What else is there to say?

Hello my friends. It's been a long time. I've been quiet for a while waiting to see what you would do without me.

I like to think of myself as Aslan, and you can be the Pevensie kids!

I must say, you people do not disappoint. I have heard new voices speaking up and fresh faces stepping out into the light. You are doing amazing things.

Look! There you are!

Teachers are busting their butts to implement new curriculum.

Parents are showing up to board meetings and expressing concerns on everything from bonds to bullying.

The union is hard at work keeping the district in compliance with the law.

Our new superintendent is sticking to her word to try and change the culture inside our district.

School board members are engaging in lively discussions both with themselves and their constituents (I even heard that Ms. Lancoln spoke a full sentence for the first time ever in a board meeting!).

There are whispers and rumors of next year's school board elections and who might be interested in running.

Community members of all types have been attending meetings to discuss Reimagining High School, our Special Education services, Pre-K options, and more.

Cooks are cooking, coaches are coaching, clowns are clowning (what's up with that?), and everywhere you look Pasco schools are full of energy and enthusiasm.

Pasco, I'm really proud of you.  I've never been more optimistic about the future of Pasco schools, but...

You knew there had to be a "but" right? There's always a but.

Be honest, does this blog make my butt look bigger?

But we can do more. We MUST do more. 

We've been headed in the wrong direction for a very long time. Now we are finally turned around, but we are moving at the pace of a turtle... pulling a freight train. 

Look out! I'm coming for you! It may take a while, but I'm coming... still coming... any day now... I'll be there soon...

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad we've turned this train around. But now is not the time to sit back and congratulate ourselves. We are finally pointed in the right direction, so now is the time to put all our energy into moving forward to make up for lost time.

We need more parents and teachers at board meetings.
We need more letters and phone calls to administrators.
We need more honest dialogue about what's working and what isn't.
We need more of you.

I can't vote (imaginary people are the most disenfranchised voting block ever).

But you can!



I can't call board members (restraining orders can be a real downer).

But you can!



I can't touch my toes (I love food too much!).

But you can!


What I can do is share information. 
Lots and lots of information. 
My rabbit hole inside the Booth building grows larger every day, and there is no end to the secrets the have begun spilling out.

So tell me what do you want to know?
What information do you need in order to make your case and fight the good fight?

My goal has always been to share truth with the masses, but at this point in time I have so much information to share I don't even know where to begin. So tell me what you want to know.

Want to know how the new curriculum is going?
Want to know who's whispering about running for school board?
Want to know the latest on the upcoming bond?
Want a play by play of the latest board meetings?
Want to know about PSD's legal woes?
Want to know what's going wrong and right with sports? music? special education?
Want to find out more about the community forums that have been going on this fall and how you can get involved?
Want to know how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop?

Tell me what you want to talk about, and let's talk.

Hidden Super Powers

Super Community Member to the Rescue!

Did you know you have a super power?




It's true. You probably don't know it, but you use it all the time. It's like your very own secret weapon, only it's not a secret and everyone knows you have it.  Everyone, that is, but you.

Everyone else in the room can see it, everyone else but you.

It's a crazy idea, but it surprisingly accurate. You are the only one who doesn't realize the power you hold. You're the one who has a gift, a power, an ability that's so incredible, it's shocking you don't use it all the time.

Do you want to know what this amazing, incredible, life-altering and community shaping super power is?

VOICE

Perfect! Amazing! Excellent! Super-Powered!

Not "The Voice."

YOUR VOICE.

It's the most powerful thing you have, but most of you aren't using it. Most of you don't realize you even can.  Most of you don't realize how incredibly powerful you are. But you are SO powerful. You can change the world. You can!

You can bring pens to board meetings! Swords, not so much.

Something pretty incredible happened recently. A lot of you saw it happen, but probably didn't realize the miracle you were witnessing. First the school board met to discuss possible bond options. Then a couple weeks later they voted on what they would like to see put on next year's bond.  No biggee right?  Actually, YES BIGGEE!  If you weren't watching closely you probably missed the little something that happened in between those two events.

A voice.

One voice.

One voice spoke up and changed the course of the bond.

A letter was written to the board that dramatically changed what the school board proposed to put on the bond.

If you still aren't attending board meetings, you are missing some high quality entertainment (and possibly an ulcer).

