Thursday, August 27, 2009

SWM Seeks SBDM

How is your SBDM functioning?

The list of mediocre teachers has come out from the Puzzle Palace, who is on it? What criteria was used to establish this list? Have they contacted their AR's? IEA? Their own attorney? Have you been put on a personnel improvement plan? Was it based on your previous evaluation? What are the specifics of this latest blame the teacher plan?

This is not a negotiated strategy, but another unfair labor practice in the offing.

Be prepared!

30 comments:

  1. So how do you know if you are on the list? Is someone required to tell you?

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  2. Since it wasn't agreed to, and who knows what is "required". It wasn't in any board minuted. The only way this is even this small sliver of information is know is because it was shared with an AR. Many may be too embarrassed to tell anyone. I'm sure this is what they hope happens.

    "First they came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up, because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me." attributed to Pastor Martin Niemöller

    The plan is to remove these teachers from their classrooms in January, then offer them the right to retire, resign, or be put on a PIP the next year in June. This information was passed out the at the convocation.

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  3. Who has this list? Where can we get a copy? This is serious business, folks. Makes you wonder what will be next.

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  4. See your AR tomorrow to sign up.

    Perhaps this is IPS's new plan. First they will get rid of senior teachers, then they'll start on young ones. I moved here from another state and their was a district that really resisted any organization of their teachers. They seldom kept teachers past the fifth year, when they would have been granted tenure (it is a state that has tenure) I checked yesterday and their average teacher has 11 years of service, the surrounding districts the average length of service is double that. Really kept their costs for teachers low, and there was so much more for administration.

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  5. I'm pretty sure the Martin Niemoller quote is a bit melodramatic in this moment and a bit disrepectful to the true issues that lead to it being said in the first place. Rumors people, quit listening to them.

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  6. Rumors, they aren't rumors, read your handout.

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  7. It is NOT a rumor. Eugene White said it and made it quite clear.

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  8. Where is the IEA on these issues? Are we sure the IEA President isn't "sleeping with the enemy" so to speak? Not only is there a board policy covering SBDM, there is a state law requiring SBDM.

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  9. Hey, I.P.S.B.S. Where are you when we need you??? Help us out! Publish the names on the "mediocre" list. Inquiring minds need to know.

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  10. To: Blog Administrator

    Have you personally seen this list? Or, do you know a trusted co-worker who's seen this list? Don't tease us with a rumored list. We need more details, not riddles, please. Thank you in advance for getting back to us with the details about this list.

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  11. I think it would be completely inappropriate to reveal names on Eugene White's hit list.......it exists, he told us he was going to do it and some principals have told their faculty that they have been asked to submit names......When is he school board going to wake up???

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  12. The IEA can't do a thing until a member steps up and complains. Once that happens they better jump on this one or their won't be an IEA next year. One of the problems with IEA and IPS is they work at the pace of snails to resolve issues. IEA needs to negotiate an independant arbitrator instead of IPS adminstration hearing and deciding complains against IPS administration. If you got divorced would you let your ex-spouses attorney make the decisions about the division of property?

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  13. I seriously doubt IPSB-S knows any more about this then any teacher does. How could there be any mediocre teachers at BRHS after Davis handpicked her friends, but I've heard there is more then one there.

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  14. Aren't you excited to see your pay check today! You'll get you new payrate, so you can take the family out to Micky D's for happymeals. And maybe today they will manage to pay everyone who works for the system!

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  15. You are assuming that you will get a paycheck today.

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  16. I have a contract, and I have been at work, and there are laws, but does any of this really matter to IPS?

    I have a friend who was forced to leave IPS, the finest teacher I have ever known, she filed for unemployment and was approved. There was a hearing about her actual last date of employment and Jane Adjabu showed up, she tried to tell the judge that IPS wouldn't be paying my friend unemployment. The judge promptly put her in her place and told her she might be in charge where she worked but in his court he was the boss, the issue of paying had already been decided, IPS lost, and they were only deciding dates. Wouldn't you have loved to be there?

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  17. "You are assuming that you will get a paycheck today."

    I just checked my bank account Online. My paycheck was deposited. The deposit is $400 more than my old paychecks.

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  18. That would amount to an annual raise of $10,400......are you in administration??

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  19. I don't know where you are getting info about the teacher's pay raise being on todays paycheck. My check was for the same amount as it was the last 2 weeks. HR and Payroll said that the date is undetermined when or if we will get our pay raise............once again we have been bamboozled by Eugene White and Ann Wilkins( they have to be in this together) This is ridiculous!!!! Who can you trust? Not even the IEA President! So long paying dues!

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  20. The SBDM committee at our magnet school never gets anything done. The staff have many genuine concerns that need to be addressed but they are falling on deaf ears.Nothing ever gets done as a result of the SBDM team meeting. There are too many Chiefs and not enough Indians at our school. Too many people are in charge and running the school who are not the principal so in return our school building has turned into complete chaos!!!

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  21. The information regarding the pay raise being on the first check of the school year came from both IEA and IPS, I have the paperwork that confirms this. Apparently they didn't share this issue with the payroll people.

    As to the checks, the contract says 26 even paychecks, the last three checks of last school year were three different amounts, today I had one friend who got $35. more, another got $25 more, and a third got $100. less. Good luck trying to get that overpayment straightened out.

