Starting Over: A Post-Katrina Education

My friend Sr. Judy Gomila celebrated her 50-year Jubilee at Our Lady of Holy Cross College Chapel this morning. It’s hard to believe she was already a nun when I was starting Kindergarten. She’s as vibrant and funny as she was when I met her in my early teen years. The Marianite Sisters had a convent about two blocks from my house when they worked in our church parish during the 1970’s and 1980’s. Sister Judy was our counselor and leader of teenage girls in the church. I’ve been thinking about money all day and that I can’t seem to shake it. It started with her special celebration.

Although I know she took a vow of poverty half a century ago, I decided to give her one dollar for each of her 50 years. Money is not important to her, but she can use it to do something nice for herself or for someone else. I went to the bank to get a crisp $50 bill in exchange for a couple of twenties and a ten to put in my greeting card. When the teller said, “I can’t do that” I immediately flipped out (inside). She explained some nonsense about the machines dispensing the money and not being able to perform this simple request as I stood at the window and looked at her like she was an outer space alien. How hard can it be? I wanted to ask, “What kind of bank is this?” As she continued to explain, her supervisor came over. I guess I expressed my incredulity louder than I had thought—and I wanted to say, “Close my accounts. I’ll take ALL of my money in 50’s.” This Walter Mitty episode played in my head like a bad movie until the supervisor showed the teller how to perform this effortless service. Thank you Chase Bank.

The ceremony was beautiful and Sr. Judy was happy to see Jacinta, Terry, Leonard, and Leslie as we beamed with pride at her accomplishment and dedication to her vows. She’s still our role-model. After the Mass, we enjoyed a reception in the college cafeteria. Everyone wanted to know exactly what do I do as a Charter School Board President. All of them had seen me on television in December when some of our teachers staged a one-day sick out. Sometimes, I feel like Jim Carrey in the movie, “The Truman Show” as my life played out on television.

I tried to explain it as simply as I could, but there’s no simple way to say everything that I do. Since we don’t have a management organization, I do some of everything. And, as the only educator on the Board, there’s a lot that my colleagues expect of me. Then my friend asked me how much this job pays. She couldn’t believe that I don’t get paid. The explanation about that took even longer. My friend looked at me with the same expression I probably had on my face when talking to the bank teller, as if I were an alien creature. Her final suggestion was that I should get someone to replace me on the board and work as a consultant for the school. If we pay someone to do what I’m doing now, we’d probably start the talks at $100,000. It’s the going rate in many of the local charter schools. One charter school CEO makes $190,000 to oversee three schools, each of which has its own principal and assistant principal. I need money just like most people, but I don’t need that money. It’s not easy to explain without sounding like a saint (I ain’t) or a liar, or a fool. I think I love this work more than I want to admit. Actually, I consider it a blessing.

When I tried to explain that I no longer want to work every day, she reminded me that I work every day now and as a consultant, I would not necessarily have to go to school like a 9 to 5 job. I knew that. Except that I’m very happy about the money we are saving by not paying anyone to do work that I am blessed to know how to do. We will be able to make some vast improvements in the building, our academic program, and our fringe benefits next year with the money we are saving. I hope we can increase our health benefits payments and sponsor some out-of-state conferences for the faculty.

I’m proud to say that I did mail off the grant application that I was working on last week. I still have a few small ones left to do. Our principal is going to a training session to write the E-grant for Title I and Special Education. It’s the biggest application and I will only help with the budget part. It is so late in the year for this, but our charter was not finalized last year in time for us to participate in the training session. We have operated the entire year without any of the federal funding we are supposed to get. I don’t know how much we are due, but I know it’s a lot. When we get our reimbursements, it will be the basis of our contingency fund and our capital program fund for next year.

Managing this money has been the greatest intellectual stretch for me in all that I do with the school. I am good at managing other peoples’ money and I know how to raise funds. I did not know how to develop the detailed annual operating budget or complete the many steps in the state’s program budgets without the safety net of a central office staff to check my work. I’m learning more every day. The charter school set-up provides the autonomy to do things as we see fit. It also creates a type of isolation that is very scary. People’s livelihoods depend on us getting this right. They need their money to survive. Exactly 12 hours ago, I was standing in line at the bank thinking that money was not important to some people. Money is important to most people.

