There's An 800
Pound Gorilla In The Parlor!
By Dr. John Trotter and Norreese Haynes
Discipline is the
800 pound gorilla in the parlor that is knocking over all of the marbled-top furniture and is stinking up the mansion big
time, but no one is willing to broach the fact that the gorilla is in the parlor. I mean to say that it
is downright nasty in the parlor. The gorilla is taking huge dumps, and no one will deign to even mention
that the darn gorilla is stinking up the entire mansion. Look at the gorilla! He stinks
to high heaven! He's noisy. He's completely unruly, and the house servants are blithely
walking around as if nothing is wrong. The house servants are concerned about buying name brand vacuum
cleaners and the best Persian rugs but are totally ignoring the darn gorilla which is wreaking havoc in the parlor.
Now the gorilla is beginning to roam all over the mansion, even sleeping in the guest bedroom! When
is someone in the mansion going to acknowledge that there is an unruly and destructive gorilla in the mansion?
For administrators and school board members and politicians, discipline is like Anthrax. They not
only do not want to touch it; they do not even want to approach it from a distance. Try to solve the problems
of public education without dealing with discipline. It cannot be done. Ignoring discipline
(or, the lack thereof) is like ignoring an 800 pound gorilla in the parlor. It is just that stupid.
Focus on discipline, however, and you will realize an improvement in academic achievement. Focus
on academic achievement with no regard given to discipline, and you will end up with a complete mess...like we have today.
(c) MACE, March 2, 2011.
MACE Invasions
& Pickets!
By Norreese L. Haynes Teachers, if your administrators are abusing you, you
know what to do. Our slogan is very simple and direct: "MACE
Devours Administrators Who Abuse Teachers." This year, we have already launched the "MACE
Invasion." It is completely legal but very high profile. Of course, we
continue to use our customary strategies and tactics. In letters, hearings, rebuttals, pickets, grievances,
and administrative evaluations on TheTeachersAdvocate.Com, no
other group comes close to MACE. (In fact, our lawyers have been kicking some major league
ass in hearings this summer -- winning a few and some headed straight to appeal...because of the biased and jaded format.
Just ask a few of the law firms which represent school boards if they feel like they have been in a dog fight when
MACE defends a teacher.) Back to the MACE Invasion...The invasion is different
from a picket in that MACE is showing up with a presence and giving out MACE's
new brochure (which you can see here on the website). Sometimes the invasion is combined with a picket
when we feel that it is appropriate (like the one at Marshall Middle School in Muscogee County
and the ones we are conducting in Clayton County against Superintendent Edmond Heatley). MACE
engaged in a two-part picket against the new superintendent in Newton County,
Gary Mathews. We had to baptize this new superintendent who came to Georgia
with an apparent lack of appreciate for the Georgia School Laws and with an arrogant and cavalier attitude.
Dr. Trotter stated recently: "I think that the two-phase
picket [one location in front of the Central Office and the other on a super busy highway in front of the
QT] and the subsequent appearance of MACE staffers on live radio in Covington
got this man's attention. If it didn't, then we'll be glad to baptize him again!" MACE
also had another effective picket at Marshall Middle School in
Muscogee County. One teacher reported to us that she
heard that the principal started crying. We don't know. But, we do know that many teachers
are driven to tears over the actions of administrators. At Fulton's A. Philip Randolph Elementary
School, MACE recently picketed Principal Christopher Askew for the third time within
a few months. This principal moved to terminate (non-renew) last year's Teacher-of-the-Year.
He also recommended other excellent teachers for non-renewal, and MACE's attorney skewered this principal
and made him look silly in cross-examinations on the stand. One school board lawyer appears to have been
forced out of his firm because of how the hearings went for the school system. Attorney Preston
Haliburton demonstrated that Fulton County's
superintendent, Cindy Loe, did not know the difference between procedural due process and
substantive due process. Apparently, Fulton Chief Human Resources Officer,
Ronnie Wade, did not know the difference either.
