The Stamford Advocate: Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down: Coverage of our failing educational administration

During my ten years of living in this great city (click here for more), I have enjoyed reading the Stamford Advocate.

1. Thumbs Up. Local news is covered in depth  The writers bring a wealth of talent to exposing stories that besmirch the quality of our institutions and stories that enhance the reputation of our city.

     Kudos to Angela Carella  who is persistent  in  covering the ongoing sex scandal case at Stamford High School and  Evan Simko-Bednarski, the alleged ongoing sexual harassment case at AITE.

These writers and others have been  exposing the apparent incompetency of our elected School Board and poor record keeping by the  Human Resources Department,  knee-jerk cover-ups by Stamford High School and Board of Education officials and the shortcomings in the legal advice of four teams/firms of lawyers hired by the district.

2. Thumbs Down

     The coverage of the school management crisis over the sex scandal at Stamford High School has fallen short of excellent because several other crucial topics have not been explored and covered.

     The exploration in depth about these shortcomings would, in my opinion, expose root fundamental causes and thus open up a conversation that would, in itself--over a period of time- lead to an improved culture.

    This in turn would give each citizen of our great community pride in the quality of our public school system--which would add another reason why Stamford is ranked in the top 100 Best Places to live in 2015.

 
     Here is what the Advocate needs to cover in greater depth.

      Our educational management system is corroded--for want of a better word. It is filled with many incompetent leaders, hiring and promoting other incompetent leaders--from the upper echelons down starting with the Superintendent and filtering down to administrative appointees, especially in Human Resources, then to many principals and assistant principals.

   This is turn affects the morale of both teachers, parents and all members of our community.

Circling the wagons is an admission of failure

   The message of the top city administrators seems to be: "Cover your asses and let's work together to circle the wagons. Let's make believe that nothing has happened and maybe the scandal will go away without public exposure."

   Leadership begins with people who not only espouse and orate about high standards of conduct and procedure,  but take it upon themselves to follow with immediate communication to Department of Children and Families  (DCF) and our local Police Department  as soon as the suspected behavior is detected.

   Circling the wagons and pretending nothing has happened harms every single student in our school system, which now numbers over 16,000.

   It is imperative that Human Resources (HR), itself a victim of high executive turnover, record maintain and update employee records that can be immediately accessed.

  How can we be assured this will happen starting now?

  How can we be assured that selection of Executive Director of Human Resources (who was recommended by the Superintendent of Schools with the approval of the Board of Education) --with a salary of $171,000--be based upon merit?

  Should we be settling for individuals who appear-one individual after another- to be 'rubber stamped' by the Board of Education upon recommendation by the Superintendent?

  Consider the hiring of the latest Executive Director of HR, Steven Falcone, who was charged with the duty (among others) to "recruit and retain the most highly qualified employees for the Stamford Public Schools"  according to a press release at the time.

The Darien Times bombshell: Why did not superintendent

Hamilton vet Steven Falcone properly? 

  The Darien Times (click here for the full story)  reported that Falcone was employed by the Stamford School District within 30 days of resigning from a similar post in Darien.

  He left under a cloud of many unresolved issues including his withholding from the Board of Ed a "state desk audit, which found the district out of compliance with Title IX, bullying and sexual harassment policies"  (italics mine)

   Why hasn't The Advocate reported on this story, especially as Falcone omitted to inform the Darien Board of Education  of  "a scathing letter from a former special education professional highlighting a litany of problems that led to several respected employees leaving the district?"

   Why recommend hiring an individual who ostensibly cannot comply with bullying and sexual harassment problems in Darien so that he should not comply with similar sexual guidelines here in nearby Stamford?????

  Here are a few key issues and suggestions that merit consideration to eradicate a besmirched system that cannot hold on to a superintendent, let alone a Human Resources Administrator,  for more than a few years.

   1. Stamford parents and involved citizens should be demanding much more of  our failing system.  Granted that our community ranks as third highest area in the cost of living index; forcing both parents to hold down full time jobs. Consequently, they do not have much time to be involved with choosing those who run our educational system--EVEN IF THEY WANTED TO BE INVOLVED.

   Remember the days that parents with High School age students- the age when the adolescent sex hormones are kicking in-- had time to be involved in Parent Teacher Associations and actually collectively watched over and 'supervised'/advised and spoke directly to those responsible for educating their children.
 
   2. The Board of Education is a failure and clueless about the business of protecting the interests of our 16,000 plus students. Its members are endorsed for office by a flawed system.
Too often, it's you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. It's politics as usual.

    Traditionally nominees for board positions are endorsed by  local Democratic or Republican City Committees.  Each party's slate is chosen according to party loyalty and favoritism (Who has done more favors for our party? Who has consistently helped raise money? Who has served as a party delegate? Who has served as a campaign manager?  Who has a relative that is a respected employee of the City of Stamford? Who stumps for the party? e.g.who has turned out at the polls to promote party candidates? Who  promotes candidates in their local clubs, churches, synagogues, etc?)

