Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2007 > January > 09 > Entry
Littlejohn out as board president
Littlejohn and Issacs
Gail Littlejohn stepped down as school board president at tonight’s meeting as the board elected Yvonne Isaacs to replace her.
Littlejohn said she decided not to seek the presidency again for several reasons. First, she said five years was a long time for one person to lead the board. Second, she said she felt her 2001 goals were achieved — gettting the bond issue passed, seeing the district rise out of academic emergency and professionalizing the school board. Third, she plans to devote full time energy to leading the board’s leffort to pass the upcoming May tax levy.
Finally, she said this: “I really believe the community needs to see the board and administration is not based on one person’s leadership. It’s important in terms of community having confidence in the institution.”
I asked her if this was at least partly a result of her having become something of a lightning rod for critics of the board and administration, but she said those slings and arrows come with the territory in any leadership role and she expects Isaacs will experience much the same.
So, at least in one sense, the Littlejohn era is over for Dayton schools. Any thoughts on her accomplishments as board president? Please respond in the comments.
On the job cuts front, Superintendent Percy Mack said 61 positions are being cut in a cost-cutting move, including 31 teaching jobs.
Permalink | Comments (16) | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
Comments
By teachermom
January 15, 2007 12:37 AM | Link to this
Sorry if I stepped on your toes, Lou. You know as well as I do though that some of these students ARE antisocial. I’m very aware of the differences between delinquent and ED with my own job/schooling. DPS needs a much better plan of action in dealing with delinquents. I have a hard time watching EVERYONE struggle when ED students never get the SERVICES and appropriate settings it takes to educate them. ED and MENTALLY RETARDED are as different as night and day too. So placing them in an LD or CD is not the answer. If you are licensed in ED, you must know that their educational costs are at LEAST $15,000 each/yr. more than a regular ed. student. I’m sure you know what I meant.By lou
January 14, 2007 7:43 PM | Link to this
Teachermom, ED students are not psychopaths. A psychopath is Antisocial. This is considered social maladjustment. That is not covered as an educational disability. I am certified ED and I loved the kids I had at an alternative school I used to teach at. Please don’t assume that ED and delinquint is the same thing. They are as different as night and day.By teachermom
January 14, 2007 12:25 PM | Link to this
You’ve got that right ! DPS does very little to students who are disruptive and violent. They may get 30 days in an alternative setting and then they rotate them back into a different building. The students think it’s a big game.That’s AFTER months of out-of-control behavior, usually at the expense of the other children’s academics and safety. Then they go to another building and some other poor souls have to start a new paper trail before their classroom can get any relief. Emotionally Disturbed Units were to expensive from the county. It’s much cheaper to let psychopaths back into the classrooms they were removed from (until someone gets really hurt). I get so sick of watching the nice children leave. They get cursed out, bullied, kicked, slapped, and spit on . The teachers do THEIR jobs by calling parents and writing discipline referrals. Maybe eventually the disruptive students get lumped into a special ed. setting. Regular classrooms get some relief, but then the child goes on to terrorize in the smaller setting, where it is illegal for them to be suspended longer than 10 days. They are still permitted to go to lunch and recess with everyone else. The teachers we have now for E.D. children are mostly not certified and are more clueless on how to control them than the child’s original teacher was.They’ve pushed Elementary and Jr. Highs together in the buildings and for bussing,and provide little or no security. We can’t get any cameras, more or less an In-School Suspension Program. When is DPS going to stop prostituting itself to the disruptive, unruly, and violent ? Anything to keep the numbers up, right ?By Dayton Staffmember
January 13, 2007 2:05 PM | Link to this
Lou, I agree completely. Where I teach, the students are out of control. (I’m told we are one of the better schools in the district.) In order to keep students in school (for attendance) students are being allowed to get away with way too much. Plus, like you said, in the name of “customer service” we are allowing disruptive students to continually get away with their behavior. Some good students end up leaving because they get tired of this disruptive behavior. What is the district’s priority? When students are allowed to get away with bad behavior, they get worse and worse. The next thing you know, they are getting lead away in handcuffs. Why aren’t the principals dealing with this issue before it gets to that point?By Scott Elliott
January 11, 2007 4:07 PM | Link to this
Let me say that I would be surprised if Gail Littlejohn ever ran for mayor. If she runs for something else after school board, I’d bet it will higher office — perhaps a statewide post like Ohio attorney general or the statehouse, or even U.S. Congress. BTW, I specifically asked her about her future political ambitions Tuesday and she said she still has no plans to run for anything else, although she said she is asked about running for other posts, in her words, “almost weekly.” When she first ran for school board, Littlejohn said she had no political ambitions, only that she thought the school board was a mess and she felt a strong desire to overhaul it for the sake of the community and its children. She, in fact, pledged never to run for another office in her first school board campaign. She now hedges a bit and says she will not consider any other political run until her remaining three years on her school board term are complete. But she now leaves open the possibility that she would consider running for other office after that. I just don’t think it would be for mayor.By Ty
January 11, 2007 3:24 PM | Link to this
Change is good… The citizens of Dayton will not forget the wicked witch from the school board - when voting for our next Mayor!By lou
January 11, 2007 2:12 PM | Link to this
