Dianna Carberry in the news again; this time she claims to be the victim of Sweetwater Superintendent Jesus Gandara

Photo: Dianna and Ed Carberry. Dianna fired a coach for reporting that her husband Ed told a student to use a substance. The student developed kidney failure.

It seems that the same people keep popping up in story after story about problems in schools. Dianna Carberry is one of the familiar names. She is the principal who fired coach James "Ted" Carter in Escondido because he had reported to his superiors that coach Ed Carberry, Dianna's husband, advised a student to take a substance. The student was later hospitalized with kidney failure. Carberry should have been fired by Escondido, instead, she left without being fired.

It is not surprising to me that she was hired in Sweetwater; the district has never shown much fondness for ethics, but it is amazing to me that employees would be protesting her demotion. What is surprising is that Carberry is now claiming to be a victim, and that employees of Sweetwater are rallying around her. It does seem, however, that employees are not terribly enthusiastic about Carberry; it's really Karen Janney that they like. Apparently they decided that it made their argument stronger to have two demotions to protest, but I think it's unwise to use Carberry as their poster child.

Another of the familiar names is Jaime Mercado. Perhaps this story should be called Jaime Mercado gets the last laugh.


Sweetwater's Miracle Worker Turned Lightning Rod
By EMILY ALPERT
Voice of San Diego
June 21, 2009

Jesus Gandara was described as a miracle worker when Sweetwater Union High School District, the largest high school district in the state, hired him as its leader nearly three years ago...

But now, as he nears the end of his third year overseeing a district that encompasses the middle and high schools from National City to San Ysidro, Gandara is in the crosshairs of a campaign to unseat him. Four labor unions from teachers to custodians have joined forces, gathering signatures for a petition that argues that he "neither welcomes nor respects input" and "relies on intimidation to gain consent."

...And unions are not the only ones angry: Many principals and middle managers were stunned by his decision to demote two of his highest ranking employees in March.

The school board has largely stayed out of the fray after a member highly critical of Gandara, Jaime Mercado, lost his re-election bid last fall.

[Maura Larkins' comment: It appears that things have not improved at Sweetwater since Bertha Lopez replaced Jaime Mercado.]

...School district leaders are hopeful that the recent election of a new teachers' union president, Alex Anguiano, will cool the furor: Spokeswoman Lillian Leopold said that Anguiano has a better relationship with Gandara, who said that when the old President Sam Lucero was voted out, "he got his vote of no confidence -- and his was louder than mine."

But several sources within the union said that the vote indicated a push for "a wartime president" who will continue their fight, not call it off. Employees charge that the uproar is not about proposed salary cuts or layoffs, which have been canceled as Sweetwater found other ways to cut $11.6 million from its $348 million budget, but about Gandara himself.

One union leader remembered Gandara visiting her after she complained to the school board about a computer system.

"He yelled at me. Just chewed me out. '...You have an issue, you bring it to me.' He was yelling and waving his finger in front of my nose," said Julie Hitchcock, president of the Sweetwater Counseling and Guidance Association...

[Maura Larkins' comment: I'll bet he didn't yell as loud or as long as CVESD Assistant Superintendent Richard Werlin used to yell. But a very close colleague of SEA President Alex Anguiano from Chula Vista Educators (Jim Groth) and current SUHSD trustee Bertha Lopez supported Rick Werlin's questionable tactics. Rick Werlin yelled so viciously at one principal that the man had a heart attack right then and there in his own office. Sometimes I wonder if the teachers union really cares about all employees, or only acts when union leaders get offended. My recommendation to SUHSD trustees: next time, promote someone from within the district.]

...But a chorus of complaints focuses on Gandara's attitude toward employees. They are not confined to unions: Numerous employees in management positions declined to be quoted for this story, saying they feared for their jobs. A retiree has become their spokeswoman.

The demotions "were the tipping point," said Mary Anne Stro, who retired as a principal eight years ago. "If they can do this to Karen and Dianna, they can do anything to anybody."

[Maura Larkins comment: Why are all these people acting as if this is something new? What about Superintendent Ed Brand firing Mary Anne Weegar? Making an issue out of the demotion of Dianna Carberry is an odd thing for pro-employee groups to do.]

Stro was referring to the demotions of Karen Janney and Dianna Carberry, two assistant superintendents who lost their jobs after declining lesser positions in the school district. Demoting Janney, in particular, has inspired outrage from longtime employees who praised her as a competent and caring leader, citing the lofty awards she received and local projects she helped to complete...