Posted by Roslyn Johnson Smith, Ph.D. at 1:34 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Many young people have been mourning the loss of Lance Zarders, one of my former students at Oretha Castle Haley Elementary School. I promised to post the link to his Guestbook where friends and family can express their sentiments. Lance was the second teenaged son to be murdered in the Zarders family. His brother was shot to death after leaving school in 2005. http://obits.nola.com/NOLA/GB/GuestbookView.aspx?PersonId=105966497&PageNo=1.

We have to work harder with our middle school students. I've started working with someone to develop a stronger program for next year. Lance made 17 in January. There are a group of students in our elementary school who are 15 and 16 years old. Some of them knew Lance. One says he saw Lance dead on the ground on Frenchmen St. where he was shot. I mentioned this to the school's social worker and the principal last week. I'm not sure what else I should do.

Posted by Roslyn Johnson Smith, Ph.D. at 12:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I’m a procrastinator. I put off tasks that are tedious, unpleasant, or difficult until the last minute. I am rarely early for meetings, assignments, or church. I think that I’ve always been a little late, even for parties, weddings and fun activities. Whether it’s a doctor’s appointment, a beauty salon engagement, or a luncheon time with a friend, I will probably arrive a bit tardy. During my years as a teacher, I was on time because I rode with a friend. I was grateful when she picked me up at my front door, but I was hardly ever standing outside waiting for her.

As a principal, I was never one of those who tried to be the first person in the building each morning. I usually arrived a few minutes before the bell rang to start the day. That was because I had to conduct the morning meeting. We started the assembly with a song instead of a bell. Everyone was supposed to be in place when the song ended, including me. Many times, as I drove to school, I’d hear the song playing while I was still a block away. I knew that I had to park my car, run across the playground, dash up the ramp and be in my place at the top where everyone could see me before the final “Good morning to you” finished playing. It was the only time I remember people enjoying my lateness. The mad dash delighted the students who hoped I would not make it. The rule was that everyone stopped walking and froze in place when the music stopped. Sometimes I was at the bottom of the ramp; sometimes I was on the outside of the closed gate with the other tardy people. A few times, I handed my bags and purse to one of the parent visitors and sprinted up the ramp in my high heels, just to entertain the students, who were chanting at me “You’re not going to make it!”

But, I’m older and a little more experienced. Plus, I’m retired. How hard can it be to do things on time? Well, I still find myself late too often. Today, I plan to complete a grant application that is long overdue. Last week, I received an email from someone at the state department office who wanted to know if our school was still interested in applying for some federal funding. The $200,000 grant will reimburse us for start-up costs. It is a special fund for new charter schools. Unfortunately, you have to spend $200,000 first and then request reimbursements. It’s not upfront money that you automatically get when you open the school. Also, it’s not competitive money that you lose, if someone else gets to it first. I did not feel any real urgency until now.

We are entering the fourth quarter of the year. Now is the time to begin requesting reimbursements so that we can close out the books by June 30th. We’ve spent $200,000 in January and February that I believe is reimbursable. Unfortunately, since our plan has not been approved, I’ll need to wait to find out. The plan asks a lot of questions that need to be answered in detail. But, a lot of the answers are already written in our approved charter school application. I need to check a few things with my friend, Paulette, who did this application last year. It is going to be finished today—I promise. The completed application only needs the budget pages and it will be done.

When we get the reimbursement, it will be just the cushion we’ll need to pay our teachers their end-of-year bonuses and the pay-for-performance plan money. Ironically, the pay-for-performance money comes from another grant that has already been submitted. However, it is another case of our having to pay the teachers first and then request reimbursements. Most schools operate with a large line of credit, if they don’t have a management organization to fund the upfront costs.

Nothing is going to stop me from finishing this grant today. I will get it completed as soon as “The Young and the Restless” goes off.

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Yesterday was one of the best days we’ve had at our school this year. We didn’t get any great news about winning a grant or contest. The LEAP testing was just completed last week. So, we didn’t get any reports of high student achievement. But, several very special and very standard things were going on at the same time. I’ve saved the best for last, so if you don’t have time to read a long entry today, skip to paragraph seven.

One of the activities involved registration for the 2008 – 09 school session. Parents were coming in to an organized set-up to complete registration forms between 4:00 and 6:00 p.m., in case they were unable to make it during regular school hours. Tables had been arranged in the auditorium with pens and registration forms to allow privacy and space while filling out the applications. Last summer, this activity was started in a first floor classroom. Unfortunately, the room had to be vacated for the teacher to set up her class. Then the registrations were conducted in a busy hallway outside the school office. Custodians trying to clean up around the parents made things rather difficult.

