Looking for Substance More Than Image

We have a post by Ms. DeCeasar regarding a document from Doug Erwin, a vindicated whistle blower. It is my understanding that he not only asked for whistle blower protection, he needed it. From all accounts, he became a victim of his professionalism and character. For those who watched the school board meeting the day they turned the cameras off when he was speaking, as someone once said "there was a chill wind" that blew across the district that day.

Teachers seem to be asking for support and leadership from their administrators when you read the anonymous comments. When one looks to their administration for support and leadership, there must be more than an image of professionalism.

The truth about the Doug Erwin story is known by few. The truth about the Whitehead case story is known by few. Reading the court document does not provide the story justice. What should be of interest and concern to those looking for integrity within the HCPS is how the system deals with legitimate issues. We used to hear that "it isn't whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game". One wonders if winning at all cost, no matter how you play the game, may be what drove the District's defense.

Here is a link to a commentary about the Whitehead trial:

Inside Story of the $600,000 Verdict in Florida Retaliation Case
by Laura Whiteside, Esq.

This section should be of note:

"School District Maintained "Private Files"

During the trial, school district representatives testified that decisions about the child’s need for individual services is up to the discretion of the school’s speech language therapist. Although the Hearing Officer determined that the School Board illegally denied the parents access to their son's educational records, the jury learned that the School Board continued to maintain "private files" of correspondence about OCR complaints.

The jury was presented with the "private file." This private file showed that the district misrepresented events to OCR about providing Andrew with compensatory educational services."

"Death By Education" by William Weiser was his story of the system.

Maybe there really is a pattern when one connects the dots.

Shakespeare or 1 Samuel, chapter 17

I always liked reading Shakespeare as much as I hated reading it. Those little yellow books helped make sense out of the real stories, which went a long way in helping me like it.

And then there is the story about David and Goliath.

And then we have "Patsy" and "David".

Will be interesting to see this play as the acts unfold.

When are Scissors Used As A Crutch?

Must be "global warming known as spring" - thank you Mr. Cheney.

After several days of no writing, today seems endless in subject matter.

A while back I posted my thoughts on how a nurse, or maybe it was an LPN, or maybe it was a person designated by the district to act as such (can be found in the state statutes), was quick witted to identify a crutch as a weapon, thereby positioning her actions as protecting the children, a responsibility which she has the authority to do.

I have written a few words on school employee authority, and we all should know not to question it. Other blogs have produced documents and told incidents of how this authority has been exercised.

I read this today on Detentionslip.com and laughed out loud, again:

Boy Stabbed With Scissors At School

I wasn't laughing at the fact that someone was stabbed. It was this comment by the "hall monitor":

"What was the school thinking? Keeping deadly weapons readily available for anyone who picks a fight. One minute you're cutting geometry shapes, the next minute you have a pair of scissors lodged in your neck. We really need to rethink what kind of craft projects we're assigning these students."

At least our school system requires a carry permit for crutches. Maybe we should start being proactive and do the same for scissors. I am sure Doctors won't mind taking on the legal liability of providing permits to weapons such as crutches and scissors.

And I was worried about "hands".

A Horse is a Horse Of Course of Course - even if it is ridden by a Cavalier

From Dictionary.com, we find:

cav·a·lier noun - 1. a horseman, esp. a mounted soldier; knight.

–adjective 5. haughty, disdainful, or supercilious: an arrogant and cavalier attitude toward others.

I just can't resist jumping in to say "me too" or, in today's vernacular - "That's what I'm talkin' 'bout".

Goader used this word recently, and I wanted to jump in then, but I felt like it would be perceived as just a "wanna be" attempt.

But, by gosh and golly, that word showed up again today in the Tampa Tribune by a "pw23 12:04 p.m." comment, and I just can't resist the temptation to tell another anecdotal account of my past.

After December 16, 1996, my life as I knew it was changed forever. I was no longer going to take it without a fight. Having learned from my father, who was a "full bird Colonel", I saw how he dealt with issues in his life, and there were no nuances and little negotiations. I decided after that day that it was time to emulate him as best I could, take a stand, and do what I had to do to address this lying, deceitful entity of the HCDS.

A few months or maybe within a year of the above date, the HCDS had some group come in to evaluate it. They had public comment meetings at different schools. The time and exact place are a bit fuzzy in my memory, but I think the meeting I went to was at King High School. I was working out of town, and trying to advocate for one's child when one is two hours away makes it even more difficult.

Anyway, this group had put up big sheets of paper on the wall under different categories for the public comment. I don't remember which category I wrote it under, nor do I remember my exact words.

But I used the word "cavalier" when I tried to describe how I perceived the District deals with parents and ESE issues.

I see the horse is still being ridden by a cavalier. And apparent the attitude is towards teachers, too.

Search Me

There is another article in today's Tampa Tribune that is critical of the way the business of education is being conducted by the HCDS.


