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School official blames 'entrenched' status-quo culture for continued problems at Madison Park
By adamg on Wed, 09/10/2014 - 7:49pm
Interim School Superintendent John McDonough said the scheduling screwup that left Madison Park High School students without any classes for four days is fixed for now but is only "the tip of the iceberg" of problems at the city's only vocational school.
After hearing School Committee members calling the problem inexcusable - member Meg Campbell said it never would have happened at Boston Latin School - McDonough expressed frustration with unspecified forces he said are blocking him at every turn from implementing a plan developed this past spring to bootstrap the school.
""The force to change nothing, to maintain the status quo, is incredible in this city," McDonough said. McDonough said every time he has made a personnel decision or other decision related to the school, somebody has tried to block him, as part of an entrenched culture of not making any changes at all.
McDonough acknowledged "there is not a level of a confidence, there is not a level of trust and there is not a level of engagement" at Madison Park needed to improve the school.
McDonough said key Court Street managers spent the past week, with little sleep, trying to fix the scheduling problem. Member Gregory Groover called the snafu "totally unacceptable and inexcusable."
McDonough said the origins of the problem go back to the spring, when he assembled an "intervention team" to spend time at Madison Park studying it and coming up with recommendations for, finally, fixing the school. He said the team spent nearly three months coming up with recommendations, including going from seven academic periods a day to eight.
Based on the team's work, McDonough also suspended Madison Park's ability to hire teachers. Instead, he put a team to do that - at the beginning of August, when there were 62 vacancies at the school. McDonough said the team managed to fill 60 of the slots by the first day of school.
The committee rejected a proposal by Campbell to hire an independent outside consultant to review Madison Park's operations. However, the committee may still have to answer to the city council - where Councilor Tito Jackson is demanding an in-depth audit of spending for the school.
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Comments
""The force to change nothing
""The force to change nothing, to maintain the status quo, is incredible in this city,"
I believe that this is the reason BPS has struggled for so long.
"unacceptable"
About a decade ago when I was naive about how the city works (unlike John Mcdonough-a thoughtful and reasonable man) I was asked and I volunteered to be on the 'advisory' board for Madison Park since I was a contractor and involved in this part of the community. Every year the school needs to be 're-certified' by the State, I believe. There is a dinner put on by the students and all the outside 'advisors' from their different fields are there. There are some self-aggrandizing speeches and then the head of the school asked if there were any questions before we voted in favor of "Yes, Madison Park does a great job on behalf of the students and should be recertified". A student got up to ask a question and the Head looked at him and gestured for him to sit down before he could even utter a word. Without even a formal vote let alone a discussion of programs, goals or results, something to the effect of 'without objection then we will rectify' was said and that was the end of that.
I worked with some teachers helping to find kids with summer jobs and after school employment. They expressed frustration with the administration and in getting any help in implementing ideas. A real waste of talent.
Madison Park should be a proud trade school teaching kids the many alternative paths to a successful life and career in many honorable and needed professions such as cooking, plumbing, electrical, carpentry, auto repair, etc.
I find it funny when politicians and pundits use the term 'unacceptable'. It is a just a joke (on the students and not powerful in society). It is and has been and likely will be acceptable. As soon as they figure out the enormously complicated problem of which kid goes to what class which no other society on earth has been able to figure out yet, this will be out of the news and Madison Park will become acceptable again and no one will check up on the results.
There is hope of course. Perhaps with the new Mayor with his ties to the trades he could champion the cause of the working class and a school that should cater to their needs. I would hope that something as important as this would get his direct and ongoing attention. I know John McDonough and these are very strong words, not hyperbole for such a measured gentleman. In the City that allegedly values and is built on education above all, this is shameful.
One of my 'modest' proposals/promises when I ran for both city council and Mayor is that I would spend at least one day a week (20% of my time) visiting the schools where over 40% of our city money is spent. A city politician could roughly visit all of the schools in a two year time period to check up on where our money is spent and the results of that investment. As a businessperson, I would want to check up on where almost half of my money was being spent from time to time.
Let's try to hold our officials accountable so that 'unacceptable' truly means 'unacceptable'.
Status Quo is nothing new.
Another reason why Johnson resigned. Insiders said every time she tried to push forward the MALE powers that be put their foot on her neck. Barring scandals she was effective in turning many schools around. The drop out rate declined, and the graduation rate increased. However, it is known that there is a male culture fostering complacency. The former Mayor did nothing much to impact a positive in BPS.
