Dr. Clay has again invited me in writing to meet with him in private at his office to discuss my “concerns.” He believes a face-to-face discussion would somehow magically assuage my fears while furthering a better understanding between the district and myself. And what fears would that be? The fears that EMSD#63 will continue down the road to paralyzing insolvency and ultimately to yet another tax-increase referendum in 2012. In fact, the process of softening tax-payer resistance has already begun, dear reader.
Now, what could Dr. Clay possibly say to us behind closed doors that couldn’t be said in public?
The problem for Dr. Clay and the School Board is not that I lack understanding but that I have discovered facts which compel a contrary opinion; a contradictory view they would like to silence or spin away.
No Dr. Clay, I don’t think so.
9 comments:
Mr. Butterly, it seems obvious that I'm more than willing to engage in this public forum with you as evidenced by my multiple posts here. Also, I've developed my own district blog for the same type of public discourse with any of our community members who care to visit it. Does this really look like I'm a public official who doesn't want to share information or respond to public concerns?
My invitations to you to have an actual conversation are an attempt to further the conversation, not end it. Although you present yourself here as someone who knows a great deal about education, your recent comments about ESL instruction made it clear that there is much you don't understand about what we do, why we do it, and how it benefits children. You won't gain a clear understanding of those types of things through FOIA requests, no matter how many hundreds of them you make. I am making the offer to you and anyone in our community who wants to know about our programs.
Also, since passing the last referendum in 2004, this district has made it clear that there would not be another request for a tax increase for at least 5 years. We will go at least 8 years without that request, but we have also repeatedly reported that the 2010-2011 budget is the first for us to move into deficit spending since passing that referendum. That has been reported every time we have discussed it at public meetings, in the Forum and Annual Reports, and now here in these comments. I am not interested in hiding our financial situation, our decisions regarding spending, or our attempts to effectively manage our funds from you or anyone else.
Dr. Clay,
1.) Did I state that you were unwilling to engage in this or any other public forum? I checked all of my posts and messages. Sorry, never said that.
2.) I already know about your new site Dr. Clay. Remember, I’m the guy who welcomed you to the blogosphere. Dear, dear, how soon they forget.
3.) Dr. Clay, I’ve never even hinted that you disliked sharing.
4.) My goal Dr. Clay is as my masthead states: “Revealing Information School Boards, Administrators, Teachers and Taxpayers need to know!” As I've stated before, closed meetings do not move us closer toward that goal.
5.) You’re right Dr. Clay, there is a great deal I don’t yet understand about what you do at EMSD#63; ESL and language immersion are not among them. I will be discussing that subject in separate post where it belongs. In the mean time, the issue of ESL vs. full language immersion is just something we will have to agree to disagree on.
6.) You’re right Dr. Clay when you state that issues such as ESL and language immersion are not suited for FOIA requests. FOIA requests are more for learning the costs of providing ESL services or the ultimate cost of importing six new Spanish teachers from Spain instead of hiring qualified and experienced American teachers over three years.
7.) Dr. Clay, you already know, unless you're still in denial, that a referendum will not pass in 2011, 2012 or maybe even 2013. The taxpayers are tapped out! You guys squandered the last increase when you should have been husbanding the millions in additional cash the 2004 referendum generated.
8.) Dr. Clay, I never said that you were hiding the Districts “financial situation.” I looked at all my postings and comments for “hide” or “hiding.” Sorry Doctor, I never made that statement.
However, you did!
Mr. Butterly,
My comments about being willing to engage in a public forum were in regard to your insinuation that my invitations for a face-to-face meeting were somehow a way for me to “silence a contrary opinion.” An actual conversation would be an additional venue, not a replacement for public discourse.
I’m glad you mentioned the six teachers from Spain we recently hired. Although I’m sure you will FOIA all the information on this topic from us, you will be happy to learn that there is no additional cost and by “no additional cost” I mean literally nothing. No cost for recruiting them, no cost for interviewing them, no travel cost, not even food costs…literally nothing, Mr. Butterly. And as for hiring experienced Bilingual Spanish teachers from America, we do, whenever we can find them. Ms. Glickman, our Executive Director of Personnel and Pupil Services and Ms. Centanni, our Coordinitor of ESL/Bilingual Services, prior to recruiting in Spain, attended a local Bilingual/ESL Job Fair. They found one qualified candidate from that endeavor….we had 11 openings for bilingual Spanish positions. I would suggest that perhaps you take this opportunity to compliment our administrators for solving a personnel shortage with a no cost option. One that has given us the most experienced group of bilingual teachers we have ever been able to hire. It’s a chance for you to capitalize on a positive situation and to counter the claim that you focus only on the negative, as some of your readers have stated.
I am surmising, from your comments, that you do not believe the District should be spending money on “costly ESL” and bilingual classes. If I’m wrong with that assumption, I apologize. I would urge you to read my latest post on my blog regarding ESL, Bilingual, and Immersion programs. Within that post, there is some information about the success of these programs, so yes, I believe in their value 100%. However, my reason for writing about that here is to point out that our programs for ESL and Bilingual students are required by law. At Wednesday night’s board meeting, Erin Centanni presented a plan that we are piloting this year that will incorporate ESL services into the general education classrooms, therefore, reaching more English Language Learners throughout the school day and maximizing our efforts.
My comments about our financial status were in regard to our willingness to engage the community and to be as transparent as possible. I am not in denial about the economic challenges of our community nor the challenges facing our school district. Obviously, I disagree with your comment that this district has squandered the millions of dollars received from the 2004 referendum. Even after your hundreds and hundreds of FOIA requests, the only examples I’ve seen on this blog of what you consider to be excessive spending, since the passing of the 2004 referendum, were the $5000 for the immersion program and the approximately $80,000 paid to Kathleen Williams for her duties this past school year. Although the value of those two expenditures is a legitimate debate, $85,000 is a far cry from the millions you are claiming we’ve “squandered.” It is through careful and responsible stewardship that we will go for a minimum of eight years without having to ask the tax payers for an increase. This incidentally has continued to be the case even through a time when our revenues have declined due to the recession.
Is it true that Dr. Clay has a mail order PhD?
The Apollo staff took a no confidence vote on Mrs Glickman when she was principal. Is that why they moved her out?
Anon July 14, 2010 7:32 AM,
I don't know. Possibly Dr. Clay or Board President Jane Wojtkiewicz would like to respond to this question.
Anon July 14, 2010 7:34 AM,
That rumor has been circulating EMSD#63 for years. Maybe Dr. Clay, Board President Jane Wojtkiewiczor or Ms. Glickman would like to respond either to flesh it out or put an end to it.
Jane is unable to answer, as I believe that all of her statements over the years were written for her by Williams or Ruh.
you sir are obviously a coward who would shake in his shoes at the very thought of speaking face to face with dr clay, you hide behind a stupid blog. If I had a problem with something you were doing I would be at your front door.
The problem with people of your ilk is that you get one or two people blowing smoke up your ass and telling you what you are doing is great, but the other 99% could give 2 shits about you or what you are doing. get a clue move on and stop harrassing people who really are doing important and worthwhile work.
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