Ok - I'm coming out. Cue the music. I must admit, I have never listened to this song, but I love music and the words fit the template.
PRO stands for Poor Richard's Observations.
I am Richard L. Hancock.
I am a product of the Hillsborough County Public School system as a student.
As a student of HCPS, I have nothing but fond memories of my teachers and administrators. When I think about it, I can almost name most of the teachers and none of the administrators. I honestly can not remember a negative thing about any of them. The only time I was ever "in the Principal's office" was in the 6th or 7th grade at Wimauma (back in the day, Wimauma was a 1-12 school) because I was part of a "group food fight" and I was throwing carrots. As a graduate of East Bay High School, I was privileged to have the many academic and athletic accomplishments that came my way, including NHS, being the drum major and school mascot and being a senior notable.
I am a product of the Hillsborough County Public School system as a parent.
Three of my children have completed their time in HCPS. My oldest is a graduate of UF. My middle child is a graduate of Helen Keller National Center for Deaf/Blind. He has what is known as CHARGE Syndrome. My youngest, after a year at U of Tampa, has been accepted to Hofstra, and I am thankful she received an Honors Scholarship to offset the costs.
I guess I and my wife are completely responsible for their academic success because I know if they were academic failures, it would be our fault.
I will repeat, as a parent, I am a product of the Hillsborough County Public School system. I used to have full respect for teachers and the school system until 1990, my age of 37. It took me from 1990 to December 16th, 1996 to become a fully processed parent of the HCPS system to the point that I did not trust any of "them" until they proved themselves. And frankly, I never did, and still don't except for a very close few that I will forever be indebted to.
HEAR ME LOUD AND CLEAR- THERE ARE MANY, MANY PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYEES OF THE HCPS THAT ARE PROFESSIONAL.
What must be understood for those who want to use my blog as a source of information is that it is of my long studied opinion that "the system" is corrupt. It is also of my opinion from experience that there are a few unprofessional HCPS employees that are "power oriented" as opposed to "educational oriented". I spent years with calculated strategies to avoid "power" issues to no avail.
It is of my opinion that retaliation will occur to those who try to "out the system" and retaliation is a very real phenomenon. I have been told so by a few employees over the years. And read the Whitehead verdict. Read the Erwin files.
Read Death By Education.
I have been in restaurants, malls, stores, and sandwich shops when I have met school employees who say things such as "Mr. Hancock, you can say the things that we can not say" or "Richard, teachers and parents need someone like you to do what you do". These same people were known to me to "tow the line" in formal educational meetings. It took me a few years to appreciate the dilemma they were in. There have been a few that I called out for not dealing with what I perceived as the truth. It is what it is. They have to maintain their income. A few have come to me and told me that at the time they thought I was an a******, but now they see I was right.
On the other hand, there are the ones who flat out lie. And they do it with intent and purpose. They get away with it because they abuse their authority. They also control the paperwork.
As a parent, I am a product of the HCPS.
One must read all of my posts and read through the sarcasm and mockery that I write with. It is my long studied opinion that status-quo challenging employees will meet the same fate as status-quo challenging parents, whether it be at the school board public speaking podium, the Principal's office or the teacher's room, or an IEP.
It is of my opinion that the more intense the challenge of the status-quo becomes, the more the lower level personnel become instruments of "the system" and are divested of their true professionalism.
Suffice it to say that I know that there are powers of influence that unsuspecting teachers and parents never become aware of. It is also of my opinion that the School Board is either kept ignorant of these situations, or they are complicit in allowing the practice to continue.
I don't need to "broad brush attack" - a term I was accused of after a speech I made at a school board meeting. I speak what I think is the truth. I have so many anecdotal stories to tell, I laugh out loud when I hear or see the phrase "isolated incident".
Prove me wrong.
Richard L. Hancock
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3 comments:
Mr. Hancock
I wonder why so many SDHC employees feel they cant speak out? I used to be the guy in faculty meetings who would ask the administrators to just say what they wanted us to do, put it in writing.
My problems with my principal are well documented on some of the other blogs. I believe I became a target of her dislike on the very first day she ran a faculty meeting. There was alot of psychological justifications for not failing students, that giving them bad grades was not helpful. If they couldn't do the work we should find something they would do and grade them on it. I raised my hand and asked her to be straight with us and if she didn't want kids to receive failing grades, just put it in writing and we would comply.
After that meeting I had my first of many meetings in her office. She accused me of challenging her authority and humiliating her in front of the entire faculty. All I heard from the faculty were quiet "I am glad you said that" comments from many. I found I was one of the few who would say what so many were thinking. I even stood before the faculty a few weeks later and apologized to them if my comments had upset them. I wanted to get along with her.
Not long ago in a faculty meeting we were shown statistics and goals that suggested we were aiming for 100% AYP by 2013. Every teacher either knew or should have known that a goal like that was unattainable yet no one said anything. If we say nothing, we are agreeing with that right? There was a time that I would have challenged that silly assertion, but no more.
Read the store about the Emperor who had no clothes on but his subjects wouldn't tell him because they were afraid. I believe it was a child who pointed out the obvious. Isn't that interesting?
I guess my point is why do so many teachers stay quiet in the face of the frustration they feel? Is it that the are afraid to lose their job? I believe teachers have more than the power to change kids. They have the power to change society. Yet they remain silent.
I dont get it. Any job that robs you of your dignity is a job you need to fire.
T. V. 12:19 - I just posted my thoughts for the day, and then I saw that you had posed the above question. Interestingly, my comments to Jason connect with your questions.
As you may have read, I often speak of the many good, professional people within the system. Read my intro bio. Not only do I not understand why more people don't speak up while employed, I wonder why they don't "come out" after they retire.
1996 was a pivotal year for me. When I finally "got it", I realized that some of the people I was dealing with were simply pawns. They were carrying the water for the system, and only doing what they were told to do. They will not speak up at IEP meetings if what they really want to say goes against what the "downtown people" agenda is. The same goes for other types of meetings also.
I would imagine that job security is number one. But there is more than that. If you read the whole account about Doug Erwin, you will see that "they" ostracized him to a little cubicle after he went public with his complaints. I knew him a very long time ago.
Over my years within the school system, I of course knew some school employees outside of parent-school employee relationship. I will not out any of them, but I will say that more than one told me over the years that they were taken aside and told things that were interpreted as warnings about our other relationships. I have known some who have told me they just try to do their jobs the best they can and stay out of any conflict.
I recently wrote about those who challenge the status-quo are dealt with in what ever manner it takes. I have written about "image is more important than substance".
I find it somewhat amusing, due to the many experiences I have had, that your request to have something put in writing got the reaction you got. Parents that ask for statements to be put in writing are seen as trouble makers or not collaborative. Asking for something to be put in writing became my knee jerk reaction when I was told that something was "a policy", or "that is how we do it", or "down town told us....'or any statement of a position that I wanted to challenge. I have developed some strategies that softens the manner in which I make the request, but if some one is bluffing about their source of authority, all hell breaks out and the game is on.
You may find the book "Dumbing Down Our Kids" . by Charles Sykes an interesting read. I am aware of the counter points to this book, so please don't anyone accuse me of distributing the Kool-Aid.
I have a colleague who routinely says, "I would speak up if I wasn't such a suck-up." She mopes through the halls pissed-off about something just about everyday. However, since she routinely applies for "performance pay" she admits that she remains quiet so our principal can't take away the bonus money.
There is more than just "getting fired." There are also class level, subject, duty, and room assignments. Administration has lots of ways to punish a vocal teacher.
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