Thursday, October 9, 2014

Don't be a "Dummy"

(Source:  http://www.how-to-be-a-ventriloquist.com/vintage-ventriloquist-image-gallery/)

In our last post, we published a summary of Monday's BOE meeting that was submitted as a comment. Part of that summary stated:

"Marty patted admin on the back and proclaimed "everyone grew." Did you look at the data Marty?????"

Earlier today we received the following comments:

"Anonymous said...


What has been done to this year's 5th grade class is inexcusable. How are we going to know where the gaps are? Oak kids had no measureable growth last year (sorry Marty, look at the data) and Prospect had growth but has lower than district average RIT scores from their disastrous 3rd grade year and despite district provided tutoring. The district and BOE need to admit that the plan isn't working for many kids and come up with a solution to fix it. Quickly! The only way that will happen is If people speak up and ask questions to teachers, principals, the BOE and administration..."


"Anonymous said...


So am I reading this correctly?

Growth Index for 5th grade from fall 13 to fall 14

Elm -3.7
Madison -2.6
Monroe -1.8
Oak -2.8
Prospect -0.8
The Lane +0.4
Walker -2.9

If I'm reading this correctly, this means that only one school grew slightly in 5th grade. Am I reading that Marty Turek said that everyone grew?"
 



We are going to get directly to the point: Board of Education members can not afford to be "dummies." Dummies have no voice of their own. Like wooden ventriloquist's dolls, they cannot think for themselves. They only mouth the words that their ventriloquist is saying. Dummies cannot see through the fog of obfuscation and discern fact from fiction.  

No, not all D181 students showed growth from Fall 2013 to Fall 2014. The facts and data speak for themselves. Sadly, not so for the Board Members, who we rely on to review facts and data, ask questions about what they mean and seek accountability from administrators who present conclusions  that fly in the face of reality.

Our children need thoughtful, committed board members who don't just mouth the words the administration wants them to say. 

So we say to the D181 board members:  Please don't be dummies.  Dummies won't cut it with our intelligent community members. Dummies won't get re-elected.  Our kids deserve better than dummies.




12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just read the Letter to the editor from Don White in the Hinsdalean. It is interesting that he wants "strategic, research based proactive engagement" with the community for HMS. They want to "spend time listening, learning, sharing and collaborating with the many stakeholders who are a part of District 181" to discuss the state of all nine buildings to probably get us to agree to spend more money. So we are not stakeholders in our children's education to have a meaningful voice but we seem to be needed for facilities. He has treated us like the least important part of this district until now. No meaningful satisfaction surveys, no district meetings for parents to discuss curriculum and instruction. I feel a little used and insulted right now. Shockingly the majority of the board does not represent the majority of the community and certainly did not do so during the gifted evaluation. Yes our home values are important but the future of our children is more important if the buildings are safe. I doubt a majority of the community signed up for inclusion (not sure who's dream we are pursuing now...). Disappointing after looking forward to the exit of Renee Schuster.

Anonymous said...

Just heard that the D86 BOE and Teachers' association have reached a tentative agreement for a new contract. Thank goodness. Lessons to be learned this week: 1. When only 17% of the registered voters show up to elect new board members, you may end up with representatives who actually are not there to represent the community, but only to pursue their own political ideologies. 2. The public does have a voice and can be heard. 3. The next opportunity for the public to elect our school officials is next April. Everyone needs to register to vote and then cast a ballot. 4. Time to unseat the dummies and political ideologues on both the D86b and D181 BOE's.

Anonymous said...

Here's an article about an elementary school district in Nebraska that just implemented "gender inclusive" classrooms in order to make transgender students feel more comfortable. It suggests that, instead of calling students "boys and girls" they should be referred to things such as "purple penguins". The social workers at the school think the plan is great. And this, my friends, is our public school system (and, it seems D181) at work. I'm sure something like this is next.

Anonymous said...

I love the last line of the article: "What's the gender inclusive term for morons?"

Anonymous said...

