meetings. The board typically meets the first and third Thursday of each month in the Merts building, 200 White Street, at 5:30pm. When attendance is low, the board members assume that means that everyone loves them not that we’re just so disgusted that we can’t stomach to listen to their sycophantic support of a non-educator’s bad ideas.
7. Speak at the Board Meetings. Silence is assent for our board. Speak out. Even if it means that the superintendent calls you names, has you escorted out, and has his minions spread lies about you in the press, SPEAK OUT. Your children are worth it.
8. Call every elected official you know and tell them what you think. I doubt that most of the officials in our city have any idea how completely Dr. Wardynski disregards his employers: Parents. Tell them.
9. Study. There is not a single idea that Dr. Wardynski has enacted in his 14 months that hasn’t been tried somewhere else and shown to be a failure. These “reforms” he’s enacting are not new. They have been tried in other districts, and they’ve failed. I regularly hear that “we’ve got to do something” and I agree. We do. But do we really have to do things that have already failed elsewhere? Please get a copy of Dr. Diane Ravitch’s book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System. Dr. Ravitch is a school historian. She, at one point, supported many of the efforts that Dr. Wardynski is putting into play here in Huntsville, but as she studied them, she changed her mind. Read her book, read her blog, and find out why.

Finally, what else should we be doing?

We should be standing up for our children and for what we believe in. Dr. Wardynski is putting forth and enacting a political agenda that has been developed for him by the Broad Foundation. He is not acting in the best interests of our kids. He’s acting in his own best interests. And his best interests are not what is best for your children.

He is using his power, budget and influence to silence critics. He is using every political tool he has to enact his agenda of privatizing public schools, of ending public education in America.

He is a part of a well-organized, well-funded movement that is seeking to destroy public education in America.

And the only thing that is standing in his way are parents who are willing to stand up, ask questions, and insist on answers for their children.

So long as we have the conviction of our beliefs supporting us, it doesn’t matter how wealthy the opposition is. It doesn’t matter how well-organized they are. It doesn’t matter how rude they are. If we stand by our convictions, if we stand for what is right, if we stand for our teachers, and most importantly, if we stand for our kids, we will make a difference. We will turn this ship around.

We can save our schools and make sure that they remain ours.

The post What Else Should We Be Doing To Save Public Education? appeared first on Geek Palaver.

This is a hard post to write, and frankly, I’ve been struggling with it for days. While all of my posts hit close to home, this one actually hits it square on.

Endless Changes

I’ve written about the changes to my boy’s classroom before. This past year has been insanely difficult for him. As I’ve shared with the board and the superintendent, there hasn’t been a single month out of the nine during the 2011-2012 school year when his classroom was stable.

He’s had to survive:

• 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 during the year.
• 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.
• Two Complete Turn Overs in Instructional Assistants: Children on the spectrum need additional help to focus on the goals of the class. One teacher cannot manage six students on her own. It simply cannot be done. Trying to teach a child on the spectrum is similar to trying to teach a typical child who is watching Spongebob on the television behind you with the volume turned to 11. Occasionally something might get through, but it will be rare. These aides are the ones who re-direct and re-focus a student’s attention back toward the teacher. They’re the ones who keep the children from running off to play. They’re the ones who help a child make it to a restroom and back. Without these aides, an appropriate education would be impossible. The boy started with several temporary aides; this was narrowed down to primarily two aides after the classrooms were split. He worked well with both of them until February when they were moved out of the classroom and replaced with three others. This shift cost the boy nearly two weeks of effective work during the second half of the year. Of these three new aides, only one was still employed by the end of the year in May.

Every single one of these changes was the direct result of the board’s approval of the superintendent’s decisions.

In short, it’s been an impossible year for him. You see, children on the spectrum don’t respond well to change. Often times the smallest alteration of expectation causes meltdowns of a Three Mile Island (or Chernobyl for younger readers) scale.

Dealing With Changes On The Spectrum

Based on his reactions alone, here’s what I imagine changes like these must be like for my boy:

Imagine waking from a fitful sleep with the comforter tangled around you obstructing your movement, but holding you safely keeping you warm on a cool night. Something woke you, but you’re not sure what. In fact, it’s so dark in your room that you’re not real sure that you are actually awake. The power, as it is wont to do in south Huntsville, is out again. There’s no light from the clock to let you see. There’s no sound from the fan above. Just stillness. Just silence. You struggle to free yourself from the comforter to check on your family. Searching for the carpet with your bare toes, you feel something slither under them, coiling, ready to strike.

This is what I think my boy experiences at school when he’s shocked by yet another change in personnel helping him through his educational routine. There’s nothing appropriate about this for him, and it’s miraculous when despite these surprises he manages to unwrap himself from his comforter.

If your response to change was this difficult, how likely is it that you would be willing to unwrap yourself from your comforter to venture into the dark world outside?

Not very damned likely, is it?

Surviving The Changes

And yet, my boy did because of a brilliant, wonderful, dedicated teacher named Mrs. Niki Bowling waiting in the room to guide him through the horrors.

And now, on top of all the other horrors he’s had to brave, even his guide has been taken away from him.

For some inexplicable reason, Niki was ordered to leave Challenger Elementary where she’s successfully taught for seven years, leading dozens of children through the minefield of change awaiting them because of their autism and move to Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary at the end of the school year.

After receiving a “friendly” visit by Mr. Al Lankford, who is in no way intimidating, she was told that she would not be returning to Challenger to work with my son and the five other kids in his resource classroom.

She didn’t want to leave. Her parents didn’t want her to leave. Her students didn’t want her to leave. For some unknown reason, the superintendent decided that it was time to disrupt my son’s classroom experience yet again as he was scheduled to return to her resource classroom again next year.

As she was given no voice in the matter, she has decided to leave this district. She is now happily employed as a Special Education teacher elsewhere in Northern Alabama.

Board and Superintendent Ignore Parents Again

Along with another parent from the class, I spoke of this last Tuesday night at the board meeting on July 10th.

I’m sure it will come as no surprise to you that I received no response of any kind from the board, or from any of the district employees who are implementing the superintendent’s decisions to disrupt my son’s classroom experience.

Not one word.

And yet they had the better part of an hour and a half to listen to reports on the cleaning up of network closets.

Our board cares more about the condition of a closet of networking switches than they do about creating an appropriate educational environment for students.

