That decision was made over the summer, apparently by a committee which included the executive directors of elementary and secondary instruction.
At least that was the way it sounded when the people who hold those positions, Jennifer Doshier and Jason Cravens, hemmed and hawed their way through a presentation to the Board of Education tonight.
The executive directors, who have held the responsibility of organizing Academic All-Stars, said that surveys indicated parents did not want academic all-stars, though they were vague about what those surveys had entailed.
Who made the decision?
:There were five or seven of us," Doshier said, though she did not offer any further details.
The only reason mentioned for the parental disapproval of Academic All-Stars was that some parents were upset because they could not hear their children's names being mentioned during the ceremony because of people who were leaving.
When was the decision made?
Cravens said, "We did it this summer."
Academic All-Stars will be replaced by celebrations at each school, the executive directors said. From their disjointed presentation, it also appears that honor rolls will also not be celebrated. Instead, different celebrations will be held each quarter. The first one will reward attendance and proper behavior, while the second and third will continue to recognize those things as well as how well students perform on the $300,000 testing regimen, the executive directors and Curriculum Director Sarah Stephens talked the board into buying earlier this year.
17 comments:
rumor has it that Bright Futures decided it was too much work.
Academic All-Stars were a joke. It's great if the kids were actually performing well, but some of those students didn't deserve to be up there. It became a celebration of mediocrity, much like many of the celebrations in the Joplin School District.
This could be a popular change.
It's hard to concentrate on getting the kids to sell yooge numbers of caramel apples and buying big long ribbons when you are wasting time with honor rolls.
Bright Futures didn't run Academic All-Stars.
Randy, you need to do some investigation into this $300,000 test. I'm hearing a lot of crazy things like students K-2 didn't even have to read a word during the reading test. Can that even be true?
I seem to remember that it is supposed to be a listening test. Is that what you are hearing?
Interesthing that they eliminated the thing that they did well to celebrate for the successes of the kids! Remember "It's for the kids!"
I'm so disappointed in this decision. Seems to me that Admin tries to outsource as much work as possible and perhaps they couldn't find anyone to outsource this to. Or perhaps they are too busy trying to look busy for their new boss that they don't have time to arrange this ceremony to reward children who are successful on their MAP tests. Regardless, walking across the gym floor is not equal to walking across the big lighted stage at CHCC. I have been to 5 years of AAS ceremonies and hearing my children's names has never been an issue. Watching some previous school board members act uncomfortable talking to children and rushing for the hand sanitizer after touching said children has been uncomfortable. We celebrate teachers on their first day work each year, we celebrate teachers during teacher week. AAS was THE ONE celebration that was consistent, in a district where the only constant is change.
Academic All-Stars was really exciting when it started. It was put together really well. One of the greatest parts was having older students from the high school take part. They had choir and band and honor society kids there, and that was a great example for the younger students. That it was run down in recent years is a disappointment, but certainly not a surprise, under the leadership that they have now with their directors. Watching them mumble and stumble through their presentations every month tells you all you need to know about how Joplin got in the mess it is in. I'm guessing Cravens made this big executive decision when he had his hour of power last summer.
I say bring it back and put someone in charge of it that can do a good job. Don't we employ a full-time event planner? Seems like all she has to do with her time is send out emails about art events and give tours. Since she gets paid more than most of the teachers, she should be busting it doing things like this. As for the noisy audience they claimed ruined it for some parents, sometimes we have teaching moments. That is the time for an administrator to develop a backbone, take the mike, and remind people that in polite society, we don't get up and leave in the middle of a program. We also don't scream in the middle of choir, orchestra, and band concerts. You might even tell them before you start that the expectation is that, since every student counts, we will remain and applaud them all.
JHS has the most beautiful auditorium in this area. Bringing Academic All-Stars there would be one more way to bring the younger kids to the high school to see what is there before they are freshmen. Seems to me that would make sense, if it could be scheduled in. I was there last spring and thought it was beautiful. It was one thing that made me proud of the construction we did. It's a special place for our district.
If you needed any evidence about the duplicity of Cravens and Doshier, the conversation about AAS should have been sufficient. They stumbled around until they finally had to admit that they were the ones who made that decision, albeit with a "committee" of "five or seven" people. Shouldn't there be a record of that committee meeting? Who was on it, when they met, and how they decided this? And they think their little awards for attendance will drive up achievement? I don't think so. That's like giving a teacher a cooky and thinking that will drive up morale...
8:26 is correct about the ethics of our directors. Both were hired by Besendorfer and Huff for their distinctive character traits--they are followers and not leaders. They will do anything to maintain their positions and salaries. They have worked toward the dismissal of teachers who dared to stand up to or even question the Huff administration. They are lost now because they must lead rather than follow and they can't do that without the assistance of a guru or a gimmick. That is why they can't answer questions when asked. They don't know jack. The teachers in this district will never be able to trust either one of them. They are too deeply embedded in the Huff/Besendorfer methods. In order for morale to raise and a new culture to grow, those who created the current culture of fear must be removed.
Academic All Stars began as a way to encourage students to strive for academic excellence. It has ended because of lazy administrators who care more about themselves than the students. If Norm Ridder lets this decision stand then he is afraid to wade in to support what few good programs are left. This is a test for him. What is it going to be Norm? Board of Ed do you have a say?
Academic All Stars is a Joplin Tradition. It is for students and their families. A survey of parents should be conducted to see if they want the program discontinued. It is very clear the program was killed because Cravens and Dozier do not want the work of coordinating the program. Survey the parents! Survey the parents if you really care about Joplin! School Board Members do have an opinion? Is Dr. Ridder all blow and no go?
7:21 PM: Maybe Ridder believes it's more important to rid the school district of these two people than to immediately continue Academic All Stars in its current form. At least, it sure sounds like he's giving them enough rope to hang themselves, and since state law requires that firings be ratified by a majority of a panel, he can't just fire them on his own authority.
Many people attending these events are rude. Attend graduation where people are asked to not disrupt and you'll find that they do it anyway.
When Academic All-Stars started, it was to encourage and reward kids for academics. These kinds of things happen all the time for sports, and business people in the community wanted to recognize students who work hard academically.
Just like other things, this was used to bully. Students who had other activities already planned for that night were given their prize bag but were also given an 'attitude' if they didn't attend.
As for the new JHS auditorium, the seating is not designed very well for an event like this since there is no middle aisle to accommodate getting in and out of seats.
Awards assemblies at the individual schools would be better.
The teachers at the board meeting where they passed this were telling everyone that it would replace taking reading tests. I understand that it turned out to be a listening test instead of a reading test.
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