Post updated on July 9th.
The Statesville Record & Landmark has an editorial in today's paper in which they talk about Dr. Holliday's bid to be Kentucky's next education commissioner. Here is a link to the on-line version of the editorial.The editorial states that Dr. Holliday's selection as one of the finalists for the Kentucky position is an honor for I-SS and that it comes on the heels of Holliday's selection as NC Superintendent of the year and the selection of I-SS for a 2008 Baldrige National Quality Award.
The editorial does not mention the selection process for the Superintendent's award. There was no statewide vote taken and the I-SS teachers/teacher assistants were not asked for their opinions. Dr. Holliday simply submitted his own application for the award and had his buddies in the Central Office write letters of recommendation. Then the NC superintendents association looked at the applications submitted and decided whose turn it was to receive the award this year.
Speaking of the Baldrige award, the editorial does not mention the amount of money that the Baldrige effort has cost the school system. In the time that Dr. Holliday has been superintendent, I-SS has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in salaries for Central Office administrators whose primary job is to push the Baldrige model, thousands of dollars a year for Baldrige materials, thousands of dollars for Baldrige Consultants, thousands of dollars for Baldrige training, and thousands of dollars for travel to Baldridge seminars. This is all money that could have been used to provide the resources needed in the classrooms and to keep the 70 Teacher Assistants from being fired this summer because there is no money left in the school budget to pay them.
The editorial also mentions the improvements in SAT scores and graduation rates but does not mention that those improvements are due to the dedication of the teachers and teacher assistants and that those improvements were attained in spite of the Baldrige model and not because of it. The editorial does not mention the amount of stress that all the assessments and data collection has put on the teachers and students. The editorial does not mention the number of excellent teachers who have left I-SS and have gone to other school systems where the value of the teachers is appreciated and where teachers are freely allowed to use their skills for the benefit of the students.
I say that Dr. Holliday's application for the Kentucky position is just another example of his self promotion and that I am proud to be one of Dr. Holliday's vocal detractors.
I wanted to add that saying that the Baldrige award is an national award gives it way more credit than it deserves. It is true that the Baldrige is a national award in that any school system in the country can apply for the award. But in reality only 11 school systems applied for the award. That means that I-SS was selected the best of those 11 applicants. There are thousands of school systems in the US. If the Baldrige model is such a great educational method, as Dr. Holliday advocates, then why are there so few school systems using it? There are thousands of school systems achieving great successes without the burden and cost of adopting the Baldrige model. I am sure that, with the right leadership, I-SS could do the same.
I agree 100% with your comments. If only we could get the newspaper to print the amount of money that has been spend by the system on Doc Holliday's pet project(Baldrige), the public would be enraged. I only hope and pray that if he does get the new job the BOE will have enough sense to not put one of his Baldrige buddies in charge of the system.
ReplyDeleteIf you all haven't figured it out yet, the Statesville Record and Landfield is a social networking newspaper only. Many of us have submitted editorials that have not been published. Dr. Holliday has evidently "snowed"
ReplyDeletethe editorial staff. Our only hope now is to have a local TV station to come in and do a whistleblower report
Mr. Klaene's comments are right on target! The job of getting a really good superintendent to replace Holliday should not be too difficult. What we need is the citizens' group to be in on all interviews of candidates and be allowed to ask questions, get answers, and have a real say in who is hired to run this system.
ReplyDeleteI am not a betting man, but if I were, I'd bet that Dr. Holliday will come back to town, tell the board what salary was offered, and the board will make him a counter offer. It has happened before.
ReplyDeleteRight on to all of you. I am a teacher in ISS. I have worried all summer, cried about it, who knows if I have a job in the fall. If you guys have a whistleblower with a news station, bring up the fact that Holliday has not let any of his teachers know where they will be in the fall and that he is planning to involuntarily transfer some of them around because the system can't hire any more teachers because they have no money. Hmmm...wonder where all that money went...Baldrige? If the system had more money, the teachers would not have to worry about being transferred or losing our jobs. I hope that all of you that blog on this website are making your voices heard very loudly. I am terrified to go to Dr. Hlliday or central office to see what is going on as far as positions. I thank all of you for your voices. Keep it up! I just found this website, great job Paul Klaene!
