Friday, May 21, 2010

And Then There Were Two

An alert contributor to the "New Maps Posted On Decatur Website", anonymous 2:27, gave us the news that one of the 3 finalists vying for the Superintendent post in the Baldwin County School district (Mobile, Alabama), dropped out, leaving only Don Stinson and Alan Lee. Thanks anon 2:27 ! You can read the entire article from the Mobile Press-Register website aI.com.

BaldwinCountyNow.com is also reporting this news. They add that:

The decision leaves Alan Lee, superintendent of Washington County Public Schools in Abingdon, Va., and Donald Stinson, superintendent of Decatur Township in Indianapolis, left for consideration.

Lee will interview with the BOE May 24 at 6:30 p.m., and Stinson will interview May 25 at 6:30 p.m. The Board hopes to name a new superintendent by June 1 to take office by July 1.

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

There are one or more Administrators in Decatur Township Central Office below Stinson that truly believe they will replace Stinson, IF he gets the job. One Administrator, who we all know was once on the Perry Township School Board, has tried fool the Parents by lying and cheating their way to the top by accusing the Superintendent in Perry Township of the same tactics whom they themselves have been involved in and currently are , in order to get the Superintendent's job. This thieving,lying,hypocrite has no business running a School District. Their only focus is about that BIG JUICY SALARY, they could care less if it all goes to hell. They are busy measuring the window curtains,buying expensive office furniture at the Taxpayers' expense in that big fancy office. They are going over the numbers in order to see where they can cut more of the Teachers' salaries to fatten their salary even more. All they see is that We are nothing but trash and our children are little brats that don't deserve anything, period.

Anonymous said...

Still waiting to see the "retirement" packages of those who are (?) are leaving. Rather seems to be saying that he will be working with athletics as a "consultant" for two years but he doesn't say what he will be paid???? One thing seems certain the Baldwin County people get out the information in writing so Decatur will know about Stinson sooner than usual.

Anonymous said...

Well, they need someone with knowledge of running an athletic dept. McWilliams is not qualified to run it. I have not seen her at any athletic events learning the ropes from our current AD and asst AD.

Anonymous said...

We need to get info from the Freedom of Information Act from Pellico, if he would stop hiding under his desk, for those retirement packages from Jeff Baer, Susan Adams, Dave Rather, and those other greedy thieves. That slogan " Whats in your wallet?" comes to mind.

Anonymous said...

To anon 8:45pm.

Kelly McWilliams attends a lot of athletic events. I've seen her at several. Maybe you're just missing her. I don't know if she's qualified, but it wouldn't be from a lack of attendance.

Anonymous said...

Susan Adams is the favored candidate to replace Stinson. Heard it firsthand from one of the board members.

Anonymous said...

I hope you are wrong about Susan Adams being up for Stinson job!!!!
This woman has climbed her way to the top by treating employees like animals. No heat, or air at night for custodians. No stopping for a bathroom break or to get a drink for busdrivers.The morals of an alleycat.Employees absolutely hate her!!!!

Anonymous said...

Maybe someone will be rewriting Animal Farm in the next couple of weeks.

Anonymous said...

Are the Board members ready to feel the wrath from the Parents and Taxpayers by putting Susan Adams in charge? She will bring numerous lawsuits filed by Parents, Teachers, Employees in the Township. She truly believes she is above the law and nobody can stop her. If you look her past history, she was thrown out of Perry Township for trying to be a Dictator where she bought and traded her power as President from her colleagues on the board. The Decatur School Board Members have sold their souls for their personal reasons. Shame on those minions of hers.

Anonymous said...

Retirements are official:
Dave Rather
Gary Pellico
Candy Milhon-Baer
Janet Larch
Jeff Baer
Pat Jones

Anonymous said...

Re: Kelli McWilliams.

While she may show up to athletic events this in no way makes her qualified to run them.

Anonymous said...

If it is official and these are the retirements then the retirement packages must be worth many $$$$$$. Are any of these people being replaced???? What is the total cost of this?????? They can retire - not needed positions other than West Newton principal - but this should not cost a lot of money that should be used to teach kids. They have already paid Stinson a lot to retire so he won't cost much more. They really have enough administrators without replacing these people who are retiring. How do we know this is official??

Yoda said...

I have asked many administrators why Susan Adams is still there and no one can give a valid answer. The only thing I can think of is that she must "know where the bodies are buried". She is definitely now a people person or one that makes wise decisions. Not that any of the School Board members care but, if you want to see the "rats fleeing the sinking ship", put Susan in charge. Many of the loyal workers that have put up with most of you shenanigans for the past couple of years will be gone. Then the Decatur township school system will even more resemble this country. "How's that changey, feely thingy working out for you."

