Since yesterday, there have been several more public comments.
Here are a few that suggest that this situation comes from the top. My own humble opinion is either this principal is being protected by the higher ups or she was sent to the school to disenfranchise the parents. My guess is as good as anyone's.
Posted by ( RalphM ) on 10/08/2008 at 10:54 pm.
Take note that Smith was "appointed" by the Board shortly before Lennard's departure. There were a number of likely candidates that were under consideration, but all of the sudden Smith is appointed and those in the queue swept aside.As for the area director, she had no say in this decision, and has been essentially powerless to do anything. If she kept any sort of record of the complaints and calls regarding Smith I'm willing to bet there wasn't a day that went by without one. That being said, she probably feared some sort of retribution from downtown as well should she try and escalate things.I find it ironic that Otero and others were already aware of problems - of course they were - mainly due to the substantial number of complaints that *had* to be making their way downtown. They just chose to ignore them, for reasons we may never know.As for the media, I personally knew of a number of parents who contacted local media outlets, both newspaper and TV, only to be blown off.Someone downtown is covering up for her, I suspect, but the overwhelming crush of complaints has probably gotten to the point where they know they can't be ignored. Maybe it has something to do with her husband's departure from the district?It's about time. It's only taken 4 years, and that's no fault of the parents - they have been trying to get this resolved since almost day 1.
Posted by ( Ateacher ) on 10/08/2008 at 11:35 pm.
I am a teacher who was under ES at a different school. Because I disagreed with her on some personnel and educational issues, I became the vindictive target of ES. She actually told her AP's to "get the goods" on me (they have told me in these very words!). They all told her -as did the people she sent from "downtown" - that I was doing everything that was expected of a good teacher. She made every effort she could to get me to leave and to fire me. Eventually, she knew she was not going to be able to remove me, nor would I transfer to make her happy. Because my students consistently scored above the county and school average, she was unsuccessful. I could write a book on the cruel, uncaring and unprofessional comments and actions committed by ES. It was common knowledge (although, in all fairness, never substantiated) that she was made a principal in order to get her "out" of the downtown administrative position she held. Her professional and personal life was making it uncomfortable for those downtown.Despite her hate for me, I will give her credit for being very intelligent and being a quick study. However, there are personality flaws and social disabilities, which make her unfit to be a principal. The people downtown have known of this for YEARS. I believe they think it is too much trouble to remove an ineffective, misanthropic principal than to step up to the plate and do what is best for the teachers and students.
Posted by ( ConcernedTaxpayer ) on 10/09/2008 at 05:26 am.
Even with all this, are you still only looking at the tip of the iceberg? If the Sikes, Otero and Elia have known of problems all along, why would they suddenly be capable of dealing with them now? Where would you go for help if they are incapable of dealing with some serious issues, the legislature or the governor? Where is the accountability to the families who pay taxes and thereby pay their salaries?
Posted by ( lwb250 ) on 10/09/2008 at 08:26 am.
Concerned Taxpayer:You have to understand the way the District works - Mrs. Sikes is a wonderful, caring area director, who (I believe) was (and is) genuinely concerned about the goings on at Alafia. However, from what I could see, there were things going on above her in the administration that more or less prevented her from doing anything about the situation.Someone is protecting Smith at the Board or higher levels of the administration, and if you rock that boat, you're going to pay.I think it is clear to most citizens who have observed the workings of the school board that those who challenge authority are either forced out or pigeonholed in a job that is either unpleasant or unlikely to allow for future progression professionally. Those who find favor with the upper echelon progress rapidly, or are "awarded" jobs of little substance with ridiculous compensation.The faculty was devastated by this woman, and what was once a true "A" school in every respect has been reduced to a group of dedicated professionals who have to divide their efforts between educating our children and preserving their jobs for fear of retribution. Alafia was a community at one time, now it's a fractured bunch of individuals who are mainly concerned with self preservation (and I don't say that in a way to be critical of the faculty - they are all caring professionals, who unfortunately are under siege.)Hopefully (although I doubt it will happen) the Board will act swiftly and remove her so that Alafia can regain it's former place as a true "A" school.
Posted by ( ConcernedTaxpayer ) on 10/09/2008 at 08:57 am.
lwb250You may know Mrs. Sikes, I personnally have never met her, but have followed the goings on at the school very closely. Do you know who recently made the comment, "My job is to look out for the principal." What happened to: Let's look out for the welfare of the school, the neighborhood, the school system, the children, the parents or the teachers? I am not in position to question those in authority, or the decisions they have made, but I strongly encourage those who are to take a long hard look at this whole fiasco, and to make the facts known to all, and bring the school, teachers, and students back to where it once was. Why should students, parents and teachers have to leave in fear of the school administration or the school board. A problem like this should never have occurred, but it did. Now someone needs to address it. Let's do what the system usually does, keep the problem, just transfer it to someone else. Those who have allowed this situation to go on and on and on should be held just as accountable as those who may be the problem. I am not trying to throw stones at anyone, I just want a very serious situation corrected before too many others are harmed.
