Yes, it Happens Here
The Gazette recently ran an Associated Press series on sexual abuse in our nation's public schools. The AP investigation revealed that there is an epidemic in our schools with an average of 3 sexual assaults per day somewhere in a public school in the U.S.
This article highlighted the total unwillingness of school administrations, school boards, and labor union leaders to hold public school employees accountable for their actions. As the article points out, school districts routinely pass their problem employees on to other districts without any negative information in the personnel files to warn the receiving district of impending trouble. This failure to show any concern for accountability obviously carries over to the academic side of the schools as well, as low performing employees remain on the public payrolls and parents are blamed for the failures of the schools.
The AP series wasn't just an article of events that have occurred "someplace else." The very types of events described in the article, including the cover-ups and the failure of school leaders to hold people accountable, have occurred right here in D11.
The AP article, the first of which appeared on October 21st, stated,
"There are 3 million public school teachers nationwide, most devoted to their work. Yet the number of abusive educators, nearly three for every school day, speaks to a much larger problem in a system that is stacked against victims. Most of the abuse isn’t reported. Those cases reported often end with no action. Cases investigated sometimes can’t be proven, and many abusers have several victims. The institutions that govern education have only sporadically addressed a problem that’s been apparent for years...Like Lindsey’s, the cases the AP found were those of everyday educators — teachers, school psychologists, principals and superintendents among them. They’re often popular and recognized for excellence and, in nearly nine out of 10 cases, they’re male. Although some were accused of abusing students in school, others were cited for sexual misconduct after hours.
Kathy Buzad of the AFT (American Federation of Teachers) said that "if there’s one incident of sexual misconduct between a teacher and a student that’s one too many." In practice, there is less vigilance.
The AP discovered efforts to stop offenders but, overall, a deeply entrenched resistance toward fighting abuse. It starts in school hallways, where fellow teachers look away. School administrators make deals to avoid lawsuits and other trouble. And in state capitals and Congress, lawmakers shy from tough state punishments or cohesive national policy for fear of disparaging a vital profession."
That last sentence is very important and carries huge implications. Anyone who criticizes any aspect of our public schools is accused of "attacking teachers." We can't criticize our teachers or administrators, we are told, because they are so important. That viewpoint is fundamentally flawed. Yes, the profession is vital. Educating our kids is critical to our future as a free nation. That is all the more reason that we MUST have accountability for people in a position of trust. Rather than tip-toeing around accountability in our schools, the vital nature of the profession demands that we have to maintain very high standards of behavior. Of course the profession is vital, and that is why it is so important to remove those employees who do harm to the entire profession. The teacher's labor unions, weak administrators, and inept school board members are abdicating their duties to protect our kids.
On June 7, 2000, the Gazette carried an article about Irving Middle School choir instructor Willie Pirraglia. Pirraglia plead guilty to sexual misconduct with a student and received probation rather than prison for his crime. As the AP article mentioned, abusers in our schools are often popular and award winning employees. Parents and students are often attacked for making accusations against such employees. According to the Gazette,
"...the evidence against Pirraglia shows a pattern of sexual misconduct from August 1996 to November 1999 when students began coming forward with the allegations. Each school year, Pirraglia elevated a girl to a leadership position, developed a close emotional relationship with her and used that relationship to gain sexual contact, (Deputy DA) Heim said.
Before the sexual-misconduct allegations surfaced, Pirraglia was an award-winning band director popular with parents and beloved by his students for inspiring passion about music.
Heim said he was disappointed that school officials supported Pirraglia instead of the students who came forward with allegations of abuse. The school dedicated a December band concert to Pirraglia while the victims were branded troublemakers, Heim said."
During this time period when the students and parents were being ridiculed, the school board was made up of strong critics of reform, such as Karen Teja, Mary Wierman, Bruce Doyle, and Lyman Kaiser. Obviously, any accusation of abuse must be taken seriously, and an employee should have the benefit of a thorough investigation. As more accusations continue to come forward, there is a point where there needs to be an elevated sense of urgency to secure the safety of the students. The school board and administration at the time looked the other way for over 3 years as accusations came forward. As the article points out, they even threw a party for the accused while attacking the victims. (Side Note: When former D11 superintendent Sharon Thomas pulled in front of a motorcycle this past year, killing the rider, the D11 administration sent flowers to her instead of sending them to the family of the victim).
