SLO-Student Learning Objectives

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As we work together to implement all of the new mandates from the New York State Education Department, I have done so with diligence and optimism. Except on one point in particular. Teacher accountability through student testing is now mandated in a bizarre, hard to understand, impossible to implement and what seems to me at this point to be a useless waste of our teaching and learning time with students called “Student Learning Objectives”. I’ve purposely neglected to write about it here because I thought perhaps with time, I would come to better understand the usefulness, have an attitude adjustment and present a better leadership stance on the topic.

Then today I read an article in the Washington Post, written by Carol Corbett Burris, principal of South Side High School in New York.  Carol was named the 2010 NYS Outstanding Educator by the School Administrators Association of New York State. Ms. Burris did such a fabulous job of describing the SLOs that I would like to share her article from the Washington Post here.

Let’s just hope that the leadership at NYSED can consider the great strides we’re making in useful ways with teacher and principal evaluation, data inquiry teams with interim assessments, and implementing the common core as they reconsider this act of compliance clearly designed to make every teacher accountable in some way, practical or not.

New Year’s Resolution

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I love a fresh start. We get to feel that twice per year in education, once in September when our students and teachers return to school and once with the new year. As someone who constantly analyzes and considers how things could be better, my New Year’s resolution for change needs a different slant —I’m resolving to accept and be happy with all that my life is just as it is, to relax and enjoy and love and relish each day.

That applies to my work life as much as to my personal life. Particularly this school year, with the changes from NYSED to our evaluation systems, our student testing and accountability systems, and the tax cap provisions–we’ve had to focus on change and school improvement. I like that work but I’m afraid we’re focusing on it so much that we’re losing sight of all that’s RIGHT in our schools.

I’m resolving to continue to work hard at improvement WHILE RELISHING all that’s good about our public school system.

For starters:

1. A remarkable group of 1000 or so students who come to Randolph Central each day expecting our best and giving us theirs.
2. A bright, caring and dedicated faculty who do whatever it takes to do the very best that they know how with our students and often go the extra mile to do everything from dressing up and dancing as a Christmas tree to helping students or meeting with parents after school to providing gifts for children in our community through the Community Cupboard.
3. Professionals and families throughout our school system and community who support our students in EVERY endeavor.
4. An administrative team who cares about our school community, accepts and works hard to implement some incredibly time consuming change, all without complaint and with good intentions. A team who works with me more than they work for me and with whom I can really think through our leadership.
5. A support and clerical staff who does what it takes to keep the place and our buses running efficiently, cares about our kids and families, and handles a whole lot of front line problem solving.

6. BOE members who approach every meeting, every policy or budget decision, and every problem with an open mind, caring about the quality of education we’re providing and our school community immeasurably.

I get the evaluation and accountability pieces. I get the need to improve the system. I believe everyone working and living in our community wants us to be the best that we can be. We are  above all a group of people who come together with a common bond, of Randolph Central School and the children who we serve. We are well intended, caring professionals who love the children we are privileged to influence. No one wants us to do that well more than we do. We’ve got this, together, and in time. I’m going to work harder to appreciate each person who walks through our doors every day, helping us to get there.

More Than Geography: Wayne German

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Sometimes a teacher is so much more than the man at the front of the classroom. I had many good teachers throughout my education, but one man stands out. We lost that man this morning when Wayne German passed away. I’d like to tell you about Mr. German and how he affected my life.

Wayne and his wife Marilyn lived about ten houses away from ours on Oak Street in Renton, a little coal mining town. Wayne was about the only man I remember living there who wasn’t a coal miner.  I remember the day I started seventh grade at Plum Junior High School. Wayne was the 8th grade Geography teacher and he sent for me in whatever classroom I was in. Having no idea why I was called to his room coupled with the fact that I was a bit terrified anyway in the new school, I was relieved that Mr. German just wanted to make sure I knew that he’d be keeping his eye on me and that he’d be sure to share any information he gathered with my dad.

I remember little of the geography Wayne taught us in 8th grade, but I remember other things he told our class. Expressions like “no boys are going to buy the cow if they can get the milk for free, girls” and “you better get a good look at the girl’s mother before you marry her because that’s what you’re getting into” have a way of sticking with you. Wayne was the wrestling and football coach. He used to take me along to wrestling meets to keep stats. Let me tell you, in Pennsylvania, wrestling is a BIG DEAL–and by being with Mr. German, I got to be a part of that. I felt like somebody at an age when I had no idea who I was or what I would ever be good at in life.