Rick most of the current principles are not new, they have retired and come back. So how has any thing there changed? Have you been in the high schools lately? Where is discipline? Can’t find it here. It’s not so much the principles, it’s higher up thats the problem. While we are catering to these few disruptive students, calling it customer service, we are loosing the good ones.By Barb
January 11, 2007 12:19 PM | Link to this
I believe Dr.Essick is correct that Gail Littlejohn did indeed use the BoE as a stepping stone to the Mayor’s office. Perhaps by stepping down now the public will forget how she ran the Board and how disappointed many people were in her. What will she do to the city of Dayton. Time is said to be a great healer so if she starts to distance herself from the BoE now perhaps many will forget her decisions and decide she might not run the city of Dayton in her “dictatorship” way. I hope people will not forget that she put her own political abitions before her committment to the Dayton Schools. Will she do the same with the city? Is this reallly the person we would want as a mayor. I hope teachers,parents and the DEA will not forget and will not support her in her political intentions. I hope people begin speaking out now very loudly so she does not just disappear until she is ready to make her bid for mayor.By dps teacher
January 11, 2007 12:16 PM | Link to this
Who-Hoo! Maybe all the teachers in the district should get together and dance down Ludlow in celebration! After all, we never got to attend the administrators party!By teachermom
January 10, 2007 9:32 PM | Link to this
I too am curious as to what Ms. Littlejohn’s post will be after this announcement. Will she remain an active board member ? Will she try to control the Board from the side ? Her lack of consideration for the educators in the district would not make for good publicity during levy time. Is this her way of avoiding blame should the levy not pass ? Mr. Elliot, you stated that Mrs. Littlejohn left a message on your voicemail recently about not making decisions in staff cuts until after teachers voted on the former proposed contract. This would mean to me that cuts weren’t as immediately necessary after the first of the year as they were made out to be to the public. Sounds like maybe there was some leverage going between the Board and the union by threatening of job cuts. Now that the contract is in place and teachers thought there would be serious job eliminations, the district doesn’t seem as broke as they portrayed. It is a real shame that DEA took these threats so seriously. Some of us could see behind the curtain that smoke and mirrors were being used. I am sure this is another accomplishment that Ms. Littlejohn failed to mention (bullying teachers into a garbage-contract). Now every time teachers ask for a nickel, the district knows it can cry “broke” to everyone and threaten cuts. It worked this time, right ? Everyone I know was glad to hear the news today, but I am sure Mrs. Littlejohn will be living with her sense of “accomplishment,” all right.By Rick
January 10, 2007 4:20 PM | Link to this
Without the KidsFirst team and Dr. Mack the DPS would be about where they were 8 years ago, with no hope. Sure the great work of teachers, teachers aids and others has been a big part of the improvement. But when those teachers,etc were under Dr. Williams things just got worst. One of the most important factors in getting a good education is an involved and dynamic prinicipal. Under previous regimes cronyism and longevity were the key to becoming a principal. Well the KidsFirst team and Dr. Mack replaced 50% of the principles. That is HUGE. So the key to the improvement made is the Superintendant and the Board.By Mary
January 10, 2007 12:33 PM | Link to this
Dr. Essick, I think you might be confused about Littlejohn’s resignation from board presidency (unless I am). Littlejohn will still be on the board and have the same number of votes - one. Some districts switch the ceremonial board presidency role every year among the board members.By another teacher
January 10, 2007 12:17 PM | Link to this
Well said, dps teacher! Thank you for voicing the opinion so many of us share!By dpsgrad
January 10, 2007 11:05 AM | Link to this
Did Dr. Esssick mean “parody of education” or “parity of education?” Both could make sense to some people.By dps teacher
January 10, 2007 9:32 AM | Link to this
I am not sure who Dr. Essick is talking about, but I see Mrs. Littlejohn stepping down as BoE president as a giant step for the district administration and its relations with its staff. Mrs. Littlejohn is a polarizing figure, who has little respect for district employees. Discipline is still a major issue that has not been seriously addressed. I believe that if the district focused on student discipline, rather than solely on attendance, then families that have left the district for charter and community schools, will be more likely to come back. Mrs. Littlejohn is not responsible for the marginal success the district has attained over the last few years, that success mainly comes from the teachers and staff at the building level and Mrs. Littlejohn has not recognized that, only in short, scripted sound bites. I wish her well in her focus on the levy. I hope that Mrs. Isaacs will work to improve relations between the Board and its employees.By Dr Henry Essick II
January 10, 2007 12:30 AM | Link to this
In a very big way the resignation Of Mrs. Littlejohn has me with mixed emotions. I am sad to see her leave because, in my opinion, she has been the absolute best leader to have ever held the position. Had she stayed Dayton might have eventually reached parody of education with some of the neighboring better funded school districts. But on the other hand leaving opens the door for her to use her leadership abilities to much greater effect; as the next mayor of Dayton, something I hope she pursues. Mrs. Littlejohn is a force for good regardles of what some might think. I personally feel that much of the current criticism directed at her is because she did what was best rather than what was politically correct. She cut where cuts were needed and demanded accountability from her staff. She expected preformance and got it. She demanded student discipline, attendance and parent involvement and the district has steadily improved in those important areas. Her entire staff should take a bow and we should all stand and applaude. Mrs. Littlejohn will be a great leader for Dayton and when future conversations arise about Dayton’s greatest mayors her name will echo with that of another great mayor, the late James H. Mcgee.