Arkansas Blog

The ball is in their court. We shall see what we shall see.

No, the ball is in my court now.

I shall hold educators responsible for their action when I am elected Mayor of the Great City of Little Rock.

On a side note, thank you to everyone that came out and showed support for me as a launched my campaign for Mayor.

Little rock is filled with great and understanding people, and for that I am greatful.

How, Drew? The LRSD School Board and the LR City Board are two different entities. Ya gonna have a public hangin' of the superintendent? the admin? the teachers? Or, the mayor? the city board members? the city manager?
Please explain.

Way to go LRCTA!

I would hate to think that Mr. Pritt's educators apparently are to blame for the fact that he did not learn to spell "GRATEFUL". It is always easy to assume that the teacher failed to teach. However, we might take the time to hold Mr. Pritt accountable for missing the lesson or just being a poor speller. As an educator myself, I am sure that the responsibility of the student is very rarely questioned these days. Maybe that is the problem.

Mr. Pritt, I hope you have more than one ball in your court.

Please, oh please, don't tell me we have another nut running for office. I don't know much about the mayoral candidates, as I view that office pretty much as a figurehead position. Someone please enlighten me...what is he mad at the teachers about?
I agree with Jamie, Way to Go, CTA!!! Now let's just hope the school board does their part to have a great start to another promising school year. I would really love to see the district and the CTA sit down and work together at this point to improve the education of the children in the LRSD. If all of the time spent squabbling were spent cooperating, think what could be accomplished. I'll continue to say my prayers and hope for the best.

Drew has no balls. Hillary is writing a book about him: It Taks a Child to Raze a Village.

On a somber note: did you notice how ol' Roy tossed out his favorite quote about doing all this for the good of the children? Talk about your holier than thou crapola he is so noted for.

The Admin-ator strikes again. Ramblin' Roy, protector of children and school boards, just can't help himself.....in fact, he hasn't helped the district since he's been in office.

When he takes a dump, he probably thinks it's for the children, that's how twisted his logic is.

MM

If Brooks' attitude displayed at the board meeting Thursday night is any indication, I would surmise he and the board are willing to honor this contract. At the CTA meeting yesterday, all of the teachers, except one, voted for the contract.

Brooks and his board have deliberately created a hostile environment for teachers; however, we will continue to choose to be dedicated to our students. I, like many of my colleagues, will choose to have a great year because of my personal accountability and responsibility. Brooks and his board will not have any impact on the way I choose to interact with my students. And, yes, Brooks needs to go, and the board, for the most part, needs to be dismantled, now.

Drew------I have supported you on other blogs and will invest my vote in you in the mayoral race. Most of the teachers I know hold themselves to account; however, there are some bad apples in education, like it is in any profession--including politics. Students and their parents should be held accountable for the actions, too. Incompetent administrators should be help accountable or removed from their positions. Superintendents and boards shoud be held accountable for their actions. All of the insanity we witness in America can be resolved, if all people we held accountable for their behavior; no excuses, no exceptions, no clandestine deals behind closed doors, no preferred status to anyone, etc....If you pursue the platform outlined on other blogs, you just might be in a position to remedy some of the ills----much success with your endeavor.

School board has no choice. Roy (Walter Hussman's boy) Brooks was terrified about a possible strike. A strike would have ended all hope for Hussman's merit pay/voucher plan of one building at a time. The 50 plus 1 vote makes it easier for Walter to dangle money and set the district and legislature up for vouchers. One of these days the school board will wake up to reality and not the false promises of Walter and his group: the city's biggest fraud, the LIttle Rock Public Education Foundation.

The members of LRCTA, their leadership, and especially their negotiations team should be thanked for their commitment to the students of LRSD in spite of Brooks and the Board. Looking at the changes in the contract one can see that the teachers were willing to do what is best for students despite some of the useless new provisions the district insisted upon. Merit pay will implode when it becomes financially impossible to sustain and the public relizes that the gains are artificial and not a true indicator of student achievement. What concerns me now is that the Board honor and accept a contract that was negoiated by their bargaining agents and stop attacking LRCTA. Books and Board members would do well to remember that they are supposed to be setting an example for students in terms of how they speak and act towards teachers. Again, my sincere thanks to LRCTA for their dedication to the children.

Word is the Board will vote to extend Brook's bloated contract at the meeting Monday night when they consider ratifying the agreement with the teachers. Just more years to buy out when three new Board members are elected in September. What a waste of taxpayers money by the current Board. Just another nail in the coffin for Brock and Rose.

You have got to be kidding me! Why does he need an extension to his contract? When does it expire? What has he to show for the time he has already been here? Besides closing schools, getting rid of important resources and wasting money. I would be interested to know how much money has been wasted wining and dining the principals in the name of improving student achievement. When teachers have to go to professional development, there are no breakfast buffets, complimentary lunches or even snacks. When the principals go to a workshop, they are treated to all of the above and then some. Not to mention that it is held at a hotel that costs money to use. In the meantime, teachers can't even get supplies for their classrooms or textbooks for their students.
I intend to work as hard as I can to ensure that new board members are elected who are really all about the children. Then, maybe we can get a superintendent who recognizes the importance of teachers in that endeavor and gives that recognition more than lip service.
By the way, did you catch the reading of the new policy on closing schools? Now they can close schools for whatever reason they want and with as little notice as they feel like giving. Wonder which school is next on their hit list?

I would love to know why the principals' meetings were held at the Embassy Suites this past week. Doesn't the district have any place that can hold a group that size (est. 100)? Why waste taxpayers funds on expeditures like this? They had the Teacher of the Year banquet there in May and on Aug. 8th from 6:30 to 8:00 they are hosting some type of reception for the new teachers to meet with the Brooks. Who is getting a kick-back for the frequent use of the Embassay Suite? As a taxpayer I would prefer they meet at site the district already owns. Just another needless expenditure by Brooks in my book.

Speaking of the principals' meetings - this week they were informed by the administration that principals would have marks against their yearly evaluation for calls from parents to downtown administration. When questioned about how the principals were supposed to stop parental calls they were told that they needed to Train Their Parents. At least one principal has already informed staff members that parent complaints will be used against staff in their evaluations since its counted against her.

People wondering why morale is so low among teachers and ESP in the district need only look above to see but a small indicator of the level of stupidity we are dealing with on a daily basis.

If teachers allow principals to force them to compromise their integrity, they(teachers) deserve to be disrespected. Parents call downtown whenever they do not get their way or when teachers refuse to comply with their asinine requests. I know any number of teachers who are excellent educators but are afraid to stand for anything. And, most of the principals are too afraid to challenge Brooks' insanity and threats. This is too surreal to even mentally compute it----just more of the same for public ed, I guess.

I do hope that if the principals see this as a new weapon to use to score teachers low on their evaluations that the teachers request that the complaint, in its entirety, be included with the evaluation as well. I would demand documentation to accompany any low score given on my evaluation. Parents love to threaten with, "I'm going to call the school board." for everything from their kids not wanting to wear uniforms to their kid being suspended for throwing a desk across the room. Many times, all downtown needs to do is support the school's decision. Most times, however, they don't and the parent ends up feeling like they've won against the school. Talk about undermining authority. After that, the school can no longer enforce any rules with that parent, much less work as a team. So, if parents call downtown, it is downtown's own fault because of the precedent they've set. Now, if there is a serious problem and someone is way out of line, that is a different matter. But, generally, that is not the case.
This is just another example of the admin's wanting all the power and money and none of the responsibility. After all, who is making the rules in the first place?