Guess what's wrong with this???

Dear Employee:

The Total Compensation Review (TCR) Committee is the Superintendent's key advisory body for compensation and benefits reform in the Division. It was established in February 2011, and I am writing to invite you to join our Committee - it is open to all employees. I am also sending an example of our recent work - the Committee's guidance on the use of the 21 additional hours when the school year starts on August 29.

  

What is TCR? Why join? It's a study group for the next 2-3 years. We need your experience to develop the best possible package of career incentives including monetary and non-monetary benefits for ACPS employees. We want you to be part of the solution to solve some critical issues in our transformation to world-class status. Those who participate will be credited with certification points. Members will also gain recognition and knowledge in this emerging field of school reform. Over the next two years, we have identified four areas to examine what works, what needs to improve and how to make the improvement(s). The areas and guiding questions are:

• Career-ladder and Salary. What should be the criteria for a career-ladder and salary level? What of support staff?   
• Student time. How might we extend the student day?
• Professional Learning. How do we improve teacher collaboration and learning?
• Benefits. What is the best program combining health, dental, vision, pension, life insurance, disability insurance, savings programs, leave donation and flexible spending accounts? How do we go what is best for all employee groups?

Who are the current members?  As of our March 30 meeting, we have 24 volunteers signed up to serve on these work groups (if your name is missing please let me know). Anyone may join a group yet we would like a volunteer from every school, and for a few support staff to join the salary or benefits group. The current  members (*chairs) are:

                                 

Career-Ladder & Salary   Student Time               Benefits                                       Professional Time

Jones – TCW                       Richardson - Adams      Domokos-Bays - Food Service     Feltman - Patrick Henry

Wallin – Central Office         *Bohringer - Tucker      *Downs - Patrick Henry                 *Fletcher - Mt. Vernon

Hohman – Hammond 1         Neidermeyer - Adams   *Foley - Tucker                             Martin - Central Office

Wurl – Mason                      Clinger - TCW PTSA                                                          *Ryan - George Mason

*Arscott – Minnie Hwd                                                                                                    Gutierrez - TCW

Selander – Minnie Hwd

Casamo – MacArthur

*Madigan – TCW

Hutchings - Central Office

Brown – Tucker

Warden – PTSA

Dameo - Central Office

                                                                                

    How much time and work does this take?  About an hour a month. As Project Director (and EdD candidate), I will make it as easy on the members as possible by doing research, scheduling speakers, drafting reports and updating the website. What we need all members to do is to attend the work group meeting and participate in the discussions - we need your experience, wisdom and ideas to develop the best possible recommendation(s) for the Superintendent. This is the opportunity to provide your input to the decision making process to help transform the Division. Committee members will also have the opportunity to personally outbrief the Superintendent. Work groups may decide to do other work such as a survey, visit another school Division or attend a local conference. For more information, please see our website at www.acps.k12.va.us/hr/tcr/

   What did the Committee recommend on how to use the 21 additional hours for professional learning? Please see the attachment. The Committee developed the guidelines for the upcoming regulation on the use of school-based, professional learning councils and teams. The regulation will be published no later than May 1st.

In the interim, start now. We recommend that your school use these guidelines and begin its planning now (some schools are doing this already). Each school should have its plan on the use of  the 21 hours completed before the end of the school year.

   Thank you for taking time to read this email. I appreciate your time to read this message. I encourage you to join the Committee. Please let me know if you have any questions. The next meeting date will be announced later but is likely April 27 or May 4. Also, check out the new HR website at http://www.acps.k12.va.us/hr/ . We hope you like the new look.

Best regards,

   Stephen M. Wilkins
   Project Director for Division Compensation Review
   Ph: 703-824-6949
   Visit us at www.acps.k12.va.us/hr/tcr/   Help transform the Division...Join today.

The Response from ACPS

Re: ACPS Underground : An Open Letter and A Bit Of A Lecture

	Inbox		X

Reply

ACPS Communications Directors claims no knowledge of any email sent from her office concerning the agreement to answer questions posed on this blogsite.  We, at The Underground, take her at her word.  Here is the latest exchange from Ms. Alexander:

Kelly Alexander  to me

show details Mar 30 (2 days ago)

You must be mistaken.  No such email was sent by or from me to you.  Nor have I made any agreement of any kind with you or anyone else associated with the Blog to which you refer.


