Extra Points
In light of board member Varoz peddling his latest letter around the community formally calling for my resignation I have been struggling with whether to just ignore what he is doing once again or to confront his opinions and accusations head on. I have a personal belief that when lies are spread, and continually repeated, they tend to take hold as if they are truth. Thus, I have decided to publish this special edition of "Extra Points" to do my best to expose Varoz's letter on my terms and to address the issues he cites leading to his support of board member Sanchez in asking me to resign my position as superintendent of schools in Center, Colorado.
I have attached photos of Varoz' latest letter. Strangely, of all the people he has passed it out to, he has somehow left me off his mailing list. I find this ironic since if he is calling for me to resign he just might want to make sure I know about it. I apologize that it is difficult to read, but I encourage each of you to do so as I assume this is a true indication of his beliefs about the Center School District and my personal performance as its chief executive officer.
Unlike his personal tactics (and he has contacted me personally only one time since being elected to the board), this opinion piece will be sent directly to him, as I have done with every communication of this kind I have written. He will not have to get it second hand from somebody else in the community as I have had to do with most of his communication attempts.
I have attached photos of Varoz' latest letter. Strangely, of all the people he has passed it out to, he has somehow left me off his mailing list. I find this ironic since if he is calling for me to resign he just might want to make sure I know about it. I apologize that it is difficult to read, but I encourage each of you to do so as I assume this is a true indication of his beliefs about the Center School District and my personal performance as its chief executive officer.
Unlike his personal tactics (and he has contacted me personally only one time since being elected to the board), this opinion piece will be sent directly to him, as I have done with every communication of this kind I have written. He will not have to get it second hand from somebody else in the community as I have had to do with most of his communication attempts.
Varoz Calls for My Resignation
The Continuing Saga of the Alternative to Expulsion Program
In his latest letter, as has been stated in nearly all of his communications since March, Varoz once again accuses the district, perhaps me personally, of "abusing" or "torturing" a child in our Alternative to Expulsion program by locking him in a "cell." I realize many Center Schools staff members know the true full story behind this concern, but I am not sure community members are fully aware. In order to put his claims into perspective I offer you the following information:
Upon being elected to the board of education, and immediately after being sworn in at a special meeting in December, Varoz and Sanchez voted against sending Dennis Schoenfelder's Junior Olympics Cross Country competitors to the national meet in Georgia they had earned entry to and raised money to attend. Having been shocked into a feeling that we are not to spend money on kids as we once did, Center High School principal Kevin Jones and Skoglund Middle School principal Carrie Zimmerman, needing to fill the temporary position of Alternative to Expulsion program supervisor, proposed a plan to have an employee split time supervising it while conducting their regular duties. Upon further reflection I realize I should not have approved this recommendation. However, coming from the same mindset of no longer being allowed to spend money, I passed their recommendation on to the board of education and it was approved by all members, Sanchez and Varoz included. Fast forward to February 2014 when the alleged incident occurred in which a student placed in our Alternative to Expulsion program claimed he was forced to urinate in a bottle. One of his parents reported this to Varoz and Sanchez (but surprisingly not to anyone at the school), Varoz and Sanchez personally came to the district to investigate the matter, found things that caused them to have concerns about the program, then sat on that information without contacting me about it for three weeks until the next board meeting took place. They also reported the alleged incident to the Center Police Department, Saguache County Department of Social Services, and the District Attorney. Each organization investigated these concerns and found no issues with our program. At that next board meeting Varoz and Sanchez did their best to publicly shame the district regarding the matter. In the interim Skoglund Middle School principal Carrie Zimmerman did an investigation and found, while the child may have chosen to urinate in a bottle while in his isolation cubicle, he was never forced to do so because of program protocols.
The incident caused the district to take a close look at its Alternative to Expulsion program policy, to review the history and subsequent academic success of every student who was ever placed in it, and to codify program practice in writing in the form of an administrative policy that took into account EVERY concern Varoz ever voiced. You are welcome to view the current policy at this link. I even personally commended Varoz for pressing us on this work in my August 17th issue of Keeping Our Focus. Unfortunately in the letter attached above he claims he voiced his concerns "to no avail." Phil, that is a statement many of us would call a lie. Why are you lying about this?