The AP article points out that 80% of the abuse victims are students. Fellow employees also end up being the victims. Former Whittier Elementary principal Larry Richardson kept a bizarre sex toy hidden in a 5th grade classroom at his elementary school and he was accused of sexually harassing female members of his staff. The sex toy was hidden in a classroom closet that was accessible to students. When the administration and board discovered this activity by the school leader, they did not fire him. Rather, the board, led again by Lyman Kaiser, Karen Teja, Mary Wierman, and Bruce Doyle, agreed to ask Richardson to leave and they paid him over $200,000. Rather than hold Richardson accountable, the board and administration paid this man six figures to avoid a legal battle. The board and administration also agreed to keep this particular employee and his actions out of the public's eye. This all happened in 2003, just prior to the reformers coming onto the school board. It is not clear what legal battle the board at the time was afraid of fighting considering the clear evidence in that case. As is typical with weak boards, there was a lack of will to enforce accountability.
D11 currently employs a high level administrator who was caught a couple of years ago on district security cameras stealing drugs from a student prescription drug cabinet. Instead of being held to account, the employee was later awarded with a promotion. Another current senior administrator had a habit of having sexual encounters in the administration building with teachers and subordinates during the work day. Ex-superintendent Norm Ridder claimed that this employee was just too valuable to discipline, so the employee continues to serve today. There is always a reason to "look the other way" to avoid acting responsibly.
On December 1st, 2005, the Gazette carried an article about 2 Palmer High School teachers who were suspended from school. The D11 administration allowed a student to claim that the teachers were suspended because they were involved with the school's Gay-Straight Alliance. The reality is that the teachers were pulled from the classroom because a student came across them "making out" on school grounds. The 2 teachers were married, but not to each other. This does not rise to the level of sexual assault on a student, but it does highlight that students are being affected by staff behavior.
A female Wasson High School teacher was arrested in April 2005 after having sexual relations with a 17 year-old student. With reformers on the board at the time, the D11 administration did not attempt to hide this incident and the teacher was arrested and fired.
As I wrote in an earlier blog, a Doherty teacher called a black student the "n-word" and was simply transferred to West Middle School since the administration did not want to stand up to the labor union and fire this teacher. The administration hid this incident from the board and the public to avoid controversy and to avoid a battle with the labor union. The administration also refused to provide information to concerned parents over this issue because of concern for the privacy of the teacher. The teacher's rights trumped those of the student.
The teacher's labor union spends millions of teacher dollars every year to elect labor union minions to school boards and legislatures. These elected officials are then instructed to pass policies and legislation that make it nearly impossible to remove bad or incompetent employees from the payrolls, all in the name of protecting a vital profession. The result is that kids are left vulnerable and the profession has actually been weakened and demeaned as people who are unfit to be around kids are passed from school to school. Administrators blame the labor union and state statute for contracts and laws that make it impossible to fire bad employees. The labor union leaders claim that their job is to look after employees and not kids and that administrators are to blame for not making efforts to remove bad employees. The result, as the AP report indicates, is that there are very few adults in the education system who are willing to stand up and show any type of leadership at all to protect the welfare of the students. Just as they do with academics, education officials all too often do what is easy rather than what is right.
This article highlighted the total unwillingness of school administrations, school boards, and labor union leaders to hold public school employees accountable for their actions. As the article points out, school districts routinely pass their problem employees on to other districts without any negative information in the personnel files to warn the receiving district of impending trouble. This failure to show any concern for accountability obviously carries over to the academic side of the schools as well, as low performing employees remain on the public payrolls and parents are blamed for the failures of the schools.
The AP series wasn't just an article of events that have occurred "someplace else." The very types of events described in the article, including the cover-ups and the failure of school leaders to hold people accountable, have occurred right here in D11.
The AP article, the first of which appeared on October 21st, stated,
"There are 3 million public school teachers nationwide, most devoted to their work. Yet the number of abusive educators, nearly three for every school day, speaks to a much larger problem in a system that is stacked against victims. Most of the abuse isn’t reported. Those cases reported often end with no action. Cases investigated sometimes can’t be proven, and many abusers have several victims. The institutions that govern education have only sporadically addressed a problem that’s been apparent for years...Like Lindsey’s, the cases the AP found were those of everyday educators — teachers, school psychologists, principals and superintendents among them. They’re often popular and recognized for excellence and, in nearly nine out of 10 cases, they’re male. Although some were accused of abusing students in school, others were cited for sexual misconduct after hours.