PAGE and GAE are better than
MACE when it comes to doing fluffy stuff like Spelling Bee Contests
for kids and giving out tote bags for their members. Also, they send out some legislative
updates (but they make very little difference when it actually comes to influencing the legislation -- just look at the furloughs).
I will, however, give GAE and PAGE some credit about fighting the merit pay push
from the Governor Perdue. MACE fought like heck against this too!
We wrote many articles against it. Organized with teachers who were not even MACE
members and staged a public protest. Dr. John Trotter was even on the local news speaking
out against this flawed concept. MACE picketed against merit pay for teachers at the Capitol
-- and Dr. Trotter was almost falsely arrested again. You can go to the MACE Live
TV Library on this site and see this happening.
MACE knows its mission...protecting and empowering classroom educators...one
member at a time. You'll be hearing about the "MACE
Invasion." No arrogant and abusive administrative wants to see the "MACE
Invasionary Forces" scaling the "Walls of Omaha Beach"
at "his" or "her" school. Today, the MACE Invasionary Forces
(MIF) are at Clayton's Lovejoy High School. So far this year, the forces have
visited the following schools...Banneker High (Fulton); Carver High (Atlanta);
Salem Middle (DeKalb); Columbia Middle (DeKalb); Columbia
High (DeKalb); Stockbridge High (Henry); Mundys Mill High (Clayton); North
Clayton Middle (Clayton); Forest Park Middle (Clayton); and today, MIF
will "invade" Lovejoy High (Clayton). The
"MACE Invasion" is a different twist than the very popular (with
teachers!) pickets. By the way, last school year, MACE staged 29
pickets -- in Cobb, Gwinnett, Atlanta, DeKalb,
Clayton, and Fulton. In the past, MACE has
also staged pickets in Muscogee, Bibb, Newton, Gilmer,
Henry, Griffin-Spalding, and Greene school systems (and perhaps a few more).
MACE teachers love a good picket perhaps more than anything else. We
at MACE do many, many other activities on behalf of our members, but pickets are the most
public service for the teachers -- and also our most popular service. The
teachers just love to see their arrogant and abusive administrators squirming, sweating,
and crying. They love it! (c) MACE, October 21, 2010.
Norresse Haynes was recently named the MACE Chief Operating Officer (COO). Mr.
Haynes has served as MACE's Executive Director since January of 2007. Mr. Haynes joined the MACE Board of Directors this past
Spring and has been an effective MACE Warrior since 2000. Dr. Trotter, MACE's Chairman and CEO, states: "Norreese
Haynes is battle-tested and has demonstrated time and time again that he will not leave a teacher hanging in his or her time
of need and distress. He's ridden with me for years. We've even spent some time in jail together fighting for the rights of
teachers. Of course, the charges never stick." Mr. Haynes's favorite saying is "Bring it."
Will
Edmond Heatley Violate This Law Too? Haynes
Serves A Georgia Open Records Request On Clayton’s New California Superintendent!
Currently Edmond Heatley, Clayton County’s new superintendent
from Chino Valley, California (where school board members are apparently telling people on the Clayton County Board of Education
that they sure are glad that Clayton made him the offer – certainly not good news for Clayton), is
started off with an illegal bang. He affixed his signature to a letter wherein he denies a teacher the
right to a hearing before the Clayton Board of Education (which is a direct violation of the Georgia Law, O.C.G.A. 20-2-989.8[4])
and we hear from people on the school board that he is even denying citizens the right to speak before the school board (a
violation of the Clayton County School Board Policy). (Incidentally, Mr. Douglas Hendrix of Clayton Human
Resources also wrote a letter denying a teacher from having a State-guaranteed hearing before the school board.
