Three candidate names were submitted for consideration to be Director of Secondary Instruction. Joyce Aranda was not one of them....
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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!
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Poor, disillusioned, 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!
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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-opened the HR position for? How many EEOC complaints will this one acquire! Aren't we proud, or so ashamed.
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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
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Plus a change, plus se la mem chose...(It's French) (Blogger Comment: Plus c'est la meme chose, plus ça change) 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".
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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.
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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.