Empty Vessels
Recall organizers Anne Oatman-Gardner and Mary Ellen McNally have hand picked Charlie Bobbitt and Jan Tanner to run for the seats of Eric Christen and Sandy Shakes in the D11 recall election. The Colorado Springs Education Association, the local labor union representing the NEA, has also thrown its support to the same two candidates.
In giving their support to Bobbitt and Tanner, the recall group and the labor union say that these two have the best interests of public education in mind. What does that really mean? What do either of these two stand for that warrants support from anyone? What are their remedies for improving either D11 or "public education?" They literally never say. One thing that they have in common is that they do not like Eric Christen. They believe that he is rude. OK, great. Neither believes in site based management, so they do not want more money directed towards the individual schools rather than a central bureacracy. Both believe in allowing Planned Parenthood into D11 schools, so at least we know something for which they will take a stand. But what do they bring to the equation that will help teachers, or students, or tax payers? No one will say.
Bobbitt is quoted as saying that he is bothered when people speak negatively of D11. He feels that the board of the Denver Broncos would never speak negatively of the Broncos, so why would D11 board members ever speak negatively of their own school district.
Is it speaking negatively of D11 to publicize the facts about the district? Are dismal graduation rates for minority students to be hidden from the public? Should low CSAP scores be ignored? Should inept administrators be left in place? Are each of these topics forbidden fruit or should the public view their school district (which consumes nearly $500 million annually) with their eyes wide open?
Who is truly being negative here? Our side is claiming that D11 can be better, that every student entering a D11 school can and should receive a first class education. The other side says that this is not true, that D11 is performing at its best. Our side says that D11 can improve fairly quickly, while the other side claims that a push for improvement will only cause the district to collapse. Our side believes in parental choice, and that parents of 10,000 kids who reside in D11 but do not attend our schools will come back to D11 in a competitve environment. The other side believes that people will flee D11 if given true choices, and again, that the district will collapse. Our side believes that we have strong principals in place to move towards a school focused management system. The other side believes that our principals are weak and helpless and unable to make decisions for their schools. Our side believes that we should lift up our good teachers by rewarding them for their excellence. The other side believes that we should hold all teachers down so as not to offend the poor performers.
Who is really negative in this district? Why would anyone support two empty vessels who believe that D11 is a fragile system that will not survive a push for excellence? The labor union leadership has been holding on to mediocrity for way too long. It's time for the public to have the kind of world class school district that 1/2 billion dollars annually should certainly provide.
In giving their support to Bobbitt and Tanner, the recall group and the labor union say that these two have the best interests of public education in mind. What does that really mean? What do either of these two stand for that warrants support from anyone? What are their remedies for improving either D11 or "public education?" They literally never say. One thing that they have in common is that they do not like Eric Christen. They believe that he is rude. OK, great. Neither believes in site based management, so they do not want more money directed towards the individual schools rather than a central bureacracy. Both believe in allowing Planned Parenthood into D11 schools, so at least we know something for which they will take a stand. But what do they bring to the equation that will help teachers, or students, or tax payers? No one will say.
Bobbitt is quoted as saying that he is bothered when people speak negatively of D11. He feels that the board of the Denver Broncos would never speak negatively of the Broncos, so why would D11 board members ever speak negatively of their own school district.
Is it speaking negatively of D11 to publicize the facts about the district? Are dismal graduation rates for minority students to be hidden from the public? Should low CSAP scores be ignored? Should inept administrators be left in place? Are each of these topics forbidden fruit or should the public view their school district (which consumes nearly $500 million annually) with their eyes wide open?
Who is truly being negative here? Our side is claiming that D11 can be better, that every student entering a D11 school can and should receive a first class education. The other side says that this is not true, that D11 is performing at its best. Our side says that D11 can improve fairly quickly, while the other side claims that a push for improvement will only cause the district to collapse. Our side believes in parental choice, and that parents of 10,000 kids who reside in D11 but do not attend our schools will come back to D11 in a competitve environment. The other side believes that people will flee D11 if given true choices, and again, that the district will collapse. Our side believes that we have strong principals in place to move towards a school focused management system. The other side believes that our principals are weak and helpless and unable to make decisions for their schools. Our side believes that we should lift up our good teachers by rewarding them for their excellence. The other side believes that we should hold all teachers down so as not to offend the poor performers.
