So Ted Gardella is now fired, meaning no longer the Superintendent of Howell Public Schools. Why!?
He was doing a great job with what he had to work with. This doesn't make sense. Things were going well inside the district, as well as they ever are. Why would this happen.
Now there will be a scramble to find a new super in time for the fall. That gives us basically less than two months to find someone to run the district.
What has the board done!
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Student Commentary
This is a letter that a student wrote:
Howell Public Schools is the largest district in Livingston County, both in size and number of students. Why then is Howell Public Schools falling apart from the inside out? Howell Public Schools over the past few years has been rocked with scandal, and opening a brand new, state of the art high school only to be closed one year after opening.
Coming into the 2008-2009 school year I was very excited, a new principal and a new superintendent that wanted to work for the students and tax payers. We were going to make Howell Public Schools a "Destination District", everyone was going to work together to make HPS the best district it can be, yet half way through the year we see teachers feeling even more nervous around administrators and students afraid to say anything that may offend an administrator. We have disbanded the curriculum committees made up of teachers, we have made it so administrators are told to not interact with the teachers and staff, we have a student council slowly being shut out from a voice of the students to a branch of the administration's weapons to control the student body, to make them pass the tests and graduate.
These are severe problems in this district. When we have administrators not interacting with staff and students, and telling the teachers the best way to teach we will soon have a collapse in TRUE education. If people who have NEVER been in a class room are telling teachers what and how to teach then we will have an education system that is only concerned with passing the students and not giving them an education not in academic sense but in how to be a good citizen, how to live your life, and how to make decisions.
These same administrators who claim to want to make HPS a "destination district" are the same people who tell those that disagree with there policies that they are wrong, not giving a reason, simply stating that they are wrong. What does that teach our students? It teaches students that if they get to a place of power they can simply throw off discussion and claim they are right because they said so.
We need new leadership and a new attitude in HPS, we need to make sure teachers teach education, and not teach the test. HPS has great potential, a new state of the art high school, great students and staff, and a great community, but administrators going on a power trip WILL NOT help this district.
A Student's Perspective of Howell Public Schools
March 2, 2009
Howell Public Schools is the largest district in Livingston County, both in size and number of students. Why then is Howell Public Schools falling apart from the inside out? Howell Public Schools over the past few years has been rocked with scandal, and opening a brand new, state of the art high school only to be closed one year after opening.
Coming into the 2008-2009 school year I was very excited, a new principal and a new superintendent that wanted to work for the students and tax payers. We were going to make Howell Public Schools a "Destination District", everyone was going to work together to make HPS the best district it can be, yet half way through the year we see teachers feeling even more nervous around administrators and students afraid to say anything that may offend an administrator. We have disbanded the curriculum committees made up of teachers, we have made it so administrators are told to not interact with the teachers and staff, we have a student council slowly being shut out from a voice of the students to a branch of the administration's weapons to control the student body, to make them pass the tests and graduate.
These are severe problems in this district. When we have administrators not interacting with staff and students, and telling the teachers the best way to teach we will soon have a collapse in TRUE education. If people who have NEVER been in a class room are telling teachers what and how to teach then we will have an education system that is only concerned with passing the students and not giving them an education not in academic sense but in how to be a good citizen, how to live your life, and how to make decisions.
These same administrators who claim to want to make HPS a "destination district" are the same people who tell those that disagree with there policies that they are wrong, not giving a reason, simply stating that they are wrong. What does that teach our students? It teaches students that if they get to a place of power they can simply throw off discussion and claim they are right because they said so.
We need new leadership and a new attitude in HPS, we need to make sure teachers teach education, and not teach the test. HPS has great potential, a new state of the art high school, great students and staff, and a great community, but administrators going on a power trip WILL NOT help this district.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Review
I was looking at the goals that the board had discussed with the student body at the end of last school year that were to occur this year. Well here are the goals and what has been...done to put them into effect.
- 9th graders next year will have same opportunities that they did this year and more
I see some improvement and some losses. Hope that somethings change this year. I will be.
- 9th graders next year will have same opportunities that they did this year and more
- This is true. They do have more opportunities this year in academic, athletic, and organizational fields. Having the freshman campus and the main high school back together is a huge bonus for the school.
- Well this is true and false. Obviously HHS isn't completely the same architecturally as Parker, except for the new commons addition. While I'm on this point: I understand that more windows let in more light, which tends to make us feel less like we're in prison, but what do we do if, on the off-chance it occurs, a tornado comes and were in a room full of glass. Or, god forbid, we get our own version of Columbine, and three classes worth of kids die because they are in glass rooms and can't get out since the windows are all locked and the teachers aren't allowed to have the keys to these windows.
