Dr. Hildebrand:

Ms. Elia's communication below invites only principals and area directors to call you about this proposal that profoundly affects students and teachers.

Does this exclusivity mean that the administration once again did not consult teachers on a decision that will have deep impact on them and the students they teach?

Could you explain to this citizen why the administration, many of which can't punctuate and handle basic grammar as is the case with Ms. Elia, who makes $300,000 with purloined bonus dollars based on teachers' work, made this decision without soliciting the input of teachers and even students?

The administration does not consider teachers and students worthy of consultation it seems, and the supine board obeys Ms. Elia and refuses to set aside a permanent place in the board agenda for teachers and students to invite them to give their input on such things as Ms. Elia's recent ukase to dummy down grades (see teacher Kalbas's essay below on this problem in Steve Otto's recent Tampa Tribune column below).

One notes that administrators do not have traditional academic degrees, where real scholarship counts; instead, they have degrees in ad-hoc subjects with titles exotic to traditional scholarship or terminal degrees from diploma mills such as NOVA. Ms. Elia kicked out the only administrator in ROSSAC with respectable credentials, Marc Hart, on the trumped-up charge of alcoholism despite his holding a magna- cum-laude degree from Loyola, Ms. Elia dumped Mr. Hart because she feared that Board Member Faliero's adulterous affair with him would surface in the community at large and deprive Ms. Elia of the dependable rubber stamp of Ms. Faliero on the board since citizens might not want an adulterous board member overseeing their children's wellbeing.

Teachers, in contrast to administrators, have math, English, history, physics degrees, etc. The ersatz value and repute of the former education-manqué degrees do not equal the academic heft and validity of the latter in the education world. One would think that this degree-lite administration would be humble about its intellectual ability and thin education credentials to dictate to teachers who possess the real thing on matters that concern teachers' areas of respected, valid academic expertise.

The governor shall know of how this administration and board disregard and dishonor the schools' heart and soul: teachers and students. He shall know how the administration and board lord it over the Hillsborough County schools as if they were a plantation with the field-worker students and teachers' providing the unsung labor that produces education dollars to spend at the discretion--or, more accurately, indiscretion--of an administration ambitious to look good in the state bureaucratic-administration-featherbedding throngs that feed as parasites on the schools but that are not ambitious enough or smart enough or humble enough to do anything substantive to improve education because these bloodsuckers shut out the real educators--teachers-- from decisions that impact the schools.

I intend to alert him to this malignant situation.

lee drury de cesare

Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2008 5:24 PM
To: lee de cesare
Subject:

Friday, January 25, 2008 12:23:50 PM
Message
From: MaryEllen Elia
Subject: Proposed Rule Change: Lower Quartile Improvement Incentives
To: All-Principals
Cc: Lewis Brinson
All-Area-Directors
John Hilderbrand
Attachments: Proposed Rule Change.pdf 379K

Attached is a proposed rule change that will be presented to the State Board of Education in April 2008. This change was recommended to Dr. Eric Smith, Commissioner of Education, at the FCAT External Review Committee meeting on January 18. If the State Board approves the rule change, it would go into effect this year.

I believe this proposed change will help a few schools in our district. The Department of Assessment and Accountability is currently looking at last year's data to see how schools would have performed had this rule been in place.

Additionally, Dr. John Hilderbrand and I, as members of this review committee, continue to present other issues related to the FCAT. We anticipate further recommendations being made to the Commissioner and the State Board.

If you should have any questions in this regard, please feel free to contact Dr. Hilderbrand at 272-4341.

I can't figure out how to convert a pdf file to regular text. As soon as I am able to do so, I will put the proposed changes here. If anybody knows how to convert a PDF message from Microsoft Outlook to Word, instruct me in Romper-Room langauge. I am not good at stuff like converting text. lee

MaryEllen Elia
Superintendent
Hillsborough County Public Schools
Phone: (813) 272-4050
Fax: (813) 272-4038
MaryEllen.Elia@sdhc.k12.fl.us

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