On May 10, the school board held  a study session (which is a public meeting that anyone can attend, so check it out sometime) to discuss possible bond options. Here's the Video of the Study Session in case you missed it. In this video you will see the board discussing the needs of our schools in regards to overcrowding.  The board looks at multiple possible bond options. NONE of them include adding on to Chiawana High School.  In fact one board member passionately argues that there is absolutely NO overcrowding at the high school level.

On May 22, one teacher, Mrs. Marcie Stillwell, wrote a letter to the school board. We know the contents of that letter because she also posted it on the Parent's for Partnership Facebook page. Her letter was a clear, firsthand account of the overcrowding she has seen first hand at Chiawana High School and how it dramatically impacts the learning environment there.

It's pretty obvious from the address that Mrs. Stillwell is a math teacher, not an English teacher. 

On May 24 the board met again and voted on what they would like to see on the upcoming school bond (Check out that video here.).  Strangely enough, they weren't saying the same things they had said just two weeks previously. Instead they were passionately repeating the words of one teacher's letter. One teacher. One.

This number wrote a letter and then flew off into the sunset.

We all know that correlation and causation ain't identical spandex uniforms, and usually there is no way to know how much influence a single letter has. In this case, though, school board members specifically reference Mrs. Stillwell's letter when justifying the decision to add an extension to Chiawana high school. Previously, expansion of Chiawana wasn't even being considered. The board didn't even think it was crowded. Then they repeat the passionate words in that letter and it becomes pretty clear; this one letter changed their minds. One.

While I'm really happy that someone spoke up for what they felt they needed, and I'm REALLY happy that the board was open-minded and listened, I'm still kinda disappointed. I'm disappointed in you.

That look your mom gives you when you neglect civic
participation. 

Yes, I'm talking to you, Pasco. I'm talking to you because you're not using your superpower. You are not allowing your voice to be heard.  If one letter can be that powerful, why is there still just one?  Where are the others? Where are the parents and teachers at Pasco High? Why aren't they writing letters demanding better? Where are the letters from McLoughlin parents and teachers telling their stories of horrific overcrowding? Where are the parents and teachers from all our bursting elementary schools? We aren't just one. We are thousands. Thousands of voices that are currently silent.

That moment when you realize the only one stopping you from being heard is you.
Also, you used the last of the tape on your mouth and now have to go to the store and get more.

I know it seems like, in the past, our voices have been drowned out or ignored. And I know you guys have enough on your plates already without me nattering at you over writing letters to the school district's leadership. But if ONE voice can make this big of a difference, we have to ask ourselves, why wasn't that voice mine? Why didn't that letter come from me? I've got meaningful experience and an intelligent mind, so why didn't I let the board know what MY VOICE knows? More importantly, can you imagine the change we can affect with THOUSANDS of our powerful voices all put together?

When every one of these ants wrote a passionate letter stating their point of view,
the grasshopper board had no choice but to acknowledge their concerns and change
plans accordingly. 

The board isn't perfect but they are attempting to solve problems. Hard as that already is, I promise they can't fix what they don't know is broken. They need you. While it's magical and wonderful and powerful what one voice can do, it shouldn't be just one voice. It should be many voices. It should be your voice. We can do better. Our kids need us to do better.

Captain Planet recently replaced "Heart" with "Writing letters to local public officials to affect meaningful change". Heart was just too vague. 

So, the choice is yours. You can leave your superpower at home, keeping it in a box or only using it to complain to friends and neighbors that you don't really like the way things are going, or you can spend a few minutes, write a letter or email, and use that superpower to change our schools, lives and community for good. Because we've seen first hand what one voice can do.

What will you do with your voice?

Sardines: What over crowding really looks like

FACT:

Our schools are overcrowded.  Seriously, grossly, ridiculously overcrowded.

What does that mean in numbers? It means that a school that was built to house 500 children, actually has 800-900 children in it. This isn't  just happening at one school; it is happening at ALL our schools. It means we could build a new elementary every single year and still not have enough room in our elementary schools for all our children. It means that there are almost more children attending school in portable buildings than in actual school buildings. It means Chiawana is the largest high school in the state and Pasco High isn't that far behind.

We're talking about "bursting-at-the-seams-defying-the-laws-of-gravity" full!

But kids aren't numbers. They are tiny humans who must live and learn and interact.  So what does over crowding look and feel like?

