"Y'all Want A Fight? Let's Go!"

 

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     "Y'all want a fight?  Let's go!  You guys [school board and administrators] want to blame everything on teachers and fail to place the blame right where it belongs...with the students and their parents.  We have told you over and over that you cannot have good learning conditions until you first have good teaching conditions.  So, if you want to continue to blame teachers and abuse teachers, then we're always ready to thrown down.  Let's go!  I only wish that there were more hours in the day so we could kick more administrative ass!  We're not educational terrorists; we're just freedom fighters, freeing up teachers from administrative abuse, parental abuse, and the daily abuse suffered from student-thugs!  MACE uses every legal means available to protect and empower our teacher-members so that they can teach in peace, without the daily abuse affecting their minds, bodies, and souls.  So, yeah, y'all want a fight?  Then, as my colleague Norreese Haynes says, 'Bring it.'  Unlike GAE and PAGE, we're not going to tuck our tails and run.  MACE was born fighting, and we've been fighting for Georgia's classroom educators for 15 years, and we offer no apologies for this fact.  This is why the school-based administrators and the central office administrators push for "their" teachers to join GAE and PAGE.  They're not afraid of PAGE and GAE, but I quote one school board attorney in the Metro Atlanta area:  'MACE terrorizes the principals.'  Good.  If they are abusing teachers, then they should be terrorized of MACE.  Let's go!" -- Dr. John Trotter, MACE Chairman & CEO.

These little small-minded, petty, and abusive crocs are so scary to teachers when they suddendly and without warning bite teachers in the ass. But when the Roaring Lion (MACE) shows up, they just slink back into the swamp! LOL! This an accurate visual of what happens! When you mention "MACE," these picayunish and mean-spirited administrators listen. We tip our hats to the few good administrators who are still out there.

McDuffie County Superintendent, Mychele Rhodes, Apparently Is Trying to Terminate The County’s STAR Teacher Over Rubrics And Other Such Silliness! I Never Cease To Be Amazed At Today’s Goofball Superintendents! LOL!

 By John R. Alston Trotter, EdD, JD

     I never cease to be amazed at today’s goofball superintendents and principals of schools.  I recently saw on Facebook that a senseless principal told a child with Downs Syndrome that he could not wear the letter jacket that his mother had made him for participating on one of the non-varsity teams at the school.  He was so proud of his homemade letter jacket, but this principal, who apparently doesn’t have enough sense to pour piss out of a boot, told him that he could not wear it because he was not a member of a varsity team at the school.  Should this principal be taken out and horse-whipped?  Would that do him any good?

     A few years back, we picketed a principal at A. Phillip Randolph Elementary School in Fulton County because he apparently recommended his Teacher of the Year for the non-renewal of his teaching contract.  People were very upset.  How can a principal be without principles so much that he or she would recommend the non-renewal of the Teacher of the Year?  Did this teacher make the principal nervous?  Was this teacher reluctant to kiss administrative ass?  How can this happen?

    Now the word is in that the Superintendent of Schools in McDuffie County, the home of perhaps Georgia’s most famed racist of the past, U. S. Senator Tom Watson, is in the throes of either recommending to the school board the termination or non-renewal of the contract of the popular STAR Teacher at Thomson High School.  We write about such silliness and pettiness and petulance in our book, The MACE Manifesto:  The Politically Incorrect, Irreverent, and Scatological Examination of What is Wrong with American Public Education (Big Daddy Publishers, LLC, 2014, 615 pages).  These kinds of actions take place all over the country these days mainly because non-leaders are put into positions of “leadership.”

Rhodes - Superintendent

Mychele Rhodes, Superintendent Clown of McDuffie County

     Today, the people who are often put into leadership roles are really tight-ass and controlling bureaucrats.  In the old days, many of the coaches were promoted up the leadership/administrative ladder.  And, quite frankly, it most of the times worked out well.  They were firm on student discipline, supported the teachers when it came to discipline, and they didn’t snoopervise the teachers, thinking that they had all of the answers.  They certainly didn’t worry about such non-sense as “teaching rubrics.”  These crazy “rubrics” are insulting.  To put creative teachers on a “rubrics” mandate is like putting them on training wheels.   These older principals certainly didn’t worry about such nonsense as forcing good teachers to act like robots, telling them how to teach and threatening their jobs for simply being creative in teaching their students. Professionals don’t need training wheels.

Teachers need to freed up to be creative.  Freed up to teach.  Stifling and suffocating them in straightjackets is ridiculous.  Making them use cookie-cutter methods is unconscionable.  It’s like a coach who has never played basketball telling a Michael Jordan or a Larry Bird or a Pete Maravich what to do with the round ball each time they get their hands on it.  Teachers are professionals who should be respected and allowed to use their professional knowledge, judgment, and wisdom with the students who are in their care.  They don’t briefcase-toting, tight-ass bureaucrats telling them each move to make.  They need these educrats and snoopervisors to get the heck out of their classrooms and let them teach.

     Now back to the STAR Teacher in McDuffie County:  We hear that he was verbally bullied and berated in a meeting today for about two hours.  Apparently, Superintendent Mychele Rhodes told him that she didn’t think that he should be allowed to teach in McDuffie County anymore.  I am thinking that the situation may go beyond just teaching the “rubrics” and other such silliness.  I think that the administration may be upset that the STAR Teacher is openly and vocally a Christian believer and that he has talked to the administration at Thomson High about the terrible disciplinary conditions which apparently exist at the school.  The administrators these days don’t want to hear about this.  They prefer to bury their heads in the sand when it comes to discipline. Also, it often appears to be “open season” on vocal Christians in public schools these days, both the students who want to bring their Bibles to schools or teachers who want to share their faith outside the classroom. If, however, this teacher were Muslim, perhaps the administration would handle him with kid gloves and make special arrangements for pork not to be served at all in the cafeteria.

     For several years, from what I hear, this school system has been hemorrhaging top teachers, including multiple Teachers of the Year and other STAR Teachers, some of whom are moving to safer or better schools and others of whom are leaving the profession entirely. What is going on in McDuffie County that is causing these successful and award-winning teachers to leave the system?

This superintendent-clown in McDuffie County seems to want to snoopervise the STAR Teacher for no substantive reason. Is this done in other school systems? She is apparently saying that she is concerned about this popular teacher’s “rubrics” and the number of his writing assignments. What?! She needs to worry about abiding by the Georgia Statute (O. C. G. A. 20-2-940[g]) that does not allow a Georgia superintendent to suspend a teacher from the classroom for more than ten days – and certainly not without the teacher being granted all of his substantive due process rights and having any “charge[s]” given to him by the seventh day. This superintendent, who is the Executive Secretary of the elected McDuffie County Board of Education, has left this school board in a breach of the law. This school board, via its appointed superintendent, has egregiously and flagrantly violated this Georgia Statute. No excuse whatsoever. Yes, she needs to worry about abiding by the law, not about pettiness. This STAR Teacher has been left dangling in the wind, with his reputation being besmirched because he first of all was apparently just sent home without any explanation of any “charge[s].” Not until after three weeks was he brought in and told about his “rubrics” and other such silliness. His reputation could not help but be ruined by such sloppy and sinister and nefarious actions of the Superintendent’s Office of McDuffie County. Rhodes Must Go! She either does not know the Georgia Law or does not give a rat’s behind about it. Mr. Norreese Haynes and I went to McDuffie County a couple of weeks ago and informed the administration there about the law. It apparently went over like water off a duck’s back. Next time, we will bring a crew and hit the sidewalks. I wonder if the good People of McDuffie County respect the Supreme Court’s holdings about Category One Free Speech fora? Parks and sidewalks. Ole Tom Watson might not have respected the humanity of all of God’s creation in older times, but I think that a new day has dawned in McDuffie County and the good People of McDuffie County will not put up with shabby treatment when they are informed about it. The way this STAR Teacher has been treated in McDuffie County could make some people draw the conclusion that he had robbed the McDuffie County Regions Bank. He has still to this day been kept in a “Teacher’s Gulag” or a metaphorical “penalty box.” What has been his “crime”? Caring for the kids and teaching creatively? Good grief. Rhodes Must Go!

This STAR Teacher is not a one-year wonder.  He is no fluke.  He was chosen by the students and parents of McDuffie County as the WalMart Teacher of the Year in both 2006 and 2009.  (This Teacher of the Year program has apparently been discontinued.  Otherwise, he may have won this award several more times.)  This is in a county of perhaps 250 t0 300 teachers.  He has also been named an “Honor Educator” twice in the last five years.  Only students who graduate with distinction are given the opportunity to choose one teacher who has most impacted them.  This year marks the second time this teacher has received this honor.  “STAR Teacher,” “Teacher of the Year,” and “Honor Educator” and yet Mychele Rhodes is apparently trying to can him.  So, does she not want superb teachers positively impacting on the children of McDuffie County?  Or, is this superintendent clown all about control?  What is it?

MACE has gotten in late on this case in McDuffie County but is monitoring it closely.  I think that I will recommend Mychele Rhodes to the august body of the Superintendent Clowns of America.  Yes, this I will do.  And I think that I have some pull with that group. This superintendent clown in McDuffie County appears to be out of control. © GTSO, 2015.

https://superintendentclownsofamerica.wordpress.com/

A reprint from Dr. Trotter's personal blog www.georgiateachersspeakout.com.

 

 

 The MACE Manifesto: The Politically Incorrect, Irreverent, and Scatological Examination of What is Wrong with American Public Education.

Read The MACE Manifesto!

