The Trickle Down Movement Towards Tyranny

It appears that Florida lawmakers are learning quickly from the Washington D.C. lawmakers.

"If you want "our" money, you have to play by our rules. We don't want to own or operate your company, but we all know you can't survive without our assistance."


Florida & Tampa Bay schools blog - The Gradebook:

"Lower school board member salaries to match legislators' pay, and reduce superintendents' salaries.
Limit all district employee contracts to 10 months unless expressly permitted by the school board.
Limit individual employee pay to $225,000 from state funds.
Have no district-paid employee cell phones or other wireless communication unless authorized by the school board.
Have no district-paid out-of-state travel unless approved by the school board."

After I posted my comments about Superintendent's Elia's 6.94% raise and her 19.07% bonus, I have been thinking how nice it would to hope for the kind of change to our local education system as we see in our federal system. The one where everyone is more equal. The one where the rich are brought down to be more in line with the poor.

Et voila. C'est ici. Now we have a move by the government towards taking control of accountability.

Because we the public don't.

Soon there won't be anything that resembles the "we the people, for the people" in our government because "we the people" were irresponsible and expect someone else to take care of our responsiblities.

I Never Realized How Important The Lack of Tenure Can Be

It's hard to fire teachers, even if they are bad - St. Petersburg Times

Thanks to The Gradebook for the above link.

It must be a great disadvantage to not have tenure.

School Board Meeting - 3/24/09

How does the HCPS Board balance issues of transparency and minimizing the time dealing with the public?

The Board chair let it be known that electronic voting would be routinely done because "somebody requested it". Right out of the gate, there was the cumbersome task of dealing with the consent agenda. Mr. Lamb, apparently unrecognized by the chair, made a comment that this process took too much time. The Board then spent 5 or 6 minutes discussing various aspects of when, why and how they should or should not do electronic voting. They even had an electronically recorded vote to suspend the electronic voting for the consent agenda until they perfected the routine, I think. That is my best guess.

Right after this issue of some meddlesome person seeking electronic voting for nefarious reasons no doubt, the issue of vendor bidding once again rose it's ugly head. Maybe it was just me, but it seemed the two "members of minority" were supportive of the need for making it easier for vendors to navigate the red tape, while others lamented the cost of making this happen plus reminding others that vendors should be held responsible for their part of the navigation system with a hint that "they may be too stupid to understand a website, so we don't want to do business with them". Sort of like "first you blame the vendor builder, and then you blame the vendor's secretary". Pesky outsiders. Ms. Faliero must not have any vendors hounding her because she finally recommended to cut off the discussion and remand it to a workshop. Ms. Valdes and Ms. Olson both claimed they have a right to their feelings and opinions, with Ms. Valdes sharing her passionate objection to local tax payer's vendor money being spent in California, New York city and Arizona - assuming there still is an Arizona.

A lot of time was taken up talking about a bunch of agenda items. Some of them were apparently pulled so positive strokes could be recorded. Even if it was just for one person. Didn't they try to muzzle some of these requests for exposure a few years ago?

Dr. Hildebrand trotted out the character education process. Note that I paid very close attention to the fact that this is a process, not a program. Apparently Ms. Elia and others did not get that memo, as it was erroneously referred to by others as a program. The woman presenter, who for some reason is retiring, tried valiantly to make sure that everyone understood that a program would be more work intensive, but a process would not. Some Board members were relieved that this process would not add to the stress of teachers and support personnel and lower level administrators and students. Some stress could be applied to parents, though.

This character education program is obviously discriminatory as it is only being used in the 40 schools that have 70% free or reduced lunch users. Perhaps there may be a slew of parents lining up asking for special assignment to these schools so their character-free kids can learn some character. The way to a kid's character must be through their stomach and not their heart or brain.

I am reluctant to say that my early thoughts were that maybe this character education would trickle up. My reluctance is based on the fact that the lone public commenter also picked up on that thread. I wasn't using a broad-brush application. Having said that, how many of you remember "Mr. Malfeasance"? For those who don't remember, he was the environmentalist guy who showed up for years bashing the District and the District personnel for having the wrong building designs, wrong light bulbs, wrong shrubbery and was basically an avenger of environmental destruction. Even water bottles on the dais were not safe from ridicule. If my memory serves me right, Mr. Newsome tried to take action to kick the guy off the premises. I don't know what happened to him. Maybe he quit after some reporter interviewed him. His favorite word, delivered in the most hateful, mean spirited accusatory tone was "malfeasance".

