The Baltimore Sun is reporting that Superintendent Jerry Weast wants to remind people that decision-makers have children.Thanks Superintendent Weast for that reminder! The families in Montgomery County that send their children to Montgomery County Public Schools have children too! I would encourage the Superintendent to take a few days and meet OUR children.
Here are some suggestions for Superintendent Weast to meet OUR kids:
- ride a school bus (stand for part of the ride, as all the seats are full)
- eat lunch on a high school hallway floor with students (one lunch for all high school students means the cafeteria can't hold them all)
- go to a school play
- attend a school athletic event
- sit in on a few classes (35-40 in the room)
- take an AP practice exam
- take a practice Terra Nova exam
- use a bathroom without soap where the stall doors don't lock
- attend a class in a closet (overcrowded schools have used storage closest for instruction)
- spend a few hours in detention with students
- sit in a "time-out" room with a student
May 14th will be a great opportunity to start meeting OUR kids! It is the Superintendents' Performing Arts Award Gala event where talented seniors in the performing arts are honored for their accomplishments. Last year, Superintendent Weast didn't bother to show up for his own event. Maybe this year he will actually show up and take the opportunity to spend time with OUR kids!
In case the Superintendent doesn't show up this year at his own awards ceremony, or doesn't take advantage of any of my suggestions for meeting OUR kids, use the above picture to show your kids what their Superintendent looks like so they can see him once before they graduate. The picture was taken last year by a student at a graduation. Of course, Superintendent Weast was there - with his staff, cameras, elected officials, and private bathroom.
Baltimore Sun: Before making the big decisions, there are the little ones
Laura Vozzella May 3, 2009"And he said, 'Excuse me.' And I could hear him straightening out the situation."No matter how official Maryland responds to the swine flu threat, there will be second-guessing. So Montgomery County schools Superintendent Jerry Weast wants to remind everyone that decision-makers are human beings.
To quash any doubts about that, he pointed out at a news conference Friday that some of those human beings are even in charge of little human beings.
Like Gov. Martin O'Malley, whom Weast praised for calling him three times in one day.
"One time he called me, and in the background I could hear what I have heard when I was raising my own children," Weast said. "He was baby-sitting with his boys. And they weren't quite getting along.
Rest assured, we have a governor who knows when a couple timeouts are in order.
Uma Ahluwalia, director of Montgomery's health and human services, got breakfast on the table for her little one while she was on the horn with Weast.
"I learned that her son wanted a strawberry Pop Tart for ... breakfast," he said. "And she said, 'Sure, I can get that done.' "
UPDATE: Superintendent Weast attended the May 14, 2009, Superintendents' Performing Arts Award Gala.
Here is another suggestion for the list:
ReplyDeleteTeach one class session of a high school class AP statistics class, incorporating the Promethean Board into your interactive class presentation. (Don't use the Promethean Board as simply a projector.) Statistics are your specialty, Dr. Weast, so this exercise should be a cinch.
HINT for Dr. Weast:
ReplyDeleteWhen a father is at home with his own boys...it's not called babysitting.
It's called "being at home with your kids."
Amen to this, especially to the point of doing it "incognito" without an entourage. A little more time on the sidelines of a Takoma Park soccer game on a Saturday morning would do them all good. I truly get the feeling that some of the Carver people are so out of touch with what actually happens in a classroom.
ReplyDelete