Read Death at An Early Age by Jonathan Kozol, 1968.... Circa 1968. LOL The status quo is nothing new.
Johnson had a long time plus a rubber stamp school committee
There is no way she should escape culpability. The scandals revealed her poor judgment and poor selection of talent - she chose to advance and put on pedestals two men who were criminals. One a thief and fraudster, another a battering husband. These choices were not about the system not letting her make changes, they were her decisions to advance two unsuitable men - black men (relevant because of the push to have leaders look like the students, a factor when considered to hire whites is racism, and apparently so overwhelming to ignore criminal activity. She pushed ill thought out shifts and schemes that alienated stakeholders - think moving Latin academy, Mission Hill, closing a school just paid for by the state, etc etc. She was terrible.
Status Quo?
Entrenched? In Boston?
Well, knock me over with a feather.
Still, it's nice to hear someone in power cop to it.
What a time line!
Started working on a plan last spring.
Spent 3 months working on a plan before deciding to go from 7 periods to 8.
Began working on filling 62 vacancies a month before school began.
Not only do I think heads should (figuratively) roll, I think the names of the administrators who thought this kind of a time line was acceptable should be put out there for public shame. I mean, who starts recruitment towards the end of the summer? How are we getting anything other than the leftovers at this point? How do you decide to change the school day setup in the middle of the summer?
Voc-Tech jobs are a lot more important than liberal arts people think. They are what keeps the city going. The city, its residents, and the students of Madison, deserve better than this.
Voc-tech is very important
Behind every high-tech and even low tech university laboratory I have ever worked in there were:
The list could go on ...
Yep, and you can't outsource
Yep, and you can't outsource these jobs either.
Don't blame liberal arts...
... you wrote:
Most liberal arts people (communications, education, etc.) depend upon decent vo-tech skills — wiring and plumbing in particular — to do their jobs.
And the NW burbs have Minuteman High and Minuteman VoTech, which don't seem to produce any scandals. I've worked with several graduates of both out here in so-called high tech, and would vastly prefer to work with them than some of the noodleheads I've dealt with fresh out of uni.
It's pretty clear there is a
It's pretty clear there is a problem when NO ADMINISTRATORS HAVE BEEN FIRED YET for this year's debacle.
I think we are underestimating the power of the BTU
The Boston Teacher's Union, part of the American Federation of Teachers and the AFL-CIO. Good luck getting tenured teachers and/or administrators fired.
But they can be shamed
Think about it. There is a detective with the BPD who was accused of stealing from a store. This is known. His name has been associated with the crime. When he appears in the paper connected with a crime he is investigating, people think "he's the sunglass thief." So, perhaps we can learn about these administrators.
Leaking is easy. Government does it all the time. These administrators let us down. Name names!
Another thing- I'm a big union guy, but if these administrators screwed up royally, at least they should get a suspension, though a demotion would be warranted in this case. Put them in charge of the teachers who don't have assignments.
BTU Question
Are the people responsible for the horrendous mismanagement of this situation (months planning for nothing, then start hiring at the end of the summer and not being able to schedule a shit-fight) even union members? Aren't these administrators? Are they in the BTU?
I thought about that
I have very little connection with BPS, but the administrators belong to their own union. Whether it is connected with BTU or not I do not know, but they are in a union.
Admin not BTU
Administrators are not part of the TEACHERS union.
But a union might be involved
I was at the Greater Boston Labor Council meeting a while back when there was a special election going on in East Boston for state senate I think. The head of the school administrators' union was there and was upset at one of the candidates for sponsoring legislation on behalf of Menino that pissed the school administrators off.
I cannot say what their union is, it may even be an independent labor union, but there are limits to what I know. (yes, you are all surprised at that last part)
No they are not
Administrators are not part of the BTU. Not at all. If they want to find a fix they can start by listening to students, teachers and families. Then they should stop allowing students who aren't interested in a voc tech education to attend the school. That's a start. I'm know it's not that simple or easy, but it's a good place to start.
Court street culture
Where top down ideas are never vetted, then dropped when they don't work in the schools they're meant for. Where "projects" routinely go unfinished. Clean up the culture at The Court St self referential bubble, where it's someone else's fault.
Agreed
This article is a prime example of people from Court St. (The Sup himself) blaming others for problems that start in the central office.
Ask Tito Jackson...
...why the headmaster has not been fired. He's the one demanding that she stay despite this overwhelming incompetence. She hides in her office all day.
But Menino gave himself a B+
But Menino gave himself a B+ for how he has managed Boston Public Schools, so this must be a recent problem since he left.