They actually believe themselves
The suspense was absolutely killing me as I awaited the certain reply to my Gazette Oped of a week ago. Mary Ellen McNally had emailed the D11 board members and ordered them to respond to my oped in which I pointed out that this board had literally done nothing since taking full control after the recall. McNally demanded that her little people on the board tell the world all of the great and important things they had done in the past 6 months. Unfortunately for McNally, her people had to tell her that they couldn't think of anything to write about. They were stumped because, well, my Oped was actually right on the money.
Finally the suspense was broken as McNally and her caustic friend Richard Serby came to the rescue. Their "In Response" letter in the Gazette can be summed up in one sentence: This board closed East Middle School.
The irony of that accomplishment is hard to miss. One of the people who McNally recruited during her recall effort was Norvelle Simpson. He was an ex-D11 board member who served with McNally when the academic decline in D11 first began. While Eric Christen and I were appearing on the Joseph Michelli show, Simpson called in and explained that his support for the recall was based on the fact that we reformers wanted to shut D11 school buildings. He pointed out that he and McNally had closed the old South Middle School, and that had led to all types of problems for the affected neighborhood. He was angry because minorities were hit hardest by his decision. In an amazing leap of logic, Simpson declared that since he and McNally had closed a school and caused hardship in the community, then we should be removed from the board because they were telling people that WE also wanted to close a school or two. Got it?
The decision on East was not initiated by this school board. Due to the continuing unsatisfactory performance of the East staff, the state directed that something be done with the school. While I was on the board, we reformers warned over and over again that dramatic action had to be taken to improve certain schools or the state would step in and force action. The state forced action in this case. This board could have chosen to allow East to remain open under management that actually knows how to educate kids (Cesar Chavez), but due to the total anti-charter mood on this board, they chose to close the building altogether. That wasn't necessarily a hard decision for the board; it was simply something that their handlers told them to do.
McNally and Serby brag that this board has assembled a committee to study the East facility and other D11 facilities. Big deal. Another committee spent 2 years studying facility usage. The Long Range School Use Study (LRSUS) committee recommended consolidating or reutilizing 6 different schools in the district. Gudvangen and his allies refused to listen to that committee. The West Side Task Force committee existed prior to the LRSUS committee. If putting committees together is an end in itself, them yes, liberal D11 boards have always accomplished a lot.
The next biggest accomplishment that McNally and Serby can latch onto is that board members have been visiting schools. When I served, we reformers always visited school buildings. In fact, school staffs commented that we were the first board members to actually come out to the school buildings on a regular basis. People like Gudvangen, Karen Teja, Mary Wierman, and Tami Hasling were actually upset about our school visits. They accused us of interfering with school staffs when we visited buildings, and yet they now want to pretend that they are visiting schools.
In my Oped, I mentioned (correctly) that this board relishes its secrecy. McNally and Serby point out that this board spends time "communicating with one another via telephone and e-mail frequently to ensure common understanding of issues...and to reach consensus, whenever possible, when voting on important matters." First of all, keep in mind that this is actually a response to an accusation that this board is a do-nothing board. The best they can say is that they call and e-mail each other? Wow, heavy stuff.
Soon after our swearing in in 2003, the Independent ran a scandalous article accusing us reformers of violating the Sunshine Law by having more than 3 of us gathering publicly at Old Chicago's for a snack. It was a social gathering in public with numerous D11 employees. Now McNally informs us that the current board is reaching consensus in phone calls and e-mails, which is a direct violation of state laws. Reaching consensus by phone or e-mail is called a "rolling quorum," and it is forbidden by law. This further proves my point that this board operates in secret and out of view of the public. By the way, how would McNally know that the board is communicating by phone and email to reach consensus on important issues? She is no longer on the board, correct?
McNally says that the board is holding the administration accountable for providing detailed information necessary in making good decisions. How have they done this? What measure is she using to validate that claim? Is there any accountability for academic performance, a charge for which all school districts are responsible? McNally and Serby don't say, because that is not important to them.
In short, McNally and Serby wrote a silly article that said absolutely nothing. It proved, beyond doubt, that what I said in my Oped was right on target. Beyond the closing of East, which was mandated by the state, this board has "gotten along" with each other. D11 remains in an academic crisis and students and families are fleeing to higher performing districts by the thousands, and the best that status quo supporters can tell us is that the board is getting along. There is no need to parody a sad group like this board when their own supporters do it so well themselves.
The saddest point to all of this is that people like McNally and Serby, who don't have kids in school, really believe that "getting along" is all that matters. They don't believe that certain kids can learn, and they don't believe that D11 can or should improve, so why bother?
The crisis continues.
Finally the suspense was broken as McNally and her caustic friend Richard Serby came to the rescue. Their "In Response" letter in the Gazette can be summed up in one sentence: This board closed East Middle School.
The irony of that accomplishment is hard to miss. One of the people who McNally recruited during her recall effort was Norvelle Simpson. He was an ex-D11 board member who served with McNally when the academic decline in D11 first began. While Eric Christen and I were appearing on the Joseph Michelli show, Simpson called in and explained that his support for the recall was based on the fact that we reformers wanted to shut D11 school buildings. He pointed out that he and McNally had closed the old South Middle School, and that had led to all types of problems for the affected neighborhood. He was angry because minorities were hit hardest by his decision. In an amazing leap of logic, Simpson declared that since he and McNally had closed a school and caused hardship in the community, then we should be removed from the board because they were telling people that WE also wanted to close a school or two. Got it?