Ms. Edgecomb must have taken a page right out of the recent Alafia Elementary debacle. Not to beat a dead gator, but Ms. Edgecomb lamented that she was not very optimistic about being heard and wanted desperately some method to get the people upstate to respond to her concerns. Perhaps she could start a blog.

Mixing Science and Socialism

Hillsborough County Public Schools are generally found to be leading in some area of education.

Schools In Lead On Saving Energy:

"The school district held its own version of a 'power down' Thursday from 1 to 2 p.m. to save energy and build awareness about climate change."

I too have been aware of the climate change. I noticed there has been a lot more wind than there was a few months ago and there isn't any frost on my windshield. It doesn't take much to determine that we are definitely undergoing climate change.

Maybe it's just me, but every time I see the words "climate change" I somehow want to substitute the words "global warming" because I had become conditioned to the correlation between context and those words. I suppose I am going through an habituation cycle (habituation: 4. reduction of psychological or behavioral response occurring when a specific stimulus occurs repeatedly.)

As our public education system is melding with our government and big business, it stands to reason that each entity would support the other in their quest for power. I think it is ingenious that one way the government controls climate change is to simply change the clocks in the spring and in the fall.

I have a challenge for Javon Gilbert and Angel Danger, participants in the above project. As our society moves closer and closer to controlling climate change, why not move this climate control in line with our economic move to redistribution of wealth. In other words, why not redistribute the world climate. Hillsborough could then claim the lead in this global effort also.

Take Fargo, North Dakota. It seems unfair that they have extra water and extra cold temperatures. It seems that between our government, education systems and big businesses such as those that are in to Carbon Credit industry, they could easily devise some type of scheme to confiscate the Fargo weather and redistribute it where it is deemed needed.

We can predict that once this effort is in place, the areas surrounding the government hubs will of course syphon off the best weather and the remaining weather conditions will trickle down through the levels of constituency importance. The eventual need for regulation to fight the weather distribution corruption will provide jobs for those that are presently hoping that their life changes.

I feel better already. You too can have this altruistic feeling of self worth for a small monthly contribution of $19.95. You will receive pictures of serene weather conditions that will provide you hours of pleasure. Offer not valid where the tax rate makes it not profitable for me.

Maybe It Is In The Hillsborough County Public Water

I know this isn't about the Hillsborough County Public Schools, but it is about Hillsborough County and how the citizens are "dealt with".

Hillsborough County auditor seeks public input with little public notice

From Bay Buzz, we find this note:

March 26, 2009

Hillsborough County auditor seeks public input with little public notice
TAMPA -- Hillsborough County Internal Performance Auditor Jim Barnes is seeking the public's thoughts on the role of citizens in the preparation of his government's annual spending plan. But he's not exactly doing it in a way that seems likely to draw much participation.

Barnes' senior auditor Ken Gentile sent out an e-mail to a handful of community activists just after 2 p.m. Thursday announcing the meeting that will take place Friday at 3 p.m., barely 24 hours later.

The e-mail subject line just says: "Budget Process Meeting." The body says only, "Meeting Discussion: Budget Process, and role and involvement of Citizen input"

Some odd things about this: The meeting will be held in a conference room within the SkyPoint residential condo, 777 N Ashley Drive, in downtown Tampa. It also overlaps with a meeting of the county's Economic Stimulus Task Force, which is also being followed closely by several community activists.

Attempts to reach Barnes and Gentile late Thursday were not successful. But the invitation was not viewed favorably by at least one recipient, United Citizens' Action Network chair Terry Flott.

"It's very vague and very last-minute, which I find very interesting," Flott said. "I find it disingenuous at best."

Bill Varian, Times Staff Writer

*

More and more, the public is being kept out of the public works.

Some Bloggers Are Like Candles In The Wind

A couple of days ago I wrote a few comments around this premise:

PRO on HCPS: "Protester Burnout":

"education systems rely on 'protester burnout' as a matter of fact."

I like to read the posts and comments on the blogs that write about the Hillsborough County Public School system for several reasons. One reason is to conceptualize other perspectives about issues I have already formed some very strong opinions about. While I haven't used the phrase in a while, long time readers would note that I used to say "prove me wrong" when I offered an opinion or view point about "the system". So far, no one has taken up one of those challenges except Goader. We should all understand the chilling wind that effects Goader's limited posts.