Overcrowding is when six-year-olds only get eight minutes to eat their lunch because they have to get out to make room for the next bunch of  children coming in to eat.

No time to eat your carrots, just throw them away and keep the line moving!

Overcrowding is when 40 girls try out for a middle school softball team, so they have to take turns playing every other week.

Overcrowding is a high school where the average student has never even met the principal, let alone formed a relationship with him or her.

Overcrowding is a brand new art room filled with supplies that will never be used because the art room just got converted into a third grade classroom.

Overcrowding is children being marginalized as they become just a random face in a sea of students, feeling disenfranchised.

Dude? Who just touched my butt? This isn't a subway ya know.

Overcrowding is holding assemblies in waves because you will never ever fit all of your students together in one gym.

Overcrowding is precious children being reduced to the numbers they contribute to and a cog in the system that needs to be simply turned.

Overcrowding is a principal welcoming in over 125 new kindergartners a year, into a sea of nearly one thousand students.

Have you ridden a school bus to McLoughlin lately? Here's what you're missing.

Overcrowding is students who have to change teachers (and sometimes even schools!) weeks into the school year because there isn't enough room to stay in the class they were originally assigned to.

Overcrowding is an elementary student who only gets taught music once a week because that's all the time available to each of the forty different classes she has to teach.

Overcrowding is a place called Portable City, where your middle school student only enters the main building once a day for lunch at 10:20 because they have to eat in shifts in order to fit everyone in.

Overcrowding is high school teachers sharing classrooms because there aren't enough rooms to go around, some times as many as three teachers in one room.  English being taught in math rooms, and history taught in science labs. The visuals and extra learning tools we would expect to see as part of a world class learning environment are unavailable simply because of space.

I can totally scaffold these lesson plans to accommodate the needs of the 40 kids in my class, no problem, I'll get right on it just as soon as I can get back into my classroom after the band teacher is done using it.

Overcrowding is an elementary orchestra class that meets in another teachers classroom during their prep hour, depriving the students of a proper environment to practice and the teacher of a proper place to plan.

Overcrowding is kids who will never be able to play sports because there are already too many kids on the team.

Overcrowding is bullying and fighting because there are more than 2000 students in the halls at the same time and there is no way for administrators to properly supervise them.

Overcrowding is never having the option to change schools no matter what the hardship because no school has room for even one more child.

My school has a brand new art room, but I"ll never see it because it's being used for math.

Overcrowding is Art on a Cart. It sounds cuter than it is.  There are no rooms left for art or music to have their own space. Teachers must bring all their supplies from classroom to classroom limiting what  they are able to prepare and use with students.

Overcrowding is not having enough building administrators to cover the needs of all the children.

Overcrowding is students who have their opportunities to participate and excel in extra curricular programs limited because of sheer overwhelming numbers.

The more the merrier! I'm happy being "just one more!"

Overcrowding is when middle and high school teachers have to change rooms every hour because there aren't enough classrooms for them to have their own. They can't be at the door to greet students when they arrive because they are trapped themselves in the hall among the hundreds of students also making their way through the chaos. Teachers can't take a few minutes to answer questions after class because they are rushing out the door to get to their next room assignment.  Teachers are limited to the supplies and resources they can carry with them.

Overcrowding is spending 20 minutes of your 25 minute lunch time in line waiting for food that is likely to run out before you even get to the front of the line.

Overcrowding is when a school uses a closet for a special education classrooms because it is the only space left available.

If it's good enough for Harry, it's good enough for me!

Overcrowding is a small number of adults watching nearly a thousand children on a single playground before school every morning.

Overcrowding is decreased family involvement because it's not worth fighting the crowd of hundreds to get into the building on Monster Math night.

Wow. That's  a lot of kids.

Overcrowding is teachers not knowing the other teachers in their building.

Overcrowding is students not knowing the other students in their building.

Overcrowding is not forming relationships, not making connections, being lost, and not belonging.

Just keep packing them in like sardines.  It won't make a difference.

OPINION:

In my humble opinion, there is no such thing as a bad bond in Pasco right now.  We need more space. Seriously! WE NEED MORE SPACE!  It doesn't really matter where. The west side is the most crowded. The elementary and high schools are the most crowded.  Some schools are horribly overcrowded. Some are grossly overcrowded. A few are just extremely overcrowded.  But EVERYTHING is crowded.  So no matter what is on the upcoming bond, we NEED it. WE NEED IT! I don't know what we need most. But there is no such thing as a bad bond at this point. We need schools of all shapes and sizes and locations. We need more schools. Every kind of school!