- When it comes to technology we have upgraded. We now have rooms full of Mac computers so the kids can get on facebook and myspace all day. What a lovely education!
- This has gone into a total downward spiral since HPS is losing LCC all together.
- Stuco is being blocked out slowly at HHS. Students are being shut out of some voice they had in their school, and I don't believe we should stant for it.
- I believe this is true. If anything this is a improvement for the '08-'09 school year. Freshman now have better access to the athletic program because the location of the students does affect it.
- This was true and then the administration changed the bell schuedule a few times to accomodate ACT/MME testing in March. Now both campuses start at 7:40 am. Believe it or not but having a 25 minute difference start time made a huge difference. I personally would like to see it go back to last years bell schuedule.
I see some improvement and some losses. Hope that somethings change this year. I will be.
'School' is back in session
'High School' is being shot at the near abandoned Parker Campus. I will admit it does put Parker to good use, but was this the intended use?
Did the tax payers really intend the bond money to be used to build a school to be used for a movie set for a month? I don't think so. I understand that the city and school district are getting decent financial benefits out of this, so I just ask this:
Use the money for something useful!
And do you know what would be useful: opening Parker as its own separate high school in the district.
So please board, and Mr. Gardella(who will most likely never see this), here is the plea from a student subject to your will: be smart about the money being gained from this. Involve the community and students if you must(highly suggested), but get this done.
Did the tax payers really intend the bond money to be used to build a school to be used for a movie set for a month? I don't think so. I understand that the city and school district are getting decent financial benefits out of this, so I just ask this:
Use the money for something useful!
And do you know what would be useful: opening Parker as its own separate high school in the district.
So please board, and Mr. Gardella(who will most likely never see this), here is the plea from a student subject to your will: be smart about the money being gained from this. Involve the community and students if you must(highly suggested), but get this done.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Advancement??
After having the meeting as described in previous blogs this is what has come out of it.
- 9th graders next year will have same opportunities that they did this year and more
- Both Parker and HHS are simmilar now thanks to renovations
- LCC will have classes at HHS next year (goal; this is still being hammerd out)
- Communication is a problem this year; STUCO and others are working on getting that fixed..give me your ideas!
- Sports will be same as this year
- 9th Grade building starts at same time next year as it does this year with 10-12 starting at 8:05am
- Second week of school a Freshman pep assembly to meet in a positive way the upperclassmen
You can trust this if you want to but I won't.
- 9th graders next year will have same opportunities that they did this year and more
- Both Parker and HHS are simmilar now thanks to renovations
- LCC will have classes at HHS next year (goal; this is still being hammerd out)
- Communication is a problem this year; STUCO and others are working on getting that fixed..give me your ideas!
- Sports will be same as this year
- 9th Grade building starts at same time next year as it does this year with 10-12 starting at 8:05am
- Second week of school a Freshman pep assembly to meet in a positive way the upperclassmen
You can trust this if you want to but I won't.
Confrontation
I need to vent. And you [whoever reads this] gets to listen. So last Friday a few selective members of the board met with a group of students. I am the cause of such a meeting since I decided to speak the truth and tell them that they board could actually care less about what happens to the students. They just want to all keep their position on the board.
I was rather sad to find out that they only invited to officers of stuco to the meeting. This is disappointing since half of the officers are in the same ball park as the board, only interested in keeping their spot. Anyway, I was rather dissapointed since I didn't find out about the meeting until an hour after it occured.
What was said at the meeting is being kept quiet. Did anything good come from this I doubt it or else it most likely wouldn't be kept a secret.
All in all I am just rather disappointed in the members of Stuco and in the Board.
I was rather sad to find out that they only invited to officers of stuco to the meeting. This is disappointing since half of the officers are in the same ball park as the board, only interested in keeping their spot. Anyway, I was rather dissapointed since I didn't find out about the meeting until an hour after it occured.
What was said at the meeting is being kept quiet. Did anything good come from this I doubt it or else it most likely wouldn't be kept a secret.
All in all I am just rather disappointed in the members of Stuco and in the Board.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Redecision
By putting the freshman at Parker does nothing. It brings us back to the whole issue we started with: the overcrowding of Howell High School. Have they expanded it:no. This just means that there will still be overcrowding and the freshman will be even more isolated than there were before and there were enough problems in that fact.
By putting us[10-12] at HHS, you have done nothing different than it was before. By putting us back at HHS you have only wasted a countless amount of taxpayer money by building a building that isn't needed.
By putting us[10-12] at HHS, you have done nothing different than it was before. By putting us back at HHS you have only wasted a countless amount of taxpayer money by building a building that isn't needed.
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