A Tribune October 1 report by one Richard Danielson limns the repeat pattern of the Elia regime when caught out running the schools as if they are part of the ROSSAC alternative universe.
Elia and her lieutenants say they know there is a problem when somebody points it out, They admit that they know that they have not been up to par but that they mean to do better in the future with whatever problem they have been caught out on--much better than they have done in the past they assure one and all. In this contrition act, they declare that they just need a little more time to effect the changes and blah, blah, blah.
This is the predictable leitmotif of Elia when she is caught out: she says with the contrite tone she manufactured when she downloaded a class period on teachers without forewarning them that she knows she has been remiss at whatever is in the spotlight, that she swears to do better; she then crosses and recrosses her heart that she will make things better in the future. The trouble is that she has her fingers crossed behind her back. Things go on just as they have before. The board dozes back off into lala land and travel to Las Vegas and Alaska on the taskpayers' dime. The ROSSAC mess-ups inevitably resume, and the Alternate Universe good times roll on as usual.
The new mess-up is that under Elia's regime students with emotional and behavioral disabilities have been ignored, mistreated, or ejected.
These children are mainlined into the regular school population until their problems become so disruptive that the schools must do something. What they have done under Elia's leadership and the board's usual supine, obtuse cooperation with the superintendent is set forth in the extant complaint of the three civil rights groups--the NAACP, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Advocacy Center for Persons with Disabilities--to the state education authorities. Ms Elia et al have either ignored these emotionally or behaviorally disabled children or mistreated them says the complaint. Now watch them fall back on the default "we-will-do-better" stance for such situations.
Thank God for this complaint. Let's see if Elia can lie her we-will-do-better way out of it by her usual defense of "We know we have a problem, and we are working on it and working on it and working on it."
Noted for the record is that although a disproportionate number of these abused children are probably black, Ms. Edgecombe has not departed from her blend-in-with whitey agenda. Her predecessor black board member did speak up for minorities, but not Ms. Edgecombe.
One notes that Steve Hegerty, head of Public Affairs, is now pulling down $101,000, a bump up of $10,000 from his beginning salary when he got the job about a year ago.
I reviewed the applicants' paperwork for the job that the administration kicked Marc Hart out of to save Jennifer Falliera's "reputation" from the charge of on-site adultery with the besotted Hart. Hegarty was one of the least qualified of the applicants. He had no administrative experience and couldn't punctuate. Elia hired him under the assumption that as a former SPT reporter he could get her the good press she craves.
Hegarty had also written puff pieces on the Hillsborough County schools when he covered that beat for the Times. Those considerations got him the job, not skill. As a matter of record, Ms. Cobbe of that department applied for the job and was better qualified than Hegarty: she had administrative experience and can punctuate on most days. But Elia's lust for good press clinched the job for Hegarty, whose punctuation has improved since his hiring but whose ethics have morphed into ROSSAC Down-and-Dirty..
Worth noting is fhat Hegarty's raise equates to over ten percent while the teachers get a measly 2 percent with a be-grateful-for-small-favors sneer from La Elia. That's how raises go in the alternative universe of ROSSAC. The administration bump-ups continue apace while the teachers' raises rank minuscule and accompanied by assurances from Elia that she has done her best but will do better in the future, etc., etc. The same old same old. Lee
Notes from the front:
From: Anonymous [noreply-comment@blogger.com]
Sent: Saturday, October 04, 2008 6:49 PM
To: tdecesar@tampabay.rr.com
Subject: [Lee Drury De Cesare's Casting-Room Couch] New comment on Same Old Same Old.
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Same Old Same Old":
Of course Elia gives her top people big raises. She wants their loyalty, so she buys it. She could care less about the peons' loyalty. She steps all over teachers, because she knows she can find more of those. She can't find many people who will let her romp around spending taxpayer dollars on her own agenda and who will ignore her unethical forays into conflicts of interest. So she has to pay them big time. It is hush money. She pays anyone who might spill the beans on her unethical behavior hush money. I bet the school board members that she likes get some money under the table. It is the only explanation for their ridiculous loyalty to her, when the rest of the people (teachers, students, and parents) hate Elia.
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Posted by Anonymous to Lee Drury De Cesare's Casting-Room Couch at 3:48 PM
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Of course Elia gives her top people big raises. She wants their loyalty, so she buys it. She could care less about the peons' loyalty. She steps all over teachers, because she knows she can find more of those. She can't find many people who will let her romp around spending taxpayer dollars on her own agenda and who will ignore her unethical forays into conflicts of interest. So she has to pay them big time. It is hush money. She pays anyone who might spill the beans on her unethical behavior hush money. I bet the school board members that she likes get some money under the table. It is the only explanation for their ridiculous loyalty to her, when the rest of the people (teachers, students, and parents) hate Elia.
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