Thursday, August 6, 2009
Thank You Mr. Johnson
In my previous post I wrote about my conversation with Mr. Johnson. I thanked Mr. Johnson for meeting with me but I forgot to include a word of thanks in my post. As I mentioned in my previous post, Mr. Johnson invited me to meet with him. He did so soon after being named interim superintendent. He had asked me to wait until he officially took over the reins of the school system before I posted anything about the scheduled meeting. Mr. Johnson did not have to contact me and ask me to meet with him. He did not have to meet with me on his first official day as interim superintendent. I am sure he already had a full schedule. Mr. Johnson did not have to apologize to me for the actions of Dr. Holliday. But he did. That shows that Mr. Johnson is not only a true professional but also a true gentleman. I wish Mr. Johnson the best as he endeavors to guide the school system. Thank you, Mr. Johnson for meeting with me but especially for agreeing to take on the responsibilities of interim superintendent.
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It looks like the sea is calm tonight compared to last night. Thank you Mr. Johnson, Mr. Rogers, and Mr. Klaene. I do hope the sea remains calm going into the school year and throughout the year. I am thankful to have read the encouraging information and as a teacher I want stakeholders to know that most teachers have the best interest of the students in mind. I am looking forward to this year and I would like Mr. Johnson to know that I look forward to going to my job in this new atmosphere. It will be refreshing. I just hope I don't become disappointed as in the past years.
ReplyDeleteI would also like the readers of this blog to understand the importance of being able to express your opinions. Thank you to all of those that have taken the time to speak their mind. Let this be a lesson in the freedom of speech.
I hope the SR&L takes the time to read this blog. They just might learn something.
Hey, take a look at this web page.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.aven.com/conf.cfm/cid/1114/pg/1
Wonder who is or was pocketing the profits?
I am so ready to see how the new year begins. I hope and pray we get to know our students and their learning styles . I hope the IFs help our students more as teachers than teacher bosses. Thanks again Mr. Klaene, Mr.Johnson and Mr. Rogers.Looking forward to a great year of learning and joy in our classrooms.
ReplyDeleteStill waiting to see the trust coming back to schools.
The IF at my school does a wonderful job and I hate that teachers, the public and Brady Johnson are lumping them all together and assuming that there is a pervasive problem.
ReplyDeleteI thought the role of the interim was not to make major changes.
Maybe if teachers like me who do our jobs and have worked to improve our instruction should begin to complain to Mr. Johnson and Mr. Klaene about the teachers that just collect a paycheck!!
Hey ISS Board....have you looked at individual teacher data lately?? Why do we keep teachers that do not help students gain at least one year's growth? why do we let teachers who cause people to fall behind stay on the payroll?
I know one board member who has lost my vote because he is not getting into schools to hear the real story. He is just listening to those that whine.
If they're being lumped together, the reality is, it must be a pervasive problem. Where there's smoke, there's fire. It's about the same as you saying ther are teacher who are just collecting paychecks; there are IFs who are doing their job possibly to get a pay increase.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I find it interesting that you use the word "whine" when it sounds like you're doing the same thing yourself. Pot meet kettle.
Good point 2:32, maybe they should serve crackers with the whine on this blog.
ReplyDeleteI hear they are "restructuring" the central office. I am sure those that spent the week patronizing principals all week like Marty Moore and Mathew Fail will still be climbing to the top since they are sucking up to Brady Johnson every second! Why do we need a Cheif Quality Officer if we are trimming the sails? Marty is paid more that almost every principal in the district, but has never been a principal! Trains principals but has never been a principal. Her last school system job was as a TEACHER. So much for change!
I would say that Mr. Johnson has a difficult job and he will certainly not be able to please everyone. My personal belief in the above statements by 2:32 and 2:43 that will follow is due to the turmoil created by the previous Holliday mandates and method of implementation.
ReplyDeletePeople on this blog have been criticized for lumping people together such as central office employees. Now we are receiving the complaint of lumping IF's. I think it should be understood that this linking is simply a generalization caused mostly by the disdain of the former superintendent. We all know there are some wonderful employees in central office and I am certain there are wonderful IF's. However, the pervasive problem has been the development of the IF position over the last seven years and the possible misuse of the position. I worked with for different IF's and certainly had no problem with each individual or their personality. The problem that I and the mass majority of the teachers had was with the central office (generalized) mandates that had to be carried out by the IF's. And I am sure that some of the IF's took the Holliday approach toward their newly found position of authority.