John and Norreese

Dr. John Trotter (R) and Mr. Norreese Haynes (L), authors of The MACE Manifesto.

Big Daddy Publishers will be publishing a new chapter each day of July of The MACE Manifesto.  The principal author is Founder and Chairman of the Metro Association of Classroom Educators (MACE), Dr. John R. Alston Trotter, and MACE‘s Executive Vice Chairman Norreese L. Haynes contributes heavily to this shocking educational tome.  Trotter and Haynes issue what appears to be a very cogitated call for revolution, not clarification or obfuscation, in American Public Education (APE).

These leaders of MACE appear to have  prescient insights into what is wrong with public education today.  Trotter and Haynes certainly do not pull any punches when they lower the boom on what they call “an educational state analogous to Germany‘s Weimar Republic in the 1920s or, better yet, the Pretorian Government of South Africa during the days of apartheid.”  They contend that the waste and ineffectiveness and inhumanity of the public educational system in the United States is “both mind-boggling and unconscionable.”  Dr. Trotter states:  “It appears that no one wants to acknowledge what is fundamentally and systematically wrong with the system.  Everyone appears to be worried about being politically correct and polite.  Mr. Haynes and I are concerned about neither.  We simply tell the truth and let the chips fall where they may.” 

Heroes Are Really Teachers!

[Note:  This particular article was a two-page flyer recently given out to teachers at the Hart County (GA) Education Summit in Hartwell, Georgia on November 1, 2011.  Dr. Trotter anticipated correctly that the “summit” would be tightly choreographed with little to no input from the audience.  Therefore, he prepared the following for distribution, along with the recent MACE newsletter which can be seen on this website.  Please read and enjoy.  The issues in Hart County are really about the same as in other Georgia school systems.]

       Most people do not go into the teaching profession to get rich.  They go into the teaching profession because they want to make a difference in the lives of the children whom they interact with each day.  They love seeing the spark go off when a student finally learns a concept, a skill, or develops an understanding of the world.  The teachers’ rewards are often intrinsic, but these intrinsic rewards cannot be exchange at the grocery store, the gas pump, or for their own children’s college tuition.  They need to be rewarded both intrinsically and extrinsically.  The way that we can show a teacher respect and appreciation is not only in being free and plentiful with compliments, recognitions, and praise, but in making sure that the school system’s resources are spread around equitably and fairly.  With these thoughts in mind, let’s look at the word R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

Recognize and respect those who actively teach the children each day…

Empower the teachers to do their jobs rather than undermine them…

Support the teachers in disciplinary matters…

Pay the teachers as professionals, not as afterthoughts…

Effuse the school system with praise…

Cease the carping and snoopervision…

 Think before you criticize the teacher…  

  

        Classroom educators are in the trenches every day.  They are doing battle with ignorance, apathy, defiance, disruptive behaviors, disturbances (and not just from the children but from adults in the office), and bureaucratic red-tape each day.  They know what the real issues are.  They know that the motivation to learn is a social/familial/cultural phenomenon but that educrats always want to deal with the lack of learning as a technical breakdown or a lack of training for teachers rather than a student just refusing to learn.  The teachers don’t need the endless and mercurial staff development trainings ad infinitum; what the teachers need is support from the administration.    

        Hart County Teachers know what teachers all over Georgia and this country know and what the Metro Association of Classroom Educators (MACE) has been harping on from its inception in 1995, and it is this simple but undisputed statement:  You cannot have good learning conditions until you first have good teaching conditions.  Dr. Bell, it is just that simple.  Anything else is chasing windmills or urinating in a hurricane.  It is just pipe dreaming and trying to convince the Hart County Community and School Board that you are making a valiant effort to improve education in Hart County.  Dr. Bell, you and the Hart County Board of Education need to get behind the teachers, show them respect, and pay them accordingly.      

         Here is the kind of genuine school reform which I think nearly all Hart County teachers can agree on…

 

Four Horsemen of Real School "Reform"

By John R. Alston Trotter, EdD, JD 

     Reform # 1:  Restore classroom discipline.  Make sure that teachers are supported when it comes to classroom discipline.   Order is the first law of the Universe.  

   Reform # 2:  Realize that you cannot have good learning conditions until you first have good teaching conditions.  Top-down, heavy-handed snoopervision is counter-productive to establishing good teaching conditions.  

   Reform # 3:  Put the onus for learning on the students and their parents.  This is the modus operandus of the private schools, and it works.  Pampering the spoiled students and indulging their irresponsible parents do not work.  

   Reform # 4:  Realize that the motivation to learn is a social/cultural phenomenon.  Teachers teach the students, not learn the students.  If a student refuses to learn, then U. S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan himself cannot make this student learn and therefore should not be held accountable for the student's refusal to learn.  (c) MACE, September 9, 2010.    

    Good luck to the good teachers in Hart County! Call us if we can be of service! 

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The MACE Team returns from Hart County and stops for gasoline and refreshments.

 
 
2013 MACE Newsletter!

MACE Had a Big Year in 2012-2013! Saved Teaching Jobs for Several Teachers! Protected and Empowered Many! Picketed on Twenty Occasions – to the Delight of Hundreds and Hundreds of Teachers!  The 2013-2014 School Years Starts with a BANG!  MACE Launches the MACE Network!  Legendary Criminal Attorney, Steve Frey, is MACE’s General Counsel!  Trotter and Haynes’s Book, The MACE Manifesto, will Rock and Shock the Educational World!

 

 

 

     MACE finished the 2012-2013 school year in a flurry, with two pickets during the last week of the school year.  Cynthia Dickerson, the principal at Clayton County’s Thurgood Marshall Elementary School, had the fine distinction of being picketed by the MACE Picket Squad on the last day of school!   The MACE Strike Force ventured into Gwinnett County on five different occasions, with Shiloh High School’s principal, Eric Parker, seeing the most MACE pickets (three in one year).  One teacher whom MACE felt that Mr. Parker was not treating fairly received a transfer to Gwinnett’s Brookwood High School, especially after the promulgation of Dr. John Trotter’s almost ten page letter to the superintendent and to all of the Gwinnett County School Board members on this teacher’s behalf.

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     MACE reached up into Cobb County and conducted a wildly successful picket against the Floyd Middle School principal, Teresa Hargrett.  The Floyd teachers seemed ecstatic that MACE showed up.  Clayton County also saw many MACE pickets this past year, with the principal at Lee Street Elementary, Zakaria Watson, seeing the most action.

     MACE made two trips to Macon, Georgia to picket the very much disliked superintendent, Romain Dallemand.  Both of MACE’s pickets were covered extensively by the media, including the local NBC television affiliate on each occasion.  After the second picket in January, Superintendent Dallemand announced his resignation a couple of weeks later.   MACE also represented teachers in grievance hearings in Macon.  Just recently, Mr. Norreese Haynes, Mr. Benjamin Barnes, and Mr. Michael Robinson traveled to Macon to meet with some teachers of Macon’s Central High School.   Mr. Haynes’s letter to the principal has apparently already has its good effects.  The teacher on whose behalf Mr. Haynes penned the letter seems empowered and enthusiastic over MACE’s advocacy for her.  One Macon teacher described the Men of MACE as “pit bulls in pen-striped suits.”  LOL!

         The mantra at MACE is simple and direct:  You cannot have good learning conditions until you first have good teaching conditions.   Not a single politician, policy-maker, educrat, school board member, or snoopervising administrator can dispute this mantra, but like mindless boobs, they continue to try to improve public education by attacking classroom educators.  This is indeed mindless and unconscionable.  MACE doesn’t play.   MACE devours petty, insecure, myopic, and angry administrators who abuse teachers.

Bibb

 

     When MACE was founded in 1995, the administrators were immediately afraid of MACE.  There was an attorney for the DeKalb County Board of Education who stated:  “MACE terrorizes the principals!”  MACE is now into its 19th year, and the message has not changed one scintilla.  MACE continues to legally terrorize those administrators who seem to gleefully terrorize teachers.  Once these abusive administrators find out that the teacher is a MACE Member, almost invariably they suddenly changed their direction and suddenly get religion.  But, if they learn dumber, MACE has to turn up the heat.  Although the MACE membership is strictly confidential, there comes a time when you want your administrator to know that you are a Member of MACE!    

     The other organizations (AFT, GAE, PAGE) talk a good game, but their walk is different from their talk.  In Georgia, everyone knows that the most aggressive and feared teachers union is MACE, by far.  One of our aggressive attorneys just defended a MACE Member in Hart County this past year and kicked ass for her.  In fact, Vivian Morgan, the reporter for the Hartwell Sun newspaper, called Dr. Trotter and stated:  Lowell Chatham [the MACE attorney] was phenomenal!”  The teacher still has her job.  MACE Attorney Chatham also defended a Clayton County teacher in a four-day hearing.  The teacher won his case and is still teaching in Clayton County!  MACE’s General Counsel is Steve Frey, the lead attorney for Clayton County Sheriff, Victor Hill, in his recent trial in which he was acquitted on all counts.  Attorney Frey is known as one of the top attorneys in the State of Georgia.  (You can visit his site at TheFreyLawFirm.com.)  MACE protects and empowers classroom educators…one MACE Member at a time.

     Dr. John Trotter, the Chairman and CEO of MACE, and Mr. Norreese Haynes, the Executive Vice Chairman and COO of MACE, are writing a book entitled, The MACE Manifesto:  The Politically Incorrect, Irreverent, and Scatological Examination of What is Wrong with American Public Education.  The book will be published this fall but you can see glimpses of the book as the “sausage” is being made at www.themacemanifesto.com.   Probably 80% of the book is already written (of about 300 pages).  The book is candid, forthright, and holds back no punches.  It is an enlightening, riveting, and entertaining read.  Go quickly to the site and see if you can find your principal.  LOL!

