It appears that Principal Ann Orlando, M.Ed. from DAMS and Principal Denise McGloughlin from Lone Mountain are indeed leaving the district (Please let us know if this is incorrect).
So nice of the district to inform the community.
Update: A commenter pointed out that the Middle School position is an assistant position. Thanks for the information and sorry for the error.
Parents at LMES were notified by the LMES Principal. She lives closer to DV schools, attended DV schools, and had opportunity to bring up the quality of one of their schools.
ReplyDeleteHave not heard anything on Ann Orlando yet.
Seriously though, I'm sure that the only way to climb the ladder from an economic standpoint as a principal in this underfunded state is to switch districts. If you look at LMES principal's background, you will see that she has moved around a bit over the years and this is nothing shocking.
Just checked the CCUSD employment portal. That is an Assistant Principal position, not Ann Orlando's being filled over at DAMS. Maybe the Assistant Principal has gotten a position as a Principal somewhere.
ReplyDeleteAs said above, the LMES principal informed each family of her decision, and the reason behind it. Before you make sarcastic statements about lack of information, do some research to find out the facts.
ReplyDeleteThere were actually two emails sent to LMES parents about her decision. So nothing was being kept secret. It was divulged to the parents that mattered.
ReplyDeleteOnce again, I believe you're group should check the facts before you post - don't you find it embarrassing that you're blogging incorrect information? Your sarcasm and negativity toward the district is unbelievable - I'm highly doubt that your group is made up of teachers, staff, parents, students (especially since you haven't responded to Honeymom's blog request)- I'm starting to believe that your not "watching" the district - you're undermining it until it falls and that is truly sad for our children.
ReplyDeleteWhile I doubt the true goals/composition of this group, I appreciate they were honest enough to leave up proof of their own rush to judgement.
ReplyDeleteThey could have pulled down the blog entry where they wrote in error about the DAMS principal leaving. Instead they left it up, posting a retraction and an apology.
Frankly, until they start posting answers or the 08 scores, they have little else to write about.
for those that were looking for Ashby's salary, I posted it under yesterdays post.
ReplyDeleteThey just hired a new principal at ST. It's on their website.
I think what he was saying was that while parents at LMES were notified, it was not made public knowledge. There was nothing posted on their website.
Based on the letter's timing, I believe the resignation would have been discussed either at the 6/2/08 or tonight's boe meeting. There is a certain amount of time allowed for minutes from that meeting to be posted. That would be the normal reporting mechanism for most boe's.
ReplyDeleteAs an LMES parent, I am reserving judgement on whether principal's resignation was a negative or a positive. While there were some things she did very well, there were some areas that may improve with a new principal. I don't think that she was universally loved at the school.
Thank you for the salary info. Please refer back to my response that follows that post.
ReplyDeletehoneymom
Also, I do appreciate the correction on Ann Orlando. However, that does not get CCUSD Watch off the hook with me for wanting to know their composition. I think that this group is misrepresenting itself.
ReplyDeleteAgain I am not asking you for your specific identities. Think of my request as more akin to proof of life. If you are legitimate, there must be some way for you to prove it - i.e. 10 CCUSD parents, 5 CCUSD teachers, 2 local business people, 4 students, 5 other teachers, 6 other parents, etc.
It might not be important in any other area, but in an area that is warlorded by "Lord Sonoramort and the paper that must not be named", knowing that this isn't just his tool is important.
Thank you,
Honeymom
Hi all and thanks for the criticism. We deserved it.
ReplyDeleteWe did apologize and correct the error, which is more than can be said for The Arizona Republic and its lazy journalism.
Feel free to go ahead and criticize when we are factual incorrect, we did make a mistake and our skin is thick.
Sorry again.
Refuses to provide any key to credibility. Tears into the Republic, as well as the district.
ReplyDeleteIt is beginning to smell a lot more like Lord Sonoramort.
Honeymom
Hi Honeymom.
ReplyDeleteThere is no association with the Sonoran News. We have sent letters to the editor and had email conversations with Linda Bentley.
We have chosen to remain anonymous with her as well despite her assurances of confidentiality. In fact we recently had 2 letters to the editor rejected. We have also submitted letters to the editor at the Arizona Republic but none of those have been printed. They are too busy writing about cupcakes and donuts to be bothered with school board meetings that affect the students, teachers, and the community.