Two employees were working to assist the parents in yesterday’s session. The data clerk and the school interventionist checked over the applications for completeness, and made copies of the support documents such as birth certificates and immunization records. These ladies had received special training to make sure everything was in order. Last summer, in our rush to get the registrations completed, no one checked the forms or signed off in the official review space. Later, we learned the hard way that we did not have all necessary court orders, custody documents and affidavits of guardianship. The data clerk was doing a very professional job of checking the forms before signing on the official authorization line. We also have a full-time counselor who is personally setting up each cumulative folder and will be responsible for ensuring that all files are complete with required documents.

A brief PTA meeting was scheduled to be held when the registration hours were finishing up. This is the second meeting this semester. Parents who joined the organization received certificates of membership. More parent participation was anticipated. I think the PTA’s first project will be to plant shrubbery around the building. Students also received third quarter awards for attendance and scholarship. I don’t know what the final turnout was like, but I saw parents coming in early for the meeting.

Report cards were to be distributed after the PTA Meeting from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. The time was moved back slightly to accommodate more working parents. Our former meetings from 3:30 – 5:30 p.m. were just too early for many families. I am anxious to know the percentage of parents who showed up last night. While I was meeting with the principal to discuss next year’s staffing, he was simultaneously reviewing report cards. I was happy to see him providing written feedback to the teachers as he read every card. He also made notations about excessive absences which would be passed on to the social worker and behavior problems to address with the counselor and administrative assistant. Each teacher had to complete a Quarterly Assessment form that will be used as part of the needs assessment for the School Improvement Plan. The data analysis will be completed by his administrative intern and presented to the faculty.

Registration, PTA meetings and report card distributions may seem like very mundane activities in a school. If you are wondering why these things seem so important to me, it’s because they are details in a big picture of progress for our school. Establishing routines, monitoring progress, evaluation the efforts, and creating a culture of quality education in a learning community take these singular mundane activities together to create the synergy that produces school improvement. I was excited because I could see the school improving right before my eyes. But, something else, far from the routine was also going on this week at our school.

We were the beneficiaries of the largesse of the Gulf Coast Volunteers for the Long Haul. A big group of adults and an even larger army of college students from six universities descended upon our school under the leadership of my new friend, Rev. Mary Harrington. I met Rev. Mary through this “Starting Over” blog at a very difficult time in our school history a few months ago. These beautiful people generated an excitement in our whole school community unlike anything we have experienced this year. Although the volunteers worked at our school for several days this week, yesterday was a beehive of activities as they labored valiantly to complete several projects, large and small.

When I walked up to the school, the first project I observed was the painting of the ten-foot aluminum fence. It is now a shiny forest green. It was a vast improvement over the rusty appearance that formerly greeted our public. This was a very messy, labor-intensive job because the fence had to be painted with an oil-based paint. The workers managed to paint a full city block of fencing on the front of the school grounds. We will have local volunteers to help complete the sides and the back, but this was a wonderful start. I’d love to reserve the back fence for our eighth graders to complete as a community service project before their promotion to high school.

The front entrance doorway got some attention from a volunteer who teaches Art at one of the universities. He and his daughter freshened up the designed panels on each side of the doors and the school’s name on top of the entryway. The artist is also one of the board members for the volunteer group. It was refreshing to see these board members working shoulder to shoulder with the young adult volunteers. I took lots of pictures for the students to use in their “How I Spent My Spring Break” memoirs.

In the side yard of the school, several volunteers performed the back-breaking task of starting a vegetable garden, at the request of a kindergarten teacher. She wanted the students to have the experience of growing food for their own tables. The beds were prepared and we are waiting on a promised delivery of rich soil before seeds can be planted. I was both surprised and impressed at this request by the teacher. It was not the type of project that I would have considered when we were asked for a list of potential jobs. I also liked that this project did not generate from the “top.”

One young lady was painting hopscotch squares on the pavement in the yard. This was suggested by a first grade teacher toward the end of the day. It was rather late to begin any new tasks, but that did not stop the college student who wanted to leave her special mark for the little girls in the school.

Someone got the bright idea to paint “masterpieces” on the plywood radiator covers we built a few months ago. We were planning to paint them and add cork to the flat surfaces to use them as bulletin boards for displays. Now they are too pretty to cover up, so we’ll have to rethink that idea.