 

     Enclosed is a MACE Brochure/Application for you to look over and to pass along to your colleagues who are not yet members of MACE!  Also, please look over the MACE Network card.  Call the MACE Office and ask how you can join the MACE Network and make money by enrolling teachers into MACE.  You can make money on three levels!

     Tell your friends not to wait too late to join!  Please look over the enclosed brochure/application and pass it along to a colleague. (If you need more, just call the MACE Office at 770/716-2727 and ask for more.)  Tell your colleagues that they are in Georgia, and in Georgia, you don’t teach without MACE!

MACE plans on conducting a Teachers’ Rights Seminar this school year.  Look for details in the mail!

Crossroads Second Chance South Teacher

Pleads for Fulton Board and

Superintendent Avossa to Show Mercy,

Have a Heart! 

     I am a teacher at Crossroads Second Chance-South in Fulton County and I am a member of MACE.  On April 9, 2013, Superintendent Robert Avossa and the school board of Fulton County voted to close down the Crossroads South and North programs.  To add to insult, on Thursday, April 18, 2013, the school board will vote for a Reduction in Force (RIF) in regards to the faculty and staff members at Crossroads South and North based on the ‘strong recommendation’ of the superintendent.  Most of us at Crossroads South have accepted the fact that Fulton County has decided to turn over their alternative education program to the Ombudsman group.  We can no longer fight for this issue because the decision has been made.  What we are fighting for is our jobs.  The superintendent would rather take our jobs from us than to surplus us to other schools within the county.  This is not fair!  Keep in mind, the superintendent continues to brag about 800 vacancies in the county last year.   I am a certified Mathematics teacher and I have been teaching for 22 years.  For 22 years, I have NEVER had a reprimand or a bad evaluation.  In Fulton County today, you still have substitute teachers in math and science classrooms.  So, why would the superintendent vote to get rid of ‘certified’ teachers in critical shortage areas?  It makes no sense!  MACE, we need you!  We need you to speak on behalf of the teachers at Crossroads South at the board meeting on Thursday, April 18, because Fulton County needs to know that they can’t just treat us any kind of way.  I’ve learned through this process that Fulton County is NOT ‘where the kids come first’.  Superintendent Robert Avossa tells the AJC that privatizing Crossroads is not about the money.  What else could it be about?  At Crossroads South, only three teachers out of 28 do not possess advanced degrees.  Therefore, when you look at the salaries of the teachers, you would see where Fulton County spends the most of their money in regards to the budget at Crossroads South.  So, is it right to punish teachers for earning advanced degrees?  Something is wrong with this picture.  Once again, I am asking MACE to stand up and fight for your members at Crossroads Second Chance-South because we NEED OUR JOBS! 

Thanks,

[Name Withheld by MACE]

     Superitendent Avossa, there is indeed a difference between substantive due process and procedural due process.  They may not have taught you this at Wingate College or NOVA or may not have taught education attorney Glenn Brock this at the now-defunct Atlanta Law School, but it is a balancing test of weighing the needs of the school system against the property interests of the tenured teachers.  If you are still in need of hiring new teachers, then why aren’t you surplusing the Crossroads teachers into other Fulton County teaching positions?  I presume that Eli and Edyth Broad, billionaire insurance moguls, didn’t teach you this at the Broad Academy, heh?   

 

Just Two Questions In Three Minutes For New Atlanta Schools Chief Erroll Davis…

If Mr. Davis Demurs On These Two Questions, Then His Rhetoric Is Hollow & His Talk Is Pure Blather.

By John R. Alston Trotter, EdD, JD

[Editor's Note:  This was the essence of Dr. John Trotter's address to Atlanta's new superintendent, Erroll Davis, and the Atlanta Board of Education on Monday night, July 11, 2011.  This photo of Dr. Trotter appeared in the AJC Online.]

 

           Question One:  Will the Erroll Davis Administration abide by the Georgia State Statute (O.C.G.A. 20-2-989.5 et seq.) which governs complaints (grievances) filed by certificated employees within the school systems?  Or, will the Erroll Davis Administration continue the practice of the Beverly Hall Administration and egregiously and flagrantly rape this Georgia Law?  I will judge Mr. Davis‘s administration by whether or not it obeys this simple law.  Mr. Davis doesn’t need a staff of lawyers to engage in some sordid and sophisticated reasoning about why his administration does not have to follow the Georgia Law or how that his administration does not have time to follow this law.  Mr. Davis simply needs to read the law himself.  It is not long and detailed.  A simple man who wants to understand it can understand it.  Others school systems understand it.  The Beverly Hall Administration just totally ignored this law.  Hence, those employees who were suffering under the slings and arrows of the administrators who were intent on cheating had no one to turn to.  Reporting the crimes to the Beverly Hall Administration was like the chickens reporting to the fox.  But, if the Erroll Davis Administration actually goes by this law, then the employees with mettle and integrity can have their “day in court,” so to speak.  O.C.G.A. 20-2-989.5(4) states that “the complainant shall be entitled to an opportunity to be heard, to present relevant evidence, and to examine witnesses at each level(emphases added). 

          If the Erroll Davis Administration will abide by this Georgia Law, then this will be progress.  The teachers and staff will have someone to turn to.  I think that I know why the Beverly Hall Administration did not want to abide by this law and openly hear complaints. Mr. Davis, I hope that you will not have things to hide.  I have read that you are a man of integrity.  Your integrity will be tested here in Atlanta.  I hope that you pass the test.  Your first test will be charging your administration to abide by the law and not to have some cavalier, antinomian disposition relative to the Georgia Law.  There are several other Georgia Laws which were routinely and regularly violated by the Beverly Hall Administration (e. g., the Duty Free Lunch law for elementary teacher outlined in O.C.G.A. 20-2-218 and the Sick Leave Law for school personnel outlined in O.C.G.A. 20-2-850 and the Due Process Law outline in O.C.G.A. 20-2-940 through 944).

 

 DrTrotterAtlantaSchoolBoard.jpg


          Question Two: I have been reading about Mr. Davis‘s disposition toward those who have been reported as cheaters.  I understand Mr. Davis‘s position here.  Reportedly, he does not want them in front of children.  I understand this, as long as due process and the Georgia Law is followed.  Does this not hold true also for the Lieutenants, Captains, Majors, Colonels, and Generals who carried out this evil and sickening scheme to defraud the children, the parents, the teachers, and the State of Georgia (as well as the Federal Government).  I read in the Report that one Executive Director told the teachers at Parks Middle School to stop sending him letters about Principal Waller…that Waller was staying at the school.  In fact, the Beverly Hall Administration apparently gave Mr. Waller a $10,000.00 incentive to stay at Parks Middle School.  Are these “Officers” in the Beverly Hall Administration going to remain on their watch, so to speak?  Are they going to be relieved of their duties or just shipped off  to an irrelevant post with the same pay and benefits? 

          Mr. Davis, are you going to seek to repair the breach in the wall, as Nehemiah of old did?  Are you going to be a repairer of the wall, or are you just going to neglect the hundreds and perhaps even thousands whose lives were ruined by the heinous actions of the previous administration?  What about those teachers who deigned to demonstration integrity and mettle on the job by demurring against doing wrong and speaking out against injustice and finding themselves banished from the kingdom, corporately decapitated, and professionally ruined for the rest of their lives?  Mr. Davis, it may be convenient for you and the school board to benignly say that you are going to simply look to the future and forget about the past.  Some type of restitution or reconciliation or reparations are in order.  Lives were destroyed…for standing up for what is right.

          I am reminded  of one such person this year at Washington High School.  I recently wrote a letter on his behalf to the Atlanta Board of Education members.  He is an excellent, creative, and dedicated teacher, a teacher whom the students respect and to whom the students respond.  He came into teaching from the fields of study and/or practice of law and accounting.  He finally found his calling in teaching children, especially “at risk” students.  In his first year at Washington High, this young teacher scored very high in the evaluation process and was placed in several leadership roles.  The very next year, his evaluation scores plummeted, and he was stripped of all leadership roles.  He didn’t just fall off of the pedagogical cliff.  From all indications, he was brusquely and abruptly shoved off the cliff.  What did he do “wrong”?  He apparently spoke out against injustices and against how children were being treated.  In Atlanta, a teacher does this only at his or her own professional peril.  He was simply trying to be a man of integrity and of professionalism.  Where did this get him?  Unemployment.  Mr. Davis, will you right these wrongs?

Is Edmond Heatley’s Departure From Clayton County Coming Soon? We Hear That It Is. Alert: It's Now Seems to be Official: Heatley Does Resign! You Got the Word Here First, Didn’t You? We Try to Keep You Informed!

NOTE:  Since our early reporting of Edmond Heatley’s impending resignation, it is now official.  The Dark Days of the Onerous & Burdensome Reign of Edmond Heatley in Clayton County are over!  We presume that the school board woke up and smelled the coffee — or perhaps Heatley and the school board read the tea leaves of the last election and knew that change was on the way!  Whatever happened, we are glad Heatley is on the way out of the Clayco Door.  It could have happened sooner, had it not been for the those on the school board — Alieka Anderson, Pam Adamson, Mary Baker, Ophelia Burroughs, and a couple of others who kept clinging to the illusion that Heatley was a decent superintendent.  Heatley was horrible!  Thanks, Jessie Goree, Trinia Garrett, and Michael King for standing up to the educational monster! Wherever Heatley ends up (and you know that these Gypsy Superintendents are just re-cycled!), we hope that he takes HR Director Douglas (Doug) Hendrix with him!

