Twinning!

Is this D107 or D181? Because they both sound almost EXACTLY alike!!

This is the school where our former Assistant Principal Joni Sherman landed a job. She must be using all those mentoring tips she got from Meg Pokorny. YIKES!

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Brave, Anonymous Teacher Raises Concerns

Today we received the comment below from a brave "Anonymous Concerned Teacher." We consider the issues raised of such serious importance that we are publishing it as a free-standing post, because we want to make sure that all of our readers see it.  Following the Anonymous Teacher's Comment is the response we published. As we point out, the teacher is correct when he/she states that "only the parents can stop the madness." It is time more parents contact the Board of Education with their concerns. Concerned parents successfully convinced the Board of Education to vote NO to "Late Start Days." Concerned parents successfully convinced the Board of Education to vote NO on the "Math Pilots." 

Concerned parents should come forward once again and convince the Board of Education to address not only the Curriculum Concerns, but also the newly identified "Donoroo" fundraising debacle first brought to our attention in a comment posted on the 10/16/13 Post on "The Experimentation on our Children Must Stop" post.  

As we state in our response comment," "It is time the Board Members realize that they need to ask Dr. Schuster and her administrators some tough questions and get answers, not spin.

ANONYMOUS TEACHER'S COMMENT

Dear 181 Blog,

I am a teacher in our school district. I have never been so disheartened and dismayed at the morale of teachers and the state of education in District 181. What happened? We went from a fully high functioning district with a handful of higher level administrators to a district with a huge increase in the amount of administrators, with little experience in the area of their supposed expertise. These leaders want to take all that is good and change it to their vision. The students are ultimately the ones who will lose.

The "Learning for All" (aka Advanced Learning) directive is one of those ideas that appears good on paper and fails in reality. One of the goals of this directive is to eventually get rid of the bubbles of support educators--reading specialists, special education teachers, academic strategy teachers, gifted specialists etc. Right now, administration wants these teachers to "push in." We now have our most fragile and needy students trying to receive support in a classroom where other things are going on. How do we expect them to focus? Is it fair to have them working in the corner of the room? Eventually, the district wants to put all of those students in our classrooms and let the regular education teacher meet their needs. I was told that I need to "increase my capacity." I think I do a pretty good job meeting the needs in my classroom, but I am NOT a special education, reading, or gifted teacher. I do not have the specialized education that they do. And, for years, I have witnessed students growing under and with these "special" teachers and classes. I am outraged that a few administrators think that teachers should be able to handle EVERYTHING that the district is throwing at them and that we should buy in or "find another job." By everything I mean the following: implementing the new Common Core standards (which should be first and foremost), differentiate (for gifted, standard, and struggling students) all subjects and activities every day, form flexible grouping work for all subjects and classes, meet the social/emotional needs of students, view data on each student to set individual goals for each student (even if you have 90-180 students at the middle school), prepare students for testing, choose multi-leveled texts for students for every area of the curriculum (even if you have 90-180 at the middle school level), incorporate technology into our lesson plans (even if it's not available in all buildings), and increase rigor and develop relationships that are so important with our students. I was taught that humans have developmental stages and that you can't force an individual through these stages unless he/she is ready. So, are our students who aren't ready developmentally somehow behind? I think that would be like expecting all of our students to be ready to complete in the Olympics. We understand that some students can achieve this and we foster that, but we don't expect everyone to achieve this. That would be an unrealistic goal and humiliating to some students.

Please, bloggers, look into the CHMS Donoroo debacle. What started out as a wonderful charitable event (the first three years) ended up a slush fund for the CHMS music department and was condoned by the principal. This fund was mismanaged and misused. I hope parents will demand an explanation into what happened and learn the truth about what has happened over the past three years.

I would personally like to thank all the informed, supportive parents who have realized that "the Emperor has no clothes!" Teachers know that it is only the parents that can stop the madness in District 181. The teachers fear retribution, poor performance evaluations, and a possible loss of employment for speaking up.

Sincerely,

An anonymous concerned teacher

THE PARENTS' RESPONSE COMMENT:

Thank you for coming forward with your concerns. We too are disheartened by what is going on in D181. We urge you to reach out to your colleagues and together, contact the Board of Education -- either through your union representatives or with a letter. We understand the retribution concerns listed in your last paragraph and so, if you feel it necessary, you should send your letter to the Board anonymously. Hopefully someone on the board will listen and not simply discount your concerns.

We also agree that "only the parents can stop the madness," so we ask parents to carefully consider this teacher's concerns, carefully consider those raised by the brave parent at the last Board meeting, and then contact the Board of Education and ask its members to please address all of these concerns at the next meeting. It is time the Board Members realize that they need to ask some tough questions and get answers, not spin, from the administration.