Kathy Buzad of the AFT (American Federation of Teachers) said that "if there’s one incident of sexual misconduct between a teacher and a student that’s one too many." In practice, there is less vigilance.
The AP discovered efforts to stop offenders but, overall, a deeply entrenched resistance toward fighting abuse. It starts in school hallways, where fellow teachers look away. School administrators make deals to avoid lawsuits and other trouble. And in state capitals and Congress, lawmakers shy from tough state punishments or cohesive national policy for fear of disparaging a vital profession."
That last sentence is very important and carries huge implications. Anyone who criticizes any aspect of our public schools is accused of "attacking teachers." We can't criticize our teachers or administrators, we are told, because they are so important. That viewpoint is fundamentally flawed. Yes, the profession is vital. Educating our kids is critical to our future as a free nation. That is all the more reason that we MUST have accountability for people in a position of trust. Rather than tip-toeing around accountability in our schools, the vital nature of the profession demands that we have to maintain very high standards of behavior. Of course the profession is vital, and that is why it is so important to remove those employees who do harm to the entire profession. The teacher's labor unions, weak administrators, and inept school board members are abdicating their duties to protect our kids.
On June 7, 2000, the Gazette carried an article about Irving Middle School choir instructor Willie Pirraglia. Pirraglia plead guilty to sexual misconduct with a student and received probation rather than prison for his crime. As the AP article mentioned, abusers in our schools are often popular and award winning employees. Parents and students are often attacked for making accusations against such employees. According to the Gazette,
"...the evidence against Pirraglia shows a pattern of sexual misconduct from August 1996 to November 1999 when students began coming forward with the allegations. Each school year, Pirraglia elevated a girl to a leadership position, developed a close emotional relationship with her and used that relationship to gain sexual contact, (Deputy DA) Heim said.
Before the sexual-misconduct allegations surfaced, Pirraglia was an award-winning band director popular with parents and beloved by his students for inspiring passion about music.
Heim said he was disappointed that school officials supported Pirraglia instead of the students who came forward with allegations of abuse. The school dedicated a December band concert to Pirraglia while the victims were branded troublemakers, Heim said."
During this time period when the students and parents were being ridiculed, the school board was made up of strong critics of reform, such as Karen Teja, Mary Wierman, Bruce Doyle, and Lyman Kaiser. Obviously, any accusation of abuse must be taken seriously, and an employee should have the benefit of a thorough investigation. As more accusations continue to come forward, there is a point where there needs to be an elevated sense of urgency to secure the safety of the students. The school board and administration at the time looked the other way for over 3 years as accusations came forward. As the article points out, they even threw a party for the accused while attacking the victims. (Side Note: When former D11 superintendent Sharon Thomas pulled in front of a motorcycle this past year, killing the rider, the D11 administration sent flowers to her instead of sending them to the family of the victim).
The AP article points out that 80% of the abuse victims are students. Fellow employees also end up being the victims. Former Whittier Elementary principal Larry Richardson kept a bizarre sex toy hidden in a 5th grade classroom at his elementary school and he was accused of sexually harassing female members of his staff. The sex toy was hidden in a classroom closet that was accessible to students. When the administration and board discovered this activity by the school leader, they did not fire him. Rather, the board, led again by Lyman Kaiser, Karen Teja, Mary Wierman, and Bruce Doyle, agreed to ask Richardson to leave and they paid him over $200,000. Rather than hold Richardson accountable, the board and administration paid this man six figures to avoid a legal battle. The board and administration also agreed to keep this particular employee and his actions out of the public's eye. This all happened in 2003, just prior to the reformers coming onto the school board. It is not clear what legal battle the board at the time was afraid of fighting considering the clear evidence in that case. As is typical with weak boards, there was a lack of will to enforce accountability.
D11 currently employs a high level administrator who was caught a couple of years ago on district security cameras stealing drugs from a student prescription drug cabinet. Instead of being held to account, the employee was later awarded with a promotion. Another current senior administrator had a habit of having sexual encounters in the administration building with teachers and subordinates during the work day. Ex-superintendent Norm Ridder claimed that this employee was just too valuable to discipline, so the employee continues to serve today. There is always a reason to "look the other way" to avoid acting responsibly.
