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Brooks Declines Ridgewood Superintendency
Dr. Martin Brooks has informed the Ridgewood Board of Education that because of personal reasons he will not accept the Superintendency in Ridgewood. It is the position of the Board that before Dr. Brooks’ arrival he was made to feel unwelcome. Anonymous phone calls, emails, blogs, and web postings by some community members questioned his integrity, ethics and educational philosophy.
The Board considers this to be a most unfortunate situation for the Village and schools. It is not reflective of Ridgewood’s supportive community and its values.
After an extensive nine-month process, using criteria and specifications developed in collaboration with the community, the Board selected Dr. Brooks to be the next superintendent. Some in the community took exception to the Board’s decision and have undermined the process.
At its June 18, 2007, meeting, the Board will discuss the hiring of an interim superintendent and the initiation of a second superintendent search. As always, the Board will continue to focus on the education of more than 5,600 students in the Ridgewood Public School system.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Constructivist superintendent declines Ridgewood position
From the Ridgewood, New Jersey, School District web site:
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I wish my community (and my school board) would rigorously question the would-be superintendent's educational philosophy before hiring him or her. In order to have a "supportive community," we need to have something the community feels is worth supporting. A few years ago, my district had to pay a superintendent several hundred thousand dollars just to make him go away. Too bad he wasn't questioned more intensely before he was hired.
"Some in the community took exception to the Board’s decision and have undermined the process."
Alas, O Babylon!
When will these malcontents realise that even though it's their money, these decisions should be left to uninformed professionals?
"Anonymous phone calls, emails, blogs, and web postings by some community members questioned his integrity, ethics and educational philosophy."
You can't lump it all together. Some things are wrong, but others go with the territory.
"It is not reflective of Ridgewood’s supportive community and its values."
One could argue that it IS supportive of the community. The community is important, not Dr. Brooks.
"...using criteria and specifications developed in collaboration with the community,"
Well, this is the question, isn't it? If the "Board" did it's job well, then the complaints would not rise above a minimal level. Perhaps Dr. Brooks, like many new ministers, prefers near unanimous support of his beliefs before accepting a new position. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. The Board should have known that there could be an issue here, and Dr. Brooks should have let the board know of his expectations.
"Some in the community took exception to the Board’s decision and have undermined the process."
Free speech is undermining the process?
So, maybe it's late, but the Board now has more "criteria and specifications" to use for next time. You can't please everyone and the applicant can say yes or no based on his/her own criteria and specifications.
You should see how many in our town argue over where to put the highway barn. It goes with the territory.
It's as though his feelings are the most important thing here.
The funny thing is that you can ask each and every board member nominee who they work for and they will almost always say "the taxpayers" or "the parents." But then something happens along the way...
This is good news. It appears that citizens speaking out have made a difference. I congratulate you for leading the charge by disseminating information and expressing your opinion.
The BOE feels “Some in the community took exception to the Board’s decision and have undermined the process.” Anonymous web posts are a fact of life today. Anonymous phone calls should be denounced, I think. However, there were many who spoke out publicly. From what I’ve observed, neither the board nor Dr. Brooks successfully refuted the charges made regarding his deep involvement in constructivism and the failures of reform math. They just seem to be unhappy about people speaking out.
Actually, it’s only the board’s opinion that the public sentiment against Dr. Brooks was a factor in his decision to decline the job. Why don’t they let him speak for himself instead of conjecturing that he was victimized by some Ridgewood parents.
I wonder if they’ll do anything differently in this new search. Probably not, unless the citizens voice loud demands. They seem to want silence from their constituents, but that’s just not the way it works.
whoa
I just tuned in with news of an A- on a polynomial quiz - and zounds.
START THE REVOLUTION WITHOUT ME!
Free speech is undermining the process?
So, maybe it's late, but the Board now has more "criteria and specifications" to use for next time. You can't please everyone and the applicant can say yes or no based on his/her own criteria and specifications.
You should see how many in our town argue over where to put the highway barn. It goes with the territory.
This really is extraordinary.
We're having the same experience here.
People are speaking up - or, if not speaking up, refusing to "go along."
There's a general balkiness.
For many, many years, I'm told, "speaking up" meant being a "negative force."
If you couldn't say something nice, you couldn't say something at all.
That's been the way.
That has now changed, I think.... at least, people know that speaking up is going to happen.
This takes my breath away.
The funny thing is that you can ask each and every board member nominee who they work for and they will almost always say "the taxpayers" or "the parents." But then something happens along the way...
Apparently our board president does not say this.
His understanding of representative democracy is that an elected representative follows his own lights.
So I'm told.
I'm very interested in the citing of anonymous blog posts.
I've been thinking, ever since I first started writing ktm-1, that the internet would have an effect on school district politics.
Seemed to me that blogs (and Yahoo lists & web pages) would have to level the playing field a bit.
The fact that the Board specifically cites blog posts tells me this is probably true.
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