This good policy work was done at our August board meeting, after what I thought was a productive governing team trust building session with a Colorado Association of School Boards representative present. However, instead of being satisfied with this effort, Varoz proceeded to send a slew of letters to the Colorado State Board of Education about the matter, while also peddling more letters of concern around the community. CDE has already investigated and, just like the Center Police Department, the District Attorney, and the Saguache County Department of Social Services, has concluded Varoz's complaint is groundless and the district should deal with his concerns only as a matter of local interest.
Upon being elected to the board of education, and immediately after being sworn in at a special meeting in December, Varoz and Sanchez voted against sending Dennis Schoenfelder's Junior Olympics Cross Country competitors to the national meet in Georgia they had earned entry to and raised money to attend. Having been shocked into a feeling that we are not to spend money on kids as we once did, Center High School principal Kevin Jones and Skoglund Middle School principal Carrie Zimmerman, needing to fill the temporary position of Alternative to Expulsion program supervisor, proposed a plan to have an employee split time supervising it while conducting their regular duties. Upon further reflection I realize I should not have approved this recommendation. However, coming from the same mindset of no longer being allowed to spend money, I passed their recommendation on to the board of education and it was approved by all members, Sanchez and Varoz included. Fast forward to February 2014 when the alleged incident occurred in which a student placed in our Alternative to Expulsion program claimed he was forced to urinate in a bottle. One of his parents reported this to Varoz and Sanchez (but surprisingly not to anyone at the school), Varoz and Sanchez personally came to the district to investigate the matter, found things that caused them to have concerns about the program, then sat on that information without contacting me about it for three weeks until the next board meeting took place. They also reported the alleged incident to the Center Police Department, Saguache County Department of Social Services, and the District Attorney. Each organization investigated these concerns and found no issues with our program. At that next board meeting Varoz and Sanchez did their best to publicly shame the district regarding the matter. In the interim Skoglund Middle School principal Carrie Zimmerman did an investigation and found, while the child may have chosen to urinate in a bottle while in his isolation cubicle, he was never forced to do so because of program protocols.
The incident caused the district to take a close look at its Alternative to Expulsion program policy, to review the history and subsequent academic success of every student who was ever placed in it, and to codify program practice in writing in the form of an administrative policy that took into account EVERY concern Varoz ever voiced. You are welcome to view the current policy at this link. I even personally commended Varoz for pressing us on this work in my August 17th issue of Keeping Our Focus. Unfortunately in the letter attached above he claims he voiced his concerns "to no avail." Phil, that is a statement many of us would call a lie. Why are you lying about this?
This good policy work was done at our August board meeting, after what I thought was a productive governing team trust building session with a Colorado Association of School Boards representative present. However, instead of being satisfied with this effort, Varoz proceeded to send a slew of letters to the Colorado State Board of Education about the matter, while also peddling more letters of concern around the community. CDE has already investigated and, just like the Center Police Department, the District Attorney, and the Saguache County Department of Social Services, has concluded Varoz's complaint is groundless and the district should deal with his concerns only as a matter of local interest.
Center Should be Ashamed of Academic Growth?
Next Varoz' letter claims that I somehow mislead the community because we are proud of the tremendous increase the district has shown in TCAP achievement at elementary levels, and the wonderful growth our secondary students make on a year to year basis as measured by the Colorado TCAP growth model. According to him and Sanchez we should all be "ashamed" of taking our students from the academic point at which they arrive (out of our control on a year to year basis) and grow them more than most every district in our region grows their kids during a school year? We should be "ashamed" to have gone from Accreditation Priority Improvement back in 2010 to being Fully Accredited this year? His basis for this position is steeped solely in his scratch the surface analysis of our 2014 11th grade ACT results. In his letter requesting my resignation he states that only 1 of 40 of our class of 2015 students will be "college ready."
In my September 14, 2014 issue of Keeping Our Focus I performed a bit of a deeper analysis of our 2014 ACT results than Phil has done. I encourage each of you to read it at this link. However, let's go ahead and humor Varoz by assuming the report attached to our 2014 11th grade ACT results is a true indicator of how college ready our students are. The report he refers to says that only 3% of our 40 tested are college ready in all 4 ACT tested areas. This is the chart he cites.
2014 ACT
Unfortunately we can’t yet predict how last year’s 11th graders will do when they get to college. However, if we look at the same exact chart representing the results of the Center Schools 2012 graduates when they tested on ACT in 2011, we can compare their performance to the Class of 2015, we can compare their college readiness, AND we can actually see how they are doing in college RIGHT NOW!