Wayne and Marilyn have two beautiful daughters, Nicolle and Kimmy. Wayne always said he named her after me. 😉 They asked me to babysit often and Wayne always drove me home afterward, even though it would have been an easy walk. He and Marilyn were friends with my parents. Marilyn and her twin sister Marlene were part of my mom’s “Card Club”, the group of women who taught me the most about adult female friendships and how invaluable they are. They were the grown ups of my childhood, those who began to teach me what adulthood would look like.

Years later Wayne came to visit me in Gowanda, to meet my family and to see where I landed. He brought along his teenage nephew, Cory German, and we had a nice lunch.  We remembered the days in Renton and then Wayne told me something I’ve never forgotten. He acknowledged that my dad had been hard on me during those years and then he said that it must have been worth it since I’d turned out as well as I did. I thought I had the strictest father on the planet and by most standards I did—to hear Wayne acknowledge it just made me feel a little bit better about it.

Wayne German had a way of seeing the best in everyone and in me. At a time in my life when I didn’t think much of myself, this tough, rough talking neighbor, teacher and friend showed me that I was worth having around. No big talks, no self esteem boosting strategies—-he just gave me the gift of his time and attention. Included me. Made a difference in my life.

I’ll be traveling to Pittsburgh for the funeral this week and I’m sure the place will be packed with other former students who were taught, coached, mentored and cared about by Wayne German. I’m so honored to be one of them. Love you Wayne, you dwell forever in my heart and in my own actions with students. I hope God’s got a coaching job all lined up for you and that you get to walk and run and dance again. Rest in Peace Coach.

How Are We Going to Do this Work?

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As I said in yesterday’s blog post, we are conducting a time study of our administrative staff to determine our own efficiency and effectiveness, as well as to analyze how and when we will be able to implement the changes in teacher evaluation and testing as mandated by the New York State Education Department. In this post, I’ll  examine the increases in time required of building level administrators just to implement the new evaluation system, not including the increased time they’ll need for testing and data analysis.

Consider this.

Currently our three building level administrators,  elementary principal Jerry Mottern, high school principal Dave Davison, and special education director of pupil services Mary Rockey, supervise and evaluate 92 teachers and professional staff (guidance counselors, psychologist, OT, PT, Speech, etc.). In our current system, all 16 of our non-tenured teachers are evaluated three times annually. Our 76 tenured teachers are evaluated once annually. Each evaluation takes the administrator about 110 minutes at a minimum. That’s 110 minutes times 76 tenured teachers plus 330 minutes times 16 non-tenured teachers. Under our current evaluation system that results in 13,640 minutes or 227.33 hours. Remember that this doesn’t include the time I spend visiting every classroom or the APPR meetings held with every teacher at the end of the school year or the informal visits to the classrooms by principals and Mary.

For Dave Davison, this means 92 hours spent evaluating teachers; for Jerry Mottern 88 hours spent evaluating teachers; and for Mary Rockey 48 hours spent evaluating teachers UNDER OUR CURRENT SYSTEM.

With the changes mandated by NYSED for evaluating teachers next year, here’s what it will look like in 2012-13. Those same 16 non-tenured teachers will still be evaluated three times annually and the 76 tenured teachers will be evaluated a minimum of twice annually (for this conversation, we’re not even going to consider the time spent with teachers who perform at an ineffective or developing range and have to go on a Teacher Improvement Plan).  Under the new evaluation system, we estimate that each evaluation will take a minimum of 240 minutes. The 240 minutes includes  the required pre-observation meeting, the evaluation, time to write up the evaluation, and the post evaluation conversation. That’s 480 minutes times 76 tenured teachers plus 720  minutes times 16 non-tenured teachers. Under the new evaluation system that results in 48,000 minutes or 800 hours.

You’re probably thinking by now, well how many hours does a principal work? Consider that while they do work year round, they have a maximum of 181 days to observe teachers. Within the school year, there are 6 hours and 40 minutes of  teaching time per day or 72,400 minutes per year; 1206.67 hours. Of the 1207 hours that our principals and special ed director are working with teachers and students, at least 800 of them will be needed for evaluation: 328 hours (27%) for high school; 324  hours (27%) for elementary school; and 148 hours (12%) for special education. As compared to the 8% of time at the HS now on evaluation, 7% ES, or 4% special education. Consider the change alone—what a huge increase! For Dave Davison, that’s a 237.5% increase in time spent on evaluations; for Jerry Mottern, a 285.7% increase; and for Mary Rockey a 200% increase.

