Watch a Rural School Near You Cannibalize Itself Into Nothingness

This is a story about a tiny district near you.  By State measures, an adequate School, unless you are poor/white, or special needs/white, then not so much. Those kids, who make up nearly the entire percentage of our student body, are not improving quickly enough, or by large enough leaps according NYS’s many matrices and constantly redefined targets.

As a result of course, their teachers are also only adequate. How else can you possibly explain the lack of significant growth? Specifically to blame for this are our teachers in the Elementary School. If the Governor has his way, these teachers will be straight up out of a job in three years. Good riddance right? That is the goal, identify and eliminate the weakest links.

There are teachers, who driven by passion and a love of children, decided to educate and support the whole child. Surprisingly, they still exist. You know who they are, because you see them crying in their classrooms, or suffering from frequent migraines. Their creativity, their love of the young open mind, wasted on prepackaged NYS modules. Black and White print outs, day after day after day.  Have a child? You’ve seen them. Can’t tell if it’s today’s homework or homework from 4 months ago?  Those are the ones. Hey, at least they don’t have books anymore, what a bother that would be.

Then there are the teachers, who were already tired 5 years ago, who haven’t seen an “evaluation” in 20 years. They have the magical TENURE. That’s the thing that protects them from the risks of working with your children, the whims of a School Board or a parent who doesn’t care for them. Well, good news, no more doing what has always worked in the past! No more mentoring young teachers and sharing your wisdom….you are now a Common Core educator.  Eh, what’s new, another change in curriculum? This one has teeth however, they call it rigor. All students shall learn all math and all ELA all the time, the end. That’s not totally fair, they do get to read and write and do math about Science and Social Studies….sometimes.  For now, they even get a little bit of art/music and PE.

Of course this is a gross oversimplification, there are teachers all in between as well, but these two groups are the main players in our story.  

The culmination of all of this rigor and common core and math and ela and modules?….HIGH STAKES TESTING and Annual Professional Performance Reviews. So your kids don’t test well, surely your Principal can still see that you are a good teacher, maybe you just got a room full of duds this year.  No such luck. Under the new regs, you cannot be rated effective in the classroom if your students do poorly on State Exams.

Let’s not get distracted with details of how unfair the tests are written, how biased, how the information is levels beyond what is in the prescribed modules, not to mention the gazillions of dollars being made by corporations, that are not our Schools.

So this is crazy, but it turns out, kids living in poverty, do not perform well on these tests. Seems they have additional stress, families might not even be spending the prescribed 20 minutes reading a new book to them nightly, they may work three or four jobs, or no jobs.  

Guess what happens to these kids when they get to School, sometimes hungry, sometimes in the clothes they slept in, they are told to start chomping down on those black and white modules, page by page, like pacman eating power pellets. These kids need more time. More time to adjust to School from day one, more time to know that they are okay in their environment, more time with adults to process homework and new concepts. They don’t get that time. Know who else needs more time? Pretty much all kids that don’t learn fantastically well from black and white handouts. That includes Special Education kids, but lots of kids who fall in the middle too. Teachers, no longer get that time and with every passing day, that great teacher who really sees this entire story, dies a little more inside.

How do you think these kids behave? They spend their days behind, confused and frustrated. Remember when you went to School and the teacher would “re-teach”?  Yeah, they don’t have time for that anymore. These kids start to hate School. Start to act out. They become terror number one destroying a rural School near you….the DISCIPLINE PROBLEMS.

So, who’s to blame? Teacher must not have very good classroom management right? Well, teacher doesn’t really get to manage anything anymore and when they are already teaching in a School where the test scores aren’t great, it would be suicide to admit to any additional deficits. Old School teacher with all of their experience, they must have a solution. Turns out, they never had this sort of problem YEARS AGO (when you could slow down, differentiate instruction to interests, provide time for kids to PLAY), or at minimum nobody was coming into their classroom to see the problems.

Clearly, it’s the culture. In this School, it’s okay for kids to be disrespectful and out of control, to not do their work, to not achieve. They don’t respect themselves, how can we respect or help them? So it’s the Superintendent right? Or the Board of Education, somewhere there’s a policy or a memo or something that can be issued to fix this. Nope, that is not the case.

In our School District, the buck stops with the Principal. The guy who is NOT teaching in the classroom, the guy who is on the phone or in his office with crying parents explaining that they don’t understand why their kids hate school, he’s writing proposals for more staff, demanding teachers understand the conditions families in poverty are living under.  That’s when he isn’t doing the hours and hours of mandated observations or paperwork required thereafter.

