Here's an article on a $1,000 grant Bart Birdsall got to buy science books for his school, Greco.

Bart is the gay media specialist that Elia told Linda Kipley of Professional Standards to cook up a case against because Bart protested the shut-down to gays of library privileges at county libraries.

He protested from his own email at home, but Kipley had the technology people waste school time to screen Bart's email records at Elia's behest to try to catch him using the school emails for personal use.

The only thing the tax-paid sleuths found to distort into misuse was that Birdsall posted messages on the media message boards, which is what media specialists are supposed to do. With this cooked-up "offense," Kipley called him into her office and tried to terrify him. She sent him an ominous, registered-mail letter to further her terror campaign.

Bart has asked for a letter of apology, but Kipley has not yet given him one. He is in counseling now for the aftermath of the event, which his therapist tells him is analogous to post-traumatic stress syndrome.

Kipley has a home-ec degree yet the administration promoted her to principal at HHS, where she performed so poorly that the administration transferred her to head of Professional Standards with a $120,000 plus salary. The jobs got no advertising, of course.

This odyssey of personnel musical chairs with no advertising or with picking the inside candidate and simply moving him/her int the job is typical of the administration's Board-sanctioned personnel policy. Administration uses the high-level, bloated-salary jobs to reward buddies and sycophants and to solve administrative mess-ups like Kipley's at HHS instead of firing her for incompetence.

The Professional Standards office runs as an Abu Ghraib operation with Linda Kipley's acting administration Lucco Brazzi to terrify school personnel into thinking that if its members speak up, they risk their jobs under a cooked-up charge of some kind. Kipley keeps a stash of those hooded drapes with eye cutouts that we all saw on the Internet bootleg pictures of an Abu Graraib prisoner attired in this Abu Graib couture. She uses it for school personnel as prison attire when the administration refers somebody to the Professional Standards Abu Graib cell block. She keeps an attack dog under her desk and feeds him Kibbles and Bits until a teacher shows up to run the Professional Standards gauntlet; then La Kipley sics the attack dog on the poor framed wretch.

This is the administration's method of maintaining discipline.

The Board Web page has plastered on it "We are an equal-opportunity employer."

Oh, sure.

City’s Grants Help Schools Improve Education
Posted March 21, 2007 by Suzanne Schmidt

BOOKS, PLAYGROUND

EQUIPMENT AMONG GIFTS

By SUZANNE M. SCHMIDT
sschmidt@mediageneral.com
Students interested in science at Greco Middle School can soon celebrate, thanks to the Temple Terrace City Council.

Greco was one of 10 area schools that applied for school improvement grants through the City of Temple Terrace. Nine schools were awarded the grants, based on recommendations by the Temple Terrace School Support Committee. The city council members selected the grant recipients at its March 6 meeting.

Bart Birdsall, media specialist at Greco, applied for a $993.90 grant to purchase up-to-date science books for its library.

“I noticed during our last science fair there were a lot of students checking out books,” Birdsall said. “It occurred to me there was a lot of interest in science by our students. We are constantly having to replenish our science collection, because there are so many new breakthroughs and new theories. We can survive on an old fiction collection, but science is not like fiction. Science is constantly evolving.”

It was a tough decision for Birdsall. He had difficulty determining a specific request since there are so many needs.
“It is a real tug of war,” Birdsall said. “We never have enough money for books for all the sections. I always have to choose one section and try to replenish and then I can move onto another one.”

He said he chose science books because they are additions he thinks the whole school can benefit from.
“We really need to beef up the science collection,” Birdsall said. “It might be a way to help with the science fair, which is a school-wide project. It not only helps the students, it helps the teachers as well. I was very happy when I found out we were awarded the grant.”

Birdsall submitted a list of books and DVDs he will buy for the media center. Some specific book topics he sought included biology, astronomy, body sculpting, cells, cloning, global warming and recycling.
“I was trying to find subjects that someone could use to spring board into creating a science project,” Birdsall said. “I wanted to get books that would pique the interest of the students. Every book that I picked is up to date and was published within the last few years.”

Gabi Unanue, seventh-grader at Greco, said she is excited there soon will be new science books.
“We have a lot of books with old information in it,” Unanue said. “Lots of things have changed since those books were published. Many of the books still have Pluto listed as a planet.”

Tiffany Kissinger said she is happy too, but for a different reason.

“I am glad they will be getting more science books in the library,” Kissinger said. “There were not enough books for everybody. When we have to find a book to do a book report on, it is always hard to find a book.”

Greco science teacher Iris Willis-Boody can’t wait for the books to be ordered.

“We need to have more current science titles,” Willis-Boody said. “Birdsall chose the books based on input from the science teachers here. He knew what our curriculum was and he knew where our biggest shortages were.”

Principal Judith Kennedy knew about the grants and encouraged Birdsall to apply for one.

“The principals in Temple Terrace are in very close contact with the City of Temple Terrace,” Kennedy said. “We appreciate the support of the city. Our school continuously needs support and we are grateful to Temple Terrace for helping us.”

Kennedy said she anticipates that more of her teachers will apply for future grants.

“We are going to need funding to have a new math computer lab wired up,” Kennedy said. “We are always working on beautification projects, we are looking to get fencing around the school and we always need more books.”

Temple Terrace Elementary School, Riverhills Elementary School, Terrace Community Middle School and King High School also applied for and received grants from the city council.

Temple Terrace Elementary was granted $500 for its Math Super Stars program, a supplemental 25-week tool to help students excel in math.

Riverhills elementary received three grants – $633.95 for reading homework backpacks, $696 for new preschool playground equipment and $720 for its We the People instructional fifth-grade program about the U.S. Constitution.
Terrace Community Middle School was awarded $429.96 for educational craft products, $497 for new books in its media center and $469 to purchase learning materials about nutrition.

King High School $500 request for books, activity materials and transportation subsides for students in its pre-kindergarden program for disadvantaged children in the community was also granted.

Gwen Mora, member of school support committee, said most of the school grant applications met the criteria.
“We look at the population that will be served by the grant,” Mora said. “We look at the goals of the project, the actions or activities planned and the evaluation component. We like to know how well things work out after we award the money. We took into consideration all of those things and awarded different point totals to each.”

The city council awards about $5,000 in school improvement grants three times a year to schools in Temple Terrace.

Bart Birdsall
2309 W. Bristol Ave.
Tampa, FL 33609
home (813) 258-8817
cell (813) 362-7937
Montolino@aol.com

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