By John R. Alston Trotter, EdD, JD

Then Board Chairperson Alieka Anderson and Now Chairperson Pam Adamson Were Leading the Charge to Hire Heatley, Upon the Recommendation of Education Attorney Glenn Brock.  Will They Listen to Any More Lame Recommendations from Glenn Brock?

GeorgiaTeachersSpeakOut.Com just received word from a very reliable source that embattled Clayton County superintendent, Edmond Heatley, may be stepping down as the head of the Clayton County Public Schools within one month. No details about this possible forthcoming event are available now. GTSO speculated about a month ago that something was apparently up in the air. Heatley tried to get Michael Hinojosa’s old job in Dallas, Texas but was not invited back for a second interview. (Hinojosa is now Cobb County’s superintendent.) Shortly after his effort to get on in Dallas, Heatley seemed to disappear from the scene, and GTSO kept asking the question, “Where is Heatley?” Even Clayton County Board of Education members were asking this question. Then, lo and behold, he showed up at the next board meeting, and we let you know this.

Edmond Heatley Has Used Brusque Tactics In Clayco.

Heatley came from Chino Valley, California where he apparently had pissed off many of the locals with some of his decisions, particularly closing schools. His leadership style in Chino Valley was not unlike the style displayed here in Clayton County…brusque, rude, top-down, and condescending.

 

MACE Warned the Clayton Board of Education Not to Hire Heatley.

No one has opposed Edmond Heatley like the Metro Association of Classroom Educators (MACE). MACE was on the scene picketing in April of 2009, warning the Clayton County Board of Education not to hire Heatley. The board, upon the recommendation of education attorney Glenn Brock, hired him anyway. Heatley has been controversial in Clayton County from the word “Go.” In fact, I have reported that of the dozen or so superintendents whom I have observed closely in Clayton County over the past 30 years, Edmond Heatley by far has been the most despised among the employees.  © GTSO, August 29, 2012.

 MACE Mix & Mingle 2011

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See Extra Photos

 
 
 
The Soulless, Soviet Atlanta Public Schools And Its Culture Of Lies, Cheating, Fear, Intimidation, & Retaliation; Beverly Hall's Standards Were So Low That Snakes Had To Crawl Over Them; Surely Ain't Committed to Standards (SACS); Mark Elgart Is Missing-In-Action; MACE Had The Prophetic Voice The Entire Time; Parks Middle School Is The USA's Poster School For Cheating; & Mayor Kasim Reed Will Be Eating Home-grown Crow Instead Of Dining At The Piedmont Driving Club!

 

         By John R. Alston Trotter, EdD, JD 

        The Atlanta Public Schools (APS) is by no means the only school system in Georgia or in the nation to engage in widespread cheating, but the cheating in Atlanta was so pervasive and so endemic in the system itself that it turned the school system into a cruel hoax, a cruel caricature of education, a hackneyed institution bent on inflicting fear, intimidation, retaliation, and pain on anyone who deigned to summon a scintilla of integrity and mettle within his or her spirit to speak out — ever how muted the voice — against the heinous actions of those in positions of power and who feigned to be caring educators but who were really jackals of the night, only pushing their own fiendish agenda with no regard whatsoever for the innocent children or the still innocent teachers.   A prophetic voice was needed.  Speaking truth to power.  We at MACE always tried to be this prophetic voice.  We tried to do our part.  We were one voice, but some teachers and other employers became single and lonely voices, crying out for justice and mercy, and suffering for their cries for justice and mercy.  They just wanted others to know that injustice and cruelty reigned in the Atlanta Public Schools.  Their voices were heard ever so faintly…not because of their own failings but because the cold wax of fear, intimidation, retaliation, and pain cluttered up the anvils of others’ ear drums.

 

       A blistering July, 2008 picket in the middle of the day:  “Atlanta:  Still A Gangsta System!”

          Well, what can I say?  We at MACE said it all many times on the streets of Atlanta.  We held up signs through the years which declared that the Atlanta Public Schools (APS) was “a gangsta system.”  I remember when my colleague at MACE, Darryl Plenty, and  I were signed up to speak at an Atlanta School Board meeting three or four years ago concerning the happenings at Douglass High School, strangely enough Beverly Hall‘s seat was empty and was later filled by Sharon PittsMr. Khaatim El came up to me before the meeting started and greeted me, saying, “They told us in the back that you were out here.”  I didn’t actually organize the outpouring in the attendance; Michael Bond called me and invited me to participate, as he had organized a large protest concerning the closing of the magnet school at Douglass High School.  Nevertheless, I noticed that as soon as Mr. Plenty and I had finished our turns addressing the school board concerning this matter that Chief of Staff Sharon Pitts got out of Superintendent Hall‘s chair and went into the hallway and escorted Hall into the room and to her seat.  I thought to myself, “Hmm…we must make her nervous.”

 

          MACE picketing against Beverly Hall in the rain at Douglass High School.  This was not the only picket in the rain at Douglass HighHall removed the popular magnet program at Doug.

          There has been so much foolishness and pure evil taking place in the Atlanta Public Schools under the administration of Beverly Hall that it would take years and years to chronicle.  For those who would like a more detailed view of the fight that MACE has had with this soulless and Soviet-styled administration, go simply to www.theteachersadvocate.com.  Didn’t the Good Master ask, “What would a man profit if he gained the whole world but lost his own soul?”?  Or, what would a man or woman gain if he or she gained and maintained a $115,00.00 administrative job but lost his or her soul?  Understand me:  I am not assigning people to hell or to purgatory or to anywhere; I am just asking what good does it do for a person to have a nice job if he or she can’t look at himself or herself squarely in the mirror?  A person like the infamous Joe Stalin (whom Leon Trotsky described as a boring bureaucrat — and murderous too!) had consummate and ultimate power in the Soviet Union but had become soulless.  (As a young man, Stalin had actually studied for the priesthood in the Soviet Republic of Georgia.)

          Below are some thoughts and reactions to comments and questions on the AJC‘s Get Schooled blog.  Maureen Downey is the Blogmeister, and we have a link to this important blog from our Home Page.  I encourage you to visit it often.  The comments below are in ascending order, starting with the earliest ones and ended with the latest ones, within a span of about 28 to 30 hours.

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Click Here to Read Full Article on APS Cheating and More!

FOX-5 TV Interviews MACE's Dr. John Trotter About The Atlanta Cheating Scandal!

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MACE "Welcomes" APS's Errol Davis With A Good Ole Fashioned MACE Picket!

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Will Return For A Picket!

MACE Visits Atlanta's
Dobbs Elementary!

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Two Days of Commenting on Clayton's Edmond Heatley!

And Tidbits On Other Matter... 

 [Most of the following thoughts appeared yesterday and today, May 11 & 12, 2011, on the Get Schooled blog of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.  Maureen Downey is the Blogmaster.  The comments were edited to eliminate typos, etc.--Dr. John Trotter.] 

    

     Wednesday A.M.  We at MACE have been getting lots of calls about Clayton County Superintendent Edmond Heatley -- and not just from teachers but from those who are in administration and on the school board as well.  It appears that the Clayco Natives are very restless.  We can't help the administrators nor the school board members.  We only help those who are classroom educators...and then only those who are members of MACE, and we do a good job at that!

     We warned this Clayton school board not to hire Edmond Heatley.  In fact, we picketed outside the school board office the that Spring night in 2009 when the board was to decide on his contract.  Our picket was extensively covered by the TV, print, and electronic media.  A photo or two was even in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC).  But, school boards don't listen.  The Clayton County Board of Education did not listen to me on the hiring of Superintendents William Chavis, Barbara Pulliam, John (Shred the Diplomas) Thompson, and Edmond Heatley.  I think that the media and the public are wising up to the fact that I was NOT pulling the strings on the Clayton County Board of Education.  In fact, the school board members (yes, even the ones whom I helped get elected!) apparently thought that they became super intelligent when it came to politics and policy once they got on the school board.  They quit listening to ole Trotter.  How's it worked out for them?

Notes at Halftime
Football Bowl Games, Superintendents,
and the MACE Expansion
[Note:  I wrote this article on January 1, 2010  (I presume the 1st because the Cotton Bowl was on TV) and January 4, 2010.  I never finished the article, and it has been lingering in the documents of my lap top for over a year.  I offer it now because of what has transpired since I wrote it.  SACS is all up in APS’s face, but for the wrong reasons.   SACS should be all over Beverly Hall and the abject corruption of her administration, not hovering over whether or not school board members get along.  In a democracy, they don’t have to get along.  Look at the U. S. Congress.  SACS has overstepped its bounds here.  Let the voters decide on governance.  Besides, SACS is a private organization which is money-hungry, and it feasts on the public trough by pimping the fear of a loss of accreditation to the parents who then get up in arms and raise hell with school board members.  In the case with Atlanta, I think that Mark Elgart and SACS are simply willing pawns of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and the Big Mule Businessmen who meet at the Piedmont Driving Club.  One other note:  I think that DeKalb’s ex-superintendent, Crawford Lewis, soon stands trial for felonies in Federal Court.  Pat Pope, one of Lewis’s top associates in DeKalb, will also being tried in Federal Court soon.  MACE, like a lone wolf in the desert, was the only organization or group which consistently called out the school systems of Atlanta and DeKalb as being “gangsta school systems.”  Now, we don’t know if Lewis and Pope are guilty of what they have been charged of, but we know that the DeKalb and Atlanta school systems just ignore the law whenever it so desires, especially when it comes to things like adhering to the grievance law.  Anyway, enjoy the “unfinished article” which finally saw the light of day.]            
    