ReplyDeleteI have never been in much agreement with the editorials or thought processes of Dearman and Furhman (SR&L publisher and editor). And I don't believe the public should put very much faith in the opinion of either. Everyone in the USA has discovered the vast deception and manipulation of data and information from leaders, whether civic, corporate, or political, for the purpose of personal gain at the expense of all our communities. Dr. Holliday has been able to use and manipulate his local and corrupt political connections to garner every award he has received allowing him to add to his resume during his stay in the community of Iredell. (I wonder if he and his outside associates even know anything about the namesake of our county). The local connections of Holliday are corrupt due to their inability to allow the STAKEHOLDERS of Iredell the freedom of discussion, input, and/or dissent regarding the management of the ISS system. It may be several days before we know the outcome of the vacant Kentuky education post. Whatever the outcome, current and future readers of the issreport should not stop their efforts and concern regarding the managing of their school system. This should be only the beginning. If Holliday stays, than the continued persistance of questioning the current accountability standards implemented should continue. The citizens should be actively involved in the candidate search process if Holliday is selected and takes the Kentucky job. And if this does happen, their will be many paper qualified candidates for the position. I have seen many wonderfully paper qualified candidates that received positions. However, their job performance did not match their paper qualifications. I will mention one name for the Iredell position (if we are blessed enough for this to happen) as food for thought. The name is Dr. Debra Morris. I have seen this posted on the R&L blog regarding the Kentucky? editorial. She worked in the ISS system but left due to being overlooked/ifnored by the current power structure. That alone stands out significantly. She is the 2007 Principal of the Year in NC. I am one that is not normally impressed by such awards. But if anyone was deserving of that honor than it would truly and honestly be Debra Morris.
ReplyDeleteI should also mention that Dr. Debra Morris is the current Asst. Superintindent for Kannapolis City schools.
ReplyDeleteTo the teacher above, sorry that Holliday hasn't informed teachers yet about the possibility of transfers. I guess he could have done what Gaston County did and non-renew all non tenured teachers (years 1-4) or what CMS did and lay off thousands, or what basically every other school district in the area has done. Shame on him for basically making sure that no teacher has lost his or her job. Yes, that means that some people might have to transfer....but would you rather be without a job? I wonder if the teachers in all the other districts who have been laid-off are blaming Baldridge?
ReplyDeleteYes he could have layed us all off, but he still has not directly said that the system is not laying anyone off. My frustration comes from previous years as well since this usually happens to many teachers every summer. So, it is not directly related to the budget, a lot of it does have to do with the way this district is ran and the inability to make a decision. Holliday gives so much different information, it is hard to know what to believe. So to the person above who posted a smart and sarcastic comment, yes Holliday could have let teachers go, he hasn't yet, but he has also mimicked past years where teachers have no idea what they are teaching because all decisions in this district are made at the last minute.
ReplyDeleteWell without a budget how to you expect him to directly say that? What usually happens to many teachers during summer? I have never heard of teachers in fear of being non-renewed prior to this summer. Teachers have to be transfered b/c enrollment changes from year to year, thats the facts of education...you will be hard pressed to find a district that does this any different. Teacher have the right to relocate to another district at anytime and when last minute things happen then people have to move to fill jobs. Your comments are from your narrow point of view and you have no understanding of the bigger picture.
ReplyDeleteHe absolutely HAS said that no teacher would be laid off. Most recently, he said it Monday night. Many of you would know that if you would bother to become involved enough to attend board of education meetings instead of wasting everyone's time spewing rumors and ill-advised opinions. I can't believe the district's teachers are complaining about not knowing WHERE they'll be teaching instead of being grateful to work in a system where 100 percent of teachers have been saved- at others' expense. Blame it on Baldrige all you want to- the bottom line is that the general assembly is most likely cutting teacher positions, which in turn will actually mean teacher assistant positions in Iredell County. I am by no means a Baldrige fan- I, too, believe the entire 'deployment' of the model has cost the district many talented people, however, I can not whole-heartedly agree with Klaene's assertions that the increase in graduation rate, SAT, etc., are simply a result of dedicated teachers. The district has ALWAYS had dedicated teachers- teachers who I respect and value- however, this district HAS NOT always enjoyed the level of success it currently has. Granted, Dr. Holliday has over-stated severity of the problems in this district prior to his being hired, however, no one in their right mind can debate the improvements in student success that have come in recent years, although, yes, these improvements have come at a cost. The bottom line is this- 99 percent of the complainers on this site, as well as the people that post regularly to the R&L are looking out for the best interests of teachers. Last time I checked public education wasn't about the best interests of teachers. I believe many of the district's teachers have lost sight of the real reason they come to work every day. Unfortunately, we have many teachers- good teachers- who are more interested in closing their doors and teaching and not so interested in working together, as a team, to help ALL children be successful.