We presume that Clayton wants to join the ranks as a full-fledged gansta and ghetto school systems…where respect
for law is disdained and power and might is the only thing that counts.) Didn’t MACE
warn the Clayton Board of Education from hiring Edmond Heatley…just like MACE warned against hiring John Thompson and
Barbara Pulliam? No, school systems don’t need to hire Glenn Brock of Brock Clay (the Marietta
law firm) who is presumably advising Heatley (after all, “Glenn Brock the Search Firm” is the entity which presented
this “California Reject” to the Clayton County Board of Education) to pick them a superintendent; school systems
just need to consult with MACE in these matters. MACE seems to be somewhat prescient in its forecast.
Is this the same Brock Clay which gives legal advice to the Cobb County Board of Education which was recently cited
for meeting fifty-seven (yes, 57 ) times illegally (behind closed doors when the meeting should have been opened to the public)?
Yes, the same Brock Clay firm.
Well, Mr. Haynes wants to know how much money has been paid by the Clayton County citizens though the action of the
school board to this Marietta law firm since 2007. We are wondering if Superintendent
Edmond Heatley will ignore this Georgia law as well. Hmm. We will keep you posted on
this matter and other matters as it relates to the apparent legal and/or ethical breaches of the California superintendent
and his “counselor,” Glenn Brock. I remember reading in the Code of Ethics
for Lawyers that correct legal advice to clients is mandated and is not discretionary. Click the link below
to see the digital version of Mr. Haynes’s request.
Click Here To View Mr. Haynes's Open Records Request.
But, Prayer Changes Things
The More Things Change,The More They
Remain The Same By Norreese L. Haynes
Well, well, well...As the saying goes, “The more things change, the more they remain the same.”
I thought when the old Clayton County School Board (of which I was an elected member) would have straightened
out the dysfunctionality of the Clayton Board and/or the school system when the Fabulous Five
(Ericka Davis, Eddie White, David Ashe, Rod Johnson, and
Yolanda Everett, all of whom themselves unceremoniously stepped down under duress from the school board or
were abruptly removed from the school board) unceremoniously and illegally voted me off of the school board on March 3, 2008.
Wow, over two years later and this “new and improved” school board keeps engaging in actions (with the
apparent tacit approval of its attorney) like illegal closed-door meetings (like the ones about which I complained and raised
my colleagues’ ire). Yes, this “new and improved” school board is now more compliant
to the manipulative hands of SAC’s Mark Elgart and Cobb County attorney Glenn
Brock who for $7,000 found this school board a California “reject”
who will in all probability turn around and make a recommendation to this naïve school board that Glenn Brock
ought to end up as the school board attorney. When I was on the school board, these kinds of shenanigans
would not see the light of day because I was not afraid to address these manipulations and mechanizations from the Powers
That Be (especially those highly connected within State government and the business circles). Well, God has a way of straightening
out the crooked paths. He told the prophet Isaiah that He would make the crooked paths
straight and level the playing field, so to speak. People sometimes ask me how I am doing, and I tell them,
“I’m feeling better than ever.” The Secretary of State’s Office,
within a week or so after the school board illegally kicked me off, came out with an official Investigative Report
about my residence and determined that there was “no evidence” that I lived outside my school district.
When Eldrin Bell apparently complained about this Report, the Office
continued with more investigations and drew the same conclusion in its Second Report. Of
course, I knew that all the lies instigated by then school board chairperson Ericka Davis and Clayton
Commission Chairman Eldrin Bell were cold-blooded lies, apparently told to protect key businessmen who had
much at stake in the now-infamous Land Deal which I publicly exposed. I was exonerated
in this matter by a Report issued by the Clayton County Grand Jury.
Millions and millions of taxpayer dollars were squandered. Perhaps too many illicit hands were tainted
by this Land Deal. I turned down opportunities to be on national television.
In one day alone, I turned down interviews with The O’Reilly Factor on FOX NEWS
and on all four local network news stations. I have learned more and more the older that
I get how corrupt so many courtrooms are…not looking for the truth but for ways to protect friends. As
the saying goes, “It’s better to know the judge than the law.”
