Print This Post
Dec
13
From Cleveland Scene’s C-Notes:
Some time ago you did a story on White Hat Management ["Education at its Worst," August 29]. I kept that story for the longest time and shared it with others, specifically a teacher at Hope Academy, who was later fired, because she had the audacity to speak up and say how a school should be operated.
This year this same school has an 8th grade teacher who does not like it when parents speak up because she has no control over her classroom. There are several of us parents who believe she is either an alcoholic or is a drug dependent.
She informed her 8th grade class on Wednesday that until a certain student and her mama (not mother, mind you) apologized, she would not teach, nor would she be handing out presents for the holidays. (Personally I’d have preferred she offered to hold her breath until she received the apology).
Three students texted my daughter at her place of employment to inform her that the teacher would not get out of her daughter’s face. The teacher even went so far as to say “Let her mama teach math.”
It was not just the students who heard her outbursts. A trusted staff member walked by and heard these outbursts. She then informed her class that they were to write an essay as to why they didn’t respect her. (I don’t think HOPE has that much paper.)
I have watched HOPE literally go down the drain in the past three years. Last year, White Hat Management did not want too many students expelled for misbehavior, as it would look bad on the school. So what good teachers they had, you could kiss goodbye.
Something has to be done!
If you don’t subscribe to the C-Notes RSS feed, I highly recommend it.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 3:59 pm December 13th, 2007 in Education, Marketing, Media, Ohio, Politics, Social Issues
Comments
2 Responses to “Someone’s unhappy with White Hat Management (no!!)”
Leave a Reply
2010 WE Magazine 101 Women Bloggers to Watch
Category Specific RSS
Pepper Pike Cleveland+ Politics Women Ohio Elections Law Jewish
by Tips and TricksNews Now
None of this surprises me having worked in a White Hat Management run business. My time at the Life Skills Center at a school in Florida only lasted 5 months but was by and far the worst experience I have had professionally. I have been involved in Educational Administration for around 10 years when I took the job. I unfortunatley was taken in by White Hat and Life Skills facade of Educational philosophies, classroom set up and new take on helping at risk kids.
It was a total nightmare. I was put in a position that I did not apply for and was given inadequate infrastructure to actually do my job. I was asked at build “fictitious schedules” to help obtain funding, which I refused to do and was fired for not complying. The school itself started with 21 educators and administrators and about 120 students. At the end of my 5 months they had fired or laid off so the staff was down to 12 members and the student body had grown to 300. Even the school principal resigned 4 months into the first school year. Their educational system was at odd with the State of Florida, but they are somehow still in operation.
My experience was horrible but the plight of the students is much worse. Their environment outside of school is dangerous and school should offer them a safe haven but at the Life Skills Center this is simply not the case. It was discouraged to punish students as expulsions and poor attendance would hurt the school, so teachers needed to keep a blind eye to the misbehaviours that ranged from smoking to drug use and sale all the way to assaults. I am glad to be gone, but feel terrible for the kids and teachers who remain.
I worked at a Life Skills Center in SE Fl. It was only a 90 day teaching contract but it was the worst teaching experince of my life and I resinged after 60 days. The staff was amazingly unprofessional. I used think the some staff competed for attention of the boys because they were so young and not ready to be in educational environment. The gossip was so bad, the drama worse and it was all generated by the support staff and just one teacer, I miss the students, some of them really were great kids in bad environment trying to survive. I hope they will find their way.
I liked the idea of helping kids in need and thought i was doing something good, but it did not work out that way.