     I take a break from incessantly watching football bowl games.  I love high school football; I like watching professional football; but, I adore watching college football.  I just like football.  I think that I would be watching Nankipooh play McElhenny if they were playing on television.  (Nankipooh and McElhenny were two elementary schools in Columbus when I grew up there.)  I have been watching the Ole Miss Rebels play the Oklahoma State Cowboys in the Cotton Bowl today.  I love watching the exciting Dexter McCluster, a speedster with Ole Miss who weighs about 162 and is 5’8”.  He ought to be drafted in the first three rounds of the NFL Draft.  He’s the only SEC player with over 1,000 yards rushing and over 500 yards receiving.  Today, thus far, he has scored the only touchdown, a 86 yard touchdown run.  He is so quick and cagey.  This is what impresses the NFL scouts.  He reminds me of MACE.  MACE is not an old stodgy organization; MACE, like McCluster, can turn on a dime and make something happen very quickly.  [Note:  McCluster went on to have a great second half and Ole Miss won.  By the way, he also had a great rookie year for the Kansas Chief this year.]     
    
     During this game, I began to think about all of the superintendents whom I have interacted with, directly or indirectly, with the school systems in the Metro Atlanta area, particularly the superintendents of the Big Four…Fulton, Atlanta City, DeKalb, and Clayton.  I have gone through a few, I would say, in my last 20 years of representing teachers.  In Fulton, I went against the very arrogant Jim Fox of Fulton County.  I remember that we picketed Fox for several days in a row at the Fulton County Services Center on Cleveland Avenue back in 1993.  I think this was the year because my oldest son, Robert, was in a stcroller on the picket line, and he was only a few months old.  (Robert was born on September 11, 1992, and I was still working for GAE at the time.)  I remember that it almost took an “act of Congress” to get a picket approved at GAE.  In fact, this may be the last pickets that GAE ever approved.  Shortly thereafter, Fox took a superintendency in Texas, and he was followed by Stephen Dolinger.     
    
     Back to the Cotton Bowl:  Dexter McCluster just scored another go-ahead touchdown in the “Wild Rebel.”  He will, I am sure, win another MVP in the Cotton Bowl.  So far, he has carried the ball for 32 times, a Cotton Bowl record.  He weighs a little over 160.  As a said, he reminds me of MACE!  We do not have all of the resources (from a parent organization like NEA) but we have quickness and heart!     
     
     Dolinger came to Fulton County on a doctored-up resume in 1995, the same year that MACE was founded.  In fact, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution editorial page quoted me about his doctored-up resume, and I asked, “How can we expect the students to be truthful when the superintendent lies on his resume?”  Dolinger lasted a few years, and then came John Haro of Minnesota who lasted a few months and left in apparent disgust with the school board’s micro-management.  Then came Van Airsdale who left abruptly when questions about construction concerns arose during his administration.  Then came James (Jamie Boy) Wilson who was a Cobb County retiree who probably came out of retirement at the luring of the new Fulton County school board attorney, Glenn Brock.  Jamie Boy retired again and was followed by Cindy Loe, the current superintendent who worked with Alvin Wilbanks in Gwinnett.  [Note:  This past month, Loe announced that she is retiring at the end of this school year.  Wow.  Fulton is going through superintendents like a hot knife through butter.]     
    
     In Atlanta, I have dealt with J. Jerome Harris out of New York City.  If you look up “Arrogant Superintendent,” it would have a photo of Harris.  He pissed off everyone, including the Atlanta school board who brought in Lester Butts as the “interim” superintendent.  Dr. Butts did a great job as principal of Douglass High but apparently rose to his level of incompetency.  His penchant for good discipline at Douglass High was great; but, this personality trait became fairly inflexible at the superintendent level.  He was followed by the cherubic-looking Ben Canada.  Canada was a nice guy, but he was fairly incompetent in running the Atlanta schools.  He was followed by another “interim,” Betty Strickland who had just served as principal of Inman Middle School.  Dr. Stickland was very pleasant in dealing with.  But, the school board was intent on finding a “savior,” which they thought that they found in Beverly Hall.      
    
     Hall came to Atlanta in the summer of 1999.   She came to Atlanta with a dubious record in New Jersey.  Hall was and is still all about good publicity, at the expense of loyal and good-hearted educators whom she would just as soon throw to the curb.  She ruled (still does rule) by intimidation.  There has been much anecdotal evidence about systematic cheating on the standardized test scores.  This year, Hall has been beleaguered by the accusations and investigations of systematic cheating.     
    
     I resume this article on Monday, January 4, 2010.  Dexter McCluster and his Ole Miss Rebels went on to win the Cotton Bowl, and Dexter was the Offensive Player of the Game, at about 162 pounds!  In yesterday’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the headline article was about the State’s investigation into Pat Pope (the former CEO of Dekalb School Board’s Construction) and the meager payment for a school system’s vehicle as well as Superintendent Crawford Lewis’s dubious purchase of another school system vehicle.  I think that in each case Pope and Lewis paid about one-third of the Blue Book value.  If the State and the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office keep looking under school system rocks, there’s no telling what they will find.  MACE has been on top of the systematic cheating and bullying for a while.  MACE will be hitting the streets again about the corruption in the DeKalb County School System.  Before interacting with  [At this point, I must have gotten a phone call or something because I abruptly ended the article.  I think that I was about to talk about MACE’s and my interactions through years with the various superintendents in Clayton and DeKalb.]

Atlanta Public Schools:  Egregious and Flagrant Violators Of The Law! 

 

By John R. Alston Trotter, EdD, JD

 

     Someone recently asked if people just "have it out for Dr. Hall."  Do I have it out for Dr. Hall?  I have never met the woman (the Dali Lama's more accessible).  (I hope that I spelled the Dali's name correctly.  Ha!)  Well, I did speak before the school board on Hall first public meeting with the school board in Atlanta in the summer of 1999.  We spoke briefly afterward.  Hall has set up an administration not too unlike the old Politburo of the late Soviet Union.  Fear and intimidation just flows from the Taj Mahal on Trinity Avenue  and out into all the schools.  The system reeks with fear, intimidation, nepotism, cheating, and corruption.  Hey everyone:  Have we forgotten about the "lost" $75,000,000.00 of E-rate?  Where did it go?  I know that at least one gentleman went to prison over this.  But, this is just symbolic of how corrupt Atlanta is.

 

     Atlanta, like most urban systems (including Cobb, Fulton, and Gwinnett) fail to adhere to the State Grievance Law for Certified School Employees as outline in OCGA 20-2-989.5 et seq.  One quick example of one of Atlanta's many, many violations of this law:  The grievance law clearly outlines three levels of hearings (with each appeal being a "de novo" hearing).  There are definite time lines (which APS just simply ignores...even in their written local policy about grievances!).  The gall and chutzpah that APS has relative to the state statutes is mind-numbing.  The three levels of hearings became in the Atlanta Board of Education's policy four levels -- an extra step thrown in there to make sure that a teacher's grievance never reaches the board of education level.

 

      By the way, Bradley Bryant, our Interim State Superintendent, wrote an opinion for the State Board of Education in the Gill v. Muscogee County case that there "three levels" of hearing in the grievance process.  So, there you have it, school board attorney who try to do all that you can to keep me out of representing a teacher before the full school board.  I remember the Gill case well because the Hearing Officer in Muscogee County kicked me out of the hearing...because I was eviscerating the stupid actions of the administrator before the full Muscogee County Board of  Education.  Mr. Gill, the MACE member whom we were representing in the hearing, must have liked my "thorough and sifting" cross examination because he reached out and handed me a $1,000.00 check on the way to my car.  He said that it was a "tip."  I took it and my colleagues and I drove back to Fayetteville even more merrily.

 

     In the past, I would raise h_ll in Atlanta board meetings about this and other flagrant and egregious violations of the State's minimum requirements about the grievance law.  (I would always sign in to speak and raise h_ll very "orderly."  LOL.  I don't have to get loud.  I just expose their violations of the law, even handing the school board members copies of the law.) Going back to the days of Harris, Butts, Canada, Strickland, et al., I was always raising h_ll about this.  Finally, I think that someone in APS -- perhaps Hall herself -- sent the message down to make sure that MACE grievances are processed and to try to resolve the matters before they start climbing the appellate ladder -- and before MACE gets on the sidewalks with picket signs!

 

      As long as the teacher is happy with the results, I am happy.  But, as a matter of law and principle, APS just ignores the law in general.  It, like DeKalb, is a "gangsta school system."  MACE and I have been saying this for years.  We have also been saying for years that systematic cheating was rampant, and we were glad that the AJC shed some light on this matter and that Governor Sonny Perdue had the mettle to openly address the matter.  Most politicians simply shrink like violets when it comes to addressing controversy, especially if there is an element of race which people can exploit.  I think that most of the highly-connected Blue Ribbon Commission members are white, if I am not mistaken.  I think that it is racist NOT to address this systematic cheating.  All children deserve better than the insults of systematic cheating.  It is telling children that you don't think that they are capable of learning.  Dr. Hall, that would be racist, don't you think?  (c) MACE, August 31, 2010).

Meeting with DeKalb Teachers.

 

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Teachers "Teach" The Students, Not "Learn" Them.
RTTT.  Race To The Trough!