Pictures Scream the Truth

While I was speaking, I risked intimidating the board by showing them two pictures of my boy. You see, one of the difficult parts of having a child on the spectrum is that it’s extremely difficult to get a good picture. For a child who finds making eye contact difficult, making eye contact with a camera lens is rather pointless.

As a result, most of our pictures of the boy are similar to this:

Not a bad shot considering I suck as a photographer, but it leaves the viewer with the impression that the boy just isn’t quite there. He’s somewhere else, wrapped in his comforter, avoiding the scary outside world.

I’ve mentioned how fantastic Mrs. Bowling was as a teacher. Now let me show you. Despite the insane changes her classroom faced this year, she taught, she loved each of the kids as if they were her own.

She fought for them. Every day. She taught them to laugh, to play, to read, to go potty, to add, to sort, to interact, and to talk. Every day.

And this was the result:

This is easily one of the best pictures I have of my son. He’s happy. He’s engaged. He’s there.

And it’s entirely thanks to the love and dedication shown to him by the wonderful teacher on his right.

It’s true that pictures speak volumes. This one certainly does.

It screams that our superintendent and our board have an absence of compassion for the children under their care.

It screams that they would rather that dedicated, amazing teachers, like Mrs. Bowling, simply pack their bags and go elsewhere.

At the meeting on July 10th, the board of education approved the resignation of Mrs. Niki Bowling from the employment of Huntsville City Schools. On that same night ten other teachers also resigned. August 20th is going to be a terrible day for my son.

Our district is dying before our eyes. Our children are suffering.

And all our board and superintendent want to talk about are computers with batteries that will supposedly last thirteen and a half hours.

Goodbye Mrs. Bowling, our family will miss you and the light you brought into our boy’s eyes.

The post An Absence of Compassion In the Face of Change appeared first on Geek Palaver.

Last night the board offered Dr. Wardynski a rating of 92.2 on the five goals that they established for him back in October. Teachers’ salaries, which were frozen at a board meeting in April 21, 2011, remain frozen. Teachers’ starting salaries, which were set at the state minimum, remain at the state minimum. Dr. Wardynski has his bonus. Dr. Wardynski has his salary which is set at $55,000 above the minimum posted salary. Our teachers? They will receive a $700 “Professional Development” check at the beginning of the year. There are no reporting requirements attached to this money. After all our teachers “are adults” as Dr. Wardynski said last night. Does this sound like hush money to anyone else? So much for our teachers being “our most valuable resource.” Back in April 2011, the board was quick to claim that once the financial crisis was over that they would restore the teachers’ STEP raises. Last night in giving Dr. Wardynski a 23.9 out of 25 on reducing the deficit, they effectively declared the financial crisis to be over. To date, teachers’ salaries are still frozen. Any questions about when this might change are ignored. In October, the board established five main goals for Dr. Wardynski’s evaluation:

1. Accelerate Learning at All Levels
2. Increase Flexibility in the General Fund Budget While Preserving Educational Programs
3. Build Bench Strength Though Strategic Staffing
4. Improve Capital Infrastructure
5. Meet Department of Justice Requirements to Deserve Unitary Status

Each of these Goals had one specific benchmark that was shared with the public last night. (That’s right, when it comes to :

1. Increase the number of students participating in AP Classes. (15 points out of 15 possible points.) Even Dr. Wardynski said when the board was developing this as a benchmark in September that he had “already achieved that one.” Of course what this meant was that our teachers and principals had already achieved that one. But we’re all on the same team here, right? It’s not like some are considered “feed stock” or anything, right?
2. Decrease the Deficit. (23.9 out of 25 points.) This superintendent has increased the size of the central office. He has increased salaries for his friends. One of the few areas that has actually been decreased is Special Education, which has been cut by $7,000,000 from FY 2011 to FY 2012 or exactly the same amount as he has supposedly decreased the deficit. Dr. Wardynski has received a bonus for cutting Special Education Spending.
3. Implement Hiring Plan. (21.95 out of 25 points.) For funneling public funds towards private organizations like Teach for America, PROACT Search and the SUPES Academy, all with direct ties to the Broad Foundation, Dr. Wardynski gets his bonus.
4. Capital Plan. (23.95 out of 25 points.) Again, for funneling money to private companies to do the work that the superintendent is supposed to do anyway, Dr. Wardynski gets his bonus.
5. Address the Desegregation Court Order. (7.4 out of 10 points.) To earn these 7.4 points, Dr. Wardynski has hired another lawyer, Marie Sneed, to do the work of addressing this concern.

For this difficult work of paying others to do his job and of cutting Special Education funding, Dr. Wardynski was awarded a bonus of $9,220.00. Although the public is allowed to ask questions of the board when the board is in its work session, Mrs. McCaulley specifically stated last night that the board wasn’t going to allow the public to ask questions about the evaluation nor the bonus given to the superintendent. They will not allow questions about their decisions. It’s fairly easy to get an “A” when the test is specifically designed to measure things that the evaluator already knows you know. Once again, the double standards in this district continue. Our students take standardized tests. Our superintendent gets a personalized test that he gets to hire others to take for him. This sets an excellent example for our children, don’t you think?

__________

If you want to learn more about the movement to privatize public education on a national level (this is not a Huntsville problem, it’s a national problem), I would highly recommend that you follow Dr. Diane Ravitch on Twitter and on her Blog. She is a historian of education and Research Professor of Education at New York University, and she’s a national authority on the move to privatize education. Go follow her.

Also, I’ve noticed with the changes I’ve made to the blog that most of the FaceBook pages that were started a year ago to “Save Huntsville’s Schools” are now either gone or completely inactive. I’ll be purging them today, and posting new links to sites and groups that are actually working for change in our city and nation.

There’s nothing as fun as being an activist in the South.

The post Wardynski Aces Personalized Evaluation Gets $9,220 appeared first on Geek Palaver.

So the city woke today to not one, but two pieces in the Times telling us just how wonderful the superintendent is.

At least one of them made a clear attempt to support some of the statements with facts and evidence. While I recognize that Mr. McCarter was writing a column and not an article, it would still have been nice to see at least a few of his claims supported by some evidence.

(By what standard, for example, has Dr. Wardynski’s first “season” wrapped up with a 9 and 2 record, Mr. McCarter? Was there a scoreboard hiding in your office that people didn’t know about? Also, where’s the evidence of Dr. Wardynski’s “impressive curriculum vitae of education and military experience?” He has, to date, 23 months of educational experience. By what standard is that “impressive?” Granted, he’s done an impressive job of giving his friends raises before they even start working and plum jobs they’re not qualified for, but I don’t see how that’s an impressive CV. Just wondering.)