You can email Ms. Bentley at LINDABENT@aol.com. She does have a copy of the line item budget I am sure she would share with you. You will be stunned at the actual total dollar amount per student that CCUSD receives. Hint, it is way about $6,000.
Why won't you give any idea of your composition? How can a generic description of your composition compromise your anonymity?
ReplyDeleteDid you mean to say way above $6,000 or about $6,000?
Honeymom
Yes, we meant way above $6,000.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
It is too bad CCSOS didn't have some passionate supporters like yourself. Maybe it would still be around and productive.
Our 'About' speaks for itself. Sorry we can't be more helpful.
The problem is that your about doesn't speak for itself. I know of many parents, teachers, and staff members that do not hold many of your views so it is hard to believe that you are more than a small subfraction of the population without a bit more info (generic is fine).
ReplyDeleteI think there are some areas of common ground that can be developed in speaking with you though:
1) Given our constraints, how can we continue to improve the schools. Our difference is that you see a glass half empty, I see one half full.
2) Has our district managed its money properly, what is properly, and how can fiscal management be judged where there are contentious relations between community members, boe members etc. I would find it hard to believe that a district our size has not been audited, what were the results of such audit?
3) How can we move the BOE away from bickering and contentious relationships realizing that there will always be differences of opinions and that such differences should not bring momentum to a grinding halt?
4) Will parents get more involved in the process? There is a pitiful lack of participation at the 2 schools that my kids attend. Coming from a school with high participation, it is a bit shocking because the demographics aren't all that different. Our schools will not take the final leap from excelling labels to true greatness unless the parents play a bigger role.
I think your blog is excellent. It provides a perspective that no one in that district is willing to stand up and present. Ashby and her "team" are slowly destroying this district.
ReplyDeleteAs for the principal exodus, perhaps there needs to be close examination as to why these administrators are leaving. Has anyone talked to the principals and assistant principal who are stepping down from their posts?
I think one is jumping to conclusions to assume that Ashby has caused principal exodus. I think it is just as likely that they do not want to be here when performance starts to wane due to the budget cuts and growth in class size.
ReplyDeletePlus, I think you would be reading too much into LMES principals leaving. I believe she is ambitious, felt she did what she needed to at LMES - got A+, and excellent label, and wanted a chance to build another success.
Also, a lot has been read into teachers leaving. The only teacher that I know of that left LMES this year was a new gym coach whose job was on the line with the budget cuts.
At DAMS, I have heard of two teachers leaving. One of those teachers I believe is a resource room teacher who was about to have a baby and planned to stay home afterwards. I do not know who the second teacher is.
The teacher departures at these two schools seem within the norm for yearly staff turnover.
As to an Assistant Principal leaving, the general reason for such departure would be to become a Principal at another school.
As to Sid Bailey, it must have been extremely difficult to manage a school that is literally bursting at the seams with overcrowding and to realize that it wasn't going to be remedied anytime soon. Perhaps fault lies within the district, but there is also fault to be found with the electorate. Instead of just fighting the hs bond measure blindly to defeat, the electorate could have attended hs planning meetings and expressed more interest. Not once, in all of "the paper that must not be named" articles or letters did I see any commisseration with the overcrowding situation. It was always a scathing commentary on the district being crazy to even ask for such money. It would have been far more productive to have said that we understand that there are overcrowding issues that we want solved, although we feel that a new hs solution is too costly.
I have yet to see any acknowledgement by Lord Sonoremort that there is overcrowding.
honeymom
Hey everyone. Thought I would chime in on this whole situation as I stumbled across this board trying to find the actual text of Mr. Bailey's resignation letter. As a former student and the son of a teacher working in the district I think I'm pretty well qualified to say that the problem with this district has always been a lack of
ReplyDeletefocus on the simple importance of the teacher-student relationship. This is the heart of the educational system and to see over-sized classes, underpaid teachers and money being spent on frivolous seminars, "professional development" (my teachers throughout my 12 years as a student are some of the smartest people I have ever met and to think that they need in-services and workshops to continue to do what they have been doing well for 20 years is insulting to both them and the students they teach), and technology (a $2000 Smart Board does not a good teacher make) is disheartening. As many people hear have noted the upper levels of the administration have been far too politicized over the years to the point where it has now formed an inefficient bureaucracy. So yeah, the district is messed up. With that being said, I think most of the parents in this district have failed to take the civic responsibility they have to keep a tight leash on this district. I live in Tempe now as a student and so I am not able to get as involved as I would like but it seems to me that much more can and SHOULD be done by the public if conditions persist as they have been. The point of the entire matter is that this district is not "excelling." It is mediocre at best, and regardless of the state funding woes and all the manipulative test score results and flashy buzz words we owe it to the children and the teachers to take up some more responsibility.
