Hello Ron,
On 15 Jan. 98  08:34 Ron Mcdermott wrote to Craig Schroeder...
 RM> Well... Following a contract is considered to be
 RM> a legal requirement; I hardly think that violating
 RM> one is cause for congratulations for being in
 RM> control and far-sighted....
I'm sorry for being vague about this point.  I merely wanted
to make the point that deep-seated negative attitudes follow
these hard fought negotiations.  The contracts are just one
part of the factors needing change.
 CS>If educators truly understood the simmering resentment toward school
 CS>districts, they would be much more conscious of the issue.
 RM> You're hitting me at a propitious moment... I'm
 RM> sitting here simmering myself... Allow me to
 RM> illustrate the reasons:
Stories from the trenches are excellent examples of the
product of this "operating in isolation" that I stirred all
this up about in the first place.  I share your frustration in
these incidents and the way the legal system has evolved to
leave schools dangling.  My premise is that lawmakers (and the
public at large) have so little respect for what fills your
day, that they are willing to dump societies basic elemental
problems in on the fray.  They respect your abilities enough
to assume you can handle the additional tasks and you've
become an easy dumping ground for every possible issue that can be
labeled "educational" in nature.  I am absolutely aligned
with your feelings on this issue.  You shouldn't fear
retribution for dealing with students who should be in
different settings than those originally designed for "normal"
students.  If schools had been conscious of the public
relations fiasco they were generating, many of the issues
would have been handled differently.  To those who have been
involved with the system as it is, I find you can preach,
preach, preach about this and they just don't see it or get
it.  Behaving in a way that is concious of the public's
perception seems to be a foreign concept that has never intruded
on their decision making processes.
At a recent Kiwanis meeting, a middle school principal was
giving a presentation and looking for some outside support for
some school projects (not direct, but implied).  He was asked
what the LCD projector and portable computer cost that he used
in his presentation.  The projector was $8500 and the computer
something over $5000.  Curiously, this was about what the
project cost that he was out asking for support on.  He was
asked if a slide projector would have presented the material
sufficiently for his needs and he had to agree.  Can you
imagine being so insensitive to this sort of public relations
fiasco, that you'd set yourself up like this?  By the way, we
decided to support the project and it passed with no
dissenting votes, but it serves as a good illustration of
schools' blindness to these factors.
Regards,
-=Craig=-
craigclu@bigfoot.com  
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