We contend that you miss the point and obscure the issues when you focus on our literary devices to the exclusion of all else. Focus your energy on the very real use of propaganda by the administration. Mind the censorship of a school email system that has no problem allowing emails that pitch pharmaceuticals, sexual enhancement devices and fly by night diploma mills, but freaks out at the mere mention of a superintendent who cuts salaries, benefits, and morale even as he fills his own coffers and those of his friends.
W-2's were distributed to teachers this past week. Many of us saw a reduction in our salary over last year's even as millions were wasted in ACPS. In his video presentation, Sherman claimed to be poor with numbers and used his own smarmy, simplistic method to explain how well off we'd all be under his leadership. He has used precious resources to wine and dine the already well-to-do (see Paige Cunningham's three-part series).
True, he is not Adolph Hitler. But is that the standard that we want for the superintendent's position??? What a resume builder...Choose Me! I'm not as bad as Hitler!
We have heard from hundreds of you who are prepared to make your opinions known. The time is coming...the power of the written and spoken word is strong. It is up to you, in the face of censorship to spread the word, continue to call the school board and city council. Keep those leaflets and letters to the editor coming. We will be heard.
District A
District B
District C
To reach the Mayor and Members of City Council by phone, call 703.746.4500 |
yes, one needs to be heard, effectively. Today was the start of the Compensation Reform Committee and today is a School Board Meeting, which is OPEN for public comments.
ReplyDeleteNote: today is also the parent conference night for secondary school teachers, and so no teacher from a secondary school was physically able to be at either of these events.
Rumor has it that the additional 30 minutes is a done deal and that there have been very strict directives laid out as to what to do and how to spend this time. Of course it is under the guise of however each school wants to use it but there are things to be accomplished. This then sets it up for Mort and his minions to expand the day for the kids the next year and the teachers will still not be paid or respected. His usual mode of operation in the back door and then shift. He is one slimy _ _ _.
ReplyDeleteIt is clear that the teachers really are viewed as lower than dirt. Not one teacher has been directly contacted to see what staff opinion is. Not important enough to even be considered in the equation.
The 30 minutes does appear to be a done deal. This committee nonsense is simply an easy way to shift focus and then place blame when the crap hits the fan. Always easy to blame a committee where no one person is responsible. And last time I checked, the way a committee works is it is established, meets, reviews material, then submits a proposal to be reviewed by others and which and a final course of action is voted on. Under the House of Sherman, a committee is only formed after decisions have been made and votes are counted. What a farce. Ask what the objective is of the additional school day time and you will hear a lot of empty talk answers that don't add up to increased learning in our schools.
ReplyDeleteSadly, Sherman can say that he must include an increased 30 minutes to the school day because it's part of the requirements of the school transformation plan, but is that his only choice? And then he's wily enough to temporarily withdraw added time in school for students as soon as parents protest (hooray, by the way for intelligent, involved parents), while happily sticking it to the teachers, who won't be compensated fairly for their time. I'm really wondering just what useless meetings and further enforced indoctrination into 'Dreadful Teacher' await in those extra thirty minutes...
ReplyDeleteCommittee nonsense is also to blame for the new SOL testing dates at the secondary level. Teachers were not contacted for their input and expertise.
ReplyDeleteIt worked in Jersey; it will work here.
It worked in Fairfax; it will work here.
I second the last comment....this trend of staging important meetings when teachers are otherwise obligated or during weeks full of other meetings is either a coincidence or a cowardly move on the behalf of ACPS educational leadership? Though what is taking place can barely be called that. I am tired of initiatives that lack any skill or follow-through when it comes to implementation. I would be hard-pressed to award a D rating for the organization and communication abilities of ACPS and their schools. Our superintendent wants to add time? How about all the time lost due to technical glitches, lack of planning, last minute change, and poor communication to parents, students, and staff. For example, report cards were not available to parents at conferences tonight due to another 'computer glitch'. Maybe it is the same 'glitch' that cause student schedules to not be ready until the first day of school this year. And we will not talk about the inaccurate, sometimes non-existent, rosters and class schedules that were not remedied adequately for weeks into this school year. Instructional time lost! This is not the rare Oops!, but standard operating procedure in our schools. Sad really, considered students register in March!!! When our leadership can learn how to remedy these basic operations, maybe we can consider additional changes from a less-stressed point of view. PS - I haven't even touched on all the paperwork changes and expectations shared with teachers with very little notice i.e. less than 24 working hours prior to the start of school. Good leaders DO NOT take 90+% of the time to plan and give their subordinates only 10% to plan and implement. This is what ACPS leadership is well-know for. This rant must end as my time is precious and it looks I will have less of it in the future!
