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Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Dr. Sherman...Coming to the Underground

The Underground staff has reached an agreement whereby ACPS Superintendent Morton Sherman will be given the exclusive right to tomorrow's post.  The Underground agrees to publish, in full and unedited, Dr. Sherman's submission, regardless of length.  In exchange, Dr. Sherman will answer ten questions (no two parters) selected by The Underground.   If you wish to submit a question to Dr. Sherman, please do so by tonight at 10 p.m. tonight (we'll be selecting them over beers at the usual place).  No profanity, no insults.  If you wish to have your questions viewed with serious consideration, please be respectful.  We hope to have this be a regular feature.

As one of the commenters recently noted, noone from ACPS has refuted a single one of the points made on this blog.  Here is the opportunity to do so.

"Love truth, but pardon error." 
 Voltaire

39 comments:

  1. Okay, Dr. Sherman, here's my question: Will you promise to investigate grade changing by administrators, giving immunity to staff who come to you with evidence of such behavior?

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  2. Since the ACPS strategic plan stipulates that "We set clear, actionable goals and measure, publicize and take responsibility for our results," what measurements are being used and what are the results of these measurements when evaluating current programs implemented over the past 2 years in ACPS?

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  3. Keep it up~~two great questions, so far.

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  4. Why am I required to attend meetings and work past my contracted day? and yet if I need to use a planning period I get docked? how about comp time alittle professional give and take here?

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  5. In Daniel Pink's book Drive (which was purchased for staff to read) he emphasizes the importance of intrinsic motivation versus the carrot-and-stick approach. Why are TC students being bribed to attend SOL remediation during their elective courses with gift cards? How is this helping students learn?

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  6. why do I have 20 scheduled iaps to not only prepare but attend? when do I get to plan engaging out of box lessons?

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  7. sorry that is 20 iaps in ONE WEEK!

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  8. new hires were mandated to attend training/orientation without compensation, employees are required to tutor and attend meetings for free, your consultants don't work for free, why should I?

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  9. Student attendance remains an issue, why is this not being addressed more assertively?

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  10. Dear Sup. Morton Sherman, can you please explain to me, the parent of an ACPS student, how my child is benefiting from his teacher being away from the classroom almost 30% of the teaching time, since the beginning of this school year, for mandatory meetings, trainings and other ‘development’ activities? How is my child benefiting from being ‘taught’ by a substitute most of that time, and if he’s lucky, the substitute speaks English?

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  11. My question deals with IB, specifically MYP. I have worked in a MYP school and our instructional collaboration was done via teams, meaning the traditional MS teams. Our teams were disbanded when the 2 schools became 5; realistically how can we effectively plan (create collaborative lessons) without those teams?

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  12. Keep it up...a couple more poignant questions and we can put our list together.

    BTW...would any of our readers be willing to send out the link to this site to our fellow teachers via school email? If some of you would send one to each of the schools, it'd really be beneficial to circulation. So, for example, Mount Vernon would be mvstaff@acps.k12.va.us

    Thanks

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  13. The FY 2012 budget calls for operating expenditures of just over $210 million, or just under $17,000 per pupil. What do you project per pupil expenditures to be for each of the next five fiscal years?

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  14. Can't someone just use all@acps.k12.va.us and forward the website?

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  15. How do you know whether consultants engaged to deliver professional development to ACPS teachers know more about how to teach ACPS students than ACPS teachers do?

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  16. 8:58-you are in the running for comment of the week..and you may be selected as one of the ten questions for the Superintendent...a world record!

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  17. As a parent, I’d like to ask about plans, if any, to improve the ACPS Academic Access system. I’ve had to meet with my child’s counselor twice this year to fix an erroneous grade and a mis-calculation of his GPA. The counselor apologized for the mysterious errors (although not her fault), had to take the time to search it in the system, fixed it and followed up to ensure it would stick. I’ve had to take the time to double check every grade with the teachers, go to the counselor to ensure it’s fixed, follow up, etc. Teachers are also exasperated with the system on the many occasions I’ve had to query items on the Student Grade Book that seemed inaccurate. Teachers expressed frustration with the system’s “quirkiness” and all the re-work and workaround they’ve had implement. I don’t see how this is efficient when teachers and counselors are taken away from their real job to deal with a system that is still imperfect; and as a parent, if I’m not diligent in auditing the report cards and Student Grade Book, how am I assured that my child’s efforts/grades are recorded/reported accurately?