Well....
all kinds of schools except not preschools.

The one thing we don't need to pay for right now is a preschool.

We are overcrowded. DUH!  Why would we bring in more kids when we don't even have room for the k-12 students we've got right now?  That's just crazy!

And while any bond is a good bond at this point, there are some that are better than others.  One new building is good. Two new buildings is better. Three new buildings would be awesome! Ten new buildings would be pefection.

But let's be realistic. We can't actually run a bond with ten new buildings on it.  But what we can do is run a bond (and run our mouths) as if we actually have a clear picture of how we are going to deal with how massively behind the growth curve we are right now.

The school board recently agreed on a bond option that includes one new elementary, rebuilding Stevens, and adding a couple of classes to CHS and Marie Currie.  Those are all great things. Those are all things we need. BUT REALLY? IS THAT THE BEST WE CAN DO?

The school board thinks the community won't vote for a bond that's too high. They also think the overcrowding isn't THAT bad. And they have said they don't want to have to run another bond for 5 or 6 years.  We are several thousand children over capacity today.  We will be several thousand more children over capacity in five years.  Is one new elementary going to be enough? Obviously not.  We need more.

I believe the community will vote big (you did for the levy *thanks*) and that we need more than just one new school and a couple of classrooms on the bond.

There isn't much time to change the boards mind, but if they hear enough from the community about what you are willing to support on a bond, they may overturn this week's vote in favor of a better plan.

CALL TO ACTION:

1. Let the school board and the bond committee know what you'd like to see on the next bond. Let them know you will support a big bond. Do it today!
2. Get involved with the bond committee and help raise awareness about the bond.
3. Tell your friends why you support Pasco schools.
4. Vote for school bonds (no matter what) and encourage your friends to do the same. Voting no on a bond only punishes kids.  The board does not EVER get the message you are trying to send.  They still think the last failed bond was because no one wanted a middle school.   ??? 

Good luck my friends.

The Real Face of the Evil Union

In one form or another, most people have pretty strong opinions about unions. They either love them or hate them.

Behold, the evil UNION!

The Union: guardian of the little people.

As soon as contract negotiations caught the public's attention this summer, people (and by "people" I mean PSD and their ever forth coming Q & A  messages) began shouting these warnings:



"We don't want the union taking over our schools."

"The union wants to decide what books your children read."

"The union is using scare tactics to stir up public anger against the district."

"There is no problem with curriculum. The union has tricked the teachers into striking."

"The union is trying to make an example of PSD as part of a national power grab."

"The union has taken over Pasco."

"The union ate my baby."

Eventually things settled down. The district agreed to resolve the curriculum issue, and teachers went back to work. That should have been the end of it.

But it wasn't.

Strangely enough, there are still board members bemoaning the evils of the union. Still.  Now it'd be one thing if an average uninformed citizen was spouting off about how unions are the devil. But a board member isn't just anybody. They are elected to represent the public and inform decision making at the highest level of the school district. So when board members (yes, more than one) talk about he union like it's some type of evil boogie man, that is something worth noticing.

Is the union the root of all evil in Pasco? Has the union been sent by the devil himself to stir up contention and unrest? I decided to take a closer look at see exactly what kind of devil we are up against here in Pasco.

Behold, the face of EVIL!

The evil union in all it's might!

Ahhhhh!!!!

Pretty hideous right? I mean could anything be more frightening than a smiling, young woman wearing mittens and a mid-calf length skirt, spending her free time out on the street corner encouraging voters to support a school levy?  GROSS!

What about these monsters?

Wow, showing up to work and pretending to be happy. What Creeps!

Attending a community prayer meeting and praying with school board members.
Where does this kind of scum even come from? Seriously!

Oh gross! Not more levy supporters. These monsters just don't know when to quit.

So are unions really evil? The fulfillment of prophecy sent to usher in the apocalypses?

?????

Here's the thing about things: they are just things.
Things aren't good or evil, they just are. A blanket isn't inherently good or evil. It can do good things, like warm you up when you are cold. It can do bad things, like transmit disease to susceptible populations. A blanket is just a blanket. It's what you do with it that matters.

