Mr. Whelan should resign or be stripped of his chairmanship of the Region One BOE.
There was NEVER any discussion on this matter at a Region One Board meeting so we must assumed that Mr. Whelan was writing as a private citizen as he cannot speak for the Board without their consent, and this matter would need to occur in a public meeting. There are no grounds for an executive session here. And Mr Whelan was identified in this letter as an official of Region One at the start of the letter by Pam Vogel.As for the Superintendent, her writing this type of letter to a newspaper is down right unprofessional.
Mr Whelan should resign or be censored, as this is a MAJOR breach of board ethics.
Thank you Mike Flint for the information.
Whelen must resign ?… But who will fill his shoes at mangling board procedure, berating the general public, and chewing gum with his mouth open? (Not to mention ignoring the well being of our Region’s students.) Central Office is already overburdened with attempts to justify their unquestionable initiatives. If Dr.Vogel is forced to devote more time to running our BOE, she is going to need a bigger budget.
Though-out all these matters of Grading, pointing fingers, blaming people. There isn’t one person in that high school to blame or point a finger at in my opinion. The high school faculty, (Principal down) are only following orders and carrying them out. Central office seems like they came up with ideas of a new procedure. The Board must have listened. Did they investigate? Did they debate their findings? Did they come to a conclusion? Was it presented to the teachers that have a continuing education in teaching of modern times? Did everyone put their heads to gather and do a Pro and Con of the new procedure?
I read many people talking what the Board should do, what the Board shouldn’t be doing. It sounds like there are some people that have some good organization skills on formality’s.
If things are so upside down, WHY? For those that have worked in Corporations you must know every successful form of business , institute has what is called a “OPERATIONS MANUAL”. Well,,,,were is it? Why isn’t it front and center at all board meetings, so if there is a question, a suggestion, a informality, it can be referred to instantly. When you walk into a business meeting and people are dressed accordingly it is impressive, and suggest leadership. It demands respect. Perhaps a school board should be made up of the representative of each town, all the chair members of the department heads of the school and one parent to each Chair. How well versed are the Board members on the latest educational teaching procedures?
Example of taking responsibility of problems; Starbucks, this week; unreasonable request to customers. Excessive force to remove 2 people for wrong unthoughtful reasons. Who’s fault? The end result is the CEO, for not knowing what was going on in his business, and he rid the case of a really un-educated person in the food service business. I know what does that have to do with education? Everything…your business is the product of” Knowledge”. Don’t you think if the CEO didn’t take responsibility and isn’t willing to address the problem, THE BOARD WOULD RELIEVE HIM OF HIS DUTIES. THEN!!!!! THE STOCK HOLDERS would seek new board members for REORGANIZATION.
Simple resolve; WERE IS THE OPERATIONS MANUAL??????? Just follow it, if presented. Don’t have? Get one , or continued on the same path.
Dr. Vogel and Board Chair Whelan state that, “… personal attacks, rumors, and misinformation are running rampant.”
Yet they have done nothing to address or even acknowledge public concerns. The “personal attacks” seem to be coming from these two public officials. The “rumors” have come about due to a confusion among teachers, administrators, parents, and students as to the implementation of poorly thought out and confusing initiatives. What specifically do Vogel/Whelan consider, “misinformation”? Any misinformation appears to be generated from a concerned public trying hard to get answers from the standoffish Regional leadership. If Vogel/Whelan see misinformation, they should be coming forward with accurate information. It is becoming painfully obvious that they have no answers…and students continue to suffer.
I predict the BOE and Central Office will lay low until after the May 1st budget vote. Any action taken by these public trusts can only serve to bring attention to their shortcomings, and remind voters of public dissatisfaction.
The public can not afford to, “lay low.” This budget vote is the last resort for public involvement in the educational future of our students. The Regional budget must be voted down. If (according to wacky state law) that means cuts must be made, and a new budget presented, so be it! (Dollars are not the issue- leadership is.) BUT we must make certain that future cuts are not directed at students. This budget already cuts teachers and includes savings in teacher health insurance. Yet the board proudly proclaims a “zero %” overall increase? Where are the increases then? More Central Office inititives? It includes new positions in non certified technology expenditures, a new salaried custodial position that is already looking like a poor decision, a bloated Central Office (What do all these high salaried positions produce?), what are our CABE expenditures? Please carefully look at this budget. Ask questions. Questions about this budget abound. (Answers are few and far between.) Where is the video of the budget hearing? The budget hearings were quietly pushed through much like the board’s CABE endorsed “consent agenda.” Please thoughtfully address this budget.
Since no one s saying what information;;; do we believe it pertains to the new grading system as working????? If so ,,if we look back to the meeting in 133 and Mr. Strever addressing the audience, stating that there was a drop in students failing compared to last year. Well , that’s a good thing, it must be working. Now coming “crunch” time, is the failing still the same or lower, or higher?? I’ve looked up “Standard Grading” in schools and it is all over the charts… One ( 1 ) year will not prove outstanding results. Seniors will have the hardest adjustments being their last year. Those down the line will ease into it year after year and the biggest proof in pudding will be 3-5 years when the 8th graders go thru their full 4 years in high school. Many schools use different wording that “NYP”. but they all fit into , “Standard Grading.”
If what ever the problems are, and you have the numbers, and you are 51% of the population of parents and teachers, and it falls within the Operations Structure of the Schools Operations, I’d say you have a concern. If you are such a small % percentage of ruffled unsatisfied people, you will probably be address in a short manner and subject dropped from further discussion. As I said before: IS there a Operations Manual? What do you have to go by? If there is nothing,,,,,it will continue as it is…If there is a Manual and they are operating with in it ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,SO BE IT.