Reasons for the demotions are unclear. While Sweetwater schools learned they had much room to improve in a critical report from the County Office of Education, the report was not shared with Gandara and other staff until weeks after Janney and Carberry were demoted. Janney's department was ranked highly in an internal survey last year of how managers felt about Sweetwater departments and their timeliness, communication and quality; Carberry was in the middle of the pack.

Board President Jim Cartmill said that decisions about the top personnel must be left to Gandara.

"We can't keep a superintendent accountable for results unless he or she is allowed to hire who they want," he said...

Business became [Gandara's] focus in Sweetwater, where he names the dysfunctional computer system that Hitchcock complained about as one challenge, along with dropping enrollment, budget woes and its $644 million facilities bond. Though most of the bond projects are in their infancy, Gandara prides himself on roughly $10 million in savings from three large projects where bids came in below estimates...

Critics and supporters of Gandara alike say he has largely left the educational side of schools, curriculum and instruction, to his subordinates. He now says that was a mistake and he will get involved. A County Office of Education study of Sweetwater schools that recently found that strategies to help lagging students were inconsistent, though annual test scores show improvement in Sweetwater over time...

Amalia Cudeiro gets chance to follow her pal Libia Gil's prescriptions for keeping employees in line: Cudeiro is superintendent for Bellevue Schools

Now that Amalia Cudeiro (photo) is superintendent of schools in Bellevue, Washington, I suspect that she will follow the top-down decision making policies of her pal Libia Gil, who was superintendent of Chula Vista Elementary School District from 1993 to 2002. I suppose decisions will be based on what's best for the people in charge and their political friends.

Former Superintendent Libia Gil remade CVESD in her own image, and it has remained the same even though she herself was pushed out in March 2002. [I suspect she was pushed out not because she broke the law, but because she made such a mess while doing so.]

Gil beat the union (Chula Vista Educators) by co-opting and corrupting its leaders, specifically Jim Groth, Virginia (Gina) Boyd, Tim O'Neill and the board of directors.

See Site-based management for a peek at some of Libby Gil's cheerleaders.

It was obvious all along that neither Libby Gil nor her assistant superintendent Lowell Billings believed in the democratic principles they were spouting to sell site-based management. Chula Vista Elementary School District's Superintendent Lowell Billings apparently watched closely and learned from his predecessor Libia Gil, who managed to increase her power without ever saying much of anything.

Billings continues to promote the system as implemented at CVESD, which always involved top-down decision-making, never democracy at the school site.

It also involved laziness and neglect. So things would often get out of hand at various schools, and then the district office would swoop in and fire people, or, if they were political allies, bring them back to the district office for their own protection.

In 2008 CVESD superintendent Lowell Billings had a new problem. The school that was trying to make its own decisions was a charter school. The staff didn't think that principal Erik Latoni should make all the decisions.

Once again, Lowell wanted to swoop in and take control. He threatened to to terminate the charter of Feaster Elementary School because the people who run the school actually work at the school. Instead of "site-based decision-making," this is now being called "a conflict of interest" by Mr. Billings. The meaning of the words changes whenever the people in charge feel it's necessary.

It's probably worthwhile to note that CVESD rehired Daniel Shinoff of Stutz, Artiano Shinoff & Holtz in 2008. Apparently the board was impressed with Shinoff's work at MiraCosta College. I notice a striking similarity in the arguments used to attack Feaster Elementary and the arguments used to justify the actions of the majority-bloc of trustees at MiraCosta.

Why didn't Supervisor Greg Cox raise the same alerts Dianne Jacob did?

San Diego County Supervisor Dianne Jacob seems to be the only ethical supervisor we have. Whose side is Greg Cox on?

Shut-off plan's vocal backers linked to SDG&E
Supervisor questions ties to area nonprofits
By Jeff McDonald
San Diego Union-Tribune Staff Writer
June 21, 2009

Organizations with representatives at an April committee meeting of the California Public Utilities Commission that did not disclose their connections to San Diego Gas & Electric Co.

Girl Scouts San Diego-Imperial Council Inc.: Board member Karen Hutchens formerly worked for SDG&E and has represented the utility as a client.

Hutchens Public Relations: Associates Scott Alevy and Manny Aguilar testified favorably about the shut-off plan. SDG&E has been a client.

TaxpayersAdvocate.org: Founder Scott Barnett has done consulting for SDG&E.

