See the Evil, See No Evil, and What, Me Worry..? by Bill Lacey

As you read today’s (4/8/12) Standard-Times op-ed piece entitled, “Our View: School Committee's dilemma is a quagmire of its own making”, pay particular attention to a quote (slip?) by committee member and former administrator Lawrence Finnerty relative to management changes in the New Bedford Public schools. “… I think it's definitely time now, and conditions are ripe with labor and management around the country in education.", said Finnerty.

???

Stop. Rewind. Replay… Stop. Rewind. Slo-Mo replay… Conditions. Ripe. Labor and Management.

For the large number of school teachers who have either stopped me in the halls, in teacher’s rooms, at dismissal, in the parking lots, in Stop & Shop to say thank you for bringing some semblance of light to the real purpose behind the recent Witch Hunt that has Dr. Mary Louise Francis at the center of the burning stake, there have been a few colleagues who still don’t get it… As much as I am displeased to publicly admit this, we ARE ripe…

I see us fitting neatly into three distinct groups. Not one of which is labeled Capable, or Proficient, or Needs Improvement. Our groups are labeled,

See the Evil

See No Evil, and

What, Me Worry..?

If you’re like me, a Lifer, having given an entire professional lifetime to this system and now reaching for the personal Brass Ring, we could likely ride this one out… Honestly, by the time this Hunt has concluded, I’ll be sipping a mint julep at the bar. I’ve got 33 years in and I could probably finish this standing on my head. I’ve weathered cut backs, pay decreases by virtue of adding steps to a contract and having a job description thrown out a window…

I’ve encountered a handful of poor administrative selections that have jeopardized my system. Yes, my system. I take this fairly personally, considering I’ve gone beyond the job on so many occasions. It’s personal… I’ve shaken my head due to a legion of “nepotunistic” advancements backed by a strong group of Front Office personnel who reminded me I was fortunate to have a job… I’ve stood in disbelief when the Band Program I feed, the program whose work resulted in our New Bedford High School Marching Band twice… TWICE… chosen to represent the Commonwealth in Presidential Inaugurals, my program, whose students excelled in all corners of education, cut to its bone. And I bided my time. Because I knew my day would come again…

Like many of you who have 20+ years in our system, I have seen the shortcomings of decisions made that I could do nothing to stop. It takes a good, healthy number of years of service to gain insight into the goings-on of a system of 20+ schools and more than 11,000 students. It is “Metropolis” played out in a less-grand scale. And we are in the underground…

Yet the Underground is precisely where I wish to be.

I promised to extrapolate my categorizations, and with your kind indulgence, I’ll do so now…

SEE THE EVIL ~

You are the professional employees that have made the connection from the recent Witch Hunt to yourselves. You likely have more than 20 years of experience and seniority in our system. I know that you are talking. To me, to one another, and to your friends, family and acquaintances in the City of New Bedford. I’ve challenged you, encouraged you, chided you to do so. Many of you live beyond the voting precincts of New Bedford. You are Dartmouth residents, Freetown voters, Fairhaven, Mattapoisett and Rochester homeowners. You live only comfortably through the hard work you do on a daily basis. You have read the newspaper articles, attended the meetings, browsed the Blog and this page. Your single shortcoming then, is that you do not have the ability to vote in an electoral process that could control your destiny. But I have a solution to that…

SEE NO EVIL ~

You are our newest colleagues. You likely have ten or less years of experience in the teaching field. You have hit the books, passed the courses, weathered the student teaching assignment and have achieved status by way of the MTEL. I welcome you. I celebrate you. You are my replacement. I fear only one thing from you…. That you are so busy in your preparation to do well in our system that you have not yet seen, or perhaps even understood, The Evil. Let me make The Evil clear to you. As you go about your day, hearing tidbits of conversations between Lifers, you have not connected the subject matter to yourself. To be sure, you enjoy a properly protected occupation. Your hours are clearly delineated and your assignments are grounded in a contract that you might never have glanced at, save for the page that lists your salary. That is your danger. This isn’t a “Show me the money” problem… Yet. Your contract is not some vague, hastily-prepared document. It is the result of countless hours of difficult negotiations by people who have passed through our ranks and into retirement, as well as those “lifers” who continue to protect your career for you today. Your contract, and therefore your very livelihood, is contingent upon fair practice and transparent dealings. Many of you, because you are at the bottom end of our pay scale, DO live within the borders of the city you serve. You are the secondmost group whose understanding I wish to modify.