I voluntarily dismissed my lawsuit pending before the Supreme Court of Georgia because I was simply
tired of the mess, did not want to be back on the dysfunctional school board (especially as it is now controlled by “outside
influences” and is about as independent as Vichy France was under the Nazi Occupation
of France), and was too busy here at MACE, working on my MBA, and pastoring
a church along with my uncle who recently passed away. I know that pernicious lies were told on me (and
some evildoers still repeat the lies as if they do it with innocence just because they first read about the lies in the media).
Some members of the media are kind and sympathetic while others ethically are a little lower than serpents.
But, when you throw your hat into the public arena and offer your services to the community, the good and the bad come
with the territory. I was trying to help my Clayton County Community. I
made a concerted effort to get rid of the thugs from our schools. They are destroying our schools (especially
our urban schools). The message was resonating with the people, and progress was being made.
But, I stepped on the toes of some powerful people – people who obviously were more concerned about making money
off the school system than making it a safer place for our children to learn. Perhaps one day I will offer
up my services again, but for now, we have more than we can shake a stick over here at MACE, and my activities
at the church and with the MBA program fill up my time. But, thanks for your concerns,
compliments, and curiosity. I’m remaining steadfast and looking for more mountains to conquer.
On a personal note, I want to ask all of my friends and MACE associates to pray for T. I.,
a former student of mine at Riverdale Middle School. He
begins his incarceration for one year and a day in the next few days. He used to hang out at my Mama’s
house and eat her food all the time in the old days. He, along with Ciara, the
late Rico, Michael Reed, Xavier Brown, D.
J. Shockley, Archie, and many others hung out at my studio after school and during the summer.
We called T. I. “Tip” back then, and, in fact, I, along with his old friends, still call
him this. T. I. may have made a mistake or two, but we all make mistakes.
He is working hard to help change the lives of young brothers whose lifestyles may be leading them onto a destructive
path. Some of you may have seen his T. V. series called “The Redemption
of T. I.” I was real proud of him and his turn-around. I know his heart
is right, and I again ask for your prayers for him. It’s all about “the kids,”
and to me, Tip will always be one of my kids. NLH, May 19, 2009.
© MACE, 2009.
Haynes Blasts Eldrin
Bell and Ericka Davis!
Norreese L.
Haynes
For Immediate Release/March 3, 2008
In response to Eldrin Bell’s call for me to be removed
from the school board: First of all, I have absolutely no respect for Eldrin Bell. Who is Eldrin Bell but a commissioner
in Clayton County who has a past so speckled that he looks like a Dalmatian dog? Eldrin Bell seems to have an inordinate
desire to get me off the school board. I hope that this has nothing to do with the Land Deal that I exposed. His
good friend and I understand his major fundraiser, John D. Stephens, is the person who sold the school system the sorry piece
of land for millions of dollars above the fair appraisal value. His other very close friend, Chairperson Ericka Davis,
is the person who signed for the deal without the superintendent and CEO, Dr. Barbara Pulliam, signing the deal also which
is required by law. No wonder Eldrin Bell wants me off the school board. Eldrin Bell was apparently willing to direct,
at the ostensible behest of Ericka Davis (who has no legal authority to request this), the Clayton County Police Department
to conduct an unlawful search of my former residence. From what I understand from my former landlady, neither she nor
her daughter authorized the police officers to search different parts of the house – and certainly did not authorize
them to make photos of the house, albeit they took photos of the wrong area anyway. I had already moved from my Starr Road residence
when the Clayton County police officers apparently unlawfully searched it. At that time, I had already moved into my
house in Conley, Georgia.
Eldrin Bell must have something about which he is worried. Or, he is just trying to score a few more votes with his
white constituents, like the many times that he keeps beating up on Sheriff Victor Hill? By the way, since when is it
unlawful for a politician or elected official to have more than one residence? When the white elected officials have
more than one residence, it is just fine. No questions asked. I know of several even in Clayton County who have
multiples residences. In fact, I even know of African American elected officials – in the legislative delegation
and on the school board – who have multiple residences. I guess the difference is that I have been rocking the
proverbial boat. I’m going to keep on rocking it. Perhaps no one has ever accused Eldrin Bell of being
knowledgeable of the law. So, let me explain the Georgia statutes to him relative to residences and domiciles.
