San Diego Unified Parent- Life At School

Transparency has become a very big word for many organizations, and for some good reasons.  People want to see what goes on behind seemingly closed doors of business and public organizations.  While businesses (public and private) have very legitimate reasons for privacy, that privacy has been abused so often people have lost faith in the organizations that use it.

An example of this loss of faith is my own- the Project Labor Agreement that was added shortly after Prop S was passed, and the majority of the school board was elected.  It’s clear, at least to me, that the PLA was fait accompli before the election, but that nugget was withheld from the voting public in a purposeful move intended to get the wobbly proposition passed.  I supported the fiscally-irresponsible proposition but, like many others I suspect, would have opposed it if the PLA was revealed as part of their gambit.

In the words of George W Bush, “”There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.” Or whatever.

Now those same masters of transparency want to put on a little show in the barn called,” A New Superintendent, the Transparency Charade“, and that show will be opening soon.  The NSTC will star the school board, but is actually a reality show with us, the general public, as a cast of thousands.  And we are to be extensively polled, our opinions will be sought, we will have a voice, we will be engaged, partnered with, brought it to the process, heard, have our chance to speak, thoughtfully considered, reached out to, and otherwise pandered into believing we actually control the system, and have the power to change it.

We know what George Bush would try to say.

This barn show is nothing but an enormous waste of taxpayer resources and school board time.  It’s a smokescreen meant to divert our attention from the dismal display the board has been putting on.  It’s a screen to hide little details like our children will have five days less in their school year, when our valuable teachers don’t have the time to teach to the federal minimum standards. Because the teacher’s job is not tough enough already.

But.  It is transparent, and we should like that, right?

I don’t.

I voted for what I believe to be qualified board candidates.  People who held themselves up as leaders and by doing so indicated an ability greater than mine to make good choices for our children. Granted, the people for whom I voted didn’t win.  But the people that did win, should lead and interview and make decisions as if they have the qualities and capabilities they claimed when they ran for public office.  The NSTC is a cop-out.  They are telling us that they can’t possibly decide what their employee should be able to do, and instead we should do it for them.  Notice this has the additional benefit- if it does not work out (as several superintendents in the recent past) it’s not the board that’s to blame- it’s the cast of thousands of citizens that appeared in their reality show.

Further, what kind of candidate is willing to participate in Survivor: A New Superintendent, the Transparency Charade? First, eliminate all superintendents that are currently doing excellent jobs in markets other than San Diego.  A successful superintendent wishing to winter in our paradise is not going to risk his/her current position by applying in public for another outside their own district.  It’s career suicide.  So- what kind of job search is this, where you eliminate the best candidate pool right from the start?

Oh.  It’s a transparent one.

And what kind of candidate will be willing to leave a rewarding private-sector job for a position where the leadership with whom they are slated to work cannot focus it’s intentions without all the public outreach they plan?  Without the pleading to the public to share their decision making burden?

The field of candidates who will step in that pile is very narrow at best.  And I suspect probably not the most qualified.

But it is transparency uber alles.

How about common sense instead?

Once again great reporting by Voice of San Diego’s Emily Alpert.  Does that woman ever sleep?

Click here for the less-polarized viewpoint.

“What Barrera outlined in his speech is exactly what teachers have been saying,” said teachers union President Camille Zombro.

Really?

No kidding?

Is it because the teacher’s union has their arm so far up the [body] of the school board president that they can actually use their hand to make his mouth move?  See yet another reason San Diego Unified is on the fast track away from desperately needed school reforms.

Once again great reporting by Voice of San Diego’s Emily Alpert.  Does that woman ever sleep? Click here for the less-polarized viewpoint.

Emily Alpert of Voice of San Diego is the premiere education reporter in San Diego, and has written an article about Bill Freeman, the new president of the teacher’s union.  Read her article in full right here.

The most important quote from Freeman is right at the end:

And while [current President Camille] Zombro has at times been alienated from her opponents, most notably former Superintendent Terry Grier, Freeman added, “I do believe in getting close to your friends and closer to your enemies. Camille and I differ there.”

It’s more of the same folks- and maybe worse.  Mr Freeman categorizes the world into friends and enemies- the enemies, we assume due to the use of the plural, are not just the Superintendent but- well who knows, the school board?  Parent bloggers? While Freeman may fantasize being either Sun-tzu or Don Vito Corleone,  how does that help kids?

How are our children served by a person who sees the world in such clear terms as “friends and enemies”?  Is it beyond any shred of hope that we parents could expect a teacher’s union president to work WITH the school board and superintendent to move our district forward towards progress?

Truth is- children are obviously not a priority for the teachers union when negotiating with the district -Freeman’s “enemy”.  Children are just the innocent bystanders, caught in Freeman’s crossfire.

Next time the teacher’s union calls itself  ”partners” in education or “advocates” for children, remember the basic premise and attitude with which Freeman has taken the job.

What a disappointment.  Again.

Sun Tzu

Had a great time today volunteering in the kid’s classroom about my least favorite subject: Math.  I continue to struggle with even some of the basics, and when he brought home long division homework, I nearly got sick.

Hate the stuff.

But I was pottering in the garage the other day with one of my most favorite pastimes- motorcycles.  I needed to compute a final drive ratio.   This is not a difficult problem, but I began thinking- suppose I had learned math on a motorcycle?  How would that have changed my relationship with math?

We are fortunate to have John Snyder teaching Jesse this year, and like many teachers, Mr Snyder welcomes input and creative approaches.  And thus MotoMath (and MotoScience) was born.

My buddy Paul Kamanski  (a HUGE talent- see Comanche Moon) helped unload and roll in the bike and it’s lift to the classroom while the students were at PE.  I used the bike for conversations about fuel/air ratios, mileage computation, final drive ratios. How many teeth on the sprocket and the countersprocket and how many times would the countersprocket revolve with a single revolution of the rear wheel?

We discussed safety gear, ATTGATT or “All The Gear All The Time”, coefficient of friction, traction, hydroplaning, speed vs power.

We talked about alloys, strength and weight of the elements that make up the materials from which a motorcycle is made.

And it worked.  The kids were stretching their understanding of math, seeing applications for their lessons and applying their brains to something they saw was both unusual and interesting.

And I hate math just a little less.