If  NYSED is now requiring that roughly 25% of our administrators’ time be spent in formal evaluations, and that’s the minimum required, I wonder how they will get it all done well. I’ve been a building principal and there are management duties that simply must take place. Some can be extremely time consuming and some will have to take precedence over those observations: talking to and meeting with parents; listening to students and solving problems; listening to our teachers; discipline (we have a Dean of Students, but he doesn’t do all discipline);  evaluating support staff, teaching aides, cleaning and custodial staff; solving bus and personnel and scheduling problems; completing endless paperwork for SED and the Business Office; budgeting; supervising the athletic program at the HS level; running or attending meetings for CSE, CST, department leader, content area or grade level, faculty, admin team, etc.; state and interim testing supervision; planning and most important program implementation and follow through, something that often gets short shrift and is vital to our improvement.

That may seem very reasonable as an expectation for a building level administrator. You may be asking “why can’t they accomplish all of that in their work day? They’re well paid and should be able to do whatever is  expected”. My answer? They will get it all done, but to what degree of excellence with that increase to work load?  We’re not aiming for the status quo and nothing more. I want us to do all of it really well, significantly impacting what’s happening in our classrooms toward school improvement at the same time that we’re still doing a good job of managing our buildings. If you’ve never been a building principal, don’t judge this–you’ve honestly no idea what they do all day. You’re simply not qualified to judge. Neither was I until I did it.  It’s the hardest job I’ve ever done in regard to time consuming, mentally exhausting, non-stop action and demands on my time and energy.

Those are the numbers behind our discussions about how we do business, about how we’re configured currently as an admin team. That’s why we’re examining all of our roles and responsibilities to determine our best course of action moving forward. We’ll consider this and more as we continue to discuss all of the options with the BOE. We are NOT considering adding another administrator to do the work. Instead we’re looking at what we all do now, how we pay BOCES for a three day per week curriculum coordinator who cannot evaluate teachers and a Teacher on Special Assignment for discipline who cannot evaluate teachers, and analyzing if there are things we could change and do better.

I’m not sure what our end result will be. We may continue as we are. I’m certain that I’ll be picking up a portion of the evaluations and I’m not yet sure how that will affect the mandated appeal process for teachers. I’m sure we have a hard working administrative team who wants to do it well. Beyond what SED has required that results in unfunded mandates and increases to our expenses (like staff development in the new evaluation system and purchase of the locally selected assessments), we will not do it on the backs of our taxpayers.

You’re always welcome to join us at the BOE meetings for the discussion or to call, drop me an email, invite me to come to you to talk about the issues, or stop by to see me. We’ll figure it out, it’s just going to take a bit of collaboration, analysis and careful thought.

BOE Meeting Discussion Items

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A point of clarification about our BOE meetings may be helpful. It’s my impression that the “Discussion” section of our BOE meetings may be inadvertently causing some confusion. There are very specific rules on what can be discussed in an Executive session of the BOE meeting. You can find the RCS BOE policy on Executive Session on our website here.

Why do I think there’s confusion? It seems when someone reads the BOE agenda or minutes and an item is discussed in open session or during an administrator’s report to the BOE, often it is thought to be a “done deal”. That couldn’t be farther from the reality. That’s why our agenda is delineated into discussion items and BOE action items.

Here’s a good example. From the “Discussion Item” section of our October 5, 2011 BOE minutes:

Discussion Item: Mrs. Moritz discussed planning for the APPR, assessment, and
improvement of RCS. Mrs. Moritz stated that she would like to begin a
conversation with the Board to discuss the possibility of hiring our curriculum
coordinator directly instead of through BOCES. With all of the new requirements
for the state-mandated APPR plan, additional oversight is needed. It makes a
difference if we have a dedicated position; someone who’s primary responsibility
is program and curriculum implementation and follow through. Look at the recent
Special Education audit – it was excellent, best one RCS has ever had; that’s
because of Dr. Rockey’s position and direct oversight of the Special Education
department. We need to start thinking about this as other districts may be
discussing the same thing and qualified candidates will be hard to find. Mrs.
Moritz will do a cost analysis for the Board. Discussed our current Curriculum
Coordinator’s position and how the district will receive curriculum information
through BOCES. Discussion held. Mrs. Moritz stated that we need to analyze the
Dean of Students position vs. a Director of Curriculum and Instruction. Do we
need both? Mrs. Moritz asked the Board to keep thinking about it. Maybe post the
position in February? Mr. Evans asked for more information on the accountability
of the position. More info./discussions at future meetings.