The most spectacular project was one organized by an Art major named Nicole. She had a group of our students sketch pictures about their dreams for the school, the school mascot, and other subjects. Nicole transferred the students’ pictures to larger than life images on the walls in the basement on the exterior of the cafeteria. She then solicited the help of students (and some of the adults) to paint the designs which resulted in an extraordinary mural. The mural includes several owls (the school mascot), imaginary flowers of giant proportion, buildings, musical notes, instruments, the Superdome, trees, and the sky. It was truly a delightful activity that made a perfect start of the Easter vacation for our students and the end of a wonderful week of generosity for the visitors. More than one of the visitors compliment us on the “air of caring” they sensed from our teachers and the positive vibes they picked up in the building.

Our children enjoyed intermingling with the college students and all of the special affection from the amazingly kind adults. They need and deserve this type of loving attention. I’ll bet that the personal interest and interactions will remain with the kids for a long time. Best of all, when anyone enters the front doors—after walking through our freshly painted gates—between the newly refurbished door panels, they will glimpse the vibrant colors of the mural which entices them into the school. I’ve not seen the students that excited about anything so far this year. It never felt so good. Thank you Gulf Coast Volunteers for the Long Haul. We love you!

Posted by Roslyn Johnson Smith, Ph.D. at 1:20 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Victim identified in Frenchmen St. killing
Saturday, March 15, 2008
From staff reports
The 17-year-old shot to death Wednesday night in the 1600 block of Frenchmen Street has been identified by the Orleans Parish coroner's office as Lance Zarders of New Orleans.

Police asked anyone with information about the incident to call Crimestoppers at 822-1111 or toll-free at 1 (977) 903-7867. A caller could receive a cash reward of up to $2,500 for information leading to an arrest and indictment in the case.

This article appeared in our local newspaper this week. I had already received the terrible news about one of my former students from a teacher who taught him when we worked together at Haley School. It was really a shock to see him named as a “victim.” I've heard that it was a case of mistaken identity. He was in the wrong company or the wrong place at the wrong time. Who Knows? I was expecting to see him in church with his mother and father, just as I do most Sundays. He won’t be there this week. His funeral is scheduled for Thursday.

When we first met, Lance was a six-year old first grade student. He had been expelled from a neighborhood Catholic school for oppositional and obstinate behavior. He was that way as long as I knew him. You could not “make” Lance do what you wanted him to do unless he also wanted to do it. He was fearless. I remember that when he was in second grade he got into a fight with a fourth grader and won. He was small, but tough, and quickly developed a reputation as one you did not want to mess with.

However, his father had no trouble getting him to be obedient. It was obvious that he worshipped his dad and wanted to please him. “I’m going to call your father” was the one statement that was guaranteed to get Lance’s attention and a reaction. With a strong man to guide him and a loving mother, I wasn’t too worried about Lance. His was a story I thought would have a happy ending. I wanted to watch him go to college or become a carpenter. He could do whatever he put his mind to doing.

Lance was a very handsome boy with a mischievous streak, but he was also clever, funny, and bright. Unlike other children who got into trouble for silly things, Lance always knew what he was doing. He also knew right from wrong. As the years went by he settled in and became one of the more popular students. The girls liked him because he was cute. The boys liked him because he was a good athlete and very strong. Even the teachers liked him, once they got to know him. Everyone knew him by name. I don’t think he knew how much I liked him because I had to suspend him from school many times through the years in that school.

After Katrina, I joined a new church, Our Lady Star of the Sea. My old one, St Philip, was in a much damaged neighborhood in the Desire community. It was closed permanently by the Archbishop and will not be reopened. I saw Lance and his family at the new church. On his birthday, when he received the customary medal from Fr. Tony Ricard, the priest, I was proud of him. He was a student in high school, getting ready for the prom and his Confirmation. I learned today that my brother, Eric, was his Confirmation teacher in religion class. I don’t think his family knows that we are related. It’s a small world.

As I walked around the ASCD conference at the New Orleans Convention Center today, I tried to find innovative programs that we could buy for our school. Finally, I gave up and left for the day. My mind kept going back to Lance. I know some new “Lances” at McDonogh 42 Elementary Charter. They have many of the same traits as my deceased student. I wanted to see him grow into manhood. How hard can it be to raise a male child in this city? Lance was not a criminal. He wasn’t in the juvenile justice system. He was a young catholic boy who was not yet a man. But he died in the street. His family and the families of all of our students are in my prayers today. I pray that they live long enough to be men and women. Rest in peace, Lance.

