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Friday, August 13, 2010
Letter B... by Tom Bowen and the DeKalb Board of Education
More Friday funnies. We've decided to stop being so serious.
Click the play button to listen to the theme song we've chosen for Zepora. She is so full of shocking antics, outrageous comments and bad behavior, yet our board chair and members seem content to just ignore her and "letter B"... That's ridiculous and embarrassing. With a nod to another screen favorite, "How do we solve a problem like Zepora?"
In Zepora's own words --
“I will not vote in favor of this item, not only AT&T – but for any other businesses that’s doing business with AT&T and is part of this eduKalb to erase the board.”
“Now the only thing that he does is fly all over the country, spending your hard-earned dues trying to be a high roller, hobnobbing with important people.”
“Your president keeps getting bolder and bolder with his nasty antics and disrespect.”
"You once again missed the whole thing! As a matter of fact, you added points to your lopsided way of thinking that were not even said by me nor Ms. Copelin Wood. You once again used this opportunity to spread your poison."
"Although I am an elected official, I am not obligated to respond to you in any form or fashion."
"Even though you have access to a lot of data, you still have it all wrong."
"I feel sorry for you, so take your lopsided, twisted thoughts where they belong, to the trash bin. Thank you."
"I have no more comments to say to you and don't you come near me or I am going to slug you."
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For a bit more Friday fun (at Zepora's expense), check out this hip hop remix of Wendy's interviews at 46 CBS Atlanta.
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I know it looks otherwise, but we don't enjoy posting these daily Zepora antics. We'd really like to 'Let Her Be'... It's time, Zepora. Step down. Your work here is finished.
Oh my. The remix is classic.
ReplyDeleteThat is hilarous. Love the rap!
ReplyDeleteJust got onto the Dekalb website...is the front page new?
ReplyDeleteWent in to look at jobs and had to do a double take at the tabs on the left hand of the site...under "View Job Postings" is the option: "By Job Families."
On first glance I thought it read," By Job for Families."
Just havin' Friday fun!
The front web page is new, and the category columns appropriate to the way the district runs -- First you see "News", then "Community", then "Staff", and what's last... "Students".
ReplyDeleteOh the remix is so funny! When I thought that video was already priceless, this makes go up many notches.
ReplyDeleteI noticed that 'schools' is located under 'staff' not 'students'... (which is where I first looked).
ReplyDeleteJust shows you that the people in charge are not putting children first.
ReplyDeleteThink they'll play the remix at the next BOE meeting? Thanks for the chuckle.
ReplyDeleteThough they did get rid of that stupid "Premier" motto and logo. For that alone I'd give Tyson a $2K chair and a year's free membership to the DCSS Wellness Center.
ReplyDeleteSorry, Ramona Tyson is just very unimpressive:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wsbtv.com/video/24561452/index.html
Execellent! Certainly sums up Roberts and Bowen to a "B"!
ReplyDeleteI was hoping someone would take those interviews and put a "you tube" twist to them. Is that remix actually on the CBS website?
ReplyDeleteThe next time you go to your child's school, take a peek at the teachers' sign in sheet. You may be surprised to see most the teachers are working 11 hour days. What you don't see is that we go home and keep working. You wonder why we're stressed? Wonder why most of the dedicated teachers are going home cursing or crying at the end of a long day? It's not your kids, it's Dr. Beasley.
ReplyDeleteDeKalb County voters: Please, please elect BOE members who aren't embarassing clowns, such as Zepora Roberts, or spineless pushovers, such as Tom Bowen, or lackeys for special interests, such as Gene "Sembler" Walker. Never ever anywhere else has such a small number of unqualified, incompetent people been allowed to oversee a billion dollars a year of public money.
ReplyDeleteIt's Dr. Beasley ...
ReplyDelete@ Anonymous at 7 PM
My heart goes out to you. Really. Beasley is a charlatan and he has got to go.
So, can you help me understand why no teachers have posted copies of the demands they are getting from Beasley -- even if it comes through your principal or vice principal? Instructions for safely posting -- so you are not at risk -- have been posted twice on this blog.
What are we missing? How can we help you?
Please keep in mind that it's not enough to say teachers are going home crying or going home furious. Of course they are! But, to motivate the public, we must be able publish specifics on this blog.