CCUSD watch, I suspect that you're a student or a group of students interested in caring about matters like I did when I was at CSHS. If you keep up the catty anonymity thing then you aren't helping with the issue. Only when you step out and attach your name to your views then people will take notice. Sure, it got me in trouble and some of my mischief may not have been entirely in good taste, but it's better than giving accidental misinformation on a secondhand blog.
Honeymom and the rest of the people who feel that others are "tearing into the district" unjustly. 1. Try to stay impartial. The district is not evil, but they have most certainly made LARGE mistakes. 2. If you dissent or are dissatisfied with people/organizations, making up names is a rather juvenile and unhelpful way of addressing issues. Maybe instead of coming up with witticism like "Lord Senoremort" (really? that was your best attempt?) you could write letters to the editor of both papers and the district and attach your real name onto it.
We all have to make sacrifices to ensure that the children get the best education. All of us! Even Dr. Ashby, who has so nobly stepped up to save the district money on her contract. I have always had respect for such a brave woman, and getting paid both a pension and 83.45% of her current salary tries even the hardest of spirits. My prayers are with her.
Finally, before this turns into a novel, let's all check our grammar in our posts. Doesn't help to be talking about education and leave dangling participles! I'm looking at you anonymous blogger.
Cheers,
Your pal Jeff Tully
Dear Jeff,
ReplyDeleteI think that if you read my posts on this board and on Newszap forums, you will find that I am more impartial than you give me credit for being. Sorry you do not enjoy my humor either. As to pseudonyms, CCUSD Watch asked for names to help them respond to the anonymous posts.
Please be aware that I am not in blind defense of this district. But, to what effect can it be blamed on underfunding, overcrowding, boe problems, etc. Solving the boe problems and getting people to vote for more money will help a lot.
I have also been known to write a letter or two to the editor along the way.
Kudos to you for giving your name. You are probably the first to do so here. I won't give my name on an anonymously run blog. But, I have not gone to great lengths to hide myself either.
Thanks for your response. I should have added in the last post that I respect everyone here a great deal. You have all done more than many of the people in the district by 1. taking the time to think about these issues and 2. discussing it in the way of public discourse that defines our democracy.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the last post was a great example of my typical habit of writing without thinking about what I was saying (a lovely characteristic of mine that led to my first introduction with Mr. Sid Bailey, who will be missed).
I realize now, after having read more of CCUSDWatch's content that there may actually be a teacher/district employee presence as well in which case I fully understand your position of anonymity, Watch. My senior year I got suspended for a bit of satire that went around the campus. It was anonymously written, but my mom "ratted" me out and I can understand why. It would be nice to be able to state your opinions without fear of job related repercussion and I understand now that that isn't always possible.
While I'm eating humble pie, I didn't read over my first post and there are grammar mistakes along the lines of those I chastise another blogger for. Free cookies to whoever finds them and calls me on it.
I believe still though, that the main gist of my post holds. While the nicknames may just be harmless fun, I think that only by respecting those we disagree with can we work on the issues that we need to work on.
With that being said, I have had....less than civil interactions myself with Dr. Ashby and don't think highly of the board so I think an appropriate amount of personal satire is warranted, if backed up by facts.
Regards,
Jeff Tully
'Hear' me now Jeff, if students are 'here' running this blog, CCUSD has clearly done something right by students.
ReplyDeleteThe ability to think critically and question are high level skills. The next steps would require action and answers. Are they up for the challenge?
Also, if students are running this blog, there may be certain budget intracacies (i.e. money from one part of the budget cannot always be used for another part of the budget per different laws - and to make it more confusing, sometimes it is perfectly okay to use monies that seem earmarked for one thing on another). You can't just look at a budget and say things are being handled in the wrong manner. You have to understand what requirements there are(i.e. unfunded special ed requirements, unfunded nclb requirements that must be met)and what other budget restrictions are in place as part of any analysis. Capital expenditures (i.e. buildings) usually have to be bonded and sometimes (I haven't look into laws here) must be separate from other funds. I saw it confound the electorate in top district that I came from and I am sure it confounds the electorate here. One thing for sure, Arizona did not wind up near the bottom of the ladder for lowest funding of schools without reason. That is a fact that is well known outside of the state and the state is chided for it. When school funding comes up to at least the average level in this state, then I will buy the argument that funds are being wasted. But, until then, I think it is more likely that there simply aren't enough funds to pay teachers well, keep class sizes down, meet administrative requirements due to unfunded government mandates, etc.