He isn’t making test scores rise fast enough….why do we need him again? Sure, administration has experimented with various strategies to get frustrated kids back into the classroom more quickly, so that they could chomp down more modules, so that they can do better on the test, so that their teacher gets to keep their job, but in the end….maybe it’s him.  Why is he bringing these distractions, these PROBLEMS back to the classroom? Why is he suggesting that we add staff, to address discipline problems? Can’t he suspend a kid all on his own? Send that first grader to some alternative program? The fact that he isn’t doing these things clearly shows weakness. He has to go.

In his place? Let’s get a Principal that has taught Elementary School, somebody who gets us. Someone that will listen to teachers and somehow….do what? Make the standards go away? Stop evaluating you? Get rid of State testing? Understand that you cannot have those kids in your classrooms, when they refuse to fit the mold, someone who will get them gone. Slippery slope anyone? Which kids exactly do we need to remove from the general education program? Well, obviously the distractions, the ones that don’t let the good kids meet their full potential.

So the goal is to round up the “bad” and the “special” and remove them? Yeah, that’s actually a real plan being discussed, 12-1-1 classes in a neighboring district. Bus those kids out. Guess how many of THOSE KIDS…are poor, or have other difficulties at home they are trying to overcome. Imagine how successful they will be, all grouped together like the island of misfit toys as early as KINDERGARTEN. Yes, this School, will attempt to weed out the week at 5 years old and corral them into one location where they are less distracting to the more capable drones in other rooms.

Who will manage a program like that?? Cleary a Special Education Advocate could not conscionably recommend pulling kids out of mainstreamed classes and placing them into more restrictive settings. So who will do it? How about replacing the role of Special Education Director with a “Special Programs Director”? WIN!

Let’s make that person a lawyer, so that when we violate the civil rights of these students, we can go ahead and put an estimated price tag on potential litigation…although, come on, how are those people going to find, let alone pay for a lawyer to sue our School?

So what are our neediest kids left with?  Nothing really. What do our brightest and most capable gain? More time to prepare for tests and complete modules, to hopefully perform well on tests that have no reflection on their capabilities.

Remember how this School is made up mostly of those poor white and special education white kids? Well, you aren’t going to be able to remove enough of them to overcome the needs of our families. By removing all advocates for our Special Needs students, there will be more frustration, more struggle and more tears. In fact, by removing the stability they have in a well-liked Principal who gets this story, the further damage to this School and even this community, is immeasurable. Sure, there may be a short term sense of vindication, of control by teachers who in all fairness have lost most of the career they signed up for, but spite is short lived. There will be more tests, more struggling kids, more scores and more evaluations.

But don’t worry it won’t go on for long. This misguided District, is throwing away its best assets, scrapping what works and starting over, or not. It won’t be long before this sad experiment fails and our School has completely cannibalized itself into nothingness, absorbed in charity and with the promise of our low income kids State Aid, by a surviving, neighboring School District. 

Guest Blogger: Reactions of a Reluctant Advocate

So, suddenly, the letter, stating that my children’s School was getting turned upside down.

I started asking questions, I called board members. Those phone calls were disastrous.  Though the board member who were willing to speak with me, were perfectly lovely, each call lengthened my list of questions. I decided to write an email to the board members and our Superintendent.  I was honestly naive enough to believe that I would be acknowledged. At this point, I still didn't realize that there was a hidden agenda.... I just wanted to make sure my children were being considered in this reorganization process and PHASE 1?  What is PHASE 1? How many phases? Why? Why? Why? I felt like my inquiries were simple enough.....but I was being met with such defensiveness.  Why? What is going on?

Then I heard other parents discussing the recent changes. We compared notes--- and that's where it started, a group of parents coming together with the same questions. We kept talking, the community then received wind of the current happenings at Our Elementary School and a group was born.  
A Facebook group? Really--it's just a place to get people together with the same questions. A way to share information and thoughts on what our Superintendent is doing and what our Board of Education has in store for us...... rumors?? No way! The STOP group is constantly researching, emailing, calling, and fact checking everything before it gets posted. That's a definite plus.....facts!
STOP is nothing. STOP is just a facebook group, but that was yesterday.  Today.....STOP is important.  A group of community members, parents, grandparents, stakeholders, & taxpayers all wanting the same thing---- a school that runs ethically, legally, and with community involvement when possible.
So, our Assistant Principal, gone,  no good reason, just wasn’t yet tenured as an Administrator and of course, “because the Board can”. Principal being reassigned—on what basis?  A “secret” survey?  Still no answers, even as we are getting patronizing offers to sit on interview committees to replace someone we don’t want to see leave (I'm not saying everyone LOVES the guy, I'm not saying he's perfect, but we know of no reason for his being moved and at some point, don’t our kids deserve a shred of stability?)Special Education Director -- retiring. We'll miss you. I feel like we just got on the same page.  Lawyer as new, made up “Assistant Committee on Special Education Chair”.  I thought to myself.....maybe I'm just being salty over all of the changes at once, but then there’s evidence that Lawyer lady is NOT the best choice our board of education had available to them. So, why? Why the need to hastily appoint someone into the CSE position? Why the hurry?
It is taking time, but STOP is crossing our T's and dotting our I's and putting Business As Usual….out of Business!

