----- Original Message -----
From: Name removed
Sent: Friday, February 15, 2002 6:33 PM
Subject: Lake Fenton Hall of Shame
I would personally like to nominate Ronald Riley for
the Hall of Shame in the idiot advocate category.
Mr. Riley, you are nothing more than a bully who is
trying to use the internet as your device of
intimidation. If you truly care about making
public schools better than why do you seek to go after
individuals. How do you presume to rate
teachers? Do you really have all the needed
knowledge to do such a chore? You seem to have
some serious unresolved issues to deal with.
Were you picked on by some jock when you were a
student? Your comments tend to make me laugh
more than anything else. Apparently you weren't
one of the people in the 60's who decided to go into
education to avoid the draft. Were you one of
the people who avoided life by going on drugs.
Cause man, you still 'trippin.'
I sincerely hope that you lose this case and I pray
that your children don't feel the brunt of what you
are about to receive in the public back lashing that I
guarantee you will receive. They don't deserve
this anymore than any teacher or administrator who you
happened to disagree with.
Sincerely,
Tim
(Parent, student, educator, and activist)
Tim the teacher comments are in black.
Ronald J. Riley's replies are in
blue.
----- Original Message -----
From: name Removed
To: PS-ErrorOfFact@QualitySchoolsNow.org
Sent: Friday, February 15, 2002 6:33 PM
Subject: Lake Fenton Hall of Shame
<<I would personally like to nominate Ronald Riley
for the Hall of Shame in the idiot advocate
category.>>
You are welcome to your point of
view, just as I am. This is what makes America a
great country.
<<Mr. Riley, you are nothing more than a bully who
is trying to use the internet as your device of
intimidation.>>
I disagree. I spent years
working through the Lake Fenton system. First I
took the issues to teachers, and then to Principals, and
then to the Superintendent, followed by writing and
calling the school board members. This is documented on
the web site.
Only after all else failed did I go public with my
concerns. Public schools are accountable to the
public, or at least they should be. If they
perform well we reward them with ongoing funding, and if
they do not the public has the right to punish them by
opposing funding.
<<If you truly care about making public schools
better than why do you seek to go after
individuals.>>
The very character of public
schools is determined by the nature of the teachers.
Many are dedicated and responsible professionals.
I have listed some of the more exceptional Lake Fenton
teachers at
http://www.qualityschoolsnow.org/
lakefenton/honorable/. In
other words those who were the best are being
recognized, just as those who are not so good are
receiving appropriate criticism.
The problem with the public school
system is that administrators find it easier to
stonewall parents then to address the issues surrounding
bad teachers. In the end our children are short
changed by leaving poorly motivated teachers in the
system.
<<How do you presume to rate teachers? Do
you really have all the needed knowledge to do such a
chore?>>
I have extensive experience
managing people, both as an employee and as an employer.
I come from a family of teachers. But even if I
did not, I am a taxpayer and all public employees are
answerable to their employers, namely the taxpayer.
<<You seem to have some serious unresolved issues
to deal with. Were you picked on by some jock when
you were a student?>>
Actually I saw many people who
were picked on by jocks when I was a student. But that
is only part of the story, in that if any child finishes
school lacking basic skills, and we all know that many
are graduating in that condition, then allocating
resources to sports is a very poor use of limited funds.
Rather those funds should be used to see that those
children enter life with basic skills.
<<Your comments tend to make me laugh more than
anything else. Apparently you weren't one of the
people in the 60's who decided to go into education to
avoid the draft. Were you one of the people who
avoided life by going on drugs. Cause man, you
still 'trippin.'>>
I have never liked the effects of
any mind altering substance, including alcohol.
But your acknowledgment that many people used the
education profession to avoid the draft is the type of
dialog the QSN web site is meant to encourage.
Those teachers are some of the worst offenders and many
should be removed from the educational system.
<<I sincerely hope that you lose this case and I
pray that your children don't feel the brunt of what you
are about to receive in the public back lashing that I
guarantee you will receive.>>
Actually, the whole point of the
QSN web site is to protect children from being further
victimized by poor teachers. And yes, both my
children were victims of such teachers.
Update, case
won.
<<They don't deserve this anymore than any teacher
or administrator who you happened to disagree
with.>>
Something we both agree on.
That the children do not deserve what they are getting.
For that matter, those teachers who are well motivated
do not deserve to be straddled with those who are duds.
<<Sincerely,
Tim
(Parent, student, educator, and activist)>>
Tim, isn't it interesting that
many people in the teaching profession are so sensitive
about the profession being criticized, even when such
criticism is justified?
