Get Schooled

By Jeff

April 8, 2008 8:55 AM | Link to this

I say that if a school system has ‘Schools closed’ on its calendar - be it Spring Break, Winter Break, Summer Break, MLK Day, Tornado Day, whatever - ALL offices of said school system should be closed.

Now, if people WANT to come in to get some work done that week, fine. That is their choice. But the community should assume that the schools/offices are CLOSED and will reopen when the holiday is over.

By Old School

April 8, 2008 9:53 AM | Link to this

I disagree with Jeff on this (imagine that!) Our school system never shuts completely down for holidays/breaks. The Tech staff and Maintenance staff use those times to get caught up. Some central office staff are given the breaks but there is almost always someone there.

In the case of Clayton County, I personally feel that if the students’ best interests were truly the main concern of that school board and staff, they would be busting their collective butts to make things right. That doesn’t seem to be the case.

But maybe they need to “get outta town” and wreak their havoc elsewhere!

By luvs2teach

April 8, 2008 10:18 AM | Link to this

I can’t tell if my system’s central office is open or closed this week - the calendar says “teacher/student holiday,” but says nothing about the central office being closed.

In any case, I think Spring Break is a good time for some central office and school staff to be working - mainly for summer school planning and registration for next year. In the case of Clayton County, there should definitely be some folks “on the clock” so to speak.

Let me ask you this…some systems have remediation during Febraury and Spring break. If you are a teacher, would you work it for extra money? If you are a parent, would you send you child - particularly if they were targeted as needing remediation? If you wouldn’t send your cild, yet you think the Clayton folks should work this week, then what’s the difference?

By HS Teacher Too

April 8, 2008 10:18 AM | Link to this

Administrative offices need to stay open. School systems are an interesting “beast” in the sense that there is an educational aspect and yet still a business to run.

The offices and administrators that are involved in the “business” of running the schools don’t need the spring break, and to take one would be detrimental. That’s not to say that personnel shouldn’t be able to take a week off during the year; but the entire office shouldn’t shut down for the week just because the kids are on spring break. (Another thing to consider: the personnel who are in these offices are paid on a different scale system than are the teachers, for exactly this reason. They are full-year employees.)

By JustMe

April 8, 2008 1:18 PM | Link to this

Just because the schools “shut down” doesn’t mean that the offices should. The school system is said to be run like a business, right? I mean, that is how the salaries for the Super is justified, right?

If that is true, then the company doesn’t shut down because some are on vacation. The company must continue on.

As mentioned, teachers are not paid for 12 months like the office employees. The office employees are employed full time for the entire 12 months and teachers are not. There is no valid comparison.

Specifically regarding Clayton - give me a break! There is too much to do to try and save the accreditation for anyone in any office to take any day off at all. Are these people crazy? What are they thinking? If I was a parent or tax payer in Clayton, I would be furious!

By Attn: Clayton Parents

April 8, 2008 2:34 PM | Link to this

Maureen Downey’s op-ed today might say more about her than it does the Clayton School board. Notice how she blasts all the board members who haven’t resigned…except the white one?

Hasn’t this board member been there all along during the board’s regrettable performace?

Didn’t this member vote for the very questionable land deal?

Hasn’t this member been “part and parcel” of all that has gone on?

The answer to all of course is yes.

Has this member done anything of substance to separate themselves from the debacle?

-Did he question the land deal?

-Did he question the HUGE pay raise given to a fellow board member’s wife?

-Did he do anything to address the discipline that has lead to abysmal test scores and MASSIVE teacher turnover?

-Did he question the “Pulliam Patronage Plan” (her attempt to create positions for cronies, positions she didn’t even have job descriptions for)

In a word, no. I guess not KNOWINGLY hiring an accused child molester, like Rod Johnson did, counts for something, be he sure didn’t speak out against it, in contrast to Norreese Haynes who was instrumental in putting a stop to it. (Gee Maureen, you want to bash MACE for their “agenda” but putting a stop to a GAE member KNOWINGLY hiring an accused child molester sounds like a pretty “children focused” agenda to me.)

Still, seems mighty odd that Maureen gives the white board member, (who maybe hasn’t instigated, but surely has participated every step of the way) a total free pass.

Is that because, deep down in her heart, where liberals of her ilk dare not look she simply believes that blacks are not capable of self-governance, without a white benefactor to guide them?

Is this why Maureen gives him a free pass while blasting every other member of the board? (Mind you, I’m not saying he’s the worst of the worst; Rod Johnson and Ericka Davis who threw the ENTIRE system under the bus with their GAE/SACS political power play win that hands down. But I am noting that, in Downey’s repeated calls for resignation, she has given him a total free pass, without making any case for him to stay…as if though his color alone is a good enough reason perhaps?)