ReplyDeleteGreat post...very well said.
ReplyDeleteIt's not the teachers that have lost sight of why we are there, it's the central office personel. We are there to educate children...not collect and graph data. We understand that testing is not learning, something the district does not. The district is the one making children test on the second day of school, not the teachers. Several students cried this past year on that day and another said he hated school which was quite a change from the day before when the same student said he couldn't wait to come back. I cried that night too, and not because I was overjoyed at having data to analyze, but because my students were stressed and hated school. To claim teachers are only acting in their own best interst is to really never know a teacher.
ReplyDeleteWe close our doors hoping that noone will bother to push it open and interupt our classtime asking about our PDSA board. Or better yet taking students off task to ask them what their PDSA goal is, which immediatly leads to "who is that, what did he/she want, why did they ask me..?" questions and take our students' attention far far away from learning. I will say that it never happens when a testing sign is on the door.
BTW - This is the first time I've posted anything, so I wanted to say thank you Mr. Kleane and the School Advisory Committee!
Here is an example of the Holliday-Clarke-Baldrige data analysis. This is taken from the July 8, 10:04pm post above.
ReplyDelete"The bottom line is this- 99 percent of the complainers on this site, as well as the people that post regularly to the R&L are looking out for the best interests of teachers."
According to this blogger,we "stakeholders" who question the motivation of Holliday are complainers and we care for no one except teachers. At this rate no one will have any freedom to value in these United States. In reality, this poster cares more for the students and their future than does Holliday. Doc has always been about what is best for Doc and his agenda. He is a very good actor. Simply watch the videos on this site.
And the poster should realize that the complainers have an extremely limited forum on the Holliday-Clarke-Baldrige controlled SRL website. I love freedom of expression. Please don't take this right away from me Mr. Klaene.
Where is Fed Up? I need my lithium treatment!
ReplyDeleteHave you figured in the cost of paper and copies into your Baldridge total? It would be very interesting to compare paper supply orders and printing costs from previous years to now.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest complaint I have with this entire blog is the overwhelming number of gross generalizations about the I-SS administration. Does Brenda Clark need to move along? Damn skippy. Holliday and his wife? You betcha! But there are countless others who continue to be attacked and 'lumped in' with the 'Holliday regime', including a few that were hired recently from Jim Shipley & Associates. If, and when, Holliday makes his exit from I-SS, I sure hope Marty Moore will stick around. She's a breath of fresh air who genuinely loves children. She is capable of making the district's instructional facilitator model what it should have been all along- a model to support teachers. The uninformed statements that continue to be made about I-SS administrators in general is not only inaccurate, but unfair. There are many quality administrators who work countless hours (not just 40 per week, either) to support principals, teachers, and schools in general. Did anyone ever stop to think that maybe some of these administrators are just as fed up as some of you regular complainers? I know for a fact many of them are just attempting to 'ride out' the storm. However, as a principal, I appreciate the work the majority of these administrators do to help our district move forward- even if it requires some data analysis. I challenge any teacher to help students improve without so much as looking at the data to identify weak areas. While I don't believe each aspect of the current model is useful, data itself will always be deserving of our attention so long as we truly are about helping kids succeed. I find it mind-boggling that the complaint of many of my teachers is about having to study data to seek areas for improvement. Unfortunately, many of the statements made about teachers are true- I love my teachers dearly, but many of them insist on doing it 'their way', and many times, their way doesn't produce results. And no, it's not about testing, it's about children learning and being successful, the ultimate measure of which is high school graduation. But I digress...I challenge you, Mr. Klaene, and all of your 'followers' to look a little closer and see that many of the people you and others continue to complain about are actually the ones holding the school district together right now. Your categorization of many of the folks in the I-SS central office is way off base (though right on target for a few), and I just felt the need to step in and defend them, mainly because I know most of them are either too humble or too busy working to improve our school district to bother defending themselves.