On December 1st, 2005, the Gazette carried an article about 2 Palmer High School teachers who were suspended from school. The D11 administration allowed a student to claim that the teachers were suspended because they were involved with the school's Gay-Straight Alliance. The reality is that the teachers were pulled from the classroom because a student came across them "making out" on school grounds. The 2 teachers were married, but not to each other. This does not rise to the level of sexual assault on a student, but it does highlight that students are being affected by staff behavior.
A female Wasson High School teacher was arrested in April 2005 after having sexual relations with a 17 year-old student. With reformers on the board at the time, the D11 administration did not attempt to hide this incident and the teacher was arrested and fired.
As I wrote in an earlier blog, a Doherty teacher called a black student the "n-word" and was simply transferred to West Middle School since the administration did not want to stand up to the labor union and fire this teacher. The administration hid this incident from the board and the public to avoid controversy and to avoid a battle with the labor union. The administration also refused to provide information to concerned parents over this issue because of concern for the privacy of the teacher. The teacher's rights trumped those of the student.
The teacher's labor union spends millions of teacher dollars every year to elect labor union minions to school boards and legislatures. These elected officials are then instructed to pass policies and legislation that make it nearly impossible to remove bad or incompetent employees from the payrolls, all in the name of protecting a vital profession. The result is that kids are left vulnerable and the profession has actually been weakened and demeaned as people who are unfit to be around kids are passed from school to school. Administrators blame the labor union and state statute for contracts and laws that make it impossible to fire bad employees. The labor union leaders claim that their job is to look after employees and not kids and that administrators are to blame for not making efforts to remove bad employees. The result, as the AP report indicates, is that there are very few adults in the education system who are willing to stand up and show any type of leadership at all to protect the welfare of the students. Just as they do with academics, education officials all too often do what is easy rather than what is right.
posted by Craig Cox | 11:03 PM
19 Comments:
As an important follow-up, it needs to be emphasized that it took a young student and her family going to the police to finally stop the abuse at Irving that is mentioned above. D11 administrators and board members kept ignoring this serious issue. It was pointed out to me that a parent (who did not wish to post here herself) had complained to the Irving principal about this abuse. That very evening, the parent claims to have begun receiving phone calls from the choir director telling her that he knew what she did and that he knew where her child attended school. The popular choir director continued to receive cover from D11 officials until the police were contacted and a real investigation was conducted. This type of behavior is inexcusable, but as the AP report pointed out, it is all too common among members of the educartel.
This reminds me of the very beginning of the church scandal. The higher ups passed priests from one church to the other, would not investigate, or if they did, buried it hoping that no one would find out and take the church on. Does any of this sound familiar? Are we headed in that direction in public education? Just look at the news for the past couple of years and the number of teachers running off or getting caught with students in very bad situations. Is this just the tip of the iceberg?
The AP article compared this to the church crisis. Since this was the first hard look at statistics, there is no doubt that there will be more to come. The AP only had statistics that were public, ie, reported. The un-reported numbers are the even worse news. School officials are prone to cover-ups, all in the name of avoiding litigation.
Couldn't you have waited a few more days, so that you could have posted this as a typical Cox "thank you" to teachers during American Education Week next week? You don't even have the decency to observe that 99.9% of teachers don't even think about such actions, much less engage in them. Or that most do their damnedest to do right by kids.
Regardless, you're welcome for what we do for your kids. Luckily, we do it for them, and not for praise from you.
You waste no time proving my point. Any criticism of a system that is overdue for gross overhaul is met with crocodile tears and accusations of attacks on teachers. Show me where I ever criticized good teachers and your whining will have some validity.
You are not the victim of the sexual assault crisis investigated by the AP, (a very liberal organization, I might add). Students and fellow employees are the victims. If your labor union was a professional organization rather than a political labor union, you would police your own, and the problems that exist would not be so far reaching. You constantly excuse teachers who can't teach, and now you think that it is unfair to criticize teachers who assault people. You are not only a coward on this blog, you are a coward in your own hallways. You know as well as I do that there are many more stories like I mention above that could be told about D11. You choose to turn a blind eye to these incidents, even though they effect students and they effect employee morale. You demean your own profession and your fellow teachers by allowing people to populate your ranks who have no business being involved in education. Your side has owned our schools for decades, and you own the problems that exist. If you are so desperate to be called a "professional," maybe it is time you act like one and start offering solutions instead of excuses. After dealing with labor union leaders like you, I hold out no hope that you will ever take time away from your left-wing causes to offer anything that will make our schools safer or better.
