Political Persuasions

Because of my strong convictions about what I feel was an unjust and personal attack on a friend who was victimized by what I feel was a personal and political attack. Below is a variation of the letter I am sending  to the governor and various political and educational officials who's e mail addresses I can find.

To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing this letter to express my outrage that the Special Education teacher, Mr. Karonis was fired from Ford Elementary school undue cause without any concern for the emotional or psychological welfare of the students, not to mention their potential for academic progress.

Since the beginning of the school year I have been serving as the school’s volunteer librarian adjacent to his classroom. During that time I have witnessed a remarkable transformation in the overall behavioral complacency. Teacher - student bonds developed that are impossible to recreate in a timely manner, especially considering this disruption occurred during the holiday season.

“Coach K” as he was respectively and affectionately referred to by his students, co-workers, and me, will be sorely missed and will be nearly impossible to replace with someone of equal caliber. His experience gives him incredible credentials.

My varied experiences have allowed me to have an informed opinion about the educational injustice that occurred. In the past I have taught and served in various roles at an adolescent treatment center for seven years  Elkins Mountain School in Elkins, WV. Also, I worked for fifteen years for the Department of Developmental Services with mentally retarded adults with behavioral issues. However, what substantiates and qualifies my opinion most is that I am the father of a twelve year-old special needs student who was a student last year at Ford School. He has had a very successful year this year transitioning into Pickering Middle School.

Because of my deep convictions I not only wanted to speak up for “Coach K” and offer my testimony to any more specific questions you may have. If I can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to call me. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Stanley H. Wotring, Jr.





Now I have a question that maybe someone out there with good math skills could answer the equation: the power of the pen plus the Internet equals what?

The Rats Are Back And They Are In Charge!

I learned today that my next door neighbor to the library was terminated. I am in shock. As soon as that wears off I am sure I will be outraged. I have been outraged before but this takes it to a new level.

This is a travesty, a direct blow to the most needy of our students. What could be the reason? I intend to find out. Could it have been because he was not on board with the proposed addition of additional non-neighborhood kids to a proposed expanded class?

I am sure that couldn't have been it. He is an experienced teacher who has often implemented policies that he felt was not in the best interest of the students. Any group of behavior kids are difficult to handle. I know this because I previously taught and worked with this population in a residential facility. But no one knows this better than Coach K. He has taught in Compton in California during the race riots so he was definitely up to the task.

Again from behind my desk in the library at Ford, I have witnessed first-hand the positive evolution of his class of displaced behavioral students. The school administration ought to be studying his class in hopes of emulating it not removing him thus stripping these students the opportunity to transforming into productive citizens.

Shame on you Dr. Latham. I urge everyone who reads this blog to call her, all the school committee members, and the mayor to ask how this latest blow to the Lynn School System could have happened. I am not done writing but I am done for now.

Normally I would be worried about being fired for taking such an outright stand but I don't work for anybody, I just work for what is right and just.

Are Only Our Boards Smart?

Siting from behind my library desk, I have observed yet another problem. Considering we tout the purchase of all these "smart boards" as the next great white hope (excuse me, the boards are white and I thought it kind of ironic to poke fun at the outdated, irrational thinking behind their use). Instead our teachers are enslaved, chained to an overzealous security filter that prevents them from going on the most of the educational websites designed to enliven the educational experience.

I fully understand the need for security when it comes to all of the confidential matter that our school system deals with. I am technologically inept but it seems to me this problem could be solved by using two separate accounts, one for all of the confidential data and one for use in the classroom, each having different security thresholds. Another possibility would be to develop a list of allowable,secure websites that the teachers could use.

Hopefully, I am complaining about nothing and the answers to my concerns have already been addressed. But you know what? The fact that I even have them tells me that at least, the teachers are under trained and some of the educational benefits from that vaunted stimulus money is undermined.

If the questions I am raising make anybody feel uncomfortable then maybe if the real librarians had been funded, I wouldn't have been there to observe these obvious problems. Where would we be? Somebody has to be held accountable.

Unreasonable Accomodations

Sitting behind my desk at the library, I am outraged by what appears to be unlawful placement of two disabled paraprofessionals in a behavior class since the beginning of the school year. As I have said before, I am not a lawyer but I have been disabled myself for 29+ years so I know a thing or two about some of the issues surrounding the disabled worker.

I don't believe the "union contract" will give the Lynn School Department cover when the Department of Justice comes calling. Again I don't believe the legal language says "reasonable accommodation as long as the union allows it". A person's civil rights can not  bargained away.