This was a discussion, that’s all. The truth? I don’t know what the right direction is right now.  I need our BOE members, our Administrative team and our teachers thinking about it with me. Placing an item in open discussion is a deliberate and conscious effort to get everyone thinking about something long before a BOE action happens. That’s why we have open meetings laws and why we solicit input from others–so that we can consider all of the alternatives in advance. It doesn’t mean we’re adding a position, it doesn’t mean we are reconfiguring our current staff, and it doesn’t mean we aren’t. It just means we have an issue up for discussion. Please consider talking with me about your thoughts on any of those Discussion items or anything else happening in the District.

 

Facebook: Caution

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I’m on Facebook regularly. I love the wesbite for keeping up with my family, connecting with old friends, seeing current pictures of my niece in Virginia. We also use it as a tool at school, we have a Technology Committee FB Page, a District FB page, and lots of teacher classroom pages. Love it.

Here’s what I don’t love. Can we please remember that just because something’s posted on FB it doesn’t make it fact? On Friday night, I left our football game at half time. When I arrived at home, I logged on to FB because I knew Marla Frame would post updates of the score. (Thanks Marla!) What’s the first thing I see? ” Oh my gosh! They’re vandalizing cars in the parking lot!” along with a number of comments asking “who?” and “which cars?” and finally a post stating that it was actually a window on the school. While running back to my car to return to the district (can I just note that this would definitely NOT be typical behavior here), I texted Dave Flaherty and Mike Frame, both still at the game. Dave Flaherty, our Head Custodian who was working supervision that night, was able to assure me that it was ONE CAR, a specific and isolated incident.

And now I think . . . how is that information ever corrected? Will there be community members who are afraid to come to our games for fear of vandalism in the parking lot? I hope the good and right information circulates FB as well as the misinformation. As our communication continues to evolve and it’s so “right this second”, we have to remember to question everything and check the source. It was a good lesson for me.

Happy Birthday to My Daughter

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It’s our daughter’s birthday today, Bryna is 24 years old. Her birthday has me thinking about parenting and particularly, how stressed and freaked out I was as a young parent. Let’s just say I was a little high strung when I was in my twenties and raising Bryna.

I wish I knew then what I know now, that everything would work out. The truth is, I had no idea what I was doing. When it was time to leave Brooks Memorial with her as an infant, I remember quite clearly thinking, “why are they letting us take her home? Do they realize we have no clue how to do this?” Then as we went through the earliest years with her and into elementary school age, I thank God that her father was in her life too because I was so hard on her. I’m not sure what I was thinking as I reflect on pictures of that young girl and I remember the expectations I had for her. Expectations which she always managed to meet or surpass. But why didn’t I just let her be?

And when I’m not being so hard on myself, it’s good that we had those expectations, right? She couldn’t have turned out any better. She’s a loving daughter, a wonderful friend, a dedicated, caring teacher, a protective sister and a loyal, loving wife. Our conversations around education that we have are the highlight of my day. She exhausts me often and I realize it’s in the same way I probably exhaust others–with her endless questions and analysis of everyone and everything.

So what’s the right balance as a parent? How do we know how much to push and how much to just love and let them be? Maybe that’s where we got lucky that we’re a two parent family—I always said that Derek was the better parent than me. But what would have happened if our kids were raised by only him? Or only me? It’s got to be an even harder job for a single parent.

Maybe the solution is in paying attention and some serious self reflection as we go along. Loving them enough to set those expectations and then to support them when they fall short. If I had to identify what helped us to succeed as parents, I’d truly quote all of the things my own mother taught me. The best of all of them? My mom taught me to teach Bryna that she is strong and capable, that she’s not the center of the universe, that she needs to conduct herself with class, straighten her feet, love her brother unconditionally even when it’s hard, respect her elders, wash her face before going to bed, work hard every single day, be loyal to those you love, let the small stuff go, when you’re angry with your husband–just go give him a kiss and forget about it, wash your hands continually, and don’t judge others because you’re far from perfect.

