Dr. Ashby deigned to deliver us a communiqué from on high, even though she reminds us that school is out. We received an early copy of the letter before the PIO office got a hold of it. You can see the edits in bold below.
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Superintendent’s Letter
June 2008
Change is Inevitable, Growth is Optimal
Dear Parents, Community Members and Colleagues,
Even though it is summertime and school is out, I wanted to take time to communicate with you regarding updates in personnel hiring in the district and the processes we have put into place. As we plan for the 2008-09 school year, a favorite quote of mine from Walt Disney comes to mind. “Change is inevitable, growth is optional.” In CCUSD, growth is not optional, and we are continually setting the stage to ensure it is optimal for all students and staff. (I have a plan but since it is summertime, I don’t have time to tell you about it here. The plan is more committees and more supposed community engagement. Thank you LRPC and New High School Planning Committee. Job well done, but we have new and improved committees on the way).
First, I wish to thank the following administrators for their exemplary service to the district: Mr. Sid Bailey, Principal, Cactus Shadows High School; Dr. Skot Beazley, Principal, Sonoran Trails Middle School; Dr. Trish Dolasinski, Interim Principal of Desert Sun Elementary School; Ms. Denise McGloughlin, Principal of Lone Mountain Elementary School and Dr. Pam Sitton, Principal of Black Mountain Elementary School. We wish them well as they leave CCUSD to enjoy retirement (well deserved since you had to put up with me and the governing board. BTW, if you’d like to come back be sure to call my friends at Smartschoolplus and we will see what we can do.), to pursue their educational goals (yes, more time in ed-school could help us discover the next wacko teaching methodology to fall out of the ivory tower which we could then roll immediately into our classrooms) and for career advancement (sorry for not having a retention plan and career path, but I am working on it as one of part of my Strategic Plan for Excellence, Initiative 123.1.1, Excellence in Retention. Using Jedi Mind Tricks to Keep Employees from Leaving). Each one of these special people has made a significant impact on CCUSD’s students, staff, families and community. We are grateful for their service (except you Sid, you screwed me big time).
As we bid farewell to these administrators, it is an opportunity to welcome new faces into the district (yes, a new batch of suckers, who will have an average turnover of 1.4 years). CCUSD has a hiring process in place that includes posting positions both locally and nationally and using staff and community input (maybe if I repeat community input enough, the community will start to believe it. Hey, it works in politics!) on screening and interview committees in order to make the best decisions for our students. We feel extremely fortunate to have an outstanding pool of candidates to choose from with stellar educational leadership experiences they will be bringing to CCUSD.
The committees were pleased to recommend and have the Governing Board approve (rubber stamp) the hiring of Mr. Steve Bebee (despite no previous principal experience) as principal of Sonoran Trails Middle School, Mr. Bert Honigman (from DVUSD, because no one in SUSD is dumb enough to come here), Principal of Desert Sun Elementary School, Mr. Bill Dolezal, assistant principal at Desert Arroyo Middle School (I’ll mention this one to try and distract from the announcement of my friend Cara) and Mrs. Cara Herkamp (my friend and principal from PVUSD)as the Director of Secondary Education (boy, I sure no one at CCUSD Watch notices that this is a NEW administrative position, even though I just laid off a director and cut raises for the rest of the administrators. Since I snuck in Nancy last year, I figure it could work again.). With the currently [sic] principal openings at Black Mountain and Lone Mountain Elementary Schools and Cactus Shadows High School our hiring (HELP, Emergency!) practices have been put into place. This hiring practice (current level, DEFCON 2) consists of a committee of parents, staff and community members (excellent, another community input mention, only one more to go. What do I even need Nedda for?) that will interview both internal (double damn that lack of career path) and external candidates (Craig’s List don’t fail me now) in order to make a recommendation for hire to the Superintendent and Governing Board during the July 8 Board meeting.
For the high school opening, we have posted the position both locally and nationally in order to attract the most outstanding candidate pool (Friends of Ashby apply here). In the meantime, I will be recommending to the Governing Board an “Acting Principal” to address the immediate planning needs for the 2008-09 school year. Our goal is to maintain the outstanding educational teaching and learning environment, established by Mr. Bailey in which students and staff has flourished (even I am tired of saying EXCELLING!).
I will continue to communicate (after summertime of course) with you are [sic] we fill positions and finish our planning (we love to plan here in CCUSD) in anticipation of the 2008-09 school year beginning on Thursday, August 7. For additional updates, please check our website at www.ccusd93.org (please don’t bother me with email or phone calls).
Tacy C. Ashby, Ed.D.
Superintendent
Dear CCUSD Watch,
ReplyDeleteThis attempt at sarcasm further erodes your credability.
I guess there wasn't much news, so you took it upon yourself to manufacture some.
honeymom
oh come on...this is a hoot to read....thanks for the laughs!
ReplyDeleteIt's some much needed light hearted humor in a district that is sorely lacking in credibility and decent leadership.
Too bad Ashby is not retiring. Oh wait, she did and then was rehired as a contractor!!! Did they fail to mention that? She got full pension and benefits and then was hired back as a contractor. OOPS!
