Reply to How was the meeting with the admin meeting last week at BASIS?

Forum Index » DC Public and Public Charter Schools

Reply to "How was the meeting with the admin meeting last week at BASIS?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Very ironic and hypocritical of you, you make one vicious personal attack and accusation after another, then deride others for ad hominems.  You insist that we have to take the word of a child, yet refuse to believe the word of an adult.  And - at the same time, you essentially accuse Cameron Louis of being a child, discriminating against him for being in his late 20s, yet you don't want to believe him either.  All over the place with zero consistency and making zero sense.  My bedside manner?  Take a look at your own.  Mine's maybe not great, but it's certainly no worse than your own behavior has been in these threads.  I should look in the mirror 24 hours from now?  I suggest you do the same.

And guess what:  you don't have to be an 8th grader to have been there from the start. BASIS DC started in 2012, and had a 5th grade class in its very first year - they were 6th graders last year, and are currently 7th graders.  So, you are wrong, and making no sense, yet again.  Given that there's so much in these accusations that's already been irrefutably proven to be wrong or nonsensical by various posters, maybe you should start doing a bit more listening, and engaging in a bit more rational thought, and actually researching the facts (such as published school policy or simple math on how long BASIS has been in operation) rather than constantly lashing out at everyone and repeating the same incorrect information over and over again.  And if you are incapable of doing that and making rational, factual postings, then maybe you shouldn't be posting at all.[/quote]

As I said last night, sir, I did not think that either of us would like ourselves in the morning.  Or in the mirror.  I admitted that.  And finally have your admission as well.  That was supposed to be a kind of peace out, go have another glass of wine, let's end this now.

Yet you continue.  I would never have been capable of being a Basis student.  I am not good at math.  And I tend to think of my kids and the grades they are in, so yes, you are right, if your child started in 5th you have been here from the beginning.  My apologies.

[b]You insist that we have to take the word of a child, yet refuse to believe the word of an adult.[/b]

I do insist that we have to believe the words of children.  Thus far, I have heard nothing from any adults in the administration on this matter, so I'm not sure whose word I am refusing to believe.

We have to believe our children in general, because when adults in the room want to CYA after the fact they will lie.  Anything they say about what was said is hearsay as well, except, unfortunately, what the man repeats about what the man said, which the teacher might back him up on.  However, I am not sure he thinks he did anything wrong.

Someone might have gotten the pure version in all its glory had they asked him the day after.  But as far as I can tell, no one thought it necessary to ask, even though this is his first year at the school, and so there is the possibility that he needs guidance and mentoring, and when such a significant event occurs, a recap at the end of the day to see what could have been done better, or what should not have been done at all.

As I noted previously, the silence of our Head of School here is one of the aspects of this incident that I find the most problematic of all.

So therefore I don't have "the word" of an adult to take over "the words" of an entire section of children. All we have are their fairly consistent versions of what the bottom line was, and it is profoundly disturbing to me and should disturb all parents because without someone telling the Dean what he did was wrong, it may be your child next.

When kids are upset and confused because their grades have been threatened, adults [b]need[/b] to step in and clarify the situation.  Period.  Even if the only reason they are upset is because they are confused.

Basis is all about academic performance.  He threatened them all academically in a way to which they cannot respond by working harder in their Chemistry class, or even finding out who took the candy.  There is nothing they can do right now except wonder what specifically he intends to do to their grades.

In a school where kids get extra credit for not having to use the bathroom during class periods, I understand their fear.

[b]And - at the same time, you essentially accuse Cameron Louis of being a child, discriminating against him for being in his late 20s, yet you don't want to believe him either.[/b]

Mr. Louis has said nothing on the matter, thus I cannot speak to his childishness or lack thereof in this particular situation.  Nor is there anything that he has said for me not to believe.

What I can and did speak to is his silence, which I believe is wrong here, and indicates that perhaps he is not capable of being our leader.  Neither was the first man given the job, and I have no idea of his age.  Age has no bearing on this matter, and I do not know why you brought it up.

However, I personally do not think he has enough experience to hold the position that he does.  Part of that is a function of age - it takes a certain number of years to get the kind of experience I am referring to, but part of it seems to be just a lack of introspection.  I am not explaining this well.

Had he sent an email to the entire class via their parents the following day saying

"we are so sorry about what happened in 8La.  The Dean was wrong to threaten all of you with academic consequences for the actions of one student.  I want to assure you that your grades will not be affected by this incident, and I have spoken to him and he now understands that at Basis, the only thing that determines students' grades is their own academic performance.  Again, I am deeply sorry for any confusion or anxiety this has caused.  We respect all the hard work you are doing, and we believe that you should be treated with respect.  If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me."

or something akin to that, we would not be having the issues that we now face as a school, and the students would not still be upset, although some of their parents might be.

Two of the Basis Tenets: Take Responsibility, and Make Improvement?
  
That, and a strong talking to so the Dean understood how grossly inappropriate his behavior was, could have avoided all the angst, confusion, which because of the time lapse in some parents has now turned to fury, and questions about his competence to lead a school that we all deeply care about and want to succeed.

Most of the time my children are very happy there, and I believe they are getting the best education available outside of Arizona.  When they are not, I endeavor to find out why and to try to fix it.

I think in this particular situation however, that was Mr. Louis's job, not mine, not my kids, not other parents.  Just his.

And that he should have stepped up and dealt with it immediately.  Inaction in this situation was inappropriate.

Had he consulted the former Head, I think he would have been told to do something ASAP.  Last year we had someone who was prepared to admit mistakes and learn from them, two of the signs of a good leader who knows he out of his element for whatever reason, no matter how much experience he had running another Basis school.

Thus far I have seen no indication that Mr. Louis possesses either of these qualities.  And when it comes to running a Basis school in Washington DC, everyone is inexperienced.  Chronological age cannot compensate for that.

Based exclusively on his behavior concerning this matter, I do not believe that he is qualified to be our Head.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics