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.

We get to be a ripple in the water.

I was asked an important question yesterday by a good friend: “Do you ever worry that your activism will result in retribution against your kids?”

The short answer to that question is, simply, yes.

As a dad, I worry about that every single time I post anything. I worry about it every time I ask a question. I worry.

So, why do I do it? If I’m doing it for my kids as I claim, why take the risk?

The answer is just as simple as the question: my kids, especially my boy, are being put at risk by the decisions of the leadership of this school district. The risk is already there. I didn’t bring it. I didn’t create it. It wasn’t the result of my actions.

My kids, their education, their future, their lives, were at risk before I asked a single question. They were at risk before I wrote a single word.

That’s the system that we have now.

But still I worry.

I worry about collateral damage every time I post anything, and believe it or not, I think about every word I post in that light.

I worry that my actions might hurt another human being.

I even worry that my actions might hurt those whom I believe are seeking to hurt my kids.

While I realize that what I’m about to say is often considered heresy in this town, I am a pacifist. I don’t believe in war. I don’t believe that we can help perfect our world by fighting each other.

Yes, I’m that radical, liberal, hippy, freak that you’ve been warned about.

I think that change, true change, comes as a result of communication, connection, understanding and love.

But love is not the same thing as subservience. Love is not obsequiousness as the Huntsville City School board seems to believe.

Love means standing up when necessary.

Love is risk.

Love is speaking for those who don’t have a voice.

Our kids don’t have a voice in this system.

Our teachers don’t have a voice in this system.

Our instructional aides don’t have a voice in this system.

Even parents, tax-paying parents, don’t have a voice in this system.

Only those who fully and vocally agree with the superintendent’s actions and decisions have a voice.

I’m not conceited enough (I am conceited, though, just not enough) to believe that I can be a voice for all of those people.

But I can be a voice for my voiceless son who struggles to ask for juice when he’s thirsty.

I can be a voice for my daughter when she wonders why she’s having to spend so much time taking tests when she could be reading another book or writing another poem.

For those two, I can and should be a ripple in the water.

Despite the risk from those who might further threaten children (or teachers for that matter) when a dad dares to ask a question that the leadership of the district doesn’t like, we get to be a ripple in the water.

Making waves for the sole purpose of making waves is useless. In fact, it’s dangerous. As such, I try hard to avoid waves for their own purpose. (I’m sure there are many who disagree with me on this. This isn’t an exact science; that’s why I invite those who disagree with me to speak up. It helps me keep a sense of perspective.)

Our district, however, doesn’t value questions, challenges, or disagreement. Our superintendent values command and control above all things.

Command and Control aren’t words of praise. They aren’t words of love. Control is stagnation. When waters are controlled, they die, and all those living in those waters die as well.

But a ripple breathes life into stagnate waters. A ripple repudiates command and control.

And we get to be that ripple.

Yes, I do worry everyday about retribution. But I worry more about living in a world that threatens dissent.

And so I do my best to make specific and intentional ripples because with our “get to” comes responsibility.

So I’ll be that ripple. Despite the risk. Despite the threats.

Because I love my kids.

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads who aren’t afraid to make a ripple in this world as we try to perfect it.

The post A Ripple in the Water 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[to go out and away]

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

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

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

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

The post To Be Enough Time appeared first on Geek Palaver.

So fall break has come and nearly gone, and another beach trip with it. I’m a lucky guy. I got to see this, and share it with my family.

There was swimming, and running, and jumping, and singing, and playing, and digging, and hugging, and laughing, (and a few exhaustion tears), and gumbo. Always gumbo, holding it all together.

Gumbo is an amazing dish. Separately, you have little that’s worth eating alone. I mean sure, shrimp is always great (and sausage), but the rest is just rice, flower, okra, onion, and oil. In other words, absolutely nothing to write home about (or blog about for that matter).

But when you mix them together, and add time and hard work (you’ve got to constantly stir the roux, or it will burn), leave them all to sit together overnight, and what comes out is pure magic.

Vacations are the same way. Play hard. Stir the pot by getting your girl to talk to you while hunting for crabs. And try not to get lost forever in her eyes.

Pay attention when the boy is singing “Hakuna Matata,” so you can sing the “No Worries” lyric at just the right moment.

Pay attention and give everything time to sit together overnight. What comes out is pure magic.

As I said, I’m a lucky guy.

__________

Some have noticed that I haven’t written as much lately. That I haven’t written nearly as much about the School Board as I was writing in the past.

Although I’m sure that I will be writing about our schools for a long time to come, there’s a simple explanation for that: As important as trying to keep the board honest and the superintendent focused on keeping our kids first is, honestly it’s about 99th on my top 100 list. (It’s slightly ahead of making sure the toilets are flushing correctly. A necessary, but completely unenjoyable task.)

In other words, there’s more to life than working to make our public officials do their jobs. Plus, when there’s always that one crazy guy who goes to the meetings and writes about the inane crap the board and super say and do, no one else thinks that they need to do the same.

And frankly, there’s just more important things to do, like spending time with my family as they grow. Because they’re the important ones.

And my time with them feels like it’s fading as the sun into the sea.

The post Of Gumbo and Sunsets appeared first on Geek Palaver.

I know that there are many who are waiting to hear more about some of the decisions made this past Thursday night. (The hiring of yet another person from Aurora, CO as Deputy Superintendent is just one. It’s a good time to have friends in high places.) There were a ton of them; I’m working through them right now.

But I’ve been busy these past couple of days with far more enjoyable stuff. For example, I heard yesterday that the boy has a beautiful little kindergarten girl who “like-likes” him! Being a typical boy, he remains unswayed by her charms.

What I wanted to write about this morning as the boy is curled up next to me (the “girls” are on a Girl Scout trip and we had a late boy’s night watching movies!), is the amazing dedication that I saw last night at the Challenger Elementary PTA’s Family Fun Night.

Picture this: it’s finally Friday, and you’re exhausted. It’s been a ridiculously long week of trying to put out fires, responding to staffing vacancies for jobs that no one seems to want, making sure that kids are safe and not, say, trying to flush themselves down a toilet for the fun of it, and on top of it all, trying to teach those students math, science, reading and writing so that a federal bureaucrat doesn’t cut your funding from zero to a fee that you have to pay.

What exactly would you want to do on a Friday night at six o’clock? Go home? Relax? Read or just forget about work for a while?

For me it would certainly be all of the above.

But last night, through the hard work of the Challenger Elementary PTA, many of our teachers, instructional assistants, and staff including Mrs. Carol Costello, Challenger’s principal, decided to put aside their own exhaustion and join the kids, families and friends on the field at Challenger for a family fun night of pizza, playing, and a movie under the stars.

There was pizza. There were Icees. There was music (Black Eyed Peas, “I’ve Got a Feeling“). There was sliding, swinging, running, jumping, and talking birds from Rio.

It was indeed a good night.

A good night for our entire community, coming together to talk and play. Kids, Parents, Teachers, Aides, Staff and Principal.

This is why I fight for our schools: Because they fight for us, all of us regardless of ability, every day and every night. And so I say thank you to our school, the administration, staff, teachers, aides, parents and kids.

Because of your commitment to educating every child, my son has a girl who is sweet on him. My son has a place where he is safe and welcomed. My son has a place where he and his dad can have a great night.

Thank you.

The post A Good Night at Challenger Elementary appeared first on Geek Palaver.

Fair warning: This is a self-indulgent and selfish posting. There’s nothing unique here; every parent feels this way. Feel free to ignore.

Another Sunday, another early departure from Church for me and the boy.

I know that no one really understands anyone, but I wish I knew what upsets him so. What causes him to cry out, almost in pain, once the music stops? There shouldn’t be a wall between me and my boy.

But there is.

God, I’m sick of seeing through a mirror darkly.

I want to see my boy, face to face, eye to eye.

I want to know the boy behind those eyes.

Update: This afternoon, playing in the tub at Gaygay’s using his tub letters, the boy spelled out and read “Rabbit,” “Tigger,” and “Pooh.” Language is a beautiful thing.

Location:Esslinger Rd SE,Huntsville,United States

The post Through a Mirror Darkly appeared first on Geek Palaver.

It’s strange what having a relaxing weekend away will do to you. Suddenly you start seeing things in a different light. I love my job. Truly love it. But it’s a far and away distant second when it comes to my family. Everyday, my boy, my girl, and Laurel remind me of just how lucky I am. And getting to spend a weekend at the lake with them just reinforces it for me.

I’m honored to be a part of a group called the Rocket City Bloggers. These are a collection of some really amazing writers who give away their ideas, suggestions, hints and art to anyone who wants to take a look. (Which is, by the way, just another thing that I love about the Rocket City: its diversity and art.)

Every month someone in the group hosts a Rocket City Blogging Carnival that displays the work of the collective group all in one easy location for browsing. It’s a great way to meet new writers and to hear new ideas. This month’s carnival follows the theme of “Huntsville Favorites.”

So I’ve been in positive frame of mind. What of it?

Just kidding. I’m just thankful to have a weekend away from work to unpack some of the ideas that have been floating around like the first yellow and red leaves on the lake.

So this weekend, the PTA has been on my mind, and I realized that I had been negligent in writing about things that make a difference in education by not having mentioned the PTAs by name yet. This is a shame since Huntsville PTAs (in particular the ones at Farley, Challenger and Mt. Gap Elementary) are some of my Huntsville Favorites.

Sometimes PTAs get a bad rap. Occasionally PTAs seem like you’ve stepped back in time and are in grade school all over again. Many of the same battles that you faced in school get rehashed later in life. Jeannie C. Riley had a wonderful tongue-in-cheek hit with it in the late sixties about the Harper Valley PTA which made excellent hay pointing out hypocrisy for humor.

On a more serious note, PTAs are often accused of being an exclusive playground designed to garner special consideration for their own children keeping others locked out.

This is not true of the PTAs here in the Huntsville PTAs. As a member of two PTAs (Challenger Elementary and Mt. Gap Elementary), I can readily say that I’ve never know a group of parents who are more wiling to give up their time, energy, and money trying to make sure of just a few things:

• That our schools are as well supplied, maintained, and safe as possible for all kids;
• That our teachers are supported and appreciated so that they may actually focus on teaching rather than fundraising, maintenance and security;
• That the administration of our schools are constantly aware that the parents in this town are involved, inquisitive, informed, and that we are watching.

This is the role that a PTA plays. When it works, as it does here in Huntsville, it works because people are putting aside their differences and working together toward a common goal.

Our PTAs aren’t Conservative verses Liberal. They aren’t Rich verses Poor. They aren’t the “in crowd” verses “the outcasts.” Despite occasionally ribbing over in state rivalries, (football season did begin on Saturday after all), our PTAs aren’t even divided by cries of War Eagle and Roll Tide.

Our PTAs are places where everyone, everyone can participate.

Everyone can work together for our common goals of putting students first. That’s the beauty of the PTA; it is a democracy at its finest. It doesn’t matter if you’re young or old, rich or poor, handicapped or able to run freely. It doesn’t matter if you were a cheerleader, the football captain, or the nerd sitting in the library (like me), if you care about putting students first, you’ll be welcomed.

The PTA gives everyone, even those who do not speak often like my son, a voice in the development and direction of our schools.

By holding the car line still just a little longer in the morning, by bringing gluten-free cupcakes to parties, by hosting awareness raising celebrations, by giving a child an extra hand with the hula-hoop until he gets the idea, our PTAs  go out of their way to be inclusive and supportive of those students who have special needs. For this, I say thank you, and the boy offers his high five.

All that having a voice requires is participation at whatever level you’re capable. My experience has been that even those who work full-time can find a way to help out after schools have closed. In short, there is something here for everyone. That is, if (and yes, it’s a big if) we’re willing to set aside our differences, our isolationism, our selfishness to work together for a common goal.

Our PTAs are wonderfully diverse, accepting, and welcoming. Yes, occasionally they have flaws and weaknesses, but they’re made up of humans. It comes with the territory.

But if you believe in making your child’s school a better place, if you believe in putting students first, join your PTA, and share your voice.

You know, for the kids. All of them.

The post The PTA: For All of Our Kids appeared first on Geek Palaver.

I think it’s a good thing that there are bloggers out there watching very closely and holding people accountable. Everyone in the news should be able to hold up to that kind of scrutiny. I’m for as much transparency in the news gathering process as possible.

–Anderson Cooper

I teach humanities classes: English, philosophy and religion in a state school. Yes, we teach religion classes at a state school. Hard to believe, but true.

And it makes for some interesting discussions when we talk about the problem of evil, or discrimination in the name of Jesus. Passions run hot sometimes when discussing things about which people are, in Tillich’s terms, ultimately concerned.

And so, at the beginning of the semester, I lay out some basic ground rules. They start with a simple one that most of us learned as small children.

Treat each other the way you want to be treated.

It’s easily understandable, and it’s manageable.  Plus it keeps the arguments that erupt in a classroom, on occasion, in check.

But I also give them a single exception to the golden rule. I tell my students that I will absolutely treat them with respect, but when it comes to me and how they treat my ideas, the golden rule doesn’t apply.

I tell them, if you think my ideas are full of poop, I expect you to tell me so.

Full of . . .

(Yeah it’s college. Funny thing about language: “Poop” is actually more shocking to my students than the s-word ever could be. And in that regard, even though I’ve used it with both of my kids since their first one, it’s actually the vulgar of the two terms for my students.)

My students are free and encouraged to tell me that I’m full of poop. All I ask is that they tell me why they believe me so. And they are free to use any descriptive adjective or adverb that they wish. (In fact, for the English classes, the more descriptive, the better.)

This is the only way that I learn. And it’s the only way I know how to teach.

Occasionally, they take me up on the offer. And when they do, education happens.

Irritation is a beautiful thing. One of the few times we’re really paying attention is when we’re irritated, and we can’t learn without paying attention.

And so, I irritate my students and I encourage them to irritate me.

And I’m willing to accept the consequences when I do. Including being told that I’m full of poop, evil, liberal, conservative (yes, it has happened, but I’m not entirely sure that the person saying it knew what it meant), socialist, communist, fascist (again, I’m fairly certain there was a basic misunderstanding of the term, but maybe not) evil, mean, racist (against both those of my own race and those who are of another), whiny, and a loser who needs his butt kicked. (Although in fairness, I’ve never been told that in class, only in the Huntsville Times, who, to their credit, deleted the comment.)

As I tell my students regularly, I get paid to irritate you, and I really love my job!

And occasionally their response of why I’m full of poop turns out to be correct. (Like anytime I try to do math in my head! As I tell them, that’s why I teach English.)

And so for sixteen weeks my students and I have a relationship based on irritation, conflict, and, when we’re lucky, open and honest discussion. You know, kinda like every great marriage between friends.

Well, not exactly.

So what’s my point here? (Rambling is, after all, part of my charm.)

It’s simple. I need you, my readers, to tell me when I’m full of poop.

I never set out to become a public figure. Honestly, this all started with Dr. Moore and the board (the same one we have now, by the way) complaining about confrontational parents. I was astonished at the sense of entitlement that I saw from people who had fired 400 teachers/aides/staff to cover their own mismanagement.

But in expressing my astonishment, I have become something of a public figure. I’ll ask you to believe that this introvert doesn’t really enjoy it. Take a look at my hands before or after I speak at a board meeting if you need evidence.

For the record: I just want the board and superintendent to put students first. I don’t want to be a board member. I don’t want to be the superintendent. I want to be a dad. I want to be a husband. I want to be a teacher. And that is all.

But, as this week’s news article shows, because of my public stands, I’m something of a public figure. And so I need your help.

I don’t care at all that “SAWB” thinks I was asking for the school system to raise my child. I had a great laugh at “teraplane” for working so hard to come up with a witty play on my last name by calling me a “loser.” It must have taken hours for him/her to come up with that one. (As I’ve been hearing it since elementary school, perhaps “teraplane” should consult a first grader before posting next time.) That “BAMA1964RB” believes I “shall reap what [I] have sown! Ever heard of that old axiom??????,” does not matter (or make any sense) to me.

But that doesn’t mean that I’m not often full of poop.

That’s where you, constant reader, come into the circle.

Please understand, I’m not trying to simply hit you up for praise. I’m being as genuine here as I know how.

I am a blind man from Indostan thinking myself insightful when I cannot see. Without help, my understanding will always be incomplete.

That’s why I need your help. In fact, that’s why we need each other. I cannot understand the motivations and inner workings of the Huntsville City Schools without your help. On my own, I’m every bit the “loser” that the brave, anonymous posters on al.com said I was. I don’t understand anything.

So, when I’m full of poop, tell me. When I am blind to the truth in front of me, open my eyes by sharing with me what you see. If I begin thinking I am wise, remind me, rudely, just how stupid I am.

As Socrates said, the beginning of wisdom is understanding that you know nothing at all.

I will do everything I can to make my approach, motivation, goals and plans as transparent as possible so that you can help me see what I cannot. I will not develop plans in secrecy.

Without honest feedback, and without accountability, I’m lost. To Anderson Cooper’s quote above, I would add this: this blogger will attempt to always be transparent, and I should also be held accountable for what I say and do.

This isn’t about me. And it isn’t even about my boy or daughter. It’s about ensuring that all of our children are a priority to our schools system.

For this to have any hope of bringing about change, we’ve got to work together.

So, if I start running off following my own private plans, remind me that I’m as full of poop as everyone else.

By making our students and classrooms a priority, together, we will make this the greatest school system, the greatest city, in our nation.

Then, and only then, will we be nationally competitive.

The post Transparency and Accountability appeared first on Geek Palaver.

Editor’s Note: These were the comments that I made to the Huntsville City School’s Board of Education at the board meeting tonight. Dr. Wardynski’s response to my comments was, “I did not state that we were hiring people at a nationally competitive rate, but rather that the salaries were competitive on the state level.” I have decided to accept his word on this point. Yet the question remains, why are we competitive on a state level in administrative positions but paying our teachers the state minimum? I have altered the statement below to reflect this change.

It’s interesting that that was the only thing he chose to respond to.

Dr. Wardynski, I’m here to remind you to put students first.

There are soon going to be at least four salaried positions whose primary jobs are to assist you in doing your job. Right now, my son has access to two-fifths of one aide to assist him.  These positions include your Administrative Assistant, The Director of Transition, and you’re planning to hire a Director of Community Engagement and Partnership Development at a rate of $58,000 to $95,000. Finally, you’re planning to hire a Deputy Superintendent at a rate of $84,000 to $134,000 a year.

The superintendent continues to hire people at, as he said about the new CSFO, nationally competitive rates state competitive rates. These new contracts include incentive based raises. In short, the superintendent has at least $252,000 in aides while my son has $4,000 in aides.

I would like to know how you can justify this?

How can you justify these positions when students are still waiting for teachers to be hired?

How can you justify these positions when students are still waiting for instructional assistants to help them in their transitions?

How can you justify offering raises to administrators when teachers’ step raises have been frozen for an indeterminate amount of time?

How can you justify offering nationally competitive state competitive salaries to your administration when new teacher salaries are set at the state minimum?

How can you justify adding these central office positions to the system’s budget when we don’t have money for teachers to buy basic supplies like ink or paper?

How can you justify spending 63 times more money on yourself as you have my son?

How can you justify putting your needs in front of the needs of the students?

Please, Dr. Wardynski, Mr. Blair, Dr. Robinson, Mr. Birney, Ms. Morrison, Ms. McCaulley, put students first.

The post How Do You Justify Aides for Administration? appeared first on Geek Palaver.

I knew I was in trouble from the moment I saw her face.

Just in case you ever wondered, kids hear everything. They seem to hear better when you are trying to speak in code.

So Laurel and I were having one of those hard talks one evening about the boy. Most of the time, both of us are convinced that he’s making sufficient progress that he’s going to be fine. But sometimes our worries overwhelm us.

A few days ago, we were having one of those days. So we were talking about it, and what we might be facing 15 years from now.

Thinking that Sponge Bob was holding the girl’s attention (typically we have to call her 9 times to override the joy that is the Squarepants), but, of course, speaking in code had the effect of riveting the girl’s attention.

After we talked, the girl came to see me. And I knew I was in trouble.

There she stood all seven years and eight months of her. Arms crossed. Eyebrows touching. Hip cocked (in so far as a seven year old has a hip, anyway). Foot tapping.

“What’s wrong, sweetie?”

It really is a good thing that I hadn’t looked directly into the stare and that my hearing is bad from too many years of listening to The Eagles on my Walkman. Otherwise I would have been stumbling around lost in the silent darkness for years to come.

Charlie, the demon dog, went running for cover.

The girl was furious.

Forget a woman scorned, it’s the big sister standing up for her little brother than you need to look out for.

She’s seven, so the anger quickly bled into tears.

After consoling her for the next hour, I finally pieced together the source of her fury. “You and mommy are going to make him live in an orphanage.”

She was convinced that we were segregating her little brother to an orphanage, and SHE. WAS. NOT. HAVING. IT.

She doesn’t put up with strangers hurting her brother, and she certainly doesn’t put up with her parents doing it.

After the tears dried and the explanations offered (we were talking about a group home setting for when he’s older), I took her in my arms and held her, held her, held her.

I have never been so proud of my little girl.

I get my tenacity honestly.

The post I Get It Honest appeared first on Geek Palaver.

So how many kids are in your child’s resource room?

For anyone who doesn’t have a special needs child, the resource room is the primary classroom for children whose disabilities require additional assistance. It’s a place that provides instruction in appropriate grade-level skills, life skills, and social skills. Typically the classrooms are clustered around a particular disability.

Resource rooms need to be spacious. Children with disabilities often have difficulty navigating cramped or crowded rooms. They need to have areas where children can find a quiet spot to sit. They need to have sensory areas, were kids can bounce, spin, climb and even swing.

And they need access to teachers and instructional assistants. Otherwise, it’s just a room.

This past year, the special education department of Huntsville City Schools decided to consolidate many children who spend the majority of their school day in resource rooms into basically three schools: the Academy for Academics and Arts, Challenger Elementary and Middle and Hampton Cove Elementary Middle. (For my regular readers, this was “the plan” that was never shared with parents in writing despite numerous assurances and promises from Amy Sledge, Ann Roy Moore, David Blair, Jennie Robinson and others that they would.)

This consolidation has now been implemented. That fight is over.

On May 5th, Amy Sledge, Dr. Moore and the board discussed this plan and stated that this consolidation would allow students to have access to more resources such as therapy, material, supplies and staff.

On April 6th, Amy Sledge told parents that elementary resource rooms would have between 6 and 8 students in them. You can watch the video below. While she does say that they will have no more than 10, this she throws in as an extreme afterthought.

My son’s resource room at Challenger Elementary has 10 students right now with one teacher and three aides. The class is so large that it has to be split in two so that they are able to accomplish at least some of the learning goals of the IEPs. Since there is but one teacher, this means that every student is effectively receiving half of the instructional time that he or she received last year.

This is unacceptable.

But this isn’t just about my son. This is about 2,900 other students with IEPs in this system who are also getting half the instructional time that they did before.

And the only way we can address these problems is to talk to each other and compare notes.

So I’m asking you to share what you know about your child’s resource room in the comments section below. This will help us all to gain a better understanding of how Huntsville City Schools is planning to meet IEPs with less than half the Instructional Assistants that the system used last year.

Particularly since the number of special needs children has actually increased since last year.

So as you are able, please share the following information below or with me privately via email at staff@geekpalaver.com:

• The school your child attends.
• Your child’s grade.
• Does your child have an IEP?
• Does your child spend the majority of his or her school day in a resource room?
• How many children are in the room?
• How many teachers are in the room?
• How many instructional assistants are typically in the room?

There is certain information that you should not share with me. For example, do not share:

• Your child’s name. (At least not in a public forum such as the comments section below. If anyone does this accidentally, I will edit that information out of the posting.)
• Any other child’s name. (Again, I will edit this information out of the post if necessary.)

The purpose here is to make information available to all the parents with children in Huntsville City Schools that the system is, at times, hesitant to share with us. The purpose is to make the system aware that we know what is going on.

We have a right to know if the system is serving our children and meeting their needs. Perhaps this will help us all understand where most significant needs exist so that we may work together with the school system in addressing these needs.

If you do not want to share this information with me, I completely understand. In that situation, I would ask that you do the following: Contact your child’s teachers and principal. Ask them for specific numbers concerning the number of children in your child’s classrooms/resource rooms. Ask them for specific numbers of teachers and Instructional Assistants that will be in the classroom working with the kids on a daily basis.

You have a right to know this information about your child’s class, but you will often have to ask to get it.

Finally, I would encourage everyone to visit your child’s school as often as possible. See for your self the conditions of your child’s classroom and the situations under which your child’s teacher is working.

Our teachers are overworked, and they need our help to rectify this problem. The central office has a vested interest in keeping teacher salaries at the state minimum (even when their own salaries are “nationally competitive.” [Editor’s Note: Dr. Wardynski stated on August 18th that he claimed the administrative positions were “state competitive.” I have decided to take him at his word on this.) The only defense that our teachers and therefore our kids have against these conditions are parents.

I know how difficult it is to find time to visit schools and advocate for your child’s education. Especially for special needs parents. But if you don’t no one else will.

Ask questions, and hold the system accountable for the answers they offer.

It’s our kids’ only hope.

The post A Call To Action: Resource Room/Classroom Overcrowding appeared first on Geek Palaver.

At the Huntsville City School board meeting this past Thursday, August 4, Dr. Wardynski offered a report on special education and the system’s ability to meet the requirements of the children’s IEPs beginning on August 8th. He stated that he wasn’t able to answer my question on July 25th because he needed to review all 2,900 IEPs across the system. (So the number reported by the Huntsville Times is actually a little low. Rather than a decrease in Special Needs enrollment from last year, we have about a 3% increase. And yet, the instructional assists supporting this increase have been cut in half.)

Wardynski claimed that it took a long time to review all 2,900 of these IEPs, but that he had completed that review and offered the assessment that yes the system would be ready to meet the requirements of the IEPs on August 8th.

As I have documented, I disagree. By my assessment, my son’s classroom is still, as of August 10th, not capable of meeting his IEP due to insufficient staffing. Hopefully, Mrs. Costello’s assurance to correct this issue by Monday will prove to be true.

However at the end of this presentation, Dr. Robinson asked Dr. Wardynski a fairly direct question. She asked, if now that the special needs consolidation has been completed (and yes, the system made these changes without a board vote and without even putting these plans in writing for parents), will we stop moving special needs students for the foreseeable future. Here’s her exact question:

Special education children are particularly sensitive to change. My sister was a special ed student and change is still very hard for her. So I’m very sensitive to that. We have made changes to these children and their locations and their schools and their teachers every couple of years now. And every time we do it we say that it’s in their best interest. So we’re making this change. Are we pretty confident the way this is constructed now is going to be the change for a little while?

Wardynski provided a two minute response that started (strangely enough) with a discussion about moving Providence Middle School children. Here’s the text of his response:

Well, I think it goes back to the point that we began with, with Providence School. When we looked at that situation, we had the choice about do nothing, and let something not great get much worse. We could move the whole middle school, lock, stock and barrel. And in thinking about that what we put foremost were the needs of the children. When you’re in middle school you begin building relationships that are pretty important. You are on teams. You’re in activities. So what we do was moved that school grade by grade over the next three years. Sixth grade will begin at Williams so they will have a complete middle school experience. That kind of change you’re addressing was important to those general education kids. It’s important to the special education kids. So we hope our actions speak loudly. The interests of the kids will always come first. I do have resource constraints. Having teachers, and experts, and therapists and so forth spend less time with windshields and more with kids is something I think is important. We’ve attempted here to make sure we have a plan that we can live with. That they won’t be perturbed by change. But, I don’t control the economy. Our country is facing very difficult times. These are not norm . . . these are not what we thought of as normal times, but they appear to be normal times now. But our objective is to provide the learning environment which the children need that supports their growth. You can see that we’ve provided objectives across the board in our goals for learning from general population to special education children. I value those goals every bit as much as the general education population. Moving children between schools is not conducive to achieving those goals. So what I’m telling you in short is, creating a learning environment that those children need is foremost in my mind.

So what wasn’t included in this statement? Any assurance that the system won’t move special needs students again at any time they deem it to be in the system’s best interest.

Dr. Wardynski claims that he hopes “our actions speak loudly.” Well, on that count they do. The actions of the board to move students without discussing their plans with parents, without input from parents, and without consideration to the impact this constant change has upon the learning environment of these children who are indeed, perturbed by change.

My boy is one of the lucky few this time around. We got to stay at Challenger with the same teacher, albeit with a significantly larger class and a significantly larger student to teacher ratio.

And as a result, he’s had a great first week with tons of language and no meltdowns requiring intervention.

Last year, this was not the case. When we put the boy in the public pre-school classroom, he was placed at Farley. We were directly told that even though it was not officially our home school (which is Mt. Gap), that Farley would become his home school from that point forward. As we were even then deeply concerned about the impact that moving him around a lot would have, the decision to make Farley his permanent home was a welcomed one.

But it was not to be.

Just before our end of the year IEP meeting, we were informed that my boy would not be attending Farley, but that he would instead be moved to Challenger.

We were given no reason or justification for this move. We were just told that he would be moved.

Believe it or not, there was a time not too long ago when I thought that fighting the central office decisions concerning my son’s education was not terribly wise. I was concerned about retaliation and becoming known as Dr. Moore put it once, one of those “confrontational” parents.

I’ve since learned that acquiescence is exactly what they’re hoping for and that fighting for my son makes me a good parent, not a confrontational one.

As a direct result of being moved last year, the boy basically lost at least two months. As I look back over the reports that we got from Mrs. Bowling from last year, we spent the first two months celebrating the days when he only had a single meltdown as he adjusted to the change. It wasn’t until nearly Christmas that the boy was comfortable enough to say, “Yea School” last year.

But back to this year. The boy wasn’t moved this year, and even from our first visit to the school on the Friday before school started, his entire attitude about the place was different. He’s acting like a sophomore who knows that he just “gets” it. Yesterday as he was leaving school, he waved and unprompted said, “Bye!” to his teachers and friends.

He was, he is excited about school. And it’s all because, unlike countless others, the superintendent, the board, and the central office left my boy alone.

And yet, when asked a direct question about plans to leave special needs children alone in the future, Dr. Wardynski makes no promises and offers no assurances. He claims that his actions “speak,” and he’s right.

His actions show us that financial concerns will trump educational ones with this administration.

With his accepting a salary $55,000 over the minimum, with his hiring of a $60,000/year aide for himself, with his hiring of a CFO at a “nationally competitive rate,” ["state competitive rate"] with his plans to hire the organization that “trained” him to be a superintendent as a consultant at another $60k, his actions show us that financial concerns still haven’t impacted hiring in the central office.

But they have in the classroom. With a growing special needs population of about 2,900, Dr. Wardynski, and the board have decided that it’s a good idea to cut the number of Instructional Assistants in half from last year.

He is not doing this because it’s good for the educational environment.

He is not doing this to save money.

He’s doing this so that he can spend the money on other positions that for him have a higher priority than education.

While this doesn’t represent a change, I am still perturbed by it.

The post Perturbed by Change appeared first on Geek Palaver.

So it’s the first day of the 2011-2012 school year here in Huntsville. I’m planning to spend the day at my son’s school to ensure that his IEP will be met. I have no idea as I write this if it will, but I’m hopeful. His education doesn’t have a day to waste.

I’ll be tweeting today about my experiences, and I’ll update the blog as I have time. If you would like, share your experiences below. Was your child’s school ready? Feel free to post your thoughts and experience’s below.

I hope that when I check back, everyone can say, Yes, My Child’s School Was Ready.

I wish for a great day for everyone, students, parents, teachers and administrators alike.

The post Was Your Child’s Huntsville School Ready? appeared first on Geek Palaver.

There will be another meeting of the Huntsville City Schools Board of Education on Thursday, August 4, 2011 at 5:30pm at the Merts Building downtown.

According to the agenda, this meeting will include a Human Resources Report (that will hopefully finalize the staffing needs for the new year), a report on the Adequate Yearly Progress report released on Monday, the introduction of a new central office job description called, “Community Outreach and Engagement,” and intriguingly a “Special Education Presentation.”

It’s going to be a busy night in the board room.

At the end of the board meeting on Tuesday, Dr. Wardynski told me to expect some “good news” at the board meeting on Thursday. At the time, I suspected that he was planning to share more information about the hiring process to complete the staffing of classrooms for the coming school year.

But perhaps he was instead referring to the “Special Education Presentation” that I suppose he, or Mrs. Amy Sledge, will be making tomorrow night.

I don’t have any idea what will be discussed in this presentation, but here are a few suggestions if anyone in Dr. Wardynski’s office is interested in the opinions of a special needs parent.

1. Dr. Wardynski should offer clear, detailed and specific evidence that the system will be prepared to meet the requirements of the IEPs on Monday, August 8th. This is non-negotiable. Without this, our schools will not be safe and 2,700 special needs children will be at risk.
2. Dr. Wardynski should offer details concerning student/teacher ratios for the classrooms. I know that these numbers are constantly in flux right now, but he needs to offer the public information concerning the system’s planning. What are the best numbers right now?
3. Dr. Wardynski should offer other ratio information that is necessary to demonstrate that the classrooms will be safe including: Student/Instructional Assistant ratios, Student/Occupational Therapist ratios and their placement, Student/Speech Therapist ratios and their placement, Student/Physical Therapist ratios and their placement.
4. Dr. Wardynski should offer specific details on the plans to ensure access to and safety for special needs children participating in Physical Education. As adaptive PE has been eradicated, what exactly will be taking its place? Are the PE classrooms sufficiently staffed to ensure safety and education? Do PE teachers know that they are going to be expected to include students with disabilities in their classrooms?
5. Dr. Wardynski should, finally, offer specific details concerning the special needs consolidation plan that will have been implemented on Monday.

This is what I would like to see in a Special Needs Presentation later tonight. This would be “good news.”

As I have written before, meeting the requirements of the IEP is first and foremost a safety issue. If there is not enough staff to meet these requirements, there is not enough staff to ensure the safety (much less the education) of our children.

Having discussed my son’s IEP with other parents whom I know are assigned to his classroom, I know that the current staffing for his classroom is insufficient. I am addressing this with his teacher and principal, but as their hands are tied on personnel matters, Dr. Wardynski needs to address it as well.

If we can afford to be competitive on a national level for administrative personnel, we can afford to meet the requirements of IEPs. It’s the legal thing to do. It’s the moral thing to do.

And I’m asking Dr. Wardynski to do the right thing by providing adequate staffing for my son’s and all of our kids’ classrooms.

Hopefully, the meeting tomorrow night will offer clear evidence that the Superintendent and the Board are finally Putting the Students First.

Please make every attempt to attend this meeting tomorrow night and stand up for all of our kids.

The meeting will be broadcast on ETV (Comcast 17, Knology 99-it has recently moved from 71), and at the Huntsville City Schools website. I will also be live-tweeting the meeting @russwinn. You can follow on Twitter or on the Geek Palaver Facebook Page.

I hope to see you there.

The post Special Needs Presentation at HCS Board Meeting Thursday appeared first on Geek Palaver.

I really don’t know how to say it any clearer.

I woke up this morning actually hopeful. I was looking at the Huntsville City Schools website last night (yes, I’m that boring), and I noticed two things:

1. They’ve posted a few additional special education positions on the Employment Link.
2. The Board is having a special meeting on Tuesday, August 2nd at 4:00 pm to address personnel matters.

I was hopeful that Dr. Wardynski and the board might actually be working to making certain that our classrooms are adequately staffed.

Then I woke to the Headline in The Huntsville Times entitled, “System Hustling To Fill Jobs.”

I thought, “They are moving in the right direction for a change.”

That hope didn’t live long once I saw The Huntsville Times article, “New Huntsville schools’ CFO, program directors could be hired next week.”

According to Bonvillian, the meeting on Tuesday appears to have nothing to do with staffing in the classroom, but rather adds more staff to the central office.

Concerning Wardynski, Bonvillian writes:

“With the start of school in just over a week, Wardynski is under pressure to fill several top spots in the central office.”

Really? Who is pushing for this? I haven’t met anyone who thinks that the central office staffing needs are more important than the classroom staffing needs. Except that is perhaps Wardynski (who has his aide).

There’s a story that needs to be followed. Who has enough influence on Wardynski to get him to fill positions? It clearly isn’t parents, or students, or even the threat of potential legal action.

So I wonder, who does have the ability to put pressure on Wardynski? That’s the person I need to meet with.

Look, I recognize that there are central office positions that need to be filled. I’m sure the system does need a CFO. (Although, I would like to see the former CFO salary taken off the books before we add yet another one at $114,000 a year.) But the classroom staffing needs should be a much higher priority.

If not for the classroom, the central office is pointless. You would think Wardynski and the Board would know this by now.

Put the Students First!

The post PUT STUDENTS FIRST! appeared first on Geek Palaver.

On Monday, August 8, 2011, the children of Huntsville will report to school for the beginning of a new year. Last year, I had tears in my eyes as my daughter started First Grade and the boy began Kindergarten. It was a rough day emotionally; all those transitions are. But it isn’t going to hold a candle to what we’re facing five days from now.

On Monday, July 25th, Dr. Wardynski told me and others that he didn’t know if the system would be ready on August 8th to educate my son.

Because of decisions made by the former Superintendent, the Board, the Consultants, and yes even our current Superintendent (who has shown us that he knows how to quickly hire someone when he wants to–just not teachers, aides, or therapists), our schools are likely understaffed and unable to meet the requirements of the IEPs.

An understaffed classroom is an unsafe classroom.

__________

Insufficient staffing is the only logical reason why Wardynski could not or would not confirm for me that our schools would be ready to educate my son.

In many ways my son’s IEP is fairly typical. It doesn’t require a specialized setting (other than the resource room that is already available). It doesn’t require specialized technology. It doesn’t require that the school build him a pool even though his language dramatically increases while in one.

His individualized education program requires people to help teach him and the other children in the classroom with him.

For some reason, the superintendent has no problem hiring aides for himself (at $59,211 a year), but hiring aides for the classroom is just too expensive. Hiring a specialist to work with all of our children to improve their ability to communicate is just exorbitant.

All that my son’s IEP requires is two teachers (a special education teacher and a regular education teacher), an aide to help him transition and work, and access to Speech and Occupational therapy.

In other words, the obstacle that Huntsville City Schools is facing in meeting the requirements of my son’s IEP is basically one single aide to assist him when he is in the regular classroom.

You may find this to be exorbitant. (I, unlike Huntsville City Schools, believe that $10,000 is a lot of money.) But honestly, I don’t care. It’s the law.

Ten grand. My son’s education and safety are being put into question because of ten grand.

__________

So how did we get to the precipice we’re facing on August 8th?

As with all roads to hell, I hope that this one began with many good intentions. But I’m doubtful.

Cutting Special Education

This road started on February 10th when the board approved laying off 65 Instructional Assistants. Nearly half of the layoffs that day were cuts to special education.

We traveled further down this road on February 17th when the board cancelled the ONIN Contract. 53% of the staff provided by ONIN were, you guessed it, Instructional Assistants working in special education settings.

Hiring Consultants: Not Teachers/Aides/OTs/STs

But the board was just getting warmed up. Immediately after the firing of aides to work with our children, the board approved the contract for Dr. Ed Richardson at $600.00 a day. The average aide costs the system $53.00 per day. If they were paid Dr. Richardson’s salary, we would be paying them an average of $112,200 a year. We don’t pay them that much. We pay them right around $10,000 a year. Was Dr. Richardson’s advice worth 12 times the committed dedication and love my son received from just one aide last year?

I don’t think so.

But it seems the cuts to special education just weren’t happening fast enough, and the board needed that money to hire a consultant to do their jobs for them. (And provide political cover for unpopular decisions, of course.)

Funny. The board and the superintendents always seem to find money to hire people to help themselves. Helping children seems to be a much lower priority. At least twelve times lower in the case of Dr. Richardson.

After his hiring, things really started taking off.

The Special Needs Consolidation Plan

At some point in March when Ms. Sledge and Dr. Pruitt of the Special Education department in the central office decided (under orders, I’d bet) that it would be a good idea to move all the kids who spend a majority of their time in a resource room (as my son did last year) to the Academy for Academics and Arts.

I’m willing to assume that this plan was conceived with good intentions. I am hopeful that it was made with the best interests of the students in mind, but due to their refusal to actually discuss there plans and intentions, I have no reason to trust them now. If the plan were a good one, they would be thrilled to share it with the parents.

When this plan leaked out in March, special needs parents went to the board meeting on March 16th to find out more about it.

We were told that the plan was just a rumor. (Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.) But then immediately after the plan leaked, many parents were told that their child would be moved out of their home school or their child would not receive services.

Then Ms. Sledge and Dr. Pruitt called for a meeting with special needs parents on April 6th to discuss the consolidation plan. That night, Ms. Sledge claimed that students who lived south of Governors’ Drive would be consolidated at Challenger. Students north of Governors’ Drive would go to AAA.

Special Needs parents are not unreasonable. All we asked was to see a detailed description of the plan and the motivations behind it.

We were told we would have it that week. And I was foolish enough to believe it. To this date, the central office, Dr. Moore, Dr. Robinson, Mr. Birney, Mr. Blair, Mrs. McCaulley, Mrs. Morrison, and finally, Dr. Wardynski have all refused to discuss this plan with parents. I suppose that Dr. Wardynski’s promise to operate in a transparent manner, as he claimed he would on Monday, July 25th, doesn’t apply to consolidating special needs kids.

The simple truth is that they never intended to put the plan in writing. As Sledge said on April 6th, “I don’t want to put it in writing because then you’ll take it to Montgomery to complain about it.”

You see, even then, she was more worried about getting into trouble than serving students. And this is why five days before school starts we still don’t know if IEPs can be met: the leadership of our system, including it seems Dr. Wardynski, is more concerned about getting sued than doing their jobs the right way to begin with.

I suppose they fail to see the irony that if they simply did their jobs, the likelihood that they will be sued is dramatically decreased.

Cutting Special Education Again

On April 21st, the consultant recommended and the board approved firing an additional 36 Special Education personnel. 36 of the 45 Probationary Support Personnel fired that night were special education personnel.

When I asked Dr Richardson about this on June 9th at the School Closing meeting at Grissom High, he stated that “many of those support personnel will be re-hired.”

Somehow he managed to say this with a straight face.

Delayed Hiring for 2011-2012

The first job postings for teachers and aides were posted on the Huntsville City School website on July 14th. Seventeen working days before the first day of school.

They waited so long to start the process of getting ready for the new year that many Special Education Teachers, Aides, Occupational Therapists, Speech Therapists, and Physical Therapists who had worked in the system for years decided it was time to move on.

The postings, at that time, included exactly one instructional assistant position.

Step by step, the system, the board, the consultants, and the two superintendents have decimated an excellent special needs program to the point where we cannot even know five days before the start of school if the system is in a position to meet our IEPs.

__________

It was completely predictable that we were going to be understaffed and would therefore have safety issues at the start of school.  Every decision made by the central office, the board of education, the consultants they hired, and both of the superintendents who are currently working for Huntsville City Schools has lead us straight to this point.

I’ve asked Dr. Wardynski, via email as I suspect it will be a long time before he agrees to meet with me in person, about this three times since my meeting with him on Monday.

I have written to ask the following:

Dr. Wardynski,

Thank you again for meeting with me on Monday. Have you been able to determine yet if the system will be in a position to meet the IEPs starting on August 8th?

Also, if you are still uncertain about this, what specific and detailed assurances can you offer me as a parent, in an effort to demonstrate your commitment to transparency, that my son’s classroom will be sufficiently staffed to ensure a safe learning environment for him on August 8th?

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Russell

Russell Winn

2501 Glen Echo Circle, SE
Huntsville, AL 35803

On Wednesday, July 27th, at 7:01pm, just seven days before the start of school, I received the following response from Dr. Wardynski:

The post Parents Should Not Be Afraid To Send Their Kids To School appeared first on Geek Palaver.

Last night, the Huntsville City School Board and Dr. Wardynski told me, by ignoring me, that I need to be patient. By not including the special needs segregation plan on the agenda, they told me, again, that I would have to wait.

On March 17th, I was told by this board and Dr. Moore that the “rumor” that Special Needs kids were going to be moved from their home schools to either AAA or Challenger was just a rumor. They told me that I would have to wait to have it confirmed, but not to worry because David Blair assured us that “no decision could be made without the issue coming before the board.”

“You’ll have to wait.”

Beginning the week of March 21st, parents of Special Needs children were being told in IEP meetings that if they wanted services for their child, that their child would have to be moved from their current school (which was occasionally their home school) to either AAA or Challenger.

When Amy Sledge and Dr. Janice Pruitt met with Special Needs parents on April 6, 2011, they promised us that they would return to their offices the next day, put the plan to segregate kids in writing and send it to parents.

She didn’t come to the meeting with the plan in hand.

Instead she told us, “You’ll have to wait.”

When I contacted Ms. Sledge two weeks later in a phone conversation on April 21, 2011, she informed me that the “plan” was sitting on Dr. Moore’s desk, and that it would need her approval before it could be sent out. She was certain that it would be sent out in the next week or so.

“You’ll have to wait.”

On May 5th, just hours after the power was restored to most of the city, Ms. Sledge and Dr. Moore made a presentation to the board about the special needs segregation plan that they were already implementing. This was an oral presentation that offered no reasons for the plan to segregate children.

When I contacted Dr. Jennie Robinson to ask for a copy of the plan in writing, I was told on May 7th:

I wish that there was a report to share. I was disappointed that it was only a verbal report without any accompanying documentation. It really didn’t tell us much. We are continuing to ask for a solid plan and Dr. Moore said it would be forth coming at the next meeting.

“You’ll have to wait.”

When I asked Dr. Robinson on May 16th to confirm that Dr. Moore would present a plan on the meeting on the 17th, I was told that the board meeting had been postponed until May 24th. Dr. Robinson went on to say, “I asked Dr. Moore to prepare a report for that meeting and she told me Amy presented the report and that it is the final report.”

In other words, there would be no more discussion of the plan by Dr. Moore or Ms. Sledge and Dr. Pruitt.

This time, instead of being told I would have to wait, I was told, “we’re not talking about this anymore.”

I contacted Dr. Robinson to discuss this, and while she was sympathetic and concerned about the end of the school year approaching, she said that she didn’t wish to disrupt the Superintendent interviews that were fast approaching by creating a controversy between the board and Dr. Moore. In other words, she was more concerned about hiring a new superintendent than protecting the education of our children.

In short, she asked me to wait until a new superintendent was hired before making a issue of the segregation of our children.

“You’ll have to wait.”

On July 6th, I contacted Dr. Robinson to again ask when the board was planning to address the special needs consolidation. Dr. Robinson responded:

Dr. W is looking at the consolidation plan (or lack thereof) today. He should have a report for the board by the next board meeting. I’ve told him it is extremely urgent and he agrees.

The next board meeting was, at that time, scheduled for July 21, 2011. (No one knew about the special Saturday Board meeting on the 16th at that time.) I believed that this time, given how quickly Dr. Wardynski responded to the transportation issues on July 7th, that I might get some answers.

“You’ll have to wait, but maybe not much longer.”

When the agenda was published for the July 21st meeting, there was no mention of any reports connected to Special Needs.

I again contacted Dr. Robinson, who does an excellent job of responding to emails–even when her response is “You’ll have to wait” to ask about this.

When I contacted Dr. Robinson yesterday about the lack of an agenda item concerning special needs, I was told that I should wait to discuss this with Dr. Wardynski on Monday as a part of his listening tour.

“You’ll have to wait.”

There will be, after the meeting on Monday, exactly 9 working days before the beginning of the school year.

We still don’t have a “plan” for the segregation of our children. We still don’t have the Special Education teachers, aides, occupational therapists, speech therapists, or physical therapists, that our children need to receive an education. We’re still being asked to wait.

[And for those of you concerned about costs: Aides run about $10,000 a year. OTs, STs and PTs are typically part time. This system threw away $175,000 worth of food they let spoil in April because of a lack of a plan. This system is building a $40 million dollar high school that they anticipate will be running at one-third its capacity in 10 years.]

Everyday that my son’s education is delayed by “waiting until school starts to complete our hiring” as Ms. Williams reported to the board last night, everyday that my son’s education is delayed because the board doesn’t want to upset the superintendent, everyday that my son’s education is delayed because of the incompetence of the system’s leadership, the chances of his education helping him find his way out of the fog of autism and being able to live an independent life are diminished.

I will not wait any longer.

The post “You’ll Have to Wait” appeared first on Geek Palaver.

Sometimes the fates, chance, or god align things just right. It doesn’t happen often. Usually autism, or stress, or just a general funk gets in the way.

But sometimes the planets line up for us.

This morning was such a time. Today was a good day.

So there’s a new Pooh movie out today. And it’s exactly what you expect it to be. Well, maybe even a little better. I loved it, but that’s not the important thing.

The boy loves it. And that’s all that matters.

You see, he and I don’t get to go to movies on our own very often. Autism gets in the way. Most of the time he has difficulty with the movies. Maybe they’re too loud. Maybe too dark. Maybe it’s just that what he’s watching makes him feel sad, or worried, or scared and he doesn’t have a good way of getting those emotions out to the rest of us so we can tell him that we feel sad, or worried, or scared too.

There’s power in community, but sometimes connecting with that community is hard for him.

So like Christopher Robin, he reaches out to a stuffed bear, or tiger, or piglet, or woody and buzz who can understand him. Who will play with him without fear. And they have many great adventures together in the hundred-acre wood.

And like Christopher Robin’s dad, I can watch, and sometimes play along as he goes, but usually I’m in the background, waiting for that moment when the boy turns around with a smile happy to know I’m there, or a tear in need of a big hug.

And I give it to him. Gladly. Trying to quietly wipe away the tears of my own so as not to hurt him or confuse him when I can’t explain how much I love him.

But today was a good day. There were no tears (well, on the boy’s side anyway). There were no meltdowns. There were no screaming fits requiring a quick exit from our time together.

There was laughter.

There was singing.

There was happiness and joy.

When Tigger pounces balloony, by god, there was bouncing.

And when Christopher Robin and Pooh Bear walk off into the sunset together holding hands, the boy takes mine and we find each other, for a moment, in the hundred-acre wood.

And I get to play with my boy and his bear.

The Ballad of Nessie short had it right: sometimes tears are exactly right. Sometimes they make a home.

“And that was only the beginning . . .”

The post Finding Each Other in the Hundred-Acre Wood appeared first on Geek Palaver.

Six years ago tomorrow, everything changed, as I got to hold my little boy for the first time ever.

For the longest time, I was completely convinced that I could never love anyone as much as I loved his big sister. It’s true what they say about little girls and their daddies: Dads are lost forever when their daughters are born.

And I was.

And I still am.

But there’s not a day gone by since in the last six years when I haven’t fallen in love all over again with this little guy.

I am amazed by the simple joy he finds in life: sliding, bouncing, holding extended conversations with the pine straw bunny rabbit, or seeing the blue sky as if for the first time.

I am in awe of his strength when he tears off the fridge door and bounces among the spilled milk and pickle juice, or when he squeezes my mouth into an O to get me to help him say, “O-Pen.”

I am broken by his grace when he walks among the eggs on the couch without a single misstep or crack.

I am in love with the boy when through his tears and stimming he manages to find a way through the noise, the confusion, and the fog to reach out and take my hand asking for big hugs to help soothe the raging within.

And when he looks me in the eye . . . everything changes–again.

Happy Birthday little guy. I love/hate that you’re growing up, but I can’t wait to see the man you become. I know you’re gonna change everything.

The post The Day Everything Changed–Again appeared first on Geek Palaver.

In a repeating pattern of evasive answers and direct refusal to actually offer the public any specific information on the implications of the School Closing recommendations, Drs. Wilson and Richardson, joined last Thursday by Dr. Moore continued to defend the integrity of a fundamentally flawed demographer’s recommendation at Columbia High School.

(For an excellent review of the specific flaws, please read the ongoing series entitled: “Huntsville City Schools Debacle” parts one through five at http://havealittletalk.wordpress.com . The board could learn a lesson or two about the $70,000 they wasted on the demographer’s report if they took a few minutes to read those articles.)

As a reader pointed out after reading the summary of the third meeting, the responses they offer are repetitive. Richardson is still regularly claiming that specific detail and data “will just confuse it [the decision] at this point.”

Richardson has not deviated from that talking point once. Wilson, on the other hand, has become increasingly defensive of the report, stating that, “this is well researched data” even before the questioning has begun. You would think that making $500.00 a day to defend someone else’s incompetence would be enough to make you happy. It seems that Dr. Wilson disagrees.

Q&A

• Q: Why are we closing schools?
• A: Richardson responded with his Stump speech: The school system is $18.5 million in debt, and closing these schools will save approximately $2 million a year.

Please note that the amount of debt has mysteriously jumped back up to $18.5 million despite Richardson telling the crowd in attendance at the Johnson Meeting on Tuesday, June 14th that the debt had actually been overestimated. The actual debt was only $15.5 million. When I asked him about this change after the meeting, he confirmed that the actual debt was less than $18.5 million. Again, we don’t even know how much money we owe, but we are moving ahead with firing teachers and aide, and according to Richardson, we must move ahead with closing schools this year.

• Q: Since we haven’t saved much in the past with school closings, what specifically can we expect to save by closing these schools?
• A: Richardson claimed that the report in the Huntsville Times analyzing the savings from previous closings is flawed. For evidence he again cites his state average savings for closing a school. He claimed that, “the savings will occur and the State Department of Education will monitor the situation.” Perhaps, he suggests, the previous closings didn’t result in as much savings as they might have because “there wasn’t a sense of urgency” surrounding the closings.

Can anyone please explain to me how it’s possible for HCS to create a annual budget without already knowing how much it costs to operate a school? This data, which Dr. Richardson claimed he would find and post on the web on June 14th, which he promised Dr. Robinson he would provide on June 2nd, cannot be that hard to come up with.

There is no justification for why this wasn’t included in the demographer’s report to begin with. There is further no justification for not having already provided it as it has been the single most requested piece of information at these meetings.

The only reason it hasn’t been provided yet is because Dr. Richardson either already knows or suspects that it would contradict his claim that closing schools will save $2 million a year.

They have finally provided specific numbers concerning the previous consolidations of Morris/West Huntsville, Westlawn/Stone, University Place/Terry Heights, Blossomwood/East Clinton, MLK/Lincoln on the HCS website. This document was faxed from KyleKoski on June 15, 2011 at 10:09am. Hopefully Richardson will take a moment to actually explain these numbers tonight. Since Richardson had these numbers before the last meeting, I wonder why he decided not to discuss them at the meeting?

• Q: Where is the actual financial analysis?
• A: Richardson evaded the question by responding that “in July the board will look at some revised data.” He again stressed that the financial problem is the reason we are having these discussions, but he refuses to provide specific data, and even his numbers continue to change.

To the most commonly asked question, Dr. Richardson, Dr. Wilson, and Dr. Moore have no response.

• Q: A New Century parent made a statement about the difficulty moving New Century from it’s current location to Lee High School would have upon the ROTC students attempting to complete their work.
• A: Dr. Richardson sings the praises of ROTC and claims he supports them, but states that as Columbia is “overcrowded” the move needs to happen. He concludes that “there’s never a good time to move a program.”

To this heartfelt response, the crowd erupted in disapproval. Richardson ignored complaints that Columbia was actually built for New Century, by saying, “we’re not here to debate.”

Really, Dr. Richardson, if we’re not here to debate the pros and overwhelming cons of this haphazard recommendation, then exactly why are we here?

• Q: Where will Butler students be moved?
• A: Wilson responded that, “we don’t know.” Richardson followed up by saying that the attendance zones will not be developed until after the board has made a decision concerning which schools to close.

The point that Richardson is unwilling or incapable of understanding is that when you’re recommending the closing of 21% of the existing schools in a community, you have to provide specific financial data and attendance zone plans along with the recommendation. There is no other way for the board to make an informed decision.

I hope the board recognizes this point.

• Q: A Monte Sano parent states that “we don’t trust your numbers, and asks for the following information: What is the demographer’s success rate? What is the academic impact of these closings? How many new staff will be needed at the combined schools once they have a significantly higher student population?
• A: Wilson responded by saying, “Dr. Salmon is extremely accurate.” He then proceeded to ignore the questions.
• A: Richardson asked Wilson for the number of reports Dr. Salmon has done. Wilson responded, that he had done over 50, mostly in the south, since 1975. He repeated that Salmon is “very, very accurate” and defended this by saying that it’s the reason he keeps being asked to do them.
• A: Richardson finishes the response by saying that Monte Sano is an excellent school, but it’s “too small.” He claims that Wilson will compile a list of clients that Salmon and he have worked for.

Once again, there is absolutely no hard data offered and no discussion of the academic impact the closings will have upon our students.

• Q: Where will the principals of the closed schools be placed?
• A: Dr. Moore perks up, “there are five or six principal positions open this year.”

• Q: Is there a way to draw the attendance zones and transfer students plans before schools are closed?
• A: Dr. Wilson claims this is a good question and that yes, it can be done. Dr. Richardson cuts him off by saying that those plans will not be made until after the decision has been made.

• Q: With the coming of the new superintendent, why not wait on the decision to close schools?
• A: Richardson responded that a two to three month time frame is a good time track for the decision. The impact of waiting longer is $2 million per year to keep the schools open. He claims that this decision should be made now and not delayed.

• Q: What impact will these closing have upon diversity and on the community?
• A: Richardson claims that the Department of Justice will look at the community as we move toward unitary status. Wilson helpful chimes in with his agreement that “communities are important.”

Please note that later in the night Richardson claims that having state involvement in the closing process would be terrible, but here he’s arguing that the DoJ will themselves do the work that our board and it’s consultants should have done. You can’t demonize state control and lionize federal control when it suits you to pass responsibility.

• Q: Since New Century was the original motivation for building Columbia High School, why not keep New Century at Columbia and move Columbia students out?
• A: Dr. Moore claims that Columbia was not built for New Century.

Please contact any New Century teacher or parent for an opposing, and documented, viewpoint. There was much discussion about this after the meeting ended where Dr. Richardson claimed that he was hearing the exact same report from numerous parents and teachers, speaking to him independently, that the Columbia building was indeed built for New Century.

• Q: Where are the central office cuts?
• A: Richardson claims that the central office is “strangely classified.” There have been some reductions in the central office, but claims that “they’re actually understaffed. As we needed to make changes fast, it was quicker to cut staff from other areas other than the central office. He then again defended the central office as actually needing more staff. Richardson concluded, “this is a tedious process because of the difficultly in obtaining accurate data.”

If that’s the case, and there’s reason to believe that accurate data is difficult to come by since he’s offered little to none, then shouldn’t his only priority since February have been to get accurate data?

• Q: Since transfers have been one of the main causes of the problems of causing schools to decline, shouldn’t we simply stop transfer students out of older schools to newer ones?
• A: Wilson states that this would not solve the problem. Moore argued that all transfers are strictly made by the choice of the parent.

I suppose that Dr. Moore forgot that she had just made the Special Education department under Ms. Sledge force transfers upon at least 28 special needs families. (Not counting the number of students who had already been forced to transfer from other schools previously.)

• Q: Instead of closing three middle schools, why not combine them by grades?
• A: There are many issues in combining grade levels.

• Q: What other criteria, besides demographics, will be considered before closing schools?
• A: Richardson stated that he has “no other recommendation for the board concerning what other data they should consider.”

• Q: Has there been any discussion of opening additional schools?
• A: Moore stated that we may need a new middle school in the Providence area.

• Q: Why not simply redraw attendance zones to move Providence students back to Ed White?
• A: The attendance zones question will have to wait until after the school closings have happened.

But evidently discussions of building new schools can happen anytime?

• Q: Why is it necessary to move so quickly without presenting data?
• A: Richardson states that a delay of a year will cause the system to lose $2 million. A delay will hurt education reform, but “it’s a community decision.”

I suspect that Richardson had fallen off message with that final comment about this being a community decision as it’s the first time in four meetings that he’s allowed for any community role in the decision making process at all (presumably other than the ballot box during school board elections).

• Q: Will New Century retain a separate identity if it is moved to Lee High School?
• A: Moore responded, “We don’t know.”

Again, as New Century’s separate identity is a question about the academic impact these closings will have, there has been no consideration given to it.

• Q: Ms. Jackie Reed then stood to speak. As she often speaks at school board meetings and at these school closing meetings, the panel actually leaned back in their seats during her two minutes. She stated that she had seen a report about potentially demolishing schools that she recommended against. Furthermore she suggested that rather than forcing New Century to move, she would rather like to see the 200 Butler students who were moved out of Butler, returned to Butler. (Thus avoiding both of the High School recommendations found in the demographer’s report.) She concluded her comments by stating that the school board must be responsive.
• A: The panel offered her suggestions and comments no response.

When did it become the policy of the board or it’s representatives to ignore the questions and statements of the public?

• Q: Do magnet schools get additional funding?
• A: Moore responded first by saying that when they were founded that they did get additional funding, but that over time that funding has returned to basically system levels. Richardson leapt to add, as he bears no responsibility for this whatsoever, that in his opinion a Magnet school, by definition, needs additional funding. Otherwise there’s no difference between a Magnet and non-Magnet school.

• Q: As New Century operates on the block schedule and Lee doesn’t, how will the plan to combine New Century and Lee accommodate this difference?
• A: Richardson quickly responds, “I can’t answer that.” Moore also claims that she cannot speak to that issue. No one has an answer.

Again, more evidence that none of these esteemed former superintendents, the top educators in their respective systems, have given any consideration at all about the educational impact of their recommendations.

• Q: As Whitesburg Middle is operating at or near capacity, why are you considering closing it?
• A: Wilson after consulting the report states that Whitesburg Middle has a capacity of 680. It has an enrollment of 608, thus, it is not operating “at or near capacity.” He further reminds the audience that there are other options offered to the board concerning Whitesburg Middle.

I suppose that Wilson’s definition of “at or near capacity” requires enrollment to be above 90%.

• Q: There are a number of internal inconsistencies in the report. (New Century data is inconsistent in the report. Transfer chart shows students transferring out of and back into Butler.) Why doesn’t the report consider private school enrollment? As several private schools in the area are actively building new buildings to accommodate new student, what do these schools know about our city that the demographer doesn’t?
• A: The questioner’s interpretation of the transfer data is flawed. It is possible for a student to both transfer into and out of the same school.

Every question concerning the accuracy of the demographer’s report receives the same response: the data is flawless. The problem is that the people interpreting the data (parents/community) are “mistaken in their interpretation.” After all, be certain to remember that Richardson, Wilson, Salmon, and Moore are all highly esteemed former superintendents. Of course, Richardson, Wilson, Salmon, and Moore are far too busy to offer any evidence that might support their claim of a flawed interpretation. You just need to trust them.

Honestly, if you wrote it in a book, no one would believe you.

• Q: Has the consolidation of Madison City Schools, Madison County Schools and Huntsville City Schools been considered?
• A: Moore responses, “That’s been thought of, but it’s not very popular.”

In other words, Madison City and County hurt themselves laughing at such a proposal.

• Q: Another parent stood to question the quality of the data. 800 students fled Butler because the system has been ignoring it for so long.
• A: Wilson claims that “the data is in the report” and it is correct.
• Q: The questioner asked again, “Where is that data?” After waiting for a response, she then stated, “I’ll accept your response as, ‘I don’t know.’”

• Q: What is the timeline on seeing financial improvements?
• A: Richardson responds that the deficit had to be addressed this spring.

• Q: After reprimanding the crowd for shouting questions from the floor, the floor microphone moderator Don Phelps stood to ask Richardson his own question. He asked, “What happens when the state comes in?”
• A: Richardson gladly responded to this hanging curveball by saying, “The state will offer no public input on the cuts, they will just happen. That’s not the best way to go.”

It’s always good to be able to have your own staff ask you questions that you really want to answer, isn’t it? So, the difference between what Richardson and Wilson are doing and what the state might do is that Richardson and Wilson, who are making a combined $1,100 per day for coming to these meetings, are willing to come to these meetings to hear the public out.

In other words, really, you little people who aren’t making $1,100 per day should be happy we’re showing up to listen to your “ideas” at all.

• Q: Since the Merts building is so expensive, why don’t you sell it and move the central office to an unused property like Stone or Lincoln Mill?
• A: Just as the Whitesburg Church buying Whitesburg Middle/Elementary is a “rumor,” that there are many buyers hoping to purchase the Merts building is also a rumor.

And so concluded the fourth school closure meeting at Columbia High School.

The fifth and final meeting will be held tonight at the Lee High School cafeteria at 6:30pm. I will again be there live-tweeting. Feel free to follow along on twitter @russwinn.

The post Q&A: Huntsville City School Closing Meeting #4 Summary appeared first on Geek Palaver.

Leader of the Playground

Once when the girl was still not quite three and the boy was happiest in his car seat carrier, we were traveling from Georgia and stopped at McDonald’s. Cause you know, you’ve just got to stop at McDonald’s. Doesn’t matter if you’re hungry (it’s actually better if you’re not). Doesn’t matter if you’re less than an hour from the end of an eight hour drive.

The playground under the golden arches is a siren song to bored ears.

So, ya stop, and ya play. Resistance is futile.

Thing is, with any playground, you’re never really sure what you’re going to get. Sometimes the kids are awesome; sometimes they’re not. So especially when the girl is barely big enough to climb the slide on her own, you watch and listen.

Besides, it’s McDonald’s. What else are you going to do? Read the menu?

So on this stop, the girl is easily five years younger than anyone else playing, and we’re watching closely as they play tag.

When you have to make use of every muscle in your body to move from one step to another, you tend to get tagged. A lot.

Yet she’s having fun, which is good. There is laughter, which is great. My girl is happy, which is heaven.

Until the big kids decide to play a different game.

Being old and crusty, on the outside of childhood looking in, I don’t have a clue what the change in the game was. It still looked like tag to me, but for whatever reason, the girl had had enough. And so, at almost three, she stands to make her speech:

“No, I don’t want to play that. I want to play follow the leader.” And she turns her back to play follow the leader on her own.

Again, I’m old. I don’t have any idea how follow the leader works without both leaders and followers. All I can say is, it’s a shame that we lose our imagination as we get old. The girl had no problem imagining it or doing it.

And so she played, follow the leader, blazing her trail. And as I watched, the older kids, being cool kids with great imaginations, went and followed.

So she’s having fun again, which is good. There is laughter, which is great. My girl, not quite three, followed the beat of her own drum, which is heaven.

Especially to her dad who can’t imagine a cooler little girl.

Thanks for the swinging.

It seems that the attention on Father’s Day is sent in the wrong direction. When you’ve got the two greatest kids on the planet who at almost three were already blazing their own path, honestly, I’m just grateful to be along for the swinging.

The post Follow the Leader: On Being a Dad appeared first on Geek Palaver.

On the last night of both Dr. Moore’s and Dr. Richardson’s tenure, the school board continued to hear recommendations from Dr. Richardson that they should ignore “any complaints that you hear about my recommendations.” Particularly complaints from parents.

Isn’t this at least part of the reason that we find ourselves in a mess?

As those making recommendations to the board are not required to actually distribute their recommendations to the public before the meeting starts, what follows are simply my quickly taken notes. They are likely incomplete.

Dr. Richardson recommended the follow action items to the board:

• Reduction of Huntsville City Schools vehicles from 109 down to about 56. Madison County will maintain the remaining fleet of vehicles. He has previously stated that this will save approximately $1.2 million dollars.
• Altering the system’s cell phone contracts and better managing who has a cell phone and why. Richardson claims that this will save approximately $32,000.
• Maintain the non-tenured employees who were laid off, but who will be rehired (evidently they already know who these people are), at the same salary level they were employed at before being dismissed. This will cost the system $77,000, but Richardson believes it’s a justifiable and reasonable cost. He added that he had to run the numbers five times before he believed he had accurate numbers. (Why exactly would determining salaries require running numbers five times? Again, we have no reason to trust any of the numbers that come out of the central office. This may be the first and last time that Richardson has recommended something that I agree with. These teachers should be paid at the level they were paid last year. Frankly, if we know by June 16th that we’re going to re-hire them, why were they laid off in the first place? Also, Richardson has shown remarkable persistence in getting precise numbers where $77,000 is concerned. Why hasn’t he shown similar persistence in getting precise numbers for the closings he’s recommended?
• Transportation Efficiencies Recommendations:
  • Increase the runs each bus makes from one to two. As the cost is approximately $50,000 per year for one or two runs, two cut the transportation costs in half.
  • Reduce the number of monitors from 55 down to ten. This will save approximately $45,000 per year. Here he claimed that due to a coding error in how some special needs students were labeled, the system lost $400,000. I suspect that these are funds that could have been reimbursed to the system had the coding error not occurred, but he did not go into sufficient detail
  • He doesn’t recommend any cuts in insurance because, as he says, the moment you cut insurance is the moment you discover you need it. While a witty statement, he provides no evidence supporting this recommendation.
  • He has requested that Elementary school begin at 7:30am instead of 8:00am. Again, while recommending a staggered schedule that would require elementary parents to begin their day a half hour earlier, Richardson insists that the board should ignore any statements from parents of inconvenience.

Dr. Richardson closed out his final board meeting by thanking and praising Dr. Ann Roy Moore’s leadership and willingness to work with him on, among many other things, closing down 21% of our schools.

Really, that moment of zen is about all you need to know about the tenure of Dr. Richardson at Huntsville City Schools.

In addition to these recommendations, the board also voted to extend the contract of Dr. James Wilson of Education Planners, LLC, the “stand-in” demographer for Dr. Steve Salmon of both Eduction Planners and the GUDE Management Group, LLC (to whom we’ve paid $70,000 for their flawed recommendations), at a rate of $500.00 per day.

(For an excellent page by page review of the report, please see “Huntsville City Schools 2011 Debacle, Part 1. What $70,000 + Buys These Days” and “Huntsville City Schools 2011 Debacle, Part 2: What $70,000+ Buys These Days, cont’d.” Havealittletalk rips the report to shreds. Not only should we refuse to follow these recommendations for closing, but we should also demand our money back.)

There was no clear explanation offered as to why since we paid Dr. Salmon and GUDE Management, we should now pay Wilson and Education Planners instead. What, did the $70k not cover someone coming to the meetings to discuss the recommendations?

They, of course, approved the $175,000 contract for Dr. Wardynski. You may view the actual contract here. Excluding the salary, it strikes me as fairly typical

Finally as reported in the Huntsville Times today, the fired principal of Butler High, Jacqueline Wyse, has been moved up to the central office to serve as a “reading specialist.” Ms. Wyse will, for the next two years, receive her principal’s salary while offering “specialized” recommendations concerning reading.

As I predicted, the Board did not allow any time for public comments in the board meeting.

Allow me to offer two pieces of advise to the board should they wish to try and regain the public’s trust:

1. Stop ignoring, interfering with, and silencing public comments. We are your employers. We have the right to be heard by you.
2. From now own, when you receive a specific report at a public meeting, share that report with the public in writing.

This isn’t that difficult, nor does it have to be expensive (although, seriously, you just paid $70,000 for a PowerPoint that copied slides from the Chamber, BRAC, and the City; you have no right to complain about money). You could just post it on the web with the agenda. This would allow the public to actually follow your actions. For example, I attended the meeting and took extensive notes, but I didn’t know Ms. Wyse had a new job until I read it in the Times.

Of course, publishing the recommendations and reports will also allow the public to follow your actions. You, of course, have no problem with this. Right?

With few exceptions, I have found the board to be remarkably accessible. Most of them, most of the time go out of their way to talk to the public. I have personally had many extended conversations with both Mr. Birney (or Topper as he was kind enough to offer) and Dr. Robinson my board representative (Jennie). I have found them both to be ready and willing to email, call, and even meet with an individual parent when the parent needs to discuss something. I’m please to report that they do not seem to be willing to follow Richardson’s recommendations of ignoring the public at least privately.

However Dr. Robinson’s has been the most vocal supporters on cutting public comments out of public meetings, and their refusal to publish the actual reports they are receiving and approving will alway leave the public wondering what they are hiding; thus, leading directly to a loss of faith in their leadership.

Either way, godspeed, Dr. Richardson. I’m sure you’ll be happy to return to a system where consultants aren’t paid $600.00 per day to tell your school board not to listen to your issues with their plans.

The post Richardson’s Final Official Recommendations to the Huntsville City Schools Board appeared first on Geek Palaver.