Of course, Mr. McCarter has many powerful people in the city who agree with him.

First up was Mayor Battle who told the Times, “I think he has been the catalyst that has moved our entire system forward,” and that Wardynski “knows the progress of every student in the district, at every school, on every test.”

It would be nice if the Mayor could be bothered to ask the opinion of a teacher or two about the progress of students. After all, Dr. Wardynski isn’t in the classroom on a daily basis. He doesn’t see the progress that a test doesn’t evaluate. Only a teacher sees that.

But teachers aren’t important. After all, according to Dr. Wardynski, when he arrived only “26 percent of the district’s leaders were strong.”

That’s right, only a quarter of our principals and teachers in place at the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year were “strong” by whatever method of evaluation the superintendent chose to use.

When you consider that, it’s astonishing, absolutely astonishing, that any of our students managed to actually graduate before Dr. Wardynski arrived. And U.S. News and World Report must have been mistaken when it ranked Huntsville High and Grissom High number 7 and 10 in the state. After all, despite Dr. Cooper’s taking credit for those rankings, claiming that it shows “that our commitment to student achievement is working,” these rankings were based on test scores from two years before the “strong leadership” of Dr. Wardynski arrived.

That’s okay, though. A strong leader like the superintendent should take credit for other’s work.

Next to tell us just how lucky we are that Dr. Wardynski sacrificed so much to come save us was David Blair, Vice-President of the Board of Education. He claimed that “he is happy with the decisions Wardynski has made.” I suppose he has decided to “just trust” Dr. Wardynski’s decisions despite any questions he might have about them.

I’m astonished that Dr. Robinson didn’t make herself available to sing his praises, but I suppose she does enough of that at the board meetings.

The article ends with the Alabama Education Association, Rex Cheatham, also praising him.

So clearly, everyone has been heard from. No other opinion could possibly matter, could it?

Principal’s opinions don’t matter. As Mr. McCarter says, Wardynski “doesn’t sit on bad principals. But – here’s the cause for optimism for this system – he stands on good principles.”

Punny, huh? No evidence for those principles Wardynski is standing on. Just take Mr. McCarter’s word for it. Or Wardynski’s word when he claims that three quarters of our principals were weak leaders.

So, I bet that 74% of the city of Huntsville had no idea that their children were suffering under “weak leaders.” It’s so good of Dr. Wardynski to tell us these things without offering any evidence supporting his claims.

Teachers opinions don’t matter. After all Dr. Wardynski knows exactly how your child performed on four standardized tests. So clearly teachers don’t matter.

They are the “problem adults” who made our district so racially divided. Their opinions and desires don’t matter. Dr. Wardynski, and Dr. Wardynski alone is capable of judging what’s best for our students.

Parents opinions don’t matter. Not one parent was interviewed for the articles today.

Parents didn’t matter when Dr. Wardynski decided to close Providence Middle back in July 2011.

Parents didn’t matter when Dr. Wardynski decided to close the Huntsville Center for Technology in December 2011.

Parents didn’t matter when Dr. Wardynski decided to merge Whitesburg Elementary and Middle Schools, Chapman Elementary and Middle Schools, and Mt. Gap Elementary and Middle Schools.

Parents didn’t matter when Dr. Wardynski decided to close the Seldon Center in January 2012.

Parents don’t matter when they ask questions that the Superintendent doesn’t want to answer.

Parents don’t matter when they ask questions about how nearly $30,000 could be spent to hire a consultant without creating any “documents responsive to your request.”

Parents don’t matter when they ask questions about cutting the Special Education expenditures in FY2012 by $7,000,000 from FY2011.

Parents don’t matter when they try and seek an appropriate education for their children.

Parents don’t matter when they ask why their children’s classroom has a never-ending turnover of therapists, instructional assistants and even teachers.

But then all three of those groups, principals, teachers and parents are all “adults.” And Dr. Wardynski believes that, according to a quote in Mr. McCarter’s column, “The city isn’t paying me to work with adults. The city is paying me to educate kids.”

I wonder exactly how one man without involving principals, teachers and parents could possible hope to educate 23,000 kids? Oh, wait, I’m a parent. My question doesn’t matter.

The post Wardynski Alone Educates Kids appeared first on Geek Palaver.

I had planned to write about the cost of the Pinnacle Schools contract again by pointing out that while we were paying The Pinnacle Schools $778,000 for four months of work to do the job of the Seldon Center, The Seldon Center was still open and operating at an estimated cost of $175,166. In other words, The Pinnacle Schools costs the district three and a half times as much to operate as the Seldon Center did.

But then I read the news today, oh boy. (By the way, this article shows why we need a paper in this town. If I had asked McCaulley or Blair about these decisions, all I would have received was silence.)

It seems that in addition to their salaries, the Superintendent is planning to give 19 principals a total of $92,650 in bonuses this year. 14 of them will be receiving this bonus for moving to a new school in the district.

Two of them will be receiving about $8,000 as a signing bonus as they’ve never worked in the district before.

Three of them, including Mr. Aaron King who does not currently hold administration certification, will receive $15,100 as an incentive on top of the incentive of being promoted to principal in the first place.

There are three principals on the list whose salary and incentive pay wasn’t provided by the district.

Dr. Wardynski, taking the same approach that he takes with parents when he’s asked about his decisions, ignored requests for comments about this. Our “strong leader” demonstrates his leadership by sticking his head in the sand until the questions stop.

McCaulley and Blair did offer comments, although you have to wonder how they manage to offer such inane responses without their heads exploding. McCaulley offers the defense that some of these schools are “challenging.” I suppose that’s why Mr. King needs an extra $4,900 to go to Huntsville Middle School? I suppose that’s why Mr. Landers needs an extra $5,600 to go to Hampton Cove Elementary?

Mr. Blair, at least, is politically savvy enough to recognize and acknowledge that teachers are getting, again, the shaft. His response: “It’s one of those things where you want to do it all at once, but you can’t.”

I suppose that’s justification for always starting at the top of the food chain rather than with the neediest.

I suppose that’s justification for putting the district’s resources as far away from the students as possible.

Our Instructional Assistants make slightly more than the average bonus listed here. Every one of them could make more, with benefits, by working at McDonalds.