ReplyDeleteWell said and I too believe it is not always best to throw the baby out with the bath water. Unfortunately, I disagree that the talented individuals are "either too humble or too busy" to defend themselves but rather too afraid. Holliday although talented is very much a dictator and everyone knows it. He preaches "no retaliaton" but just speak out and see how fast your career derails.
ReplyDeleteI want to think the principle for speaking out in favor of his staff. As a teacher, I never minded the testing and data analysis. What I objected to was the continuous testing. Every year, more testing was added to my schedule. The state had a testing plan in place for K-2 students in which we tested every 9wks. Every teacher that I worked with tested their children informally every week. We just didn't have to spend time filling out paper work and posting results on the wall for all to see. When I had to start posting data I never used student names only numbers that represented the count of students in my classroom. Unfortunately, my students didn't take long to figure out which classmates didn't know the material. Since my K's figured it out, I am sure that the upper grade students knew even faster. How terrible for the few students who had to see the number on the graph stay the same week after week and to listen to their peers make comments about them not knowing the material. Let's do away with the 4 required testing weeks each quarter and get back to testing as needed and using more teacher judgement.
ReplyDeleteI would like to nominate Paul Klaene for Vocal Detractor of the Year! Keep going Mr. Klaene. You are a hero to many people.
ReplyDeleteTo the Principal - Thanks for entering your comment on the blog. However, I think the leadership of Holliday has caused a great divide between Central Office and the rest of us. I believe that as we enter the seventh year of this dictatorship the divide has to some extent reached the area of principals separated from the teachers. Please! Do not misunderstand this idea. As Holliday has grown in power, the fear has spread to the point where people no longer know who to trust. If you are a principal, do you dare speak your mind to such a man as Holliday? I am certain that if I were being paid over 100,000 I would also ride out the storm unless I were able to change jobs to a comparable salary. I know many good people at Central Office and I am certain they would be happy for a change in leadership. They would be happy to have someone who actually cared about others. That would be a wonderful change for the whole system.
ReplyDeleteYou are 100% correct. There are school systems out there that have used Baldrige at one point but soon did away with it. It is very costly and is not effective. I wonder what the scores in ISS would be like if you take away Lake Norman schools? The schools that I am familiar with have had bad scores the entire time they have been using Baldrige. If it is so great, shouldn't those schools have the best scores in the system? They are the ones that get hit the hardest. Proof positive that it is not an effective method. As you said, there are systems all over the state and country that do not use it and are doing fine.
ReplyDeleteYour additional green comment is certainly a good analysis. The SR&L should take note and analyze that data. They should at least take the time to think about it instead of being mesmerized by th "Music Man".
ReplyDeleteSometimes we try to make things seem better than they are. Our school system has always been great, but all this data has not been put out there for the state to compare. Without the education that the majority of Iredell county students have received, they would not have become doctors, lawyers , teachers, etc. in this community. When the teachers worked for very little salary, they still gave their all. Just look at the citizens that have succeeded. All this happened without Dr. Holliday or Baldridge. This must seem impossible to some of the ones who read this blog.
ReplyDeleteWhen we talk about close-minded, those people are called dictators, because only their opinions count. They are ,also, bullies and must always have it their way or no way. That is why there is no respect for them.
The poster who mentioned that poor schools have been hit the hardest with Baldrige is right on target. Most of the children in the poorer schools come school never having had a book read to them. Before any teaching can happen, teachers must try to be parents, nurses, psychologists...the list goes on and on. Add to this equation the time required to shove Baldrige down throats, and what you end up with is very little time to make a difference in the lives of the students who depend on public schools the most.
ReplyDeleteNo one knows these children like their teachers do, yet teachers are continually stymied by ivory tower dwellers who haven't a clue about what lengths dedicated teachers go to to try and make a difference with their students.
As for Lead Teachers (translated- yet more needless administration), they should be working directly with the students who desperately need help, not teachers.
I find myself wondering...what in the world are principals for these days?
Teachers are not blaming Baldridge or Dr.Holliday for the budget crisis. That has always been in the hands of the General Assembly in Raleigh.
ReplyDelete