Omaris Journet, Parkville Principal
According to a concerned educator familiar with the school asked me by e-mail for help:
What can we do to expose this for what it is? We are all nervous to go back in to school tomorrow. This district will sweep it under the rug. Our principal needs to realize from day one she has had an agenda. One of her first comments to us back in August when we were meeting her was we need to take " care of our brown and black babies” . Who says this in a leadership role? Not once have I ever referred to any student as my “ brown and black babies.”
Why are so many blind to this serious race issue happening?
Our principal is not a good fit. End of story. To have so many valuable colleagues leave due to intimidation from this principal should be a huge red flag.
I’m not sure if I mentioned before that she was not voted in by the School Goverance Committee. Interviewing possible candidates is the responsibility of this group. I am familiar with the committee and no interviewing was done.
However, a couple of weeks ago the new goverance interviewed her. Sadly, they did not follow proper guidelines. Rules being you have to have same number of staff as parents voting. There were 2 staff and several parents. Questions being asked are highly confidential and yet parents were overheard discussing the vote.
Our principal is not a good fit. End of story. To have so many valuable colleagues leave due to intimidation from this principal should be a huge red flag.
I’m not sure if I mentioned before that she was not voted in by the School Goverance Committee. Interviewing possible candidates is the responsibility of this group. I am familiar with the committee and no interviewing was done.
However, a couple of weeks ago the new goverance interviewed her. Sadly, they did not follow proper guidelines. Rules being you have to have same number of staff as parents voting. There were 2 staff and several parents. Questions being asked are highly confidential and yet parents were overheard discussing the vote.
Where are the other candidates? Her executive director/ boss Oliver Barton I am sure is no angel in this. He knows how unhappy we are. Why isn’t he guiding her to be a better leader?
Please Help us any way you can!
According to sources, at least one teacher in the Parkville School has been threatened with Administrative suspension for speaking out. The Secretary/Administrative Assistant from the school has been transferred out of the school (not willingly) and the schools Union representative has been placed on Administrative suspension
Hartford Schools spokesperson John Fergus claimed he had no knowledge of the vote of no confidence being taken and had not received any notification from the Hartford Federation of Teachers Union when I contacted him for comment. I guess word had not reached Leslie Torres -Rodriguez in the bunker yet
What is going on here.
And in case you missed it, here is another informative comment posted this afternoon:
"A comprehensive audit by the city or state of the office of talent management needs to happen immediately. All of the issues in the past few years have had a nexus in that office. The been there so long she has moved from secretary to Executive Director needs to be removed immediately. Over the past few years previous people have been permitted to leave under cover so they can ply their incompetence in other school districts. Ms. Banks has been there through all of the scandals from the P-Cards to Jill Cutler-Hodgeman's cover up of the other administrative failures like Eddie Genao. The main office covers for the failures of the administrators and blames teachers for the failure of the system. The superintendent is just the 270k per year place holder that allows this cadre of evil to fester. This rot is so bad that people are terrified to fight against it for fear of harassment and termination. You are bringing much of this to light and look at those abandoning the ship like rats.
The office of talent management is used to keep the dedicated teaching staff from calling out the inept and failing actions of administration. Even the new administrators throughout the district are fearful of standing up to the central office. The teachers who are committed to the academic growth and advancement of the students are treated with contempt. If you contact the HFT you will hear many of the horror stories. You work with Ms Yennie and she spends a lot of time in the schools. Ask her how the central office had destroyed the school district. We need to encourage the teaching staff to continue to bring this administrative malfeasance to light. This is the opportunity teachers to let the citizens of Hartford know how their money is being wasted.
We challenge the Courant's reporters who we know read your blog to step up and be true journalists not just parrots of the pablum spewed by the self-aggrandizing administration. This is a crime what the leadership in Central office is doing. Superintendent, take this opportunity to show you really care about the Hartford Students of which you are one. You know the dedication of the teachers you had the Hartford Public. Show us that you are with us for the well being of our students and not just for the educational executives. Our students are losing and your inaction is setting them up for a harder life because they are not getting what they should.