Vista Chamber of Commerce: SDG&E is a “Chairman's Circle” sponsor, which requires minimum donation of $3,000.

Chula Vista Chamber of Commerce: Board member Ahmad Solomon works for SDG&E.

San Ysidro Chamber of Commerce: Board member Ahmad Solomon works for SDG&E.

Santee Chamber of Commerce: Board member Donald Parent works for SDG&E.

DETAILS

What: Board of Supervisors meeting
Where: County Administration Center, 1600 Pacific Highway, San Diego

When East County residents gathered before state regulators in April to debate San Diego Gas and Electric Co.'s plan to shut off power during the worst conditions to keep from sparking wildfires, something gnawed at Supervisor Dianne Jacob.

Speakers from the South Bay to North County showed up at the three-hour meeting in Alpine to tout the plan as a safe, reasonable way to reduce the fire threat across the rugged, dry backcountry.

Jacob, who has long feuded with the utility, couldn't figure out why a chamber executive from Vista or a Girl Scouts board member would drive out on a Tuesday night to weigh in on the issue.

Then she realized that almost every speaker in support of the shut-off plan had a connection to SDG&E, which donates money to local charities and has employees involved with many nonprofits.

“They sit on the boards, they contribute to organizations and then when they're involved in a controversial issue, they call in the favors,” Jacob said.

SDG&E spokeswoman Stephanie Donovan said the company and its employees do not donate time or money to community groups for political gain.

“We're pretty proud of the deep roots we have in the community,” Donovan said.

In a follow-up e-mail, she wrote: “Our giving to non-profits and our volunteer board service come with no strings attached.”

Jacob is asking the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday to oppose SDG&E's shut-off plan, which would impose blackouts on 60,000 customers during high-risk conditions to reduce the threat of power-line-related fires.

The proposal, now under consideration by the state's Public Utilities Commission, has drawn criticism from residents, telecommunications companies and school and water districts, among others.

“Opponents have demonstrated that the risks of cutting power to homes and businesses during extreme fire conditions outweigh the potential benefits,” Jacob wrote to her board colleagues.

Jacob has questioned SDG&E's business practices before. When deregulation sent power rates soaring for thousands of San Diego-area customers in 2000 and 2001, she campaigned against SDG&E billing policies and lobbied state officials for rollbacks.

But it is not certain Jacob's latest effort will be supported by the full board, which rarely fails to reach a consensus. Supervisor Pam Slater-Price co-signed the opposition letter, but Supervisors Greg Cox and Ron Roberts have a history of supporting SDG&E.

Roberts did not respond to questions about the issue last week. In a statement, Cox said he had not read the request, but he worries about a power shut-off impeding mass warnings to residents. An aide to Supervisor Bill Horn said Horn would not comment before the meeting.

Whether her recommendation wins approval, Jacob is troubled that people with ties to SDG&E routinely appear before regulators on behalf of the utility and don't disclose the connection.

The Alpine hearing attracted representatives from the Chula Vista, San Ysidro and Vista chambers of commerce, as well the local Girl Scouts council and taxpayer advocate Scott Barnett, all of whom have professional relationships with the utility.

“This is an effort to fool the PUC into thinking there are all these organizations and folks that support SDG&E's efforts on the merits of the case, on the facts,” Jacob said, “when in fact it's nothing more than buying influence.”

Consumer advocate Michael Shames said SDG&E has a history of contributing to community groups then asking for help in return.

“It's all about creating the appearance of community support, thus providing political cover to the decision-makers,” said Shames, director of the Utility Consumers' Action Network. “Some people don't take money from SDG&E because they don't want the strings.”

Nonprofit executives who accept donations from SDG&E or recruit utility executives to their boards disagree.

Paul O'Neal, who runs the Vista Chamber of Commerce, drove 65 miles each way to speak at the April hearing in Alpine. The SDG&E shut-off plan represents “a potential solution” to persistent fire threats, he testified.

In an interview last week, O'Neal said that the utility does spread its “wealth around the entire community” but that this isn't necessarily bad.

“They feel they have a civic duty,” he said. “Are they buying a vote? Certainly not in this case.”

Karen Hutchens is a public relations professional from Point Loma who used to be an SDG&E spokeswoman. Now the company is one of her clients.

When she addressed the PUC committee, she identified herself as a Girl Scouts board member and proxy for Executive Director Jo Dee Jacob, who is Supervisor Jacob's sister-in-law. The Girl Scouts “applaud SDG&E for their leadership in evaluating the situation,” Hutchens read from a letter Jo Dee Jacob signed.

