Monday, August 31, 2009

Thursday Meeting Reminder

I want to remind everyone of the meeting with Mr. Brady Johnson that is scheduled for this Thursday at 7:00 PM in the media center at Statesville High School.

I sent an e-mail to Mr. Johnson stating that many teachers are still fearful of speaking out and asking him to notify all I-SS employees of the meeting and to reassure them that they can speak freely and without the fear of any repercussion. Mr. Johnson replied saying "I certainly will. I have always said there are basically 2 ways to motivate people...one is fear and the other is to show them that you respect them. This is true for students as well. I have never used fear as a management tool and never will."

Therefore, this will be a time when everyone, including teachers, can come together for the benefit of the students. As Mr. Rogers, School Board member, said in a response to a previous post, "We just have to look at each other eye ball to eye ball and deal with all the issues with the realization that WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER."

Also remember that everyone is asked to bring some school supplies to donate for use in the classrooms.

30 comments:

  1. I am really looking forward to Thursday night. I hope that it is the beginning of healing in our system. The leadership is showing a willingness to come together. I just pray that the public will show the same willingness.

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  2. The district is showing a willingness, but I see a lot of allegations and finger pointing still going on here.

    Biting the hand that feeds you isn't going to go a long way towards mending fences in my opinion.

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  3. Yes, healing, like all the posts on administrator pay. That was a true attempt to get the process started. Let's get the story straight moving forward. There seems to be some inconsistency leaning toward division here. When you speak from both sides of the mouth, it comes out as mumbling.

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  4. 10:33 can you clarify your comment? I think I'm with you but I'm not sure.

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  5. Are we really all in this together? Gee, it hasn't really felt like that. It's been more like "do it this way because we told you to". How will we know that is going to change because of a few words?

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  6. There will always be those who feel compromise is tantamount to losing . We give a little and you give a little and we all work for our students . There are positives about Baldrige and the others issues that need to be worked on or dismantled are still there. If some things had not been shoved down one's thought, and IFs had not been given the power to cause terminations, then Baldrige might have been perceived in a different light.

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  7. Where and when were IFs given the power to terminate teachers?

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  8. The problem is that Baldrige holds people accountable, and teachers don't want to be held accountable. This blog really started because Pamela Klaene got a bad evaluation. She sits at her desk, never even walks around the room, and was called ineffective because of that. Then, Paul Klaene got mad that she got the poor evaluation and declared war on Dr. Holliday. Now that Doc is gone - he has lost some steam. He has aligned himself with Mr. Johnson, while still pretending to find fault with minor stuff, so that it doesn't look as if it was always a personal vendetta - but really, that is all it ever was.

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  9. 10:29 PM - I'm not sure where you got your information but IFs do not hire or fire. And don't tell me that I am mistaken because I am not!

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  10. FYI ...update...there has been no notification as of yet from Brady Johnson about tomorrow night's meeting....

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  11. Lexie: IF's, Lead Teachers--- whatever today's name is for them--- may not have the direct authority to hire and fire...but in many cases, principals were so terrified (due to the situation of Denise Holliday's relationship with the superintendent) for their own jobs that they dared not contradict the Lead Teacher's opinion of teachers who dared to speak their minds.

    Basically, as has been said over and over again in this blog, the IF's role has been to shove Baldrige down everyone's throat --- forget about using common sense and the wealth of experience available in the pool of excellent teachers in I-SS----it was always about Baldrige and nothing else.

    THIS is fact...the whole set-up under the old regime stunk to high heaven. The Lead Teacher model is a very expensive, very bad idea.

    Lead Teachers do not provide real Professional Development for teachers...they are not qualified to.

    We can only hope that the dark days will soon be over...regardless of what many are saying now, they aren't yet.

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  12. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  13. Sept. 2, 1:35 PM – The problem is that you apparently don’t know teachers, you don’t know my wife, and you don’t know me. The teachers in this system have always been accountable. They were accountable before Baldrige was put in place and will be accountable long after Baldrige is replaced with some true educational philosophy. Two main problems with the Baldrige plan as implemented by I-SS were that it assumed teachers were not accountable and it assumed that teachers did not know how to teach. Both of those assumptions were blatantly false. And for your information, your statements about my wife and me are blatantly false as well.

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  14. 8:06pm: Panties in a twist!

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  15. September 2, 2009 8:27 PM :

    What clever repartee...You truly missed your calling...you really should have been a debater.

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  16. And when Paul says that all teachers in ISS have always been held accountable before Baldrige, he is speaking with years and years of experience with this at the community college level...so we better listen. Mitchell Community has been the best school in Iredell-Statesville Schools for years now.

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  17. Sept 2, 7:52 p.m.: I see in the main post where it say's, "I sent an e-mail to Mr. Johnson stating that many teachers are still fearful of speaking out and asking him to notify all I-SS employees of the meeting and to reassure them that they can speak freely and without the fear of any repercussion. Mr. Johnson replied saying "I certainly will". If that is the case, Mr. Johnson needs to be sending an email, smoke signals or something. This is supposed to be the beginning of a new era where people keep their word and do what is right.

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  18. Word about the open forum has still not gone out to most....hmmmm

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  19. Has anyone gotten notification from Mr. Johnson yet?

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  20. What happened to Captain America?

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  21. Captain America is an administrator posing as teacher...

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  22. Well, then we need more administraors like him/her because the Captain had good sense.

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  23. I think I heard my name? Well to fix the rumor that just started on this rumor mill that I quashed in my rants from preivous posts. I AM NOT AN ADMINISTRATOR. I get paid a teacher salary so I can't be an administrator. Also, I have had nothing to really comment on. This blog is slowly unraveling and I can't wait to see what Mr. Klaene will post tomorrow that will fuel the rumors.

    I've atually been quite busy focusing on my students, doing LESSON PLANS, MEETING Parents, going to after school activities, doing a master's program, etc. Doing what a teacher does. What more can I say?? Call me an administrator if you will. I will gladly take the title. As the previous poster mentioned they would like more people like me.

    I have to say I am quite proud of the changes Mr. Johnson has made and I really hope we get someone with many of the qualities he possesses as our new superintendent.

    I think it is going to be a good year and I am happy to be an I-SS Employee and an I-SS Graduate!

    Oh, and for those of you who love the rumors, speculations, and the lies...I am 26 now ;)

    So hope you can make up more rumors!!

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  24. Goodbye Captain America!

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  25. Welcome back Captain America!

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  26. I heard it was a good meeting last night. I couldn't be there due to another obligation but I was told there were some teachers who came to the meeting. The comment was made that it was odd that Paul's wife wasn't there.

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  27. Sept. 4, 8:49 AM - It was a very good meeting. I am sorry that you were not able to be there. No one asked me why my wife was not there. She was not there because she was looking after our son who is autistic and mentally handicapped. He cannot be left alone and we did not have anyone to watch him.

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  28. Mr. Klaene, it is OBVIOUS that a wide variety of people read and respond to your blog. What awesome power you have over those who criticize you. No matter what their excuse, they just can't resist. They are the ones who keep this blog alive! Congratulations and thank you!

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  29. Captain America and your good friend President Obama,
    Keep putting off that ridiculous Baldrige presentation!

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  30. I do not know if you were putting down MCC ,but I went there ,and then went to Lenoir-Rhyne College. Lenoir- Rhyne was so easy after MCC. It was becasue I was prepared to be a great student. I had a great educational background and great teachers at MCC. I cried when I left ,because it was as if I were leaving a caring family. Don't ever put down MCC, especially if you never attended. Mr. Klaene was one of those great teachers and so patient.

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