The commands that come from central office along with threats for non-compliance are adversely affecting education. You have the power to make it stop. The people downtown including your cabinet are only interested in their advancement. Although you applied to Boston, you have the opportunity to show that you are dedicated to our students and teachers. You have been given a great opportunity to give back to the community, please don't waste it.
Empty central office and start over starting with the draconian office of talent management."
And while we are at it, if anyone would like to fill me in on what has happened to the Dean at West Middle School as well as the Principal at West Middle, the Principal at Burr or any other "Administrative Suspensions" that are of concern, please feel free to contact me. I think the pot is about to boil over.
According to sources, at least one teacher in the Parkville School has been threatened with Administrative suspension for speaking out. The Secretary/Administrative Assistant from the school has been transferred out of the school (not willingly) and the schools Union representative has been placed on Administrative suspension
Hartford Schools spokesperson John Fergus claimed he had no knowledge of the vote of no confidence being taken and had not received any notification from the Hartford Federation of Teachers Union when I contacted him for comment. I guess word had not reached Leslie Torres -Rodriguez in the bunker yet
What is going on here.
And in case you missed it, here is another informative comment posted this afternoon:
"A comprehensive audit by the city or state of the office of talent management needs to happen immediately. All of the issues in the past few years have had a nexus in that office. The been there so long she has moved from secretary to Executive Director needs to be removed immediately. Over the past few years previous people have been permitted to leave under cover so they can ply their incompetence in other school districts. Ms. Banks has been there through all of the scandals from the P-Cards to Jill Cutler-Hodgeman's cover up of the other administrative failures like Eddie Genao. The main office covers for the failures of the administrators and blames teachers for the failure of the system. The superintendent is just the 270k per year place holder that allows this cadre of evil to fester. This rot is so bad that people are terrified to fight against it for fear of harassment and termination. You are bringing much of this to light and look at those abandoning the ship like rats.
The office of talent management is used to keep the dedicated teaching staff from calling out the inept and failing actions of administration. Even the new administrators throughout the district are fearful of standing up to the central office. The teachers who are committed to the academic growth and advancement of the students are treated with contempt. If you contact the HFT you will hear many of the horror stories. You work with Ms Yennie and she spends a lot of time in the schools. Ask her how the central office had destroyed the school district. We need to encourage the teaching staff to continue to bring this administrative malfeasance to light. This is the opportunity teachers to let the citizens of Hartford know how their money is being wasted.
We challenge the Courant's reporters who we know read your blog to step up and be true journalists not just parrots of the pablum spewed by the self-aggrandizing administration. This is a crime what the leadership in Central office is doing. Superintendent, take this opportunity to show you really care about the Hartford Students of which you are one. You know the dedication of the teachers you had the Hartford Public. Show us that you are with us for the well being of our students and not just for the educational executives. Our students are losing and your inaction is setting them up for a harder life because they are not getting what they should.
The commands that come from central office along with threats for non-compliance are adversely affecting education. You have the power to make it stop. The people downtown including your cabinet are only interested in their advancement. Although you applied to Boston, you have the opportunity to show that you are dedicated to our students and teachers. You have been given a great opportunity to give back to the community, please don't waste it.
Empty central office and start over starting with the draconian office of talent management."
And while we are at it, if anyone would like to fill me in on what has happened to the Dean at West Middle School as well as the Principal at West Middle, the Principal at Burr or any other "Administrative Suspensions" that are of concern, please feel free to contact me. I think the pot is about to boil over.
15 comments:
‘Take care of our brown and black babies’?! Gotta love identity politics, it’s a Narcissists’ paradise. Poor kids.
It’s not the poor kids fault or the inability of schools to teach. It’s the abject disfunction of the parents that lead to poor educational outcomes of their children. But no one has the courage to speak the truth. As for the Superintendent, I am ill equipped to pass judgement. But I will augment my premise that until low functioning parents take some remedial schoolin’, then test scores will never rise and drop out rates will remain high. After all, their parents likely dropped out so what can you expect from these po babies. As one principal once remarked, Please read to your kids at least one hour every night.”
You mean they don’t?