Here is the link: Leaders Fail To Do Homework In Dash To Remake Schools

If my analysis of it is correct, it supports the thread I have been writing about for almost a year.

The best way I can think of, with only one cup of coffee, if readers want to judge for themselves, is to click on the label "numbers" or go up to the left top of the blog, and do a search within this blog for the word "number".

While I have been derelict in my duties to label all of my posts, there will be enough for most readers anyway. Some of my posts are dead on.

Different business owners have different approaches to making money. Some focus on quality control of the product, some focus on customer satisfaction and some focus on profit margin. Judge for yourself which one of these models the "business owners" of HCDS use.

That is of course one believes that our system is more about the "business" of education more than the business of "education".

A Jimmy Buffett Song Plays In The Background

"It's those changes in latitudes,
changes in attitudes
nothing remains quite the same.
With all of our running and all of our cunning,
If we couldn't laugh, we would all go insane." - Jimmy Buffett

I am not sure how many people are laughing about the situation with the HCPS. I think there are more than a few going insane. And I think that there is a lot of running and a lot of cunning in attempts to keep it together.

I was asked this question: "Is the school district too large to make the changes needed in response to the public who finance the operation and use the system?"

My short answer is "no". My long monotonous answer is "no" also. At one point in time back in the late '90's, I was involved in several different areas with the District, mostly revolving around ESE issues. I was attempting to address "systemic issues". As my knowledge and experience increased, my skills and ability to analyze different aspects of how the District operates also increased. I will admit, I was at times lacking of diplomacy when I was being fed a line of bull snot and expected to believe it. Hence, I was invited in for a conference more than once, which I talk a little about in this post: "It's Not What You Say, It's The Fact That You Said It."

I was disturbing the troops. Again, admittedly, some of the teachers and staff were "innocent victims" of the system and they were blindsided when someone came along and challenged the "propaganda". I can recount countless numbers of incidents where the information being given to parents in IEP meetings was easily demonstrated as wrong by simply asking the information giver to "let's just read this section of the procedural safeguards out loud". I was once threatened of being ejected from an IEP meeting despite the fact that I was right on two out of two challenges of how the ESE specialist was "explaining the parent's rights" incorrectly. I was later told by an administrator that I should have waited "until after the meeting" to address these issues. How many of you want to be told the truth about the contract you are negotiating "after" you have signed it?

In several settings, both in IEP meetings and out of them, I heard that "the District is too big for everyone to get the right information". I think it was in one of the Superintendent's Advisory Council on Special Education where I heard this excuse one more time and I responded with "Are we going to change the size of the District? If not, then I don't want to hear that as an excuse anymore."

I said all of that to say this - size doesn't matter. One, because it is not an option to change the size of the District and two, if the District wants to address communication issues or deal with issues succinctly, they can and will, in my opinion.

A large part of the problem is that the majority of the public has no clue about what goes on. I believe that apathy, ignorance and blind trust is why a majority of the public don't know. For the rest who see the challenges, just look how hard it is for the teachers to get attention to what is going on. Parents have the same difficulty. And "they are just parents".

Only recently has the media seemed to be more enlightening. Just look how many articles have come out in the last year. But, then read how Mr. Otto was challenged about what he writes. Considering his wife is a teacher, he surely wouldn't want to bite the hand that feeds her. And now there is blogging. I have already cited in my previous posts how blogging may accomplish change effectively, mainly because it cannot be controlled, even though "they" will try. Those who are entrenched in "how it used to be" won't be able to overcome the new technology and the information age.

So, in my humble opinion, it won't be a change in the size of the District, it will be a change in how it is administered.

There Is That Word "Arrogance" Again

In today's Tribune, we find this:

Parents Get Crash Course In Hubris 101

At the very end of the editorial, there is the word that I use a lot when I talk about the HCPS:

"They say it takes a village to raise a child. Apparently in Hillsborough, a few arrogant administrators will suffice."

I wonder if the editors will get a visit like Mr. Otto did here:
"Administrators Need Love, Too, I Suppose"

One More Isolated Incident

I was in attendance in my son's IEP meeting on December 16th, 1996. I assumed it was going to a contentious meeting, as it had all of the earmarks of those types I had attended before.

Prior to this meeting, I had written a letter to the principal outlining some of my concerns. After six years of learning the ways of the District, I had become better at covering all of the bases, even though I knew there would be some angle I was not prepared for.

While there were a lot of interesting things that happened in this meeting, I will address one connected to the link below. The principal recorded the meeting. There were a lot of "damaging" things said by some of the District people and also there was a lot of "evidence" of how my "procedural safeguards" were compromised, some being outright violated. Keep in mind this was prior to me learning the rules of the game. In fact, that day started my official quest for knowledge regarding IDEA and how it is supposed to work.

It was the proverbial straw. Some of the people who were in that meeting are still around. I think one or two of them understood the injustice that was done. I think the others were more entrenched in how to spin the events so they were defensible.