2011 ACT
As can be seen by this second chart, even a lower percentage of our future Center Schools graduates were deemed “college ready” by this 2011 ACT report. However, if you go to the Colorado Department of Higher Education website at this link that tracks the graduates of each school district in the state you will find the following interesting information:
Varoz, could you please quit telling our kids they are doomed to failure after graduating from Center High School?
Here are some charts related to this you are welcome to peruse. All local school district information is in black. Statewide statistics are shown in gray.
- 47.2% of actual 2012 Center Schools graduates are currently enrolled in a 2 or 4 year college.
- They accumulated an average of 25.4 credit hours each (equal to full time college participation).
- They earned a grade point average of 2.56.
- More Center Hispanics, 45.2%, are attending college than the state average for Hispanics, 41.6%.
- More Center Anglos, 75.0%, are attending college than the state average for Anglos, 62.8%
- More Center Schools students, 36.1%, took college level courses WHILE STILL IN HIGH SCHOOL than the state average in Colorado, 21.2%, earning an average of 19.5 college credits each, compared to the state average of 12.1.
Varoz, could you please quit telling our kids they are doomed to failure after graduating from Center High School?
Here are some charts related to this you are welcome to peruse. All local school district information is in black. Statewide statistics are shown in gray.
Our Superintendent's Work Ethic?
In the final section of Varoz’s letter he voices his extreme concern about my work habits, especially those related to my advocating for the interests of Center Schools in venues around the state, country, and globe.
I really don’t know how to address this charge because he and I are clearly at a serious philosophical disagreement regarding the role of a superintendent of schools in the 21st century as opposed to that of one who served in the 20th century.
The most recent time the board of education established my job priorities they were listed as follows: The Superintendent should support the Board of Education in its governance of the school district, should establish and operate a district level collaborative leadership system to guide the district’s vision and academic improvement processes, should guide the establishment of a district vision, mission and set of core beliefs, then communicate and promote these purposes to the entire educational community, should ensure every teacher in every subject at every grade level has access to a quality curriculum aligned to current Colorado standards, should ensure every teacher in every subject at every grade level has access the resources they need to teach the curriculum, should ensure that student learning of the curriculum is measured summatively on a periodic basis and these learning results are used to drive future instructional improvement, should ensure that all teachers are guided by a building administrator who supports their professional growth and instructional improvement, should support building administrators in their efforts to lead school improvement processes through the provision of quality building leadership development and effective evaluative feedback, should support building administrators in requiring teachers to teach the curriculum in a way that continually measures student learning and engages all students, should establish processes to effectively allocate district resources and align their use to support the district’s academic improvement processes, should ensure there is effective supervision and operation of business, facilities, transportation, food service and technology departments, should advocate for the greater political interests of the school district at the county, state and national level, and should develop a trusting collaborative relationship with local, state, and national teacher associations.
If you would like to see how the Center educational community rated me in regard to my work on these priorities, please visit this link to see the survey feedback offered to the board of education for the past two years in regard to these particular priorities. Until a majority of the board of education changes these work priorities I will continue to conduct my duties as I have been. Additionally, I wonder if by unilaterally deciding in the middle of a contract THE most important thing in regard to evaluating the Center School District superintendent would be one year ACT results of 40 students (many who have only been in the district for fewer than two years) Varoz and Sanchez have left themselves, and the district, open to being held liable for veering outside of district policy in terms of determining the effectiveness of its superintendent? Is this the way good board members represent the interests of their community?
To humor Varoz regarding his claim that I am somehow not fulfilling my 220-day contract, I have printed and highlighted two of my past years work calendars, as well as this year's calendar (through the end of September). For my 2012-13 calendar year I calculated how many days I was working in the district, how many days I conducted my duties out of the Valley, and how many days I was working for the district for some part of the day somewhere in the San Luis Valley other than Center. I chose my 12-13 contract year because that was when I served as Colorado Association of School Executives president and spent the most time out of the district I ever have during my career. As it turns out, from the beginning of July 2012, to the end of June 2013 I worked 141 full days in the district, along with 67 during which I was engaged in activities that took me out of the San Luis Valley, and an additional 30 days during which part of my work day was spent somewhere else in the San Luis Valley. I did not count weekend days, though there were many of those worked. I also didn't include the roughly 8 hours per week I spend answering email while at home in the evenings and on weekends. A little simple math will show I worked a total of 238 days for the district that year, more than fulfilling my 220 day work contract. In fact Varoz, perhaps the district owes payment to me for an additional 18 days of work outside of my contract. Sanchez, can you do the math on this? Does it total 60% of my time spent out of the district as you state in your call for me to resign?
