Via a notice on the School web site and an e-mail to teachers and support staff, I-SS has announced a meeting to share a renewed vision and improvements for education. The meeting will be on Tuesday, January 12 at 6:00 p.m. in the Mac Gray Auditorium on the campus of Statesville High School. I-SS staff and the public are invited to attend.
According to the I-SS web site, Superintendent Brady Johnson will address attendees and share highlights of feedback received during area advisory meetings, as well as from activities conducted with principals, teachers, and other I-SS stakeholders. Johnson will also share his vision and direction for the school district, including changes to the Iredell-Statesville Schools model for continuous improvement and the district's key processes. Board of education chairman Dr. David Cash will also address the audience on behalf of the Iredell-Statesville Board of Education.
The notice also states that attendees will have the opportunity to share their feedback on the event in the form of written plus/deltas, as well as submit items to an issue bin. There is no mention of any time being allotted for questions and answers at the meeting.
Click on the link below to access the announcement on the I-SS web site.
I-SS to Share Vision
At the Committee of the Whole meeting last night, as Mr. Johnson was announcing the Renewed Vision meeting scheduled for tonight, he mentioned some of the input that was considered in determining the new vision for I-SS. In doing so Mr. Johnson mentioned the principal's survey that was completed in August. He stated that the principals were given a list of some 35 I-SS initiatives and ask to vote whether to keep, tweak, or abandon each one. Mr. Johnson then said that the principals did not indicate abandon for any of the initiatives. He quickly corrected himself and said that there were one or two abandons.
ReplyDeleteThen, at the regular Board meeting, Mr. Johnson again announced the Vision meeting scheduled for this evening. And again he mentioned the principal's survey. This time Mr. Johnson stated that the principals listed nothing needed to be abandoned.
I knew that this was not true as I had read the report of the principal's survey. I went back and checked the report and counted numerous votes to abandon various initiatives. In all there were 10 different initiatives that had at least one vote to abandon with a total of 61 votes to abandon.
That is significantly more than one or two or nothing. I don't know how you can overlook 61 votes. Does this mean that those votes to abandon were ignored when determining this new vision for I-SS. And, if these votes by the principals to abandon various initiatives were ignored, was the input of the public and the teachers also ignored? Is this just another instance of the Central Office doing whatever they want?
Correction: I went back and looked at the principal's survey again. I missed counting the items on one of the pages. In all there were 12 initiatives that had at least one abandon vote and there were a total of 68 votes to abandon.
ReplyDeleteYou can't group votes based on different outcomes. Yes 68 votes to abandon. Not 68 people voting to abandon. 1 person out of 35 schools is hardly the majority. I realize some had more than just one vote but you have to compare the votes in context. It should read, "Out of 35 schools "this amount" voted to abandon on "this" initiative. Not, "we had 68 votes to abandon from principals on various initiatives." Would you mind counting how many votes were cast to not abandon? Then compare that to your 68. Don't twist the numbers. Report accuracies not what promotes your agenda.
ReplyDeleteTonight = huge waste of time
ReplyDeleteAbsolutly! Tonight was nothing but yet another sales pitch for Baldridge. We were even instructed to "forget the past."
ReplyDeleteThey named each process, then said, we'll continue this intiative....The results from the teachers survey weren't even shared.
Jan. 12, 7:52 PM - I never said I was making a statistical analysis. I was simply stating that a total of 68 votes to abandon was much larger than the one or two that Mr. Johnson mentioned at the Committee of the Whole meeting. That is an accurate statement.
ReplyDeleteAnd, at the meeting tonight, Mr. Johnson again said there were only one or two votes to abandon. As was mentioned in the 8:33 PM comment, Mr. Johnson said he wanted to forget the past. I guess that includes forgetting the principal and teacher surveys.
Were you even at the same session I was at??? I got a little tired of hearing "Here's what you said" and "Here's what we did" for each item, but I heard changes.
ReplyDeleteI was very dissapointed that the results of the survey were not shared. It felt more like a pep talk than anything else.
ReplyDeleteEach item? What was the TEACHER feedback on Dash, classroom walk throughs, IFs, curicculum guide, PLC,....you get the idea. If so many suggesstions were given, why is NOTHING new being implemented? Every change they mentioned has already taken place and therefore could not have been a result of the teacher survey.
ReplyDelete"Mr. Johnson again said there were only one or two votes to abandon." I'm not there to hear it but it seems he meant per initiative there were one or two votes to abandon but the majority was to tweak or to keep. That's all I thought. You do not have to respond...i'm not trying to instigate anything.
ReplyDeleteReading the comments, it seems tonight did not deliver anything groundbreaking...from what I have read online so far on the website it seemed like a that was then and this is now response. More like sweeping the dirt under the rug type things. That sucks...
The website now has a link to all of the feedback from principals, teachers, etc. as well as an issue bin that you can fill out in regards to each process with an answer in 48 hours. Nice step
ReplyDeleteI went on the website and printed out the information by levels. It is very interesting that all levels of education said that the IF position should be tweaked. From 65% up to 74% of the teachers had that opinion. I can't help but wonder what the percentage would have been if abandon had been one of the choices. Now we will have to see how the system responds to the results.
ReplyDeleteInteresting - Dr. Hargraves is one of the admin. provided a vehicle to drive to and from his home in Alexander Co yet accd to the bd of ed minutes, he is in charge of the revision of the vehicle policy, UMMMMM!
ReplyDeleteB. Revision to Policy #7950/8630: Employer Provided Vehicles (1st Reading)
Dr. Hargrave presented to the board of education the first reading of the employer-provided vehicles policy. This policy explains the use of district vehicles. The policy itself will not be changed, however, the policy number must be changed to align with state board policy. The policy was approved on the first reading.
The really interesting point is the policy was not attached. In a budget crunch don't you think anyone making $90 plus should not be provided a vehicle to drive home.
OOPS! s/b $90,000 plus - also heard that Mr. Matthew Fail is leaving I-SS. Let's see if his position is filled.
ReplyDeleteWhy did the board of education approve these big raises? That is crazy! I guess the board has always put a rubber stamp on things - it's hard when the board members have no brains.
ReplyDelete