Jo Dee Jacob last week defended the Girl Scouts' joining the debate. “Girls'safety and fire prevention is very, very important to us,” she said.

Two of Hutchens' associates – Scott Alevy and Manny Aguilar – also spoke in favor of the shut-off plan without disclosing their dealings with the utility.

SDG&E's Donovan said the company will strive to persuade the county supervisors not to oppose the shut-off plan.

“You can be sure we will be there to reiterate to the board that our plan is about public safety and emergency preparedness and protecting the region from catastrophic wildfires by eliminating a potential ignition source,” she wrote.

DeveloperAlert.org tells what's going on in San Diego

I found a superb blog about local developers called DEVELOPERALERT.ORG. Here are some quotes from the blog:

Development that works

Paul Solomon quit his job as a real estate attorney to pursue a dream of redeveloping obsolete factory buildings in downtown Los Angeles (an area that is now being called the Arts District)... As I spent the day with him in February touring his new development of the "National Biscuit Company" Building, every turn seemed to tender a brand new treasure. Copper doors and windows, maple floors, exposed wood formwork, concrete columns, staircases ascending effortlessly to mezzanines open to below characterized these engaging spaces. It was obvious that the architect Aleks Istanbullu had carefully considered every facet of the design... It was obvious that this building was more than just a source of revenue for him, it was a source of pride... and that is rare.


Here's more from DeveloperAlert.org:

Development that doesn't work

"Developers' money is like heroin to politicians." - Roy P. Disney, March 2, 2008, Los Angeles Times

“We need open, honest government that is working for people, not developers.” - Stephen Whitburn, March 15, 2008, San Diego Union Tribune

Top-down decision making masquerades as "site-based management"

I recently noted that Richard Hanks and Monica Sorenson have become principals at Chula Vista Elementary School Disrict. I suspect this is an omen that top-down decision making will continue, and will continue based on the same principles of doing what's best for the people in charge.

Former Superintendent Libia Gil remade the district in her own image, and it has remained the same even though she herself was pushed out in March 2002. [I suspect she was pushed out not because she broke the law, but because she made such a mess while doing so.]

Gil beat the union (Chula Vista Educators) by co-opting and corrupting its leaders, specifically Jim Groth, Virginia (Gina) Boyd, Tim O'Neill and the board of directors.

See Site-based management for a peek at some of Libby Gil's cheerleaders.

It was obvious all along that neither Libby Gil nor her assistant superintendent Lowell Billings believed in the democratic principles they were spouting to sell site-based management. Chula Vista Elementary School District's Superintendent Lowell Billings apparently watched closely and learned from his predecessor Libia Gil, who managed to increase her power without ever saying much of anything.

Billings continues to promote the system as implemented at CVESD, which always involved top-down decision-making, never democracy at the school site.

It also involved laziness and neglect. So things would often get out of hand at various schools, and then the district office would swoop in and fire people, or, if they were political allies, bring them back to the district office for their own protection.

In 2008 CVESD superintendent Lowell Billings had a new problem. The school that was trying to make its own decisions was a charter school. The staff didn't think that principal Erik Latoni should make all the decisions.

Once again, Lowell wanted to swoop in and take control. He threatened to to terminate the charter of Feaster Elementary School because the people who run the school actually work at the school. Instead of "site-based decision-making," this is now being called "a conflict of interest" by Mr. Billings. The meaning of the words changes whenever the people in charge feel it's necessary.

It's probably worthwhile to note that CVESD rehired Daniel Shinoff of Stutz, Artiano Shinoff & Holtz in 2008. Apparently the board was impressed with Shinoff's work at MiraCosta College. I notice a striking similarity in the arguments used to attack Feaster Elementary and the arguments used to justify the actions of the majority-bloc of trustees at MiraCosta.

Richard Hanks and Monica Sorenson hired as principals at CVESD

Monica Sorenson

UPDATE JAN. 2014:

Monica Sorenson has suddenly left her job as principal of Chula Vista Hills Elementary to go to Del Mar. Charlie Padilla also left his job as principal of Tiffany Elementary in the middle of the 2010-2011 school year.

Charlie Padilla

ORIGINAL POST:

Two of the three new principals at Chula Vista Elementary School District are political players. They have both shown loyalty to the longtime board majority.

You might be surprised that one of them, Monica Sorenson, is described as a "union leader," but that doesn't really mean much unless you think that CVESD school officials and CVE union leaders don't play footsie behind closed doors.

