More Of The Same Begets More Of The Same

Someone needs to get a clue to all of the administrators within the Hillsborough County Public Schools. When there is a problem brewing, relegating and isolating the problem to one person or one department is like gluing the lid on a pressure cooker. Eventually, the whole mess is going to explode like hell. They may get away with it for years, but the fallout from this practice is costly for human resources.

In the HASA April 09 minutes, there is a recommendation that if a person speaks to the Board with a complaint, the speaker should be "referred to the appropriate level supervisor".

Someone set me straight on this, but it has been my experience that, for the most part, when someone brings a complaint to the Board, it is after they have exhausted all other avenues to address their concerns to no avail. By the time they have worked up the emotional energy to go speak to the board, they are usually at their wit's end. Why send them back to the very people that they have been dealing with already?


Since the Erwin case has been well exposed as an example of this type of narrow-minded thinking, take another look at what happened at the latest Alafia Elementary debacle. According to the information I have, both Ken Otero and Sherrie Sikes had been involved with that issue for quite some time. Both of those people, by all accounts that I know of, are fairly well respected for their administrative abilities. Why send people back to them if they can't solve the problem?

Look at what happened when "town meetings" were held. If sending this problem back to the proper supervisors was such a good idea, why did the Superintendent show up to answer questions?

What may be the elephant, or the 600 pound gorilla, in the room that no one is willing to expose, is that there are hidden agendas and covert exertions that work against common sense solutions. As an example, suppose there is an ongoing legal battle that the District is engaged in, unknown to most people. Along comes another incident that is similar to the one under litigation. To expose this new incident would be jeopardizing the liability of the ongoing case, especially if the ongoing case is dealing with alleged systemically repeated problems. Under this type of situation, the District's reaction may seem drastic to what, to all involved, is perceived as a real "isolated incident".

I have seen this several times in my limited experience. I will repeat what I have said before: When decisions at the table do not make sense, the real decision makers are not sitting at the table.

Anyone else see it that way?

Parents Critical Of Alafia Elementary Principal - Comments After Board Meeting

The fact that so many people can now watch the HCPS school board meetings either on TV or on their computer is going to change how business is done. Those who control information have power. When "the information" is not the truth is when things get bad. A review of history should teach us about that.

I don't know what the truth is about Alafia Elementary, but I believe there are a few people who do. Time will tell if the rest of us will learn the truth.

It is very interesting what happens when the public gets involved in the public education system. One thing we do know is there is going to be a lot of meetings held.

Below are some of the new comments on the Tribune site that were posted after the board meeting yesterday where so many people eagerly awaited the report on the situation:

Don't forget to look up what the Delphi Technique is and how public school systems use it.

Parents Critical Of Alafia Elementary Principal#comments#comments#comments#comments#comments: "Posted by ( ConcernedTaxpayer ) on 10/21/2008 at 10:10 pm.
I was really disappointed in Elia's speech at the school board meeting. I feel like I'm paying a lot of people a lot of money to have continous meeting about a problem that has existed for several years. In the real world we deal with problems. I guess when the government has problems, they pay a lot of people a lot of money to attend meeting and continue to sweep the problems under the rug. Well Otero and Sikes, am I correct? Your brooms should be worn out by now. When I see how my tax money is be spent, I really want to get a refund!
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Posted by ( raider1 ) on 10/21/2008 at 10:29 pm.
I just finished viewing the school board meeting. Mrs. Elia refers to Mr. Otero and how he was open to teachers calling his office to discuss the concerns expressed by the teachers following his June 4th meeting with parents. That is not what I experienced. After numerous attempts to contact him through his secretary I was finally told he had heard from enough teachers and would not be taking any more calls. Not exactly open and willing to listen. I appreciate Mrs. Elia's desire to inform the public and school board about the history of this situation, but be careful when stating he was there to hear what teachers had to say. I know of one teacher who did speak with Mr. Otero personally and she was extremely disappointed in his attitude and his lack of attention to her concerns.

Certain sounded like lip service then, we'll wait to see if it's lip service now."

A Few Pictures - Not Sure What They Are or Could Be Worth

MyPaperNow.com - Your Stories, Your Life. / Join Us In The Journey / :

"Hillsborough County School Superintendent MaryEllen Elia noted at the town hall meeting that Area 5 schools had 10 five-star schools: Apollo Beach, Brooker, Cimino, Corr, Mintz, Sessums, Summerfield and Symmes elementary schools; and Dowdell and Giunta middle schools. Alafia, the first elementary school to house an official branch of the Suncoast Federal Credit Union, is a 2008 Little Red Schoolhouse winner in the category of community involvement."

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. It is not uncommon for the HCPS to stifle words. How many of you remember the night that Glen Barrington asked that the cameras be turned off for the publicly televised meeting of the school board meeting? It was the night that Doug Erwin was speaking. I was there.

How many of you remember the night that Lee DeCesare was cut off from speaking and then escorted off the ROSSAC premises by the school board security?

How many of you know that Ms. DeCesare filed an ethics complaint about Tom Gonzalez regarding the issue of free speech? How many of you know what the implications of this complaint had regarding how the HCPS school board conducts it's business with the public?

How many of you know the full story of how the "old guard" silenced the "new members"? How many of you know the story about how Jack Lamb publicly commented about how he used to "send notes" to Ms. Faliero to coach her when she was new and feisty?

The information is available for those who want to know the truth.

One who understands the meaning and intent of Mr. Lamb's "notes" might find the following comments, found on the below link, interesting.

Parents Critical Of Alafia Elementary Principal#comments#comments#comments


Posted by ( raider1 ) on 10/15/2008 at 03:45 pm.

Go to the video of the school board meeting at the SDHC website and look up the meeting these parents attended and listen to the male voice you hear after Mrs. Elia is asked to look into this and she responds she will.(Little over 2 hours into the meeting) There is a male voice that says "Can we move on to the next?" Which male at the board meeting would have had access to a microphone? There are a few gentlemen at the meeting - but only one male on the board itself. Ms. Griffin makes a comment, then Mrs. Elia informs the board Mr. Otero has met "numerous times" to work through issues with these parents. Mr. Otero had been Smith's area director when she was at Seffner Elementary. Do you think he is hearing these comments and complaints for the first time?!

Something to think about.

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Posted by ( Gatorfan1 ) on 10/15/2008 at 08:50 pm.

raider1,

The male voice you are hearing is Jack Lamb. I know this because I was there at the meeting and saw him try to hurry the whole thing along before any other school board members could get any comments in.

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Posted by ( lwb250 ) on 10/15/2008 at 11:00 pm.

How ironic. He (Jack Lamb) was tending bar at a "meet and greet" she held at her home the first year she was there. Sort of a subtle "I have friends in high places" thing.

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Posted by ( ernstruntz ) on 10/15/2008 at 11:20 pm.

Jack Lamb earlier in the year:
"I'm really appalled at the lack of community attendance at this meeting, school board member Jack Lamb scolded before four parents got up to complain about bus problems and a lack of communication about Tuesday's meeting."
Guess he has changed his tune about parents expressing themselves at the school board meetings??

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Posted by ( ConcernedTaxpayer ) on 10/16/2008 at 09:50 pm.

Elia, Lamb, Otero, Sikes and the school board have all been put on notice. If there is a serious injury or worse because of their failure to act, they will have no where to hide now.