I fear there’s an agenda! A scary, scary agenda!  The terms 8-1-1, testing exempt and shared services are being tossed around.

In the same Board Meeting where the “So Not Our Guy” was appointed Superintendent effective NEXT OCTOBER, I had to endure a speech by said Guy on how important State testing is and how crucial it is that I live up to my responsibility to ensure that my child does not contribute in his miniscule way to the 5% threshold of non-participatory…..blahblahblah. BTW-SOOOO Still not Our Guy.

Is he friendly, personable?  Maybe.    However, at every turn, every breach in the faith of the community, the finger points back to him:

HIS transition plan

HIS reorganization

HIS lack of faith in our Elementary teachers

HIS belief that our children are not disciplined harshly enough

HIS belief that our children are not being pushed hard enough to get better grades on High Stakes tests

HIS plan to get rid of effective and well liked Administrators in a School he has spent almost zero time in

HIS belief that an unqualified individual should lead the our most vulnerable population into the future

HIS speech not giving even a drop of credit to our Elementary teachers and kids that worked their butts off to raise test scores, some well above other Schools.

Our kids, the ones you feel qualified to lead, the ones you want us to place in your hands, they are more than 1,2,3 or 4’s.

Why the hurry to appoint someone as Superintendent, when so many parents and tax payers are asking questions? Why appoint someone Superintendent in the face of a community wide Petition, signed by 340, asking for a robust Search for qualified candidates? Why not bring integrity back to the position and apply for the position, in order to come by it legitimately? Simply refortifies the mistrust and fear that there are agendas the public is not privy to. The personnel umbrella is only so big. Let your community be involved......return our Democratic rights to an Open Government. Afford us the chance to be truly heard. We are not just noise.....we have valid questions. We have valid points. We know our kids and we know this community. You need to hear us.  

I fear the change to come, will be in the form of violations of our children’s civil rights and I want to scream that from the roof tops, but I'm being calm and collected in a means to be heard, as an advocate, as a community.

Because this matters.....A LOT

Why are we doing this? 

Why are we digging into School business, uncovering questionable practices? 

Why are we looking at School Board voting records and meeting notes to uncover abuses of power?

 Why are we digging through the budget, line by line?

 Why are we asking about the fund balance?

Why are we upset that the school can't produce a corrective action plan in response to the comptrollers audit?

Why are we involving politicians and lobbying in Albany?

 Why are we digging into Open Meeting Law violations?

 Why are we insisting on justification for "personnel" changes when we aren't school leaders? 

Why are we pointing out misinformation, about test scores, discipline, performance records, secret files and anonymous surveys? 

Why do we care if theres a qualified Special Education Chair?

Why are we appealing to the Commissioner?

Why are we questioning the hiring of unqualified people? 

Why are we not okay with a hand picked, impersonal, aloof Superintendent? 

Why are we insisting on a search for a qualified Superintendent, with vision and heart that matches our community? 

WHY WHY WHY ?  

Because members of our community, get up every morning and get their kids on the bus, despite personal struggles that the power players in our district can't possibly understand. 

Because we have foster parents who take on some of the most difficult abuse and neglect cases anyone can imagine, sending those broken souls to our school to get some of the desperately needed healing they so deserve. 

Because we have parents who adopt those same kids, believing above all else that love will conquer the demons these children came to them with and they fight, every single day, to do what they can to make that a reality. 

Because we are a district that measures out at a 75% poverty rate....and you know what, our kids are spirited, feisty, awesome little human beings anyways, whose parents make up for the difference so that all of our children are of one community. 

Because our Superintendent, Ass. Superintendent and BOE have become complacent in their idea of us as uneducated, unorganized and uncaring, our own BOE President stating "there is no community". 

Because with poverty, with foster kids, comes a high need in compassion and Special Education, something our Principal and our Assistant Principal posses, while our invented "Assistant CSE Chair" refers to these children as "opportunities". 

Because we have kids with Sensory Issues, ADD, ADHD, ODD, that are on the spectrum, that are immature or inexperienced, whose parents are exhausted and don't read for 20 minutes every night, that are classified our not yet classified, and our Administrators fight to keep them in the classroom until they find their own way regardless.