As a parent of a Parkville student I am very disturbed by what has been happening at this school this year. The problem is there are a group of “PTO” parents who are bullies and are working with the principal to bully teachers and other parents. They are pressuring parents to sign petitions to keep the current principal. These same Parents spoke at the board of Ed meeting and embarrassed themselves with their behavior. And then the following day as I was stripping my children off there sitting in the front of the building is the principal and the pto lady who made rude hateful comments at the board of Ed meeting the night before. And the two are laughing and talking. So clearly the principal had no morals and thinks those parents behavior was acceptable. What is sad is this small group of bully parents don’t speak for all parkville parents. Also talking to the board of Ed about Parkville is useless. They think the current principal is wonderful. Rumor is the current principal and the superintendent are good friends. Although I was Not always thrilled with the past principal at least he didn’t let pto parents bully the rest of the parents. The teachers seemed happier. Staff was consistent. And as a parent to 2 Hispanic children do NOT refer to my child by color. Please refer to them by their name. Something needs to be done about Parkville and the current principal and the bully PTO parents.
I declined a job in Hartford after I learned about how teachers are treated by their administration....so glad I did and the word is stay away.
I must say this problem did not start with the current administration. Dirk Olmstead & Marcie Morocco never cared about the kids but their next career growth opportunity. Teachers were hired from the suburbs, stayed long enough for student loan relief or financial assistance for their 6th year, and then left.
Parkville finally has an administrator that holds the staff accountable and that makes them uncomfortable. Yes, parental involvement is needed, but staff that really believes in the students is essential.
The new principal never had a chance. Regardless of her take care of the black and brown babies comment, the teachers had already pledge to be uncooperative. Bethany is on leave for being insubordinate and leading the teachers in this revolt. Teachers have focused on overthrowing the Puerto Rican principal than educating their students.....
I'm pretty sure there was notification of the vote of no confidence at the last BOE meeting. How would I know about it otherwise? I think Fergus is fibbing.
1:46PM
So none of it is true? All of the teachers are blindly following?
I can not believe that someone would accuse someone of teaching just to pay back loans and get a 6 th year. Honey, my loans have been paid back for years. I chose where to teach. I love teaching in an urban population. I’m sorry I go back to my “ suburb” each night. Another choice I made in life and also love! People have choices in life. You sound very bitter. It sounds like this Bethany person knows what is best for the kids, staff and parents at your school. Maybe you need to take a look at what choices you have made. You don’t seem very happy.
Hartford public schools are failing. Everyone wants to point fingers. The amount of unethical decisions made by their leadership seems to have snowballed and has trickled down. I am not sure why this happens to people in power. The superintendent is a liar and manipulator. She seems to have her "minions" that she has chosen. Sadly, it seems that people are aware but are doing nothing. I commend teachers and admin that stand up for what they believe is right. If it takes a vote of no confidence to get a principal out into a better placement so be it. Don't make it out to be a witch hunt. Work together. Lastly, do not bring race into it!
Anonymous at 1:46.......
You must have been the one awful teacher at Parkville that did not get a good eval from previous administration. How dare you say Mr. Olmstead and Ms. Morrocco did not care about Parkville students. They cared about students and staff alike and were both admired. Now Ms. Journet has a lot to learn about elementary education and running a school....she is running this one into the ground!
Hartford public schools are failing. Everyone wants to point fingers. The amount of unethical decisions made by their leadership seems to have snowballed and has trickled down. I am not sure why this happens to people in power. The superintendent is a liar and manipulator. She seems to have her "minions" that she has chosen. Sadly, it seems that people are aware but are doing nothing. I commend teachers and admin that stand up for what they believe is right. If it takes a vote of no confidence to get a principal out into a better placement so be it. Don't make it out to be a witch hunt. Work together. Lastly, do not bring race into it!
Did you all see the last board meeting? Those Parkville parents seem stellar. Have sympathy for the staff that need to deal with them. It must have been embarrassing for all. I wonder how it was all handled by the principal. I hope there was an open discussion for the stafff's sake. Just more stress added to an already stressful situation.
Downtown needs an enema
Another Parkville Principle not quailed,
This is a sad day for Parkville. They reappointed the principal. Can’t wait to see the fireworks!
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