Saturday, March 08, 2008

Two Charts Reflecting A Personal Reaction to Yesterday's Superintendent Candidate Forums

Sorry, I'm still trying to figure out how Blogger can do thumbnails. As I waste significant time this Saturday trying to figure that out (help, anyone?), try to figure out the following teeny-weeny charts....


Aha! It appears you can just click on the charts to see them full-sized. Let me know if you have problems...

P.S.: I will sum up my attendance at the "educator" portion of yesterday's show thusly:

4:04 p.m.: I drive into the sinister parking lot of the even-more sinister APS "twin towers"
4:06 p.m.: I almost get in an accident with another driver also wasting time trying in vain to find a parking space
4:07 p.m.: I park in front of a nearby apartment complex
4:08 p.m.: I get to the front doors of the highly sinister "twin towers" and see a mob of people arranged inartfully right at the door
4:09 p.m.: Upon opening the doors, I observe this mob of people is watching a smallish TV screen with superintendent candidate Miller on it talking about "free money". Some mob members have chairs, others stand, while other notice and rush over to the scant leftovers remaining on what must have once been a bulging tray of cookies.
4:10 p.m.: Your humble blogger bypasses the remaining cookie crumbs and wanders back and forth between an "overflow" room of folks watching candidate Miller on a big-screen TV, and a completely packed Board Room in which the actual physical form of Dr. Miller currently resides as he talks about "free money".
4:11 p.m.: Your humble blogger returns to the front doors of the sinister APS "twin towers", opens them with a feeling that must have been strikingly similar to that guy with the sledgehammer on top of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and walks to his car in front of the nearby apartment complex.
4:12 p.m.: While continuing the walk to his car, your humble blogger rationalizes that these forums are on KANW-FM and he can just listen to them in the car on the way home.
4:13 p.m.: Your humble blogger turns his car radio to KANW and discovers the forums are NOT on the radio. He continues driving anyway, waving at the sinister APS "twin towers" as he passes them and the mob within.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I got there early, got a seat, and stayed for the whole show. I came away with the feeling that if this is the best of what the $100,000 search company came up with, we are all in deep, deep, doo-doo. Miller and his free $ was the least offensive. Linda's supporters were there, and left with her, not even staying for the rest of the show. Do you think they knew something we don't? LOL. Linda looked very scared, messed her grammer up, and called for grading rubrics for writing at each grade level, not once, but twice.
Norris passed out huge booklets of his NeXt plan,(I certainly hope APS wasn't stuck with the copy charges),and had all the charm of a snake-oil salesman. Fiero had a canned political speech that said absolutly nothing. Winston was a stand up comedian and brought the house down a couple of times, but again, essentialy said nothing. Dickie, was just plain pathetic.

The absolute worst part of the whole experience, other than seeing all the kissup lackeys and principals, was the total hypocracy of the soft-ball questions. We were handed out cards to write our questions down, and not one of them was on the pre-written question cards. Teachers kept looking around, asking, who asked that? The feeling among most was that the index card and the green feedback sheet was a manipulation of the community so that we felt "involved" in the process. Actually, queenpaulamaes said that the community can't complain if they pick a lemon, we all had our chance at input. Yeah Right!
We're screwed again.

anothermouse

ched macquigg said...

I would rather have some one say;

that I am stupid, or misguided, or crazy to stand there through three meetings, with a huge sign trying to call attention to the elephant in the room; they have abdicated as role models of the student standard of conduct.

than to be ignored.

Am I asking the wrong question?
AM I asking the question wrongly?


This is about the message;
it is not about the messenger.

Does no one else see the need for accountability? for an impartial accountability audit?

Does no one else see that there are not meaningful standards of conduct or competence that apply to the leadership of the APS?

Clue me in here.

Because I am feeling a lot like the guy trying to haul the bad guy to the station in 3:10 to Yuma.

All I am hearing is, why in the hell are you still doing this?

Martin Luther King said that he would forget the words of his enemies long before he forgot the silence of his friends.

Forget about being my friend.

Doesn't Character Counts have a single friend out there.

When we give a kid a shirt that reads "stand up for what you believe in, even if you are standing alone."

Does it bother you that, we then let them? (stand up alone)

Do we believe in role models or not?

Does the kid with the tee shirt have one of us behind him offering encouragement? Another of us beside them sharing the burden? And another of us in front leading by our example?

or is he standing alone?

From personal experience, I can tell you that the hardest part of standing up for what you believe in alone, is the wondering, why?

Some one pick a side.

Role models of a higher standard of conduct,
or no role models at all?

It really is your choice.

Anonymous said...

In looking at the candidates, Gonzales and Flores confirmed the Peter Principle. Miller said nothing at all of substance. Sink is a cheerleader for keeping things the same. Winston went from funny to churlish, than scary. Only Norris had reasonable answers to the questions (except for middle school achievement), but then subsequently checking out his history online, he seems like the second coming of Brad Allison w/o the Harley(btw he's smarter than all of us--technology is the future). I wonder if he knows how to send email, like Brad (aka Luke Skywalker).