Live blogging from APS board meeting: Does our staff believe in our children?
July 18th, 2011
At the APS board meeting today, interim Superintendent Erroll Davis calls for a culture change in the badly damaged system. (Brant Sanderlin/AJC)
In opening the board meeting on the CRCT cheating report, APS Chair Brenda J. Muhammad said that she and other board members have heard from many people including students over the past two days. The common refrain has been anger, disappointment and outrage, said Muhammad.
(Missing from the meeting are Khaatim Sherrer El and Nancy Meister.)
Acting school chief Erroll Davis said that anyone who cheated knowingly or unknowingly has forfeited their right to remain in our system. He told the board members that he will advise them on these personnel issues when they go into closed session later today. (They are now in closed session, which is legal under the open meetings law.)
One of things I want to take a hard look at is this issue of culture. No matter what strategy you adopt, culture will always trump strategy, Davis said. I believe that we must change the culture of the organization. We have to move to a more open, more transparent and more empowering culture, and I also think we have to make sure we have appropriate processes and procedures in place that demand that we listen more, that we engage our partners more much more so than in the past.
Davis said the state report suggests that a focus on performance caused people to cheat. I do not accept that a focus on performance causes people to cheat. We must continue to demand excellence. We must continue to demand performance. I want excellence as a standard at every level.
What people do need to understand is that the consequences for operating outside of the boundaries that will be set will be harsher, far more predictable and far more considerable than the consequences for missing a target, for missing a goal.
Davis said APS must eliminate a climate that allowed cheating to occur, allowed ethical compromises to take place without consequences. We certainly will eliminate that climate at every level.
Davis said he was limited in creating his advisory team until he saw who was implicated in the cheating report. Now that he can create a team, he says he has a preliminary plan that includes mandatory ethics training for all employees.
In addition, Davis plans to set a trigger for when CRCT results must be reviewed by the systems research and policy group. Inexplicable score jumps could be sent for internal audit.
In light of the new teacher effectiveness tools that APS is putting in place, Davis promised to take a hard look at the target-setting procedures and make sure those two work hand in hand and that the targets are, in fact, realistic and we are doing our job giving appropriate tools to teachers to achieve these goals.
Davis also plan to put an anonymous survey tool in place so employees can report whether there is a climate of fear or intimidation in their buildings.
For affected children, Davis says he wants a review of remedial programs in place to ensure that those kids are getting what they need.
On that point, board member Courtney English said, This is just the tip of the iceberg. One of the things that I think is critical that gets added to this list….the culture that exists inside the system with respect to instruction.
At the core of this issue is an academic problem, a curriculum problem, he said. We have to ask ourselves what did not happen in the classroom that allowed an adult to make a decision on behalf of a child that I dont think you can actually hit this bar. I think that is a very scary question, but I do think it is one we have to ask ourselves. Are our teachers getting enough support in the classroom to do the job? Are they, in fact, the right people in the classroom to do the job we have asked them to do?
Fixing the cheating problem is merely the tip of the iceberg, English repeated. Beneath that lies a far greater question what our teachers, staff and employees actually believe about our kids.
Earlier today:
I am here early for the APS board meeting at noon. Right now, there is more media than public including CNN and all the networks. Will start posting once the meeting begins in three minutes.
Just stopped acting school chief Erroll Davis as he arrived to ask if the school board would vote on the CRCT cheating response plan that he will present today. He said he is not asking the board to vote on his recommendations on personnel.
I also asked him if would stay in the superintendents job for a while. He said, Its not up to me.
Similar Posts:
- APS cheating report cites “a culture of fear and a conspiracy of silence”
- Beverly Hall: Shocked, saddened and sorry for shortcomings
- State school chief: Will address APS awards possibly won through cheating
- CRCT scores are in: What do they tell us this time?
- North Clackamas School Board to vote on 2011-12 budget
Tags: Aps Board, Aps Board Meeting, Board Meeting, Meeting
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