There is a studied reason of how this book came about it's name: From Emotions To Advocacy. I have met Mr. Wright in various venues across the states. He and others like him have as much passion for helping students with disabilities and their families as those who have passion to protect the public education systems against students with disabilities and their families. I previously wrote about how school systems share their knowledge of defense. Seminars like "Staying out of Hot Water: Practical Tips for Avoiding Special Education Legal Disputes (what to say; what not to say!)" are helpful to minimize a school system's liability and may very well provide tips on cost saving practices.

Suffice it to say that to maintain the emotional energy it takes to deal with "the system" takes a lot of emotional and mental stamina. I generally use mocking humor as a crutch, because to deal with "the system" seriously and expecting change can be very disappointing.

I have managed to keep my candle lit for at least 14 years. And like Elton said, sometimes you never know who to cling to when the rain sets in.

Don't Mess With The System

Over the years, I have seen enough to know to not ever trust "them". Long before I knew what I know now, "they" even manipulated me by accusing me of not trusting "them". Far too often, I and others that I know have paid for trusting "the system".


Police: Dancing teacher on cell phone video drunk - Bay News 9:

"Jackewicz says she and her classmates were told to erase cell phone video of the incident.
'Whoever had the videos and were caught with them were told to erase them,' she said."

Mom in wreck with Hillsborough County school bus tied up in legal knot - St. Petersburg Times

"The cop on the scene wrote in his report that the bus indeed turned in front of her, but he declined to write anyone a ticket."

Father Told He Can't See Bus Video Proving Son's Guilt:

"School officials told him there was no doubt.
They also told him he couldn't view the video."

But then there is this:

VIDEO: Mom starts fight on school bus | 10connects.com | Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater:

"Tampa, Florida – Officials say a video tape released on Tuesday shows a Tampa mom inciting a fight on a school bus."

I know, I know. First you blame the kid, and then you blame the parent.

Until it is you.

"Protester Burnout"

Back in the mid to late 90's when I started learning about the seedy side of our education system, I learned that education systems rely on "protester burnout" as a matter of fact. I spent a lot of time and money trying to learn what others already knew. This is one of the many books I read:

Amazon.com: Customer Reviews: You, Your Child, and "Special" Education: A Guide to Making the System Work

This book helped me conceptualize many of the systemic issues that I had struggled with. The writer even knew that school systems label "problem people" as "isolated incidents", by the thousands. School systems have well defined strategies to deal with "trouble makers".

One major advantage of school systems is that they share their institutional learning. Parents and teachers come and they go and they do not provide a continued, strategic effort to change the system. As if they could.

I always think that a local school system is simply an extension of the state and the federal government. There appears to be an indoctrination process that occurs which leads to forgotten campaign platforms and instead leans more to job preservation and an "us vs. them" mindset.

Another thing I learned over the years that it is very, very difficult for either the school system employees or the parents to see the seedy side of the system until they are caught in it.

And then it is real as it gets.

I Hate It When I Miss The Obvious

For some reason, I have been thinking that the HCPS superintendent's contract renewal came and went and I missed it. I just realized that I didn't pay attention to details because I was looking for something that happened before it was supposed to, if that makes sense.

According to this contract of July, 2005, the contract was written for "a period of three (3) years, ending June of 2008. So I have been wondering since June of 2008 where the action has been.

Duh. The action happened 10 months before in August of 2007. Not only did I read about it then, I have made comments about the process of the Board's evaluation and a few comments about the numbers involved in the action. What I never grasped was that what I was looking for was right there. Duh.

In light of the recent (ongoing) discussions of budget crisis, merit pay, discontinued DROP for teachers (not sure about Administrators)ending, furloughs and layoffs, I thought it would be interesting to look at some numbers. After all, a trillion dollars is a drop in the bucket now-a-days.

Let's see if I can read this right: School Board OKs Raises; Elia Gets $16,413 More

This is what I will use for my source of numbers:

"Elia's base salary was increased to $252,913 - a $16,413 raise from her base last year. She will also receive numerous bonuses based mainly on student achievement, which brought her an extra $48,240 last year. It took months for the district to calculate the extra pay last year. When they did, her annual income totaled $284,744."

Using 50's and 60's math, I calculate Elia received a 6.94% base salary increase and a 19.07% bonus. Let me know if I need more toes.

