So, I just heard that Joyce Aranda from Onate was just sent packing into the black hole of central office. What's up with that? Will Nyeta Haines from Cruces be next? One can only hope...
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Joyce Aranda as Director of Secondary Ed? What a joke. At least she is out of Onate.
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The Good Ol' girl system mentioned last month is alive and well! What's up with selecting a committee's last choice for an important position?
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I'm watching the Board meeting, and find it absolutely outrageous that these people, who ignored all advice in the selection of the last superintendent, are spending a ridiculous amount of time on the selection of an interim supt. They are 100% responsible for the horrible state of affairs in which this community and its schools are now embroiled. They should all be removed, and the sooner the better. Every minute of delay is costing the district time, progress, and money. The employees, students, and community deserve much better. A year ago at this time, LCPS was on the verge of being the flagship district of the state; now it is the laughing stock. It is time to stop complaining, determine a constant focus, replace the Board, and get on with the business of education. My suggestion is to reinstate Joann Patton as interim superintendent -- if she will have anything to do with LCPS after the way in which she was treated. She certainly fits the qualifications the Board is bandying about, and we made good progress in a pleasant work environment while she was with us.
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In disciplining middle-schoolers: Teachers should say, "Mom and Dad, I've got your back!" Parents should say, "Teacher Bob, we've got your back, too!" The question at hand: Who has the infamous back-scratcher? Can't we all just get along? Nah...fussing is much more fun!
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Concerning the screaming teacher scenario: You should report the crazed educator to the principal, providing the principal is more sane than the out-of-control teacher. Or, you could start a monetary donation for a mass school-wide prescription of anti-depressants. Finally, if that fails, then I agree; teachers behaving badly just need to go!
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Noisy parent: Tutorial sessions are free. Please stop by, soon and often! Bring the little wife.
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I'll say it again...I truly hope that I have your child in my classroom! With the distracting noise that you position up front, I'll be especially diligent in watching and listening to the things that your child does not want me to know about you. Perhaps, if the situation warrants, the PD will be able to check out your parenting credentials; your smoke screen vendetta is just one of the warnings signals that teachers are trained to detect as signs of an abusive parent.
posted by LCPS1 @ 6:16 AM
10 Comments:
I would like to ask the indignant teacher (taunting the parent who feels like he can't trust his children's teachers or principals to appropriately discipline his children) to get off your high horse, have a little empathy and consider that he may have a history of traumatic experiences in his own education to which he is responding.
Growing up in the 70's, my sweetheart of a younger brother had, due to a birth injury, severe school anxiety and learning disorders. Back then we had few of the Special Ed services we do now, and no medications or therapies for his issues, which would be an option now. While the majority of teachers/administrators over the years had a lot of compassion for him, and were genuinely caring and helpful, enough were not, and they have permanently scarred him for life. He was occasionally abused by a few morons who lacked understanding of or skills to deal with his problems. They thought he was being "spoiled" by my parents (who were struggling with early special ed programs that were failing to address his needs), or was just faking. His second grade teacher locked him in the class supply closet because he didn't finish an assignment on time, refused to let him out even though he cried and begged her, and he ended up wetting his pants. His sixth grade teacher sent him to the office for bringing shotgun shells he had found on the playground to class and looking at them while they were supposed to be doing work. To teach him a lesson, the principal had his friend, the local town cop, come in and pretend to arrest my 10 year-old brother, a kid who was distracted, dyslexic, and immature, but never a trouble maker or violent child--he had merely annoyed his teacher that day. During the "arrest", he was handcuffed, read his rights and was told that they would not be able to call our parents before taking him to jail. As a result, he experienced a full-blown panic attack that resulted in the school nurse being called in. My parents, when they learned of the event, threatened to sue the school, and the Superintendent forced the principal to apologize to my brother and my parents. My brother is 40 years old now and has made a great life for himself, but still has very traumatic associations with school that I dare say would lead to him being overly protective of his children if they were unfairly disciplined by school personnel. His experiences sensitized me to children's issues, and were part of why I entered first education, then counseling as a profession.