A union is just a union. They aren't inherently bad or good. The people in them may do bad or good things. But the thing itself is just a thing.

So let's not talk anymore about whether unions are good or bad (let the politicians duke that one out). Instead let's talk about whether PAE (the Pasco Association of Educators) is good or bad.  Let's judge it by who is in it and what they do.

Well, we all know who is in it. Teachers. These loving, smiling, amazing people who take care of our children every day, and who even take time outside of the classroom to fight for what's best for our kids (even if it's so cold you need mittens).

And what has PAE done? I mean besides come to work every day ready to do their best to love and teach our children and prepare them for the world ahead of them?

• They participated in a number of activities including a state-wide walk out in hopes of persuading our legislator to fully fund our schools and stop over-testing our children.
• They shed a giant spotlight on Pasco's atrocious lack of curriculum forcing the district to finally take action on an issue they've been avoiding and denying for more than a decade. Although the district continued to try and persuade teachers with money, the union held strong and refused to return to work until the district agreed to a contract that included books for all children, in all grades, in all subjects.
• They worked side by side with parents to help pass a much needed levy.
• They demanded (and are getting) much needed repairs to schools such as New Horizon's High School, as well as getting hot water back on in the bathrooms at Pasco High.
• They fought to keep the heater running in the winter and the air conditioner running in the spring in classrooms where children were being forced to learn in nearly uninhabitable classrooms (yeah, that really happened).
• They have been strong advocates fighting for safe and age appropriate playgrounds for students.
• They are continuing to fight the district on a number of issues including using our children for guinea pigs to line the pockets of researchers (Literacy Squared) and to fight illegal hiring practices that can lead to huge disparity in quality between schools (like when administrators narrowly tailor job listing in order to hire their unqualified friends instead of hiring actual teachers with job appropriate qualifications).

So the next time you find yourself face to face with that awful scary evil union, be sure to thank them.  After you, they are your child's greatest advocate. They are our partners in educating our community. 

So to all my friends in PAE, thank you.

Constructive Criticism

So, you all know I’m not well known for sugar and spice. I am a self admitted “Negative Nelly” and I freely nod to that title. The reason being? You can’t fix what you won't accept is broken.

This guy only tells you good things,
but that doesn't make him your friend.

Still, I am more than happy to admit that I don’t have all the answers. Seriously. I DON'T KNOW EVERYTHING. And that's okay. I can admit it. I will gleefully shout it from the rooftops and beg your input on just about any subject. The reason being is that, as a human being, it's fairly normal not have all the answers. Not only do I not have all the answers, but I will never get them if I only listen to my own ideas.

This handsome guy may be dishing out bad news like crazy,
 but at least you can trust him.

When I think about my relationship with PSD, some might call it critical. I expect a lot from PSD. I admit it. In my defense, I have pretty good and numerous reasons why I expect a lot from my local school district. Around seventeen thousand reasons to be exact. 

Whatever my reasons, however, there are always going to be those who disagree with my methods, ideologies and purpose. Which is FINE! No, seriously! That is totally okay! We can agree to disagree sometimes. I will gladly accept criticism from you because I believe critical is by no means the opposite of constructive. In fact, I'm pretty sure the phrase Constructive Criticism is a rather well known term in the continental lexicon.

I don't like the way you breathe

I understand that some people have a difficult time accepting constructive criticism, and that’s also okay. I wouldn't expect the average person to walk around, listening to a litany of all the little things they’ve ever done wrong, delivered from the mouth of a sort of blue angry gnome creature that lives on their shoulder. That’s rude. And might be Scottish.

I DO, however, expect our elected officials and those running our public school to be able to handle a little bit of critical feedback. They do represent the public after all. So shouldn't they be interested in what the public has to say? Shouldn't they want to get their information from a broad cross section of their constituents? Even if that means having to listen to those that might have only critical things say, at least initially? "Constructive" is not the antonym of "critical." And it should never be a synonym for "complacent".  English teachers, show me some love, will ya?

We got yo' back girl! Constructive =/= complacent!