OCGA 21-2-217 (a) (paragraphs [2], [3], [8], and [9]) state: “(2) A person shall not be considered to have lost
such person’s residence who leaves such person’s home and goes into another state or county or municipality in
the state, for temporary purposes only, with the intention of returning, unless such person shall register to vote or perform
other acts indicating a desire to change such person’s citizenship and residence;…(3) A person shall not be considered
to have gained a residence in any county or municipality of this state into which such person has come for temporary purposes
only without the intention of making such county or municipality such person’s permanent place of abode;…(8)
No person shall be deemed to have gained or lost a residence by reason of such person’s presence or absence while enrolled
as a student at any college, university, or other institution of learning in this state;…(9) The mere intention to
acquire a new residence, without the fact of removal, shall avail nothing; neither shall the fact of removal without intention.”
Mr. Bell just needs to read the law before running his mouth about something of which he apparently knows nothing. The
law states that voter registrars should consider many factors before registering someone to vote in a certain residence.
Among these factors are “income tax purposes,” “leaseholds,” “motor vehicle and other
personal property registration” and so forth. My driver’s license was registered at Starr Road. My
vehicle was registered at Starr Road. My mail went to Starr Road. I signed a rental agreement and paid rent each
month at Starr Road. I resided at Starr Road. Did I lay my head down each night at Starr Road? No, and according
to the law, I did not have to. I was attending a university in Marietta and had every right to rent an apartment near
the school for convenience. I think that I signed the lease at the apartment in December of 2006, the month before I
tool office. Recently, Ms. Cynthia Roy, my landlady at Starr Road wrote: “He [Haynes] began renting from
me in March of 2006 and has consistently paid me rent each month. He was given a key to the house. He obviously
came and went as he wanted. He always used the back entrance. We have six bedrooms….Coach Haynes did not always
spend the night there. He sometime [sic] stayed in Marietta at his apartment near his college because of the convenience
or at his parents, especially on the weekends.” I have never claimed that I slept each night at Starr
Road. Again, the law does not say that I had to. I just had the apartment in Marietta for convenience when I got
out of class at 10:00 PM or for when our Learning Teams had to get together for projects. I haven’t even been
to the apartment in a month or two, and I mainly just kept a computer there for university work. All the ballyhoo about
my residence is contrived to try to drive me off of the school board. I think that I am hitting too close to home on
many issues, especially about the Land Deal. The statute calls for a “presumptive” posture concerning residence
(OCGA 21-2-217 [b]). Eldrin Bell would rather presume that I am guilty. For Eldrin Bell, with his Dalmatian past,
to lecture me on the rules of residency is like Richard Nixon lecturing me on the importance of openness in government.
Was not Eldrin Bell disqualified from running for Chairman of the Fulton County Commission because of his legal residence
in DeKalb County? Isn’t there a saying about throwing rocks in glass houses? Talking about houses, was there
testimony recently before the Clayton County Grand Jury about county worker(s) doing work on Eldrin Bell’s personal
domicile in Jonesboro? Inquiring minds want to know. Did he ever use his county vehicle and driver (before this
benefit was taken away by his fellow commissioners) to run personal errands not related to his county job? Again, inquiring
minds want to know.
I don’t like to drive certain points too close to home, but when a fellow politician tries to smear me and unconscionably
drive me off the school board, then my roots in Carver Homes which usually remain dormant are resurrected. I remember
“Chief” Eldrin Bell sending his sometimes reengage Red Dog Unit into my poor but cozy and proud neighborhood.
