Below you will see just one example of the discrepancies between what actually took place at a Pleasantdale Board of Education meeting and the district's version of what took place. This is a perfect example of why the Board of Education should videotape and broadcast their board meetings for the public.
What the district said took place:
The following letter was sent to all members of the Board of Education with no acknowledgement or response. Tune in to the April board meeting to see if the BOE fixes their "mistake."
Dear Board of Education Members,
After reading the March 16, 2011 Board of Education Meeting 'Highlights', I was appalled to see this blurb:
"Heard from a parent who commented that she believed the District was not moving forward with the implementation of
standards based grading and reporting prior to receiving a recommendation from the Parent Advisory Committee."
That is not at all what I said.
After careful review of the meeting videotape this evening, you will find below, the verbatim account of what I said.
"Just listening to tonight's discussion regarding the town hall meeting and the Standards Based Grading, it sounds like the district is moving forward with Standards Based Grading, but as a member of the Parent Advisory Committee, this has not been made clear to us.
We have asked if we are going with Standards Based Grading and the answer we get is, "well, that's what we are trying to figure out." I believe I echo the sentiment of many members of the Parent Advisory Committee when I say in order for our group to be effective, we need to know definitively if we are going to use Standards Based Grading so we can start moving in the right direction, or in that direction I should say. So if the board is talking about it, I believe it is important for our committee to know, yes, we are doing it, or no, we're not. I think if you ask the majority of the members on our Parent Advisory Committee why we're meeting, they will tell you they have no idea."
I do not appreciate being misrepresented or misquoted in the board highlights/minutes after speaking in the open forum portion of board meetings. This has occurred numerous times over the past three years when I have spoken in open forum.
I am requesting that the March meeting minutes be revised (before they are approved) to include the actual verbiage that was spoken, as was done for Mr. Rigley at the February meeting.
I would be happy to make the tape available for you to view if you so chose before approving the March meeting minutes.
This instance is just one more reason that the school district should record their board meetings and make them available to the public.
Sincerely,
Gina Scaletta-Nelson
5 comments:
This is the perfect example of the superintendent making everyone say exactly what he wants them to say, even if it wasn't what they said. They don't want them taped because they don't want people to hear about what is really going on in the district. The board and administration like have their meetings with as few people in attendance as possible. This way if anyone complains about anything they can always use their excuse; that you are the first person to complain about this or we were not aware that there was a problem. It's also the same reason the superintendent e-mails all the board members individually before each board meeting and answers their questions individually. He doesn't want the public to know that the board has any questions or concerns. This way it looks like everything is fine and all the board is in complete agreement with whatever he says. They can also cover up anything they don't want the public to hear about such as the $132,000 fine the district received for allowing the assistant principle to retire early. (Remember though, they are being fiscally prudent, just ask any of the board members, they'll tell you.) They just discuss it in closed session and that way nothing has to be released to the public.
Maybe if the meetings were videotaped, Dr. Fredisdorf wouldn't have to sit there writing notes and could actually look up and make eye contact with whoever is speaking. It is the respectable thing to do when someone is speaking to you.
"One of the penalties of not participating in politics is that you will be governed by your inferiors." Plato
In Naperville District 203, Board of Education business meetings are televised on Naperville Community Television, Channel 17 via Comcast and WideOpenWest.
In Naperville District 204, you can watch their board meetings live. They even invite you to watch on their website. Watch our board meetings live: http://media.ipsd.org/ipsd_live
Now I know, our school likes to pull obscure districts (i.e., SBT testing examples from one random school in Colorado or one random school in Canada) as a way of letting us parents know they are on the cutting edge of teaching our kids a new way to learn. (Your kids can be the generation of Guinea pigs at Pleasantdale!) WOW, aren't we lucky?
How about our Board and superintendent take a look at what some of the local suburban schools are doing as far as getting great results with grades. AND, how about (an even bigger challenge) take some ideas about how these districts are communicating information to parents and their communities?
We are nearing the end of the school year, and I have not heard anything about what is going on with the standards based testing programs at Pleasantdale. What are we waiting for school leaders? Failure to communicate what is, or what is not going to happen, is a very poor reflection on the district. I am not on the school advisory team, but I AM A PARENT who desires some communication from this school district.
What do we have to do to get your attention?
Could you imagine being a teacher in a district where the superintendent has said teachers are on board with the new curricular changes, and then selling out teachers when things don't go his way?
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