I don't know what the answer is, if I did they would pay me more. Wait, they don't pay me at all. Working for a few years with populations with behavior problems, I know the potential to get hurt is always there. Starting with disabilities already makes the occurrence of more injuries all the more likely for either the paraprofessional or the student in their charge.

If that happens, the injuries could be severe, attorney Mihos may need reinforcements, and the school department will learn what a real budget crisis looks like.

Coming Home

What is behind the increase in behavior students? Is there an increase? I only see what I can from my vantage point in the Ford library. There is all this commotion with this game of musical chairs(really classrooms) and it looks like the NASA program may not have a place to call home.That would be tragic. Science is our future.

For some reason. it seems that Ford has become the place where other schools are placing their behavior students. Most of the kids in Ford's behavior class are coming from other schools. While I believe Coach K is an exceptional teacher, I strongly believe students do much better in their neighborhood school. I base this opinion on my own personal experience as the parent of a special needs child.

My son was in a .4, behavior class at Shoemaker for about 5 years. His tenure there culminated with the fact that they could not take him safely on a field trip to the Science Museum. In his one year at Ford in a Honors class he was able to go on a 3 day field trip to Washington, DC. Of course, there were bumps at first to his initial placement there but I view those as kind of a decompression in the readjustment to his neighborhood school.

Keeping a student has the added benefits of not having the costs for transportation, a network of familiar friends(this is especially difficult for kids with spectrum disorders), and a known environment. A person's own community is just an extension of the family. Nobody takes care of family like family.

For Good Measure?

I just have a question, Why is it that education is getting increasingly more complicated in America and our ranking against other countries keeps falling? We seem to be bent on measuring everything and we are getting tangled up in statistics.

Numbers are like the trees blocking our view of the educational landscape. Learning is more than just collecting data. Creativity applied to knowledge yields an education that does not get tangled up in itself and one that evolves into a more progressive intelligence.

Your Move

Growing in the endangered NASA dedicated classroom is the hydroponics experiment being conducted jointly with the students from the Ford School and the Highlands Coalition, Inc. The unique setup is constructed with PVC pipe and fertilized with the waste products from a fish tank. I don't know all the particulars but I do know there is a patent attorney involved. No matter what, this is a  very positive thing for the community and the students.

The significance of the experiments location is this. When the next hookup with NSA through the DLN occurs, they will be able to see the results of this collaboration between the students and community. This experiment is highly relevant to the work being carried out at the International Space Station. If the DLN was successfully move to the library, my library, the experiment would have to find an alternate home once the NASA room is converted to  regular classroom.

I don't see them following the DLN hookup. Aside from the fact there would be some space issues there, books just don't have an affinity for water. So that would mean choosing between what could be an up and coming international"growth" (I love playing with words)  industry and the ability to place say "five" more behavior students from another neighborhood. Guess which one I would choose? I wonder what logic the school administration uses for their"s?

History Lessons

Went to the Lynn English-West Lynn game this morning. It was cold. English won 22-12. A Classical graduate from 1975 was wearing a jacket from the class of 1975 screaming "Put me in coach, I'm ready to play". Two old classmates renewed their friendship once again like they have every year since they graduated twenty years ago

This rivalry has been going on for 99 years.  It represents a tradition and proof that all learning doesn't occur in the classroom and can't be measured on any standardized test. We learn most about life from living it and experiencing the relationships that develop between people and things through history. They don't have a category for these things on the MCAS. It just proves there is a difference between education and learning.

It's A Numbers Game

It has been fun poking fun at Marshall's mistakes in claiming my son has been attending this past grading period but it does beg more serious questions. Data? What kind of arithmetical manipulations could have been performed to help shape their numbers? I mean he has decent MCAS scores, is biracial, and has an IEP. I am not accusing anyone of anything but I do wonder if his presence on their attendance rolls could have skewed whatever numbers.

Hopefully this is an isolated case but I am just wondering.

NASA May Be Grounded

With all that is going wrong with Lynn Public Schools, why are going to take a chance on something that is going right? The Ford School's relationship has earned it national attention, being only one of 49 schools across the nation to earn that affiliation.

However, the school department is willing to risk that in order to expand a behavior classroom for the possibility of adding additional behavior students from other schools to this class at Ford School. I am no saying it is but the fact is that this shuffling of students would help the overall MCAS scores of the schools these kids come from.

Can I Get A Refund On My Tickets?

Being from WV, tonight's proposed meting with the mayor had me remembering one of the anthems from the syndicated show "Hee Haw", "Where Oh Where Are You Tonight? Why Did You Leave Me Here All Alone?".