Posted by Roslyn Johnson Smith, Ph.D. at 3:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

As we drove in a crisscross pattern through the streets of New Orleans this afternoon, Betsy and I talked about the effects of poverty on children. We agreed that the similarities between these children were more numerous than the differences regardless to whether they lived in Boston or the Big Easy. Betsy is one of several friends I have made through this blog. She and her husband are visiting the city from her home state of Maine to work with a group of charitable volunteers from Rebuilding Together. Rebuilding Together is a national nonprofit organization whose mission is to preserve affordable housing by bringing volunteers and communities together to rehabilitate the homes of low-income homeowners. They have been helping homeowners in our city since the hurricane. Unfortunately, Betsy’s husband was in an accident and most of their month-long visit has been in the hospital where he underwent surgery and therapy during the past two weeks.

It was an opportunity for me to show off our city and spend time with someone who “gets it.” Betsy understands why we need to rebuild our city, why we are so frustrated with the slow pace of progress, why we get up every morning and try to put our lives back together. I picked her up from her apartment in the lower garden district of uptown New Orleans at 1:00 p.m. We drove downtown through the Esplanade Ridge area where large majestic houses still dominate the landscape, even though most of them have been carved up into apartments. This area was not damaged by flood waters. Like the French Quarters, the lawns still bear beautiful trees, flowers, and shrubbery. It’s a telling observation that locals can point out because so many of our old oak and magnolia trees did not survive the salty water. One of the most startling sights for me upon my first trip back to the city following Hurricane Katrina was the gray, mud covered, dead grass and shrubs. There was nothing green in my neighborhood.

Our first visit was to our school. The students are taking the LEAP tests this week and the school was unusually quiet. We visited a class of Kindergarten students and admired the work posted in the corridor. The students had written short stories in excellent script. Some of their compositions were typed on a computer and included illustrations. The teacher is someone that I’ve know for more than twenty years. She is a fabulous teacher who makes it fun for the students and a joy for their parents. At least half of her students are strong readers before they reach first grade. It’s a pattern that she follows every year.

We spent a little time chatting with the principal and the business manager. Although we only stayed about an hour, I also had time to talk with the Speech Therapist. She has made a connection with a group of health care workers whose grant will help us conduct mandated health screenings. I was very happy to learn that she had taken the initiative to get this additional resource for our children. It was a lucky day for us when we hired Gail.

I checked the boxes of candy and the motivational posters we received from another “blog friend,” Rev. Mary from Massachusetts. The children will be delighted to receive the candy fish “brain food” donated by her church members. I also noticed two more boxes of books donated by a different internet acquaintance, Kelly from California, also made through this blog. When Betsy saw the boxes of books from Kelly, she offered to ask her grandchildren, avid readers, if they would be interested in donating books to the children at our school. If they do, I hope they will write notes to the children on the inside covers.

We left McDonogh 42 and drove pass my old school, Oretha Castle Haley. It is not on the list to be demolished and I hope it can be restored. I spent more than twenty years there as principal and it breaks my heart to see it abandoned and falling to pieces. The open windows (which were supposed to be boarded up) reminded me of the hard work we all put into creating a place where neighborhood children could learn, live, and love.

Our next stop was at the Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School for Science and Technology. The annual ASCD conference is in town and our state organization –LASCD- has a booth at the conference. Doris Hicks, Principal of King is the current president of the state affiliate. Betsy sat through the brief meeting and listened to us plan for our booth activities, the special conference events, and school concerns. I’ll be manning the LASCD booth on Saturday and Sunday afternoons this weekend. We have special giveaways for the visitors including pralines and carnival beads.

After the meeting, we drove through the Lower Ninth Ward so that my visitor could get a closer view of the devastation caused by the flooding. We took pictures of the houses that floated from their bases and newly constructed homes with flowering gardens. People who come to town for conventions rarely get to see the most damaged areas of the city, unless they take a Katrina Tour. We ended our drive by meandering back uptown along the river and through the French Quarter. Ironically, her next door neighbors are involved in another charter school, the Esperanza Charter School, that also opened this year. It was almost 6:00 p.m.