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  18. In her excellent book (often touted by Dr. Sherman), The Death and Life of the Great American School System, Diane Ravitch writes at length about the pitfalls of breaking larger campuses into smaller "learning communities". (It sounds good, doesn't it?) All of the dismal problems documented in her book mirror the disasters we are currently observing in our middle schools. Why do we perpetuate the myth that 5 schools (with 10 administrators) are better than 2 schools, and why are we repeating the costly mistakes of those school systems who have already tried this costly, failing, strategy?

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  19. why do special ed. students not have special ed teachers?

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  20. Who was responsible for not scheduling Hammond students until after the school year started and did that person lose their job?

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  21. What meetings are so important that requires teachers and principals to be out of school so frequently? How is a school supposed to function with a third of its team and leadership missing? If the teachers already hired aren't good enough to teach (one conclusion people can draw from all the required training), how are subs supposed to pull it off?

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  22. What is your strategy for motivating and retaining talented, experienced, good teachers who are genuinely dedicated to the profession and the children? Because what I've seen and read about what has been done in ACPS in the last couple of years are demoralizing and enough cause to drive good teachers with brains and talent and creativity to RUN out of ACPS! Is it your master plan to acquire and retain only yes men and zombie drones responding only to your commands, Sherman?

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  23. We heard at the beginning of the year that the coaching in literacy and math was to be a "strengths model." Why, then, do the coaches berate and demean teachers, rather than building on the many strengths we have?

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  24. Dr. Sherman, would you want to be an ACPS teacher in the current climate?

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  25. why extend the school year when ms students only have FOUR days of classes a week? HOW ABOUT CORE CLASSES 5 DAYS A WEEK FIRST?

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  26. How does ACPS discern whether a teacher is performing well enough to be retained?

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  27. Are ANY ACPS teachers performing well?

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  28. What do I tell confused parents when an F in the grade book magically becomes a nothing of its own volition? Sorry sir, guess we don't give that grade any longer, not until the end of the year anyway, when it is too late to do anything about it.

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  29. " I’ve had to meet with my child’s counselor twice this year to fix an erroneous grade and a mis-calculation of his GPA."

    Parent Question of Junior at TCW: Is the above question on errors in Academic Access being looked into? We've noted similar problems. GPA errors in light of college applications are inexcusable.

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  30. This is like the extended day proposal... Last minute notice and little time for a thoughtful response - but here goes.
    These proposals seem primarily targeted toward struggling students - that clearly is the focus of the proposal. What about high achieving students? What is being considered for them. What is the thinking on a 2nd high school for gifted children?
    I have seen resources cut here as the focus shifts toward remedial programs. Why not allow children to go to TJ? The answer I have been given is that TC is as good - then why not compete? I have no TC has great teachers and very bright students, but why should I embrace sending my child to what you repeatedly note is a persistently lowest achieving school if my child can get accepted to the highest ranking school in the country? And please don't insult me by throwing out outlier data such as the Intel science award winner (who you noted self-studied with an online course ... I can only imagine how he could have progressed with a group of peers in a Real Analysis course) when TJ consistently has the highest number of semifinalists in these competitions. similarly" great job to the Odyssey of the mind team, but again, please look at the overall TJ performance. I have a number of friends -- including TJ grads-- who have moved out of Alexandria specifically because of this policy. OK - it's after 10 and that was more than one question .... Pick one.

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  31. Why does the board think it can determine what is best for students without parent and teacher input? What effect do you think rushed proposals lacking teacher input will have on teacher morale? Don't you see a risk to alienating teachers and incenting those with options ( I.e., the most talented) to seek employment elsewhere?

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  32. It's become a joke that ACPS builds a plane while it's in the air. Do we really want our children in that kind of a plane?

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  33. Can we see a "backwards designed" unit plan for ACPS? It would be helpful to see how all the separate decisions and plans are supposed to come together. We might also find out what could cripple the plans and avoid doing them.

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  34. Please explain how you make the jump from an extended school day for students (mort's justification is that students benefit from more time with quality teachers) to an extended day for teachers - can you say you are using the current school days as efficiently as possible? If not, please work on that first.