Richard Hanks is the former husband of former CVESD superintendent Libia Gil.


Chula Vista district has new principals
By Chris Moran,
San Diego Union-Tribune Staff Writer
June 18, 2009

Three new principals have recently been
appointed to run campuses in the Chula
Vista Elementary School District.

Richard Hanks, who had been
principal at Palmer Way Elementary
School in National City, will lead
Hedenkamp Elementary in eastern
Chula Vista.

Monica Sorenson, who had been a
teachers union leader in the district,
will serve as principal of Chula Vista Hills
Elementary.

Del Merlan, an educator from Central
California, has been appointed principal
of Casillas Elementary. Five associate
principals also were promoted to
principal.

The school year begins July 27.

Latest correspondence in Stutz v. Larkins defamation suit

Here's the message I just send to Stutz law firm regarding its demands for changes in my website, pursuant to its defamation suit against me.

June 9, 2009

Dear Stutz, Artiano, Shinoff & Holtz:

A person can disagree with Stutz without saying or implying that Stutz' actions are illegal or unprofessional. Obviously, there was a parting of the ways between Stutz and Bob Gallagher. Bob clearly did not see eye to eye with Dan Shinoff, Ray Artiano, James Holtz, etc. There's nothing in the court order that prevents me from saying so. People are allowed to dislike Stutz law firm, and they're not legally required to keep their feelings secret.

And, conversely, Stutz is allowed to nurture whatever hostile feelings it wishes against me and others.

Some Stutz lawyers get so angry that one would hardly be surprised to see smoke rising from the top of their heads. Ray Artiano was so mad during his deposition that his face kept twitching. Kelly Angell pointed both her index fingers at me in court, with thumbs cocked as if she were shooting me with two guns at once. (And I'll bet Stutz doesn't even charge the taxpayers for the theatrics. Rage and fury are thrown in for no charge!)

Citizens are allowed to criticize the actions of public entities and other organizations, such as tax-free educational institutions like Californians Against Lawsuit Abuse. America is what it is because of freedom of speech. You have no authority to stop me from presenting my ideas about education and the justice system.

Stutz obtained a summary judgment that it didn't deserve in its defamation case against me. The judge didn't consider my evidence, and relied on the declaration of a man (Dan Shinoff) who refused to be deposed and refused to produce documents. I would think that Stutz wouldn't want to push this too far.

If I were Stutz, I'd quit while I was ahead. But I guess that sort of advice is lost on Stutz. Stutz has had so many chances to quit while it was ahead in my case, but didn't take advantage of any of them. You know when the perfect time would have been to settle with me? Feb. 11, 2003, the day my OAH decision came out. Or Dec. 18, 2004, when my Superior Court case got thrown out.

At that time I probably would have exchanged confidentiality for a song.

Why did Stutz wait until I was back up and running, with a successful website, and THEN ask me to keep my information under wraps? Honestly, sometimes I wonder if the guys in charge of your firm have common sense.

I've heard that Daniel Shinoff considers "The Art of War" to be his personal bible, but I don't think he's read it carefully. Charging ahead with as many weapons as you can muster is not always the best plan. Sometimes you can defang an opponent with a smile and a handshake.

Can you believe that our trial date is just a month away? Maybe that's what we should be focusing on, rather than whether it is defamatory to say that Bob Gallagher left the firm because he didn't like Stutz' tactics.

Respectfully,
Maura Larkins

[Maura Larkins' comment: A report I found on NPR today helped me understand what's going on here. "Through their research, Kahneman and Tversky identified dozens of these biases and errors in judgment, which together painted a certain picture of the human animal. Human beings, it turns out, don't always make good decisions, and frequently the choices they do make aren't in their best interest...In other words, if the human brain is hard-wired to make serious errors, that implies all kinds of things about the need for regulation and protection."

A message sent today to Peg Myers, President of Chula Vista Educators

Hi Peg:
Instead of trying so hard to eliminate my blog, how about you debate with me in public? If I'm truly crazy, as you like to say, then I'm sure the audience will quickly catch on. How about I present my information to the Representative Council of Chula Vista Educators? Or are you determined to perpetuate Gina Boyd/Jim Groth tactics?

Respectfully,
Maura Larkins

Elisa Betancourt should keep talking about teacher quality in CVESD

Get ready to make some noise again Chula Vista! Salt Creek & South Bay 'Y' are holding focus groups tomorrow, June 4, 2009 and June 17, 2009 re: DASH/STRETCH.