Because KWMR and the BOE are ignoring us, rolling their eyes at us, recruiting people to make their case among us, so we have to be louder and we will keep getting LOUDER and LOUDER until you do hear. 

Because our District leadership counts on a separation between the "haves" and the "have nots", the degree holders and the average Joes. They do not realizing that while they get in their cars and drive back to Chenango Bridge every afternoon, we are playing sports, celebrating Birthdays, discussing bus arguments, having play dates, comparing homework answers and solving disputes. 

Because when you mess with our kids, it cuts deep and we all bleed the same, you have empowered us to share our knowledge, our skills, our enthusiasm, our histories, our relationships and most of all our love for this place. 

Because we are ONE COMMUNITY. Because we CHOOSE US. Because our kids love their friends, because our kids don't care if their friends live in a fancy house or are in a perfectly lovely and manageable trailer, because our kids could give a crap about standardized tests, because our kids LOVE THEIR PRINCIPAL AND THEIR ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL and because YOU....KWMR and the BOE are breaking their hearts and in turn, breaking ours. 

Because WE love OUR children. All of them. Our neighbors, our fosters, our suffering and our successful. 

Because we know who we are. We love who we are.

This is our town, our community, our School.

Because it freakin matters that's why!

Enough is Enough.

NO MORE BUSINESS AS USUAL!

 We are taking this School back. 

Stealing our Democratic rights: Open Meeting Law explained

That's a mouthful! Sounds criminal almost, doesn't it? So deceptive, abusive and clandestine. 
Eh, I don't actually know if Civil violations of State Law are criminal, turns out I'm not a high level attorney, like the ones our tax dollars help our district pay for, I'm just a parent who can read. 

I've read at least three full pages, focusing on no more than three paragraphs, to understand how broken the government of our school is. How severe the abuse of power in our district is. 

So, let's review, it turns out, we pay taxes, we elect BOE members.... WE  HAVE RIGHTS..schools are public business, OUR business.
First off, there's an entire organization in the State Department that does nothing but focus on these rights for us. It's that really important agency whose name KW couldn't remember at the February 23rd BOE meeting? In her defense, why would she, or the BOE know it? It's not like they operate by it's guidelines.
THE COOG.....or less entertainingly, The Committee on Open Government. 
So, those paragraphs that I read, first, what is OML?

§100. Legislative declaration.
It is essential to the maintenance of a democratic society that the public business be performed in an open and public manner and that the citizens of this state be fully aware of and able to observe the performance of public officials and attend and listen to the deliberations and decisions that go into the making of public policy. The people must be able to remain informed if they are to retain control over those who are their public servants. It is the only climate under which the commonweal will prosper and enable the governmental process to operate for the benefit of those who created it.

§101. Short title. This article shall be known and may be cited as "Open Meetings Law".

Beautiful! Turns out, school business: covered under OML.
So, when KWMR send a letter home, respond to us on the website, that they have decided....oh no, sorry, that's a typo, I mean discussed, gutting our Elementary school for TWO YEARS NOW.....clearly, that's public business. Look at how we showed up when the letter came home. So where is the record of these many discussions? These things can only be discussed in a publicly convened open meeting, you know, so that we can be
 "fully aware of and able to observe the performance of public officials and attend and listen to the deliberations and decisions that go into the making of public policy. The people must be able to remain informed if they are to retain control over those who are their public servants."

Did I miss something?  Let me check the past TWO YEARS of BOE meeting agendas and notes....anything hinting at discussions about reorganizing our Elementary School? Creating a new ASSistant CSE chair? The need for that? The funding for that? Our school being down to one Administrator? Removing an effective Principal from his job? Creating some random District level position to stash him in while friends or other suck ups get these jobs? NOPE...NOT A PEEP

Why not? drummmmmm rollllllll EXECUTIVE SESSION
What the heck does that mean anyways? Oh, that's the thing our BOE schedules (illegally) ahead of time, to discuss, plan, vote on whatever they want. Excluding us from our democratic rights. It's that simple. Here are the reasons why, legally, an executive session can be held, AFTER being proposed in Open Meeting:

§105. Conduct of executive sessions. 
1. Upon a majority vote of its total membership, taken in an open meeting pursuant to a motion identifying the general area or areas of the subject or subjects to be considered, a public body may conduct an executive session for the below enumerated purposes only, provided, however, that no action by formal vote shall be taken to appropriate public moneys: 
a. matters which will imperil the public safety if disclosed; 
b. any matter which may disclose the identity of a law enforcement agent or informer; 
c. information relating to current or future investigation or prosecution of a criminal offense which would imperil effective law enforcement if disclosed; 
d. discussions regarding proposed, pending or current litigation; 
e. collective negotiations pursuant to article fourteen of the civil service law; 
f. the medical, financial, credit or employment history of a particular person or corporation, or matters leading to the appointment, employment, promotion, demotion, discipline, suspension, dismissal or removal of a particular person or corporation; 
g. the preparation, grading or administration of examinations; and 
h. the proposed acquisition, sale or lease of real property or the proposed acquisition of securities, or sale or exchange of securities held by such public body, but only when publicity would substantially affect the value thereof. 
2. Attendance at an executive session shall be permitted to any member of the public body and any other persons authorized by the public body.

What has our BOE been giving as a reason to enter into Executive Session? "Personnel Matters". What rehearsed reason have the President and BOE members given us for not including us in the dialogue or decision making process for our schools? "Personnel Matters". Again, as a member of society that can READ....I do not see PERSONNEL MATTERS listed anywhere, in the LAW as a valid reason to enter into executive session. 
Maybe, if I look really hard, I'll find further clarification, or maybe if I simply search "executive session", I'll get this:

February, 2012 - Recent Appellate Division decision regarding the specificity of motions for entry into executive session

The Open Meetings Law requires that a motion for entry into executive session must indicate the subject or subjects to be discussed. Based on a recent decision of the Appellate Division, as well as earlier decisions, a motion cannot merely parrot the language of a statutory ground for conducting an executive session. It is clear that describing an issue as a “personnel matter,” a “legal matter,” or “contracts,” without more, is inadequate and fails to comply with law. In short, the decision confirms that a motion to conduct an executive session should include information sufficient to enable the public to believe that there is a valid basis for closing the doors.

We note the recent decision in Zehner v Board of Education of Jordan-Elbridge Central School District, in which the Appellate Division affirmed that the lower court

“… properly determined that respondent violated the Open Meetings Law on three occasions by merely reciting statutory categories for going into executive session without setting forth more precise reasons for doing so. Given the overriding purpose of the Open Meetings Law, section 105 is to be strictly construed, and the real purpose of an executive session will be carefully scrutinized ‘lest the … mandate [of the Open Meetings Law] be thwarted by thinly veiled references to the areas delineated thereunder’ (Daily Gazette Co. v Town Bd., Town of Cobleskill, 111 Misc2d 303, 304 [Sup Ct, Schoharie County 1981]; see e.g. Gordon v Village of Monticello, 87 NY2d 207 AD2d 55.” Zehner v Board of Education of Jordan-Elbridge Central School District, Appellate Division, 4th Dept, January 31, 2012.

Good news is, our BOE isn't the only one that's been screwing this up, they are however, one of the few that CONTINUE to screw it up for the past THREE years. Those expensive lawyers that our tax dollars pay for? They keep their clients informed of this information. 
If even one time, over the past two years, there had been a hint at disciplinary discussions, a hint at hiring an under-qualified CSE chair, the ascension plan of KWMR, if we had been given the rights, guaranteed us by the Department of State under Open Meeting Law, we would have shown up, we would have demanded a different plan. 

It's why legally, all of these decisions voted on, based on information withheld from the public, are invalid. They are voidable by law. 

We did inform the BOE and KW of this early on in February, it's why a few things changed in how the agenda looked, in their reasons for entering executive session. Weird, they forgot to thank us. 
They still entered executive session multiple times, in which they likely discussed our outcry and displeasure with the letter and pending votes, that business, was PUBLIC business! They didn't have three executive sessions to discuss false disciplinary claims.

If you want more information:
Open Meeting Law

2012 Appellate Division Decision

HCSD BOE records, detailing tonnage of OML violations

IF you feel moved, sign the petition!

You--SO NOT our guy

So, we had the big School Board meeting.
We had nearly 100 people there from STOP, representation from Citizen Action, the news and dare we say several onlookers that were lured in by all of the drama.

Our group was amazing, respectful, well spoken, true to their beliefs and emotions. We had data and quoted legislation while also begging the BOE to not fire a highly experienced Special Education professional, that we have been lucky enough to have in the role of assistant Principal, and replace her with a dud lawyer, not qualified to do her job. 

The Board members ignored us. No welcome to the community, no thank you for your comments. Nothing. They didn't respond to us in any way, other than to come out and vote unanimously, in the face of the public, against everything we care about. Turns out, they suck. 

So, we lose, they win? Not so much. Just new questions, only this time we won't bother trying to work them through with the BOE and District, clearly they don't care. 