 

By John R. Alston Trotter, EdD, JD

    

     CRCT, TPAI, NCLB, QBE, GTOI, GTDRI, APEG, Minimum Foundation, A+ Program, RTTT, and on and on.  None have or will significantly improve education here in Georgia.  What we need is Discipline In The Classrooms (DITC), Motivation From The Students (MFTS), and Decent Parents At Home (DPAH).  But, how do you fund these essential components?  Harping on these essential components will not secure politicians any votes, so they think.  But, I think that they will secure votes!  Nonetheless, President Obama and Arne Duncan, like most politicians (George W. Bush and the late Ted Kennedy included), continue to adhere to Blame The Teachers First (BTTF).  Added to this is the destructive program called Let Administrators Run Roughshod Over Teachers (LARROT).   Educational Rot.  This educational stench is so strong to every fair-minded and intelligent nostril.  But, the masses will continue to eat the slop until someone points out that this slop is really for educational swine.  RTTT?  Race To The Top?  No, Race To The Trough.  Teachers "teach" the students, not "learn" the students.  Physicians "treat" the patients, not "heal" the patients.  Lawyers "defend" the accused, not "acquit" the accused.  Until our politicians and policymakers start holding the students and their parents responsible for the learning facet of the educational equation, then improving education is like spitting into a tsunami.  Other countries and cultures understand this simple concept, but in our "wisdom," we have become educational "fools."  (c) MACE, August 27, 2010.

The MACE Vidette Stands On The Watch For Teachers!

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    Promoted to Associate Executive Director!
Jeff Cox Has Been a Mainstay At MACE For Years!

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Jeff Cox, Membership Director.

     E. Jeffrey Cox has been assisting teachers for going on eight years at MACE.  He has taken literally thousands upon thousands phone calls from many distressed, sad, forlorn, disenchanted, frustrated, and mad-as-heck teachers!  Teachers suffer so many indignities so many times from abusive and insensitive administrators, irate parents, and disrupitve and defiant students.  Part of MACE's service to its members is to listen to the teacher's concerns and to assist them in resolving these concerns (via grievances, letters, rebuttals, coaching the teachers about transactional interactions, or just common sense counseling.  But, the main thing that makes Mr. Cox so helpful to the members is his willingness to call them back promptly about their problems and to lend them a kind and sympathetic ear.  Jeff Cox is superb in this area.

   Through the years, Jeff Cox's duties at MACE have multiplied.  He, as the Membership Director, was usually the first point of contact when members called the office or when teachers called the MACE Office to inquire about becoming a members.  He has a way of calming the teachers' nerves.  I remember on one occasion when a teacher from Gwinnett exclaimed:  "I feel so good after talking to Mr. Cox that I just take my clothes off and start dancing!"  We often regale in this story, much to Jeff's embarrassment!  When the First Annual William L. Wood Award was given to Jeff at one of the MACE BASHes in the past, the entire audience sprung to its feet in an uncontrived and enthusiastic standing ovation.  (The late Bill Woods was MACE's founding attorney and was Mr. Cox's good friend as they both grew up in Jonesboro.)  The teachers love Jeff Cox!

   Because his duties have expanded through the years and because he has a keen sense of how to take care of MACE's members, Jeff Cox has been promoted to Associate Executive Director.  David Cochran is now the MACE Membership Director.  The MACE Team keeps expanding, hoping always to be able to offer our members the best service around!  This is our reputation and we intend to always maintain it!

MACE's Teacher Rights Seminar Empowers Teachers!

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MACE's Mix & Mingle

A Great Success!

One Thousand Dollars Given Away!

Click Here For More Photos

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Clayton teacher wins $500.00!

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Dr. Jose Helena won $300.00!

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The atmosphere was festive!

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"The Board" meets after the "Mix & Mingle."

J. B. Stanley Joins the MACE Ranks!

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Marketing Director J. B. Stanley (L) conferring with Executive Director Haynes (R).

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Dr. Trotter (R) gives J. B. Stanley (L) a copy of the U. S. Constitution.

Strategizing & Planning MACE'S Next Attack.

 

MACE Devours Administrators
Who Abuse Teachers.

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Members of Metro Association of Classroom Educators protest outside Hayes Intermediate School.

MACE Continues To Kick Butt In Cobb!

Click Here To See Article in Marietta Daily Journal.

Did Fulton County School Board Retaliate Against Whistle Blower-Auditor?

You Decide!

Click Here To See WSB-TV's Story.


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New Book Reflects MACE's Concerns About Teacher Abuse!

Click Here To View Book

Edmond Heatley, Beverly Hall, Crawford Lewis, Michael Hinojosa, Alvin Wilbanks, Will Schofield, et al., & The Case For Elected Superintendents! 

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Do You Think That Kings Henry II & VIII Could Have Gotten Elected?

By John R. Alston Trotter, EdD, JD

          I am still surprised that DeKalb and Atlanta and Clayton did not and do not break down the doors to beseech Dr. Sam King to come and help.  He may well have put out the word that he was not interested.   I don't know.  It appeared that Cobb County was locked in on him recently, but contract negotiations apparently fell through.  Dr. King seems an exception to the rule that appointed superintendents of large school systems have to be arrogant, insensitive, and rather brutish in their dealings with subordinates.  I realize that Rockdale County is not the same size as DeKalb, Cobb, Gwinnett, Fulton, Clayton, or Atlanta City -- or Los Angeles, New York City, Miami, and Chicago for that matter -- but Rockdale is not small either.  It is a highly congested county in the Metro Atlanta area with Interstate 20 dissecting the county.  It is growing, but it will not be able to grow too much more because it is geographically one of the smallest counties in Georgia.  This year Dr. King's superintendent-colleagues named him the Georgia Superintendent of the Year.  His career has essentially been unblemished, and those who have worked for Dr. King in Rockdale and Clayton Counties have high praise for him. Someone might wonder why I have Alvin Wilbanks in my heading above?  Why not?  His hubris is the main factor.  His arrogant manner of dealing with State mandates is, quite frankly, amazing...whether it is the mandate about reporting serious disciplinary infractions (I suppose that he "forgot" to report the 45,000 incidents for one year a few years back) or the Georgia Statute governing grievances filed by certificated employees.  Also, do you reckon Alvin Wilbanks can get a hold on the millions of dollars that the Gwinnett County School Board appears to be paying for property to build schools?  Mr. Wilbanks and the school board should be custodians of the Gwinnett County taxpayers' money.

         Dr. Sam King's reputation is a far cry from the reputations of the above-named superintendents, and the apparent relative contentment in Rockdale County is a far cry from the rancor and rumblings from the those associated with Clayton County, Atlanta City, DeKalb County, Dallas Independent (Texas), Gwinnett County, or Hall County under the dubious, obstinate, truculent, and recalcitrant leadership of Edmond Heatley, Beverly Hall, Crawford Lewis, Michael Hinojosa, Alvin Wilbanks, and Will Schofield.  Someone may be wondering, "Why are you beating up on Michael Hinojosa before he gets on the job in Cobb County?"  Well, what is research for?  Aren't we looking into someone's past to see if there might be a pattern?  Might this pattern portend of things to come?  A superintendent's action in the past more than likely will be a harbinger of things to come.  Do you think that the Atlanta Board of Education (I know many or maybe all of the current members were not on the school board when Beverly Hall was appointed superintendent in 1999) wishes that it had paid more attention to shambles in which Hall apparently left the Newark, New Jersey schools?  What about the Clayton County Board of Education and Edmond Heatley's performance in Chino Valley, California?
 

        So many of the large school system superintendents are cut from the same cloth.  I have written about these gypsy superintendents on a number of occasions in the MACE website at www.theteachersadvocate.com. They are ego- and money-driven...and are willing uproot themselves from family, friends, community, and church or synagogue to traverse the country to secure more money and power.  They usually bring with them (or hire almost immediately) members of their Cult Family.  And, usually, they usher in a Horror Show.  Working in a school system run by these people with insufficient egos (which have to be constantly massaged) is a harrowing experience, one that cannot be explained unless you have actually experienced it yourself.  Can we say, "Dante's Inferno"?  Ha!  This type of action from appointed superintendents are not confined just to large school systems.  It can happen -- and does happen often but not as much -- in small school systems.  For example, even recently, I hear rumbling all the way up near Lake Hartwell.  There appears to be rumblings in the Hart County School System under newly appointed superintendent Jerry Bell.  He was appointed superintendent on a 3-1-1 vote, with Chairperson Brenda Jordan voting against Bell being appointed superintendent.

          These appointed superintendents in general remind me of King Henry II of England and his wailing words which were interpreted by his Knights that he wanted his erstwhile friend, Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury,  to be assassinated.  Becket was assassinated in the Canterbury Cathedral.  I presume that Henry II initially demurred being responsible, though he later engaged in public penance.  Or what about King Henry VIII having his erstwhile and trusted Chancellor, Sir Thomas More (later Saint Thomas More), decapitated essentially because he quietly demurred about Henry VIII's determination to tossed his wife, Catherine of Aragon, to the proverbial curb in favor of marrying his mistress, Anne Boleyn, ostensibly because he wanted a male heir?  Oh, charges of treason were trumped up against the conscientious and honorable Sir Thomas More -- just like they are against the same type of honest folks in a school system by a self-willed superintendent's sycophantic staffers.  History is replete with strong-willed people wanting to have their way come hell or high water.  Likewise, these egomaniacal superintendents have absolutely ruined public education and many good public school educators in the process.  The appointed superintendents act like mercurial kings, intent on having all to genuflect before them and to kiss the Royal Ring.
 