Regards,
Ms. Alexander


Kelly L. Alexander
Director, Community/School Partnerships and Communications
Alexandria City Public Schools
Main Office: (703) 824-6635
Direct:  (703) 824-6703
Mobile: (703) 472-0318
www.acps.k12.va.us

"The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education."
Martin Luther King, Jr.

---

From: "Voltaire"
To: "kelly alexander" <kelly.alexander@acps.k12.va.us>
Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2011 7:44:18 PM
Subject: ACPS Underground : An Open Letter and A Bit Of A Lecture

Voltaire has sent you a link to a blog:

Dear Ms. Alexander, Several days ago we received an email, purportedly from your office. You agreed to have the Superintendent answer a series of questions. Please let us know the status of that agreement.

Blog: ACPS Underground
Post: An Open Letter and A Bit Of A Lecture
Link: http://acpsunderground.blogspot.com/2011/03/open-letter-and-bit-of-lecture.html

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Reply

to Kelly

show details 7:01 PM (23 hours ago)

Ms. Alexander,

I want to sincerely apologize for having assumed that an email purporting to be from your office was authentic.  I will let the followers of the blogsite know.

Very apologetically,

- Show quoted text -

Here it is...your comment of the week!!

"So why not spend a few more days there getting a great education?" Here are a few reasons: 1) It is presently not a great education. The State did not just make up the PLA label out of nowhere. As a graduate of T.C. Williams I am shocked by what I see allowed within my old high school. 2) Countless research (thank you to those who cited what was put out by the School Board) does not indicate that throwing more time into the equation produces any better results. 3) Extra days = extra dollars. The economy is still in a recession and local governments, this one included, do not have the money to waste on dispelled initiatives. 4) This is just one more variable put into place alongside countless initiatives crammed in one after the other by the superintendent. If there is success at T.C. and other schools, what will be determined to be the cause of that success? Increased time, a change in staff, revamped curriculum, fresh fruits and veggies? An elementary understanding of  planning and  experimentation dictates that you minimize the  variables to best draw conclusions and replicate  what works. Learning opportunities outside of  the classroom impact students far beyond the  concrete walls of our schools. Increasing time  within school and adding days to the year decreases  those opportunities and thus decreases positive impacts on student learning.See more... By Anonymous on Folkerts in Denial at 8:27 PM

Here it is...your comment of the week!

To those who feel slighted by this forum: You can always post your ideas and comments on Dr. Sherman's blog. He updates it daily, responds immediately, and encourages open and honest dialog. (my nose just grew a foot)

By Anonymous on An Open Letter and A Bit Of A Lecture at 8:36 PM

An Open Letter and A Bit Of A Lecture

Just over a week ago The Underground sent a request to Dr. Sherman's Communication's Director.  A response indicated that Dr. Sherman would be willing to answer a series of questions under certain circumstances.  To date, no responses have been forthcoming.  I am urging each of the followers of The Underground to contact  Mrs. Alexander and ask that the questions posed, be answered.


Kelly L. Alexander 
Director, Community/School Partnerships and Communications 
Alexandria City Public Schools 
2000 North Beauregard Street 
Alexandria, Virginia 22311 
Tel: 703-824-6635 
Fax: 703-824-6741 
E-mail: kelly.alexander@acps.k12.va.us

Additionally (and this is the last time that this will be addressed), there are a few reasons why some comments are deleted from the blog.  The first is technical, and it affects comments of all persuasions.  From time to time, your comments are routed to the spam folder automatically.  There, they are known to languish before being discovered and, at other times deleted.  More commonly, though, the comments that are deleted fall into one of two areas:

1) Constant, non-productive, sniping between two commenters-this is a waste of everyone's time and, in short, won't be tolerated.
2) The same couple of individuals, who are unabashedly pro-Sherman (and that's fine), continually make the point that The Underground only serves to poke holes in the "vision" and strategy of the Sherman administration, without offering any alternatives.  These comments are deleted because they are red herrings and simply distractions.  Anyone who takes the time to read both the posts and the comments on this blog knows that both contain thoughtful and thought provoking alternatives (admittedly, not always) to what currently is pitched by the administration as effective best practices.

This blog does not purport to be one in which all points of view are given equal time and representation. If you feel as if your viewpoints are not receiving the consideration that they deserve, please, start your own blog.

