When in the course of human events...

One of the mantras those not happy with the way Holy Cross School is being run is the ever popular, "Why don't you just leave", sometimes expanded to the "if you are not happy with what you are paying for, why don't you just leave?"

Easy answer, really. It may well come to that, but do you think it would stop? This isn't about money; I've been paying this for so long, and it's automatic nature make it more of a utility bill or a car loan that never seems to end that I really don't think of the money aspect of it.

But...the utility comparision IS a fair one. I pay for service, I expect to get it. If my service was great for a number of years, and then it went downhill, I, of course, could always just leave, but I also have the right to try to get the service back to the level that it was before.

As I strolled downtown Dover on the 4th, another of those blasted analogies came to me. Those men who signed that Declaration of Independence certainly heard a similar mantra from many of their countrymen. "It isn't that bad", "If you don't like it, you can leave", or "it beats what else is out there" were all reasons, among many, for the Founding Fathers NOT to try to improve the situation. They tried all sorts of means, and were rebuffed time and time again, but many of their neighbors, who were more worried about their personal affairs, thought it best to keep quiet and just stay on the farm, and hey...I don't read that much, or drink tea, so it doesn't apply to me.

Our "independence day" may well come, but like many of the Founding Fathers, I still feel allegiance, but the intollerable acts are piling up. And, like Great Britian, who learned a hard lesson from the loss of their American colonies through this rebellion, perhaps Holy Cross will learn a painful and expensive lesson.

Evolution

One interesting process is the evolution of those who see the light. Be it a gradual awakening or a quick jolt, or simply what they've decided to reveal to the world (spies are everywhere, after all), watching some come out of the closet. Not everyone, of course, starts at the beginning, nor do all spend a whole lot of time in each, but the "Six Stages of Jacono" has been observed in many people.

And, to be honest, I've even observed a few who appear to have gone back, but the Dr. Quiz thinks this is a temporary condition.

1. Blind Loyalty: Nothing she did was ever wrong, everything that has gone wrong was someone else's fault, and problems are blamed on the messengers.

2. Corporate Stooge: A few problems with her, perhaps, and the source of most of the "well, she is a good x, but sometimes she has a problem dealing with some people". However, she is a principal and must be followed....and besides, the church picked her so we simply don't understand it, but it must be for the good.

4. Reluctant Acceptance: Where most people fall, and where most stop evolving, which is to her advantage. Not happy with one or more of her decisions or practices, but content with the teachers or not willing to take the next step. Source of most of the grumbling.

5. Rebel: Have been yelled at, or have yelled at Denise, generally. Have gone to Father Dan, or tried to go even further (not a step that I ever thought had a snowball's chance in hell, BTW).

6. Disengagement: Either waiting out a final child in school, or have already left.

Here, there, and everywhere

As we start into the last month of school, I thought it might be interesting to some of you to know a bit about our traffic to the site. First, we've not been posting consistantly, so traffic is down a bit from past months, but there are still some interesting figures. I also don't have some of the first month or so figures, as I was not familiar with blogging or how to track traffic, but I'm settle for what I do have.

First, most of you come here directly, meaning you are either typing in the link, or have it in one of your favorites. The Google accounts for a little less then 10% of our traffic, but what is interesting to me is that 6% of our traffic comes from referals on Facebook. That traffic simply didn't exist a year ago. Those who Google tend to use the words Holy Cross and Jacono, which has "helped" make our site now appear on the first page when these words are used.

Second, we get people from all over. I've had visits from China, Russia, Switzerland, Canada...about 20 countries in all, including Italy. Gasp! Maybe the Pope is watching? I suspect most are accidental "hits", but this isn't a site that one stumbles on, either.

Closer to home, we've had visits from 6 states this month (26 states since we've started), and 11 areas within Delaware, pretty much hitting every major city and town.

Overall, we've had 8,000 visits by 550 unique visitors, which tells me that most people at Holy Cross have stopped by here at least once, and if you added up everything they have all looked at, it would be about 35,000 views - and this is without any advertising or really spreading the word. I thought about sending the link to all the teachers and staff, but decided against it, as I heard they knew about it already.

Pay to Play

Interesting to see the way the Hoops Madness played out, wouldn't you say?

There was a belief that the older kids weren't interested in the "Race for Education", so an alternative was attempted, but apparently fell short of expectations. In a letter that seemed to indicate someone was really pissed off, the whole thing was scuttled and replaced with only those turning in fund raising sheets getting to play....and there weren't that many of them, either. Certainly not the intent of one of the major spring fund raisers.