This, from a group of parents, teachers, staff, whomever. It's very very childish. It's the Personal attacks...Stupid
ReplyDeleteagreed ...thgis is just too fun! As a former teacher there who was "rif'd
ReplyDeleteI am LOL!
Dear 9:32,
ReplyDeleteWhile I'm sorry you were rif'd, one might say you have an axe to grind.
As a parent of children that attend this district, there is nothing funny about baseless attacks. I have no problem when this site discusses different viewpoints, but this type of yellow journalism is scurrilous.
honeymom
Hi Honeymom,
ReplyDeleteWe are unsure of where you ever got the idea that we are journalists but we are truly sorry that you cannot appreciate our satire, not sarcasm; satire clearly labeled as such.
To quote Wikipedia, our post "demonstrates the principle of modern American political satire: the ridicule of the actions of politicians and other public figures by taking all their statements and purported beliefs to their furthest (supposedly) logical conclusion, thus revealing their perceived hypocrisy."
I agree. It's satire, comedy, they are public figures no different than others in this area (senators, governors, other members of the district). They knew when they took office that they were up for both criticism and critique as well as positive fb.
ReplyDeleteIf you can't laugh, then life is not worth living. Lighten up!
In a previous post, Honeymom said, "It is too bad that they have determined that it is more productive to undermine our schools through sensationalistic journalism instead of working within the process (or to change the process) to effect change."
ReplyDeleteShe may have been referring to the Sonoran News, but this "article" is a shining example of just that sort of thing.
I have some suggestions for the CCUSD Watch person:
1. Identify yourself...like a newspaper reporter. My address is listed below. I want things to improve, that's all.
2. Make the site traffic viewable...you know, page counters, unique visits, etc...give this domain some credibility.
3. No longer allow anonymous postings. After all, those anonymous posts could simply be you talking to yourself. If those who visit here truly want change, then they should be willing to OPENLY discuss their thoughts as our neighbors and as members of the same community - without fear of consequence. Everyone is entitled to their opinion in this country.
4. CAMPAIGN AND RUN FOR THE SCHOOL BOARD. If you did that, I'd like to meet you, discuss your goals for the future, and if I agreed with them I'd even provide campaign financing.
If you want to be taken seriously, you have to be transparent...versus pulling levers from behind the Wizard's curtain.
Yes, I am being highly critical, skeptical, and sardonic. But that is because it appears your goal is to criticize in perpetuity from behind closed doors instead of actively becoming the champion of a cause to effect change. It seems that if this district had a new superintendent, new board members, principals, etc., you'd still be here doing the same thing, but not really helping.
Steve Becht
5023 E. Lucia Drive
Dear Watch,
ReplyDeleteWhether blogs are journalism, cross the lines of journalism, is a question being pondered by many.
I believe that your blog is crossing the line in that you are using it to report supposed news about the district. And, while I don't know if Sonoran News is just monitoring your blog now and picking up stories, or if you are sending them in, your stories appearing in their paper certainly blurs the line.
According to many, what differentiates a blog from journalism is that the blogger reveals their biases. You seem very biased against this district, but do not clearly state what your biases are in your about section.
I still do not believe that you are composed of the people that you claim. I believe that some of the groups that you say are part of ccusd watch are what you claim. The rest I feel you are impersonating which is against blogger policy. I suppose I will just write to google and let them sort it out.
honeymom
Hi MR. Becht,
ReplyDelete1. Identify yourself
Not going to happen for reasons we have detailed numerous times.
2. Make the site traffic viewable...
Our webmaster tells us we use Google Analytics to track our web site stats. The webmaster provided us with the stats for the past 30 days. You can view them here...
CCUSD Watch Analytics
3. No longer allow anonymous postings.
This may be an option in the future but for now, we like to remain an open employee suggestion box with no names required.
4. CAMPAIGN AND RUN FOR THE SCHOOL BOARD.
Many of us are employees or spouses, unable to run for the school board by state law. If we can find a candidate we would be happy to put them forward and support them.
We would love to hear some feedback on our positions and opinions. Everyone seems to want to make us the focus, when the focus should be CCUSD and how out of control things are.
Do you feel the district is doing the best job it can and the district is focused on academic achievement? We don't.
Thank you for your comments!
Dear CCUSD Watch,
ReplyDeleteI truly believe that you care about the kids, but let's display a little maturity here...It's evident that you don't like Tacy Ashby. What has she done that has been so bad? History shows that this district runs off HS principals and superintendents like no other...why would that be? No one good enough or because we are small...they are easy prey. Let's re-evaluate our motives and work towards something productive. If you don't like the board, vote them out or recall them. All I see is bad writing about this woman and yet the schools are excelling and some A+ and they were not all that way prior to her arriving at CCUSD...so she has done something right. I think we need to use our time more productively and focus on the kids and getting the resources needed for our schools. Don't you agree?
The problem with this district is that there is no common ground between all the factions - the district office, the administration, the teachers, the parents, and the students. Tacy Ashby and her team are not the people who will bring these groups together.
ReplyDeleteOk, so you don't think Tacy Ashby is an effective leader...whose
ReplyDeletefault is it, when it seems like
some members of the Governing
Board continually go after her?
In observing some of these meetings, to be truthful, I think
some members of the board are trying to do what they can to be disruptive and get as little done as possible..which is sad.