"Animals have these advantages over man: they never hear the clock strike, they die without any idea of death, they have no theologians to instruct them, their last moments are not disturbed by unwelcome and unpleasant ceremonies, their funerals cost them nothing, and no one starts lawsuits over their wills." 
— Voltaire

Folkerts in Denial

Alexandria News, Carla Branch writes:
Last Thursday, Alexandria City Public School Superintendent Morton Sherman went to Richmond to ask the Virginia State Board of Education to grant a waiver, which would allow ACPS to begin school before Labor Day. The Board deferred action on the request until April.

“The Board asked us to amend the waiver request to include specific school by school programmatic innovations that will be implemented if we are granted the waiver,” said Alexandria School Board Chair Yvonne Folkerts. “We will amend the waiver to address the issues that the Board raised and resubmit it on April 28. I remain convinced that this is the right thing for ACPS and believe that it will be granted.”

State law precludes public schools from opening before Labor Day because of Virginia’s tourism industry. The State Board has granted waivers to other school systems for various reasons.

“We have worked very hard to gain community support for beginning school early and, while there are still dissenters, most agree that it is what we should do,” Folkerts said.

New Flash...Breaking News!!!

An alert Undergrounder spots the following:

Strike one for the ACPS Pre-Labor Day waiver.  http://www.alexandrianews.org/2011/03/state-board-defers-acps-waiver-request/

Ladies and Gentlemen...I give you the COMMENT OF THE WEEK

interesting article: How to Raise the Status of Teachers Aside from a pay increase, what are other ways of attracting high-quality educators? Let Us Teach! Updated March 27, 2011, 07:00 PM Vern Williams teaches honors math at Longfellow Middle School in Fairfax County, Va. He was named to the National Mathematics Advisory Panel in 2006. I really doubt that it is possible to raise the status of teachers and teaching in the U.S. considering the major stake holders currently involved in K through 12 education. I understand why students in the top third academically refuse to become teachers, while in Finland, Singapore and South Korea, teaching candidates are selected only from the top third. Until classroom teachers are allowed to make real decisions regarding curriculum, assessment, textbooks and professional development, the status of teachers will remain low. .What we, as teachers, need to do is take back our profession. Most teachers will take to the streets and protest over salaries, pensions and working  conditions, but how many teachers would do the same if someone  who has never taught their grade level or subject, imposed a  new curriculum or demanded that certain pedagogy be followed?  Until practicing classroom teachers are allowed to make real  decisions regarding curriculum, assessment, textbooks and  professional development, the status of teachers will remain  low. At the moment, our profession seems to be in the hands  of politicians, researchers, special interest groups, school system  bureaucracies, unions, technology companies and textbook  publishers. Even though I highly respected the members of the  National Mathematics Advisory Panel I served on, I was the only  practicing K through 12 teacher on the panel. Why should bright  high school students decide to become teachers if they suspect  that everyone will make decisions concerning their profession  except them? In the 1990s, I spent three weeks during a few  of my summers teaching for the Johns Hopkins University’s  Center for Talented Youth. I found it fascinating how instructors  were treated and respected. They were careful in who they  hired, but once hired they trusted you to plan and teach your  assigned course to your students without interference. Even  though I was teaching sixth graders, I felt the prestige of a  college professor. This is how teachers should feel each and  every day in their classrooms if the status of teaching is to  be raised.  http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/03/27/how-to-raise-the-status-of-teachers/let-us-teach By Anonymous on The auditors are coming, the auditors are coming..... at 6:58 PM

The auditors are coming, the auditors are coming...Mr. Wilson, get a clue!

Let's begin with a point of clarification...the last audit of our school system by the Virginia Department of Education, was "a scathing report pointing out six areas where the ACPS public-school system failed to meet federal standards" the results of which were based on the status of our city's schools pre-Sherman.  So, while we at The Underground are profoundly disappointed by the Superintendent's lack of accountability to the citizenry (not a word in response to the ten questions posted, last week on this blog), we do not/cannot extend our disappointment to data driven by ineptitude that predated Sherman's arrival.


We will however jump all over Sherman for his feeble and disingenuous attempt at addressing a key component of the latest audit--discipline.  According to the Department of Education, "When the last audit was conducted, a special education student in Alexandria was three times as likely to be suspended than a student without a disability."  No credible argument can be offered that this is not an area of grave concern with no less than all students' civil rights and physical well-being at stake.  




According to Michael Pope's recent article in the Alexandria Gazette, "When auditors arrive in Alexandria next week, they will find two new programs in place that Sherman says have been successful in reducing the number of discipline referrals for special-education students. One is called Response to intervention and the other Positive Behavioral Intervention Support."http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/articleprint.asp?article=349263&paper=59&cat=104


While the severity of the discipline crisis among our special education students cries out for serious, school based interventions that are both proven and feasible Mort Sherman has instead turned, yet again, to the world of profit-driven, money-focused, quick fix, gimmicky programs.  