Our new teachers make $36,144 (unless they’re working for Teach for America, then they’ll cost the system an extra $10,000 over the life of their two year contract.)

I wonder how often Dr. Wardynski and his cadre of “strong leaders” have been thrown up on in the past year by a student they’re comforting?

I wonder how often Dr. Wardynski and his cadre of “strong leaders” have taught a student to read in the past year?

I wonder how often Dr. Wardynski and his cadre of “strong leaders” have helped a student learn to accept other students who are different?

Instructional assistants did this every single day.

Our teachers did this work every single day. And they still found time to teach to an ever changing standard. And they still found time to love our students.

Our district is putting resources and value in the wrong areas. Again.

But the “feed stock” and their needs don’t matter.

And by connection, neither do our students. These bonuses alone could pay for three more teachers in the coming year. They could pay for ten more instructional assistants. No, our students don’t matter. So much for putting students first.

The post “Strong Leaders” Need Leadership Not Bonuses appeared first on Geek Palaver.

On January 5th, when selling the privatization of our educational system to the Huntsville City Board of Education, Dr. Wardynski claimed that The Pinnacle Schools could provide more and better services than The Seldon Center at a savings of $7,000 per student.

In other words, farming out the work that The Seldon Center did made perfect sense. Dr. Wardynski told us that the Seldon Center cost $18,000 per student, and that The Pinnacle Schools would only cost $11,000 per student.

And yet on Sunday, May 27th, the Huntsville Times reported, “The most expensive contract, as of May 16, ran about $778,000. That was with Pinnacle Schools, the Huntsville-based treatment center that is replacing the district’s Seldon Center in working with serious discipline problems.”

That’s three quarters of a million dollars for four months of work.

Bonvillian then quotes Mr. Frank Spinelli the CSFO of the district as claiming that the switch “cuts the district’s cost of educating its most troubled students nearly in half.”

This matches up well with the figures that Dr. Wardynski shared with the board back in January.

The only problem is that it doesn’t match up with reality.

Bonvillian reports that shutting down The Seldon Center will save the district “$525,500 per school year.”

She goes on to say that the contract for The Pinnacle Schools for the 2012-2013 school year will cost $1.2 million.

You know, I’m an English major, so math isn’t my strong suit. Math Sucks. I know that saying math sucks to a city full of engineers is akin to saying to a new mom, “You know, there are ugly babies,” but there you go.

Mr. Spinelli, however, has chosen math as his career, and supposedly he’s worth the $130,000 a year we’re paying him, but I’m not sure I understand how paying $1.2 million a year to The Pinnacle Schools cuts our annual expenses of $525,500 a year in half?

Please, correct me if I’m wrong, but $1.2 million a year is actually more than twice what we were paying before to operate the Seldon Center. Right?

You know, I often get dividing things by two and multiplying things by two backwards. I’m sure that’s what happened this time to Mr. Spinelli. Maybe he meant to say that it would cost twice as much rather than half as much?

That’s an easy mistake to make.

I should probably cut Mr. Spinelli some slack here. After all, I’m fairly certain that he’s received a suggestion or two about the importance of making sure these numbers look good to the public. Otherwise, people might have an issue with privatizing things like services to some of the neediest kids in the district.

Of course balancing the budget on the backs of our neediest kids is old hat to Wardynski.

Oh, and just in case you couldn’t put two and two together, this problem that the district has with math should raise questions about the “630% return on consultant fees” that they claimed as fact at the last board meeting.

They seem to have a habit of over estimating things they think will make them look good.

The post Privatizing Education Costs More appeared first on Geek Palaver.

So there’s been a lot said about security at board meetings lately. Take Saturday’s article by Crystal Bonvillian of the Times, “Huntsville school board meeting audience met with metal detectors.”

Laurie McCaulley was told that Al Lankford, the district’s security chief, was concerned about “body language and demeanor at some of the meetings.” This is quite a curious statement.

You see, as someone who regularly attends board meetings, I am, of course, concerned about security at the meetings. Heck, my daughter was in attendance at the board meeting on March 15th, so of course I am interested in making certain that these bi-weekly meetings are safe. Every sane person shares that concern.

If I didn’t believe the meetings were safe, I wouldn’t go. If I didn’t believe they were safe, I certainly wouldn’t have allowed my daughter to attend.

But I do, and I did. And I’ve been at every board meeting since April 7, 2011 except two. In fact, if we count simply the bi-weekly board meetings for the past year, I’ve probably attended more of them than Al Lankford has attended. (For some reason Mr. Lankford wasn’t present from the January 17th meeting until about a month later. I was pleased to see him return.)

In other words, I’ve seen nothing in the audience’s body language and demeanor that would lead me to the conclusion that someone was behaving in a threatening manner. What I see at board meetings are people laughing, talking, applauding, saluting, and mostly sitting quietly and listening to the meeting.

Now, granted, I’m not there to watch the audience; I’m there to listen to the business being conducted. I’m also not a trained security officer. I know for a fact that a trained police officer is capable of “seeing” more than I.

But I am a writer and a teacher. I take my subject matter from observation of people as a writer, and I know when my students are alert, engaged, interested and learning (and I know when they are not) on the basis of their body language. So, while I do not have the years of training that I am sure Mr. Lankford has in identifying a threat, I do believe I am capable of seeing and noticing when someone is behaving in a threatening manner.

So while this is just my unprofessional assessment, not once have I seen anyone in the audience behave in a way that would cause me to be concerned about my safety.

But then I don’t see the world as Mr. Lankford, (or Dr. Wardynski for that matter) sees it. For example, Mr. Lankford, during our conversations on Thursday night asserted that sitting quietly and holding an iPad recording the Superintendent’s comments was an intimidating action. During that same conversation, he also referenced my sitting quietly at the State of the Schools address and holding an iPhone directed toward Dr. Wardynski and his presentation as an intimidating action.

He even claimed that my standing silently for 80 seconds as I waited for a response to my comments as an “intimidating action.” He stated multiple times that I was “intimidating the board” and that he wasn’t going to allow me to do that. He even implied that my sitting silently with my head down, live tweeting the meeting was questionable.

So it seems to me that he sees a threat where I do not.

It seems to me that Dr. Wardynski also sees threats in things that just don’t seem threatening to me. For example, during his presentation to the board concerning his recommendation to put a fence and a “welcome center” (read: guard shack) around the new Lee High campus, he asked for several photos of the neighborhood surrounding Lee High to be displayed for the board and the public.

