As with any governmental board meeting, sometimes the most important things are the things that are not mentioned.
So here are the top 10 things we did not hear at Tuesday night's Joplin R-8 Board of Education meeting:
10- Common Core- South Middle School Principal Steve Gilbreth followed orders well and while he talked extensively about the district's new standards, he never used the words Common Core. It appears that the C. J. Huff Administration thinks that the public, including what Huff described as conservatives with their torches and pitchforks, can be fooled into thinking the new standards are not Common Core standards, but some other standards that were available at a second hand standards store.
9. Maintenance Costs on Larger Performing Arts Center- Bringing culture to this uncultured city (not my viewpoint) seems to be such an important thing that no one is considering the extra costs of maintaining a larger structure. We are already talking about a collection of new, oversized buildings that are certainly adding to the cost of maintenance and upkeep.
8. How Are We Doing Financially?- We listened to three middle school principals give overly detailed (and nearly incomprehensible) descriptions of how things are going in their buildings,but we did not hear one word about the district's dwindling finances and what, if anything, is being done about the situation. We have already heard over the past few months about $8 million in might-as-well spending, as well as an additional $5 to $12 million of speculative spending that took place with the expectation of FEMA approval, but with no guarantees since no one ever asked FEMA.
7. Why Don't Our Teachers Know What Learning Looks Like? Sarah Stevens, director of curriculum, talked about how our teachers now "recognize what learning looks like." How in the world did we manage to hire a whole school system full of teachers who do not know what learning looks like? What bothers me is that we have unqualified administrators pushing their narrow view of what learning looks like.
6. Teachers saying they want more data- Ms. Stevens, whose brief time talking at the meeting was not brief enough for those who had to listen to it, insisted that R-8 teachers are happy to be receiving more data. What alternate universe does she live in? Teachers have always collected data and always used it to improve their job performance. What they do not need is the type of data being foisted upon them. I will believe this when I hear it from veteran teachers.Sadly, new teachers being exposed to this over-reliance on meaningless data may actually come to believe that this is how education is supposed to be like.
5. A truthful answer about the use of substitute teachers- One of the concerns Debbie Fort expressed when she was running for Board of Education was the amount of days teachers were out of the classroom for meetings and professional development "opportunities." Since her election, she has been asking questions about this practice since it seems to fly in face of meaningful data that shows that students learn more when they have their regular teachers in the classroom. C. J. Huff has insisted that the district has cut down on the number of substitutes it is using, but anecdotal evidence, including some from last night's meeting, indicate that is not the case. And once again, no one gave Dr. Fort an answer.
4. Why will it take three years to bring up scores at East Middle School? Principal Bud Sexson talked about a problem with the culture at East Middle School and said he was disappointed in the school's test scores, especially in math, from last year and said it would take one, two, or three years to get results. Left unmentioned, Sexson has been at East for five years and inherited a solid staff. Isn't he the one who was responsible for the culture at the school? No one asked.
3. Tina Smith- Will the district's HR director, COO, and leading practitioner of the Peter Principle ever learn to use a microphone? Maybe she should have someone record her on a regular basis so she will learn how to speak into one.. Of course, that would be a violation of a newly-enacted board policy.
2. How did referrals decrease at the middle schools? Talk about meaningless data.
1. Where did all of the administrative talent go? C. J. Huff, Jennifer Doshier, Sarah Stevens, Lisa Orem, Tina Smith, Mark Barlass, Mike Johnson. Our Board of Education certainly knows how to pick them.
***
10 comments:
Not to mention the $14.8 million dollars they want for the early childhood education center. Don't worry, R8 doesn't have any money for the project. It will come from the city, the state and don't forget FEMA. Don't they understand that this comes from our taxes also. Got to keep up with other schools in the area.
Like Sarah Stevens says, teachers now know what learning looks like. It looks exactly like it used to before this administration took over and replaced good lesson planning and engaging instruction with data collection and never ending assessment. The same teachers that want more data are the same ones that want lower pay, less job security and more expensive medical premiums.
Sarah Stevens has no idea what she is doing. She can't help that because she has not enough experience to do a good job. All she can do is parrot what she has heard at a workshop or read in one of her books. She has no practical experience to pair her findings with. Teachers need good data, but they don't need tons of it nonstop. Most are quite capable of assessing learning without perpetual micromanagement from inept directors of such and such. But, their jobs must be justified somehow, so they meddle away. And just look at the difference they have made in learning--things have never been worse. Good job, R8, good job!
Little Miss Bossy Boss Sarah has just insulted around 700 people. If we disliked her before, we despise her now. Perhaps we could meet on her favorite show, Jerry Springer, and settle the matter there. Since she's made appearances there before, she will know how it works and can model the arbitration policy. And this is what R8 deems needs to be in control of academic achievement? Explains a lot, doesn't it.
An early childhood center needs to be put on the back burner. Besides, all they'll do is make those little kids take tests. R8 needs to take care of what we have already. We need to fix the new buildings that leak and are already falling apart and all the parts that aren't working right. Elevators would be a good place to start. Maybe they can reattach that one side of Columbia and get rid of the mold in all the buildings.
Bud might be right on this one. After he leaves it might take as long as three years to get scores up. The new person will have to regain teacher trust, restore acceptable behaviors, review curriculum and assessment practices, and convince students it is in their best interest to work hard and in a timely manner. That won't happen overnight, and the story will be the same all over the district. The sooner CJ and his cronies leave, the sooner recovery can begin.
I find it intriguing that something as potentially expensive in maintenance and utilities, as well as intrusive in a school, was proposed on a night when many citizens were on the road and not watching the meeting. Seems sneaky and underhanded. I wish I could be shocked by this revelation. It's more the norm, I'm afraid.
What happens if the new culture center is a flop? Is the district stuck with it? Not everyone in Joplin is dying for high culture. If it doesn't generate enough income to support itself, is the board going to pick up the tab? Just a thought.
The part that all these data heads have forgotten is that teachers have ALWAYS used data. We just didn't use those stupid standardized tests. We used our professional observations (that we paid loads of money to learn about in school) and we talked to our colleagues about what we saw and didn't see. Our kids aren't numbers and our teaching shouldn't be a script from a book.
I have professionally produced over 300 events during the last 30 years.
I currently have events scheduled in public school facilities in Jefferson City and Springdale Ar.
The problem is you have to make it interesting enough financially to woo people like me into using a facility. As proposed, 700 seats has interest to nothing that would be a decent draw.
The ironic part is they never ask for input from people that actually produce events that people pay to attend.
9:52
Welcome to the world of education, where everyone else knows what's best but not the actual educators.
Post a Comment