I received a copy of the statement below responding to a recently published Dallas Observer news article by Jim Schutze on protecting school principals.
The Real Victims in School Reform Battles Are Kids Who Can Be Taught and Aren't
Putting PrinciPals Before PrinciPles
Carolyn Davis Comes Out Swinging Against School Reform, in Defense of Principals' Jobs
Mike Miles vs. Patronage: DISD's Impending Principal Purge - Click Here
The North Dallas Plot to Take Over DISD
Mike Rawlings Endorses DISD Candidates, Continues His Wade into District Politics
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DALLAS
I.S.D.
MAR
2
1 2013
TO: Jim
Schutze-
Dallas Observer BOARD
SERVICES
FROM: DISD
Insider
Underground
Resistance
See
attached: Article
The
attached
was
reviewed by
us DISD
insiders,
and of
course
working
within this
vindictive regime,
it is
not wise to
reveal
names. This
is why
we had
chosen the
name
DISD
Insider
Underground
Resistance.
We
chose this
in honor
of the
warriors
from the
Underground
Railroad
days and
the World
War II
days who
fought
against the
slavery and
Hitler
regimes.
It is
because of
the
similarities
of cruelty,
disregard
for human
beings, and
the general
Hitler-like,
Plantation-owner
like
behavior
(think
Django) of
Emperor
Miles that
we decided
to go
underground to
fight .
We also
vetted this
with those
who are
"fortunate"
recent
departees
to get
their
perspective
from
outside
since the
outsiders
(idiot
Board
Members and
the Press)
that should
know
better,
apparently
are
drinking
from this
"Jim
Jones"
koolaid willingly.
Here
goes:
- Why is it always assumed that folks are trying to protect 'bad' principals? Have you actually reviewed the number of principals who have been replaced in the schools that you are apparently targeting (or rather those that have been targeted for you --we are convinced that someone from upper administration and the Board is feeding you info- much of what you write you could not possibly know; and it is clear you do minimal journalistic investigation- more on that later.) Who is trying to protect principals? And if you can identify the "who"•..are they protecting principals or are they insuring a fair process of assessment? Note your response to MacNaughton about the culmination to a'long process of evaluation"- what long process??? The Board did not approve the Principal Evaluation Instrument until the end of January 2013. There were NO goal setting conferences in the Fall, and principals were just asked to sign mid-year conference goal setting documents in February!!! And final Summative Conferences in March! The fourth 61 weeks of six 6 Weeks of school...based on what???
No student
scores are
even
back!III
A LONG
assessment process
or just
going
through the
steps!!!
Lawyers we
have
checked
with think
it is
the latter
and that
'pig won't
fly'!
- Is it a 'hit list'? Yep --there are EDs who report they have been given a 'quota' to meet and the 'quota' was given early in the school year (someone even said that during the third week of the school year, the Superintendent was asking how many principals would fail, and wanted numbers!) Some EDs with integrity have refused to 'play' this unethical game and are looking outside the District for work in places that are not unethical and going the unsavory route that DISD is apparently now headed.
- MacNaughton is right - Emperor Miles shoots from the hip and is hell bent on establishing a reputation of being Mr. Tough Guy. He has not taken the time (or does not have the skills) to do basic 101stuff--- his trainings while at first well received have proven to be 'consultant' stuff with very little substance and the research we have done does not show any of this to have any validity for moving student achievement. We also went back and did what the Idiot Board apparently did not do...checkedthe schools in Harrison (remember this guy's total experience has been only in Colorado- a real hub of urban education and in a teeny, tiny school district with no real credible achievement -where are the Blue Ribbon Schools and the schools listed as models in any credible educational research journai...NO WHERE!)
- Emperor Miles is a phony! And a liar! The model he is using, is one that Broad Fellows (think 'Road to Broad') have been using throughout the country without success (did you even bother to check???)
Kansas City- Broad Fellow Supt- went in, year one turned central
office upside down; put principals on notice and replaced year two;
put teachers on notice re tying evaluation to student performance-
year three (left town with the District in shambles -they are still
trying to pick up the pieces); look at Chicago- why do you think the
teachers went on strike and wonI Okay- guess you have enough to get
you started -just check this model out around the country (it is not
original with Emperor Miles though he would have you think it is --it
is just as phony as the research he quotes which is not credible
-it is his own writings in second rate journals!)
- You get the point hopefully and so do wei Is there a need for change? YESIII Do bad principals and bad teachers need to have consequences? YES! I! Is there a credible process or credible processes tomake this happen in a fair, equitable, consistent manner that will have positive impact on kids learning?
YES. Is it in place now in DISD? NOI So what is going on?
From a departee: similar to the holocaust, slavery, the segregation Jaws, etc, members of the press were very aware of what was going on but turned a blind eye and believed the hype from within -some because it was too horrific to believe that it was actually possible that
such
atrocities
could happen;
or some
too
self-centered
to want
to be
an outsider
to
the status
quo;
or some
just too
lazy to
do the
basic
journalistic
research.
Or is probably
the case
with Schultze,
the others
like DMN
are an
absolute lost
cause, be
so wants
the schools
to reform,
be is
open to
any hype
that sounds
credible and
bas not
taken the
time to
look beneath
the surface
of the
hype (actually
be should
as it
would not
take much
--a brief
conversation
with a
few folks
would be
very
revealing)-- I
doubt that
be wiU
as be
basput
himseK out
on a
limb and
it takes
a pretty
big person
to
say, bey
I was
wrong.
Not sure
be bas
what it
takes to
do that.
