The games they play
Everyone remembers that no matter what we on the reform side of the D11 school board proposed with regards to improving the district, somebody would scream and shout and accuse us of having ulterior motives. For each policy change or proposal that we brought forward, the Gazette would immediately run a story that quoted some detractor on what our "true motives" really were. Everything that we said or did was turned into some sort of public controversy, no matter how much sense it made when the facts were analyzed.
The LRSUS committee was a group of D11 citizens and employees who met regularly for 2 years to study the building utilization situation in the district. The group made recommendations to the board in early 2004, and those recommendations included reutilization and consolidation of under-utilized school buildings. For the record, East Middle School was not on that list. If we reformers dared to mention the LRSUS recommendations, someone would organize a public outcry against us and they would accuse us of trying to shut down the district for reasons related to "personal agendas," even though a citizens' committee (not appointed by us) looked at the issue for two years and made those recommendations.
Although East was not on a list of schools to be closed or reutilized, the current board has made the decision to close the school anyway. I and other reform board members have stated for three years that if D11 did not step up to the plate and begin to get serious about improving its schools, the state would step in and force the issue. The closing of East has come about because D11 boards and administrators have continued to ignore the educational crisis that has existed in that school for years. ABC's 20/20 ran a special on out-of-control schools more than a decade ago, and East was one of the main highlights of the show. At the March 21st board meeting, John Gudvangen stated that past board members have written him to apologize for not making the hard decisions that this board is now making. Please. First of all, Gudvangen has a very sketchy history of truth-telling, so I doubt that what he said was true. Second, when we tried to have a discussion on reutilization of schools, Gudvangen, who set the meeting agendas, refused to allow and discussion on that topic to occur. He said over and over that there was no rush to make decisions dealing with school closures or consolidations. East is at this point because spineless people like Gudvangen and his ilk have NEVER made difficult decisions in this district. If anyone wrote Gudvangen to apologize for punting on tough decisions, it must have been one of his clones, such as Lyman Kaiser or Karen Teja.
The D11 board did not have to decide to close East. The state would allow the district to radically overhaul the school instead, leaving the neighborhood kids with a better school under better management. D11 administrators have already admitted over and over again that they have no knowledge of how to educate poor and minority kids, and they have no interest in learning how to do this. The board could have turned the building over to a competent authority, such as Cesar Chavez Charter school, but the current crop of board place-holders have been instructed by their union handlers to oppose charters at all costs. Having a successful charter in a school building that has not seen academic success in over a decade would only highlight the total incompetence of the D11 leadership. Everyone wants to be called "Doctor," but no one has a prescription for quality education.
Clay Gomez is the current principal at East. According to D11 administrators, Gomez was instructed by his bosses to do everything in his power to keep the teachers and parents of East under wraps as the decision to close East was being made. When the D11 board contained reform board members, the administration worked overtime to foment unrest against us. Accountability was unacceptable to these 6-figure "doctors," so they had to make us appear to be controversial. Even though the current board is closing East with no public input on the decision at all, the administration and board are working overtime to prevent any type of dissension on the issue. The current makeup of the board is exactly what the administration and labor union leaders want. These are people with no ideas, no leadership ability, and no courage to do anything other than what they are told to do. Any appearance of controversy must be squashed immediately to protect this do-nothing board. As usual, the local press is fast asleep on this issue.
The current members of the East teaching staff have all been promised jobs in other D11 school buildings. Despite the fact that the D11 student population continues to plunge, D11 will continue to add to its teaching staff numbers, placing more and more pressure on the district budget. The promise of jobs at other buildings was a condition that the labor union demanded for it to remain quiet on the closing issue. According to D11 sources, Clay Gomez has been promised the Principal's slot at Wasson High School beginning next school year if he successfully keeps his community quiet on the issue of closing. He has performed this task well, so we should expect to see him running Wasson next year.