Regarding Fail and Moore, I do not know them other than the fact they were brought in by Holliday. Personally, I am ADD in sucking up or kissing #@%. Although I do understand that their are quite a few who should probably be given a master degree for such a talent. I would rather be viewed for my merits and work ethic. And I would hope those in the position of leadership would recognize such tendacies and ingnore.
The previous administration gave some of these people contract extensions of four years (some were not as extended). I would think this may play a role in what can be immediately trimmed from the sails.
And in response to data, I believe we have become to enamored with data. Much data is flawed and you really have to be very careful in how numbers are studied, analyzed, and used.
Regarding board members getting into the schools, that has been a rarity for the last 15 years.
And for the comment considering whining. That seems to be a tendency for those who may not be happy. It seems that the tables may have turned slightly and there is another group that may not approve of what they see happening. All I can say is, "welcome to the club".
IF's role needs to change. I think it is going to change by Mr. Johnson's comments. Principals need to have control of their schools agais. Staff that support school should not have to have their schedules adapted because the IF has a meeting. Too long ISS has revolved around the IF's and the only free day that teachers felt somewhat normal is Thursday. Why? Because the IF's aren't present.
ReplyDeleteSome IF's were great teachers and I think they need to become those Master teacher's they were intended to be in the first place instead of ad-hoc adminstrators without the degrees to be one. (most have a master's - they got special titles of IF/AP)
correction on above post at 4:39 typo = again
ReplyDeleteThen Ms. If , If you are so great then go back to the classroom and prove it. I'd like to see a survey at each school on what classroom teachers really think of their IF. They should never have lumped IFs with principals on the surveys, because the majority of IFs would have failed on their own.
ReplyDeleteThere would be no complainers or whiners, if there were such great IFs out there.
IFs in ISS were created to give Mrs. Holliday a position and nothing more.
Ifs walk around a school, collect data once a month, IM and stay on the computer most of the day , talk on their cell phones to their families, and never say "Hi" or anything to the students. They also leave on time each and every day while that classroom teacher still sits at her desk working and planning for the next day. I wonder what an IFs plan book looks like. Could it be blank except for meeting days? 2 meeting days a week at the most.
An IF's valued job was not about learning ,but getting the data to the central office, and getting the agenda done at the PLC .
The worst part was the way respected teachers with more experience were treated. Those were the teachers who had proved over and over each and every year how to have a successful classroom ,and their scores kept rising without any IFs interference. Yet they were treated by IFs as if they knew nothing about a classroom and how to teach. If teachers had an issue to discuss, it was ignored or dismissed by the IF.
The staff development was a laugh because it wasn't anything new. It was just a review of learning techniques and strategies already being used. It was like the teacher just giving busy work to her students, no difference.
I'd be willing to bet Ms.If that you couldn't handle the classoom or the stress, and you opted to get out. So do not talk about whining teachers when your job has never helped one student score his or her level 3 or 4.
An If is the least valued person at a school.
So you need to get out and get back in to the real world. You need to walk the walk and not talk the talk. You are the student at school who always thinks that he or she knows everything. The problem is that they know the least.
Your days are probably numbered, and you should be worried. It is time for you to get over "my way or no way" philosophy. IFs were the newest snobbery in ISS.
Classroom teachers, it is time for you to call tyour schoolboard members, and fill their ears with what has been happening in our schools. I say thank you to Mr. Rogers.
Now, MS. IF go whine some more about how great you are , and then ,go help a student.
I'd prefer to have a teacher assistant over any IF in ISS.
Good idea.
ReplyDeleteClassroom teachers call your schoolboard members and please tell them how you feel about IFs, and be honest. Most IFs do not have their masters.
They were young brainwashed teachers. I doubt if most IFs were ever in the classroom more than 5 years. They were there to push Baldridge and nothing else.
Hello 4:50, I am NOT an IF...read carefully. I am a master classroom teacher who thinks the IF does a wonderful job!
ReplyDeleteAll IFs have to have 5 years, many are NBCT and many have a masters degree.
All NBCT IF's that are not actually working in a classroom either gave up the raise that came their way as NBCT or the system is paying the difference in their salaries out of local funds. The state will only pay their raise if they are in an actual classroom. It seems a waste of such talent to hold meetings and collect data. A person with a 2yr degree can be taught how to collect and compile data. Let's put our NBCT and master teachrs back into the classroom where they can really affect students.
ReplyDeleteThe state is actually working on changing that b/c the way the formula works now a NBCT has to take a pay cut to become an AP.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Anonymous 4:50 - How do you have that much knowledge of all the IF's in the system? If that is the way you see your IF, that is fine. I really don't think it is fair for you to assume that b/c that is what you see at your school, that is the way it is at every school.