From
departee
2:
when I
saw what
this guy
wanted
us to
do with
principals and
teachers who
are really good
people and
eRective, the
ones that
came in
his cross
bows (either
because they
actually had
an opinion
and expressed
it; or
one of
the idiots
on the
Board did
not like
them; or
they did
not genuflect
enough for
the boss),
I /mew
I bad
to get
out of
there. I
come from
outside of
education and
I have
never seen
an environment
like this
either in
DISD or
from other
institutions. I
think
a mental
health
assessment of
the man
is in
order.
From
departee
3: I
really admire
Mike and
thought be
did a
really good
job in
Colorado. He
does have
a big
ego and
wants to
be known
as a
great
educational
reformer- be has his
eyes set
on Washington.
I think
this job
was more
than be
anticipated and
it has just
brought out
the worse
in him.
But I
wiU teOyou
be is
doing much
of what
members of
the Board
want him
to do.
He is
not an
idiot. He
can count
to 5.
From
departee
4: DISD
will be
broke in
a year
or two
under this guy;
be is
clueless and
simply does
not want
to
listen/ Very
dangerous
business to
think you
/mow it
all.
- Emperor Miles is clueless I The guy does not know the basics of school administration. Principals sit in meetings astounded at what little he knows•••he can answer no questions, even the most basic ones. That has never been the case with any DISD Superintendent -the same is the case in the Open Mike Meetings- the guy is clueless! Yet you trust that he is doing what is right for kids. If these kids were not majority Brown, Black and poor, would you let him continue with this experimentation (from a departee - noted that what is going on is similar to the experiments that happened to Black males in the 60's...if they had been white it would never have happened.)
- He can count to 5 and so can we. 5 Board Members apparently support this mania. And we know that two white Board Members asked that Bingham and Cowan be endorsed to maintain the white majority to keep the 5 count (this while there is lack of proportional Hispanic representation on the Board, but these two represent majority Hispanic constituents.) And apparently so do you (someone said the most dangerous person to the advancement of people of color and the poor, is a middle class and upper middle class white liberals- seems sol)
- Have you done basic research on the leaders? We have...most were being released from their previous positions, or have never had any school leadership experience but are leading principals! Sevack -a researcher; Dominquez - released from Uplift. Reyna- Ft Worth was dumping her; Doughboy- no HR experience at alii Spann- no campus based experience- and we can give you more. We are checking them all out and it is scary that these are the folks who are evaluating (such as it is) principals!
At the end of the day, it will be a greater power that corrects this
as we know that there is a God who looks after fools and babies, and
the babies need to be looked after. (By the way, one of the team
noted that the notion that Black folks from the same sororities and
fraternities, and churches get jobs is so very white! College
educated Black folks almost all belong to a sorority or fraternity,
and there is almost a 90% chance that most are educators•••duhI)
Schutze- do your homework! Do due diligence! Get on the right side of
this if you care about kids, ethics, fairness and justice; or history
will have you in the same boat with those journalists who thought
those calling for attention to the evils of slavery; the horrors of
the holocaust; and the evil of
Jim Crow were just being hysterical! This is a
hysterical time in DISDI HELP is needed from all of good will! Stop
drinking the "Jim Jones DISD' koolaidl
(PS. Given the abuse of Emperor Miles the Mayor needs to call for a
march to eradicate educator abuse by the Emperor!)
CC: DISD Board President Lew Blackburn
Commissioner John Wiley Price
Mayor Rawlings
Others Dallas Observer March 7·13, 2013
Protecting
Principals
In
last
week's
paper,
Schutze
wrote
about
the
Imppending fight In Dallas lSD, where Superintendent
Mike Miles plans to purge the dfstrict of underperforrmlng
principals. He'll' be met,Schutze wrote, with fierce resistance
from politicians trying to protect thelr friends- and by the
growing army of Miles haters.
Imppending fight In Dallas lSD, where Superintendent
Mike Miles plans to purge the dfstrict of underperforrmlng
principals. He'll' be met,Schutze wrote, with fierce resistance
from politicians trying to protect thelr friends- and by the
growing army of Miles haters.
Is there a patronage system
(or at least nepo
tism
and
cronyism)
at
work
here?
Absolutely.
In
the
near
past,
hiring
was
often based
on
one's church, family
or
sorority
connections.
DISD
stopped
publishing
the
obituary section of the
DISD internal
employee
newsletter
because
the
list
of
family
members
of
the
dear
deceased
that
were
employed by DISD
was embarrassingly
lengthy.
Do we need to improve the quality of the
principals?
Absolutely.
But
how in the
world
is a
principal
who
is
notified in April
that
they
are
on a growth
plan
going to
have any chance
of
improving
things
at
their
school
by
the
end
of May? This smells like a hit list.
Miles and his administration are champing
at
the
bit
to
do
something,
anything,
to
show forward
motion. Past mistakes - already
too
many
to
mention
in
Miles'
six·month
superintendent stint-
show that his
persistent ready, fire,
aim"
mentality
is
also
at
play
here.
Is
fairness
being
sacrificed
for
speed?
Every
day
that passes
without
productive
change
is
another day lost
to
the
students,
a
day
they
cannot
ever get back.
lf some principals on the growth plan are retained while others are fired, the superintendent ought to be able to articulate specifically
lf some principals on the growth plan are retained while others are fired, the superintendent ought to be able to articulate specifically
why,
since
he
may
end
up
having
to
do
so
in court
anyway
when
all
is
said
and
done.
MICHAEL
MACNAUGHTON,
DISO WATCHDOG
In
response
to
MacNaughton:
I get what
you
are
saying.
But
the
growth
plans are
a
final
step
in
a
long
process
of
evaluation
Qlld
documentation
beginning
with
goals
statements,
revisited
with
amid-year
assessment and
several
other
intermediate
steps.
Seems like
a
heads-up
principal
would
smell
the
smoke
way
before
seeing
the
flames.
JIM SCHUlZE
JIM SCHUlZE