And speaking of the other members, maybe if she left that protected enclave of hers and had to actually teach in Clayton, Ms. “Blame teachers first” Downey would have a clue about what Norreese Haynes and MACE is trying to accomplish.

My question is how many more teachers need to be openly disrespected, bullied, threatened or even physically assaulted, before Maureen will advocate for the same support for discipline that has been the founding tenant of MACE? (The same support? Who am I kidding? When has Downey advocated for any support when it comes to discipline? Ironically the biggest MACE basher on the editorial board, Jim Wooten, “gets it” when it comes do discipline; Downey is simply clueless.)

And most likely, Downey will continue to be, seeing as Maureen’s forte is “talking the talk” without walking the walk.

Sorry Maureen, but folks in ClayCo see you for the “limousine liberal” you are. That’s why we dismiss you out of hand when you keep on showing (likely without even knowing it) you “true colors” like you did today.

Who me? Why, why, why, some of my best friends are black. Of course they are Maureen, of course they are.)

PS Come on down and see ClayCo sometime; we’ll see if Victor can track you with that new fangled helicopter of his; just for you we’ll put a couple of snipers in it so you can feel protected from the Crips and the Bloods (or whatever black “bogeyman” you imagine is there to do you harm.)

By cdc

April 8, 2008 3:14 PM | Link to this

While I agree that Clayton Co. may have wanted to think twice before leaving for the week, I see no problem with board offices being closed for spring break. Why would a parent go to a board office to find out anything about a personal child or an upcoming test? The person to ask is the teacher, who is in class 5 days out of every other week and can be asked then. Not to mention that if you wait until Sprink Break to learn about what your kid is up to it’s probably too late. Most administrators and board office people work 12 months, so if they take that week off (usually before the stress of the CRCT week, which affects everyone) then go for it.

By HS Teacher Too

April 8, 2008 3:25 PM | Link to this

cdc, the problem with your argument is that you are assuming that the only people who might have business at or with the schools are parents of school children enrolled in that system. That’s a faulty assumption, and there are countless reasons a person might need to deal with the schools independent of issues related to already having a child enrolled there.

By mmm

April 8, 2008 5:05 PM | Link to this

I just got a phone call from someone from the “front office” of the administration in DeKalb. So they win “better than Clayton” brownie points this week.

By Sad But True

April 8, 2008 5:39 PM | Link to this

“Attn: Clayton Parents” is Dr. John Trotter of MACE, again.

By Attn: Clayton Parents

April 8, 2008 6:25 PM | Link to this

Sad but true…you have no clue. So you resort to bashing who you think I am, rather than the substance of what I’m saying.

Typical of the MACE bashers who can’t wrap their minds around the fact that the majority voting bloc during this debacle is made up of GAE members and none of the administrators who run this “fatally flawed” system are MACE members.

See when you think for yourself, instead of letting Maureen Downey do it for you, you uncover facts like those above.

But you keep on reading Maureen and let her decide what to think for you; that way you’ll have more time for watching American Idol.

By Dr. John Trotter

April 8, 2008 10:26 PM | Link to this

Dear “Sad But True”: I am John Trotter and proud of this fact. I don’t need to hide behind any other moniker. I would love to debate you or any other anonymous blogger about the “problem” of the Clayton County Schools. I have not read the AJC today and did not even know that Ms. Downey wrote another of one of her “limousine liberal” (to borrow a phrase from “Clayton Parent” who, by the way, is not me) editorials.

The problem with the Clayton County County School System is an Alpharetta weenie and cry baby by the name of Mark Elgart whom former chair Ericka Davis invited on her own (which is a policy violation as well as SACS Standards violation) to a board meeting in Clayton County in September. Ms. Hunter very accurately pointed this out to Elgart and to her fellow board members. Ericka, I suppose, thought that she would use her close relationship with Mark Elgart to scare Haynes, Hunter, Scott, and Strong so that they would cease pointing out the very questionable acts (not just the Land Deal) with she and Rod Johnson were egaging in as Chair and Vice Chair. Ericka Davis was, as Chair, a complete control freak. She was a quintessential micromanager of the school system (and even did do on State time and with the State email system). Elgart was offended that Ms. Hunter pointed out the fact that he had “no integrity” to, in essence, be used by Ericka Davis. This whole episode in Clayton County is about Mark Elgart engaging in retaliation against the Clayton School Board. There are probably dozens of school boards which engage in worse micromanaging than Clayton. I even witnessed one chairman of a Georgia school board read off a list of personnel changes that he and other newly-elected board members wanted to see happen and ended his statement as he handed the list to the superintendent with the words: “Now, do it!”