Sometimes when you reinvent the wheel it doesn't come out quite as good as the original, and this was a perfect example. What made the "Race for Education", or any fund raiser in any group successful is making it more than a tin cup shake-down for money. BJ (Before Jacono) the race wasn't the focus, but rather the end of a celebration/educational process of the need for physical fitness. Everybody participated, regardless of whether or not they raised enough to ante up to play, and getting the parents to participate was part of how the money got raised.

Another hint...what makes fund raisers successful at elementary schools is NOT as much what the kids want to do as much as how the parents feel about the event, and the purpose of the fund raiser. I overhead someone (a Jacono loyalist) bemoaning the lack of spirit in the school...and as active as this person is it is proof positive that sometimes you can't see the forest from the trees. The lack of participation in this, and other events, means that you are getting more and more people who are simply less excited about the school. They may hang around for a while, but it becomes more of a duty, something to be tolerated but not enjoyed.

A bit too late, don't you think?

There are times that I've tossed aside some items simply because they start bordering on nit-picking - see, we do have some standards.

However, I do question the item in the newsletter about the meeting of Catholic School Parents up in Wilmington. I may not agree with all of their goals, but fully support the school's efforts to publicize and get parents involved in this group. However, if you want people to attend a meeting, how much good does it do to send it home the day of meeting? I didn't get home until 5, didn't look at the newsletter until after dinner, and I don't think I'm all that different than most parents in that even if I wanted to attend, I found out way too late.

Part I of Recomended changes

I didn't like the way the last post came out, so I'm going to break the next posting into two parts.
However, I did notice a few odditities about the report, starting with it designating Holy Cross as an "urban" school. Okay, we're within city limits, but do you really think one would or should call it this?

Anyway, on with the post....


The pursuit of the goals set forth in the action plan to ensure the school’s strategic plan
remains a living document

In other words, update and modify the existing plan to something that has measurable items. No arguments on this.

• The establishment of an Office of Institutional Advancement that will ultimately include a Director of Development

This would require good community and alumni relations, which aren’t exactly a strong point right now. THIS probably should be a priority, even in troubling economic times. However, I think any resources are being forced into simply looking for bodies to put in the seats.

• The pursuit of a traffic control study and the establishment and enforcement of rules to address safety issues.

Something that some have been calling for since she got here and pursued a few actions that made the traffic problem worse. The "enforcement of rules" works IF the rules make sense and actually would help solve the problem.

Unmentionables

The reference in the newsletter to kids saying things in the classroom that must have came from discussions at home was interesting....but was it handled in the best way? We are left to guess at what came up, in what context, and at what point the parents were called, but it seemed an odd thing to fill up the newsletter. Not sure if it is a "little Johnny" story about where babies come from, or something else, but the more I think about it, the less I am sure what the intent is to be.

Not talk about the "issue"? Hmm...doesn't seem like that makes a lot of sense, especially if I want to exercise my rights as a parent to teach or inform my child of "issues" before society gets their chance. Talk about it and tell the kids not to tell anyone? Again, depending on the issue, it may well go against my wishes.

The issue probably does need to be handled delicately, and on an individual basis based on the kids, the teacher, the parents, and the issue, not mass mailings warning you to be careful on what you discuss in your home.

Parking lot blues

Maybe it is the bad weather, but doesn't it feel as if the parking lot traffic has not gotten any better, even with less students?

What is funny is that Jacono never quite realized how her "improvements" really screwed the situation up. Even little things like changing the start time (in a town with lots of state employees who use the same streets), or compressing what used to be a staggered start time for the little ones have major impacts on the traffic situation. Of course, to her the problem was the "parking lot moms" who hung out for a few minutes after their kids were dropped off. She has effectively killed that form of information exchange (congrats on that, Denise!), but strangely, the idea that less people rushing to get out at the same time never occured to her as a good thing.

The Exodus Continues

http://www.newszapforums.com/forum4/71750.html

Newszap has been quiet since the great purging, but we get a parent here who is leaving effectively immediately.

What is important isn't the specific reason....I'm not going to argue about whether or not the tracking is or isn't a good idea. This is a perfect example where I'll beg ignorance as to the best methodology...but that isn't the reason this person is leaving. It is the lack of communication, responsiveness, and quite simply a character issue that is the reason the person is leaving.