I had to fight my way home each day from Slater Elementary School. It was tough in those days, but my father and mother,
the salt of the Earth, saved enough money to move our family to Jonesboro when I was seven or eight years old. Now,
we unfortunately have to deal with Eldrin Bell’s thuggish brown shirt tactics. Sending police officers into my
former residence not only demonstrates his incompetence but also his strong-armed tactics and meddling ways. The police
officers apparently engaged in an egregious violation of the Fourth Amendment. I, and possibly others, will be asking
both District Attorney Jewel Scott and Sheriff Victor Hill to conduct an investigation of this apparent and willful unlawful
search. I remind Mr. Bell that Clayton County is not the City of Atlanta and the Clayton County Police Department is
not the Red Dog Unit. There is no one around to bail him out of trouble in Clayton County. When his car
was apparently set on fire in Atlanta parked at an unusual location, he was evidently able to wiggle out of this situation.
When a lady whom he apparently did not intimately know but who worked at a restaurant accused him of biting her on the neck,
then this situation also seemed to “disappear.” But, the outrage of the voters at the Bell Administration’s
failure to build the promised recreation centers will not “disappear.” Eldrin Bell needs to worry about
the incompetence of his administration more than he needs to worry about my domicile. He first needs to learn the difference
between domicile and residence. I will keep on speaking out about the Land Deal, the fraudulent two contracts for the
“school board attorney,” the school system’s “defrauding” the Teacher Retirement System, the
need for order and discipline in our schools, The Teacher Bill of Rights, employees financially double-dipping while serving
in the General Assembly, and the financial improprieties within the school system, among other issues. If this makes
Eldrin and his friend Ericka nervous, then so be it. The truth will have its day, even the scandalous and outrageous
claim that I have ever had a “live-in boyfriend.” This is an unmitigated lie without one scintilla of truth
in it. The truth will come out about this as well, much to the chagrin of those who gleefully wish me harm. I
am currently going through a crucible, but trust me, with God’s help, I am going through it! I am coming, and
hell is coming with me.
It is my understanding that Eldrin Bell accompanied Ericka Davis in her many improper trips to the SACS Office, even three
times in one week alone. These apparent inappropriate meetings (especially in the light of the fact that I had sent
official complaints to SACS against both Ericka Davis and Rod Johnson for their many egregious ethical breaches) with Mark
Elgart taints the already-flawed SACS Report (an analysis of which I will be releasing soon) which is replete with inaccuracies
and falsehoods and is also embarrassingly (to SACS) one-sided, skewed, slanted, biased, and scandalous. Today, I call
upon our District Attorney, Jewel Scott, to convene a Special Grand Jury to investigate both Eldrin Bell and Ericka Davis
concerning the apparent improper targeting (without authority) of school board members and abusing police powers to do so.
I also ask District Attorney Scott to further investigate the now-infamous Land Deal and the possibility of illegalities therein.
Furthermore, I ask the District Attorney to investigate the allegations that Chairperson Ericka Davis and Commission Chairman
Eldrin Bell unduly influenced the SACS Report.
###
Haynes Calls SACS
Report "a Sham and a Farce."
Norreese
L. Haynes
Clayton County Board of Education ∙ District 8
For Immediate Release/February 15, 2008:
The Mark Elgart-driven SACS report concerning the
Clayton County Board of Education is a sham and a farce. Not one time did Mr. Elgart show any unbiased even-handedness.
For example, a fellow school board member sent Mr. Elgart a scandalous smear sheet full of lies and distortions about me,
and Mr. Elgart, apparently because of his bias toward me (and perhaps my employer), took this scandalous smear sheet and,
without examination of the facts, puffed it up with great ballyhoo. Yet, I responded with a detailed, twelve page, single-spaced
document with 17 exhibits demonstrating who the real culprits are on the Clayton County Board of Education, and Mr. Elgart
just benignly ignored my response apparently because it undermined his pre-conceived and prejudiced notion of what was going
on in the “lowly” Clayton County. (My response can be found on TheTeachersAdvocate.Com.)
