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.

Maybe It's Just Me

While my local school system is in the public throes of who is really running the show, I get stuck on the meaning of words.

Now that freedom of speech issues have finally reached the point that the HCDS police are called to action, I wonder where has everyone been all of these years.

I will always vividly recall the day at Mann Middle School when I was told by the principal that if I came on campus without checking in to her office first, I would be charged with trespassing.

The fact that I was making a big squawk about my repeated attempts to address issues with my son’s education and the fact that this threat came the day after I wrote a complaint letter gave me reason to believe that the 3 months of previous same actions on my part were now under a different line of scrutiny.

At least I didn’t have the security called on me. Instead, I called the Director of ESE while sitting in the office. I had the number saved because I used it a lot over the years. This may have saved my immediate arrest. It was a gutsy move on my part, because Directors have as much say over what a principal does or does not do as I did. But there is something to say about safety in numbers, and how many people know.

I was not accustom to this type of treatment, or rather, the treatment was getting worse. I did not think the setting was safe for my son. So when I said I was keeping him home until we could have another of those countless meanings, the veiled threat of truancy was thrown out. Knowing the absolute power of the school District, I made sure I obtained a Dr's excuse to protect me.

As the days and weeks played out, since I had become learned in the ways of paper warfare, my documentation along with proof that “they” had changed theirs, probably saved me from the usual bulldozed flattening that most parents end up with.

Taking on the system means that you must have documentation and make sure some one else has a copy of it too.

Yesterday I posted the link to some probable cause affidavits.

One of the sentences struck me as odd, so I revisited it today. On page two, it says that the teacher’s strikes (to the kid who was an “equivalent 11 to 14 month old reference motor skills”) “were often prompted by an incorrect answer to a question, not any disciplinary problem or wrong doing. In that sense, there was no legal justification for her to strike the child.”

And then on page 3, we find: the teacher’s statement of “you gonna kick me, I’m gonna kick you (pg 2),” “implies revenge as a motive and a desire to hurt of cause pain to … rather than any educational purpose.”

I am thankful that the writer was able to determine that there was no educational purpose for the actions the teacher took upon the kid. It must have been a tough legal decision to write that out.

It's Not What You Say, It's The Fact That You Said It

Once again, time will tell.

A decade or so ago, I was called in to the big office down town a couple of times for things I was saying and doing. I was given some sage advice: It wasn't what I was saying, it was how I was saying it. We country boys know what that means. It took me a few years to realize that sometimes it didn't matter how I said it, it was the fact that I said it.

I know the District wants to be seen as professional. Imagine if you will where the District and a parent are at odds about an issue. The issue is outside of the classroom, in fact it has to do with transportation. So the parent and the District have a meeting. I learned a long time ago a good litmus test to determine the level of problem a parent is becoming is to see how many higher level people come to a meeting, even when the parent doesn't know they are going to be there. Having a union rep there means the parent must be stepping on some toes.

Suppose the District personnel say that what they are doing, or not doing, is based on "District Policy". Suppose the parent asks to see a written copy of the policy. Suppose the District's response is they don't have to provide anything in writing to the parent.

I wasn't there at the meeting today. This could all be another one of those made up dramatic, tearful stories. The fact that this same event happened to me a few times in the past does have some effect on how much credence I give to thinking it really did happen. Again.

Time will tell.

This Dot may be Huge if it is truly connected

While reading a story that appeared to be about the misstep of a Band Director, Texting Puts Teacher In Bind , I also read the comments.

If one reads this and follows the connections, it says a lot. First there is an allegation about a band director's ex-wife had an affair with the husband of a school board member who was having an affair with an administrator.

A more direct comment about the story is that apparently the "complaining parent" against the Band Director is also a "teacher". And the teacher/parent wants something.

This is just too much if it is true. Education just has to take a back seat to this story. And to think that decisions are made in the best interest of our children and our teachers.

This one stands out like a Dot of a solar ray:

Posted by ( cshultz110 ) on November 22, 2007 at 1:06 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

luvpercussion

You are completely correct! God forbid the truth come out. It is all politics, just ask Jenifer Felairo and Mark Hart (Opps, I forgot that affair was covered up . . . I am sooo sorry!) he, he Amazing how he just "left".

Folks, I have been in this district for 11 years and know for a fact that it IS a good ole' boys system. Lots of corruption and politics. To give you an idea (and yes, this is first hand knowledge), I was a band director and took a leave of absence last year after my now ex-wife had an affair with a promonent school board members now ex-husband. (Yes, they were both cheating on each other. See previously mentioned) After getting my act back together and returning from my leave, I was shocked to find that no principal would hire me. Not because of my performance, but because nobody wanted to touch the situation since it delt directly with a school board member and the politics it would involve. That is our school board folks!!! I can't wait for Mr. S to be obsolved of this accusations. Shame on the parent who is a teacher trying to play the system to get what they want. That should be the real headline: "How a teacher uses politics to ruin anothers career and how the school board helps them to do it."