By law, school councils in Kentucky are in charge of staffing; that is to say, how many teachers and support personel get jobs. It's a good law. But since it involves some people's livlihood, tempers can flare - and that has caused a rukus in one Kentucky elementary school.
Police were called to a PTA meeting recently. It seems the principal was fixin' to get out-voted on a plan that would cost her two assistant principals and more, in favor of 2 new teachers. Then, an anonymously distributed announcement of Thursday's PTA meeting went home telling parents that their children "could be in danger."
A bunch of parents showed up to see what kind of danger their kids were in...and the meeting turned out to be about staffing.
Things really got going when the principal's husband took the microphone and ascribed questionable motives to some individuals. Apparently, folks got worked up. Some went ot the parking lot. The police responded. Now, it's off to court.
No matter what the court does, let's hope this gets the OEA's attention.
This from the Floyd County Times:
Our View: Time for a time out
The issues at play last week as the Prestonsburg Elementary site-based council tweaked its staffing levels certainly merit a fair amount of controversy, but nothing warrants the astounding lack of civility that was on display as both the council and PTA met Thursday night.
Certainly, the debate over whether to spend the school's money on administration or instruction is worthy of lengthy discussion and fraught with a host of consequences whatever the ultimate decision. There can be perhaps no more important decision for a school than how to utilize limited resources to accomplish the goal of educating our children.And we do not deny the very human ramifications any decision will have.
Talk of "staffing levels" belies the fact that we are talking about a decision that will have a very profound impact on several individuals' livelihoods.But the events of last week rocketed right past important and emotional, and landed somewhere between anarchic and sociopathic. To wit:
- The anonymously distributed announcement of Thursday's PTA meeting that warned parents, "Your child could be in danger." This statement was far over the line, preying on the fears of parents and causing mortal fear to some children who read it. It should be possible for adults to convey the gravity of a situation without resulting to histrionics.
- The mere fact that it was necessary to call the police to restore order to the meetings. Can we not set a better example for our children than mob mentality? Is it not possible to show our children how to resolve conflict without implicit or explicit threats of violence?
To view these actions through another lens, ask yourself what sort of discipline would be meted out to a student who sent out a letter warning that other students "could be in danger," or to a group of students who surrounded another in the parking lot?
Certainly those students would be in trouble for their actions, possibly facing suspension or expulsion. So why should we expect any less of adults, who should supposedly know better?
This is no way for school decisions to be made, and there are plenty of people on both sides of the issue who should be deeply ashamed of their actions.
Reasonable people can differ as to which positions are most important, but I'm not aware of any single school variable better correlated to student achievement than high quality teachers; and the quality matters.
The basic idea in staffing is to have your resources deployed to the best benefit of (hopefully, all) the children. (But when you're out of money, you're out of money, even if you have identifiable groups of children who are not on track to reach proficiency. Now, this idea has caused us problems in the past. When funds were scarce, majorities tended to benefit much more than minorities, however one may define them.)
Every March, parents, teachers and principals sit down to compare their local school's progress toward meeting their goals. This is a good thing.
Then, they assess their resources, prioritize, and budget their choices...sometimes producing winners and losers.
The legislature's failure to adequately fund the schools is causing school councils across the state to cut instructional personnel -the place where funding cuts touch children directly - but otherwise, the system works fine.
This from the Floyd County Times:NOTE: We've seen this sort of thing before. After 1954, Kentucky's Minimum Foundation Program (MFP) was a perfectly reasonable system for distributing resources to the schools but legislative neglect rendered it totally inefficient. Rich schools, poor schools; good schools and bad schools: Kentucky was spending 8 times more on a given Fayette County kid than on a Whitley County kid. Remember, if the legislature had adequately funded the Power Equalization part of the MFP in the early 80s (about $400 million) there never would have been a Rose Decision...or KERA ($1.26 billion).
More charges filed after PTA meetingPRESTONSBURG — More complaints were issued Friday after the Prestonsburg Elementary PTA and site-based council meetings erupted into chaos following a 5-1 vote by the council to release several Prestonsburg Elementary administrators of their jobs in favor of hiring two more teachers.
Gary Frazier, husband of PES principal Gwen Hale-Frazier, issued three complaints late Friday afternoon against Nancy Bertrand, 35, of Prestonsburg, Alicia Salisbury, 44, of Ivel, and Hope Tackett, of Prestonsburg.
The complaints charge Bertrand with harassment, Salisbury with third-degree terroristic threatening, and Tackett with third-degree terroristic threatening and fourth-degree assault.
According to the complaint, it is alleged that Tackett “threatened Gary Frazier with the police and made verbal threats that she would get Mr. Frazier ... and that Ms. Tackett assaulted him by striking Mr. Frazier with a door.” Salisbury’s charge of terroristic threatening also allegedly stems from her telling Frazier that she would “get him.”
As was reported in The Times [above], tempers reportedly flared during last Thursday’s special PTA meeting, which had been called in response to an alarming letter sent home with students on Wednesday afternoon. The notice, headlined, “Your child could be in danger,” brought a number of parents to the Thursday meeting who were trying to identify the danger, which had reportedly scared a number of students.
A teacher at the school, Robin Nairn, said, “Your children are not in danger,” adding that students would begin testing on Monday and that parents should let their children attend.
The “danger” reportedly springs from the administration’s assertion that the proposed cutting of four staff members — including two vice principals, one secretary and the curriculum coordinator — would cause problems for the school and put more burden upon the teachers.“
Every one of these ladies are working their fingers to the bone to help these children,” Bonita Dove, PTA vice president, said during the meeting. “I’ve been in these offices. The phones are ringing, the children need attending to. One person cannot do it all.”
The cuts would reportedly free up capital with which to hire two new teachers.
Things reportedly got heated when Frazier took the podium to notify those in attendance that, “What we have going on here is noting but a good old-fashioned vendetta.”
“Aside from all the niceties, let’s take a good look at what’s really going on. A primary objective here is to get rid of Ms. Terri Hall; a second one, to make life as miserable as humanly possible for Gwen, so that she will give up and retire,” Frazier said.
Frazier said that the council, which he referred to as “the Junior Mafia,” was using its authority to advance the personal agendas of council members and ruin lives.Frazier’s comments reportedly touched a nerve among those in attendance, several of whom loudly asked that Frazier desist and leave the proceedings. The actions which led to the complaints being filed allegedly took place when Frazier left the proceedings and was followed into the parking lot by several of those in attendance.
Prestonsburg police officers reportedly responded to the scene to bring some semblance of order to the confusion.
Early Friday morning, charges were brought against Gary Frazier by the same women noted in Frazier’s charges. The charges mirror those issued by Frazier later in the day, with Tackett alleging terroristic threatening and assault, Bertrand alleging harassment, and Salisbury alleging terroristic threatening. A court date of May 14 has been set for Tackett, Bertrand and Salisbury to appear in court and provide an answer to the complaint.
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