SOMSD Changes

her resume is already circulating, and she'll be gone before fall. Our loss.


I think the end result is unfortunate for the district in many respects.  Firstly, there is a really high churn rate already amongst Supers/Admin/Principals, which make these jobs less desirable amongst candidates who are highly recruited in other more stable districts.  Secondly, the achievement gap is the tail that wags the dog in the district, and has for years, which again, makes it hard find candidates who can focus solely, and be judged solely on a criteria which is impossible to fulfill.  Thirdly, policy changes like the wind - one year you have IB, the next year not, one year, kids go mostly to neighborhood schools, the next year, there is huge redistricting.  Its hard to operate in a culture where you can't anticipate change and where that change is essentially throwing spaghetti at a wall and hope something sticks.  Fourthly, the district is faced with an overwhelming need for facility improvement and high property taxes which make it difficult to keep up with neighboring districts that have newer facilities and lesser tax burdens.  Fifthly,  the district is facing a lawsuit which alleges that the whole educational instutional structure is embedded in racism.  I think as a rule, the district generally attracts candidates who are devoted to inclusion, integration and idealism.  But, if they don't produce an equality of outcomes for all children, they are labelled as assisting the racist power structure.  Best of luck attracting quality candidates who are willing or able to attempt to produce impossible goals, and are smart enough to know that the achievement gap isn't going to be solved in one district in NJ, and a t the end of their stay are going to have to deal with the stain of  being called racially insensitive when they apply for their next job 2-3 years down the road.  Just hire the best people who you can, give them a few years to work, and in the meantime, just give all the kids  A's  or B's in their heterogeneously grouped classes.  Because that is the only thing that is going to let you keep your job.


So the problem is not actual institutional racism but rather the idea that you have to be bothered about actual institutional racism.

Got it.


This is a link to a brief piece by Robin Diangelo. Not the first time I've provided the link. It's informative. Find her longer paper on white fragility online, it's worth it.

https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/11-ways-white-america-avoids-taking-responsibility-its-racism?sc=tw



Did they get rid of IB at the middle school?  Was not a fan. 


nan said:
Did they get rid of IB at the middle school?  Was not a fan. 

They did, about five minutes after its champion, Dr. Osborne, left. All those parents and community members whose concerns were dismissed out of hand for years by the board because they were just too ignorant or shortsighted to understand IB's massive benefits got retroactively smart, I guess.

The IB program in general might be effective and enlightening, but the way it was introduced and implemented here, the only question was how much time and money we'd waste before chucking it. 

  




Stoughton said:


nan said:
Did they get rid of IB at the middle school?  Was not a fan. 
They did, about five minutes after its champion, Dr. Osborne, left. All those parents and community members whose concerns were dismissed out of hand for years by the board because they were just too ignorant or shortsighted to understand IB's massive benefits got retroactively smart, I guess.

The IB program in general might be effective and enlightening, but the way it was introduced and implemented here, the only question was how much time and money we'd waste before chucking it. 
  





 Yes, it was a half-hearted adoption as a way of doing something.  I really don't like IB, but the middle-school years program was not the worst thing in the world.  So, I kind of get why they went for it.  But, no way was it going to last. Sad for all the money wasted and the teachers tortured. 


Am I the only one with a fantasy that Principal Aaron might, with some encouragement, eventually come back as Superintendent Aaron?  


nakaille said:
Am I the only one with a fantasy that Principal Aaron might, with some encouragement, eventually come back as Superintendent Aaron?  

 I would heartily cheer this on.  


but institutional racism.


brealer said:
but institutional racism.

 https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/11-ways-white-america-avoids-taking-responsibility-its-racism?sc=tw

An excerpt:

I am white. I write and teach about what it means to be white in a society that proclaims race meaningless, yet remains deeply divided by race. A fundamental but very challenging part of my work is moving white people from an individual understanding of racism—i.e. only some people are racist and those people are bad—to a structural understanding. A structural understanding recognizes racism as a default system that institutionalizes an unequal distribution of resources and power between white people and people of color. This system is historic, taken for granted, deeply embedded, and it works to the benefit of whites.

The two most effective beliefs that prevent us (whites) from seeing racism as a system are:

  1. that racists are bad people and
  2. that racism is conscious dislike;

if we are well-intended and do not consciously dislike people of color, we cannot be racist. This is why it is so common for white people to cite their friends and family members as evidence of their lack of racism. However, when you understand racism as a system of structured relations into which we are all socialized, you understand that intentions are irrelevant. And when you understand how socialization works, you understand that much of racial bias is unconscious. Negative messages about people of color circulate all around us. While having friends of color is better than not having them, it doesn’t change the overall system or prevent racism from surfacing in our relationships. The societal default is white superiority and we are fed a steady diet of it 24/7. To not actively seek to interrupt racism is to internalize and accept it.


The paper: https://libjournal.uncg.edu/ijcp/article/viewFile/249/116


That can be the district's "not interested" letter when Aaron applies for super.  


brealer said:
That can be the district's "not interested" letter when Aaron applies for super.  

Perhaps you don't realize that sounds like a defensive response to a thoughtful article? (I bring this up because the article itself addresses this tendency towards defensive responses rather than engaging in the discussion).


brealer said:
That can be the district's "not interested" letter when Aaron applies for super.  

 


And... Scene. 


Thanks for coming out folks!


Interim Super, Interim CHS Principal, Interim Head of Guidance - a dysfunctional Board that is steering the ship to nowhere.  Really looking forward to voting out incumbents.


des said:
Interim Super, Interim CHS Principal, Interim Head of Guidance - a dysfunctional Board that is steering the ship to nowhere.  Really looking forward to voting out incumbents.

All of them?


That was a little too harsh.

I am looking for answers: Why did you let an interim Super dismiss someone who many people agree has been the most effective CHS Principal in the last 10 years?  Why did we dismiss the Sage consultant? Where is the data we're using to guide de-leveling decisions? How much progress have we made under your term in closing the achievement gap? What programs have we put in place to combat unconscious bias in our staff? How do we know if we're making progress?


sprout, communication by sociology article is not for me.  I learn when a person tells me their specific story. A do-er. Not a critic of do-ers.  An actual high school teacher, for example. Not a theorist with minimal experience in a high school classroom. What you describe as defensiveness is actually disinterest. It's just me swiping left.  It is encouraging to me that the new building principal at CHS came up as a real teacher and spent more than 5 minutes in front a classroom, which you sometimes have with male building principals and supers. I fervently wish her well in her new job. I hope her style of communicating is a good fit with mine.


Stoughton said:


nan said:
Did they get rid of IB at the middle school?  Was not a fan. 
They did, about five minutes after its champion, Dr. Osborne, left. All those parents and community members whose concerns were dismissed out of hand for years by the board because they were just too ignorant or shortsighted to understand IB's massive benefits got retroactively smart, I guess.

The IB program in general might be effective and enlightening, but the way it was introduced and implemented here, the only question was how much time and money we'd waste before chucking it. 
  





The implementation was a disaster.  Either do it right or don't do it at all. The district wasted a huge amount of resources and money due to its own incompetence.


sprout said:


des said:
Interim Super, Interim CHS Principal, Interim Head of Guidance - a dysfunctional Board that is steering the ship to nowhere.  Really looking forward to voting out incumbents.
All of them?

 The current BOE leadership has been very ineffective.  I'm not sure how you could argue otherwise.


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