Mr. Elgart apparently has an inordinate desire to go light on the school board member who is most culpable of micro-managing
the school system – the Chairperson herself, Ericka Davis. (Ms. Davis also happens to be the only school board
member who was a member of the previous Clayton County Board of Education which ran afoul with the snooty and snobbish SACS
in 2003.) To this day, Mr. Elgart has not sent an official copy of my detailed, four page document which chronicled
MY two official complaints against my fellow board members, Ericka Davis and Rod Johnson, to Superintendent Duncan, as he
did the scandalous complaint against me. He just ignored my official and legitimate complaints. No excuse.
No explanation. No investigation. In fact, when he sent his “inquisition team” to Clayton County to
“investigate,” not one question was asked of board members or staff members about my serious allegations
against two of my colleagues, and when I tried to show the so-called investigators the evidence which I had in my possession,
they blithely waved me off. They did not want to be confused with any facts.
It is easy for Mr. Elgart
to use his bully pulpit to beat up on a school system for working stiffs. Clayton County is an easy target to use to
try to scare other school systems. (After all, SACS needs a whipping child since it is a private organization and certainly
not the only accrediting agency in town nor the only one which qualifies students for the Hope Scholarship.) Clayton
County is a colorful county full of honest and proud people. You won’t see any of us at the swanky Piedmont Driving
Club or the Atlanta Steeplechase. We are, however, a hopeful people, trying to build a better future for our children.
We need less finger-pointing from the likes of Mr. Mark Elgart and SACS. Our people understand the “rough and
tumble” side of politics where opposing views have to compete in the marketplace of ideas. Our school board does
not need to be a “garden club,” serving tea and crumpets. What’s wrong with serving up competing ideas,
vigorously debated with robust speech? Mr. Elgart does not need to wag his prejudicial finger toward Clayton County
while refusing to lift his arrogant finger toward his own county which, by the way, went through a slew of superintendents
in a matter of months. (Do you reckon any “micromanaging” was occurring during this upheaval? Not
a peep was heard from Mark Elgart.) Just like his Alpharetta neighbors want their children to employ the Hope fund to
attend the University of Georgia, then so do our humble parents want to use this same money for our children. After
all, it is our people who fund the lionshare of the Hope Scholarship.
Clayton County is tired of
being Mark Elgart’s proverbial whipping child. We understand that Mr. Elgart was personally offended when
certain school board members took umbrage at him showing up and speaking at our September school board meeting. (This
is just another example of how Chairperson Davis manipulates matters. She solely invited Mr. Elgart to our meeting,
without any input from the Board and without him being on the Board’s agenda.) We hope that his personally being
offended has not clouded his judgment but it looks as if it has. The welfare of our children appears to be a low priority
for him, despite his many “I care for thy children” pronouncements. We are a little too jaded in Clayton
County to actually hang onto Mark Elgart’s every word as if it were law and gospel. We live in the real world
and have to demand that our children be treated fairly. Our children rightly deserve equal protection under the
law, both Georgia and Federal laws. The “Standards” by which Mr. Elgart judges the Clayton County School
System should also be used to judge other school systems, including his own.
Cobb Principal "Reads" Teacher's Mind! Hmm.
Editor's Note: The teacher's real name has been redacted.
Mr. Steven Miletto Osborne High School 2451 Favor Road Marietta, GA 30060 Dear Mr. Miletto: With much dismay and consternation, I read your end-of-the-year evaluations
(2005-2006 and 2006-2007) of Ms. Sheila R. Gurley. I must hasten to tell you that I am somewhat impressed
that you, a high school principal, are able to discern the thoughts and intents and expectations of Ms. Gurley.
It would be remiss on my part if I did not officially nominate you for the Educator’s Rasputin Award.