Maybe the teachers should align their "merit pay" to reflect the superintendent's contract. The teachers say they don't have much control over the many influences that effect student achievement. But teachers who would benefit directly from bonuses based on increasing enrollments in specific programs would certainly have an incentive to fill those seats. Site administrators would also steer students to these programs.

If they build it and tie a bonus to it, they will come. Ready or not.

When Big Bucks Are At Loss, Ideas Become Desperate

Apparently, there are more than a few powerful people within our federal government who have looked out for the many who could have lost everything if AIG had gone under. It appears that a fewer number of powerful people within our federal government tried to protect a few so that they would get their big bucks, despite the failing company. Now, it appears that a few powerful people within our federal government are putting on a dog and pony show while they try to figure out the best way out of this huge mess.

The unintended (?) consequences of this huge debacle does not appear to have any good outcomes for individuals nor our nation. From what I have gathered from our various media sources, which sometimes means assuming the opposite of what is reported, there is not much left that has any integrity. No matter which way it goes, some entity has been sold out, big time.
Contracts and laws mean nothing.

I see that AIG touches the lives of those all around us.


Business Partner Program:

"Since 1967, AIG Retirement has been the leading retirement plan provider for all the employees of the Hillsborough County School Board."

In 2001, AIG was at 100. A year ago it was close to 50.
Today, it is 1.26


I wonder if our own little government agency will be simply a reflection of our big government agency. Is there any one watching?

How To Be An "A Rated" School District

Another public commenter spewing misinformation, anger and ugliness?

Or, does the below commenter speak the truth?

Florida & Tampa Bay schools blog - The Gradebook:

"Wow, do school districts know about the statute? I know that in Hillsborough county the grades are always curved during exam times. The curve tables are distributed after results are scanned, but before the teachers submit final grades. No wonder why a lot of teachers in Hillsborough do not agree with MAP.
Hey Jeffrey S. Solochek here is an idea, investigate this lead, if you can get far into it.
Posted by: redisni | March 20, 2009 at 10:43 PM"

Grades Are Those Inclines On Roads - We Provide Student Assessment By Our Own Code

Thanks to The Gradebook, right here in living technology, we see a current Florida law that is said to be "well established":


Statutes & Constitution :View Statutes :->2008->Ch1003->Section 437 : Online Sunshine: "The 2008 Florida Statutes

Title XLVIII K-20 EDUCATION CODE Chapter 1003


1003.437 Middle and high school grading system.--The grading system and interpretation of letter grades used for students in public schools in grades 6-12 shall be as follows:"

It appears to be like this:

Grade A equals 90 to 100 percent
Grade B equals 80 to 89 percent
Grade C equals 70 to 79 percent
Grade D equals 60 to 69 percent
Grade F equals zero to 59 percent
Grade I equals zero percent

Sounds easy until you read the public comments:

".....the state has no jurisdiction over grade scales, it's strictly a local matter....."
Posted by: terminator | March 20, 2009 at 02:20 PM

If we are not a nation of laws, we are nothing. From the looks of how things are going, laws don't seem to mean much except to those entities that can make and the change the laws without checks and balances.

There may not be any grades on our roads to education, but there sure are a lot of curves.

PRO on HCPS: Oo ah oo ah oo oo, Kitty:

"But what the public education system is selling and what the ignorant public is buying (talking generalities here) is 'look how good our kids are doing because look how high their grades are'."

Changing Our Hope

I borrowed these two quotes from a website that is hosted by my son.

He put them up there a year or two ago.


When you look at what is going on within our education system and our government, these quotes are quite insightful.

"Up to a point a man's life is shaped by
environment, heredity, and the movements and
changes in the world around him. Then there
comes a time when it lies within his grasp to
shape the clay of his life into the sort of thing
he wishes to be. Only the weak blame parents,
their race, their times, lack of good fortune,
or the quirks of fate. Everyone has it within
his power to say, 'This I am today; that I will
be tomorrow.' The wish, however, must be
implemented by deeds."
- Louis L'Amour

"Government's view of the economy could be
summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves,
tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it.
And if it stops moving, subsidize it."
- Ronald Reagan

A Diversion From Dispersions

There are a lot of people who want the government to take care of us.

If this keeps up, it won't be long before the government controls all of us, and takes care of a few of us. As of this writing, no one knows how it happened.



CNSNews.com -Army Investigating How and Why Troops Were Sent Into Alabama Town After Murder Spree

""The use of the troops was a possible violation of federal law."

