Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Civility?
So what do you think of the call for civility by the Red Apples? We all know that a certain Red Apple and BoE member protects the superintendent and would love to squelch rumors and, perhaps truths. What do we do? Do we ignore the threat of the leave of absence (a fact) that appeared to be a possible tantrum? Do we ignore the telling comments of principals and central office administrators? Do we support the BoE members who are trying desperately to do what is best for students and blindly let the superintendent create budgets? I believe we need to get it all out in the open. I believe we need a forum that does not exist anywhere else. The public hasn't even been told about the cancellation of the leave of absence. The public hasn't been told about the new director's job that was approved by the BoE. What happened there? It was suddenly not a topic anymore. Why?
Talk to me. What do you think? What do you want?
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Jackie Lightfield + Red Apples does not equal Civility!
ReplyDeleteThis "civility" campaign is pretty obvious a way to silence the people who are really fighting for our kids.
ReplyDeleteI campaigned for Artie and Steve C 2 years ago. They did just what I elected them to do- figure out how to get the most for our kids. I didn't vote for Emily Post or a refined British nanny-- I voted for 2 dads who would fight when our kids needed them.
Susan Wallerstein lectures the BoE to tell them they don't know what they're doing. She attacks members in letters to the editor. Sue Haynie belittles Ms. Rivas and throws cheap shots at Steve C.
ReplyDeleteLisa Thompson was on the survey committee that agreed on how the info would be released, but then attacks one member of the committee who didn't agree with her (but doesn't say anything about the Superintendent who's in charge of that committee).
Jackie Lighfield has called Common Councillors "clowns" and refered to them as "stupid".
These are the people who find no fault with ANYTHING the rookie superintendent has done but want to lecture us on civility.
Civility requires HONEST DEBATE, something this crowd is incapable of.
Haynie, Thompson, Wallerstein, Lightfield - what do they all have in common? A bunch of grumpy old women!
ReplyDelete@12:57 . . . chuckling at the prospect of Kassimis and Colarossi coming to BoE as Mr. Belvedere and Mr. French (although my favorite gentleman's gentleman is Alfred of Wayne Manor).
ReplyDeleteSeems like the "civility" crew are all on the Barbis and Greg Burnett bandwagon-- don't know if that's a good thing. Don't think I'd want a Sue Haynie clone (or 2) on the BoE.
Meantime, I heard promises were made to find a lot of taxpayers' dollars to satisfy the superintendent's demands. As I heard it, the other members of the BoE didn't know about these promises.
ReplyDeleteA certain BoE member may not be able to deliver the money.
In my opinion, we have a superintendent who threatens to leave, then makes demands to get what is wanted.....very expensive demands! I, for one, am glad there are some members on the BoE who have their heads on straight. to those members, please keep up the good fight. We are behind you 100 percent!
If you look at the Hour poll, you'd see that most people don't think that the BOE is "uncivil".
ReplyDeleteGuess that explains why few have commented here.
Time to change the topic.
Anyone have a topic they want discussed here? I am open to suggestions.
ReplyDeleteBeen rooting around to figure out if Supt. Marks is leaving (rumor was that Haynie would be driving the get-away car).
ReplyDeleteWord is that she's staying but knows that she only has 3 votes on the BOE to give her all the executive assistants and directors she's been demanding. She did ask the Mayor to fund over $300K for new central office positions which he declined.
Supt. Marks feels that the Barbis/King/Thompson group is helping her.
Some BoE members are uptst by her lack of leadership and expected her to do the right thing and refute all the anti-BoE comments made by her fan club.
One parents' opinion, FWIW, Marks has lost her mojo and has lost most of her public goodwill. The woman who fought harder for her Central Office jobs than she did for our kids' schools is not endearing herself to the parents.
I heard the exact same thing. The only difference is the total cost was more like $500,000. My figure probably includes benefits.
ReplyDeleteUmmmmmmmm, with all these executive assistants and new directors, what would be left for her to do?