Here are just a few of the photos he showed to establish the “aesthetic” of the new Lee High campus “neighborhood.” I’ve photographed these shots off of the eTV Broadcast on Thursday night.

And like any true showman, he saved the best one for last. Here’s what Dr. Wardynski said when he introduced the picture below:

This is in the neighborhood. That fence there is, which fence is that, Glenn? Coca-Cola Plant, and what’s the one on the left? That’s the soldier’s home? So the solder’s home has an ornamental fence as well which adds to the character of the community.

Here’s the picture that accompanied the text that Dr. Wardynski was using to justify the $600,000 fence around Lee High School:

So, what’s the central detail of this photograph? What’s the first thing to catch your eye? What’s the single detail that will convince much of America that additional security around Lee High is necessary?

Don’t see it? Here’s a close up:

Evidently Dr. Wardynski didn’t see it as he didn’t comment on it, but I see a faceless figure, probably male, approximately six feet tall wearing stained jeans, a dark tee-shirt underneath the scariest item of clothing known to at least parts of America: the Hoodie.

Yes, in order to convince the board to support the new fence around Lee High, he showed them a picture of a person in a hoodie. (Truthfully, I think the board had already made up their minds on this matter. I think this was intended to drive the need for a fence home to the general public.)

Now, for the record, I am not opposed to the fence around Lee High. I think it’s overpriced. I think that the price should have been included in the $40 million spent to build the school, but I don’t think it’s a bad idea. Many schools have a clearly defined parameter.

But the superintendent’s methods of getting what he wants are at best questionable here. While I’m sure he would claim to either not noticing the person in the hoodie or not understanding that it might communicate something that he didn’t intend to communicate, it would seem that he is at least inadvertently using fear, uncertainty, and doubt to get what he wants.

One might even say that he is intimidating others into supporting his recommendation.

So there may have been some acts of intimidation taking place on Thursday night, but if there were, those actions weren’t initiated by me. I was sitting quietly in my seat listening, tweeting, and eventually attempting to record the superintendent’s words until I was ordered to stop.

One might argue that security was being used to intimidate members of the public for undertaking state statute protected activities. One might argue that the superintendent was attempting to influence the board and the public by using emotionally charged, racially charged images. One might argue that the superintendent was the one attempting to intimidate others the last time that citizen comments were broadcast in his comments to a teacher who stood up for what she believes in.

(I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that the citizen’s comments to the board weren’t broadcast during the board meeting immediately following the superintendent’s “cautioning” of a teacher. You know, the meeting where the citizen’s comments worked against him.)

In the article, Mr. Lankford is quoted as saying, “We’re tired of getting threats;” I’m sure that our teachers, administrators, staff, and parents all agree with him on this.

I’m certain the metal detectors will help with this problem.

The post Intimidation at Board Meetings appeared first on Geek Palaver.

So the superintendent has been on a hiring binge of late for principals. He has also been actively firing and moving current principals out of their positions and into new ones without preamble, preparation, or pause.

To what end?

Well, as with everything the superintendent does, these moves are entirely about control. In order to control the district, he must control the teachers and employees. For that to occur he must control the schools, and the schools are under the control of the principals.

So, first you threaten all of them by saying that all of their jobs are on the table. Those who can retire, probably will.

Then you actively move principals out of the schools they are currently serving and into new, increasingly difficult situations as he has done with Leslie Esneault by calling it a promotion.

And you do the same with a principal who you moved into her current position less than a year ago as with Ava Waters-Maze.

And of course, you fire everyone you can, like Chad Laqua and Kurus Jamison, even if you were singing their praises just eight months ago.

All of this to establish control over a system. To make the system ready to be remade in Eli Broad’s image and idea of what education should be.

As a prelude to all of this, you hire PROACT Search to conduct “six to ten national searches” for suitable principals to replace all those you’re firing or “promoting.” Yes, PROACT Search has direct ties to Eli Broad supported activities. What of it?

So we pay PROACT to conduct a “national search that we couldn’t conduct on our own” $11,000 (with up to $2,000 per search to cover expenses) for every candidate that they find.

To date, we’ve paid PROACT a total of $77,999.99 according to the district’s check registry since September of 2011.

Here are the actual links if you want to check the numbers for yourself:

• February 2012: $13,000.00 (Pg. 4)
• February 2012: $26,000.00 (Pg. 29)
• December 2011: $5,500.00 (Pg. 3)
• November 2011: $14,666.66 (Pg. 31)
• October 2011: $7,500.00 (Pg. 24)
• September 2011: $11,333.33 (Pg. 32)

By those figures according to the original contract, we should have hired about seven new, “nationally competitive” principals.

We have, insofar as I can tell, hired four principals as a result of a search conducted by PROACT Search. Bet you’ll never guess which four were recommended by PROACT?

• Michael Scott Campbell of Fairfax, VA.
• Ray Landers, of Attalla, AL.
• Dan Meier, of Fairfax, VA.
• Paul Bonner, of Charlotte, NC.

So, we’re paying PROACT Search $11,000.00 (plus $2,000.00 expenses) per search to find two new principals from Fairfax, VA., one from Attalla, AL., and one from Charlotte, NC. All four of these new principals were hired with probationary contracts that would establish which school they would be placed at, at a later date. This past Thursday, Wardynski claimed it would be the end of May before these placements would be decided.

One of these contracts, Mr. Meier’s, was rescinded at a specially called board meeting on Thursday, April 12, 2012. Despite Dr. Robinson’s claim that the rescinding of the contract proved that “Dr. Wardynski is doing things in new ways and developing new processes,” the board, on the day they voted to rescind the contract, did not discuss the action at all. They simply voted, as unanimously as they did to approve the contract to rescind it.

Again, there was no public discussion of any of the “new processes” of which Dr. Robinson spoke.

I suppose we’re just supposed to trust her on this. Just as we were supposed to trust her when she praised each and every one of the recommendations Dr. Wardynski has brought to the board.

Note: There is a rumor floating around that Dan Meier wasn’t one of the PROACT Search recommendations. It’s possible that someone saw his name on a PROACT list and said, “we already know about him, so we’re not going to pay for PROACT to recommend him.” Thus, it is possible that it wasn’t PROACT’s responsibility to vet Mr. Meier before he was hired as has been reported. (This despite the fact that both the Board President and Vice-President claimed that PROACT Search did not inform the board that they knew about Mr. Meier’s past.)