"Wrongful use of federal troops inside U.S. borders is a violation of several federal laws, including one known as the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, Title 18, Section 1385 of the U.S. Code."

"“Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both,” the law states."

Equal Suffering For All That Are In The Same Boat

My research shows me that Sulphur Springs Elementary, Franklin Middle Magnet and Middleton High School are all in Area 4

I can't imagine what I would have done as a parent of a kid in school if I had lived in these areas. I can't help but think I would have heard something to the effect that the school personnel were professional and highly trained. The principal's probably would have told me that each of their staff members were personally picked based on their strenghts and that I needed to let them do their job. I would probably have been told how HCPS has all types of accolades.

Back in the day, I didn't have a blog to voice my concerns from 1990 to December 16th, 1996. My only recourse back then was to have countless meeting after meeting at Kingswood, Willis Peter's, Colson, Mann and various sites downtown including the very old building on Buffalo Ave just east of the interstate that was air-conditioned by God. I vividly remember that day in 1990 in the old building for two reasons. First, my convertible Camaro was side swiped by the lug nuts of a Coke truck with huge tires. They made an artful design as they cut down the side of the car. The other strong memory I have is that there were fourteen people in that meeting. I will never forget the feeling I had that finally I had the attention of "the professionals" to address my son's needs. I was wrong. For six more years I was wrong. After December 16th, 1996 at Mann Middle school, I became one of "those parents".

After Mann, there was Durant with stints at Brandon and Armwood. As I learned the rules of the game, I became a more effective pain in the ass.

All I can think is that if I had lived in the area of the above schools, it wouldn't have taken me six years. But I would have still been probably named "one of those parents".


State OKs Rescue Plans For 3 Local Schools

Hope Springs Eternal - Springboard Dashes Hope

So far, there remains evidence that the establishment hasn't established the ability to mandate uniform thinking by the masses. There are still a few remnants of individual thought processes and evidence that some have escaped the establishment's "one size/color/ditto/test fits all" method of attempted indoctrination.

How long will it be before comments like the one found below will no longer be allowed to be thought, much less published?


New Curriculum Becomes A SpringBoard For Teacher Criticism#comments#comments

Found on page 2 of the public comments:

Posted by ( s_adair ) on 03/06/2009 at 08:27 am.

The further decline of education. Sorry -- but this is because of the belief that ALL children should go to college. Newsflash -- not all children would make it in college. What's more, not all kids want to go to college. Where are our trade schools? Where are our vocational schools? Where are the alternatives? Springboard may work great for remedial kids -- but that should never be for the majority of our students. But to only challenge kids that are AP is a disservice to the average student. We cater to the highest and lowest achieving kids and have forgotten about the vast majority that are in the middle. What's more, how come 20 years ago we were willing to challenge critical thinking skills using classical literature (that we actually had to read)... but now kids can only use critical thinking skills with the most basic material spoon fed to them...? We will all pay in the long run. These short term strategies didn't work in Corporations and Financial Institutions and they aren't going to work in Education. This is our most valuable resource -- this is our future -- and we are squandering it.

Waterboarding Springboard

Uh oh. Those unidentified bloggers may be spewing "misinformation, anger and ugliness" again, as stated by Ms. Elia in a prepared statement that she read at the last Board meeting of December of 2008.


I am not sure if anyone knows the true meaning of what effect the Springboard program has on our students. I am not sure if I have read a true objective opinion yet.


What should be of interest to all is that the below public commenter has at least implicated both the public and the bureaucracy for being at fault for the problems within our public education system.



Posted by ( cheluzal ) on 03/15/2009 at 03:13 pm.

"........ The problems we face go beyond curriculum; they are lazy work ethic, no fear of failing, no consequences at home, and the schools refusing to fail or hold kids accountable, and they know it. Why should they do they work? They know they will get passed. It truly is an uphill battle for teachers who honestly want to better these kids for the world, but whose hands are tied by beauracratic [sic]string."

The full context can be found here in the article by Marilyn Brown of the Tampa Tribune:

Experts Wary Of SpringBoard#comments#comments

Foxy Woxy Is A Sly Money Maker

I have heard that history repeats itself. I wonder what the old characters of the barn yard would think as they sit on their front porch rocking their days away, watching the current world affairs. That is of course if they managed to have escaped the sly Foxy Woxy who was going to save them from the falling sky. Back then, the fox worked for food. Today, he works for money.