ReplyDeleteHey,
ReplyDeleteGrumpy old woman checking in here...
For the record and on the record both in the Survey Committee and in Committee emails, I NEVER agreed with the the way the School Climate Survey was going to be released. I expressed my concerns and objections in the committee (Bruce and I disagreed.) I also have multiple emails expressing my concern over the lack of transparency in the committee.
Over 1100 members of staff (mainly teachers took the survey) that's about 80% participation. And over 1000 parents...sadly response rates varied by school. I for the life of me...do not understand why Bruce wants the data squashed as most of the responses came from his constituency.
I have advocated for Principal's to get the data first and then post on line all school data via central office and allow teachers, parents, and residents to digest the data. I made a statement at the BoE meeting last night and hope that the data will be shared and that I don't have to release it under the FOIA.
Before someone 'anonymously' impugns my actions (with second hand information) come to me directly. I'll be more than happy to fill you in.
LT- no one "impugned" your actions. All the post said was that you were on the survey committee and the survery committee agreed to how the stuff would be released. Pretty simple statement.
ReplyDeleteThe survey workgroup reported to Supt. Marks. I don't see anything where she refused to release all the surveys. Why do have the need to grab headlines- why don't you wait for her to make a decision?
I find it interesting when people keep talking about having the money go to the schools and not Central Office. Well, let's talk about that for a moment.
ReplyDeleteThe Norwalk Public School District is the largest employer in the City of Norwalk. Although I don't have any figures on exactly how many employees there are, I do know that the City has 600 plus and that the District is close to twice that number, if not more.
Last year, the BET and BOE agreed to have the payroll function combined with that of the City. The District had ONE (count carefully, ONE) person managing the payroll for the LARGEST employer in the city. And I happened to be present when a story was told about how years ago that particular employee was hospitalized,the payroll submission list was brought to the hospital room for the authorized signature. Think about that for a moment. That's frightening, especially if you work for the BOE.
Now, with the combination of the City and the BOE in one location, hopefully that will NEVER happen again.
However, as I understand it, there is only one person that handles the benefits for the BOE, which covers both medical and life insurance, plus retirement. It is the single largest budget item for the BOE and there is ONE person handling it all. Oh, yeah, some of it is now automated, but that's still a huge job for someone. There used to be two people doing it, but one position was cut.
So, before one begins to say, the money should go to the schools, think for a moment. The schools will not have any teachers or any other staff if the District can not process medical claims, or handle retirement benefits properly. Trust me, there is plenty of paperwork to go around in Central Office. No one is loafing off.
Funny seeing The Daily Norwalk covering the "Occupy Fat Cat" movement as if it's the ACLU or NAACP fighting for justice. Wondering why they keep forgetting to tell the real story about the civility "experts" leading the meeting.
ReplyDeleteHere's a sampling of the Best-of Lisa B. Thompson from her RedApples site.
"I have sat in DDDMT meetings for 3 years and listened to the non-sense about SRBI "-- calling data-driven teaching strategies "nonsense" hardly seems civil.
"There are about 10 individuals in this district that are wreaking havoc in the sandbox, throwing sand in the face of the most simple of reforms. " Vague accusations about unnamed people hardly seems civil-- after all, how can they defend themselves.
"Why is it the Superintendent the only NPS employee whose evaluation is made public? Where are the evaluations for the other 1400 employees in this district?" Asking questions for which she should know the answer (state law says that the only school district employee whose evaluation can be made public is the superintendent), which creates a FALSE IMPRESSION hardly seems civil.
For the other "Civility" Maverick, go to Jackie Lightfield's website (yourct.com). Search for the "uncivil" term of your choice-- my faves are "clowns", "stupid" and "lunancy" and the artful way Jackie "Turfgirl" Lightfield incorporates them into her critiques of many, including the common council.
SNAP! Merrill-in-drag hits it.
ReplyDelete