ReplyDeleteI do think that CCUSD Watch could try to do some of the analysis and despite their anonymity, publish their findings. I.E. how much administrative cost is due to NCLB and Special Ed Requirements. What needs to be fixed in each school from a maintenance standpoint. What can really be cut from the existing budget that hasn't been cut already if we need to divert money towards keeping teachers.
I am sorry about your experience with Tacy. Having dealt with a superintendant in my last district, which as mentioned before was a top district, I found that while he was corteous to the community, he really did not include any of the community input in his decision making. All of his decisions were purely education driven and as such were only based on opinion, theory, etc. of the education community and the scientific community.
While perhaps still in need of perfecting her approach, I have seen Tacy arrange community forums and make an effort towards factoring in the community's opinion instead of just discounting it as my last school superintendant did. I think that if Tacy could spend a little less time trying to negotiate the boe minefield, and a little more time in working with her employees and the rest of the community she will do much better.
All very good points. However, just because there are certainly many layers of intricacy and complexity to the budget issue does not mean that it can't be subject to scrutiny. I know many if not all of us do not have the time to learn the laws and regulations in order to give a thorough look at what is an enormous account of various bonds, funds, and expenditure list. I support your suggestion for independent research. As a recent graduate, I understand the confusion students feel with such fiscal deficiencies in what is arguably a very wealthy area of the county. Many do not understand the chokeholds and bottlenecks presented by the antiquated and underfunded state educational system and at the national level education is one of the systems most in need of financial and ideological reform.
ReplyDeleteSo yes, to a degree, the budget or lack thereof is something the district itself has little control over.
However, what they do have control over, and my largest issue, is the methods and stances they take on the very practice of learning. CCUSD 93 has produced many extremely talented and well prepared students who are enterprising and motivated to continue into higher education and beyond. I strongly believe this to be a result solely attributable to some incredible teachers and staff working at each and every district site and not an achievement of any curriculum, plan, or teaching method.
My friends and I frequently discuss the inherent problems with measuring performance based on one or several arbitrary "benchmark" tests throughout the year. Yes, I realize that in some sense they are a necessary evil and something that is used with the best of intentions, but I feel like they detract from instruction and learning in many ways, the most severe being the pressure for teachers to then "teach for the test" and cover material and information in such a way as to trivialize the actual process of learning.
To speak in less vague and abstract terms, as a current university student tutoring and also interacting with my colleagues I have found an alarming dearth of people who know "how to learn." Far too often we spend our time as college students memorizing chunks of material for the next upcoming exam at which point we dump them from our memory to make room for the next chunk. Rather than learning and understanding base and general concepts and then applying them in a variety of situations, we start at the list of reactions, or poets, or formulas, or historical dates and then work down, and by the summer one has forgotten everything he learned in Chemistry or Music History. I think this can be linked to the standardized testing mentality.
How does the SAT test for inventiveness, or creativity, or analytical problem solving, or higher level reasoning? Some may argue that it can't and it shouldn't, and they may be correct in its place. At some point there is going to need to be a system to separate the wheat from the chafe, and this and other tests serve fine. On the other hand, I don't believe that a student's performance on one Saturday morning or several two hour class periods once per year should be an acceptable way of judging performance, and I feel very uncomfortable with the way that the district takes these numbers and uses them to affix labels like "excelling" and "A+" to each school. If people see these schools as excelling, then what motivation is there to do better?
I would rather see "Desert Arroyo Middle School: A School Always Looking to Improve" and "Lone Mountain Elementary School: Tests Are Cool, But Can You Think For Yourself?" than all the congratulatory back patting and statistic weaving that is far too often seen. Yes, congratulate our children and teachers on their great accomplishments, but also acknowledge the problems and the issues that don't look so good on the district news letter.
What this all boils down to for me is a willingness to let the teachers be in educational control for a majority of the instruction. These are the people that have chosen this profession for nothing other than the chance to teach. They are certainly not in it for the money. In my time at BMES, DAMS, and CSHS, I rarely ran across what I would call a "bad" teacher. Most of the time, I just ran across frustrated, exhausted, and even cynical teachers who had become disillusioned by financial and logistical issues.