After the mess of the summer where an incredibly small minority of people sided with our district insisting everything was fine (six parents and five board members to be exact), but the overwhelming majority of teachers, parents and community members (thousands and thousands of parents and teachers and community members) disagreed, I expected our board and administration to stop and do a little rethinking. Wasn't that a major wake up call to them? Wouldn't you expect them to really be listening now? To consider voices other than the good ol’ boys, the faces of those consistently invited to participate and contribute. Because, you know, there was a strike. So things can’t be all roses and cheesecake, right?

I am absolutely drooling right now!

If your entire community put their lives on hold to band to together and tell you that they didn't like how you were doing your job, don't you think you'd listen? Even if it sounded like criticism, don't you think that would be something worth hearing?

Sadly, I’ve got a few reasons, lately, to think that this might not be the case. It seems like the majority of the board is still having a hard time accepting some things still need to change. And a number of our top level administrators are still having a hard time complying with the contract the community and teachers worked so hard to get. And a small number of community members still get unobstructed access to certain leaders, while the rest of us have to wait in line and cross our fingers hoping to be heard and that what we say will sink in.

On Wednesdays, we decide the educational fate of
seventeen thousand students.

What do you call it when a small, elite group of individuals gets to have all the clout and make all the important decisions for everyone else? Well, around Pasco, it looks like we call them The Constructive Parents of Pasco.

Many of you are members of Parents for Partnership with Pasco Schools. I am too. I love the community there. I love the work they do. It inspired me to... well... to become me! It has been an amazing place for parents and teachers to connect and talk about issues important to families in Pasco. Not all the issues are pretty, but they are conversations worth having.

This winter, after the strike settled and the new contract kicked into place, a few other community members got together and made their own Facebook page. They called themselves the Constructive Parents of Pasco. When I heard about them, I asked to join because, hey! I feel like a constructive person! I want what’s best for Pasco! I want us to improve, fix what’s broken and move onward and upward! I want to be part of the solution! The only way to move forward with better understanding and healing is to share ideas and experiences by communicating. So I asked to join.

I haven’t been admitted yet. Neither have any of my friends. Weird right? So who has been admitted to the group? As of the posting of this blog (and I have screenshots, to make sure I'm getting it right) ....

•  five of the six individuals who signed the injunction against our teachers last summer,  

• our Board President and his wife and the Vice President, 

• three former school board members,

• a building principal,

• the director of human resources for PSD ,

• the executive director of teaching and learning for PSD,

• the manager of assessment operations for PSD,

• a site coordinator for the ESD 123,

• Saundra Hill's husband,

• a former Pasco City council member

• and a smattering of other individuals who, by and large, have found themselves in positions of trust, power and influence over the years in Pasco, including close friends of the above.

I don't mean to imply that everyone in the group falls under one of these umbrellas, but the group by and large comprise a different make-up than Parents for Partnership. A large amount of admins, current and former school board members, and parents who believe (and signed a notarized document) that teachers irreparably harmed their children.

People LIKE the chance to voice there concerns
and give their opinions. ...get it? LIKE? 

But hey, you know what? That’s FINE! Not everyone likes Parents for Partnership with Pasco School’s style of allowing everyone to view their page and the discussion there, to be able to like and comment, contribute new ideas and expand our understanding of the community needs. Why not have another group to show a whole other perspective and a whole different kind of discussion to everyone? If the Old School thinkers want a page to share their ideas, they should go for it, right? In fact, I applaud them! There can never be too much dialogue! I can honestly say I respect them for wanting to highlight and have conversations about the positives in our schools. What an awesome idea!

But.... This group? 

I'd like to share this poem I wrote about midichlorians.
With my closed Facebook group.
So no one will ever mock it again. 

At first I couldn't find it by searching for it on Facebook. Now, if you happen to find them or get the link, like I did, you can request to join… but you’ll never know if they’re considering your application because it’s a closed group. Meaning only members can see any of the discussion and posts. Which is also fine. Hey, you can enjoy your closed Neil Diamond Fan Club page and I’ll enjoy my closed Star Wars Poetry Group. Right? I mean who cares if a bunch of admins and board members are talking privately to a very select few parents.

Neil thinks the best way to improve community
confidence is with sweet tunes, not closed
Facebook groups.

But..... when you have five individuals whose choices last summer make them polarizing and divisive in the community in a closed group with the School Board President, Vice President and top ranking district administrators… Well, let's just say if you're trying to inspire confidence in the community at large, joining a closed Facebook group started and administrated by the people who signed the injunction - you know, the injunction accusing teachers of irreparably harming children because the teachers were on strike for CURRICULUM AND PENCILS  -  might not be the best way to go about that.