The CSEA is defined by the Master Agreement. How sad that is so. Maybe CSEA should be defined by what it does for kids!
Anyone interested in reading the Master Agreement can find it under Human Resources on the D11 web site.
Is next week really American Education Week? Does that mean that flags will fly at half-staff in D11 to correlate with the 50% proficiencies that we have in the district? We can even fly them at half-staff today as another set of anti-parent, anti-student board members get themselves elected to do nothing but sit back and watch as the district continues to die a not-so-slow death. What a shock to see a union thug upset because you criticized a child molester. Things are worse than any of us even know.
Right on Mr. Cox! Calling Anonymous a coward is a sure bullseye. This person, who most of us can put a face to in our own travels through District 11 (because there are more of this "type" than we care to admit) is exactly what is wrong with public education. You didn't attack teachers in this post, you attacked the beauracracy for protecting them before the children! How Anon twisted it into an attack on teachers shows just how pinheaded his outlook is. You either rah rah for all of them, the good and those committing crimes, or you're the villian.
And then to proclaim that he's in this for your kids is laughable. He's in this for the money, because he couldn't act this way in any other industry and draw a paycheck for his politics.
Don't stop telling what the Gazette and that other weekly won't tell. You'd think they'd (the Indy) would be all over this type scandal, tabloid that they are, but because they're in bed together over the whole pushing of the gay agenda, it's hands off.
Do you really mean to hold all teachers accountable with a case that's a decade old? With sleaze tactics like that, no wonder Anonymous stays Anonymous.
A decade? Just last year a Doherty teacher called a black student a "niggar" and you and your labor union insisted that the teacher remain on the payroll and simply be transferred to a D11 middle school. With that type of cavalier and sleazy attitude towards the welfare of D11 students, I can understand why you choose to remain anonymous. Looks like not much has changed on your side since 2000. Same sleazy labor union leadership today as it was then. Keep defending the bad apples and keep being confused as more parents leave for other districts.
Do you have proof that a teacher said that? Do you have proof that the union did what you claim? I'm sure that the student says that, but is it true?
Anon would like readers of this blog to believe that this stuff isn't happening. Yet another article in today's Gazette, yet another deviant teacher in our public schools. What can we do? I look forward to Anon pinning this on disengaged parents. Somehow this person (anonymous) will find a way to justify the crimes of a colleague and turn the blame to the parent(s). It seems to be the way it goes: student is abused, student tells parents, parents tell school officials, school officials tell world parent and student are crazy liars. End of discussion.
No wonder the number of lawsuits is rising, you can't get justice without the big monied lawyers getting involved - but that's a good thing! It keeps the legal team on school staff busy, earning their huge contracts, and it gives the administration something to do besides figure out ways to teach kids how to read and write and do good arithmatic.
Sad days for D-11. Lackluster board, dead kids, nothing good to look forward to but as you said, the slow death of what should be a crackerjack public school system.
Yes, I do, anony. The incident was witnessed by several other people. I already wrote about it several months ago.
As the AP article states: "Yet the number of abusive educators, nearly three for every school day, speaks to a much larger problem in a system that is stacked against victims...The AP discovered efforts to stop offenders but, overall, a deeply entrenched resistance toward fighting abuse."
Sounds as if the AP conducted an interview with you, Anony. As always, your labor union takes priority over the kids. Why, again, does D11 have a continuing decline in enrollment?
Last time that I looked this was still the land where one was assumed to be innocent until proven guilty. The association provides teachers with the means to defend themselves against allegations yet unproved. If the allegations are proven to be true the protection ends. we do not support them being sent elsewhere and I'd like you to name a proven felon that we are harboring in our mists. There are abuses in the teaching profession as there are in any profession and we will not support or hide anyone who has been proven to abuse our children. Society as a whole has a problem with abuse. If you call DSS and report an abuse you are often told that it won't be investigated because parents have discipline rights and there is no one else who will take the child. So, if you want to attack the ills of society, don't stopwith the teachers... there are plenty, everywhere.