Then 8:28, perhaps there should be a survey conducted at every school determining how they view their IFs. I am not poster 4:50, and while I have nothing against the IF I've worked with, I see nothing to recommend that person either. It's a job that serves no beneficial purpose to the actual teachers of the school I work at. So, that's two schools, 4:50 and myself, who feel that the job is superfluous and has no positive impact on either the staff or the students.
ReplyDeleteSo, yes, I would also have to say that it's not money well spent by the district. Put the teachers back in the classroom, and it wouldn't mean cutting teachers. If we have the money for IFs, why then, couldn't we simply use that money to turn them back into classroom teachers.
Exactly 8:40, and we could lower class size so that each student has more one-on-one time with her or his teacher. Enough waste already! As someone else said, put out an anonymous IF survey to get the REAL opinions as to how helpful people in that position have been to teachers. The one at my school was a nice enough person, but the meetings were nothing but redundant wastes of time. Not the IF's fault that they were placed in useless positions. To further compound the problem, many of them knew just how useless their positions were and tried to make themselves feel more useful by creating tasks (some of them even called it 'homework -- as if teachers didn't already work at home enough!) I suppose so that they didn't feel as guilty about taking unearned salaries. Let's hope that the insanity might finally be on its way out.
ReplyDeleteWow, I suppose you will have some IF's posting on this blog as to the importance of their jobs. That is the Holliday way. At the school that I worked at, the IF was a lovely person. However, they constantly complained about the fact that teachers were not "on board" and they "had to report this to the principal". They definately had to justify their job. I think if you poll the IF's, you will find that they loved Holliday. And, why shouldn't they, he put them in a place where they had power, money and influence. I saw it everyday. Our IF was constantly torn between where they knew they should side and where they knew their paycheck was coming from. This is not a good situation. The only resolution is to return the IF's to the classroom in a capacity somewhere along the lines of "gap closers". I don't know, it's just a thought. To immediately return them to the classroom may cause more power struggles and morale problems. Perhaps transitioning them in some way will work. Something has to be done. They are bored!!! And bored employees usually become less productive and tend to cause problems.
ReplyDeleteLooks like we are striking nerves with the IF's tonight. They have a right to be upset...I mean we are basically telling them their jobs re worthless. Their jobs are not worthless but I do feel they need to be used in a much different way than they currently are. Things are going to change...things are going to change indeed...and I really hope our IF's become master teachers and help the students. AFTER ALL was this not their mission!! To improve other teachers with strategies...so let's put them to the test now and see if they really can use all their PDSA, look at the data, analyze it and close their achievement gaps better than our normal teachers who have had their creativity stiffled the past 7 years. Go TEACHERS!!! Enjoy your creativity and never let it go again!!!
ReplyDelete9:21 - I think it has been stated before that money used to support the IF model is tied in with professional development so they can't use that money to pay them as classroom teachers. I do agree that a shift to more of a true instructional coach that also tutors and works with kids at times would be much better.
ReplyDeleteIf an IF is a master teacher ,then for the sake of the students return them to a classroom.
ReplyDeleteWe are just wasting tax payer's money on nice IFs that do mindless work. This was the biggest waste of our taxpayer's money. Clerical work can be done by an assistant for a lesser price, and that was all it was. Data was collected from the teachers and turned into the central office. At the PLCs the IFs were just giving the teachers a list of mandates when data was due. It does not take anyone with a degree to do this. Also, being a National Certified Board teacher or having a masters does not necessarily make them a real teacher. A teacher is more than any degrees that she has. There also has to be somthing very special about teachers. Those teachers really can teach and their students really can learn and produce in their classroom.
Teaching is a gift. Some have it, and it doesn't take long to see and know who does.
If our IFs are such great and valuable classroom teachers then they are cheating our students and themselves out of great teaching and learning potential. Get them a classroom. Our students deserve the best.
IFs are lumped together, it is because IFs are together. If you chose to be an IF , then you did it. They knew that they would be the supporters of Baldrige. It was becoming the dictators of the schools that dissatisfied all the stakeholders. There may be a few that were not.
ReplyDeleteWhen the majority of teacher meetings are always ran by the IF , you began to wonder if the principal was really part of your school.
So if you choose to become an IF I would be trying to improve myself or get a new position.
IFs do not work and if we do surveys at the schools ,we will definitely have the data to prove it.
I agree with 10:21pm...just because someone is national board certified or has a master's degree doesn't necessarily make him/her better than the teacher who doesn't have either one. I don't have either one and I certainly don't think of myself less than ones who do except maybe in the amount of money I receive. That's all that a national board certification and/or masters degree accomplishes...more money. Money isn't everything when it comes to educating our children!