To Anon 3:24 PM, I haven't seen a big fancy office in the admin building. The building if barely functional with the number of people in it now. It may be more usable next year after all the administrators are gone and the teachers get what they wanted. Someone will need to do the work that they were doing and quite a bit of it will fall to teachers. What an immature rant your posting was. You are a very bitter person. I hope this does not rub off on the children if you are a teacher.

Anonymous said...

Re Yoda 8:42
You are quite the enigma. At first, I thought you were quite interesting and made compelling points. However, as you continued to post, it seemed as though you were not a friend to teachers at all. In fact, it seems as though you really do not support the teaching staff at all, but the administration. Yet, you just spoke negatively about Susan Adams. I wonder who it is you really support here? The admin? No one?
That being said, I find it amusing that you are categorizing someone's post as "immature" when you are the one who snuck in a "Polo" post on a completely separate blog entry.
Again, you are quite the mystery.

Anonymous said...

Susan Adams does not have an administrator's license, thank God.

Anonymous said...

RE: Anon May 24, 9:16 AM

Why would even one board member think that Susan Adams is the highly favored candidate to fill Don Stinson position? Almost every position she has been there at Decatur was given to her - some to get her out of their hair there at the central ofc I've been told. What has she done that has been so important for her to earn rights to become the next superintendent? Can anyone tell me because I would like to know! I would like for the board member who said this to please fill us in on what she has done for our district.

Yoda said...

Anon 9:27 PM
The polo being snuck in on an unrelated post was too hard to resist. Having noticed the followers of this blog, I knew someone would get it. LOL

I am not against teachers. I love teachers. I am against some of the whining and gnashing of teeth that has gone on here in the township. As I have stated before and no one has refuted it yet, we have some of the highest paid teachers in the state. Whenever there is a complaint from the teachers or the union, to this constituent, it seems to always go back to money. OK, so we have some of the highest paid teachers in the state, so shouldn't we have better results? The answer of course is not an easy one. I have a problem with what is taught, how it is taught and how it is evaluated.

Are students taught how to think anymore or are they taught to answer questions on a test that validates how well they are doing?

The US spends more per student than the rest of the world and yet our children supposedly under perform on these tests. As all teachers know, if the parents or some family member is not invested in ensuring the child's education, the teacher's job is near impossible.

What I really support is there being an open cooperation between the school board, administration, union and the teachers. This takes an open mind and is near impossible this day in age. This blog can be a negative irritant in this process or it can be something positive and help the process. Up to now, I think it has been a negative irritant. 95 percent of the contributors seem to be, pardon the expression, pissing and moaning and not saying anything to contribute. I have been guilty of this myself as you well know but, I am going to try and curtail that. It would be nice if all would try the same thing but, I understand that it is very hard

Anonymous said...

Yoda, Tell us what you really think about Stinson and Susan Adams. Don't you believe they have something to add to this problem? Teaching is very difficult in this township when you have these clowns running things.

Anonymous said...

One opinion: It is time for Stinson and Adams to go on to other work. Enough is enough.

Yoda said...

I think I was clear earlier. I cannot figure out why Susan Adams is doing in the township. She is definitely not part of the solution.

Mr. Stinson on the other hand, I don't think he has done a bad job. That is my personal opinion though. The superintendents before him were nothing spectacular either. Whether or not you like the vision that he had or not at least he had a vision and tried to accomplish it.

Whether it is time for him to go or not, well I don't know. I would not blame him for wanting to leave, considering all the grief he has gotten the last year or so.

Chukker said...

Yoda:"I think I was clear earlier. I cannot figure out why Susan Adams is doing in the township. She is definitely not part of the solution."



Apparently,she seems to be an integral part to Stinson's "vision". Or,she wouldn't be there.


Yoda:Whether or not you like the vision that he had or not at least he had a vision and tried to accomplish it."

What exactly is/was this vision? How exactly is the school system better because of it? I can't give him credit for simply having a vision. That allows Stinson (or any administrator at any system) easily off the hook for his actions.

Yoda:"Whether it is time for him to go or not, well I don't know. I would not blame him for wanting to leave, considering all the grief he has gotten the last year or so."

I could be wrong....But I think you're being a bit disingenuous. You don't know? For someone that seems to have a strong opinion about the subject matter gracing this site,your inability to come to a solid conclusion regarding the tenure of Stinson is suspect.