Ronald J. Riley www.rjriley.com
I am a high-performing teacher as my
professional portfolio and job performance reviews
indicate. I have been teaching 3 years with sterling
reviews. Moreover, I have completed my masters degree.
Yet, I earn a paltry $36, 000 a year. I receive no 401K
and contrary to popular belief, do not have 3 months
off. In fact, if you compare my time off it is
relatively equitable to that of a line worker at GM with
10 years experience. That is if
you don't count having to work a summer job, which I
do!( see salary) It also doesn't include planning and
preparation to open and close the school year. I receive
$150 dollars a year for my classroom to
"entertain" 30 clients/students. About
the amount of one business luncheon--entertaining one
client! l buy many of my own professional tools and
spend money on neglected children amounting to hundreds
and hundreds of dollars. I have no company car, no
profit sharing and no Christmas bonus. (Oops, I forgot,
I am a public school teacher-- no "winter"
bonus. Don't want to upset any zealot parents:) In
addition, I receive no tuition reimbursement, yet am
required to continue
education. I spend my evenings and weekends grading
papers and lesson planning. I also am a sounding board
for irrational or irresponsible parents (of which there
are many) who wish to shelter their children from
natural consequences, personal accountability, and
responsibility. I have six years of education in my
field, yet parents feel as if they can come into my
"office," without an appointment to berate me.
I am a professional! One would not feel welcome walking
into a doctors office spouting off, cursing, and
belligerently questioning my professionalism, yet they
feel perfectly comfortable doing that to a teacher. In
addition to the original 3 "R's" I
must also teach Right from wRong. I must be a social
worker, a police officer, and a parent. I understand
that your saying "you shouldn't be a
parent." I agree! However, Wake up!
You would be much better off using
your obvious over abundance of energy and spare time to
lobby for more funding so that quality teachers can be
attracted to teaching, not driven away by the inability
to support a family and the likes of you!
Oh yeah!---I am $45,000 in debt to student loans!
If you respond to my e-mail please answer the following:
Do you have a child who has been in trouble in the Lake
Fenton School District? I bet you do! Keep
sheltering your child and someday a judge will
take over.
A
Voter Comments About "Facts" And About Self
Described High Performing Teacher
Neither of my daughters have
been in trouble. The issue is poor school
management and a significant percentage of teachers
having a poor attitude. I see the seeds of such
attitude problems in your letter. Have you
considered what will your attitude be like in ten years?
I agree that better pay will
attract more and better qualified teachers to the
profession. But we still have the issue of how to
weed out the burnouts who are currently entrenched in
the educational system.
Ronald J. Riley
www.QualitySchoolsNow.org
Who are you to make these judgments?
by bcteach, 1/8/04 22:54 ET
Re: Election reform long overdue by rjriley, 1/8/04
Are you an employee of any public
school system? Have you ever stood in a classroom? Have
you ever had to make the decision of an administrator?
It is so easy to stand on the outside and judge, isn't
it?
The above comments are
by a self described award winning Clio, MI teacher with
a master's degree.
==
Reply ==
Your attitude is
widespread and one of the root causes of why public
schools are so screwed up. Who am I? Why don't you do a
bit of research and find out who I am?
I have taught, but not
much. While most of my family are teachers I decided to
become an engineer. I launched my first business when I
was 19. Throughout my career I have managed hundreds of
people from small companies to large.
But even if I did not
have all that experience I am a taxpayer and you work
for me and every other taxpayer. We have a right, dare I
say a duty to hold you and the rest of the staff of
public schools accountable.
There are many good
teachers in public schools, but there are just as many
duds. The high percentage of non-performers and the
failure of administration to reign those people in is a
serious and long entrenched problem.
The tendency of people
in the public school system to have this how dare you
attitude, an attitude which gets carried to the point of
trying to silence critics with threats of litigation or
actual litigation is flat wrong. It was that attitude as
displayed by Superintendent Latture which drew my
attention to the Clio issues. Latture's threat against a
citizen was in my opinion meant to chill people's civil
rights to address the issues. If Latture is really worth
what she is being paid she should be able to
substantiate this in a calm and rational way as opposed
to threatening people.
I think there is a
serious rot in the Clio system and that the only way it
will get fixed is through vigorous and open discussion
of the issues. No more transfers of staff and bannings
of people from school buildings to suppress their rights
should be allowed.
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Teacher comments are in black.
Ronald J. Riley's replies are in
blue.
----- Original Message -----
From: Name removed
Sent: Monday, July 30, 2001 6:56 PM
Subject: Journal Article
Dear Mr. Riley,
<<I am a curious teacher and concerned taxpayer.