If this is in fact the case, this still means that we’ve paid PROACT nearly $80,000 over six months to find exactly three candidates. In other words, we’re paying more than twice the amount that the contract calls for us to pay.

So much for a “new” way of doing business.

And this assumes that the other three all work out.

This is a big assumption where Ray Landers is concerned. Somehow I think once the RSA informs him that this will impact his retirement that he will also quickly discover that he too has a family that he wants to spend more time with (as Merts Center Monitor points out that Dan Meier realized).

By the way, if you’re not following that Blog, you should be.

So that leaves us having sent $80,000 to a Eli Broad connected company to hire two principals, one of whom (Paul Bonner) has already a $1 million dollar Broad Prize (as Bonvillian points out in her article about his hiring).

It’s always nice when Broad Foundation people can keep public money within the Board Foundation Family, isn’t it? I’m sure this should prove to me that Eli Broad cares for my kids nearly as much as I do.

Right?

$80,000 just to find and recommend two principals is an excellent return on investment, supposing that you’re on the receiving end rather than the spending one.

By the way, in case you were wondering why we have to pay our teachers the state minimum salary, we have to free up funding to keep hiring these amazing, awesome contractors to do the work that we already pay the central office to do.

This is why we can’t pay instructional assistants more than they would make working at a fast food joint to work with our children.

Keep this in mind the next time that Dr. Wardynski, or his biggest cheerleader Dr. Robinson, tries to tell you that they are doing all of this, you know, for kids.

;

$80,000 just to find two principals doesn’t sound like it’s going to benefit the kids too much to me. Does it to you?

The post Firing and Hiring Principals appeared first on Geek Palaver.

There were a number of decisions made last night, including the hiring of yet another principal through the PROACT search firm (an organization with Broad Foundation connections). If you’d like to read an excellent summary of those events, please take a look at Bonvillian’s articles on the Huntsville Times concerning this hiring and the proposal to put a security fence around the new Lee High School.

I would instead like to draw your attention to a common and consistent pattern of intimidation employed by the superintendent with any employee who dares to ask questions.

I’ve written before about the importance of questions and the superintendent’s astonishing arrogance in his conviction that his ideas should not be questioned.

He did the same thing to teachers who asked questions about even his oft quoted statement that the STAR test takes only 8 minutes to complete at the Mountain Gap PTA merger meeting on March 6th. (By all accounts, it takes student who are performing above grade level 20-30 minutes at a minimum. Those who are performing at or below grade level take longer.)

His approach is to intimidate teachers into silence.

He did the same thing last night at the board meeting to Ms. Pam Hill, a teacher in our system who dares to ask questions during the Citizen Comments section of the board meeting.

Here’s the video of their exchange.

So what did Dr. Wardynski have to say?

Ms. Hill, you’re an employee of Huntsville City Schools. You do not represent Hampton Cove Elementary School. So that was a misrepresentation. Uh number two, you stood there the night I read the specifications against Principal McGhee. Uh, Principal McGhee was relieved for a whole host of reasons that where upheld in court. That had to do with poor leadership, ethical questions. And so we will relieve such leaders, we will relieve such teachers, and so I would caution you when talking to your employers to speak to them as your employers. The Board is your employer.

First, yes, Ms. Hill is upset. She’s upset with the way the superintendent and the board seem to disregard teachers as a disposable inconvenience in the educational process. I am quite certain that Dr. Wardynski would prefer a school system that was filled with temporary staff whom could be dismissed at will. This is his model “teacher.”

She’s also upset that administration will benefit from others’ hard work. All one need do is look at the salaries Wardynski is paying his friends to see that this is also a model that he follows.

So yes, she’s upset.

She has ample reason for being so.

She is not alone. There is not a single day that I don’t hear from an employee of Huntsville City Schools who is not upset, hurt, demoralized, and looking to do something, anything, else. Ms. Hill is simply giving voice to those who are too afraid to speak out.

She should be praised for speaking for the voiceless, not threatened.

And Wardynski responds to her in much the same way that he has responded to me in the past when I’ve questioned him

Wardynski accuses Ms. Hill of misrepresenting herself as a spokesperson for Hampton Cove Elementary.

What he was referring to was Mr. Blair’s reading of the form that is required to be filled out by anyone who wishes to speak during the citizen comments.In order to be allowed to speak, you have to sign in at least 15 minutes before the beginning of the meeting giving the board your name, address, name of the organization that you represent, and the purpose of your comments.

So, Mrs. Hill’s “misrepresentation” was that she wrote the words “Hampton Cove” down on a sheet of paper. Unforgivable isn’t it? As you can tell from her comments, she did not state that she was speaking for all of the teachers at Hampton Cove Elementary.

For someone who regularly offers “misrepresentations,” you would think that Dr. Wardynski might be a little more cautious throwing around accusations of that nature. But as we’ve seen often before, the standards that Dr. Wardynski applies to himself, and to his friends, are radically different from those he applies to others.

That his actions are often hypocritical is old news.

But then he proceeds to offer a red-herring response to Ms. Hill’s comments by claiming that she was defending Fillis McGhee as having been wrongfully terminated.

Ms. Hill offered no defense of Ms. McGhee’s firing last night. Perhaps if Dr. Wardynski would spend those three minutes actually listening to citizen comments rather than thinking of ways to threaten the speaker into silence, he would have heard this.

But I suppose asking him to actually listen to people for even three minutes is just too taxing.

And then he wraps up his response by threatening Ms. Hill. “And so we will relieve such leaders, we will relieve such teachers, and so I would caution you when talking to your employers to speak to them as your employers. The Board is your employer.”

Again, you would think that someone who regularly speaks disrespectfully to his employers (parents and the public) would not feel comfortable accusing others of doing so, but as I said, his hypocrisy is old news.

What isn’t old news is his systematic attempts to threaten, intimidate, silence and even fire teachers, instructional assistants, therapists and staff who have the audacity to question him on anything.

Anything at all.

He truly believes that we should simply say thank you and move along.

His arrogance is destroying our schools, which is in turn destroying our community.

Dr. Wardynski should be required by the Board of Education to issue a written and public apology to Ms. Hill.

That, of course, won’t happen. This board is, at least in the majority, entirely in his pocket. And they suffer from the same arrogance and desire to cover up their actions that he does.

It’s time for a change.