New Plan to Eliminate Food Ban!

The Doings 10/17/2013

BURR RIDGE – For Lynne Sorrentino’s child, and other children with food allergies, every meal is an important decision.

“It’s a life skill,” Sorrentino said of her child’s ability to choose foods that are safe for him to eat.

But he’s not learning that skill at school.

Read more here! 

http://burrridge.suntimes.com/news/schools/food-WYD-10172013:article

Dear Teachers...

Amy Rees Anderson, Contributor

I share my insights as an entrepreneur turned mentor & angel investor

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6/17/2013 @ 11:48PM |13,856 views

Coping In A Toxic Work Environment

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Recently, I had the occasion to observe a group of employees who were working in a toxic work environment.  I witnessed the decline of self-esteem in each one of them as they endured month after month of poor leadership and dysfunction in their workplace.   I was truly amazed at the change to the countenance of each of these employees as their situation continually grew worse.   If one could have taken a before photo of these employees prior to their being in a toxic environment and then an after photo when they were months into it, the physical manifestations of the negativity they endured would be staggering.  Slowly, I observed each of these employees reach their breaking point and one by one resign from the company.  Each of them had good paying jobs with fabulous benefits, but the toxicity they dealt with each day was so unbearable that no amount of money would have made it worth the cost to their own self-worth.  They left their jobs without having new jobs lined up because they recognized that the toll the toxic environment was taking had become far too great to stay another day.

Many of you may not be in such an extreme toxic work environment that you are willing to quit your job before having secured a new one, but most will have the occasion to deal with some level of toxicity in the workplace and could benefit from a few tips on how to cope with it when it occurs.

I believe the most important thing is to recognize when working in a toxic environment is that it is NOT a reflection of who you truly are.  Often times in a toxic workplace there is an abundance of tearing others down, passive aggressive leadership, destructive gossip, conniving politics, and abundant negativity.  When you are surrounded by this daily it can really start to affect your own self-worth.  It is imperative that you learn to separate the negativity you are swimming in daily from the reality of who you truly are.  I personally think this demoralizing effect is the biggest danger to staying long-term in any toxic environment, and to combat this you will have to find ways to daily remind yourself that you are not a reflection of your current surroundings.  Placing positive and uplifting quotes on the wall of your office or cubicle that will help keep your spirits lifted can be very helpful in these circumstances.  Also, taking time out each workday to take a short walk by yourself is a great way to detach and allow for positive self-talk to remind yourself of the qualities you possess that make you amazing.  Find ways to remind yourself of who you truly are.

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Another important coping step is to realize that you cannot control what other people say and do, you can only control your own actions and reactions.  The sooner you accept that the better for your own mental well-being.  This realization allows you to let go of owning other people’s negative behavior and it empowers you to focus on improving yourself.  The more you can focus on improving yourself in a negative environment the better, because when you finally get the opportunity to escape the situation you are in, you will get to take all the personal growth you have made along with you.  No doubt that growth will help you to be even more successful as you move forward.

Finally, try to focus on turning your bad situation into a good learning experience.  Most often our strongest personal growth comes from living through our most difficult situations.  When you are working in a toxic environment, try to pay close attention to the lessons you can take away from the experience.  Perhaps you can learn the qualities in a leader that you never want to emulate.  Perhaps you can learn the management mistakes that you would not want to repeat if the opportunity for management ever comes your way.   In every bad situation there is something you can learn that will help you become a better person, so focus on each lesson you are learning.

As difficult as a toxic work environment may be, never allow yourself to become less than who you are meant to be out of anger or spite for your current employer.  Always conduct yourself with integrity and always put in your very best effort toward the job you were hired to do.  It is easy to fall into the trap of giving up on the job, but the bottom line is that as long as you are taking a paycheck you have an obligation to give an honest day’s work.  Don’t allow yourself to justify personal bad behavior on the failures that exist your company’s leadership.  I realize that at times it feels like the only way is to fight back in a toxic situation, but the reality is that doing so only hurts your own integrity.  Know that your reputation will continue far beyond the company you are with today, and nothing is worth trading your integrity over.  Do your absolute best every day at your job and the word will get out to other companies of your incredible character and work ethic.  People talk far more in the business world than you may realize, and the word of your positive or negative behavior will spread farther and wider than you may think, so never do anything that you need to be ashamed of.

Continue to search diligently for a better work environment to switch to, and be sure to let others know that you are interested in new opportunities for work.  Then give your very best at work up to the very day when you can joyfully hand in your resignation letter and move on to bigger, better, and happier things.

~Amy Rees Anderson  (twitter:  @amyreesanderson)

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Your voices are being heard. You are important to some people. When four people refuse to see the elephant in the room, there is little anyone can do.