Elgart is still mad, in my opinion, that Nedra Ward and Gang fired Dan Colwell. Most of the MACE antagonists on this board are still mad about this. I witneseed Colwell show complete disrespect to the board members (who eventually fired him) at board meetings, refusing to respond to them when they asked him questions and even barking remarks at them. Hey, his side lost three of four seats in 2002. He was fired. Tough luck. He too is a cry baby — just like Elgart. This whole affair in Clayton County is tinged with racism, even though many will engage in outcries that I deign to say this. Who care? Perhaps, if Marueen did not mention David Ashe (and I have not read her editorial), then this is yet another episode of the “limousine liberal” philosophy showing how hollow it is. I agree with Haynes when he said that the SACS Report was “a sham and a farce.” Mark Elgart, in my opinion, is a cry baby and a joke. I would be glad to engage in a open, public, formal debate with him (as with any other weenie on this board) any day and any time and at any location. You know how to get in touch with me. My name is John Trotter.

By WFC

April 9, 2008 8:54 AM | Link to this

I believe that the students of Clayton county might have been better served if the Board had gone on vacation in April 2007 and STAYED THERE!

Does no one see that the entire concept of “Board of Education” is a flawed concept for runnning our schools?

By Dr. John Trotter

April 9, 2008 9:33 AM | Link to this

Cry baby Mark Elgart is “fatally flawed” because he put his bruised ego in front of 52,000 students. He would have never done this in Fulton County because his precious darlings live in Alpharetta and he would have had to face the angry mob in the produce department at his local Publix. Maureen Downey is “fatally flawed” because she doesn’t know her rear end from deep center field. Her employer, Cox Communications, exists for one purpose: to make money (which is the American Way). However, its subsidiaries, the Atlanta Journal-Contitution, WSB Radio, and Channel 2 News, come across so sanctimonious as if they are concerned about Clayton County. They don’t give a rate’s behind about anything but about making money for Cox Communications. Let’s at least get real. Elgart is still mad that the Clayton County School Board fired his buddy Dan Colwell.

By Dr. John Trotter

April 9, 2008 10:06 AM | Link to this

Obviously “rate’s behind” was meant to be “rat’s behind.” Please pardon this and other typos. My proposition remains: The entire problem in Clayton County has been the bruised ego of the pseudo-elite Mark Elgart who apparently does not care one thing for Clayton’s children, despite his many protestations to the contrary. Again, my name is John Trotter, and I am willing to debate any scared weenie who blogs anonymously. I am also willing to engage in a formal, open, public debate (with written, formal propositions) with the very ineffective Kathy Cox, the egotistical Mark Elgart, the whimsical Sonny Perdue or any of his elfs, Bostic and Bryant, the sanctimonious Marueen Downey, the blowhard Dick Williams on that Sunday morning show, or any Clayton County wannabe (Larry O’Keefe, Mary Baker, Sid Chapman, et al.) or anyone else. How’s this for calling all out? Name the place (within Georgia), time, and antagonist. I don’t need to hide behind anonymity. You know how to get in touch with me. My name is John Trotter.

By Attn: Clayton Parents

April 9, 2008 10:11 AM | Link to this

Isn’t it “sad but true” that when many MACE bashers get confronted with facts and logic they simply find themselves decidedly unequal to the task, and turn tail and run?

One gets the feeling that Elgart knows his report has been exposed for what it is, seeing as when the reporter from the AJC called him asking for comment he wouldn’t give one (in, what I must say, was a shockingly well balanced article on Dr. Trotter by Eric Stirgus)

Heck even the two recent candidates called it political and Thompson outright called it a sham. (Twenty seven pages and ZERO mention of Ericka Davis’s micromanaging? How COULDN’T you call it a sham?)

I wonder if Downey would come down and debate Dr. Trotter (or better yet do some real journalism and spend some time anonymously as a ClayCo sub?)

We could perhaps get one of battle tested National Guard units to escort her, if she doesn’t think Victor is up to the task. Then she could regale her friends with tales of coming into ClayCo “under sniper fire” just like Hillary!

I wonder if Vegas would be willing to establish an over/under line as to how many minutes into her “coming home” victory celebration it would be before Downey or one of her “open minded” friends used the term “those people”?

By Attn: Clayton Parents

April 9, 2008 10:57 AM | Link to this

Did Maureen Downey jump the gun in praise of board Vice Chairman (and GAE member) Eddie White? Now that Ericka’s gone, and the chairmanship is within his grasp, is he going to go Gollum on us? (“Oh the precious. They want me to run again. They need me to run again. Oh the precious.”)

By jim d

April 11, 2008 7:22 AM | Link to this

Hey Dr. John,

When you finish in Clayton county how about comming on up to Gwinnett.

Keep up the good work!