Maybe all of those lessons, with high expectations that gave a little more wiggle room, and loving her with all of my heart would have been the key. We came close. That’s as much as we can do as parents. Love you Kid!

Out of District-Is it Worth it?

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On an average week, I’m out of the district for some sort of meeting or staff development or training about one day of five. Last week, I was at principal evaluation training in Rochester on Monday and Tuesday, in district on Wednesday, and out at Data Driven Instruction on Thursday and Friday. I’m now on strike–refusing to leave the district for anything. 😉 I think my next scheduled day out of district is November 7 for more training, this time on the Danielson teaching evaluation rubric.

Is it worth it when I’m traveling to all of these meetings/conferences/etc.? To be honest, it depends. Sometimes the information presented is repetitive or just isn’t pertinent to where we are at RCS. Most often, I leave having learned something important about the direction NYSED is headed or better understanding the tax cap law or hearing a new idea that’s worth consideration.

Never is it more worth it than what I experienced this past Thursday and Friday. Why? I got to learn about data inquiry teams with several of our Randolph teachers. The training was very well done by our BOCES experts, namely Tim Clarke, Tiffany Giannicchi, Brian Crawford and Melissa Devitt. Good teaching was modeled, the content was relevant and important. But the primary reason it was extremely worthwhile for me? The time I had to work together with five elementary teachers and four 7-12 teachers, along with their building leaders. The chance to listen to them, clarify my own thinking and hopefully come to a better collective understanding was invaluable.

I’m more confident than ever that in our own analysis of our student data, collected from our interim assessments and analyzed by our teams of teachers, we will greatly improve our students results. Not because it’s about the test scores but because it’s about the curriculum and better differentiation. As we align every grade level to the common core curriculum and zero in on what each child needs to absolutely know before moving on to the next grade, we will have a systemic solution to maximizing growth for every child.

I’m hopeful that a better evaluation system will help us to improve but I’m excited about the improvement we will see when our teachers have the chance to look at an entire class of students collectively–grouping and regrouping to meet each individual student’s needs. We’ve got a lot of work to do—–a system analysis is next to consider how we fundamentally work to serve our children—-but it should prove to be the most meaningful work we do to ensure we are maximizing learning for all of our children.

I keep repeating myself on this one–we are better together than we are individually and we know what to do to improve. Working with our RCS teachers on Thursday and Friday reminded me AGAIN that we have wonderful, hard working teachers who can figure this out together with us. Learning with Passion, Innovation and Leadership? I saw exactly that in our teachers on Thursday and Friday. Thank you!

Fair Hiring Practices

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Do you know why the hiring process is a confidential one? Because every applicant has the right to privacy throughout the interview process. Participants on an interview committee are instructed about the confidentiality of the process and expected to adhere to it, no matter who it is who’s asking. Each applicant deserves that privacy either because of it’s impact on their current employment or because of their personal reputation and because of the law that guides hiring practices.

In a small district like ours, there are situations that arise in which people think they absolutely have the right to know about a decision that’s been made. In some cases, like student discipline, it is actually illegal for me to discuss someone else’s child with you. When a parent demands to know what happened to the “other kid”, it can be frustrating when our response is, “we followed through and followed the code of conduct.” We literally cannot tell you the detail of that other child’s discipline. Makes sense, right? You don’t want us talking to other parents about your child either.

In hiring a new employee, we hire the very best candidate for the job, based on the performance of each candidate in the interview process and the reference checks. I may like a candidate very much, may have had her as a student while I was a teacher or a principal, may very much want the candidate to succeed BUT that doesn’t mean it gives the candidate an edge. All that gets someone is a first interview–a “TBI” mark on the applicant’s file. “TBI–to be interviewed”,  means that for some reason, either the applicant lives in the district or has been given a strong recommendation from another district or has substitute taught successfully for us in the past, I am flagging this person so he or she gets a first interview.