ReplyDeleteIf indeed it is Professional Development dollars that are being used to fund IF's, then I, for one would prefer that that money instead be spent on REAL professional development---not on Baldrige.
ReplyDeleteWell your interim super has even presented on Baldrige at the national level - so I would be careful who you trust! Why would Mr. Johnson have been Dr. Holliday's right hand man if he didn't believe in Balrige! Watch out what you wish for!
ReplyDeletenot true above( 10:43 am).. Please be sure you really understand the system and not just speculate. Many things posted on this site are close to true, but some is based on rumor and not based in fact. School systems are complicated. Sounds like a forum where school folks can ask questions and gain a better understanding of budgets, peoples roles etc would be helpful to move forward. So much mistrust!
ReplyDeleteAll this mistrust came about because of the IFs. Noone trusts them, because they represented the
ReplyDeleteBaldrige era that was shoved down teacher's throats. I would prefer to go to MCC asnd get my professional staff development. Our professional development was not worth the time we wasted on it. I know it was from the Central Office, but I can read a Power Point all by myself.
All IFs can become Title One teachers and begin remediation for those students who need it at the beginning of school. That money used for them should be being used to help all students be at grade level.
IFs should all go back to being 10 month employees and that is the way it should be. We don't have money to pay for teacher assistants who really imnpact the classroom, so IFS should not be paid for an extra month for doing nothing but sitting in their office looking at the computer or loading it with family photos.
edit misspellings
ReplyDeleteand
impact
Speak for yourself 12:35am, you might want to go pay for professional development at MCC, but I would say you are in the minority. I would agree with improvements made in the professional development and some flexibility allowing teachers to choose what they need the most, instead of making all mandatory. That way you can go to MCC if you so desire!
ReplyDelete12:42 read before make posts. I am not 12:35, but I'm just irritated that you didn't read the post.
ReplyDelete"I would prefer to go to MCC..." The "I" indicates that the writer is speaking for him or herself. It is a personal opinion for themselves. So, he/she is not speaking for the majority.
Right on 1:23!!! The problem is how the IF's were being used. They were used incorrectly. They should be 10 month employees or 10 +1...The plus one would be for them to go to workshops and conferences. Let them be the role model teacher but not the wanna be administrator that they currently are. I'm all for IF's being in the schools but they need to be a teacher first and they should be chosen by principals as an employee of the school and not an employee of the central office. IF's number one priority should be to help teachers come up with creative means to engage learners in the classroom. Priority two is to take kids who are struggling and focus on closing the achievement gap. The teacher has the class but if they could point out students who need the support and have those students spend time with the best teacher in the school then surely their scores would raise. Does this not make since? I'm sorry IF's but your role will change...maybe not while Denise is here but certainly after her I do not see the Holliday era being enforced by anyone else. I expect to see a lot of the pro-baldridge CO staff to leave or find different positions elsewhere this year. ISS is going to change and I believe it is only for the better!
ReplyDelete1:23 - the statement was made in support of eliminating the professional development in the IF model because the poster would rather go to MCC for professional development. My statement is in regards to the fact that most people would disagree with the statement. I read the post, but thanks for the help!
ReplyDeleteOur IF was a wonderful, enthusiastic person. She did not need to be trying to instruct teachers who probably knew far more than she did.
ReplyDeleteShe was being wasted and should have been in the classroom showing off all her wonderful strategies. The ones that should have been being instructed were our students.
We really do need small classes for the slower learners that do not qualify for help but can do. IFs would be great for this. The IF would indeed have had an audience that would have appreciated her. Ifs that want to be administrators or a principals should go on in that direction.
Another comment, staff development should be allowed wherever teachers want to go and get it.
Teachers are exactly like students. They have strenths and weaknesses. The teacher knows what he or she needs to strenghten their own teaching skills. Another observation is that you waste a teacher's time when she gets credits after the 15 hours needed for renewal credit. The state throws these extra credit hours away. Some teachers in their 5 year renewal cycle had 30 or more credit hours. This means lots of meetings and staff development that teachers did not need.
PS If that teacher wants to go to Mitchell for credit hours that is her choice. MCC is one of the best community colleges around.
It is amazing how this Blog gets hung up on issues. It started out with a financial infatutation, then Baldrige, now IF's and on another post about Klaene running for school board.
ReplyDeleteAs I said before, there is no focus, no direction, no compromise on issues. maybe after everyone blows off the steam pent up from the last 7 years we can start fixing things.
Well Mr. Coover, I am glad that you are able to list your name and that you have a vested interest. However, many at this time are not comfortable with reavealing their name. That should be a tremendous cause of concern. I think there are quite a few problems as evidenced by the posts.
