You know how I can tell? The Laconia School District is doing what School Boards and Administrations have been doing all over the State – and the nation – change the Narrative and change the focus! That is, making it personal to their clients – Parents. Instead of concentrating on student achievement, right now it seems that it’s all about retribution from those that want students to succeed. And the firing of Principal Levesque by Tucker seems to be the tipping point. Public Education, in too many places, has become too full of itself. The example is similar to companies that believe that THEY make the decisions and not their customers. In the latter case, because they operate in the Private Sector, they are directly accountable to their clients. If they don’t, they go out of business as those customers won’t buy their product. No sales means no revenues which means bankruptcy – make bad decisions, reap bad outcomes.
And that’s the problem with Public Education right now – as Ian’s post (“Shall-Issue School Districts“) points out, while Croydon is moving to a budget model, Laconia is solidly a ransom model (if you haven’t, read his post for a better explanation – it will make your head hurt). And not having to worry about a bottom line in order to stay in existence, it seems that the Laconia School District is doing a “tail wagging the dog” exercise that does a quid pro quo for the Elites in the District to get their way (you know, how Putin is “vanishing” the undesirables over his “special military incursion” into Ukraine). Back to Ian for a second; emphasis mine:
What we’re being asked to vote on today isn’t a budget. You all know how a budget works. You’re given some amount of money to work with — your salary, your pension— and you find a way to live within those limits. What we’re being asked to vote on is a ransom. You also know how a ransom works. You’re told that if you don’t pay some amount that is being demanded, someone or something will be taken from you.
…that is, the amount that the voters in the district want to pay — rather than a ransom — that is, the amount that district officials feel like demanding.
Thus, unlike private companies that HAVE to produce products and services that please and serve customers, a school district doesn’t have to. And most don’t:
And it hasn’t for a long time: “But in a state with a graduation rate above 90%, and a basic proficiency rate below 50%, it’s not clear what qualifications are being required of graduates in any district.”
Riling up – instead of concentrating on ACHIEVEMENT (or the lack of it within their District DISTRICT), it seems that both of them are concentrating on eliminating the dissenters in their ranks (like Putin) by firing them (yes, I know the official verbiage is “not renewing their contract” but the effect is the same.
Sidenote: how come Public Education is all about contracts about EVERYTHING? Sure, they are gaming the law when it comes to the budget with proposed and default budgets, but why do teachers go along with this nonsense? Especially in a District that the two head honchos have turned, seemingly, in to a highly politicized environment. Just like Trump, their actions are looking like they want blind loyalty and silence from their underlings at the cost of their jobs, right?
And the list of non-renewed contracts across the board is climbing – and Parents ought to be asking harder and harder questions of WHY? and WHO BENEFITS from the turnover?
Anyways, like I said, Parents have finally taken notice and are they ticked. An anonymous reader has sent me a TON (over 100) screenshots from the various Facebook groups associated with what’s going on with Tucker and Hayward. Here’s some of them (and it’s a bonus that the first one is quoting GraniteGrok! The Laconia Daily Sun isn’t doing this kind of reporting…
There’s a taste – there are a LOT more to put up!