Happy teachers = productive environment. Happy teachers = happy kids.

If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, guess what? It's a duck! But some like to ignore common sense and pretend that it's a monkey.

We saw this on our neighbor's blog...it fits in D107 so well. Names were changed to expose the guilty.

Anonymous said...

It appears as through Dr. Fredisdorf has purposely surrounded himself with incompetent people in order to protect himself and his future. If, all of a sudden, he begins hiring capable people who are ethical and have critical thinking skills, they would easily begin to see through his vacuous claims. Smart, ethical "public servants" would have the best interest of our children in mind, and would expose him for being a fraud. Look how easily he manipulates the less educated board members. Although he is unqualified to teach or direct curriculum, Dr. Fredisdorf is cunning enough with his "leadership skills" to know what it takes to survive. He divides and conquers. Just as he arrogantly ignores parents, at board meetings, he also ignores research and proven results. Like a parasite, he will continue to feed off of his hosts, the taxpayers.

October 11, 2013 at 9:39 PM

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Thank God that the new board majority rejected Mark Fredisdorf's recommendation of approving Joni as the principal. Things could be worse. 

Thank goodness a committee was formed that played a major role in hiring an intelligent, capable, ethical principal. People see through Fredisdorf's vacuous claims. Sooner or later light will shine on the truth. 

Seek out what is new and good. Good luck to you all.

Bad and Good

It's too bad that our school board has to spend so much time undoing the controlling and misguided policies of the previous board majority of rubber stamping puppets and an incompetent superintendent.

The good news is that the total food ban was repealed and middle school students will be able to enjoy concessions after school and a cooking club.

The board room was packed with parents there to discuss the food policy in addition to the IXL summer math program (another poorly executed debacle). Parents, especially those who have children with allergies, overwhelmingly supported bringing food back into our schools.

Hopefully this board will change the uniform grievance policy back to model policy so that the whistleblowers will be able to come out of hiding and can stand up for what is right without fear of repercussions by our resident bully.

Howdy Neighbor!

www.hold181accountable.com

We want to introduce our followers to a relatively new parents' blog!

The blog is from Hinsdale/Clarendon Hills School District 181, our neighbor to the northwest. Howdy neighbor!!

Their district is very similar to Pleasantdale in many ways. In fact, it sounds like their superintendent is just as incompetent as ours!

We have so many favorite blog posts over there that we can't even see straight!! We will try to highlight a few every now and then.

Our very own former middle school assistant principal Joni Sherman is now over in D181 at Clarendon Hills Middle School (CHMS) serving in the role as assistant principal. Frankly, we were shocked she landed a job there because we thought Hinsdale parents had pretty high expectations!

This is a quote about Joni's hiring from the D181 website...

Clarendon Hills Middle School Principal Griffin Sonntag commented, “Mrs. Sherman is a passionate, educational leader who excels at building relationships with all stakeholders. She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to our school community that will benefit the students of Clarendon Hills Middle School for years to come." Superintendent Dr. Renée Schuster shared her support for Sherman as well, commenting that she is “a proven leader with expertise in the improvement of instruction, particularly in the area of mathematics.”


We're not sure how Hinsdale administrators came up with these quotes.

"A passionate, educational leader who excels at building relationships with all stakeholders..." 

Seriously?? (cough, cough) Pleasantdale students, parents and teachers were thrilled to see Joni go; second only to the overwhelming exuberance and sigh of relief the entire district felt when our asleep at the wheel principal Meg Pokorny retired. Our joy overshadowed the fact that Joni gave the district only three days notice that she was quitting and took a vacation day on her last day of employment. Buh bye!

Our favorite quote was from Dr. Schuster about Joni being "a proven leader with expertise in the improvement of instruction, particularly in the area of mathematics."

Apparently Dr. Schuster and their board of education had not seen Pleasantdale's latest math scores when they hired her. 

Our middle school math scores did nothing but plummet during Joni's tenure here. 

But hey, since Hinsdale is our neighbor, we want to say "Good luck to CHMS...and thanks for taking Mrs. Sherman off our hands!"

Pleasant Dale Park Update

Well, that didn't last long!

The preschool director, Miss Jacquie, has resigned leaving the preschool program without a teacher for the second time this year. Staff members are scrambling to fill the void until they can find someone with knowledge and practice in the Jolly Phonics curriculum.

They should have never messed with the most stable, affordable and longstanding program they had by letting a phenomenal teacher go, dumping nearly everything in the classroom, jacking up the price and promising something they could not deliver on. 

On a more positive note, Matt Russian is at the helm as acting director. Matt is the one of the best remaining assets the park has. Hopefully he can right the ship that seems to be constantly floundering. 

Good luck, Matt, we're rooting for you!