Tuesday night at the first public meeting to discuss Dr. Salmon’s demographic recommendations for the closing of nine schools in Huntsville in 2012-2013 school year, approximately 250 people came out to discuss the closings and the implications for our students, our schools, and our community. Unfortunately, Dr. Richardson seemed to only want to discuss generalities and platitudes. “Tough?” I think not. While Dr. Salmon did not attend the meeting, he sent his assistant, Dr. James Wilson re-present the recommendations in an abbreviated form, to assist Dr. Ed Richardson, and occasionally Dr. Ann Roy Moore, in answering questions from the community.

In case you were wondering, Dr. Richardson answered or contributed to the answering of approximately 90% of the questions asked. Dr. Moore, often looking bored, responded to only a few. The board members sat quietly in the back of the auditorium and responded to questions only after the meeting was adjourned.

Drs. Wilson, Moore, and Richardson

In short, Dr. Richardson, who’s assignment with the board will end in June (at which time he will return to his home where his family is not affected by school closings), is the person calling the shots.

Lost Faith

After Dr. Wilson offered a quick review of the Demographer’s Report, in which he laid responsibility for the necessity of school closings at the feet of Dr. Craig Pouncey, deputy state superintendent, he again pointed out that Huntsville has experienced a growth rate of 13.5% from 2000 – 2009. Unlike the rest of the state, we have seen our labor force grow by 8.2% over that same period. Even our “live births” (numbers of students born in Huntsville) have increased by nearly 10% over that period, and yet, for some unexplainable reason (at least to Dr. Wilson, and presumably to Dr. Richardson), Huntsville City Schools enrollment has remained flat.

Let me see if I might can offer some insight: Parents of children in Huntsville have lost faith in the leadership of the school system. For that reason, private school enrollment and home schooling has ballooned in the city over the past ten years. Perhaps we’ve grown weary of being told, as Dr. Wilson did several times, that “this is just a recommendation,” and “there are a lot of options in this recommendation.” Please sir, save the spin for people who aren’t actually paying attention.

There aren’t that many options. Here’s the list:

1. Close Butler High (No Option)
2. Move New Century (No Option)
3. Close Davis Hills (No Option)
4. Maybe also close Ed White and Westlawn (One Option)
5. Either close Whitesburg Middle and Elementary or Mt. Gap Middle and Elementary (One Option)
6. Close Monte Sano (No Option)
7. Close West Mastin Lake (No Option)
8. Close Montview (No Option)

Out of the recommendations they’ve offered, there are exactly two “options.” When you exaggerate or claim that we just can’t have specific data to support your claims, we’re not going to believe you. When you segregate our kids without our approval or input, we’re not going to believe you. And if parents of students don’t trust the leadership of the school system, we would be foolish to send our kids to your schools.

Our Huntsville City Schools children’s young futures are taking flight: right out of our system.

Q&A

The meeting was then opened for question and statements by the public. These could either be submitted in writing or could be asked directly. The Huntsville PTA was in charge of deciding the order in which the questions we asked. One recommendation for those planning to attend the future meetings, sign up to speak rather than simply submitting your questions in writing. The written questions often received quick dismissive answers.

Here are some of the questions and answers offered at last night’s meeting.

Q: What are the specific cost savings anticipated by the cuts?

A: Dr. Richardson shared with the crowd the same figures he shared Thursday night that he received from the Alabama State Board of Education averages: An elementary school costs $300,000 per year, a middle school is $500,000 and a high school is $700,000. There has been no study done, and there is no study planned to develop specific figures until after the school board decides which schools to close. Dr. Richardson stated to the board’s similar question on April 2nd that offering that data now would “just confuse it [the decision] at this point.” You can watch Dr. Richardson’s response to Dr. Robinson for yourself at about the 46 minute mark of the video posted on the HCS website.

Q: Since previous school closings have not generated anticipated savings, how can we be sure that these closings will?

A: Dr. Richardson shared the same general figures again, but this time added that, “selling a school will make up much of the deficit,” and “the elimination of a principal will save considerable funds.”

Q: What is the anticipated impact on traffic patterns and busing requirements of the closings.

A: Dr. Richardson responded that they have not yet studied that issue, but that it would need to be studied before the plan is submitted to the Department of Justice for their approval. He added that it currently costs $50,000 to own and operate a bus for a year. We current run routes with buses that are half full, and we could “easily double the number of students we transport.” New School Zoning lines would not be developed until after the Board had arrived at their decision, but before the plan was submitted to the DoJ for approval.

Q: What is the timeline for the decision?

A: Dr. Richardson responded that the public comment meetings on the demographer’s report will continue for the next two weeks. The board will make their decision towards the end of the summer and the plan will be submitted to the DoJ around the beginning of October 2011. The Board of Education will make the decision.

Q: How did the demographer’s report move from the data contain in the report towards recommendations at the end of the report particularly when the report shows that Monte Sano is operating and is projected to operate above capacity for the next ten years?

A: Dr. Wilson’s response was to basically avoid the question. He did state, after being asked the question numerous times, that he would look into providing that information at some point in the future. He did offer the follow statistics on Monte Sano’s enrollment which supported the questioner’s claim of operating above capacity.

• Monte Sano Capacity: 176
• 2005: 229
• 2010: 237
• 2015: 222
• 2020: 226

Q: What would be the impact on transportation and the future placement of the Butler students?

A: Dr. Moore responded for the first time that it has yet to be decided where Butler high school students would be placed. The rumor (and we know how reliable rumors are with Dr. Moore-they usually turn out to be true) is that they will be placed at Lee and Johnson, but this is just a “rumor.”

Q: What impact will this recommendation have on special needs students, will they be moved again, and were special needs students taken into consideration in this plan?

A: Dr. Wilson responded that “they were taken into consideration,” and he cited as evidence “a slide near the end before the recommendations.” Having reviewed those slides, I have found only one reference to a slide with data entitled, “Non-Attendance Zone Schools and Special Programs.” There appears to be no discussion of the impact on special needs students who currently attend a school recommended for closing. (By the way, this was a written question. It is far more beneficial to ask the questions directly from the microphone.)

Q: When will you look at specific costs and benefits for closing a school? When will specific data be shared with the public?

A: Dr. Richardson responded again, that “this is a first shot,” but that the data will not be considered until after the Board had arrived at a decision.

Q: Why haven’t other cuts been considered before the closing of a school? Specifically, where are the cuts to the central office staff?

A: Dr. Moore claims that the central office staff (not just people who have an office in the central office) represents 3% of the staffing for Huntsville City Schools. When this number was challenged, Dr. Richardson stated that these numbers were “public information” and should be shared. As these have been numbers that numerous parents have repeatedly asked for only to be denied, I’m not holding my breath on this one; I’ve asked the same question before myself.

Q: When will the building conditions study be released to the public?

A: Dr. Richardson seemed to have difficulty understanding what this (written) question was intending to ask. The public expounded for him. Has there been a study on the current condition and maintenance requirements of the buildings in the system, and if so when will it be released to the public? After stating that that information was public information, he claimed that “nobody’s asked for that information before.” Perhaps he wasn’t listening Thursday night when Dr. Robinson asked him for that specific information. Again, the central office follows the pattern of claiming they’re open and transparent, while refusing to publish information that has been requested. (Again, this is the same central office that Special Needs Parents have been dealing with for months over a single report.”

Conclusions

A few final suggestions for people planning to attend the next meeting at Grissom High on Thursday, June 9, 2011 at 6:30pm.

1. Signup to ask your question at the microphone. You’ll get a much more detailed answer from the panel.
2. Bring a crowd of your supporters, but be polite to other groups. The Save Monte Sano group had nearly everyone of their questions answered while many others were left waiting.
3. Take notes and bring specific details. This receives a much better response.
4. Stand up for your children.

And one final word to Dr. Richardson. You claimed, at least twice, Tuesday night that parents, “always support high standards until their kid brings home a D.” Respectfully sir, good parents support high standards even when their child doesn’t reach them. You are not winning public trust by insulting us. Please stop.

The post Lost Faith: HCS Schools Closing First Meeting appeared first on Geek Palaver.

The boy is crying. Again. Except “crying” doesn’t capture it. He is bawling. He is screaming. He is weeping. He is wailing. He is furious.

He is afraid. And I have no idea why.

Just moments ago he was happy. All was right in the world in which he lives. Just moments ago.

Maybe he’s hurt himself when I wasn’t looking. Maybe his skin feels like it’s exploding. Maybe Elmo on this episode has a slightly deeper voice that still sounds too high to me, but makes all the difference in the world to him. Maybe the orange magic marker he’s been carrying around since Friday isn’t exactly the right shade anymore. Maybe his little trampoline isn’t bouncing him high enough.

All I can do is hold him and cry too. And I think to myself for the nine thousandth time since he was two and a half: I really want to understand my son.

I want to be able to connect with him. To see that magic marker as the window into the orange universe that it is for him. To taste the cacophony of music, vibrations, sounds, and sometimes words that echo across his tongue, down his back, through the balls of his feet as his bounces on them.

Like him, I want to hug the air and feel her hugging back.

I want to understand him, but when I need to the most, it just doesn’t happen. Beings living in different dimensions of space and time just can’t.

And yet, occasionally, it happens. Just enough for me to believe again. Just enough for me to wake up in the middle of the night with tears rolling down cause we were talking, he and I, just talking in the middle of my dream.

“Hey dad, CATCH!” “Hey dad, I want a hug.” “Hey dad . . .”

Just talking.

A couple of weeks back Sigan Hartley, a University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher, published a study that showed that 30% of dads with autistic, Downs and fragile X syndrome children experience depression. They already knew that moms basically have PTSD on levels similar to soldiers coming home from war. Somehow it was unique enough to hear about dads that it deserved to be published.

While I appreciate the attention, please, spend your time and energy studying autism, Downs, and fragile X instead. Help me understand my boy; I can deal with the depression.

I just want to understand him. Is that asking too much? Please?

- – -

And the boy is laughing. Again. Except “laughing” doesn’t capture it. Words really can’t. And while this change is a welcomed one, a wonderful one, a joyous one, I still don’t understand.

All I can do is hold him when he comes to climb in my lap.

All I can do is watch the tears roll down his cheeks because the joke is just too funny,

and cough a little because the laughter hurts a bit,

and laugh till I cry.

connected with my little guy

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4L9JvSS-ti8']

The post Understanding My Boy appeared first on Geek Palaver.

When you have an epiphany, it’s a good idea to write it down. I’ve long since been of the opinion that if you don’t write it down, it didn’t happen. So on those rare moments when a clear thought does wind it’s way up my spine to enlighten my darken mind, I have to put it down. Otherwise that light will go out. And if there’s anything that we must rage against, as Dylan Thomas said, it’s the dying of the light.

And so I write to rage against meaninglessness.

My insight tonight happened as a series of things came together. Thanks to a friend for kicking it off with your post earlier today. You wrote:

[The LEA] only wants to help those who are severe and not the ones who might fall through the cracks that have a chance to make it if they were given just a little bit of help.

While this wasn’t our experience, it did make me stop and ask of myself: Is it possible that my son’s severity is a gift?

It’s important to pay attention to that tickle as it moves up your spine.

When we speak of autism, we speak of it as a spectrum. There is a vast range of gift, talents, and abilities when it comes to the spectrum. There are those who are severely autistic. There are children and adults who’s autism is so severe that they will possibly never find a way to communicate with the world outside themselves. There are those who cannot speak, but learn other ways of communicating. There are people, who like our boy, don’t communicate clearly via speech at the beginning of their lives, but have the possibility of learning as they grow. And there are those who don’t seem to have a problem talking, but instead have difficulty recognizing non-verbal language or (well, this is the case with many who aren’t on the spectrum, too) nuance and sarcasm.

Frankly, I haven’t even begun to describe the range. Autism isn’t just a rainbow of visible light; it encompasses infrared and ultraviolet light as well. Sometimes you can see the disability. Sometimes you can’t.

And sometimes the disability that you can see is easier to deal with than the one you can’t.

We can see our boy’s disability and so can nearly everyone else who comes into contact with him. His disability is visible and audible; it isn’t hidden below the surface.

We don’t have to explain to those who interact with him that he isn’t being rude; he has an illness. We don’t have to defend his difficulty with making eye-contact, or his stimming, or his humming, or his bouncing. No one assumes that our boy is just misbehaving. And despite our struggles to understand him when he’s asking for things, or crying, or laughing, everyone knows that we’re telling the truth when we say that our child has a disability.