    To the SBDM the SBDM is suppose to cycle through your concerns, their should be subcommittees that address different issues. Your SBDM needs to take a look at the Policy and Procedure Manual, which is on line at the IEA site, and tailor it to your school. Then they need to figure out how policy is made and start making well thought out and planned policies; policies that everyone has had input on and there is staff buy in, since every policy must be approved by the entire staff.
    No single person on an SBDM is a chief. The principal has to follow these legally enacted school policies or they are violating state law.

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  22. To the question. Our SBDM is doing nothing.

    That is why are lunches are 22 minutes 28 minutes (if that with duties).

    The IEA has done nothing. The administration we keep getting told is looking into it.

    SBDM is a joke. Just like the school board not wanting to know what is going on in spending last night.

    We are suppose to just role over and take it from the administration and say, "Thank you, may I have more."

    It is time for Dr. White and the School board to be shown the door. I live in the district. When elections come "NO" incumbant on that school board will receive my vote.

    If teachers had a vote of "No confidence" in their leadership. I would step up first to cast mine.

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  23. Our SBDM (southside elementary) functions with a fully functioning membership, with regular meetings, agendas, reminder notices, a secretary, treasurer, and active members. Our staff is given every invitation to attend meetings, IEA member or not. Our committees fulfill their roles, and bring full documentation to meetings for votes.

    Roberts Rules of Order are followed to the individual punctuation mark.

    Collectively, we've made changes in the way our school functions.

    Our building works. Thanks, KM!

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  24. I was told today that because the school board did not approve the raise until last night, the raise would not be in effect on this paycheck, but the amount we should have received today would be added to a later check. This came from the payroll department in an email, so I do have documentation of it.

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  25. THE LIST
    Colleagues:
    The lists do exist, but the master list has not been compiled yet because it is in the process of being part of a 14 step plan that was set forth by HR and Dr. Kendrick and Dr. Clency with the blessings and under the aegis of Dr. White.

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  26. THE LIST:
    Before the opening of this school year, August 2009,I saw(quite by accident) something alarming in our building that confirms that each list exists in the school building that has the employed-soon to be unemployed, not to mention bruised and insulted teachers as well-that will be submitted to Dr. White on December 2, 2009.

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  27. THE LIST:
    I, too, know something about this and the list of teachers was urged on by Kendrick for principals to identify any "mediocre" teachers-particularly those in math and Language Arts areas because they should be removed since they were now to be considered as inadequate and a harm and danger to our students' education.

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  28. THE LIST:
    Well, our building's principal found them alright-
    because:
    1. he wanted revenge over-who knows?
    2.the instructional coach wanted revenge or PERSONAL SATISFACTION AGAINST COLLEAGUES WHO QUESTIONED OR THWARTED HER AUTHORITY OR HER UNQUALIFIED OPINIONS! Also, those who resented or resisted those ridiculous PLC meetings were targets.
    The next step was for them to gather the skewed data from subjective opinions the coach wrote about the engagement levels of students in the classrooms and while doing so throw in some barbs and other derogatory remarks about classroom management styles.
    The coach is involved because I recognized her handwriting on a page designed for the administrative meeting held before the opening of school.
    The names on the list were mostly math and science teachers who are over 50 years old,but who are well under the age of viable retirement, financially speaking.
    There were some younger teachers' names and these were the teachers that the principal accused of looking like janitors because they chose to wear blue jeans on certain days, IEA.
    The teachers of math and English named who are to be eliminated as soon as January 2009 will be told to resign or retire or pip, I think.
    This will be the next subterfuge used to make appearance to the state that ips administration has taken the responsible steps on its own to improve the problems and the state does not need to worry about interfering with ips hierarchy and its high -salaried ,over abundant administrators who are in full-swing pursuit of self-interest big time even as I type.
    Besides being a great strategy to enable the administration to continue its reign, it is a way to cut costs from those teachers who survived long enough to be at the top of the salary scale and to silence some critics. It also can squelch and punish those teachers who are creative or innovative as well, and especially if they have been outspoken sometimes. Now they will be deemed as having poor classrooom management styles.
    Does ips -bs forward to Tony Bennett? It should!
    This LIST business is just another cruel twist of the knife by Dr.White because he is mad at everybody, I think. It is also going to happen because the listmakers are small-minded revenge-seeking relatives, inlaws,and directly and highly connected to his survival and their own.
    What kind of contract has no language to protect the interests of teachers,IEA? Oh, but I forgot, a lot of us didn't see, discuss or have much chance to think about it beforehand, did we?

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  29. Hey our SBDM is working just fine.

    Administration says bend over. They say, "How far? Shall I hold my cheeks as well?"

    School Based Decision Making means all should have input and opinions respected. Unfortunetly, our administrations is treating us (the classroom teachers) like children who need a "spanking". They refuse the SBDM's recomendations. The SBDM was refused on every recomendations last school year and so far this year.

    The administrations does like Dr. White. Changes the employee working conditions without bargaining and agreement.

    Guess we should just take it. Or like another poster (on this or another listing) said, ask Dr. Jones (oops, that is White) and the administration for some "cool-aide" please.

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  30. I'm speaking as an outsider here, and I'm not at all condoning poor management by administrators. However, if so many decisions are supposed to be made by committee (SBDM), then why does administration exists?

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