And yes, many of those are out of the hands of us all, but the district could and should do more to remind the teachers how crucial they are.
Finally, to address the points given with respect to my favorite district administrator, I am not convinced that community forums or speaking time is anything more than lip service from the good Doctor. The firings of Dr. Leo, Carpenter, and other officials for not fitting in with the district's (by which Nedda meant Tacy's) vision of how things should be. To me that does not suggest someone willing to listen to and work with the ideas of others, and it appears that Sid Bailey and the other principals feel much the same way.
Thanks for putting up with me bouncing ideas off you all. As a student looking to get into graduate school my time is pretty much a scarce commodity at this point but I am looking to help resolve these in a more substantial way.
Jeff Tully
I would like to CCUSD Watch putting itself to the more fruitful analysis that you are suggesting. The problem that I and many other parents here are having is that they are throwing data at us with sensational headlines, demanding changes, but not helping to parse data or provide solutions.
ReplyDeleteI understand your frustration with the constant testing. I actually observed classes at DAMS as well as a local charter before sending my child to DAMS and told the teacher that I thought she was teaching to test. But, while she taught to test at least she did not have the mass chaos that I witnessed at the charter school. Unfortunately, teaching to test is a phenomenan (spelling?) that you can blame on NCLB. There were plenty of top school districts in Connecticut at odds with the federal government over NCLB because the rigorous testing was forcing them to teach to test and because NCLB was unfunded.
I do not know the circumstances of the firings that you mention. I am sorry that I cannot provide more feedback on them. Are you sure that they were fired, or were there philosophical differences that led them to resign?
honeymom
In the spring of 2006 we were informed that Gaye Leo had decided to resign citing a desire to move on. However we were informed of this maybe two to three weeks after the fact and I believe (though this is ancient history to a junior in college, so I could be mistaken) that there was even a period of time when nobody sat in the principal's office. Dr. Ashby released a rather cursory letter about the decision that seemed a little stale to me.
ReplyDeleteI am friends with Dr. Leo's son at the based on what he was able to tell me and rumors passing through administrative and staff sources I had was that it was not an entirely voluntary "decision" of Dr. Leo's based on ideological conflicts and alleged harassment by certain parties. Still, Dr. Leo was always a long term type of person and if she hadn't been "removed" or "fired" I could have seen her moving on anyway.
What I think many people did not see coming was the severance-and that is the word to use, because he did not want to resign-of Clay Carpenter as Assistant Principal. At one time or another the official reason was given as him (as well as several other employees who I cannot recall right now) did not fit into the "vision" of the district, and it became fashionable among my fellow students to bandy that term about during our last semester.
The forced or reluctant resignation to me smacked of the same image oriented politics that seems to be the favorite game of the district to play.
I respect Nedda Shaffir if only for her excellent crisis response and communication work but I feel like if the district needs a Public Information Officer that functions primarily as a "spokeswoman" then there is something wrong.
I'll do my part toward balancing the budget and give two form letters the district can use so Ms. Shafir can be hired on a consultant basis for her other duties.
1.
Dear Parent/Teacher/Student/Advocate/Newspaper:
CCUSD/BMES/DAMS/LMES/DWES/STMS/CSHS is an Excellent/High Testing/Really Neat School/District based on these entirely Reliable Test Scores/Eye Witness Accounts/Arbitrary Benchmarks/Football team record and due to the implementation of Everyday Math/Smartboards/SI/IB/AP/Finger paints.
Sincerely, Nedda Shafir
2.
Dear Parent/Teacher/Student/Advocate/Newspaper:
Unfortunately the district cannot talk/reveal/discuss/address/comment on the resignations/sexual abuse at DAMS questions/low test scores/high school teacher plagiarism/political infighting/anonymous bloggers due to reasons of privacy/security/reluctance
/inconvenience. Please further all additional questions to Ms. Shafir/Dr. Ashby/The board where they may/or may not be addressed/skimmed/ignored.
Sincerely,
Nedda Shafir
Circle all that apply and print on the letterhead.
Welcome Mr. Tully and thank you for your excellent posts.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to the assistant principal at DAMS? A lot of parents (including me) thought he did a great jobn and my son and his friends really liked him. Does anyone know why he left or where he went?
ReplyDelete