Of course I am not asking for more pay from the district. I am simply hoping that Varoz and Sanchez might recognize that I more than fulfill the requirements of my employment contract. I get that they don't think anything can be learned to benefit the district and its students at a Colorado Association of School Executives, a Colorado School Boards Association, or an International Lindamood-Bell Reading Conference held in Anaheim, California (conveniently located to Disneyland where I paid my own dollars to bring my wife and child along so they could enjoy the amusement park while I attended and presented at the conference). I beg to differ with them about this. I also think our other school board members, most of the staff I lead, and many community members in Center value a superintendent who models the habit of life-long learning and growth.
Each of you are welcome to judge how I spend my time to lead the district. Attached for you at this link are my 2012-13, 2013-14, and year-to-date 2014-15 work calendars. You are welcome to count how many days I am here in the district (not highlighted on calendars), how many days I am on the road out of the Valley on behalf of the district (highlighted in green), how many days I am on the road in the San Luis Valley on behalf of the district (highlighted in purple), and even the days I take care of my personal health by exercising and utilizing vacation or personal days (highlighted in yellow).
I really don’t know how to address this charge because he and I are clearly at a serious philosophical disagreement regarding the role of a superintendent of schools in the 21st century as opposed to that of one who served in the 20th century.
The most recent time the board of education established my job priorities they were listed as follows: The Superintendent should support the Board of Education in its governance of the school district, should establish and operate a district level collaborative leadership system to guide the district’s vision and academic improvement processes, should guide the establishment of a district vision, mission and set of core beliefs, then communicate and promote these purposes to the entire educational community, should ensure every teacher in every subject at every grade level has access to a quality curriculum aligned to current Colorado standards, should ensure every teacher in every subject at every grade level has access the resources they need to teach the curriculum, should ensure that student learning of the curriculum is measured summatively on a periodic basis and these learning results are used to drive future instructional improvement, should ensure that all teachers are guided by a building administrator who supports their professional growth and instructional improvement, should support building administrators in their efforts to lead school improvement processes through the provision of quality building leadership development and effective evaluative feedback, should support building administrators in requiring teachers to teach the curriculum in a way that continually measures student learning and engages all students, should establish processes to effectively allocate district resources and align their use to support the district’s academic improvement processes, should ensure there is effective supervision and operation of business, facilities, transportation, food service and technology departments, should advocate for the greater political interests of the school district at the county, state and national level, and should develop a trusting collaborative relationship with local, state, and national teacher associations.
If you would like to see how the Center educational community rated me in regard to my work on these priorities, please visit this link to see the survey feedback offered to the board of education for the past two years in regard to these particular priorities. Until a majority of the board of education changes these work priorities I will continue to conduct my duties as I have been. Additionally, I wonder if by unilaterally deciding in the middle of a contract THE most important thing in regard to evaluating the Center School District superintendent would be one year ACT results of 40 students (many who have only been in the district for fewer than two years) Varoz and Sanchez have left themselves, and the district, open to being held liable for veering outside of district policy in terms of determining the effectiveness of its superintendent? Is this the way good board members represent the interests of their community?
To humor Varoz regarding his claim that I am somehow not fulfilling my 220-day contract, I have printed and highlighted two of my past years work calendars, as well as this year's calendar (through the end of September). For my 2012-13 calendar year I calculated how many days I was working in the district, how many days I conducted my duties out of the Valley, and how many days I was working for the district for some part of the day somewhere in the San Luis Valley other than Center. I chose my 12-13 contract year because that was when I served as Colorado Association of School Executives president and spent the most time out of the district I ever have during my career. As it turns out, from the beginning of July 2012, to the end of June 2013 I worked 141 full days in the district, along with 67 during which I was engaged in activities that took me out of the San Luis Valley, and an additional 30 days during which part of my work day was spent somewhere else in the San Luis Valley. I did not count weekend days, though there were many of those worked. I also didn't include the roughly 8 hours per week I spend answering email while at home in the evenings and on weekends. A little simple math will show I worked a total of 238 days for the district that year, more than fulfilling my 220 day work contract. In fact Varoz, perhaps the district owes payment to me for an additional 18 days of work outside of my contract. Sanchez, can you do the math on this? Does it total 60% of my time spent out of the district as you state in your call for me to resign?