Teachers! How can we help you? Help us to help you!
Perhaps Dr. Beasley is sending emails to principals, and they are filtering his directives since he knows teachers may post his emails. DCSS has so many layers, directives may go to the principal and then to APs and coaches, etc. before the marching orders even get to the teachers. I think at this point the DCSS administration is very careful about what they put in emails since they know it may show up on the Internet here or at AJC Get Schooled.
ReplyDeleteBeasley's directives have been verbal...from APs. Principals, etc.
ReplyDeleteNOTHING FROM MORCEASE BEASELY IS IN WRITING directly to teachers...hmmmmmmmmmmm...THE POSTING OF LESSON PLANS IS ON AN EMAIL PLATFORM...how inadequate and archaic! ZEPORA ROBERTS BELONGS IN ANOTHER DECADE.
ReplyDeleteRE: NOTHING FROM MORCEASE BEASLEY IS IN WRITING ...
ReplyDeleteBut you are aware of it somehow.
How are you getting Beasley's directives?
If it is verbally, from your principal, then write it down -- word for word -- and post it on this blog.
Does your high school have a business education teacher who knows speedwriting or shorthand? Ask that person to write down all verbal directives that come from Beasley and transcribe them. Then post the transcriptions on this blog.
If the directives come in e-mail from your principal, follow the directions that were posted earlier on this blog to safely copy and send the e-mail to this blog.
Help us help you!
the "directives" and other messages (including the no 'i' in 'team' but a 'u' in 'unemployed' comment) were delivered in our dept. meeting by an administrator who sat in and said that the comment is what dr. beasley said; the administrator repeatedly said "don't shoot the messenger; this is from dr. beasley." and, yes, i do fear for my job, what with working with a principal who at a previous school tried to fire a whistle-blower teacher. in fact, this principal yesterday at faculty mtg. said we must now give weekly assessments, make a spreadsheet indicating which students missed which questions, and then indicate what remediation strategies we will use to reteach those concepts to the students; and this has to be done weekly, on top of our new 2 page lesson plan forms, and other weekly reports and evaluations. sheesh. in the past, when asked how we were supposed to do all this, he smiled and said "get here earlier, and leave later." oh, really? on top of furlough days and pay cuts, we should work even more than we do? to say nothing of the out-of-pocket money we spend to finance our own classrooms. i love my kids and i love teaching, but working here is increasingly discouraging.
ReplyDeleteI posted the following comment on a different thread last night, but it fits here as well. Teachers need to know what Dr. Beaseley is up to. He has put so many new policies in place and now we're being monitored and observed AND he is the deciding vote for promotions. I've heard that he is going to use our students' data in deciding who gets ahead. In theory that sounds like a great decision. However, what data? Collected by whom? Is this just another way to justify hiring his own "friends and family"? We need clearly stated WRITTEN expectations so we can know all of the new rules. I started DeKalb in 1991. I've never seen anything like this guy! I really can't do this anymore.
ReplyDeleteCere- can we have a thread just related to Dr. B. and his new policies? Maybe I can glean from my colleagues what's going on. My administrators have said they are not "allowed" to say anything against Dr. B. Everyone just seems to be scared. This is not a working environment conducive to excellent instruction. Isn't that supposed to be my goal?
@Anon 7:23
Are you by any chance one of the central office administrators who will now be observing classrooms each week? I had an unfamiliar administrator in my room today doing an observation. It wasn't like our traditional evals. The admin didn't know me or my students. Yet, this person is observing me. Why? When I asked for a copy of the eval, I was told there was no way for me to have a copy. What??? To whom does this observation get sent? My principal? Dr. Beasley? What is this new process? How will the info. be used?
I've heard rumors that Dr. B. is now controlling the hiring process. Apparently he gets a final say on who gets what position. So is HR doing away with the group interviews? Is Dr. B. going to use these observations to decide who to promote?
How has one man come in so suddenly and been able to commandeer so much power? Is Tyson answering to him now? Has she not seen the complaints? If you thought morale was low last year, just wait. It's only the second week of school and I'm planning my exit strategy!
This is why parents must send commendations of teachers that are doing a good job with their child to everyone concerned.
ReplyDelete