Who is really negative in this district? Why would anyone support two empty vessels who believe that D11 is a fragile system that will not survive a push for excellence? The labor union leadership has been holding on to mediocrity for way too long. It's time for the public to have the kind of world class school district that 1/2 billion dollars annually should certainly provide.
posted by Craig Cox | 1:43 PM
10 Comments:
Bobbitt is comparing our children's very lives, their success and potential contentment with a GAME?
That's scary. This reform movement is not about taking over a football team that plays a GAME. It is about quality of life and freedoms we should all be entitled to, not just the upper class whites in this town.
No, Mr. Bobbitt, the Broncos board would never speak negatively about their team; then again, gamegoers buy their tickets voluntarily. We taxpayers are being increasingly taxed for an increasingly deteriorating product. Now explain that analogy again??
"The empty vessel makes the loudest sound." And, to think, Shakespeare didn't even know you personally. Ironic.
PO'd,
I wish that we (in this case, "we the public") would get as upset over the state of education as we do over the state of the Broncos, for example. When the Broncos (or pick your favorite sports club) don't do well, we want heads to roll; we want to remove the head coach or the quarterback. We want to win. In education, we want to give the head coach more time; we don't want to upset the quarterback so we just allow him or her to putz along because he or she is the "expert." If only we would be as demanding on our education system as we are on our sports teams, we would be in much better shape. Seems a little backwards. We demand excellence for sports where the money spent is handed over voluntarily, like you say, yet we don't make demands on our 1/2 billion dollar per year public school system.
Anonymous,
I like that - short, philosophical (kind of) and to the point.
By the way, although I have read plenty of Shakespeare, I had no idea that he said (or wrote) those words. Irony or dumb luck?
"Irony" because I was referring to the fact that you're the one with the blog, and you're the one spouting opinions. You're criticizing some of the candidates for not saying enough, so it's you who's making the noise, which means, according to Willie S. you'd be the empty vessel, not them. Get it? Connect the dots now? Irony? Dumb (luck)? You decide. lmao
Golly, now I get it! By the way, you must not teach English. What Willie S. meant is that people who run around making a lot of noise without saying anything (Chaos, for example) are empty vessels. You and yours have been running around for the past 3 years declaring that we who were elected in 2003 were out to destroy public education. You have offered nothing positive for D11, you have provided no examples of how we could possibly destroy public education, you support and vote for people who literally offer nothing for the district, and you run around "anonymously" on these blogs that you supposedly dislike, continuing to spread your hatred. "Empty vessel" fits well.
Mr. Cox, you are still quite a funny guy, but I think you are missing something. These people, the ones who gained seats last November, were not elected FOR their ideas, they were elected to OPPOSE yours.
Get it now?
The same thing about the recall. It's not because Christen and/or Shakes were doing something bad or wrong, it's because they couldn't be controlled by the edu-elite.
I suspect you already knew that.
I do get it, PO'd. It should be obvious to everyone by now that they don't even pretend to deny that they exist to oppose. They are so empty that they cannot even float a small idea to say, "See, we had one."
In reviewing some of your blog articles and subsequent postings, I would like to ask that you set up a place where we can discuss "where to go from here" specifically: if revitalizers win Tuesday (Garcia/Schley) what are your ideas for your final year. And, God forbid, the educartel wins again, what we citizens can/should do to get them off the dime and doing something besides sitting there listening to powerpoint after powerpoint being read to them during meetings.
Is the budget approved yet? Has the teacher's contract been stamped "approved" yet? If not, how can we regular people get involved in those processes before we are backed into another year just like the last one. By that I mean less money in classrooms, more central administration spending, more classrooms without books!
aj,
Good idea. It will be an important conversation no matter how the recall turns out. I will start an article shortly that deals with those issues.
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