It's time to get back to basics. Dr. White, Dr. Schneider, Ms. Benaitis and Mr. Walsh: Please explain the data. Don't say you don't have to because it is just one data point. Don't say we are doing great when normed against the nation. Don't say, you haven't analyzed data (see the Board Q&A on board docs where you admit you haven't looked at the science results). Don't keep kicking the can down the road. If you are going to present some kind of additional report that explains why we are pursuing an inclusive phiolosopy, please stop. We don't need you to explain this. We heard all of that bluster over the last 3 years as the L4A plan was rolled out. Guess what? IT DIDN'T WORK. Time to admit it. The data proves it. Time to hold someone in the administration accountable. And don't try to fool us by blaming Schuster. She hired Schneider. He brought the idea of L4A in the inclusive form to our district. He brought the social justice philosophy/inclusion for everyone/acceleration for everyone/compacting for everyone to our district after trying it out in his old Wisconsin district. Do not let him hide behind Schuster's skirt. This is on him. Fire him!

Anonymous said...

And oh yeah, fire Benaitis since she clearly doesn't have a clue how to assess data, report on data or answer questions about data.

Anonymous said...

I am concerned that white is doing all the data anslysis and curriculum matters. Those are the jobs of Benaitis and Schneider. They are not earning their keep and they need to be fired before their three year contracts kick in. It's time for leadership and accountability.

Anonymous said...

Luckily, "morons" is gender neutral.

Anonymous said...

Our district cannot afford the salaries of unqualified and ineffective administrators, nor can it afford the ridiculous waste of recent ineffective pilot books and materials recommended by these same people. $100,000 is too much to be asking for when both McDougal Littel and Everyday Math ARE correlated to the Common Core. The district is flatly lying when they say they don't follow the CC. D181 administrators chose to NOT purchase the math book supplements or their corresponding computer programs. They have also chosen to ignore the textbook manufacturer's professional development. Dawn went around telling parents and teachers that our math books did not have Common Core supplements, and said that the reason we needed new books. Lies. Agile Minds and Investigations are worse. Simply google "Common Core Glencoe Math 2"(by McDougal Littel) and " Everyday Math Common Core" and look at the publisher's websites.

Not only are we wasting money on these administrator's salary and pensions, we are now paying hand over fist for their terrible decisions. And Dr. White, your appeal in the Hinsdalean for financial support was offensive. We have been paying through the nose for your staff's poorly conceived pilots for years. Our children's scores are falling. Yet you claim to be using "strategic, research-based, proactive engagement with the community"? What? Where? You approved the implementation of the most recent math pilot on our children without even providing parents with ANY evidence before the school started!! How can you ask us to "stay tuned" when you and your administrators have been ignoring complaints for years?

And let's get this clear - the district's lack of proper facilities management is what caused the HMS disaster. Teachers had been complaining for years about mold and leaks (remember the expose on the local news with former superintendent Schuster? Remember the stacks or photos and letters of complaints that had gone unanswered - yet D181 ignored complaints then, too.) She resigned right after that interview because her negligence was so obvious.

I fear that the next disaster will be our children's educations due to the lack of acknowledgment, again, that there even is a problem with our curriculums. This is too reminiscent of Dr. Schuster's reign or terror. We cannot wait any longer.

Anonymous said...

How is it Don White has enough time on his hands to crank out 300+ slides and conduct so-called data analysis? Doesn't he have a district to run with 4000 students, several hundred teachers and staff? This is not why you were hired, Don White.

Anonymous said...

Word on the street is "President Dummy" aka Marty Turek is definitely running for re-election. Just what we need: a drivel talking, rubber stamping suck up for 4 more years.
No way! Let's vote him off and out.

Anonymous said...

I would encourage every parent to take a look at Don White's resume. The link is on the homepage of this blog. Basically, the BOE hired someone who has only 4 years of teaching experience in just one grade - 4th. This is after his stint as an Assistant Manager at Walgreens. After teaching, he then became an assistant principal, athlethic director, and then held positions related to technology.
Question: how is it that even one board member thought Don White was qualitifed to be Superintendent of 181? Yes, he has experience as a superintendent, but in disitricts completely unlinke 181. I thought parents were very clear in wanting a superintendent with curriculum experience?
Maybe we wouldn't be in such a mess now if the BOE had done their homework.