As has been pointed out time and time again, if anyone believes for a minute that any decision is made by D11 administrators with the interests of students in mind, they are sadly mistaken. Decisions are made in D11 to protect big salaries, to protect mediocrity, and to protect the closed society that passes itself off as public school district #11.
The LRSUS committee was a group of D11 citizens and employees who met regularly for 2 years to study the building utilization situation in the district. The group made recommendations to the board in early 2004, and those recommendations included reutilization and consolidation of under-utilized school buildings. For the record, East Middle School was not on that list. If we reformers dared to mention the LRSUS recommendations, someone would organize a public outcry against us and they would accuse us of trying to shut down the district for reasons related to "personal agendas," even though a citizens' committee (not appointed by us) looked at the issue for two years and made those recommendations.
Although East was not on a list of schools to be closed or reutilized, the current board has made the decision to close the school anyway. I and other reform board members have stated for three years that if D11 did not step up to the plate and begin to get serious about improving its schools, the state would step in and force the issue. The closing of East has come about because D11 boards and administrators have continued to ignore the educational crisis that has existed in that school for years. ABC's 20/20 ran a special on out-of-control schools more than a decade ago, and East was one of the main highlights of the show. At the March 21st board meeting, John Gudvangen stated that past board members have written him to apologize for not making the hard decisions that this board is now making. Please. First of all, Gudvangen has a very sketchy history of truth-telling, so I doubt that what he said was true. Second, when we tried to have a discussion on reutilization of schools, Gudvangen, who set the meeting agendas, refused to allow and discussion on that topic to occur. He said over and over that there was no rush to make decisions dealing with school closures or consolidations. East is at this point because spineless people like Gudvangen and his ilk have NEVER made difficult decisions in this district. If anyone wrote Gudvangen to apologize for punting on tough decisions, it must have been one of his clones, such as Lyman Kaiser or Karen Teja.
The D11 board did not have to decide to close East. The state would allow the district to radically overhaul the school instead, leaving the neighborhood kids with a better school under better management. D11 administrators have already admitted over and over again that they have no knowledge of how to educate poor and minority kids, and they have no interest in learning how to do this. The board could have turned the building over to a competent authority, such as Cesar Chavez Charter school, but the current crop of board place-holders have been instructed by their union handlers to oppose charters at all costs. Having a successful charter in a school building that has not seen academic success in over a decade would only highlight the total incompetence of the D11 leadership. Everyone wants to be called "Doctor," but no one has a prescription for quality education.
Clay Gomez is the current principal at East. According to D11 administrators, Gomez was instructed by his bosses to do everything in his power to keep the teachers and parents of East under wraps as the decision to close East was being made. When the D11 board contained reform board members, the administration worked overtime to foment unrest against us. Accountability was unacceptable to these 6-figure "doctors," so they had to make us appear to be controversial. Even though the current board is closing East with no public input on the decision at all, the administration and board are working overtime to prevent any type of dissension on the issue. The current makeup of the board is exactly what the administration and labor union leaders want. These are people with no ideas, no leadership ability, and no courage to do anything other than what they are told to do. Any appearance of controversy must be squashed immediately to protect this do-nothing board. As usual, the local press is fast asleep on this issue.
The current members of the East teaching staff have all been promised jobs in other D11 school buildings. Despite the fact that the D11 student population continues to plunge, D11 will continue to add to its teaching staff numbers, placing more and more pressure on the district budget. The promise of jobs at other buildings was a condition that the labor union demanded for it to remain quiet on the closing issue. According to D11 sources, Clay Gomez has been promised the Principal's slot at Wasson High School beginning next school year if he successfully keeps his community quiet on the issue of closing. He has performed this task well, so we should expect to see him running Wasson next year.
As has been pointed out time and time again, if anyone believes for a minute that any decision is made by D11 administrators with the interests of students in mind, they are sadly mistaken. Decisions are made in D11 to protect big salaries, to protect mediocrity, and to protect the closed society that passes itself off as public school district #11.
posted by Craig Cox | 8:54 PM
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