The D107 Crazy Train

Please click the videos below to see the Pleasantdale School District 107's crazy train in action!

These clips feature Dr. Mark Fredisdorf as a smug, insubordinate superintendent. You will notice how easily he skirts around the truth. He couldn't care less about the students, staff or the taxpayers, and he has no respect for the the board of education as his boss.

Not only was Fredisdorf disrespectful to the board of ed, but sadly so were a couple of the teachers; one being the teachers' union president. Bullying antics, continuous nodding and facial contortions did not make for a good meeting and they had to be shushed so board members could hear the discussion. One word of advice to them... you are not making things easy for your fellow teachers. No wonder there is low morale and animosity between grade levels and buildings. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

The Board President just sat back, seemingly oblivious to the downward spiral of what was transpiring, that is until Gina Nelson asked a series of questions to get at the truth, and then he exploded! If the board dynamics haven't been obvious lately, they seem to be now.

While we were never a fan of former Board President Leandra Sedlack, at least she had control over the meetings, the audience members and Fredisdorf.

This video is broken up into four parts. Each part is less than 15 minutes long. The entire meeting lasted over five hours, with closed sessions bookending the open meeting. The segments below are just one topic of the entire meeting: the Math Common Core Professional Development Plan.

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Fredisdorf's lies are now going to cost the taxpayers of this community a heck of a lot of money. The math trainer that was at the meeting during this discussion plans to charge the district $1850 per day for her help. According to her vision, which she shared at the board meeting, it would cost $55,000 for just 30 days of work! This would be in addition to the math audit that cost the district $20,000 so far. All because of Fredisdorf's incompetence and lies! 

Clearly this board should reprimand Fredisdorf for his insubordination at the April board meeting. Will the majority of the board members support that action? 

People say that Fredisdorf is like a snake charmer when it comes to board presidents. We're not so sure about that, but we wonder if it's something Fredisdorf slips in their tea. It is evident that the Board President, who ran for the Board last April, is not the same person now that he was a year ago. Either he has been charmed, or he is now drinking the Kool Aid tea!

Trash

Smart move neighbors!

Why would they want someone else's trash!!

Superintendent Lacks Experience and Supervision

Well, this explains it all!

For  quite a while, this blog has been curious as to why Superintendent Mark Fredisdorf seems so out of touch with current educational pedagogy and the dynamics of an actual classroom. When asked questions, he defers to others for answers. He comes up with cockamamie plans and uses the curriculum council as a shield to carry them out. When his plans fail, he has someone to blame.

FOIA requests to several public entities are finally providing answers. 

First of all, Fredisdorf has had little professional development in the last three years and we suspect that has probably been the case for quite some time. The photo below is what Fredisdorf filled out in early December citing all the professional development he has had in the last three years. Most of the training listed is mandated by the state, and is not professional development.

Secondly, according to Fredisdorf's resume, he has spent one year, yes, you read that right, just ONE YEAR teaching school in the United States!

His one and only year ever teaching school was his very first year out of college waaaayy back in 1978-79!! Seriously, we cannot make this stuff up!

To be honest, we spoke with several people including administrators, a former principal and college professor who were alarmed about the lack of teaching experience Fredisdorf has had in his career. It is essentially unheard of to become a superintendent with so little experience!

While he has taught a few years in various countries overseas, they don't replicate an American classroom. For example, you don't even need a teaching degree to teach English in Japan - anyone with a college degree can do it! Not only was he a job hopper, but a country hopper too. Why?

In addition, Fredisdorf has never been a principal or even an assistant principal. The majority of his career has been spent away from children on administrative tasks.

It makes us wonder what board members Gary Bozick, Rita Uckerman, Bettina Johnson, Thomas Anselmo, Kathleen Blank, Ellen Blakeman and Patti Essig saw in him that led to hiring a superintendent with almost ZERO experience!

It certainly couldn't have been his expertise in strategic planning because Fredisdorf had to hire an outside company to help write the plan back in 2002. Heck, he can't even explain the plan when asked about it. It was written about 12 years ago and he continues to ride its coat tails as if it is actually meaningful today. Egads!

Mark Fredisdorf's resume:

In his job application to Pleasantdale, Fredisdorf writes about being an independent consultant for strategic planning, curriculum and staff development; none of which he seems to have any clue about! When asked to provide the board with the middle school language arts curriculum recently, he responded, "What do you mean by curriculum?" Just watch some of the board videos if you don't believe us. 

Fredisdorf also claims that he played a major role in creating innovative technology plans, overseeing the networking process, purchasing hardware and software and advancing the instructional use of technology. Say WHAT??? He can barely even operate a video presentation without help!! 

Finally, Fredisdorf does not have a job description (which directly violates board policy 5:30) so the board of education doesn't hold him accountable for anything and no one knows exactly what he is supposed to be doing to earn his $250,000 a year salary! In addition, the board of education not longer keeps track of Fredisdorf's weekly schedule - he does that on his own. Remember what happened in the township treasurer's office when the board of trustees, elected to supervise Robert Healy, allowed him to do as he pleased and let him run amok?  "Healy instructed his staff to stop logging his off-days, which they did. Even though sources said he often was not in the office, by Healy’s calculation he used only 25 vacation days in 24 years, and no sick or personal days."  You can read about that here, here or here.

Pleasantdale Board, superintendent, send out apology letter!

By: Chuck Fieldman 

The Pleasantdale Elementary District 107 Board is sharing responsibility with Superintendent Mark Fredisdorf for misleading the community about the district’s math curriculum being aligned with Common Core State Standards.

A letter dated March 21 and sent to parents and guardians of District 107 students stated, “Earlier correspondence to parents was misleading about our progress in aligning our curriculum outcomes to Common Core State Standards; for that we humbly apologize.”

Please click here to read the entire article. 

http://burrridge.suntimes.com/news/schools/math-WYD-03242014:article