It was difficult enough to wade through your rather boring and burdensome pedagogical poppycock about “essential
questions, “student[-]centered activities,” and “really engage[ing] the students,” but
to read your high-minded and hypocritical psychobabble is a bit onerous. Since when did you acquire this
wonderful gift of reading people’s minds – or, at least reading Ms. Gurley’s mind? It
must be a most cherished gift of yours. Could you perhaps offer to conduct a staff development course for
other Cobb County principals so that
they too could discern the thoughts and intents and expectations of the hearts of all teachers. You readily admit that Ms. Gurley expects
her students to behave in class. I think that this is a very admirable expectation. Order is the
first law of the Universe, and all of our schools need order. In other words, you cannot have good learning
conditions until you first have good teaching conditions. Ms. Gurley realizes that before she can
teach any student, she first needs to have the student’s attention. This, my friend, is good pedagogy.
It is good theory. I understand that you have bought into this “touchy-feely” approach
to discipline. Most educrats today have bought this flawed theory hook, line, and sinker. In
other words, our students today need to coddled. If they put forth absolutely no effort to learn, then
it is ipso facto the teacher’s fault. I understand where you are going with this.
This is the dominant and inarticulated theory in American education today and is essentially what is wrong with American
schools today. I am glad that the United States Armed Forces totally rejects this approach. Perhaps
it is not Ms. Gurley’s low expectations of the Osborne students that is the problem. Are you sure
that it is not a transference of your low expectations of their behaviors and abilities to perform which is the prior question?
But, then again, I might be practicing psychology without a license – perhaps like you. Or,
let me not presume. Do you in fact have a license to practice psychology? I notice how
you make the following assertion: “She does not believe that the children can
attend higher levels.” Hmm. This is an interesting observation, if you are implying
that Ms. Gurley does not believe in the potential of “diverse” (to borrow your word) students.
She tells me that she did a quite capable job raising a “diverse” child. He is a very
successful 25 year old engineer. If you are implying that Ms. Gurley is prejudice in her view of “diverse”
students, then I take this wholly baseless and scandalous assertion to be unconscionable. Ms. Gurley realizes that you tout the
party line on the “student[-]centered” approach to teaching. She also realizes that you are
the principal and that she has to accommodate her teaching methodology to your instructional prescription. I
think that her own pedagogical theory is like mine – that students do indeed learn more with a teacher being a “sage
on the stage” rather than a “guide on the side.” I strongly feel that having students
“engaged” in an exercise of espistemological or historical scrutinization of nothingness is mere folly.
This is John Dewey gone to seed. Students need to be taught, and to be taught, they need to pay
attention. And, learning is not always fun and games. Ms. Gurley could stand on
her head and spit nickels, and the defiant and unmotivated students would say that they are not learning because of the teacher
– like the situation with the child who had not had vocabulary the last two years. Why was this Ms.
Gurley’s fault? I wish that I could have used your arguments against some of my college professors
whose classes I did not score as high in as I wanted to. All used the boring lecture method and sometimes
terrifying Socratic approach, but they would have laughed me out of college had I used your approach. It
is a failed approach.
As far as your reading Ms. Gurley’s mind is concerned, let me assure you that you have read it wrongly when you
arrogantly state that although Ms. Gurley cooperates with the administration and is willing to change her teaching techniques,
“her willingness is more like compliance than a true willingness to seek improvement.” By the
way, the books which she requested for her ESOL students in August were not delivered to her until October. This
year, Ms. Gurley will be a floating teacher. As a former “floater” myself, I can state
firmly that this is not something that a veteran teacher desires. But, what can I say? It
looks as if your administration is treating these “diverse” students in a 2nd or 3rd class
manner.
Mr. Miletto, I trust that you can observe (without resorting to utilizing your exceptional gift of mind-reading) that
Ms. Gurley is attempting to follow your pedagogical desires. I trust that you can also see that keeping
her for another year on a Professional Development Plan will only exasperate her teaching situation, and I hope that this
is not your goal.
Sincerely:
Norreese L. Haynes
Executive Director
|
|
|