The decision on East was not initiated by this school board. Due to the continuing unsatisfactory performance of the East staff, the state directed that something be done with the school. While I was on the board, we reformers warned over and over again that dramatic action had to be taken to improve certain schools or the state would step in and force action. The state forced action in this case. This board could have chosen to allow East to remain open under management that actually knows how to educate kids (Cesar Chavez), but due to the total anti-charter mood on this board, they chose to close the building altogether. That wasn't necessarily a hard decision for the board; it was simply something that their handlers told them to do.
McNally and Serby brag that this board has assembled a committee to study the East facility and other D11 facilities. Big deal. Another committee spent 2 years studying facility usage. The Long Range School Use Study (LRSUS) committee recommended consolidating or reutilizing 6 different schools in the district. Gudvangen and his allies refused to listen to that committee. The West Side Task Force committee existed prior to the LRSUS committee. If putting committees together is an end in itself, them yes, liberal D11 boards have always accomplished a lot.
The next biggest accomplishment that McNally and Serby can latch onto is that board members have been visiting schools. When I served, we reformers always visited school buildings. In fact, school staffs commented that we were the first board members to actually come out to the school buildings on a regular basis. People like Gudvangen, Karen Teja, Mary Wierman, and Tami Hasling were actually upset about our school visits. They accused us of interfering with school staffs when we visited buildings, and yet they now want to pretend that they are visiting schools.
In my Oped, I mentioned (correctly) that this board relishes its secrecy. McNally and Serby point out that this board spends time "communicating with one another via telephone and e-mail frequently to ensure common understanding of issues...and to reach consensus, whenever possible, when voting on important matters." First of all, keep in mind that this is actually a response to an accusation that this board is a do-nothing board. The best they can say is that they call and e-mail each other? Wow, heavy stuff.
Soon after our swearing in in 2003, the Independent ran a scandalous article accusing us reformers of violating the Sunshine Law by having more than 3 of us gathering publicly at Old Chicago's for a snack. It was a social gathering in public with numerous D11 employees. Now McNally informs us that the current board is reaching consensus in phone calls and e-mails, which is a direct violation of state laws. Reaching consensus by phone or e-mail is called a "rolling quorum," and it is forbidden by law. This further proves my point that this board operates in secret and out of view of the public. By the way, how would McNally know that the board is communicating by phone and email to reach consensus on important issues? She is no longer on the board, correct?
McNally says that the board is holding the administration accountable for providing detailed information necessary in making good decisions. How have they done this? What measure is she using to validate that claim? Is there any accountability for academic performance, a charge for which all school districts are responsible? McNally and Serby don't say, because that is not important to them.
In short, McNally and Serby wrote a silly article that said absolutely nothing. It proved, beyond doubt, that what I said in my Oped was right on target. Beyond the closing of East, which was mandated by the state, this board has "gotten along" with each other. D11 remains in an academic crisis and students and families are fleeing to higher performing districts by the thousands, and the best that status quo supporters can tell us is that the board is getting along. There is no need to parody a sad group like this board when their own supporters do it so well themselves.
The saddest point to all of this is that people like McNally and Serby, who don't have kids in school, really believe that "getting along" is all that matters. They don't believe that certain kids can learn, and they don't believe that D11 can or should improve, so why bother?
The crisis continues.
posted by Craig Cox | 7:05 AM
2 Comments:
McNally & Serby's response in defending the board was humorous at best. They provided no facts or specifics on what the board has done to improve student achievment other than closing East M.S. It was all a bunch of feel-good and vague statements. Any D11 parent that read the response should be disgusted.
Yeah, so they closed East ... now what? The board's biggest worry was where to put the displaced students and where to reassign the East MS staff. There was no discussion on how D11 failed those kids or what needs to be done to prevent that kind of failure in the future. There was no vision ... only reaction. What is the board/admin/union doing about the displaced East MS teachers? Are they going to just reassign incompetent teachers to other schools? I've heard from numerous D11 folks, that schools were holding back reqs because they don't want those incompetent teachers.
I also found it interesting that there were no school board members that responded. Why is some other group defending the board?
The statements about reaching a concensus via phone calls and emails also bothered me. Isn't that what public board meetings are for?
The response in the op-ed exposed issues much more serious than what was the basis for the recall of Shakes & Christen.
Jeff,
You have a good point with regards to East. There was no analysis at all of the failures that led to the closure. The administration and anti-reform board members, current and past, believe that the only failures were on the part of the students, who dared to be born poor or minority. An honet analysis would show that anti-reform board members, whose names include Mary Ellen McNally, Lyman Kaiser, Mary Wierman, John Gudvangen, Delia Busby, Bruce Doyle, Lynn Peterson, Norvelle Simpson, David Linebaugh, Karen Teja, and Waynette Rand, to name a large handful, are directly and personally responsible for failing to do ANYTHING to prevent the East situation from happening. While they literally sat around and ignored the growing crisis, kids were failed badly and futures were destroyed. Also to blame are 6-figure administrators such as Terry Bishop, Glenn Gustafson, Mary Thurman, Sharon Thomas, Norm Ridder, Ken Burnley, and all the other employees in a position of authority who see the incompetence everyday but don't have the courage to speak out.
Incompetent teachers will absolutely be reassigned; they already have been. Lori Watson admitted as much. One of the administration's promises to the labor union was that if the East staff kept quiet on the East closure, they would be guaranteed jobs within D11. The message to the community: screw the kids.
Of course the board members did not respond. McNally emailed all 7 and demanded that they respond to me, but these people have no ideas. They are place-holders on this board. Others direct their actions. They couldn't possibly muster a response. The result was that silly McNally/Serby effort.
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