Does that sound like the kind of group our school board president's wife should be an administrator of? Does that sound like the kind of closed group that PSD's HR director should be adding select parents to? I'm sorry to say it, but this secret group reeks of shadiness and underhandedness. Even if nothing untoward is going on, the appearance dreadful. So it appears like the power to control Pasco Schools is resting with a few, hand picked private citizens. I kinda hate to be that Negative Nelly all over again, but I was under the impression Public schools should be under public control.

Parents for Partnership	Constructive Parents
Membership granted to everyone with a vested interest who agrees to abide by the page’s guidelines Transparent public group: everyone can see the discussion Members are primarily teachers and parents Discussions exhibiting different points of view	Only open to select people Only accepted members can see discussion School board members and district admin are members Who knows?

I made a little chart to illustrate the differences between these two groups. Because charts are awesome.

It seems like the some of our Board and top administrators, and yes, even a small number of community members, want to continue surrounding themselves with yes-men. They don't want the truth. They want comforting lies. So they have created their own isolated little secret club where they can sit around and tell themselves everything is okay and things are all rainbows and gumdrops in Pascoland. Only what they want to hear.

Please do not bother the Steve. He is sensitive.

Sherry is trying to take a nap. SHHH.

Robin, is that you?

I get a very strong suspicion that this group seems to regard any and all questions or criticism of Pasco School District as destructive, so all those terrible, critical things MUST NOT BE HEARD BY THE TENDER EARS OF OUR OFFICIALS. The things they seem to overwhelmingly object to, that they find “Not Constructive” are honest and open questions and problems parents, teachers and students have had. Contrary opinions. Different perspectives. Basically, they are telling us all that if we don’t agree with everything said and done in PSD, we are not constructive. However, this is just my speculation. Since it's a closed group I don't know for sure. I only have the name of the group and the fact that it is closed to everyone but an elite few to make my assumptions. This leads me to believe that I am not, in their opinion "Constructive" simply because I have offered criticism. At all. In any way, shape or form.

That's really not a good precedent.

for having an opinion that PSD's popular crowd
doesn't already have!

• This means that, if you ever had a problem with a Pasco School District policy, according to the popular kids of Pasco, you are not being constructive.

• If you ever complained to a teacher or administrator about things affecting your child, you are not being constructive.

• If you ever wondered out loud why we didn’t have comprehensive and current curriculum, you are not being constructive.

• If you ever felt left out or out of place in any PTO, ATP or club meeting, you are not being constructive.

• If you ever brought up something that could be improved in Pasco, you are not being constructive.

• If you were ever bothered by the direction you saw a teacher, administrator or organization going in Pasco, and didn’t keep it to yourself, you are not being constructive.

• If you ever complained about the handling of a bullying situation, professional or otherwise, directed at you or your child, you are not being constructive.

• If you ever had to go to great lengths to make sure an IEP or 504 were correctly observed, you are not being constructive.

• If you ever complained about the lack of academically rigorous course offerings at any school, you are not being constructive.

• If you ever suggested there might be discipline problems at any of our schools, you are not being constructive.

• If you think it might be a conflict of interests for only a select group of pre-approved people have constant access to the Board President and Vice President, you are not being constructive.

• If you supported the teachers holding out for curriculum and school supplies during the strike, you are not being constructive.

• And, Weird Al forbid, if you ever brought in outside help to deal with any of the above situations, YOU ARE NOT BEING CONSTRUCTIVE.

I FORBID you from trying to get your concerns addressed!
I'm weird like that.

I personally don’t buy it. I don’t think it’s true. I think we can only improve if we accept that we’re not perfect and aspire to something better. If you cannot accept that fact you have a problem and there is very little chance you will be able to fix it. Similarly, if you surround yourself with Yes Men to insure you always feel warm and fuzzy about everything happening in your town, there’s very little chance you’re going to head off disastrous choices that damage our kids and their futures.

So which does our school district need right now? Yes men? Or those willing to give Constructive Criticism?

The strike should have been a wake up call. Instead it has scared them back into their little rabbit hole to hide. Fortunately rabbit holes are my specialty.

Well, Helloooooooo there PSD! I'll be right down to offer some Constructive Criticism.