The association cannot police our own, as we do not issues the liscense or pull it when there is an accusation. That is up to authorities and administration. We are here to give support and representation. I wish we had the power you so willingly give to us to buy school boards and influence administration. It just doesn't exist except in your "end-of-the-world" scenerios. Our dollars spent on campaigning are matched by the Alex Cranberg's and Walton's of the world, so it's a fair fight. One that you don't really seem to be winning at the moment.
if the association was really buying school boards, explain how their endorsements didn't win the election. Your accusations don't hold water. The big bad union thg mentality isn't real. We don't force our members to believe any rhetoric or tow the party line. We have Republican teachers along with Democratic. Bring forward the people we've supposedly man-handled (asside from poor Larry Law) and make their addresses as accessible as the teachers you "exposed" as uncivilized in the last post.
Forgive us if we believe that what we do and stand for is just as right and just as what you do. It's a matter of perspective and belief and to each his own.
Because of a basic shift in demographics from the D-11 area to other areas?
I don't know the facts of the case at Doherty. You apparently do - or at least you think you do, although you probably have heard only one side of the story. It's doubtful that you bothered to ask the teacher for his side, since you fancy yourself judge, jury and executioner all rolled into one.
Go over to Doherty or Wasson and tell us how little teachers care about kids, especially in the aftermath of Monday's tragedy. But I suppose, somehow, that the teachers union and/or the school board is responsible for that, too.
Anony: Last time that I looked this was still the land where one was assumed to be innocent until proven guilty.
Craig: Remind me why you removed Irma Valerio as your labor union leader.
Anony: I'd like you to name a proven felon that we are harboring in our mists.
Craig: Remind me why you removed Irma Valerio as your labor union leader.
Anony: There are abuses in the teaching profession as there are in any profession and we will not support or hide anyone who has been proven to abuse our children.
Craig: You insisted that the Doherty teacher who used a racial slur on a student be retained and simply moved to another school.
Anony: The association cannot police our own, as we do not issues the liscense or pull it when there is an accusation.
Craig: You do unilaterally write the Master Agreement and then tell the school board that you pay for to vote on it with no changes. Change the Agreement to make it easier to remove bad teachers and I will believe that you care about the "professionalism" of your labor union. When I say bad teachers, I also refer to teachers who are ineffective in the classroom.
Anony: I wish we had the power you so willingly give to us to buy school boards and influence administration. It just doesn't exist except in your "end-of-the-world" scenerios. Our dollars spent on campaigning are matched by the Alex Cranberg's and Walton's of the world, so it's a fair fight. One that you don't really seem to be winning at the moment.
Craig: Let's look at a few recent election cycles in Colorado and see where your labor union political dollars went.
Election Cycle: 2006
Total Contributions: $2,374,077 Dems: $2,075,354 87%
Repubs: $288,723 12%
2004
Total Contributions: $2,123,497 Dems: $1,921,597 91%
Repubs: $197,900 9%
2002
Total Contributions: $3,550,558 Dems: $3,217,558 91%
Repubs: $324,000 9%
Total assets of the National Education Association: $186,244,257. Yes, you are one in the same as the NEA as your CSEA web site proclaims. Interesting that you choose Alex Cranberg and the Walton foundation as your two nemisis. They support elected officials who strive to improve our nation's schools. What does that say about those who you support? Cranberg & the Waltons don't have nearly the amount of dollars to spend on politics as you have. Besides, they spend their money attempting to improve education. You spend yours trying to preserve the power of your labor union. Anyone can Google "NEA education initiatives" and they will find absolutely nothing. As far as winning, how can you be winning something that you just declared does not exist other than in my "end-of-the-world" scenarios? If you mean that you are firmly in control of the nation's public schools, you are correct. Pat yourself on the back for the continuing decline in the performance of our schools because you own that failure. More power to the labor union.
Anony: We have Republican teachers along with Democratic.
Craig: In fact, the labor union makeup is about 55% Democrat and 45% Republican. Refer to the figures above once again and see how equitably you dispurse your political funds.
Anony: The big bad union thg mentality isn't real. We don't force our members to believe any rhetoric or tow the party line.
Craig: And you combined with the Teamsters Union to do what, soften your thug image? How about some of these lines: "The reformers want to take away your pensions;" "The reformers will refuse to use the bond money if they are elected;" "The reformers are going to spend $6 million to win the board race." You don't "force them" to believe your rhetoric, but you send out a steady stream of lies and hope that it sticks. That shows that you have very little faith in your true positions.