As far as Stinson receiving any grief over his actions.....Well,I disagree. He seems to have been given carte blanche for his vision to arrive at fruition. He has a board that responds favorably to his wishes...And besides..when dealing with so many variables such as those within a school system,there's always going to be some amount of dissatisfaction from the various factions.....That's why the superintendent is supposedly making the big bucks....And Decatur's superintendent is certainly making the BIG buck$. The average EMT in Philadelphia views more grief on a daily basis and at much less than $230,000 a year. Stinson receiving grief...Give me a break.


I also disagree with you regarding a previous comment. I don't believe this site to be an irritant toward the improvement of the school system. I could be wrong....But I believe you have an agenda and are attempting to focus the dialogue in a direction advantageous to your agenda. Your pedantic attempts to be the arbiter of what constitutes pertinent dialogue, are well....suspect.

Despite my suspicions,don't interpret this post as an attempt to stop you from contributing...On the contrary,I want you to continue posting. As I find your contributions and the views within them to be a bit revelatory.

Anonymous said...

Stinson has had some ideas about making a name for himself rather than improving the educational system in Decatur. His whole way of thinking was bigger is better, just look around, Decatur Intermediate Learning Center, Decatur Discovery, new bus garage, the new central office building across from the Decatur Library, the new High School, totally unnecessary buildings that had nothing to with education, nothing but a big waste of our tax dollars. They (School Board, Stinson) said this would improve on expansion in the Township and ISTEP scores, now Lynwood is ECC, DILC is a Elementary and all the other Elementary Schools are one through six grade. Class sizes have gotten a lot bigger with less Teachers. I think Stinson wanted to build a Taj Mahal for himself with our tax dollars at his disposal, now he and the district put the blame on the State or the economy which ever comes first, Stinson is one of the reasons why We put a stop to these ridiculous property taxes. Our School system needs to change, every year it continues to get worse than before.

Anonymous said...

To: Anon May 24, 2010 2:17 PM

That's what I said....

From Anon May 24, 2010 8:48 AM

Anonymous said...

IF we have to fill a super position then it needs to be filled from the outside and at A LOT less pay!

Anonymous said...

The following is posted at blog.al.com/live/2010/05/finalists

Breaking News from the Press-Register
Local news updates from Mobile and surrounding communitiesBaldwin County, Education »
Finalists interviewed in Baldwin County superintendent search
By Connie Baggett
May 27, 2010, 8:05AM
LOXLEY, Ala. -- "Baldwin County school board members took about an hour to interview each finalist in the superintendent search this week, with both men up for the job proposing change and collaborative leadership for the system of 27,000 students.








Donald Stinson



Press-Register photoDonald Stinson is a finalist for the job of superintendent of Baldwin County Public Schools. A vote to name the new system leader is set for Tuesday.Stinson met with board members on Tuesday, proposing sweeping changes to the way students are educated.
The Decatur system has about 7,000 students.

"I advocate the small learning communities concept," Stinson said. "We are reinventing education, making it customized for learners. We need to get in touch with our students. For so long we expected one size to fit all, and it simply does not work for 21st century students."

Stinson implemented a system in Decatur that groups students according to interest in various areas like the arts, business, scientific research among other areas. Students remain in classes that infuse math, reading and other basic lessons as they relate to the learning community. The system also assigns an adult that mentors and tracks a student all through their school career.

Stinson said leaders must "imagine you can start over from the ground up and design a system to meet our students' needs. What's needed? Can it become real based on the finances available? Unless you have a 100-percent graduation rate, 100-percent success-in-life rate for your students -- you need change."

He said leaders must change their beliefs about education, and reaching that point "is almost a spiritual experience."

Change in Decatur meant implementing the small communities concept, and opening technology use like cell phones for project research. He said the changes took parts of successful systems across the country and created the Decatur model.

Stinson complimented the county on its high test scores and the open interview process. He said he plans to mold new leadership in the system if given the chance, and would begin the process of change by finding out what stakeholders want the system to become.

Board members said both men were outstanding candidates, and that site visits to the out-of-state systems led by the finalists would be the last task before the Tuesday vote."

At least it is stated that it has been a "spiritual experience" at Decatur. Maybe from now forwaard decisions will be forthcoming as to doing what is right!

Anonymous said...

Commenters may want to read the entire article and learn more about candidate Lee's thoughts.

Anonymous said...

Maybe the Alabama newspaper can find out what the retirement packages in Decatur cost???????

Anonymous said...

Yeah, you know the papers around here wont investigate anything. They just swallow what Stinson or Pellico throws out hook, line and sinker.