Who actually wanted these changes? Oh, that would be the heir apparent. The one hand picked to ascend to the throne. The guy who was not even the first pick for his job as High School Principal, but the current Super decided he was her guy. 
Guess what happened next? The BOE gave him a made up title, Assistant Superintendent, which apparently is equal to being highly qualified to run our School District. Not So Much

Comically, this guy, who didn't return a single email or reach out to a single community member in regards to his absurd and harmful plans to gut our elementary school, suddenly had words after his crappy plan was initiated by the puppet BOE.
 He was offended that a concerned parent of a Special Needs Child, mistakenly identified him as "friends" with the dud lawyer. No other concerns. No, no, you are right, although you have had several meetings, you may not be considered "friends". 
BTW, we are starting to enjoy your catch phrase "THAT IS BAD FOR THE DISTRICT!"

He was so happy, with himself,  after possibly his first time ever speaking to parents of the Elementary, he sent out duplicates of this super sincere email:

What a guy! I'm convinced.  You blame it on her, she blames it on you...MOMMY AND DADDY PLEASE STOP FIGHTING!
...what are we freakin morons?
 You are the hand picked follower, trained in her image, why would she enact these large scale changes before leaving? 

This is your plan, at least stand by it. You're the math teacher. You're the numbers guy. You think you should be able to churn scores out of our school, instead of keeping it an inclusive, imperfect, yet loving place where kids learn together. 

We deserve better. Our school deserves better. We gain absolutely nothing by having a guy who doesn't get, or care about our Elementary school or its students take over as Superintendent. 

We NEED and DESERVE a robust, statewide, Superintendent search. 

This guy, go ahead and actually APPLY and INTERVIEW for the job, like us normal people have to do. 

If you are the most qualified, fine, we'll deal, but you shouldn't just get the highest paying job in our town, because momma says so.
On that note, I find it nearly impossible to believe, that for 120K, we can't find someone with more experience than being a High School Principal for 6 or 7 years. 

Our school is broken. Our BOE does not represent us. We need a breath of fresh air. We need Board members who care about US, not the Superintendent's approval. 

We need a Superintendent, who doesn't think he's better than us, but who wants to know us and figure out what the needs of the community are, while supporting our kids in healthy development and high achievement. 

WE DO NOT CHOOSE YOU! 

Please sign our petition to help us build a more just, safe and fair school district that represents our community. 

Petition to remove the Superintendent and BOE


Much love....for our community and STOP

Lying to Smart People about Culture and Climate

Did you see our little story on the news? You really can't make this stuff up:

http://www.wbng.com/news/local/Misleading-letter-gives-wrong-impression-to-Harpursville-paretns-292544081.html

Comments referred to below, are located on the District website, http://www.hcs.stier.org/

Things are tense in our little hamlet leading up to Monday's Board of Education meeting. Vague and misleading non-answers to our questions have just further alienated, or in more honest terms, enraged. 

It would seem, that a major reason for the firing of one Principal and removing of the other is a perceived problem with the buildings "Culture" and "Climate".  Not in the you know a lot about fine art and why is it so freakin cold outside way, but in the "feel" and "motivation" of a school environment. Well, we know some things about that too.

Climate in our School District:

The climate in our District isn't one where skies open up and the sun shines down. Teachers and support staff live in constant fear of retribution by their Superintendent. Parents are afraid that by standing up, or by even reading this blog, that their children will lose services. 

Many in the community can recite stories of harassment or retribution. Some on the record some are so ridiculous, you almost wish they were true. Stories of teachers being sent home for wearing the wrong color pants for example. 

Surprisingly, those people are not bound by confidentiality agreements.  That's the Climate being fostered by the current District Admins.   

I suppose their wish for climate in our school, is one where kids are turned into #2 pencil wielding, standardized test taking robots. Teachers could be programmers rather than nurturing human beings.

Oh wait, the district has changed the definition of the word "nurture"  when used in it's mission/vision/goal/hoax, to something more like: to make kids do more better on tests.

Hmm...as much as it might be easier to feed robots, and they probably have less laundry, we’re not on board with that view. We like our Climate just fine, thank you. Our kids are happy, we have open communication with teachers and our admins, our kids are confident and even with all of that, our test scores are increasing.

Culture in our School District:

The Culture in our school is one that's been flipped on it's head. Our culture is like that under a dictatorship, not that of a democratic, openly governed entity focused on the well being of families and children. 

Top down all the way. In our district, the Superintendent hand picked and trained her successor. No interview, no search committee. No public involvement. Our support, our buy in? Who needs it? 

By the way, TWO YEARS is a very long time to exclude your community from dialogue about their school and their children.  Luckily, during this time, while the District Super/Ass. Super were hatching their plans for world domination, we’ve been building ourselves a community!