Sometimes severity drives a spike through my heart. When I know that my boy is screaming at me to get me to understand what he wants, what he needs, who he is, my life stops for a while.

But we find a way through. And the boy learns and talks, and life begins again.

But when I see my friends having to scream on behalf of their child, having to defend their child to others who think the kid is just bad, having to fight for just a little help with reading or writing or math; it’s then that I know, I see and I rage with them.

Sometimes severity is a gift.

The post Sometimes Severity is a Gift appeared first on Geek Palaver.

Special needs Parents for the Education of All Kids

Special needs Parents for the Education of All Kids (S.P.E.A.K.) will be hosting an open forum for all Parents of special needs kids on Wednesday, May 25, 2011 from 6:00 – 7:00 pm at Merrimack Hall, 3320 Triana Blvd., Huntsville, Alabama 35803.

This meeting is open to any parent or guardian of a special needs child (any child with an IEP) in Huntsville City Schools. S.P.E.A.K. is a group of special needs parents in Huntsville who are concerned about the quality and direction of the education our special needs children are receiving in Huntsville City Schools.

This meeting will provide you with the following:

• An opportunity to meet other special needs parents in Huntsville City Schools so that you may learn you are not alone in your interactions and struggles with the school system.
• Sources of information concerning the current plan by the central office to segregate our kids into two schools.
• A discussion about the New Superintendent Search Process.

If you are interested in this organization, please take a look at www.speakup4specialkids.org. There is also a link on that page to sign up for additional information. Just click on the “Join Us” banner at the top of the page.

If you too feel strongly about speaking for those who cannot, please consider joining us for this meeting on Wednesday, May 25th. It will be well worth your time, and it will be one more way to hold the superintendent and the board of education accountable for their decisions and actions.

Together, we will S.P.E.A.K. for those who cannot.

The post Special Needs Parent’s Meeting Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 6:00pm appeared first on Geek Palaver.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms in my life. I wouldn’t be the man that I am today without you. But as much as I love each of you, this one goes out to my mom, Evelyn.

Mom and the baby girl feeding fish.

Narrowing down all that you have taught me in our short time together is nearly impossible, mom. You taught me to climb trees. You taught me to make homemade biscuits (but mine were never very good). You taught me to pick up after myself (which, I still only do when you’re coming to town, by the way). You taught me to say thank you to everyone who does anything for me. Ever.

So coming up with just one thing, one best thing, that I learned from you mom is hard, but I think I’ve managed to narrow it down to at least two.

It’s funny that most of what we learn from our parents, we learn when they’re not trying to teach us anything at all. We learn it when we’re all just going about our business, dealing with our feeble attempts to just make it to the end of the day. (This is something that I try to remember with my own kids, but I usually screw it up.)

But since this is true, then the best thing I ever learned from my mom, I think I learned when we were all working together in The Sandwich Shop in the Mall.

For about six years or so (I can’t remember exactly; it was many miles ago) while I was in high school and college, mom and dad owned The Sandwich Shop in the Statesboro Mall. It was here that I think I learned my most important lessons from her during the times when she was too busy to actually try and teach me anything at all.

If you’ve ever owned a family business, you know that the vacations, holidays, and even just days off are far too rare. So you adjust to schedule, and push through. This was how we operated at the Sandwich Shop. Working until we could pull the gate closed at 9 when the mall closed, rushing home to make the chess squares for the next day, dragging in before opening the next morning to make the salads.

Food service, in other words. It was hard, but somehow, Mom, you always found a way to uncover the joy in making sandwiches, chili, salads, and of course, sweet tea.

And so the best thing I ever learned from you mom was two fold. First, you should always find a way to love the work you have to do. This, maybe more than anything else, has served me well as I also worked in jobs that weren’t always my first choice. Because of your leadership, I still found a way to love doing sleeve jobs on tuxes before prom, calling doctors about jobs in a telemarketing firm, selling software, staying up all night at children and youth lock-ins, struggling to meet a deadline for a grant, and grading endless stacks of 101 portfolios. If you could find joy in slicing tomatoes every morning, I can find it in a well-written sentence.

But the second thing that you taught me as we served food together was that a life of service to others is a life worth living. And that, Mommy, is the best thing you ever taught me. (So far.)

Happy Mother’s Day. I love you.

The post The Best Things Mom Taught Me appeared first on Geek Palaver.

So it seems that playing in a park with the kids at the beginning of an abbreviated spring break isn’t a good idea for someone trying to work with the Huntsville City Schools Board of Education these days. One must be constantly vigilant or else risk missing out on the “secret” meetings the Board decides to call.

Yesterday afternoon, our School Board met with Dr. Ed Richardson, the special consultant they have hired to give themselves political cover, at the Sun Room of the Holiday Inn in Downtown Huntsville. According to the Board President, Topper Birney, “We cannot do business in private, but this was not a business meeting. This was giving us some information on what changes we had to make. No decisions were made I promise you that.” Am I the only one who doesn’t feel comfortable accepting Mr. Birney’s promise right now?

Either way, I find it astonishing that the school board, whose credibility is at an all time low, would take such a risky step of so clearly violating the law, regardless of what Mr. Brooks, the board’s attorney, claims. Here’s a copy of the Alabama Open Meetings Law. Take a look at it and see if you think this meeting was a meeting or not.

But regardless of the legality of this meeting, the real question for parents who have children in the system is the questionable advice that the board is receiving from Dr. Richardson. Thanks to the excellent reporting Crystal Bonvillian of the Huntsville Times, we have a record of the following statements that were made about the secret meeting:

Richardson also said he wanted to stress to board members to allow the superintendent or a designated board spokesman, like the board president, to address issues publicly.

“These should be the only two who speak for the board,” Richardson said. “That way you don’t have board members speaking out with limited information, or portraying a lack of trust among each other.” [Emphasis Added]

So, according to Dr. Richardson, the only speakers for the board should be the Superintendent, or possibly the board president. No other member of the board should make a public statement. Thus, Dr. Richardson wishes to increase the power and influence of the HCS Superintendent in the future. No longer should the board members speak their opinions to the public.

Funny, I thought the board was made up of elected officials who should be responsive to the public. Please tell me we are not paying for this advice.

Dr. Richardson’s excellent advice continues:

Another focus was on how board members obtain data from system employees. Richardson said the board should get that information from the superintendent or her designee instead of going directly to a principal or other school system employee.

“If the board members are calling those in the ranks, it undermines the superintendent and you don’t have trust,” Richardson said. “And employees have confusion over who they work for.” [Emphasis Added]

Let me see if I can help the superintendent, the board, everyone in the central office, including Mrs. Amy Sledge, and Dr. Richardson understand who they work for. I’m going to try and be polite, so respectfully, they work for us.

Their job, the reason that they are being paid, is to help the community educate our students. Respectfully, if they allow Dr. Richardson’s recommendations to become board policy, they are only perpetuating the same processes that have currently placed our system 20 million dollars in debt. The reason we are in dire straits right now is because the board abdicated their responsibility in supervising the superintendent. Relinquishing their ability to question the directors of divisions in the central office will allow the future superintendent to continue to shelter her or his employees as Dr. Moore has done so for Mrs. Sledge.

This is not acceptable.

To accomplish their job to educate our students, the board and the central office must involve the community not an outsider who has no stake in the outcome of his recommendations. They should especially involve the parents of the students they are attempting to educate. What they absolutely must not do is exclude the people who pay their salaries from discussions of plans about how to best education our children.

Frankly, if the board wanted to have a secret meeting with someone yesterday, it should have been with the parents of the students they’re responsible for to discussion the segregation plans that are currently being implemented in our city.

An appointed official who, even after being fired, still has the ability to abuse our school system, our teachers, and our students, does not need any more power or influence. We elected the board to represent us. They cannot do that by remaining silent and refusing to question questionable activities and decisions made by the central office.

That, Dr. Richardson, is what is unacceptable.

The post Consultant’s Bad Advice to the Huntsville City School Board at their Secret Meeting appeared first on Geek Palaver.

“Always recognize that human individuals are ends, and do not use them as means to your end.”

—Immanuel Kant.

Sometimes it’s important to take a step back especially when you feel yourself approaching an abyss of fear, uncertainty and doubt. It’s important to ask questions. To review what has happened. To ask, could it actually be a good thing, a fair thing, for my child?

Immanuel Kant says, “Live your life as though your every act were to become a universal law.” This means that when I’m deciding on a course of action, I should ask myself, “Would I be willing to live in a world where everyone did what I’m about to do?”

For myself, yes, I am completely willing to live in a world where everyone stood up for the best interests of their children. I am completely willing to live in a world where everyone spoke for those who cannot speak for themselves.

But do I have reason to believe that the Huntsville City Schools Central Office, Mrs. Amy Sledge, Dr. Ann Roy Moore, and the Board of Education are acting in such a way that the principle of their action could be a law for the whole world? To answer that question, we need to review their actions over the past few weeks.

On March 17, 2011 a “rumor” leaked that the Central Office was planning to place autism students in Huntsville City Schools at the Academy for Academics and Arts.

Parents showed up to the School Board meeting that night to ask about this rumor, and to implore the Board to not take this action. This is an act of segregation and parents, looking out for the best interests of their children, oppose it. Segregation is wrong because it robs our community of the diversity that it needs to survive. Inclusion is crucial for all children because all children have special needs.

This is segregation; this is not fair.

At the board meeting that night, parents were told, it’s just a rumor. There is no “plan.” Dr. Moore claimed of the rumors, “I think this may have been carried a little bit to an extreme. Right now it’s just discussion on how to give the best services to our students that is possible.”

Parents received assurances that no plan will be implemented without the discussion and approval of the Board.

Beginning the following week, parents began attending their children’s Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings for next year. Numerous parents have been told that their children will be moved to a new school next year. For many of us, this follows moves in previous years. Moves that have had a negative impact on our children’s progress. As it often will take months of adjustment to adapt to their new settings, for many of our kids nine months of education turns into only seven, if we’re lucky.

Thus, the “plan” is being implemented without the public discussion or public approval of the board.

This is not fair.

On Wednesday, April 6, 2011, parents asked to meet with Mrs. Amy Sledge, the director of Special Education, to discuss, “the plan,” the moves, and the rumors. Rather than coming to the meeting with the plan in hand to share with us and discuss with us, she showed up sharing a general outline of a plan and claiming that she doesn’t want to publish a plan on the HCS website because parents would then “take that plan to Montgomery to complain that the central office is forcing kids to move.”

She claimed that she would return to her office on Thursday morning, write the plan down and share it with parents. To date, no plan has been shared with parents.

On Thursday, April 7th, parents attended the Board Meeting and heard Mr. Blair ask Dr. Moore if the Board could seeing the plan in writing. Dr. Moore responded that the “plan” was still in development and that it did not make sense to share the plan with the board until it was completed. Evidently, presenting an incomplete plan is wrong, but implementing an incomplete plan makes perfect sense.

This is not fair.

So, where does that leave parents? Is it possible that the “plan” could be good for our children? The clearest answer to that question is that Mrs. Sledge, Dr. Moore, the Central Office, and perhaps the Board appear to believe that the plan is not good for our children; otherwise, they would have no objection to sharing it with parents in writing and seeking their input.

Since they don’t trust their own plan (even though they are legally required under the IEP to involve parents in their child’s education plan), parents of special needs children have no reason to believe that this “plan” is good for their children.

We have no reason to believe that it is fair.

We have made extensive attempts to connect with, to work with, to aid Huntsville City Schools in the process of educating our children. We are not seeking special treatment. We are not simply look out for the needs of our own children. We are simply insisting that the central office, Mrs. Sledge and Dr. Moore, follow the law and discuss public plans for our school system with the public.

We are seeking fairness: nothing more.

This is a reasonable request. We are seeking to be involved in our children’s education, and we’re being turned away empty handed. We are being mocked. We are being accused of obstruction. We have no reason to trust that they are looking out for the best interests of the children.

This is why we are standing up and speaking up for those who cannot speak for themselves.

We need you to stand with us because we’re fighting for the fair treatment of your children, too.

The post Speaking For Those Who Cannot: A Review of Huntsville City Schools Actions Toward Students appeared first on Geek Palaver.