The post Wardynski “Cautions” A Teacher appeared first on Geek Palaver.

This posting has been updated with additional information below.

I don’t really know Chad Laqua, but I have met him on a couple of occasions at the central office. On both occasions I found him to be open, approachable, and genuinely excited about education. In particular, during a time when much of the central office leadership was giving off the impression of simply not giving a damn about special education, he spoke to me of his passionate belief that every child deserved an education and that every child could learn if given the resources and opportunities.

Needless to say, I liked him.

He was a first year principal placed at a school that was, in a polite assessment, was not doing well. Due to questionable decisions in districting by the board that they seemed unwilling to actually question, a great school was in decline.

Wardynski seemed to like him too.

At the Saturday Board meeting where he was hired, Wardynski singled him out as one of the best of the eight new hires. He regularly described him in the press as “a great new principal.”

And as reported yesterday, Mr. Laqua, along with the new principal at Davis Hills, Kurus Jamison, have offered their resignations to Dr. Wardynski.

As The Huntsville Times reported, Mr. Laqua said, “I had a discussion with the superintendent and he thought that it would be best.”

When Mr. Laqua was hired, Dr. Robinson sung the praises of Dr. Wardynski’s new “process” for hiring principals saying, “I’m impressed with the process you used, and I hope that you continue to use this process.”

If this were such a great process, why wasn’t it used again? Why did all subsequent principal hires get moved inside the superintendent’s office?

As I said, I don’t know Mr. Laqua very well, but my experience with him was positive. It seems now that Dr. Wardynski has changed his mind about him for some unknown reason.

And that’s the problem. While I agree that personnel issues should be dealt with by using a bit more discretion than he typically uses (particularly since he usually uses these issues for his own political advantage), the process by which principals have been evaluated has not been open to the public.

How is it possible that a process that the board was praising for selecting principals just a short eight months ago have resulted in 25% of the new hires that Dr. Wardynski recommended and that the board unanimously and excitedly approved are now being asked/forced to resign?

At the very least, this should raise questions about Wardynski’s ability to hire people. It should raise questions about the way that the board votes to approve new hires recommended by Wardynski.

Update: Need more evidence that Wardynski doesn’t know what he’s doing? Take a look at the Time’s article on the hiring of Ray Landers. As is common whenever he’s caught doing something stupid, “Wardynski did not respond to a request for comment.”

Spinelli defends this strong leadership by saying that this convoluted method of paying both a principal and a consultant saves “$4,000 per year” (which assumes we would actually have paid him $209,090 for two years of service).

Laurie McCaulley, the board president–who did at least respond to questions–said, “we assumed he was retired.”

Indeed. Our school board has done far too much assuming of late and far too little verification.

As such, it should raise questions about some of the new principals that Wardynski has been hiring from Fairfax, VA without giving them specific assignments. (Why do Wardynski’s “national” searches always result in hiring multiple people from the same districts like Aurora, Colorado and Fairfax, Virginia?)

For example, who is Dan Meier, and what vetting process was used to hire a person who was “linked” to a “North Carolina land scam?” It seems that Mr. Meier was eventually cleared, but this does raise questions about the board’s refusal to question the superintendent’s recommendations. They should at least learn to use google in the process of supporting the superintendent’s recommendations. It might save them some embarrassment of having to force resignations on people they hire after a mere eight months of service.

But that would require them to actually do their jobs of representing the public, which is something that they seem fundamentally opposed to doing.

They would rather, as they did on Thursday night, praise Dr. Wardynski for his visionary leadership and his commitment to “communicating with the public.”

(Yes, I am the one laughing in the background when that was said. Sorry, I just couldn’t help myself.)

If the board were actually doing their jobs, maybe we could manage to create some sense of continuity in this district among those teachers and administrators who actually give a damn about students and education.

As it is, they will simply continue to support whatever bad idea Wardynski will bring to them. They will continue to play fruit basket turnover with our children’s schools and lives.

Disruption for the sake of disruption is not helpful.

I wish Mr. Laqua well in his future endeavors, and I thank him for his service to our schools and our country. He had eight months to effect change. Eight whole months.

The post Updated: Wardynski’s Principals Forced To Resign appeared first on Geek Palaver.

On Thursday, February 16th, Dr. Wardynski began to make public a process that he started in private in October with the hiring of Bryon Headrick of LEAN Frog. Speaking of the findings, Dr. Wardynski has claimed, “this is what incompetence looks like.” Dr. Robinson, as usual, praised Wardynski for bringing in a “culture of change.”

There are going to be “firings, demotions, and transfer,” and everyone said, “STRONG LEADER, STRONG LEADER” because that’s exactly what Wardynski paid them to say. And when they didn’t say it often enough, he led the chorus himself.

And much of the public buys into the message that our schools are finally going to be run by people who do things the right way, who follow the rules, who don’t just put their friends, regardless of their inexperience or incompetence into highly paid positions of power.

So where’s the evidence that Dr. Wardynski and his administrative team are doing things any differently?

There doesn’t seem to be any, and as Mr. Blair pointed out on Thursday, February 16th, that doesn’t make us feel any better.

Everyone knows that Dr. Wardynski has made a habit of hiring his friends. That’s old news.

Everyone knows that Dr. Wardynski is bringing in TFAers, even though they cost more and there is no shortages of highly qualified and fully certified teachers in the district.

As I said, old news. What have they done lately?

What about these two tidbits of information:

On Thursday, Mr. Headrick criticized the District’s Procurement Process. He claimed that there was “Significant opportunity for fraud, waste and abuse, and legal liabilities associated with non-compliance to state and federal law.”

The bid law is indeed state law. Was this contract with LEAN Frog executed in accordance with the bid law? That the school board approves the contracts that Dr. Wardynski enters into is also a requirement. (And since they’ve approved every single recommendation the man has brought so far, that shouldn’t be too onerous of a requirement, should it?) Was this contract approved by the board? If so, when?

Also who paid for this LEAN Frog evaluation that is offering Dr. Wardynski political cover to do whatever he wants? The first time that the school board voted to approve hiring Mr. Headrick of LEAN Frog was yesterday at a special called board meeting. AND YET, Huntsville City Schools has been paying LEAN Frog since November. Here are the numbers

• November 2011: ;$2,890.00 (Pg. 20)
• December 2011: $5,760.00 (Pg. 25)
• January 2012: $5,760.00 (Pg. 3)
• January 2012: $5,380.00 (Pg. 9)
• January 2012: $6,480.00 (Pg. 16)

So, the Huntsville City Schools has paid LEAN Frog at total of $26,270.00 since November 2011, but the first time the board approved hiring of this company was February 25, 2012. I have asked Dr. Robinson about this oversight in oversight, but as of this writing she hasn’t responded to my question.