Anony: Bring forward the people we've supposedly man-handled (asside from poor Larry Law) and make their addresses as accessible as the teachers you "exposed" as uncivilized in the last post.
Craig: You despise Larry because he was not a labor union member and he refused to tow the party line. I thought you just got done saying you didn't do that? Funny, by the way, that some courageous anonymous labor union poster demands that I provide names of teachers who don't like the labor union. What do you intend to do with these teachers, hug them?
Anony: Forgive us if we believe that what we do and stand for is just as right and just as what you do. It's a matter of perspective and belief and to each his own.
Craig: Sounds very relativistic. "To each his own;" "There is no right or wrong." Do you teach that philosophy to kids? If you truly believe "to each his own," why have you shown such acrimony when I disagree with your beliefs, particularly when I show over and over again that your beliefs are failing our kids? Our kids, the parents' kids, are not "your own," by the way. You are supposed to be focused on what is best for them, not your labor union masters. You once again possess a school board that is completely void of ideas. What are you going to do with it?
2d labor union anonymous poster, when you mention "a basic shift in demographics from the D-11 area to other areas," it is not clear what you mean. If you mean that people with kids are leaving D11 and moving to other areas, then you have just ceded the argument to me. "Good schools" are major reasons why parents buy specific homes. Why do the real estate ads and signs in town say "D-20 schools" and never "D-11 schools?" Is that due to some reform plot to destroy D11?
If your point about a "basic shift" means that as the kids graduate from high school, the families are staying put in D11 without kids, that is not exactly correct. I have seen the data. Each year, every class size reduces in number, but particularly so when the kids reach the middle school years. CFO Glenn Gustafson provided us with demographic information that showed that there are 10,000 kids living within D11 boundaries who do not attend our schools. This decline began well before any reformers were ever elected. Logic would dictate that if parents are not satisfied with the performance of their schools, they will find someplace else to educate their kids. You own the board - what are you going to do to stop the bleeding?
As far as the Doherty teacher, I do know the facts. If you don't, then don't spin your wheels arguing about it. Your knee-jerk reaction was to chastise the student and defend the teacher when you don't know what happened. That was one of the points of the AP article.
Your last paragraph just makes you sound dumb. At least you aren't taking a relativist viewpoint on what happened.
When did anybody chastise a student here? It simply hasn't happened. THAT'S the problem with letting you and your lynch mob mentality loose without protections for teachers. You know it all, and you don't need to hear form anybody else, ever. At least Christen had the (probably false) humility to admit that he may be able to learn a few things from others. You knew it all befor eyou got on the board, and you seemingly know even more now. What a monstrously conceited, arrogant little man you are. You must have been a helluva G-man with that attitude.
Hold on a minute. I've got to use my super-secret G-man decoder ring to decipher what Angry Labor Union Person (ALUP) is trying to say:
ALUP: "Argghhh!! He's right again! I am so furious and lost for words that I've got to insult him and the only thing that pops into my mind is the object of my neverending obsession - which, of course, is Eric Christen. So there, you are worse than Eric Christen! And although we have bachelor's degrees and even some master's degrees we desperately need our labor union to protect us from that thing that we have no use for in education - which, of course, is accountability. Although he is correct that we need major change to improve this district, I can't let him know that I think he is right so I must defend what I am most comfortable with - which, of course, is the status quo. Although I have never been willing to learn new approaches or attempt anything that might actually work, I must turn the tables and pretend that he is stubborn and unwilling to listen to our ideas - which, of course, we have never offered because we don't have anything other than excuses."
Anony, you have really lost it if you are now resorting to fond memories of Eric to get you through your day. I'll let him know that you are thinking of him.
No, anony, I never claimed to know it all. In fact, my claim is that the overpaid bureacrats in central admin don't know anything about their own district. That is why I voted to move towards a site based approach, where the "experts" in the schools could run the show and do what they had to do to educate their kids. You fought that approach, remember? That doesn't say much about your confidence in your own abilities, does it? The reality is that your side has never been willing to learn from anyone else, even though your way of doing business is getting this district nowhere.
Now relax and breathe into a paper bag. You don't want your labor union buds to realize that it was you who was getting all sentimental about Eric.
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