The fallout of this meeting was immediate and widespread. It may not surprise some of you that despite the fact that I had an MO-12 inviting me to an IEP meeting on that day and a time specific and room specific, along with the fact that nine or ten other people showed up at the same time and place, upon my request for copies of the records of that IEP meeting, I was told by a District Person that there had been no IEP meeting. I guess it depends on what the definition of "was" was.

The principal had tape recorded the meeting. She had prepared for taping. I did not. Try getting a definitive "yes" or "no" answer today whether a parent can tape an IEP meeting.

Back to my point that speaks to the below. After I insisted on getting a copy of that tape, I was finally given a tape.

The tape I received was blank.


This post jogged my memory:

Saturday, April 05, 2008

I can't remember exactly how this poor mangled teacher came to my attention. I think she emailed me. I asked for a copy of her court case to put on our blog, and she said OK.

Two Can Be As Bad As One

A little Three Dog Night to keep the home fires burning:

"One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do
Two can be as bad as one, its the loneliest number since the number one"

***********

As I play keyboard critiquing of the local HCDS, cultivated on years of resentment to unprofessional treatment, every once in a while I wonder if I truly did experience more than my share of "isolated incidents".

How would one know they were isolated if one wasn't keeping track? I know I started keeping track after six years. I know for six years I gave benefit of the doubt many many times, continuing to trust that I was being dealt with professionally.

I think school administrators are provided the "isolated defense" strategy in Administration 101 through Administration 599 under "Strategies to Minimize Credible Critiques."

Somehow I missed this post until today:

"......April, do not believe any number the county gives you. They skew exams to fit their agenda and this will be no different. ...." (anon - March 22, 2008 12:51 PM)

So now there are at least two of us on record for questioning the reliability of numbers.

I will continue to label my posts, but I have frequently written about my perception of how HCDS relates to "numbers", and of course this article fed right into my perception.

It may or not have any bearing on the subject, but a previous principal would have first hand knowledge of how "numbers" are generated and recorded. Therefore, if there were any shenanigans going on, a previous principal should know how to ferret it out.

What should be concerning for all of us is at what point do those who are tracking numbers and relying on their reliability know if and when to decipher fact from fiction?

I have written about how a lot of my personal experiences with the HCDS was like looking through smoke and mirrors or playing a shell game, and "the nailing jello to a wall" difficulty in trying to obtain accountability.

I know I was "just a parent" and had no business complaining about how the system operated, but I do wonder while professional decisions are being made about how to manage the "x" largest school district and one that claims it is a national model for some latest accolade, who knows what the real numbers are?

Wheelchair Policy May Have Prevented Sex

Oh I Think I'm Going Out of My Head-

"I must think of a way
Into your heart
There is no reason why
My being shy should keep us apart" - Little Anthony and The Imperials


Thanks for "The Gradebook" for this link: "Sex to Cure Shyness".

After reading the article, I am sure everyone is as stunned as I am. Perhaps this is another one of those incidents where there may be another side of the story, according to the public comments.

What should have been a major concern, although I did not see mention of it, is whether or not the teacher had a Dr's note authorizing the use of her wheelchair on campus. According to the story, this is how the student took advantage of the teacher. The 8th grade student used the old ruse,similar to helping an old lady across a street, to push the teacher's wheelchair only for the purpose of extorting sex from the teacher for his wheelchair support service, and added the sly shy act just to nail the victim teacher.

Where is the outrage? I am shocked that the School Board did not address this issue in the same manner they did this one. If there is no policy that says teacher's need a Dr's note, then this issue must be addressed so more students don't have sex with teachers.

We Have to Hand It To Them

Somewhere in my rants and raves I am sure I wrote about my perception of how within the HCDS, once an administrative decision is made, it will be defended simply by principal, no matter how poor an act it was or even if it was based on bad information. I learned that a long time ago.

I had another one of those convenient dreams last nights that fits right in with a new idea for a cash bull or maybe an excrement cottage industry. In my dream, I was driving by one of our local schools, and I noticed that several of the students did not have any hands.

Since I have an inquiring mind, plus have a burning desire to understand the mechanisim of our public school industry, I started asking questions. I found out that a while back, one of the students had hit another student with a fist. The attacked student's parent caused a big stink at the school. This parent of the victim accused the District of allowing fists on campus despite the common knowledge that fists can be weapons. Upon further investigation by the District and the legal representatives of the victim, it was determined that the District had prior knowledge that fists had indeed been used as weapons at other school sites.

I also found out that the school board, in order to protect themselves from liability of allowing weapons on school property, issued a policy banning all fists from school sites and any school functions, unless and until a Dr's note and a "hold harmless agreement" was signed by the students and their parents.

For those students who objected to this policy, their hands were taken away until they secured the proper paperwork.


I heard a rumor that a student hit another student with a book and that is why some classes don't issue text books to the students, nor let them take the books home. I am not sure about that one, but I can still dream.