Of course I am not asking for more pay from the district. I am simply hoping that Varoz and Sanchez might recognize that I more than fulfill the requirements of my employment contract. I get that they don't think anything can be learned to benefit the district and its students at a Colorado Association of School Executives, a Colorado School Boards Association, or an International Lindamood-Bell Reading Conference held in Anaheim, California (conveniently located to Disneyland where I paid my own dollars to bring my wife and child along so they could enjoy the amusement park while I attended and presented at the conference). I beg to differ with them about this. I also think our other school board members, most of the staff I lead, and many community members in Center value a superintendent who models the habit of life-long learning and growth.
Each of you are welcome to judge how I spend my time to lead the district. Attached for you at this link are my 2012-13, 2013-14, and year-to-date 2014-15 work calendars. You are welcome to count how many days I am here in the district (not highlighted on calendars), how many days I am on the road out of the Valley on behalf of the district (highlighted in green), how many days I am on the road in the San Luis Valley on behalf of the district (highlighted in purple), and even the days I take care of my personal health by exercising and utilizing vacation or personal days (highlighted in yellow).
Conclusion
Varoz wraps up his letter requesting my resignation by saying I always seem to come up with excuses for not addressing the issues he is most concerned about. He also disparages the tactic I used in my response to Sanchez' calling for my resignation during our last board meeting by describing the condition the district was in when he (Varoz) was bought out of his contract as superintendent. My response? Though I don't appreciate Varoz' desire to continually spring surprises on me, the rest of the board, and administrative team, I believe we have always addressed every issue he has ever brought to our attention. Please ask the many folks who have been religiously attending our meetings since he took his board seat to verify this.
Unfortunately for me it seems the ONLY issue Varoz really wishes to address is my continuing employment in the district. This being the case, and his closing statement that I have had 20 years to improve learning conditions for the children in Center Schools, I think his performance as superintendent of schools during the late 1980's and early 1990's is extremely pertinent, as it is the catastrophic condition in which he left the district that we have been working to improve upon every since he left.
Phil, I can't tell you just how much I resent that you who have never exhibited any true interest in the well being of the Center School District in the time I have been superintendent of schools, you who actively opposed the building of our beautiful new school for the children of Center, you who never had the confidence to send your kids to be educated in our wonderful district, you who abandoned your work position taking with you precious dollars that could have been used to educate those children who remained in district, that YOU have any power whatsoever to screw up the educational opportunities my 6th grade daughter and the other 649 children of the school district will experience long into the future.
You have embarrassed this community in the past. You are embarrassing us again. I am personally embarrassed to have to work for you.
Readers, if you agree with Phil's vision for the district I encourage you to come out to support him at the Tuesday October 14th board of education meeting that will be held in the Center Schools Auditorium. If you don't happen to buy into his vision, I encourage you to come and let him know.
Unfortunately for me it seems the ONLY issue Varoz really wishes to address is my continuing employment in the district. This being the case, and his closing statement that I have had 20 years to improve learning conditions for the children in Center Schools, I think his performance as superintendent of schools during the late 1980's and early 1990's is extremely pertinent, as it is the catastrophic condition in which he left the district that we have been working to improve upon every since he left.
Phil, I can't tell you just how much I resent that you who have never exhibited any true interest in the well being of the Center School District in the time I have been superintendent of schools, you who actively opposed the building of our beautiful new school for the children of Center, you who never had the confidence to send your kids to be educated in our wonderful district, you who abandoned your work position taking with you precious dollars that could have been used to educate those children who remained in district, that YOU have any power whatsoever to screw up the educational opportunities my 6th grade daughter and the other 649 children of the school district will experience long into the future.
You have embarrassed this community in the past. You are embarrassing us again. I am personally embarrassed to have to work for you.
Readers, if you agree with Phil's vision for the district I encourage you to come out to support him at the Tuesday October 14th board of education meeting that will be held in the Center Schools Auditorium. If you don't happen to buy into his vision, I encourage you to come and let him know.