If you hadn't guessed, the mayor was a no show. I never got the memo or in this case e mail that she wasn't coming. I do live next door to Ford where the meeting was so it wasn't as inconvenient as it could have been.

The reason given was that Mayor Kennedy wanted to wait until Monday to  tour Ford to observe the behavior class that is he focus of the school administration's focus. On the face, this is a valid reason and may even reflect a deep sincerity and desire to do the right thing. Let us hope so, but the fact remains she wasn't there.

The Awards Just Keep On Coming!

My son just keeps racking up awards. I told you how he was acknowledged for having perfect attendance at Marshall  over the loudspeaker. Quite a feat since he attends Pickering and never has even wen through the doors at Marshall,

My daughter relayed that fact to Dr. Cowdell that same day. Today my daughter came home with my son's perfect attendance certificate from Marshall signed by that same Dr. Cowdell. I am so proud.

Education By The Numbers

Sitting from behind my desk in the library, I have seen a mini-parade of LSC committee members (Vinnie Spirito, Maria Carrasco, and the latest, Rick Starbard). It is hard for me to believe but they didn't come to see me.

You see next to me in the library is a behavior class. Not at first would seem an ideal placement for that particular class. However, it has worked. In fact, it has been a good place especially considering the cramped quarters of the classroom. The teacher, Coach K. has masterfully used the library as a reward for good behavior and for an occasional change of environment that is so effective when dealing with that population.

Now enter the infinite wisdom of the scholars in the ivory tower also known as the administration building, they want to play a little shell game so they can potentially stuff more behavior kids from other schools into Ford. The logic of this latest attempt at micromanagement blows my mind but does not surprise me.

Because Ford has relatively higher MCAS scores it is better able to absorb the typically lower  MCAS scores that come along with these behavior students. This also has the added benefit of removing those same scores from the roster of those lower scoring schools thus inflating their overall results. Sounds like a plan to me.

As in any battle there are unintended (or so they would have us believe) victims of friendly fire. The first of these victims would be the Ford School's NASA program. In order to make room for a class is being planned to occupy the room dedicated for NASA. In that room the DLN hookup is placed along with the tables needed for practical experiments. The DLN hookup would then be placed in the library, my library, thereby putting the whole NASA affiliation in jeopardy. This affiliation is a prestigious distinction and should be trumpeted not vandalized.

There is also some class size issues at work here too. Still there is truth to the old adage, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". I don't have all the details, I'm just a volunteer librarian. There is a meeting tonight with the mayor. Members of the LSC, Dr. Latham, and members of the Highlands Coalition. Let's see who shows up.

Take One For The Team

I know when I was going to school I would have been very upset if someone would have told me I had to wear a uniform. This is America, land f the free and the right to bare arms.

Now as an older wiser parent (my kids might not agree on both points) I can see the logic. Especially since it's a different world now. Of course, parents always say that. Uniforms take away a lot of the economic issues where kids don't have to compete with the latest fashions. They do represent a seriousness in your approach to your education.

LSC member Maria Carrasco brought up this issue to the full committee. She put forth numerous accounts of the success of uniforms in other cities. Vinnie Spirito,, both an LSC member and former principal, testified to past successes in his schools.

Uniforms have been tried before in Lynn. LSC member Rick Starbard told of old English polo shirts hanging in his daughter's closet. There was then and there is now the issue of whether or not  LPS can mandate uniforms. Attorney Mihos thought that the school system couldn't a few years ago but was going to look into it to see if the statues had changed.

Various suggestions were offered like"everyone in a certain activity" were offered as a way to circumvent any legal restrictions. Attorney Mihos held his position that he didn't think the school department had the authority to mandate the wearing of uniforms bu he would do further research to be sure of his opinion.

Bullies Beware

In response to the state's demand that our schools pay serious attention to bullying, every school system was mandated to develop a Bullying Intervention Plan. The plan will be featured on the Lynn Public School's website to allow for public comment from Nov. 19th to Dec. 7th.

A lot of the credit for developing Lynn's plan goes to Dennis Thompson. From what I have learned from attending these recent LSC meetings is that we are still feeling our way on this and we are kinda waiting to get direction from the courts.

In the meantime, document, document, document.

Park It Right Here

A casualty of the parking war was my sanity when I think how much time and effort ( = money) was put into debating this issue. The only real question was the answer to the question, "Who had the right to make the decision?".

In the recent past when Bennett St. was used as the Ford Annex. Crystal Foods leased a little portion of the parking lot which they had fenced off and used for parking. In return they paid the $1000 a year in taxes for the property taxes. Good deal for us and it saved them the hassle of finding the change to feed the meters.