On one aspect I would not like a parent displaying a
disagreement on the Web. On the other hand if
people were ignoring my concerns then I would want a
way to vent my frustrations. >>
I understand your concerns, that
the potential to misuse this.
<<The one problem that I have as a teacher is
that I try to be up front with parents on my
expectations of my students and the parents, yet the
parents do not tell me up front what they expect.
I usually do not see my students' parents until Open
House and by then it's to late to know what the parent
expected. I am always encouraging parents to sit
in with their child or come and visit our school, yet
this does not happen until a later date or never. I am
happy to hear you are an involved parent.>>
I understand that teachers can
not undo the effects of a poor home environment. And I
understand that there needs to be communication.
I always go in and meet teachers early in the year,
the first week or two. One of my biggest
problems were teachers who refused to communicate.
Generally two out of the six or seven each marking
period. They were often too busy playing jock,
or simply lazy.
<<I noticed you had an article on the teacher
and brownie leader but did not put the principal's
name or board members names on the internet after you
wrote them a letter of your concerns and did not
return calls.>>
This is just a matter of
available time. I intend to publish all the
letters eventually.
<<Also, if your child is going to receive a
grade below a B, how do you want that teacher to
notify you? Every week, 2 weeks, or quarterly?
Where I
teach, we notify parents quarterly.>>
If there is an ongoing problem
then I want to be notified weekly by email, fax, or
phone. My experience has been that when the
child knows such communication is likely they do not
screw
up as often. If things are going well, and it is
an occasional grade, then monthly would be acceptable
- but weekly better, so that I may review the problem
material with the child in a timely manner.
<<Thank you for sharing your web site.>>
<<A concerned parent and teacher.>>
Frankly, I think most of these
problems are a result of poor management, poor
administrators.
I genuinely feel sorry for
the good teachers who end up getting tarred as a
result of their less reputable colleagues.
Thank you for writing such a
reasonable and thoughtful letter. You would not
believe some of the rants I receive. And I am appalled
at how poorly some teachers letters are composed.
Ronald J. Riley
A few more thoughts on
the issue of close contact between teachers and
parents.
After I moved my older
daughter to Mott Middle College my daughter finally
got the type of math teacher I like. Mrs. Giffin was cheery and very communicative. When
my daughter failed to hand in some algebra assignments
the teacher called me. I dropped what I was
doing and went to the school to sit in on the class
with my daughter. We worked together for that
hour to address the missing assignment. She was
not very happy about the great example the teacher and
I set for all the children in that class. She
did became much more diligent about handing in
assignments to avoid a repeat performance.
I am
sorry to say that Mrs. Giffin has retired.
I thank her for helping correct a problem which
was at least in part due to a few dud math teachers at
Lake Fenton Torrey Hill middle school. In my
opinion. specifically Mrs. Cowan and Mr. Gillespie.
A
happy ending, my daughter brought home an A from her
college algebra class the first of this year
(2002). Yes, math is not her best subject, but
once a teacher really worked with us to nurture her
interest in the subject she did very well.
Ronald
J. Riley
----- Original Message -----
From: Name removed
Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2001 5:04 PM
Subject: Good for you !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Good for you !!!
Both my husband and I work for a public school, he as
a teacher and I am a teacher aide. Our school is
a mess. I reported a kindergarten teacher for
abusing students and my life became a living hell.
The state police and the prosecutor found this teacher
to be "inappropriate and offensive to
students" BUT she is still going back to
work this fall. The vice principle ran 4 betting
pools out of the high school office last year, until I
had him shut down by the police. I could go on
and on. But I will spare you.
Keep up the great work and I agree with you whole
heartedly.
God Bless, Name removed
----- Original Message -----
From: Name removed
Sent: Saturday, August 11, 2001 8:01 AM
I think this website is very informative. I am a
teacher and a parent in different districts than Lake
Fenton; I was a parent volunteer before a teacher.
I think some of the frustration I felt as a parent was
that the schools were saying they wanted a
parent-teacher partnership in education but as a
parent I felt powerless and the talk by the schools
was just that-talk. I never felt really a
partner and there was this chasm (or divide) between
parent and teacher and I even felt like teachers were
talking behind my back rather than being honest with
me about my concerns and feelings. In other
words, I felt patronized and that they were going to
do what they wanted regardless of what the parent
thought. Parents who are "too
concerned" are deemed bothersome by most teachers
and when I went into the profession I was determined
NOT to do that. I have seen this attitude being
on the other side of the educational fence and feel
this is one of the biggest challenges: to truly become
an environment where all are concerned in unison about
the kids. Unfortunately, you too have been
labeled as a troublemaker by some; I think from
all I have read that you too are concerned about
improvements within the schools. I would like to
see this type of website coming for more schools.
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