Quiet, but not gone

Quite frankly, I think we've done our best, and that the situation will sort itself out...but there have been some interesting things.

The most interesting is the resignation of the PTO President. I am sure we'll here a politically correct statement as to why she is doing it, but she has not gotten along well with J....imagine that. Other internal issues as well, perhaps, but it can't look good to lose what was supposed to be your key volunteer.

Changes

More than a few changes from last year...and for something different, welcome ones.

First and most importantly, the volunteer program has been revamped and expanded. There certainly is a lot more encouragement and publicity about the programs, and it looks like parents will be once again welcomed back into the classrooms and barely tolerated. Excellent change and one that has been asked for since she got here.

Second, the school advisory panel is seeing the light of day. A bit late, of course, in that it was supposed to have been formed in July and working already, but the fact that this was another area asked for is a good sign. It is composed of a good cross section of the parish, and their being tasked to review and update the strategic plan is a good thing.

Third, there are a lot of curriculum changes. While treatment of people IS something I know about, curriculum development is not. I've heard some grumbles from some teachers ,but the changes sound interesting, and in some cases I think are great....the changes in the specials, for one. Concentration of the time spent IS a good change, and allowing the older kids some choice in the future is promising as well.

If these changes represent a change of heart and what the future holds, it truly is a new year, and a new start. It also shows that change IS good, and that one can appreciate the attempt.

Open Mike

Ah, the first day of school...and the rumors of change are flying. Some are interesting, some are good, and some are...kind of hard to figure out. In any case, I invite you to post the good, the bad, and the ugly....let's see how the second year starts out.

Ways Bad Principals work...

Someone sent me these 10 ways bad principals operate.....any sound familiar?


1. Avoid hiring older experienced teachers who are thinkers./Keep a staff of young revolving door teachers so roots and opinions won't establish.

2. Praise conformity./Staff of Stepford teachers who won't question anything.

3. Give perks to a small group of teachers that form first line of defense against other teachers./Create a barrier clique between administration and teachers by rewarding a few good soldiers who will serve as positive voice pieces for the administration.

4. Overload with work./Create inability to complain about issues - keep too busy.

5. Limit assistance with difficult children or purposely load certain teacher with difficult children./Create inability to complain about issues keep too busy to speak out.

6. Limit support with difficult parents and create barrier between teachers and parents./Attack self-esteem so won't feel empowered and won't trust their own thinking while eliminating parent allies from forming.

7. Place children of high profile parents with teachers who conform./Avoid having parents form allies with strong teachers.

8. Write up false reports./Flex muscles so teacher will know they are being controlled and will become confused.

9. Create files with false and negative reports; create separate file in case contract requires teacher is to be informed, and keep documents out of teacher's view./Build a case against teacher.

10. Threaten- directly or through rumors or innuendo by designated staff messengers./Create wall of fear to silence teacher.

Deal Me Out

One thing that has been on the rise for the past year is the number of gambling activities sponsored by the school.

Now…there is nothing illegal about a church organization running a gambling operation…where would we be without bingo? However, I think there is a difference between a bunch of little old ladies getting together once a week for some chat and bingo or a raffle for a new car and Cheswold Charlie and Leipsic Louie coming in for poker night and stogies.

If you check out the HC calendar, you will find that we will sponsor not one, not two, but three poker nights during the first part of the year. Now, I get that this is quick easy cash. Basically, for those who are not familiar with the concept, certain non-profits can run gambling operations legally. Most go through a few organizations that put on the parties. They basically “borrow” the name of the organization and conduct the poker night, splitting the fees raised by the players and the sponsoring organization. They do all the work, minus any publicity one does, and the organization gets a cut for doing nothing.

Last year the school ran a football poll that was probably on the borderline of legality, and did run a poker night in conjunction with the KofC. Seems that the trend of relying on gambling for funds is spreading…while admittedly legal, does anybody else feel a bit uncomfortable about this? What if they sponsored a Chippendale night…is there any difference?

Security "concerns"

Security IS important for the school, and steps have been taken in the past, but there is a limit. The “sake of the children” program has it’s advantages, but based on when it started and under what light, it seems to be primarily a public relations move to show how much they are doing to combat abuse…while more and more lawsuits on priests continue to come to light.

Personally, I think the teachers AND parents feel better with more parents in and around
the school, especially if they have already been cleared. There are those we don't want in the school, and we need to keept them out, but please tell me when the last Catholic school was sued because a parent abused a kid in the classroom.