Posts
1 comment:
The following describes the majority of the bullying administation that is hired and promoted by our school district...
Toxic management and the toxic manager - Recognizing toxic bosses and the toxic work environment
We've all encountered them. Moody, aggressive, unpredictable, incompetent, always blaming other people.
A compulsive liar with a Jekyll and Hyde nature, the individual, male or female, is always charming and plausible when management are around. Toxic bosses and toxic managers prevent staff from doing their jobs and prevent employees from fulfilling their duties. They thrive in a toxic work environment. Unpredictable moods, conflicting demands, inconsistent orders, random decision-making, inability to plan strategically, inability and unwillingness to communicate and co-operate, obstructive... the list goes on. If management suddenly appoints a toxic boss as your manager, you'll realize that toxic shock syndrome is not just a female condition. If you've got a toxic manager, your problems have just begun. And they won't get better.
When you tackle the toxic manager, you feel like you've gone 15 rounds with Mike Tyson. And everything will be your fault. You have a "negative attitude", you're a "poor performer", you're "not up to the job", and so on. If you get as far as alerting personnel or human resources management, it'll be a "personality clash." In truth, this is a projection of the bully's own negative attitude, poor performance, and incompetence.
How do you recognize a toxic boss?
To recognize toxic bosses from the effects of their behavior, look for unusually high levels of the following in the immediate (and not so immediate) vicinity of the toxic manager concerned:
• staff turnover
• sickness absence
• grievance action
• disciplinary action
• stress breakdown
• suicide or attempted suicide
• death in service
• customer complaints
• ill health retirements
• early retirements
• reorganizations
Taking legal action
The only way to deal with a toxic boss is to either take grievance action or legal action. Working with a toxic boss is not possible. You cannot change the toxic boss. Your health will suffer. Your career will suffer. Your marriage will suffer. Your family life will suffer. If you can't take legal action, see moving or leaving as a positive decision to not allow your career to be held back, your livelihood destroyed, your health damaged and your marriage wrecked by an idiot.
Contract of employment
Every employee has a contract of employment, which spells out what both the employee, and employer expects of each other. The contract has an implied term (implied, because this is not usually put in writing) that both the employer and employee will act on an honorable and trustworthy manner. If one party behaves in a manner which is not honorable or trustworthy, then this is a breach of the implied term of mutual trust and confidence - in other words, a breach of contract.
Injury to health
Working with or for a toxic manager causes injury to health from prolonged negative stress. Stress is not the employee's inability to cope with excessive workloads or the unwelcome attentions of toxic manager; stress is a consequence of the employer's failure to provide a safe system of work.
If negative stress has caused injury to health (anxiety, fatigue etc), be aware. Over time, the injury results in trauma, the collective symptoms of which are described by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
The focus of www.bullyonline.org is bullying in the workplace. I believe half the population are bullied or harassed or abused. This website provides insight and practical information to validate the bullying people are experiencing.
The Serial Bully
"All cruelty springs from weakness."
(Seneca, 4BC-AD65)
"Most organizations have a serial bully. It never ceases to amaze me how one person's divisive, disordered, dysfunctional behavior can permeate the entire organization like a cancer."
Tim Field
"The truth is incontrovertible; malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is."