ReplyDeleteGive the 'educational' nature of the forum, please forgive the typographical errors in the previous post...Proofread, proofread, proofread.
ReplyDeleteThe school board is a lost cause. City Council controls the purse. Make them, the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce, and the Virginia State Board of Education aware of just how awful the situation is within the district. It won't change until you choose to no longer tolerate it.
ReplyDeleteI for one, would be willing to work longer hours on more days FOR FREE if it weren't for the following:
ReplyDeleteWhat I think the administration fails to understand is this....Every single one of us comes home tonight to watch the news and we realize that at any minute, we could be bombed by terrorists or the country could be bankrupt. We are bombarded by reminders of the unemployment lines that well educated and qualified people now find themselves in. What is most insideous is that they are using the current political situation to bully us!
The message is clear...question what the city does and you will find yourself IN that line. If you don't like it, well...What is his line? Oh yea....TAKE YOUR BUS TICKET TO FAIRFAX! And (unspoken) THERE MAY BE NO JOBS IN FAIRFAX! (No dear sir, you can't repeat that line several times and then take it back).
It is THIS behavior that we cannot tolerate! There are things going in this city which are not only not helpful but HARMFUL to the city! (I for one will NOT be sending my child to middle school in Alexandria!) I have ideas of how to fix some of the middle school issues, but the city wants me to be in FEAR! (Don't say anything...you have to be able to feed your child, right?)
They want me to be afraid to question because I may ask....
Is the existing money being used efficiently?
Why were some of the changes made to give me less efficient programs (like star) when we had a program that worked? Couldn't we have waited until they got the program right?
Why ARE we using so many outside contractors?
Why ARE so many pincipals being hired who use abusive language to their staff, killing moral? Why are several good administrators who would never have thought of being disrespectful suddenly speaking to professionals this way?
Why are there so many leaders in the middle schol and NO ONE IN CHARGE! (Hey, don't worry that this kid is bullying everyone...That is school#'s problem! Hahaha THAT principal SUCKS!) (I'm not watching the kid in THAT hall,ha ha...School # SUCKS) (Let's go kick that kids @#$! because he is in in school 1 and we are in school 2....) As if we don't have enough gang problems!
I wish I could give you examples, but I have taken my prescribed dose of fear this morning. But dear City Council and School Board memebers, I LIVE IN THE CITY OF ALEXANDRIA AND I VOTE!
It is funny...on election day when the schools traditionally open 2 hours late and teachers are given this time to vote, teachers were told to report ON TIME ! You make the inference!
ReplyDeleteInteresting info - maybe Voltaire can post this in the blog.
ReplyDeleteI was informed by a person that the last minute rolling meeting on Monday at TC Williams is a way to justify the added 30 minutes by using any ideas we come up with to show that we SUPPORT the added time. I don't know if this is true. However, it appears that Dr. Sherman wants to use the teachers' own ideas against them to convince the school board that the 30 extra minutes is necessary. Maybe someone else can confirm if this is true.
Who is asking what Central Office employees are doing with their additional 30 minutes? Coming to schools to tutor?
ReplyDeleteA long, downhill spiral. Things are getting steadily worse. The promise made to parents when sixth-graders were sent to be part of Alexandria's two middle schools was that the sixth-graders were going to be physically separated from the older students. The schools were reorganized and now the three grade levels mix freely in crowded halls. Middle school teachers now often teach across the grade levels rather than a single grade. Grade-level teams, once the last bastion of collegiality in the middle schools, were dissolved, pretty much leaving each teacher on his or her own. The good teachers hang on and the new teachers are quckly discouraged. In an attempt to "leave no child left behind" discipline is at an all-time low. Administrators are so overwhelmed with discipline that relatively minor problems are routinely ignored. Teachers stay in their rooms rather than monitoring the halls in an effort to insure their own safety. I know that sometimes "things must get better before they get worse," however, when does the "getting better" begins. Adding 30 minutes per day to teachers' time is only a ruse to extend the academic day at a later time by saying the time is already in the contracted time and will cost no more. Are teachers going to be paid for their addition time - will substitutes be paid for their time? Children are not going to benefit from additional time when the current school day ill-serves them. Teachers are beginning to feel beaten down by the system. Mayor Moran once said, "If teachers are being beaten down by the system, something is wrong with the system." duh ...
ReplyDeleteSorry to be posting anonymously ... I need the work.
Dear Voltaire,
ReplyDeleteAre you in the habit of deleting posts that challenge you? I just posted one here, and now it's gone!