        Truly, the office of superintendent of schools should be elected by the people.  If "appointed" superintendents are so good, then while not "appoint" the U. S. Senators like we did up into the Twentieth Century?  Taking politics out of schools?  Ha!  I'd rather have superintendents who have to put their work before the people.  Do you think Beverly Hall or Crawford Lewis or Edmond Heatley could have gotten or could get 20% of the voters to approve of them?  I doubt it.  I prefer true and open politics in the school systems over closed dictatorial systems.  From what I have observed for decades, I conclude that the appointed superintendency is a flawed model.  Heck, don't we still elect the State Superintendent here in Georgia?  I don't see a lot of people complaining about Dr. John Barge.  Don't we elect all Governors and all Presidents?  If it is good for these offices, then why not for those people who have inordinate power over the lives of up to 10,000 to 12,000 employees and budgets in the billions of dollars?  It makes no sense to appointed these leaders.  Like Mayors and other representatives of the people, the school superintendents ought to be elected again. 

          In Georgia before the Constitutional Amendment was passed in the early 1990s, I had witnessed school systems which had grand jury appointed school boards and appointed superintendents (like Muscogee County), elected school boards and appointed superintendents (like DeKalb County, Green County, Dalton City and a host of other counties), appointed school boards and elected superintendents (like Washington County), and elected school boards and elected superintendents (like Clayton County and many other counties).  Personally, I think that the elected school board and the elected superintendent model works best.  Now don't start coming at me with correlations about school systems with such and such models have higher test scores.  Correlations prove nothing.  If Iowa has the elected school board and the appointed superintendent model and the children in Iowa do well on standardized tests, this means nothing.  These kids would do well in any model.  The model does not cause the higher test score no more than it causes the snow in Iowa.  Correlations of this nature does not hold water -- uh, or snow in this example!

         The elected school board and elected superintendent puts politics above board.  This is quite refreshing.  There's nothing wrong with politics, as long as it is up front.  A wrong-headed, stubborn, and arrogant superintendent who treats employees and parents brusquely would not survive an election.  Thus, the electoral process rids the county or city of a bad superintendent.  If a superintendent only promotes kiss-ups and sycophants or sorority sisters and fraternity brothers, then superintendent would not survive the next election.  Furthermore, if the superintendent completely ignored disciplinary problems, swept them under the rug, and punished each employee who openly talked about the lack of discipline in the schools, then this superintendent would be kicked to the curb during the next election. (c)MACE, June 26, 2011.

Superintendent Edmond Heatley…Dark Days In Clayton County…The Most Despised Superintendent?

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Heatley Needs To Address Human Resources Under Doug Hendrix

 

By John R. Alston Trotter, EdD, JD    

     I have been around the block a few times in Clayton County when it comes to politics generally and school politics specifically.   I have never seen a superintendent in Clayton County who is so apparently despised by the employees of the school system as Edmond Heatley is.  I lived in Clayton County for 27 years, and during these years, I was intimately involved in the struggles over who would be the superintendent of the schools there.  It was indeed always a struggle...because, besides Delta Airlines, the Clayton County School System was the big employer in the county.  Clayton County was always considered a "red" county in the sense that it never pretended to be a "blue-blooded" county.  (Well, I take that back...some blue-blooded wannabes on Lake Spivey did try to have that air about them but we all knew that they were just one  generation from Forest Park or Mountainview blue collar...which is O. K.)  No real country clubs.  No YMCAs.  No real museums (the "Gone With The Wind" museum in the old train depot notwithstanding).  Just a working stiff county of good, red-blooded Americans who took  their politics very seriously.  Politics in Clayton County was indeed a "blood sport."  Ha!    

   For years, Ed Edmonds was the feisty superintendent of Clayton County.  He was short and bounced around like a bantam rooster.  No one ever doubted who was in control...when Ed Edmonds was at the helm.  Ironically, I believe that I recall that Mr. Edmonds originally hailed from the state of Kansas.  Back when Mr. Edmonds first took the helm of the schools, there was Jonesboro High and then Forest Park, the two huge rivals.  The location of the old Flat Rock High School (which is now covered by one of the new runways at Harstfield-Jackson International Airport at I-285 in northwest Clayton County) eventually became North Clayton High School.  Depending on his popularity at the time, I understand that the Clayton County legislative delegation would have the superintendency in Clayton County bouncing back and forth from appointed by the school board to elected by the people.  One old-timer told me that Mr. Edmonds might show up at a school faculty meeting and chew out everyone with spicy language, but after the meeting he would laugh and guffaw and hug the teachers.  He was one of a kind.  One of my best friends grew up in a house next door to the Edmonds's house on East Fayetteville Road in Jonesboro (up the street from the back entrance to what is now the Eula Ponds Perry Center).    

        Mr. Ernest Stroud was brought over from the West Georgia area by Mr. Edmonds to be the principal of Forest Park High School in its heyday.  I believe that Mr. Stroud arrived in Forest Park in 1958, only two years after Forest Park High School had won the State Championship in football, tearing up Randolph County in the State Finals in Cuthbert, Georgia.  (The division was Single A but back then Georgia had Divisions B and C as well.)  J. Charley Griswell, who later became the Clayton County political lion for the better half of four decades, was the star halfback on this championship team.  Coach Wally Butts of the University of Georgia signed Griswell to a full scholarship.  (I might add that the  two  most glorious football players at Forest Park High have been J. Charley Griswell and Hines Ward.)  Many eventual politicians like long-time State Representative Jimmy Benefield attended Forest Park in it glory years.  Stroud didn't stay there long...probably because Edmonds saw a diamond in the rough...or, better yet, didn't want Stroud to end up being his political rival.  So, Edmonds brought Stroud to the County Office to be his deputy.  Emmett Lee took Mr. Stroud's place as principal of Forest Park High.  Eventually he came one of Mr. Stroud's two Assistant Superintendents.  The other one was Dr. Clifford (Cliff) England, who had been principal of North Clayton High School.  Until Dr. Joe Lovin took office as Superintendent in January of 1987, Clayton County only had two Assistant Superintendents, and the county ran like a top, with the children actually behaving in the classroom, by and large.    

     When Mr. Edmonds retired, Mr. Stroud ran for superintendent and was elected superintendent in Clayton County in 1970, 1974, 1978, and 1982Mr. Stroud ruled Clayton County with an iron grip.  Like Mr. Edmonds (his mentor), you never doubted who was in control.  But, there was never the nasty animus toward him...like the kind that we hear about directed toward Heatley.  Now Stroud had his detractors, but his principals generally adored him.  But, they too were "his" people.  Very few, if any, women in the early years.  Only M. D. Robert, principal of the old Fountain High School, if I recall correctly, remained as an African American principal during the early days of integration.  (There had been another African American principal when M. D. Roberts was principal at Fountain High before desegregation.  I believe her name was Mrs. Velma Smith -- again, if I recall correctly.  After desegregation, the Jonesboro Colored Elementary School -- yes, the actual name -- was closed.  Now, it is the "White Annex" on Lee Street.)  But, Clayton's African American population was 3.5% during the 1970 CensusEddie White was Assistant Principal at Babb Jr. High in the old days.  He was the lone African American administrator when I arrived in Clayton County in 1982.  (After Dr. Bob Livingston was elected to superintendent, he promoted Mr. White to Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources in 1991.)  Mr. Henry Garner, an African  American who had administrative credentials, was never given an administrative position during the Stroud Era.  It wasn't until Dr. Joe Lovin was elected in 1986 that Mr. Garner was given an administrative job within the system.     

     Stroud chose not to run again in the 1986 election.  His top associate at the Central Office was Pete McQueen, a gregarious glad-hander who was considered to be a very effective principal at Morrow Jr. High School before he was brought to the Central Office to be Stroud's "kinder and gentler" assistant.  Pete could get along with just about anyone and was most gracious in his interactions with people.  But, his close association with the Stroud Regime is probably what cost him the election in 1986.  He garnered 46% of the vote to Republican Joe Lovin's 54%.  I suggested to Joe Lovin that he use "...for the children" on all of his signs, bumper stickers, and literature.  He did.  McQueen was still using the old hand-painted large plywood signs...with no motivational logo or slogan.  Lovin even put "...for the children" on the masthead of his stationary once he took office.  Lovin brought in a lot of his guys (mainly from principalships in the county).  But, when he reached out to Gwinnett County and brought in two Central Office guys and one principal for Jonesboro Middle School, this was  a little more than the local folk could take.  Plus, Joe Lovin was seen as a superintendent "soft" on discipline.  These factors did him in.  He lost in his own GOP Primary to John Williams, a former Director of Transportation in Clayton County who had had several run-ins with Dr. Lovin.    
    
     In the Fall of 1989 at a Jonesboro High-Forest Park High football game at Tara Stadium, Dr. Bob Livingston, the long-time principal at Mundy's Mill Middle (formerly Jr. HighSchool at the time, told me that he intended to run against Joe Lovin the next year for superintendent.  He asked me if I would help him.  I committed to do so.  (I too was disappointed with Dr. Lovin at that point.)  The powers-that-were in the county at the time were not behind Dr. Livingston's efforts.  They apparently went to Wilt Marchman who was the principal at Kemp Elementary, encouraging him to run.  Marchman eventually backed Livingston, as Livingston's campaign began to groundswell.  Livingston handedly defeated Deputy Superintendent Dr. Cliff England and Fulton administrator Dr. Marvin Reddish in the Democratic Primary, with no run-off necessary.  Livingston went on to defeat John Williams in the General Election, garnering more votes than any other politician besides Ronald Reagan in the history of Clayton County.  I focused on Dr. Livingston's image, writing some script and designing his logo and creating his slogan, beautiful if I may say so myself.  Dr. Livingston told me that one lady told him, "I voted for you just because of your signs."  They were indeed beautiful.  A special red.  A special yellow.  PMS colors, as I always used.  Special typeface.  Beautiful and aggressive brushstroke underneath the name.  The slogan?  Because Leadership Matters.  If may be so vain (and y'all know that I am - Ha!)...Dr. Livingston told me that one particular elected judge told him to "stick with Trotter -- he's a political genius."  Ha!  Do you think that I would write this if it were not true...especially with Bob and Bernice still living in Lake Spivey?  One thing that I will always say about Bob (besides being a good administrator) is that he is honest.  Honest to the core.     

