Teacher-led student prayer groups at Willard cause an uproar

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• John,
  It helps if you are physically at school for the majority of each day when the students are there. Being a principal is hardly something you can do via text messaging.

• Willard Staff,
  I have always known that it has been the talented, strong staff members at Willard who have been the tireless core and heartbeat of the true Willard community.
  Over the years I have witnessed many, many wonderful things happening in and out of the classroom to serve and support the students and their families.
  Willard has survived because of these people.
  Through budget cuts, a constant turn over of educational theories, the bombardment of “this is THE only way to do it” directives which were systematically abandoned by the district when they failed, the waste of money spent on excellent programs put together by the staff only to be disregarded and thrown out with each new principal, the elimination of real electives, the staff at Willard worked hard to serve the students and their families.

  To say test scores are low therefore the teachers are not serving their students because they are bad teachers is simply not true.
  Each and every success at Willard has happened because of the staff.

  Anonymous, I, for one, am not a disgruntled staff member.
  It is not MY liberal view of what I think the Constitution stands for that caused Mr. Cole to eliminate all clubs at Willard.
  At this point I do not know what Mr. Cole was told to do by the school district or what he was told his choices were. I do know he did not have to close down all of the clubs to make sure he was complying with federal law.
  I do know that it is important for any publicly funded institution to comply with Constitutional law.
  If you look back over the history of what public education in America has done to minorities you will begin to understand why the Supreme Court has made the rulings they have made and why it is important for each of us to be a guardian of those rights.

  What would I rather see than students in gangs? I would rather see students and their families not having to live in poverty. I would rather see students who didn’t have to sleep on the floor and have no place to do their homework. I would rather see parents who didn’t have to worry over not having a job or not having a job that paid enough to actually feed and shelter their family. I would rather see students who knew their future would be brighter than their parents’ realities.

  What have I accomplished this year? Anonymous, you might be amazed to know that I am proud of what I feel is my greatest accomplishment so far this school year. My accomplishment doesn’t count towards any compact hours and it doesn’t show up as extra pay on my paycheck.
  On the first day of school a student, who had no idea of who I was other than the fact I was a teacher, came up to me and said out of the blue, “I want to learn to read this year.”
  So, twice a week I work with this student. When we started he was only able to read 93 sight words. Now he knows 623 sight words and has read 6 books with me. The books are not at his grade level but when we first started he had only read 2 primmer level books on his own. This student’s accomplishment is, I feel, my greatest accomplishment so far this year. For the first 5 years of his education he learned to read 93 words. In three months I have been able to increase his ability to read over 6 fold.
  Will he score high on the tests he will be taking in the spring? No. Will the tests he takes in the spring even detect his growth in reading? No. The tests are not made to measure individual growth no matter how significant.

  Now, multiply my success by each and every teacher at Willard who, through hard work and true dedication, have been able to increase their students’ level of knowledge and understanding of the world and you have a great deal of success.
  Will the test scores of these students reflect their accomplishments and the accomplishments of their teachers? Probably not. The tests are not designed to measure how much a student has grown in one year.

  The teachers at Willard know we cannot do it alone. All staff members contribute to the success of students. Each and every day I see so many positive interactions and people working hard to go above and beyond what is required of them. And, believe me, all of the things these people do to help students are not reflected in their paychecks and are not recognized by Mr. Cole.

  Who at Willard is ideologically driven? Who at Willard has an agenda of his own that has nothing to do with the academic growth of students? Who at Willard spends the least amount of their time with students? Mr. Cole.

  Now, Anonymous, you might be surprised even further to know I don’t think the problem with Willard is Mr. Cole. Mr. Cole is only a symptom of the problems Willard has faced over a very long time. The school district has allowed this to happen.
  Where is Mr. Cole when he is not at Willard? Jane Russo probably knows and approves.
  The school district has also allowed Mr. Cole to impose his personal, religious views at Willard and it is SAUSD who is ignoring federal law. Remember, federal law applies to all public schools. This includes all of the schools in SAUSD not just Willard.

  In conclusion, I have always known that it has been the talented, strong staff members at Willard who have been the tireless core and heartbeat of the true Willard community and nothing has changed that.

• My last posting was in response to
  Anonymous
  Posted December 10, 2010 at 6:11 PM
  The biggest problems at Willard are the disgruntled teachers who want to impose their liberal view of what they think the Constitution stands for on everybody else. These teachers would rather see the kids in gangs than in a Bible study. Shame, shame, shame on them!
  http://www.orangejuiceblog.com/2009/07/2009-sausd-corruption-thread/

• District Insider
  Posted January 2, 2011 at 6:50 PM

  You have to remember on important factor!

  Dennis Cole is a control freak, and a micromanaging bigot. He is the typical Administrator who feels, thinks, and believes he is protected by D.O Administration; Jane Russo, Dawn Miller and Cathie Olsky.
  Why? You might ask!

  He is a friend of Dawn; appointed by Jane and placed at Willard Cathie for one specific mission, break the will, turn employees against each other, reprimand, remove or terminate any employee who does not “obey” his directives. All this, sanctioned by the D.O, approved by Jane Russo.

  You might not remember the press release from Angela Burrell
  Public Information Officer. You need only read the section under Dennis Cole and the brief description of his background and why he was placed at Willard to start to understand his mission objective and the support he has from the D.O. You might also not remember how the D.O described Willard staff; IMPLANTED, DEEP ROOTED.

  D.O Administration place him at you school for one specific mission, I can highly assure you, it is not to raise test scores or improve the quality of education there at Willard. D.O, along with Jane Russo does not care of or about Willard Staff or Students alike. If they did, they would have never placed an Administrator with little to no background or experience in Administration.

  Your best chances of getting rid of your Principal Mr. Dennis Cole are the same directives he received from the D.O themselves. They gave him such large room for error, and at the same time gave him unrestrictive access and unquestioned support.

  The D.O was blind with their objective, they neglected to set guidelines to avoid the pitfall that all new power hungry, micromanaging unprofessional immoral Administrators fall into. The D.O did not anticipate your Principals fanatical religious believes. The D.O can not protect or support his fanatical religious believes him much longer. He is his worst enemy. Dennis will hand you all you need to file a complaint against him, not only with the D.O, but the State Dept of Labor, Cal/Osha and EEOC.

  Regardless, of what your Principal does this new calendar year or what new directives Jane Russo gives him, he will always revert back to his religion for direction. You all have what he does not, decency and common sense.

  And foremost, always carry a voice activated recorder. He can not repeal his own verbiage or say you are lying or misinterpreted his verbiage.

  I see you Principal here all the time, there are many here who support Willard Staff.

  Happy New Year.