ReplyDeleteI think it would be helpful for you to state your focus, your direction, and your issues so that compromises can be considered and we can start making suggestions.
I happen to think every issue is important, and finally people are able to say what they want to on them! When you have been held silent for so long, you tend to have a lot to say Mr. Coover.
ReplyDeleteAs far as professional development goes, the focus was on cooperative learning and testing this past year. I learned absolutly nothing that I had not learned in college. It was a complete waste of my unpaid time. I, personally speaking, would much rather prefer to attend science workshops, literacy conferences, etc.
I understand the fear factor of posting a name, especially when your job depends on it. The way some of the ISS administraion operates is by fear and intimidation. (I said some!) That needs to change now and it is easy to do. people who intimidate are bullies, and bullies like to bluff.
ReplyDeleteAs for my focus, and my issues I have several. Discipline is one of my top issues. Children aren't taught resolve any more. The schools are run like prisons where suspensions are tossed at children for having disputes but the issues between the children remain unresolved. ISS has also been violating state law on suspending kids who defend themselves in a fight. I am told that this is something that is now in the beginning stages of being addressed. I am waiting to see. I first addressed this in 2007.
Computer homework violates ISS policy. I'll not go into the details here, but I emailed Holliday about this also in 2007 and nothing was ever done. It probably also violate state BOE rules.
We have dealt with some really great caring teachers over the years who were held back by the administration they were under. We have also met some very hateful teachers who were protected by the administration they were under. That has been another issue with me.
There are other issues I want to see addressed, but my desire is to see everyone's issues addressed. I had hoped to see that happen at the Citizen Review Meetings but it lacked leadership and fell apart.
I want to identify all of the main concerns that everyone has, list them and then hear the viewpoints from each side. Each issue needs to be overseen by someone with knowledge and experience in that area who has no interest except finding resolve and compromise.
Once compromise is found, we have a starting point from which everything can be fine-tuned. There are some issues that I would personally be glad to be the middle man. (There are other issues such as teaching techniques at which I have no background and could honestly have very little right to speak. I can only say what I see affects my children.)
The main element that has to be present is the ability of everyone to stand up for what is right regardless of the backlash. I offered before for any teacher to come to me if they try to make a positive difference and are chastised. Sewage may roll downhill, but if you block up the pipes it will run back up as well.
Right now, an issue is rode hard on here and then dropped while anopther comes up. There is also too much "us against them". I hope I answered effectively, if not let me know.
As I said earlier, maybe after the steam is vented from the last 7 years the hostility will die down and we can begin our work.
ReplyDeleteReminds of the old 60's song Childen stop what's that sound... people carrying signs, mostly say hooray for our side.
I have noticed something consistent over the years. People love to bitch, put each other down, be angry and raise Cain about issues; until someone asks them to roll up their sleeves and help fix what is wrong.
ReplyDeleteI’m not sure what the reason is. Maybe they are angry enough to complain but don’t really care enough to work hard for resolve. Maybe they get so hung up on “us against them” that they don’t want to meet with the other side and give in. If it is something other than this let me know. I have been trying to figure it out for years.
I used to have a bi-weekly column in the R&L until the R&L edited me so much it wasn’t even my article anymore. I quit when they refused to print an article they were concerned “would be too divisive”. (The title of my article was healing, not division. It was directed at those who continue to stir up racial divide.)
It didn’t matter to me at that point anyway. I wrote those articles for a long time. It wasn’t so I could be heard; it was to bring about change. People asked me to write about what upset them, mostly the condition of society and the government. People I had never met stopped me, thanked me for saying what I did and asked me to keep doing what I was doing. I still have people tell me they miss my column. Yet, I was never able to form a group of people to address the issues that supposedly meant so much to them. Without results, those columns were pointless.
I’m seeing that here again. Every time I made a post suggesting a starting point of resolve, that series of posts died. Look back over here and see. It seems there is plenty of hate and anger for the other side, but not much so much at the issues themselves.
I’ll tell you this; if we do form meetings such as I have offered to lead, everybody is going to be right and everybody is going to be wrong. The truthful answer to a problem is always somewhere in the middle. We need to get off each other and focus on those problems. That is why I said that there is no direction here. We aren’t moving forward.
It’s easy to be angry and attack others or rant about any subject. However it takes sincerity and dedication to change what is wrong. We have a given amount of energy every day when we wake up. How do you use yours, causing more division or searching for resolve? The sooner we find that middle ground starting point and shake hands, the sooner ISS can begin to heal.
My email address is: ISSresolve@yahoo.com
ReplyDelete