A culture of change indeed, Dr. Robinson.

What about hiring practices, and the posting of jobs?

On Thursday, February 16th, Mr. Headrick pointedly stated that the Human Resource department was “inefficient” and “2.5 to 3 months behind at time of assessment.” He claimed that HR received “32 hours of interruptions in two days.” (You’ll note that he did not offer any details to put these numbers into context like sharing how many total working hours were performed in that office in those two days. That would be helpful information, wouldn’t it?) Mr. Headrick claimed that the department was having to waste time examining and re-doing work.

Perhaps one reason that HR is running behind is because Dr. Wardynski and his Administrative team aren’t following the standards and procedures for hiring themselves.

Goodness, but wouldn’t it be embarrassing if, say the then Director of Transition and the now Director of Operations were, oh I don’t know, posting jobs that haven’t even opened yet on his Facebook Wall?

That would require some additional oversight and re-doing of work on the part of the HR department, don’t you think?

Here’s a screen shot from Mr. Aaron King’s Facebook Wall. Assuming that he doesn’t lock his Facebook account down in the near future, you can see this for yourself if you wish. Just scroll down to a post on January 2, 2012.

In addition, I’ve “shared” this posting on the Geek Palaver Facebook Page. Here’s a screen capture of the posting for those of you who don’t use Facebook.

I wonder if this posting, “for all positions (directors, coordinators, principals, teachers, etc)” is following the standards established by the HR department, state and federal law? Perhaps the New Employee Orientation Materials that Mr. King received were not current. That must be the problem, right?

Giving your friends a two month head start on applying for state jobs, jobs that must be open to everyone, jobs that were not open on January 2nd, is a violation of the state requirements for hiring. And as Mr. King posted, he and Col. Wardynski, should “take ownership for their decisions.”

Doesn’t this basically prove that the current witch hunt that Dr. Wardynski is engaged in is politically motivated? I mean, why else would he instruct his XO to talk to his buddies about jobs nearly two months before he discusses any of this with the public? It would seem that he is hoping to take advantage of the public outcry over this issue to place yet more like-minded, inexperienced people into positions of power (that pay well) throughout the district, don’t you think?

See, I’ve gotten a good amount of grief since the 16th of February for questioning our “Strong Leader.” I’ve been told that I should just support what he’s doing to clean up Huntsville City Schools. I’ve been told that these changes, this culture of change that he’s bringing in, will be good for our schools. I’ve been told that ultimately these changes will be good for the system. I’ve been told I should quit being apprehensive and that the whining must stop.

But the simple fact of the matter is that all this talk of inefficiencies and criminal behavior that happened in the past is simply being used to cover up inefficiencies and criminal behavior that is happening right now.

As I said long ago, the new boss is the same as the old boss, and anyone telling you differently isn’t paying attention.

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Wardynski: “Now, what is, what’s the word? Apprehension?

Headrick: “That’s a soft way of saying it.”

Wardynski: “In the Army, we call that whining.” [Greeted with laughter and smiles by several of the board members.]

Tonight, I guess I’m just going to whine a bit.

It’s always nice when the superintendent of the school system decides to engage in ad hominem attacks by referring to anyone who is apprehensive about the changes he’s forcing through, or anyone who just has questions about his actions, as a bunch of whiners.

I’ve been called worse.

So the witch hunt continues, and tomorrow (February 25, 2012) at 10:30am, the Huntsville City School Board will meet to potentially fired, demote, reprimand, or otherwise embarrass up to eight departmental directors for actions that may have, or may not have, taken place up to ten years ago.

Mr. King, Dr. Wardynski’s XO, has been appointed as his new “acting director of operations,” while receiving a 49% raise. This is just a sideline job however as Mr. King is quickly on his way to becoming one of the new principals who will be replacing one of those ineffective principals (you know, one of those whose job is on the table) starting in July. The Director of Operations gig is scheduled to end June 30th. Not bad for a guy who spent a year or so slaving away in a Chemistry classroom. (Of course, he still has more experience than his superintendent.)

Mr. King will be making $88,000 a year a 49% raise over his $59,211 salary to make PowerPoint presentations about topics for which he has no training or experience. Nice work if you can get it.

In case you haven’t heard, Dr. Wardynski announced to the board back in September that Mr. King would be “transitioning” into a principal’s position beginning in the 2012-2013 school year. Funny, I thought those positions were required to be posted before a specific person could be promised a position.

I guess, again, that the rules don’t apply to Dr. Wardynski and his friends.

But that doesn’t matter, does it?

All that really matters are problems that were uncovered in 2005. Problems that Dr. Moore decided, with approval of three of our current board members, to ignore. But we need to address them now because, well because people must be held accountable and responsible for things that they might have, or might not have done back then.

It certainly has nothing to do with redirecting our attention away from Dr. Wardynski’s current actions such as hiring friends, and defending their actions at all cost even if they’re supposedly accused of sexual harassment.

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

None of that matters. All that matters is that you believe that Dr. Wardynski is a “strong leader” for taking a hard line on issues for which he cannot be blamed.

All together now: Strong Leader. Strong Leader.

And we should just trust him when he says that he’s not doing the same thing. It’s such a good thing that we have a school board to watch over his actions, and to vote against them when they have questions.

Oh, wait . . . our board members with questions just go right ahead and vote along with him even when his answers leave them not “feeling better” about his decisions.

Tomorrow, everything will be made clear. And we’ll understand that it he really is the best kept secret in Huntsville as Dr. Robinson likes to claim. And anyone left asking questions at that point, assuming that we haven’t fired them in this process, well, they’re just whiners anyway.

After all, “effective” teachers, administrators, directors and even parents “have no need to be concerned” about the direction Wardynski is taking us. Surely he has our Broad interests at heart. Right?

Right?

I’ll be whining away on Twitter @russwinn during the meeting. You can also catch my posts on the Geek Palaver Facebook Page. You can also watch the meeting on ETV (Comcast 17, Knology 99), and at the Huntsville City Schools website.

The post “In the Army, We Call That Whining.” appeared first on Geek Palaver.

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.

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