KC school board makes dumb move

[proud2BlibKansan]

Firing Dr. Taylor was stupidest thing they ever could have done. There is no way the state will award full certification now.
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Posted on Thu, Oct. 27, 2005

Board wants stronger leadership, president says

Taylor out as KC school chief VIDEO

By JOE ROBERTSON and JAMES HART

The Kansas City Star

The Kansas City School District is searching for a new superintendent.

By an 8-to-1 vote Wednesday night, the board decided that it would not renew Bernard Taylor’s contract after June 30, 2006. But it asked Taylor to stay on through the end of his contract, said David Smith, board president.

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Not everyone, though, agreed.“It saddens me that some black people have such low self-esteem and low expectations that they are willing to settle for ineffective black leadership,” said attorney Clinton Adams, who is active in the school district. He is African-American. And he is an asshole of the first degree

Adams disagreed that ousting Taylor would set the district back.

“The stabilization of incompetence is a ridiculous notion,” he said. “This is not about the superintendent or a job for him. … This is about the education of African-American kids.”

Um, excuse me, Mr. Adams, but there are plenty of kids in the KC schools who are NOT African American.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/13006256.htm

[evlbstrd]

1. This is disgusting.

It makes me so glad my kids are done with this district.

The board won't be happy until every school is Afro-centric instead of student-centric.

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. Over my dead body Baby

I can assure you that not one teacher or administrator in the district is happy about this. I didn't go to school today (I went car shopping!) but my cell phone rang all day with teacher friends who are livid over this dumb move. Dr. Taylor did more good things for the district than any supt we have had in my 21 years as an employee there.

As long as I am still there, (and the district is staffed with thousands who feel just like I do), no way will it ever become anything but student centered. Clinton Adams is an ass. He carries so little weight in the district (I think his kids are all graduated by now) but the press just loves him. I know more than one principal who calls security any time he walks in their buildings. I have personally witnessed him being escorted out of schools by district security and KCMO cops.

Retirement can't come soon enough for me. I feel like I work in a circus. What a stupid stupid thing for the school board to do. Damn fools.

Meanwhile, hundreds of teachers demonstrated last night before the board meeting. They are talking strike. Firing Dr. Taylor is just one more reason they will add to the strike list. Those god damned idiots. All of KC is laughing tonight at their stupidity.

[evlbstrd]

3. If you guys strike,

I want to come down and help on the line. It made me really angry to hear this shit. If it goes down, it might finally force me out of this county to quit giving them my money. Ah, well the hell else am I gonna go?

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. I won't go on strike

not with the idiots running our union and not for what they are protesting. They want a raise. We were offered 3%. They turned it down. We have gotten only 3% for many years now. IMO, it is better than nothing. And until we can raise achievement we don't have any right to ask for more. We are still not fully accredited by the state. Until that happens, every raise we get is a miracle.

My school and 93% of the elementary schools made AYP last year. None of the secondary schools made AYP, except Lincoln. My school and most of the elementary schools have made AYP every year NCLB has been in effect. If we can do it, so can the middle and high schools. We work our butts off to do it. I was in the union for many years and was not impressed with the work ethic (or rather, lack of it) of the high school and middle school teachers. Most demand rather than request, and seem to believe they are entitled to respect without earning it. One of the last union meetings I attended was a debate on this very issue. What other profession is there in our society where working hard and putting forth effort is not required? That unfortunately, is the attitude of 90% of the secondary teachers I know in KCMO - they demand salary increases and student respect without earning it. And today, test scores are how we earn our community's respect. Sure, the tests are stupid and we all hate them. But those scores are important. We can lobby behind the scenes for changes in NCLB, but in the meantime, we have to get on the bus and get our kids to pass the tests. And yes, it CAN be done.

Right before the deseg case was settled, Benson's law firm sent observers from teaching universities all over the country in to each of the district's schools to report on the progress the district had made. That report was online for several years at Benson's website. It is well worth reading. The observers saw a completely different picture in elementary schools and secondary schools. They described learning communities where excellence in both teaching and learning was part of the daily routine. They found many schools where discipline problems were rare and parent involvement was high. And they visited classrooms where teachers read paperback books and newspapers while the kids did worksheets. They saw teachers who showed videos daily, and not always videos that related to the subject matter being taught.

It was a miracle, IMO, that the court ruled the way it did and released the district from the binds of the deseg suit.

IF the strike was because Taylor was fired, I might join in. IF the strike had one thing to do with what is best for kids and not all about my paycheck, I might participate. But for a raise that we haven't earned? No way. I will gladly be a scab. No way am I going to risk being arrested (since striking is illegal for teachers in MO) for this cause or to support the idiotic union.

[hatrack]

4. Yeah, and it's not like qualified applicants will be lining up

Sheesh, NOW what?!?

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. Good point Hatrack

Do you have any idea how many teaching positions are being held by subs this year? It is appalling. The district can't fill the vacancies they have now. No way could they staff classrooms if the union calls a strike.

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. Just realized you were talking about supt candidates

But I still say you make a good point. Our supt, with 5 years tenure, has longevity compared to many of his peers running urban schools. I certainly don't anticipate a flood of applicants.

[proud2BlibKansan]

12. Did you see the Judge cartoon in today's Star?

[catmandu57]

5. What the hell is wrong with the schoolboard down there?

They go through a series of putzes that can't do the job and they wind up buying out. Then they have someone fall into their lap who can do the job, and they fire him. I'm so glad I live in the sticks.

[evlbstrd]

6. Got room for a few more up there?

Just when you think it's at least fairly stable, they create a new crisis.

[catmandu57]

7. Sure, I'd love to turn it back to blue

Time was this was a solid Roosevelt democratic country, most of the old timers who remember the depression are dying out and the area is filling up with suburban reptiles, I don't think it'd take that much now though to turn it back to blue.
Our local dem leadership is old and cold and out of ideas, I'm a little too radical for them though, I haven't been invited back to planning committee meetings, It's past time to start a new group.

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. Count your blessings

As someone who has spent 21 years working for these fools, I tell folks that you aren't even hearing 25% of the crap that goes on daily.

For example, how many of you guys know about the gunshots fired on the grounds of one of our high schools last year? Many many times? How they kept that out of the press is beyond me.

Many district loyalists complain about a media bias against the district. I say if they told all the bad stories, the district would need its own TV station or newspaper. So we need to be grateful the media ignores most of the crap rather than complain about what they do tell the public.