WHAT, ME WORRY?

You are the group who makes up the largest share of our New Bedford teaching force, not by design, but by nature. You have between ten and twenty years of service behind you, with anywhere from fifteen to twenty-plus years to go. Yours is the challenge I concern myself with most. You are dear people. Dedicated teachers who go beyond the requirements of your position daily. But, you are in the greatest danger… The recent machinations of New Bedford’s School Committee and the multiple Public Action groups who feel that they have a better vision of education will impact you for a career’s length. You will NOT escape the changes, however you can be part of the change process… Your single impediment to this is the one area of your lives that The Evil knows and understands about you… Your primary concern at this juncture of your life is your family. The many of you who are social networking friends with me bear that statement out. You post, and proudly present, the fine achievements of your soccer star, softball daughter, baseball son and the multitude of birthday parties you attend. You are indeed busy. You travel most weekends and are collecting memories. I know because I collected those memories, too. My daughter, a New Bedford High graduate was something beautiful to behold when she graced the stages of the Charles S. Ashley school, the Normandin where she was the Jazz soloist with Ed Salk’s stage band, and finally on to the “big show” at NBHS. I lost many shirt buttons over her performances. My son was a three-season athlete, at nine years old hitting his first home run out of the park at Whaling City. He continued as an All-Star hitter and pitcher throughout his high school years. Those were halcyon days in the Lacey house. Still I was always cognizant of my position and the fact that I wanted to protect the position I held. I was found in the orbit of more senior teachers at those schools I serviced in my capacity. I listened, intently, and learned about our Association. (I’ve never thought of it as a Union. I always envisioned union members to be workers in fields of great numbers; shipyard workers, auto makers, electricians…) My Association was a Family. A Family of teachers who built the great system we all call home today. If you ask any of my colleagues who I have had the pleasure of being associated with, I think you will learn that I hold them to be the most important group of people in my life, save for my own family. But I fear this family is in danger and therefore, you are, too.

You have reason to be worried. It is your world that will be forever changed if the balance of interests swings from prudent thought to the zealotry of the coming days.

Whether you belong to the See the Evil’s, See No Evil’s or What, Me Worry’s is moot. You must begin the journey to understanding that the recent dealings with Dr. Francis is STEP ONE. When was the last bloodless coup that resulted in a better life for the population? Cuba? Hardly. Papa Doc?? Surely you know better. Bangladesh??? There’s a vacation destination for ya…

A Coup is EXACTLY what awaits this school system if those powers who are prepared to begin exercising control over it are permitted to do so. Mary Lou will only be the first casualty.

So… I promised to illustrate a solution… and it begins like this~ You MUST converse, with one another, with your families who still reside in this city, with anyone you can bring the reality of the situation to. There are members of the school committee who have skillfully mastered the About Face. In January of 2011, five of the sitting members of the school committee praised the job that Dr. Francis had done since her hiring. On April 3rd of this month, four of those same sitting members voted, in concert with ex-officio chairman Jon Mitchell, to retire to closed session to discuss the hostile buyout and resignation of that same Dr. Francis. Three of those sitting member’s seats will be up for election this season.

You CAN have an immediate impact on this situation…

If ruminations of widespread displeasure make it to the ears of those school committee members, they might very well reconsider this future action, and therefore find your work to be of the same value that Dr. Francis has. I implore you to speak within the private circles you associate with. Explain the situation using the same Common Language. Encourage your circle to pay attention, and if they begin to see the danger that lurks beyond this for you, they too will carry this message forward…

There is little reason to remain as three disjointed groupings within the same family.

Finally, bring your colleagues and friends to our Blog and your co-workers to this page.

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