The point of my story is this: don't assume that the parent who cares about justice for his child doesn't demand they behave well, or is protecting their child from natural consequences by advocating for their child. Yes, the teachers and administrators most of us know do a terrific job, and would never knowingly wrongly discipline a child. But there ARE those, and we all know them, that should never have entered the profession in the first place, and they deserve NONE of us covering for them. Ever.
My middle school is focused on learning. Though overcrowded (1100+), our student-centered educational focus never changes. Administration is overworked, but supportive (of teachers and students) and academically driven. My team and my content PLC are invaluable! We care about the students as learners and as people. I'm sure that the other middle schools have similar teams who could say the same thing! All this middle school doom & gloom is misinformation that many readers may assume to be true of all schools, all grade levels and all teachers- it is not.
Watching the LCPS Board of Education televised meetings reminds me of watching the old black and white comedy shows in the 50's and 60's. Slap-stick at its finest!
Poor, disallusioned, Ms. ja... and friend, they actually believe that she can impact this district with anything other than the probationary status she has worked so hard, 7:00 a.m.- 10:00 p.m. daily, to achieve at OHS -- oh my!
Let's vote while the board continues to sleep! One for Ms. administrator in charge, two for the road, three to get ready' let's guess who she re-opended the HR position for? How many EEOC complaints will this one acquire! Aren't we proud, or so ashamed.
Oh great, now we have Joyce to join the Fema-Nazi Liz...Hold on to your jobs boys...it's going to be a bumpy ride
Plus a change, plus se la mem chose... (it's French)
Joyce Aranda? Why should you be surprised by anything that happens at central office? The year we were told there was no money available for printer supplies, tech money was spent for central office staff to take graduate level courses at the university. Result: fancy titles, fancy offices and fancy salaries at central office while we use activity money so students can print their work. I guess that is what they mean by "it's for the kids".
Welcome to the Lonnie and Liz show. Rumors ran all over the district that Lonnie and Liz were going to move quickly to fill central office positions with people of Lonnie's choosing before an interim superintendent is named.
Lonnie and Liz had already picked their close friend Joyce for the Instruction job. Joyce was busy packing up her office at Onate a week before the interviews were held. Joyce didn't perform well though, and the interview committee ranked her dead last. The committee did not forward her name for further consideration. In a normal world this would have been the end of it for Joyce. But Lonnie fixed it. He had Liz disregard the very committee that Liz's own people had organized in the first place, and, once the new committee was disbanded, Liz appointed Joyce anyway. It's hard to see how the new Lonnie and Liz show that's playing now is much different from the old Lonnie and Louis or Lonnie and Sonia sideshows that played before. Pretty much another puppet performance produced by Lonnie, and acquiesced in by a cast of weak Board members.
Meanwhile, it can hardly go unnoticed that LULAC is suddenly mute over this fiasco.
The Co-Director for Human Resources job was posted some time back, but the pre-selected Lonnie/Liz candidate for this job could not make it through screening because she did not meet the qualifications. In a normal world this would be a problem. But Lonnie had Liz fix it. Liz had the job re-posted with new, lower criteria, so that their pre-selected candidate would not qualify. Here is a puzzle for blog readers: See if you can figure out what female principal has let it be known to people who work with her, that she was called by Liz and told to apply for the HR position after the criteria were lowered. If you answer this puzzle question correctly, the you'll know who Lonnie and Liz have already pre-selected for the job. Sit back. Relax. Watch the show.
For whatever reasons, Lonnie has emerged. The now visible Lonnie prefers to orchestrate day-to-day operations, to include employment decisions, for the district. That behavior is unethical and probably illegal. An irony is that he was swept into office on the heels of previous board members who behaved unethically and illegally. The difference must be that it is ok if he does it--but not ok that they did it. Liz threw her reputation away. Maybe she got caught up in the Queen-for-a-Day syndrome. Whatever her reasons, who can trust her now? Joyce has squandered her standing in the educational community for taking a job everyone knows she didn not earn. The outcome is that Lonnie will be resented, Liz will be pitied, and Joyce will be scoffed.
And there's more of this yet to come. There is not much that we employees can do about these abuses. Not serving on these staged interview committees anytime in the immediate future might be one way to remove some of the smoke-and-mirrors. The good news is that the voting public is fed up. The upcoming election will produce a partial victory: Two down. Three to go.
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