Around the Tree

And the Point Is...

2009-06-27T19:24:00.000-07:00

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!

Student Commentary

2009-03-03T13:06:00.000-08:00

This is a letter that a student wrote:

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.

Review

2008-11-13T18:39:00.000-08:00

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

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.

- Both Parker and HHS are similar now thanks to renovations

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!

- LCC will have classes at HHS next year (goal; this is still being hammered out)

This has gone into a total downward spiral since HPS is losing LCC all together.

- Communication was a problem between administration and students during the '07-'08 school year; STUCO and others are working on getting that fixed

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.

- Sports will be same as the '07-'08 school year

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.

- 9th Grade building starts at same time next year as it does this year with 10-12 starting at 8:05am

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

2008-11-13T15:11:00.000-08:00

'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.

Advancement??

2008-03-18T06:58:00.000-07:00

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.

Confrontation

2008-03-18T06:38:00.000-07:00

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.

Redecision

2008-02-26T18:22:00.001-08:00

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.

Annoying Fundraisers

2008-02-03T11:08:00.001-08:00

How do you feel when every 5 seconds your being asked to buy something becuase it will support one good reason or another. I know that feeling. Or when you go to Wal-Mart and give the person begging at the door money just so they will leave you alone. You'd think that with all these creative new ideas someone would be able to figure out one way to raise funds without getting on everyones nerves. Maybe you don't want to buy a donut every Friday of your life. Or you don't want to buy a lame t-shirt that shows what grade your in. THINK OF NEW IDEAS! DON'T COPY WHAT EVERY ELSE DOES EVEN THOUGH YOU KNOW IT WON'T WORK, OR GET WHAT YOU WANT FROM IT!!! That is all.

Many Thoughts

2007-12-25T17:48:00.000-08:00

What has become of Christmas? This: it has been determined to be a politically correct holiday that no one is allowed to call by its name because it might offend someone. I do respect other religions. But if you pass someone you know instead of saying 'Merry Christmas' you are forced to say 'Happy Holidays'. I refuse to. By saying 'Happy Holidays' you are falling into this political correct-ness and losing your principles in a manor. Good day and Merry Christmas!!

Contridicting

2007-12-12T14:25:00.000-08:00

We are so contridicting it isn't funny. I am at times but this is getting out of hand.

Drama!

2007-11-13T16:25:00.000-08:00

I know that everyone says that there is a lot of drama in high school, but boy they weren't kidding. I am going insane. A group of people are getting mad at another group because the first didn't act on something they said and the second did. It is ridiculas. The worst part is the first won't admit it, they just keep blaming. I dont' want to quit but i don't want to deal with this anymore. And it seems that there is nothing more that I can do besides resort to worst scenario.

Flaws and Mistakes

2007-10-06T10:42:00.000-07:00

So I have been away for a while, but life gets busy. Here is a update on whats what:

So the new Parker building isn't completly bad. Does it have its flaws? Yes, many many flaws. Are these flaws ones we can live with? Some yes others no. The Building is extremly crowded but we all expected that one to happen. It is dealable.

In other news: With the Bus Scandal at Southwest Elem. I blame the Principle and Superintendant. Now don't get me wrong that was the elementry school I went to and I had Mrs. Hilla for a principle. She was nice. But dismissing something like this is completly out of line. She should have gone right to Chuck Breiner and told him. Not neccessarily because he is the brightest person but because this is his school district and it is his job to know what is going on in it. Having him find out half a year later is just wrong. Now if he did know that is when I blame him. Even now that he has publicly came out with it he still isn't doing enough to fix it. None of those kids should be riding the buses or going to Howell Schools. For doing something as atrocious as that should give them a immediate explusion from the district, not a temporary suspionsion for one of them. So from he to them: Hilla and Breiner and getting a shake of the head.

Private: Good or Bad?

2007-08-14T10:40:00.000-07:00

So a few days ago the school board decided to make the custodial service at Howell Schools private. So we save money. Big deal. This tells me that the school board is more worried with money than about the well being of employees. Yes they did extended the medical coverage for a couple months but then what are they supposed to do. Maybe they will have found another job but if they didn't then what are they supposed to do. I realize that the economy has been shot but that doesn't me you can screw over people for money. Ends over this wasn't a bright idea.

The "Cover" Story

2007-07-24T20:01:00.000-07:00

So today in the Press and Argus they did a story about the whole move to Parker. Even though all of the teachers had to pack up all of their things and all the books what gets covered? The athletic department and how they have a 'big' struggle to move over to Parker Campus. Yes, I do understand that they have a lot of equipment and such to be moved and yes I understand that they would be costly to replace if damaged. Still, it's rediculas. Would it kill the paper to write about something other than how the athletic department is moving. What about the music department. They had a ton of valuables that had to be moved over there. Some of it the movers weren't allowed to store and move. This shows that not everything should be about sports.

Parents don't always know best

2007-07-17T19:11:00.000-07:00

They have many but are too ignorant to relize what they are. All of the parents think they know whats best for the kids, but they don't. They don't have to deal with what happens everyday that they go to school. They won't get ride of Breiner because they think that he knows 'what is good for the students'. While they are off supporting him all of the students are dispising him without any pity. Why is this? This is because the parents believe us to immature to deal with it or understand it. These days what don't we understand. Almost all of the students if they could would kick Breneir out. If he had gotton that job in Saginaw we would have been happy, but he didn't. As I said before, parents don't always know best.