Winston Churchill
"Lack of knowledge of, or unwillingness to recognize, or outright denial of the existence of the serial bully is the most common reason for an unsatisfactory outcome of a bullying case for both the employee and employer"
Tim Field
The serial bully:
• is a convincing, practiced liar and when called to account, will make up anything spontaneously to fit their needs at that moment
• has a Jekyll and Hyde nature - is vile, vicious and vindictive in private, but innocent and charming in front of witnesses; no-one can (or wants to) believe this individual has a vindictive nature - only the current target of the serial bully's aggression sees both sides; whilst the Jekyll side is described as "charming" and convincing enough to deceive personnel, management and a tribunal, the Hyde side is frequently described as "evil"; Hyde is the real person, Jekyll is an act
• excels at deception and should never be underestimated in their capacity to deceive
• uses excessive charm and is always plausible and convincing when peers, superiors or others are present (charm can be used to deceive as well as to cover for lack of empathy)
• is glib, shallow and superficial with plenty of fine words and lots of form - but there's no substance
• is possessed of an exceptional verbal facility and will outmaneuver most people in verbal interaction, especially at times of conflict
• is often described as smooth, slippery, slimy, ingratiating, fawning, toadying, obsequious, sycophantic
• relies on mimicry, repetition and regurgitation to convince others that he or she is both a "normal" human being and a tough dynamic manager, as in extolling the virtues of the latest management fads and pouring forth the accompanying jargon
• is unusually skilled in being able to anticipate what people want to hear and then saying it plausibly
• cannot be trusted or relied upon
• fails to fulfill commitments
• is emotionally retarded with an arrested level of emotional development; whilst language and intellect may appear to be that of an adult, the bully displays the emotional age of a five-year-old
• is emotionally immature and emotionally untrustworthy
• in a relationship, is incapable of initiating or sustaining intimacy
• holds deep prejudices (eg against the opposite gender, people of a different sexual orientation, other cultures and religious beliefs, foreigners, etc - prejudiced people are unvaryingly unimaginative) but goes to great lengths to keep this prejudicial aspect of their personality secret
• is self-opinionated and displays arrogance, audacity, a superior sense of entitlement and sense of invulnerability and untouchability
• has a deep-seated contempt of clients in contrast to his or her professed compassion
• is a control freak and has a compulsive need to control everyone and everything you say, do, think and believe; for example, will launch an immediate personal attack attempting to restrict what you are permitted to say if you start talking knowledgeably about psychopathic personality or antisocial personality disorder in their presence - but aggressively maintains the right to talk (usually unknowledgeably) about anything they choose; serial bullies despise anyone who enables others to see through their deception and their mask of sanity
• displays a compulsive need to criticize whilst simultaneously refusing to value, praise and acknowledge others, their achievements, or their existence
• shows a lack of joined-up thinking with conversation that doesn't flow and arguments that don't hold water
• flits from topic to topic so that you come away feeling you've never had a proper conversation
• refuses to be specific and never gives a straight answer
• is evasive and has a Houdini-like ability to escape accountability
• undermines and destroys anyone who the bully perceives to be an adversary, a potential threat, or who can see through the bully's mask
• is adept at creating conflict between those who would otherwise collate incriminating information about them
• is quick to discredit and neutralize anyone who can talk knowledgeably about antisocial or sociopathic behaviors
• may pursue a vindictive vendetta against anyone who dares to held them accountable, perhaps using others' resources and contemptuous of the damage caused to other people and organizations in pursuance of the vendetta
• is also quick to belittle, undermine, denigrate and discredit anyone who calls, attempts to call, or might call the bully to account
• gains gratification from denying people what they are entitled to
• is highly manipulative, especially of people's perceptions and emotions (eg guilt)
• poisons peoples' minds by manipulating their perceptions
• when called upon to share or address the needs and concerns of others, responds with impatience, irritability and aggression
• is arrogant, haughty, high-handed, and a know-all
• often has an overwhelming, unhealthy and narcissistic attention-seeking need to portray themselves as a wonderful, kind, caring and compassionate person, in contrast to their behavior and treatment of others; the bully sees nothing wrong with their behavior and chooses to remain oblivious to the discrepancy between how they like to be seen and how they are seen by others
• is spiritually dead although may loudly profess some religious belief or affiliation
• is mean-spirited, officious, and often unbelievably petty
• is mean, stingy, and financially untrustworthy
• is greedy, selfish, a parasite and an emotional vampire
• is always a taker and never a giver
• is convinced of their superiority and has an overbearing belief in their qualities of leadership but cannot distinguish between leadership (maturity, decisiveness, assertiveness, co-operation, trust, integrity) and bullying (immaturity, impulsiveness, aggression, manipulation, distrust, deceitfulness)
• often fraudulently claims qualifications, experience, titles, entitlements or affiliations which are ambiguous, misleading, or bogus
• often misses the semantic meaning of language, misinterprets what is said, sometimes wrongly thinking that comments of a satirical, ironic or general negative nature apply to him or herself
• knows the words but not the song
• is constantly imposing on others a false reality made up of distortion and fabrication
• sometimes displays a seemingly limitless demonic energy especially when engaged in attention-seeking activities or evasion of accountability and is often a committeeaholic or apparent workaholic
Responsibility
The serial bully appears to lack insight into his or her behavior and seems to be oblivious to the crassness and inappropriateness thereof; however, it is more likely that the bully knows what they are doing but elects to switch off the moral and ethical considerations by which normal people are bound. If the bully knows what they are doing, they are responsible for their behavior and thus liable for its consequences to other people. If the bully doesn't know what they are doing, they should be suspended from duty on the grounds of diminished responsibility and the provisions of the Mental Health Act should apply.
Post a Comment