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  35. How is the committee model for decision making more advantageous to the executive model for decision making? In ACPS much emphasis is placed on the committee design for everything from schedules to curriculum. If this is the model which has been adopted by ACPS, then why are ACPS administrators paid more than committee members (teachers), if the administrators are not making executive decisions? What do the administrative salaries reflect? Why are there upwards of 30 executive directors, directors, supervisors, coordinators, curriculum specialists, and deputy superintendents if they are not the ones making the decisions? Why is a superintendent's role vital if decisions are made by committee?

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  36. Two separate questions:
    1. Why do some elementary schools with similar numbers of students have different numbers of administrators - one has a principal with an administrative intern who is still a full time teacher, two have one principal and share an administrative intern (who is not a teacher), and others have a principal and one or more assistant principals?

    2. With all of the emphasis on needing more time, why has summer school been shortened to just two weeks?

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  37. I know this is late, but I hope it is asked. Why is IB training part of the 4 areas granted for tuition reimbursement? All teachers within an IB school need to be trained, via IBO...hence there is no need for a teacher to obtain outside training and be reimbursed for it. My question addresses two concerns 1) having IB as part of tuition reimbursement limits other legitimate tuition expenses that should be reimbursed and 2) essentially doesn't comply with our agreement with IBO that in order to have an IB World School training WILL be provided via IBO (teachers won't need to do it on their own and wait for reimbursement)

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  38. Why don't regular education teachers know that the law requires every public school in this country to place students in the least restrictive environment? Why don't regular education teachers know that VDOE found ACPS in non compliance for delivering services to students with disabilities. What has ACPS done to ensure that all teachers understand their responsibility to teach the students placed in their classrooms? What training has been provided to ensure regular educators are prepared to comply with the law?

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  39. 1) If we have a surplus here in Alexandria then why do teachers overwhelmingly have to pay their own way for courses for their own recertification? When I started teaching here ACPS paid half and my department paid the other half. Now we get next to nothing.

    Unlike administrators the vast majority of us are not rich, nor do we see the rationale behind paying to keep our jobs.

    What we paid Skillful Teacher could have paid for college courses for dozens of teachers. Now I understand you could get college credit for ST but you had to pony up 200 bucks of your own money for credits that will never transfer from a university I would be ashamed to attend (one step above "go to college in your pajamas!").


    2) Why is it that kids can walk right off a school bus and onto king street in the morning and nobody stops them?

    Seriously, nobody even tries.

    It's almost as if we tacitly encourage truancy.


    3) Why are the hall monitors allowed to do absolutely nothing? Why do numerous (talking dozens) of complaints not result in any discipline? Why are hall monitors taking kids out of my class to talk about sports? Why are they allowed to openly abandon their posts? Why are they allowed to be surly and unprofessional?

    In short: why are hall monitors not fired for things teachers would be?

    3) Mort said proudly that no teacher took a pay cut because of the recession (during which we apparently collected a surplus).

    Every CTE teacher got 10 days cut from their work calendar. They said it was because of the recession when I asked.

    That's a pay cut for about 5-10% of the staff. How does that not count?

    We ever getting those days back or is central office hoping we'll shut up and take it? Until then I would appreciate if the superintendent did not say anything about people not taking a pay cut due to the recession.

    4) Why is the superintendent not willing to pay staff for the extra time at the same rate they get paid every other hour of the day? It's like we have to work one half hour a day at a huge discount. I respectfully ask that we stop treating the education business as a charity and start treating it as a job.

    In short we have a proposed 2-3% pay increase for a proposed 6-7% work increase.

    Makes no sense unless you think we aren't worth the money. Maybe we should get on a bus to Fairfax?

    5) It was said before but I reiterate: How did the focus vis a vis extra time go from student time to extra time for staff development? Remember this email TC staff?

    "The state has strongly recommended, as part of our PLA designation, to increase annual instructional time by 300 hours. My proposals bring us very close to that goal." - Morton Sherman

    Says "student instruction" pretty clearly.

    Now we're told it will be PLP time (utter waste of time, I swear ACPS LOVES bureaucracy).

    What changed Mort? The plan is clearly different now than it was initially and no reason was given. In fact, I believe this issue has not been addressed at all. I'm hoping Mort comes clean and does not make this into a BS case about semantics (see, that I meant by student instruction was...).

    I charge Mort with moving the goalposts.

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