We’ve been talking to teachers and administrators. We’ve been showing up to concerts and award ceremonies, Moving up Days and classroom parties. We talk on the soccer field and baseball bleachers, we talk to our coaches, we offer respite to our overtaxed foster parents. We facebook and email with teachers. We cry and youtube over Common Core homework together. We have a network of parents, supporting newer parents with the CSE process. We have playdates and Birthday parties. 

We are together, we like our culture and the climate and they have underestimated us.

STOP

Bullies? We don't have those, do we?

OOOOOF....We get it....you like to beat on the little guy...sheesh, message received:

SUPER/ASS.SUPER HAVE LOTS OF POWER

 The previously mentioned phone calls, pleas to consider our children and their needs, rather than which of your friends out there might be in need of jobs, SHUT DOWN.

Explanations and examples of time after time where our Principal and Assistant Principal had our kids backs, put them first, dealt with them fairly and appropriately when consequences were needed. 
IGNORED.

Requests for evidence of actual reasons for this change, data of any kind, research that informed this decision.
DENIED.

Presentation of solid evidence on the detrimental effects this type of instability will have on children that already have so much unpredictable in their lives. 
YAWN.

Reminders that we have only barely weathered the storm that is Common Core, despite still fighting through tears at homework, we're in it, we're doing it. The stress on teachers with changes in APPR, please, reconsider bringing even more change to our most vulnerable population.
EYE ROLL.

Well, test scores, what about test scores? Even with our demographic and our high Special Education population, our growth in scores at all levels was significant! Why fix something that isn't broken?
COVERING EARS (lalalalala)

What about the high cost of Principal training? What about all of the efforts at retaining effective Principals happening across the State? Why are we dismissing highly qualified, successful school leaders? Why aren't you supporting them and helping them if their is an identifiable weakness? 
CHECKS WATCH

NONE OF IT MATTERS TO TEAM SUPER/ASS.SUPER

They have a plan. Per the letter posted on the website yesterday, they've been working for two years on this "plan". Did anyone outside of their bubble have any idea? 

Surely, the person they entered into negotiations with months ago to receive our Assistant Principal's exact salary knew about it.
Whichever other friend is running out of work at the end of the year, probably knows about it too. We'll figure that one out. We're thinking data person....get those numbers up-up-up. 

JUST MAKE THE 2's into 3's and 3's into 4's, and maybe we can run the 1's right out of the school. 

Place them in self contained programs off campus, super restrictive ones, where they can learn to tie their shoes and have no hope at a mainstreamed life. 

Was the community asked to participate in this planning? Is there any mention of restructuring or needs to be addressed in our school to be found in BOE meeting notes? Nope. 

Any response to the community's outcry now? Any effort to bring them into this process? Any ounce of care or respect for what they have to say about their own children? Nope.

 Who cares about the community really? Who even cares about the kids...robots, that's what we need!

So, we get it, we received the message, we have the bruises and scrapes to prove it.
 You guys have ALL OF THE POWER, but we are here to let you know, we're taking it back. 

Love, 

STOP 

They can't all be sheep....really, can they?

So, how do you clear up what must obviously be a misunderstanding. Removing an effective, experienced, likable Principal, who lives in our community and has four of his own kids in our school?  Outright firing an Assistant Principal who has worked in our Elementary for years, advocating for and motivating our neediest students. Keeping them coming to school day after day, despite their often inability to make it through the rigors of an entire day. A person with more than a decade of experience in Special Education, working in our District?

Clearly we've missed something. There must be some huge controversy, a cover up? We've heard of skunks, sheriffs and lawsuits...OH MY! But how do you get at the truth in a respectful and transparent way?

You start by getting home from work, worrying about dinner, investing 15 minutes of conversation into your marriage and doing an hour of homework with your second grader.

Then, you go back to the cheery letter announcing the demise of your child's security at school and review the comment:

"All questions or concerns regarding these changes should be directed to our Board Members...residents may also contact the Superintendent (name)." 

Then you ask people to make phone calls.

Lots and lots of phone calls, more than 70% unrequited. You get summaries and transcripts of those phone calls and dig through all of the information. 

Board members respond surprised..."What letter?"   Poor Board Members. Others state "This has been in the works for months, shouldn't be a surprise to anyone."

 When we cry out in despair and beg for reconsideration, tell our heroic, love filled stories of these two faces of our Elementary, we get the following: "We thought everyone hated them", "We've been told that they have a long history of disciplinary problems, their files are riddled with write ups". 

Do you have data? Do you have any evidence? Where did you get this information? When is the last time you were in our school? Have you seen any of this first hand?