Chicken Little - A Children's Book

Those invested in Global Warming stand to make a lot of money. The wicked heat must assuredly be causing our brains to be a bit poached. How else can we explain this recent survey conducted by MetLife.

I broke out into a mild sweat when I read this:

"The survey reveals that a majority of today’s teachers (62%) are very satisfied with their careers, compared to 40% in 1984. Two-thirds (67%) of teachers think that the training and preparation teachers receive does a good job of preparing them for the classroom, compared to 46% in 1984."

I started packing to move close to the nearest melting glacier when I read this:

"More teachers (66%) feel respected in society today, compared to 47% in 1984. Nearly twice as many teachers in 2008 agree that their jobs allow them the opportunity to earn a decent salary (66%), compared to 1984 (37%)."

I wondered what was the concern about education reform when I read this:

"The number of teachers who rate academic standards in their schools as excellent has doubled from 26% in 1984 to 53% today."

Maybe the increased heat will thaw some of the frozen technology routes:

"However, students rate teachers lower in their abilities to teach about computers and the Internet than almost all other subject and skill categories: 26% of students rate teachers as fair or poor.

43% of teachers never communicate on-line (e.g., e-mail, instant messaging, blog) with other teachers outside their district.

72% of teachers have never read or written a blog about teaching."

This report is going to be

"released today at a forum hosted by the Committee for Economic Development, which will be held at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. Humphrey Taylor, Chairman of The Harris Poll®, Harris Interactive, will present survey findings to an audience of educational professionals, policymakers and high school students."

I can now see why this report is such a hot topic. Despite the fact that "No estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated", the "MetLife Foundation places strong emphasis on education and draws on the findings of the Survey to inform its grantmaking."

Foxy Loxey is as sly as he ever was, and that is no fable.

Some Things Are Simply Hard To Digest

One must be a frequent observer of our Hillsborough County Public Schools school board meetings to understand the implications of my following comments.


While I doubt many people ever read these Board Digest Reports, it would certainly be a grave injustice to judge the person who wrote the below passage in a negative manner, because I have little doubt based on years of observations, that the recording was accurate.

Over your FCAT Readiness Pancake Breakfast, let's read the following passage:

• Regarding boundaries, there are places on the map where there are no kids and they are in schools that we know are over crowded. We need to look for opportunities to move kids out of schools before they even get there. We need parameters in place before we do district wide boundary changes. We have to make decisions based on money sometimes, and then the boundaries aren’t as neat and clean as they ought to be. We should maybe promise parents we won’t move their kids more than two times in 10 years. We also need to consider parents who don’t want to send kids to a school that is graded lower. Maybe we promise not to move kids in a school that is more than one grade lower. Maybe we need to do a different kind of outreach, for choice and magnets. We need to think of the district in a more holistic way.

Where is Jon Stewart when you need him?

Let's take the first sentence.

"...there are places on the map where there are no kids and they are in schools that we know are over crowded."

Ok. An empty set is actually present and somehow adds quantity to other sets?

Second sentence:

"We need to look for opportunities to move kids out of schools before they even get there."

Maybe it's me, but this seems like power and control at it's max. Sort of like the same mindset of those who believe in abortion. Get rid of them before they get here.

The rest of the passage I will leave to you. What is scary is that this is a pretty good replication of the thought processes that are on display at our local school board meetings.


All can be found at this link on page 4 under "Member Olson".




School Board Digest
January 27, 2009

Absentee Exemptions For FCAT Week?

This is FCAT Sweepstakes week at our local schools.

Does anyone know if there are exemptions for illness, doctor appointments or family deaths during this week?

Why We Are Producing Butterflies That Can't Fly

First the heart warming story to set the stage:

Brought to you by www.forwardsteps.com.au
~Butterfly Story~
A man found a cocoon of a butterfly.
One day a small opening appeared, he sat and watched
the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force
its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop
making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far
as it could and it could go no farther.
So the man decided to help the butterfly, he took a pair of
scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon.
The butterfly then emerged easily.
But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings.
The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected
that, any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be
able to support the body, which would contract in time.
Neither happened!
In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling
around with a swollen body and shriveled wings.
It never was able to fly.
What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand
was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required
for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were
nature's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly
into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once
it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.
Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life.
If we went through our life without any obstacles, it
would cripple us. We would not be as strong
as what we could have been. And we could never fly.
So have a nice day and struggle a little.
When you are under pressure and stress, remember
That you are a better person after you have gone through it.
Author Unknown

For those who are metaphorically challenged, what I am really saying is that we are producing kids/students/adults who are not prepared to meet life's challenges because we don't allow them to face tough choices and teach them to cope with their decisions.