I was supposed to spend the afternoon writing a grant that is far overdue. It will require a serious effort to complete it by the end of the week. But today, I had the chance to see my city through the eyes of an outsider. Betsy saw hope and promise and reminded me of why we are here, why we need to rebuild our city, why we are so frustrated with the slow pace of progress, and why we get up every morning and try to put our lives back together.

Posted by Roslyn Johnson Smith, Ph.D. at 12:59 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Today, I had an interesting conversation with another Charter School Board President. He was encouraging me to consider hiring an educational management organization to take over some of the administrative tasks we have been doing to allow us more free time and the opportunity to be just Board members, not CEOs, Superintendents, or Human Resource Directors. He explained all of the services his group did for the Board and the easy load he had as President.

My friend said he felt empathy for me during our very public trials as we changed school leadership, hired special education staff, and handled serious building maintenance issues. All of these tribulations were played out in the newspaper and on television. Coincidentally, my next door neighbor asked me how things were going as I pulled into my driveway this afternoon. Before I could answer, he joked that he didn’t really want an answer because he was reading about me so frequently he already knew the answer.

In the past few months, I’ve discovered that even very intelligent people don’t always understand this charter school movement or why anyone in his or her right mind would get involved. Some people assume we do it for “the big bucks.” When I tell them that as a member of the Board, I have sworn to reject any and all payment for services or even a gift valued at more than $20.00, people shake their heads in wonderment. Until today (I finally activated the Board’s debit card), whenever I made a purchase for the school, I used my personal funds and waited for a reimbursement like everyone else. I never remember to compute mileage, even though I can be reimbursed for that also.

As a professional consultant, I get paid for writing school documents, grants, and proposals, the same type of work I do without charge for Mc 42. I work on our charter school activities almost every day, usually for a few hours at night. I answer emails and telephone calls about school business all during the day while working on other business unrelated to the school. It was very tempting to think of hiring someone else to do the work I do for our school and just pay them whatever the going rate is. Maybe we’ll do that next year, after we have more intimate knowledge of how this dog hunts. The price would be as high as $480,000. That's what we are saving by doing the central office-type work ourselves.

When I started this work, I looked back at my previous years of experience and asked myself, “How hard can it be?” I had no idea. It’s a lot harder (as in more work) than I thought. But I have hope and reasons to believe that it is getting better every day.

Posted by Roslyn Johnson Smith, Ph.D. at 11:11 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I have a pretty strange assignment for the weekend. The Director of Recovery School District Charter Schools sent out a letter requesting copies of our salary schedules. This is in response to a public records request by a group of lawyers. I recognized a few of the names on the letterhead as attorneys for the United Teachers of New Orleans. A teacher friend told me that there was a meeting yesterday called by UTNO for all former members of the collective bargaining units.

One of the reasons that the takeover of the schools created such strong feelings among educators was the destruction of the teachers union. Although the UTNO/OPSB contract negotiations are still going on, the district now governs only 5 direct-run schools and 12 chartered schools. If the district renegotiates a new contract, it will only cover the 5 schools. There would be no direct relationship with our RSD-chartered school.

Pre-Katrina, I had the privilege of serving as the last Chief Negotiator for the district’s contract talks with the union. As a former union representative and even a picket captain, I had strong feelings about the rights of employees before my stint as a school principal. The previous experience as a labor leader actually helped me to be a better manager. I already knew all of the rules intimately and tried to follow them.

When we wrote our employee handbook this year, I incorporated much of the work we had done in the last district-union agreement. I don’t believe teachers should have to demand professional treatment; it should be guaranteed. It took a long time to finish the document because we wanted to be sure our teachers had time to review the lengthy handbook and give input before the Board voted on it.

In a separate notice, we were informed, “The Recover (sic) School District is currently in litigation pertaining to our hiring practices.” My guess is that the salary schedules are being requested because someone believes they are not being paid a just wage. Maybe there is some discrepancy in the current pay schedules and what people were making by district standards. It could be that school leaders have not given teachers credit for their years of experience.

One of our Board members is an attorney and she probably knows more about the litigation. In the meantime, I will pull the five salary schedules together and forward them as requested. We don’t have anything to hide. Our teacher salaries are among the highest paid among the charter schools, according to a recent state report. If we’ve done anything wrong, we’ll apologize and fix it. Haw hard can that be? Everyday is a learning experience.

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