How have our kids been attending this Alkatrazian Institution and yet they are willing to return day after day without any signs of severe mental duress????

Sure they have information, the Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent (AKA the High School Principal) have been coming into executive sessions during Board Meetings and telling them this for months. 

Excuse me? Can that be right? Isn't it your job to keep the District Admins in check? Don't they technically work for you? What else is being blindly enacted at the command of the Superintendent and her heir apparent?

And so.....we have more questions. 

Rebuilding our Community, one Facebook post at a time

When on February 1st of this year a letter arrived in the mail, cheerfully announcing the "Phase 1 Reorganization" plans to our Elementary School, something in our common psyche snapped. 

We are a small, rural school, like many in NYS. Our families struggle to put food on the table, pay exorbitant heating bills and taxes, keep transportation running and keep enough money coming in to keep roofs over our heads.

Sure we have a middle class representation, but what does that really mean anymore? Two parents, running insane schedules trying to balance work and family, finding daycare and carpools for kids events, doing homework until 930 at night. 

How do we come together? How do we find common ground? 

For years, our BOE and Superintendent have made decisions in a top down fashion. In fairness, we haven't been motivated to show up and do our part to govern our schools. Something the management of our schools has taken full advantage of. 

Instead of building a strong PTA, engaging in parent outreach, our Superintendent stopped even coming to monthly awards assemblies recognizing our youngest readers and students who have made incredible progress both socially and academically. The Superintendent's office is located on the other side of the parking lot, as is the Assistant Superintendent, who has been hand picked to succeed in the Super role.

Our website boasts that  "A close-knit community is an integral part of the district's success.  A strong Parent-Teacher Organization and committed community volunteers provide support to help Harpursville students succeed in school and in life". 

Our PTA may have as many as 5 members? One is a BOE member, one works for the District office. Another has not had children in school for years. Of course we still applaud the time and work that goes into being a part of this type of organization, but a "strong PTO"? Also, parent volunteers? Do we have those?

The letter that arrived to a select group of residents, announced that our much depended on and experienced Assistant Principal's position would be "vacated" as of March 23rd. A very curious date, well before the end of the year. She has 15 years of Special Education background and 4 years working in the capacity of an Assistant Principal. She is the heart of our FREE after school and summer programs.

As in any school, the task of discipline is a challenging one. In a school with a demographic such as ours, with children who are truly hurting and a high identified Special Education population, it is nearly impossible. This has been her job. She has taken screaming and kicking children out of classrooms and returned them centered, whole and ready to learn. Miracles really. 

In addition, the letter stated that our Elementary Principal would move to a job at the District level, focusing on non-instructional tasks. Turns out the job of Principal in a school like ours, is nearly impossible to keep staffed with experienced individuals. Somehow, our test scores are improving. We have made especially big strides when compared to schools with the same poverty and Special Education levels. In reviewing his files, his composite APPR score for last year was an 89, nearly highly effective (91).

Teacher turnover has been virtually non-existent for the past several years. Parents have stated over and over again that they trust both our Principal and our Assistant with their children. That they know their children are safe and cared for. That both know their children, relate to them personally and are REAL people. Our Principal is in his 4th year. 

A study published this past fall by the School Leaders Network, referred to the high cost to school districts of losing effective Principals. It also speaks to the negative effects on student performance, morale and teacher turnover. More specifically to the high impact the loss of a school leader has on the very young in a school such as ours. 

 http://connectleadsucceed.org/sites/default/files/principal_turnover_cost.pdf#page=1&zoom=auto,-15,792

Hence the nearly audible S-N-A-P of our common psyche. 

Our Superintendent, clearly underestimated our resolve and care for our children and the environment in which they receive their education.

So, we came together. We came up with a name: STOP HCSD, catchy, simple to the point. We created a Facebook group. Maybe people can't come together for a bake sale, but MAN do we show up for an online powwow! Almost immediately we had 45 members, then 60, then we reached 100....now we are at nearly 300 members!!! Not all of those are active on Facebook, but of the 150 that are, they all have friends and neighbors and families that they are talking to.

 Advised to "contact Board of Education Members with any questions", we have done so actively. The mountain of ugly that this mobilization has uncovered is crazy! There is more and more everyday. Our BOE has engaged in so many Open Meeting Law (that's a thing we've learned about) violations, that it is likely none of them have a legitimate claim to their seats at this point. It's sad really, I am sure they had good intentions and then simply fell into Business as Usual. They are still our community members, we welcome them back to the side of good anytime they want to come. 

We love our school. We love our kids. We are taking them back. We thank you for the kick in the pants to get us moving. 

STOP