This is a follow up to my previous post.

What is it about "power and control people" that they want to own some one's problem. To further this discussion, what problem is it of a school board member if a student, even if the student is the daughter of a school board member as in the linked article, does not get to exempt an exam? Is the empathy so strong that a school board member is compelled to act? Is feeling sorry for some one's predicament healthy? Is the school board member responsible for students coming to school sick? Is the school board member responsible for every decision a student makes, so therefore policies must be written to deal with every decision?

Policies and laws do not stop poor decisions. Zero tolerance policies are a good example. Trying to keep administrators from making poor decisions just doesn't work all of the time.

Life is full of tough choices. One of the greatest things we can teach is to develop the best judgement possible, make the best choice possible and then live with it. Running from or shielding our kids from these lessons of life does not help. In fact, we should use all of the chances possible found in early development so that real tough life choices can be better coped with later on in life.

I worked about two years with a young woman who knew she was going to die. I learned a lot from her about what it is like to make daily choices. As the time got closer, it was I who had the difficulty facing death. I don't know how she did it, but she was smiling and laughing to the very end.

It Is The "Pursuit", Not The Result

Somewhere along the line, apparently many people put the cart before the horse when it comes to obtaining Happiness. In the Constitution we find this: "that among these (Rights) are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness". It doesn't say that we have a right to Happiness.

Is there any other institution besides our public education system where the path of pursuing the end result has been turned inside out and upside down because failure to obtain Happiness is viewed as if one's civil rights has been violated?

Perhaps one answer may be the housing industry, where the "American Dream" of owning a house became the "American Right Without Qualification". And we now see where that is getting us.

Maybe the NFL should start giving points to teams for just showing up. Or perhaps the mechanic that fixes your brakes can get certified just by bringing in shop towels for the instructor. The lawn maintenance people only have to do half of your lawn because they show up every week for two months.

It seems that only in our education system, "rewards" are turned into "punishments". If everyone doesn't get a blue ribbon, then we either cut the program or change the rules so that everyone earns one.

Who wants to bet that in a few years, when everyone has a loophole to exempt final exams, the public school system will have to declare bankruptcy on final exam exemptions so they can renegoitate the contract?




Hillsborough schools rethink exam exemptions for good attendance - St. Petersburg Times:

"A decade ago, Hillsborough turned to exam exemptions to combat a dismal high school attendance rate, one of the worst in the state. School officials say the incentive works."

Looks like exam exemptions were done to make the HCPS look better. It wasn't about the kids.

In the above article, it looks like Mr. Otero sees the realistic picture:

"It's not a punishment for being sick, but a reward for being in school," he said. "I think that's what's gotten lost."

In the mean time, maybe we can work on making Prom night flexible so that anyone who is sick that day can still have a chance to go.

Safety In Errors

Error in FCAT Has Teachers Concerned | theledger.com | The Ledger | Lakeland, FL


Thanks to The Gradebook for the above link.


As accountability is an elusive actuality, the fact that there are errors in the upcoming FCAT may once again provide the school systems a cover for eschewing accountability.

It appears that grading errors have reached the same level of acceptance as illness has always maintained in our society as a socially acceptable and defensible reason to avoid an activity. Don't want to go to work? Call in "sick". Don't want to go to a party? Say you are sick. No questions asked.

Don't want to deal with consequences of poor scores?
Exam Grades Going Higher

Don't want to penalize anyone a few years ago?

Florida Will Omit Vital NCLB Information Due to Scoring Error - by Jillian Metz - School Reform News:

"The decision comes in an effort to avoid penalizing teachers and students for a scoring mistake that caused inflated scores on the third-grade reading portion of the 2006 Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT)."

If the strategy works, repeat it.

Is Money Really The Answer?

I will assume that I am not the only one who has heard over the years that simply putting more money into our public education system is not "the answer".

I will assume that I am not the only one who has thought that accountability for the money that goes into the public education system is more of what is needed for the "the answer".

I will assume that we can all understand that a flawed system, left unchanged, will only continue to "spend" money the way it always has, no matter how much money is infused into it.

I will assume that we can all imagine what our public education system would be like if our government poured as much money into it as has recently been poured into the banking industry and some car manufacturing industries.

Would the outcome be any different?