After that, each candidate chosen has an initial interview in which he or she is asked questions by a committee that includes the principal, curriculum coordinator, and teacher leader. This initial interview can be any number of qualified applicants and is often 20-30 people.  Of those, the strongest candidates are invited back to teach a lesson to our students in one of our classrooms. This is the critical piece of the puzzle–the one in which we analyze how the applicant interacts with students, how well she knows the curriculum, what he chooses to use for instructional strategies. How well did you plan? Are you flexible, can you adapt to whatever the students throw at you? And how much effort did you put into the lesson? Are you pulling out all of the stops, bringing us your A game? Because after all, this is a lesson to beat all lessons if you want to be considered for the final interview with me, a BOE member and the principal. I ask the committee to send us two strong candidates, either of whom they would be comfortable. At that interview we ask tough questions. We want to see how candidates handle the pressure, if they can hold onto an idea mentally, do they show passion and enthusiasm and optimism?

We make the best decision we can. At that point, I don’t care where you live, who your parents are, or how well liked you may be in the community. Those are all nice features, but those are not what seal the deal and get you the job. It’s not an easy decision and it’s not an easy phone call when I let the #2 candidate know afterward that he hasn’t gotten the job. It’s just the way the process works and we do the best that we can to make good decisions.

It’s hard on the teachers who participate on the committee, hard to stand up to the criticism if a local favorite isn’t hired, hard to be courageous and stand behind our process. And remember that it’s a confidential process so as much as you may think you have a right to know everything, it’s just like that discipline example–you don’t. At the end of the day, we want to be the very best district that we can be with the most talented, engaging, innovative, passionate and smart teachers we can find. In the hiring process, someone gets the job and someone else doesn’t.

Public Ranking of our Teachers

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I get the public accountability piece of education, I truly do. We are accountable in a myriad of ways from our requirements through the Freedom of Information Law, the public reporting and necessary voter approval of our budget, our FOUR different required auditors we work with, See Through New York and their reporting of employees and their salaries, PLUS the every day accountability of 1000+ students and parents who talk about what’s happened in school. I support all of that, we have nothing to hide, we are a public institution.

I’m supportive of our new requirements for a better teacher evaluation system and a  deeper analysis of and accountability for student assessment data. I believe that data inquiry teams are a long time coming and as I’ve said over and over again, we are better together than we are apart—teachers working together to learn from each other and improve instruction for every student is the key to our future success.

What I can’t support is vilifying our entire profession. Even with  all of the changes we are implementing and all of our obvious accountability measures—somehow the public perception of teachers and public education as a whole is fraught with negative, mean spirited, ill intended criticism. Every time an article about education is printed in a newspaper, I prepare to read the ANONYMOUS comments left by our citizenry. Self appointed experts who know everything there is to know and are happy to tell you what’s wrong with what you’re doing without even owning their statements.

So now we’re going to publicize our teachers composite scores? How each classroom of kids performs every year? And by the way, that’s not even right for our kids–in a small school such as ours it doesn’t take long to figure out who those kids are or from what families. That’s just what we need– a community pointing it’s fingers at each other because we’re not doing better based on “your kids”.

Should we analyze that information and evaluate it? YES. Should we do our jobs as administrators and hold low performing teachers accountable? ABSOLUTELY. Should the public be entitled to what is otherwise known as a confidential personnel matter? NO.

Read Diane Ravitch’s post on this topic, “Why Naming Names is Wrong”. She’s much more eloquent than I am and makes the point perfectly. Here’s a portion of what Diane writes,

I recently had an email exchange with Thomas Kane, the Harvard economist who advises the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on these issues, and he told me he opposes the public release of names linked to evaluations. I asked if I might quote him, and he authorized me to say exactly what he told me. He wrote:

“My reason for opposing public release of teacher-level value-added data is to preserve some minimal level of privacy in the supervisor-employee relationship, to maintain some space for teachers to brainstorm with their peers and their supervisors about ways to improve. I’m sure many Americans would not want their performance appraisals published in the newspapers or to have their supervisors write a letter to the editor about their latest annual review. Without some privacy, people will not have the ‘space’ to have an honest conversation about strengths and weaknesses, areas where they are working to improve. I treat the feedback I get from peer reviewers (on journal articles, for instance) and from employees (in the form of confidential employee surveys) very seriously, and use them as a chance to improve. I’m not sure I could do that if they were published in the newspaper. I’m also not sure referees, supervisors, and employees would be as honest if they knew their comments would be made public.”

We need our teachers working together to solve educational problems with our neediest children, without competition and fear of condemnation.