Crystal Foods was bought out by Seacrest and they want to continue the arrangement. Seems like a no brainer.

No brains is the operative phrase. LSC member Donna Coppola raises her concern that since the LSC already paid $29,000 (that's right 29 with a K) for a study to determine if the Bennett St. location was a suitable place for the relocation of the school department offices and if that happened would there be adequate parking.

She was assured that there was going to be enough parking. Both Dr. Latham and Mayor Kennedy said that they had physically walked over the land. The lease was to be worded in such a way that if the LSC ever needed use of the land then the leased land would revert back to the committee. Just think, if we all could be lawyers life would be so simple.

What I want to know, "Who thought it was a good idea to spend that amount of money on such a study?" I know it is a serious move and does require some serious thought. But there are some pretty educated people running the school department who probably could have analyzed the situation and not had to rely on outside brain power to come up with what should have been a foregone conclusion.

The $29,000 could have been used to buy library books.

Do You Reap What You Sow?

With all the talk about rats and fences we have lost what is important about the gardens at Ingalls and Ford. I was looking over an Indian Proverb:

All the flowers of all the tomorrows are in the seeds of today.

Maybe if everyone reads that advice and reflects on the wisdom  inherent in it, then maybe there won't be so much animosity and hatred. I know it's probably wishful thinking but I want you to ask yourself what you are planting.

The Power Of Words

As I survey the books in the library at Ford I notice what seems to be a pretty nice selection of poetry books. Shel Silverstein has probably been most popular among the students this year. He is a great author.

I can't say that I was interested in poetry when I was in elementary school. I though that stuff was just too hard to understand or outright silly. Give me biographies of sports stars. After all I was sure I was going to be a professional baseball player.

Then life got in the way of my dreams and I discovered while I was good, I just wasn't that good. Especially when you add in all of the injuries I had along the way. Some minor, some not so minor.

Later in life I discovered the purpose and power of poetry.Poetry gives one a chance to exercise language, paint a picture with words, or create a song with words.  The art of persuasion owes its lifeblood to the syntax of the syllable.

I wish that I had experienced the beauty of the written word at such a young age. That is why I fought (unsuccessfully) for the funding of the libraries with real certified librarians. My commitment to serve as a volunteer librarian is an attempt hold a flashlight to illuminate the way for our kids until the school department flips on the overhead lights by restoring funding and I can go back to being a parent.

A Classic Strategy For The Rams

I want to take a break a minute from all the rat, garden, and parking chatter to talk about something else. Something that kind of slid under the radar at the LSC meeting. That something was about the continuing of the accreditation of Classical High School by the NEASC.

Am I missing something or is this a big deal? If I understand this problem correctly, a future graduating class may receive somewhat worthless diplomas. Dr. Latham declined to go into further specifics, preferring to wait to hear more about what they are going to demand we comply with. She said she hoped they would be understanding since things are tight fiscally.

Tight, whoa! What happened to all the grant money? I know that there are strings to all that "free" money but now we are all tied up with the bonds of ignorance. Anyway, it seems to me that the strategy is to do bad so we can get more grant money.

Someone please educate me on this.

Dismantling Our Future

I got notice through the Highlands Coalition that there is a movement by the school department to cripple (And I know a thing or two about being crippled - sorry that was a politically insensitive remark but it was kind of funny).

The plan as I understand would take the DLN hookup out of the special classroom and place it in the library so the NASA classes could happen in there. Wait a minute, the library is my turf. I've spent a half day in there every day so that these kids can have access to library books.

I volunteer and I am not a paid employee so I guess it's not really MY library but I do feel kind of territorial. It's not me they are trying to trespass on anyway, it is the rights of the students to have the best education available. There are only 49 NASA schools in the country and Ford is one of them. We all should be proud of this and no be putting further blemishes on our educational sanity.

Here's where the Highlands piece comes in. Also planned is some other rearrangement of' our aqua phonics lab. There are plenty of progressive and innovative things going on here. Our kid's, our planet's future is at stake here. Why should we sacrifice both for by some accounts is a personal vendetta against Ford School.

First the agreement for the Innovative School that ended up going to a former Ford school vice-principal in Revere,then the closing of the Annex and the killing of every K-8 proposal. I know I'm leaving something out but like I said I am not a school employee and I don't have the security clearance to view top secret documents.

So from the e mail I got I guess there is a meeting with the mayor and school committee people will be invited. On the invitation list were the superintendent and her deputy. I hope everybody shows this Tue. night at 6 pm. I know I'll be there with bells on. Since I am from WV, it'll probably be a cow bell.