June 4
5:30 - 6:30 p.m.
Here, you will get to speak.
Salt Creek Elementary School Auditorium
1055 Hunte Parkway
Chula Vista, CA 91914

June 17
11 - 12 and 12 - 1
South Bay YMCA
50 North 4th Ave., 91910


Earlier DASH & STRETCH posts are here.

The Dash & Stretch Story as told by a veteran DASH leader
San Diego Reader
By CVPFEP
Posted June 3, 2009
...Why wasn't Dr. Lowell Billings transparent with the parents and employees of the City of Chula Vista's DASH and STRETCH? That is a question that will remain unanswered as Dr. Lowell Billings will not comment on that...Double-Boarding a conflict of interest? Follow me: www.twitter.com/cvpfep


Care2 make a difference
While legally Dr. Lowell Billings & Pamela B. Smith may serve on two boards, namely CVESD & the YMCA's Board of Management, they were supposed to have abstained their votes on the March 10th, 2009 district board meeting as it was a clear conflict of interests.


Maura Larkins' response:

Here's what Robert Fellmeth, University of San Diego law professor and director of the Center for Public Interest Law, says, "[P]ublic officials should know better than to steer so much money to groups with which they have close relationships."

Shame on Pamela Smith for voting to give control of a school district program to a private charity she's involved in. (On the other hand, it helps explain why the YMCA would give her a "woman of distinction" award. But the web of longtime cronies involved in the DASH & STRETCH power grab extends beyond Lowell Billings and Pam Smith to Cheryl Cox, mayor of Chula Vista. Cox served on the CVESD board until 2006.

The DASH & STRETCH backroom deal is a small part of a much bigger problem.

Lowell Billings (like many other school superintendents) is paid big bucks to do whatever it takes to keep things calm and quiet in the school district.

He's also supposed to educate as many kids as possible while keeping things quiet, but when a choice has to be made between educating kids and keeping the power structure in place, the kids come in second place.

Mr. Billings seems to be good at covering up problems. This is why CVESD pays Lowell Billings one of the highest salaries of any public employee in San Diego County, while at the same time laying off the people who actually educate kids. (How much is Billings paid to do this? In the 2007-2008 fiscal year he was the fourth-highest earning public employee in San Diego County, earning $238,205. I would guess his salary was about $20,000 higher this past year.)

Like other school officials, CVESD board members are so paranoid that they feel threatened by every little complaint. They don't want issues addressed in a public forum; they believe democracy is the road to ruin. Voters must be kept in the dark because voters can't be trusted with the truth. They are the only ones worthy of being on the board, and they must do whatever they have to do to stay there, including ignoring conflict of interest and other laws.

You might not guess that arrogance and fear would be so closely intertwined, but both the arrogance and the paranoia are real.

Chula Vista Elementary School District has a particularly bad case of paranoia. Board members and administrators fear that their system would fall apart if parents, teachers or kids were allowed to express dissatisfaction. It's CVESD's reflex response is to silence complaints and to deny its mistakes. CVESD flounders for years covering up its blunders rather than solving its problems.

The deterioration of DASH & STRETCH at CVESD is an unfortunate event, but it's just a tiny part of the big problem in education: teacher quality. Politics, not competence, determines who teaches children. People love to moan about the problem of not being able to get rid of incompetent teachers, but the truth is that education wouldn't really improve much if each school got rid of its worst teacher and replaced that teacher with a barely-competent teacher. The standards need to be much higher.

Unfortunately, our society doesn't want to pay much for schools. One of Lowell Billings' jobs is to find a cheap way to put a teacher in every classroom (after first taking out plenty for himself and his lawyers, of course).

Adding to the problem, or perhaps, the very core of the problem, is that there is no effective system to evaluate teaching performance. Principals do observations, but they don't really know what's going on in classrooms, as reported in recent research.

Links on ineffective teacher evaluations:
Gotham Schools
Education Week
Voice of San Diego

As long as everything is peaceful and quiet, most administrators believe that everything is fine. And if kids end up as failures years later, very few people in the schools feel guilty. The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world, but most school officials are apparently fine with that.

Schools teach that if we keep a low profile and don't make the people in power angry, we'll be among the "contributing" members of society. I disagree. I think that looking the other way when wrong is being done damages society. I hope that Elisa Betancourt will keep speaking out. There's plenty more to talk about, Elisa. Don't go away!