     I could go on and tell you all of the details about how Dr. Joe Hairston became the first appointed superintendent of Clayton County under the provisions of the new Georgia Constitutional Amendment.  I could tell you the gory details of how we got rid of him.  He,  like virtually all "national" superintendents, was arrogant and very unpopular in Clayton County.  Then a came Dan Colwell.  Dan was a popular local choice, and Mike Barnes, Mark Armstrong, and I cut the deal at Riverdale Radiator that got rid of Hairston and put Colwell in his place.  (Some folks whom I had recruited and had helped get elected at that point were totally dissatisfied with Hairston and wanted him gone, even though qualifying for elections was only four months off.  Hairston left in January of 2000, and Colwell was appointed that same night as Interim Superintendent.  The same ones on the school board who made it possible for Colwell to be superintendent became disenchanted with him when he treated them  brusquely in public.  I witnessed Colwell's inexplicable treatment of these school board members.  After the 2002 election, three new board members arrived (two incumbents had been defeated).  In January of 2003, Nedra Ware and Gang cut Colwell with the dull edge in public, which proved to be a big mistake.  Ware handled this situation very poorly, and the whole episode became a cauldron in the media.  Naturally, I was blamed for everything.  Ha!  Against my advice, Nedra Ware and Gang hired  Dr. William Chavis as the Interim Superintendent        

     In 2004, Ericka Davis led the efforts to hire Dr. Barbara Pulliam (I think her surname is now Davis) of Minnesota (by way of Maryland and Illinois).  Another very unpopular superintendent.  It took the school board a good while to finally settle on a choice.  One school board member, Linda Crummy, who had  earlier bolted the Nedra Ware Gang -- by the way, I had already called for their resignations a year earlier -- said to me:  "John, they are trying to find someone whom you don't know."  Some have credited Linda Crummy for "saving" the school system since she broke from Ware's coalition since it had dropped from six votes to five votes after Dr. Sue Ryan had stepped down.  (Believe me or not -- I don't care -- but I had encouraged, via an intermediary, Dr. Ryan to step down from the school board, which she did.  Now Ware only had four votes out of nine.  She was through.  I have always been pretty good in Basic Math.)          

     Back to Pulliam...I knew what I knew about John Thompson and Edmond Heatley (just doing a modicum of research) that she was going to be disastrous.  Just like when we warned the school board not to hire Heatley, we did the same thing when the school board was contemplating hiring Pulliam.  We picketed inside the school board meeting.  But, the school board had made up its mind.  She cam.  She too was enormously unpopular.  Even Ericka Davis was totally throught with Barbara Pulliam by early 2007.   I even  posed a question on the Clayton News/Daily blog (back then you could start your own topics).  I posed the following:  Is Pulliam's Time Up?  This topic got more comments than any topic ever put on this blog.  Over 2,600 comments.  No telling how many views it had.  Well, the newspaper finally shut down the blog.  (Some folks claim that it was my actions that got the blog shut down.  Ha!)    

     After Pulliam came three straight Interim Superintendents...Dr. Gloria Duncan, Dr. Valya Lee, and the inexplicable one, Dr. John Thompson, another of these "national" supes who too was extremely unpopular.  Finally, in the Spring of 2009, the Clayton County brought in a person who by all indications was unpopular where he was stationed at the time, Chino Valley, California.  Why?  Who knows?  Dr. Sam King was ready to come "home," if the Clayton County Board of Education had only asked him to come.  I know because he told me so.  No, Alieka Anderson and Pam Adamson led the way to bring in Edmond Healtey who, in my opinion, has been the most unpopular and despised superintendent in the history of  the Clayton County Schools.  He and his apparent Kappa Alpha Psi sidekick, Douglas Hendrix in Human Resources, have been the apparent source of much frustration and angst on the part of the school system employees.  I know that Edmond Heatley and Douglas (Doug) Hendrix refuse to process the grievances as mandated by O.C.G.A. 20-2-989.5 et seq.  In fact, we picketed Doug Hendrix in the rain before Edmond Heatley ever arrived in Clayton County    

     Now Heatley is calling upon the Clayton community to support the schools.  He held a news conference a couple of days ago, and  in this conference, he even referenced rumors about his resigning from the superintendency.  The "comments" after the article in the Clayton News/Daily about his news conference were overwhelmingly negative comments about Heatley.  Such a news conference will not solve Heatley's problems or change the feelings on the ground in Clayton County    

     I suggest that if Heatley wants to turn around his vast unpopularity in Clayton County, he needs to start in Human Resources.  He needs to process employee grievances according to Georgia law.  He needs to quit inordinately installing folks from California and Kappa Alpha Psi into the administrative positions.  Teachers are howling for change.  I have personally talked to enough of them to know that it's reaching a boiling point.  I have personally known and interacted with a bunch of superintendents in Clayton County (Stroud, Lovin, Livingston, Colwell, Chavis, Pulliam, Duncan, and Lee).  I only met Hairston (I never even wanted sit down with him), and I encountered Heatley just once when I confronted him at a school board meeting about violating the State's grievance law.  I never even met John Thompson.  He was here and gone in a lickety split.  I have seen them come and go.  Unless Heatley drastically changes his ways, he is on his way out.  He may not know it yet, but his professional tenure in Clayton County will come to a screeching halt.  I have always said that Clayton County is "graveyard for superintendents." When have you ever known one to willingly and graciously leave on his or her own?  I haven't known one.  Stroud didn't run in 1986 but most everyone knew that his days were numbered, although he was considered by many in Georgia to be the State's strongest superintendent.  One fellow who ended up in the Deputy Superintendent's seat in Clayton County, reminisced:  "Trotter, we all thought you were crazy in the old days when you took on Mr. Stroud!"  I am still "crazy."  In addition to Mr. Stroud, I have personally  watched nine more  Clayton County superintendents come and go.  I am still "crazy," and I'm still around.     

      Just an afterthought...If Edmond Heatley had to run in a Democratic  Primary (or Republican -- but this party is virtually dead locally in Clayton County), I don't think that he could scratch 30% of the vote.  He is just that unpopular in Clayton County.  My slogan options?   "Promote the Children & Demote the Sarge!"  "Save our Schools & Bust the Sarge!"  "Stop the Clayton Gold Rush!  Send the Californians Packing!"  "Let's Go Clayco!  Bye, Bye Malibu!"  "Say Nope to Nupe!  Bye, Bye Kappa Alpha Psi!"  I better stop, heh?  Gotta to go eat anyway! 

Click Here For More About Heatley.

MACE Holiday Bash 2009!

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Click Here For More 2009 Holdiay Bash Photos!

MACE Holday Bash 2008!

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The MACE Holiday BASHers had lots of fun!

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...and they won lots of money and awards!

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To Administrators, "The Prince of Darkness"?

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Dr. Trotter won boxing ring announcer of the year!

Cry Baby Mark Elgart, SACS


 Dysfunctional BOE Hires Dracula!

BOE Violates Law (Again),
Hires Superintendent Against
Own Lawyer's Advice!

What is going on with the dysfunctional Clayton County BOE?  As Norreese Haynes repeatedly said, BOE routinely violates law by holding illegal executive sessions!

AJC Article about Latest BOE Resignations

 Reseat Norreese Haynes!


       

MACE Currency.
Empowerment's Worth

MACE is that "radical teachers union" that the Atlanta Journal-Constitution talks about and so describes. But why is MACE "radical"? Because teachers are currently given no respect in Georgia. In many Georgia schools, administrators treat teachers like dogs, blaming the teachers for every ill within the public schooling process. That's why MACE is a "radical teachers union." MACE does not accept the stupid and sophomoric notion that if students aren't learning, then it is automatically the teachers' fault. This concept is radically wrong. It is based on erroneous theory. Public schools are not assembly lines with teachers working on inanimate and equitably-divided raw materials. This bureaucratic, assembly-line (a la Max Weber) approach to the public schooling process is radically wrong-headed, and this ill-advised approach to public education produces radically wrong results. Administrators become angry and abusive. Parents become irate and irresponsible. Students become defiant and disruptive. All three groups (administrators, parents, and students) shift the responsibilities from their proper locations onto the professional laps of the teachers. It is a classic case of displacing the blame. Teachers can teach the students, but teachers cannot learn the students. (That's not even proper English.) No wonder our younger generation of college students do not want to be professional educators! They have witnessed teachers being treated so unprofessionally for so long. This is why MACE is a "radical teachers union." MACE radically addresses radically wrong premises, radically wrong situations, and radically wrong treatment.

Yes, as long as the treatment of public school teachers is radically wrong, MACE will continue to address this issue radically. Any other response would be radically wrong. With MACE, teachers get the respect that they deserve, and, unlike GAE and PAGE, MACE represents only teachers, not administrators. Hey, that is radical!

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Roswell North Elementary School has never seen such excitement!

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Roswell North students and teachers deserve better than Principal Huff!

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