Just read what Jay Greene, endowed chair and head of the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. has to say about Response to Intervention. 


" My point is that the systems that school districts have adopted for the evaluation and identification of disabilities are shaped by these financial incentives so that even well-meaning practitioners will tend to over-identify disabilities when there are financial rewards for doing so.

Of course, RTI does nothing to address these financial incentives for increasing special ed enrollments.  In fact, it may contribute to those perverse incentives because schools are rewarded even more by placing more students in special education because they now get to divert 15% of that money for general education, which is essentially fungible.  And to make matters worse, diverting 15% of special education money away from disabled students may short-change truly disabled students who need those resources."

Next, is the program with which I have quite a bit of firsthand knowledge and experience, Positive Behavioral Intervention Support or PBIS.  This is the program, as it is implemented in our schools, that bestows instant and long-term rewards (toys, toys, trinkets, privileges) upon students whenever they demonstrate a modicum of socially acceptable behavior.  At some schools there is a gift/toy catalog that recalcitrant students pore over before robbing some decent child of his PBIS tickets and later exchanging them for gifts and toys.

In their article, Positive Behavior Support, A Paternalistic  Utopian Vision, the authors (Mulick and Butter of OSU and Columbus Children's Hospital)  point out that "PBS is not a science, but rather a form of illusion that leads to dangerously biased decision making.  What little benefit in education or community service settings PBS practitioners might be able to provide is more than offset by the cost to them and their students of distorting the reality of the very behavioral processes they seek to alter and use to benefit people with disabilities."

These studies concerning the two programs ostensibly put in place to help our special education population, exposes them for what they are--costly, ineffective and, in some cases, harmful approaches to a deep rooted crisis.  Rather than solicit input from those with the most at stake, here,  the parents and teachers, we witness Sherman executing the 'end around', again.  Force programs down the throats of all, without assessing needs or efficacy, keep the public out of the loop, spend money unfettered and expect everyone affected to shut up.  

I witnessed the unthinkable at a recent school board hearing.  A father deigned to speak to the board about his child at James K. Polk, inappropriately placed in the 'mainstream' classroom and enduring little success and many hardships.  When he finished his very moving testimony, Sherman said nothing, indeed never changed expression and the gentleman was thanked for his time by Ms. Ffolkes and forgotten.

"I don’t know where I am going, but I am on my way."
— Voltaire

Note- One point of clarification on the statistic that "a special education student in Alexandria is three times as likely to be suspended than a student without a disability." That's not a statistic from the Virginia Department of Education. It comes from an Alexandria Gazette Packet story from September 2009that combined data from the Washington Area Boards of Education with statistics from ACPS to show the disproportionate nature of discipline in the school system.

It's here...Your Comment of the Week!

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 (talkingdozens)  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. By Anonymous on Dr. Sherman...Coming to the Underground on 3/24/11

Well, folks...I'm flummoxed!

The offer to Doctor Sherman still stands.  At any time he can shoot us his answers and we'll post them.  Up next on The Underground...


Title I and our noncompliance-several of you have sent in comments about how your school is in non-compliance with Title I regs.  We'd appreciate hearing from any and all of you who have something worth mentioning.

And....

Special Education and the upcoming state audit.  What does it mean?  Where is ACPS headed vis a vis Special Education?  Again, please submit your comments concerning this topic, too.

"Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe." 
— Voltaire

The Ten

1.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? 2. 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. 3.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? 4.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? By Anonymous on Dr. Sherman...Coming to the Underground on 3/23/11 5.Who was responsible for not scheduling Hammond  students until after the school year  started and did that person lose their job? By Anonymous on Dr. Sherman...Coming to the Underground on 3/23/11 6.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? By Anonymous on Dr. Sherman...Coming to the Underground on 3/23/11 7.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? By Anonymous on Dr. Sherman...Coming to the Underground on 3/23/11 8.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? By Anonymous on Dr. Sherman...Coming to the Underground on 3/23/11 9.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? 10.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? By Anonymous on Dr. Sherman...Coming to the Underground on 3/23/11 And the big bonus!! 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  (talkingdozens) 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. By Anonymous on Dr. Sherman...Coming to the Underground at 3:13 PM Thank you, Dr. Sherman, we await your responses.