   Is there any interest in vetting candidates on their CONCERN  and ABILITY TO CARE for the welfare of 16,000 plus students in our system?

    Candidates need to carefully sorted through and be nominated to office based upon merit by answering the following questions: Who has the most knowledge and experience in education? Who has had a career in education? Who has been a full-time parent intimately involved in their children's welfare and education from birth to adolescence?  Who has been thoroughly vetted  by those appointing or electing our representatives?

    The City Committees are also oblivious to endorsing candidates with apparent conflicts of interest. At least two members have resigned casting a cloud of confusion over the whole Board selection process. 

     3. The superintendent position is again up for grabs, yet again! 

      Joshua Starr lasted only six years, Winifred Hamilton lasted not even three before deciding to resign rather than face more ignominy for her failed leadership. Can we rely on this board to evaluate and then choose the next superintendent when its present and past track record is so scarred?

    

    4.  Stamford should try a radical approach (therapy)  of locating a strong respected administrator to appoint  the members of the Board. These would be people that have a track record of responsible civic  leadership and would naturally follow the guidance of their leader.  This is especially recommended when our system (the patient) has been so debilitated.

     Two years ago, Stamford Achieves sponsored a Success Symposium held at Ferguson library. The program featured key note speaker Dr. David Kirp who has written a book on the success of the Union City, New Jersey School System. This article is a must read; click here to read.

   The key to this amazing turnaround in a Garden State educational district that was the second worst in overall performance in New Jersey was a devoted Superintendent a man with a 40 -year track record who- himself - chose Board members who he personally knew would place the interests of the students above any other interests: personal, political, patronage, party loyalty, power, etc.

   It may take years for our civic leaders to enact this enlightened scenario; it may take more failures and more scandals--but our politics as usual habit needs this radical surgery to occur.

   5. Where is the Teacher's Union? Why has a great powerhouse been sidelined for so long? What is the Union missing out on? 

        The Teacher's Union needs to play a more active role to demand a tougher code of conduct from teachers and substitutes to protect the interests of over 16,000 students.

        Unions have sprung into being as great institutions for protecting the rights of those they represent--teachers. The latter are often vilified for their hard earned summer vacations, but they are hard working and under appreciated heroes for many students who see them as being repositories and communicators of knowledge deemed valuable for future success and who, by the way, act often as surrogate parents.

       The teachers'  job is indeed herculean and exhausting.
       
      Thus, Unions came into being to protect the interests of the teachers on such issues as salaries, maximum teaching course load, mandated preparation periods, allowable sick days, paid maternity leave, health care and dental insurance, supplementary pay for per session coverages, grievances, 10 month employment terms, etc
        
        Both full time teachers, paraprofessionals  and substitutes, far outnumbering administrators, are on the front lines. They are the eyes and ears of the system, the antennae, the first to pick up on incidents of bullying and sex abuse. So, they should not only report inappropriate activity,  but demand that the union be their representative to follow through on procedure for reporting bullying and aberrant sexual behavior. 

6.  New York State  legislated Dignity of All Students ( DASA), Act five years ago. This is New York State's Anti-Bullying Law to protect all public and secondary school students from harassment and bullying by students and by school personnel. Bullying most definitely includes sexual relations between a teacher and a minor student. 

     In essence, to comply with the law, New York City Department of Education has mandated that all its employees- all teachers, substitutes and paraprofessionals - must attend a four hour course discussing how to spot bullying issues and how to go about reporting them.

   This classroom course is supplemented by a four hour interactive online video course that each employee must participate in.

    To read the highlights of the law and watch a power point presentation click here.  

   There are many issues to discuss in this letter to the Advocate and to the Citizens of our great community.

Courtesy of www.youtharewesome.com

    Attention editors and writers of the Advocate along with enlightened Stamford citizens:  At this critical junction when confidence and interest in the upcoming selection of the new Board and Superintendent are at an all time low, when will you roll up your sleeves and initiate the cure for the malady entrenched in our educational district.  

    LET THE CONVERSATION(S) and FORUM(S) BEGIN! 

   
 

A Summer without end seen through the imagination of Wallace Stevens, Poet

Wallace Stevens, Poet, Insurance Executive (1879-1955)

We are still in the throes of summer this day, the 30th of August 2015.

Though fall is only three weeks away, the temperatures today in lower New England are in the low 90's and more of the same is forecast for the first week in September.

That 'summer's lease hath all too short a date'  seems not in accord with our current weather cycles; yet 'Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines.' (both quotes from Shakespeare's Sonnet 18)

So what's going on?

We have emerged from one of the worst winters going back to the blizzard of 1947.

Indeed, the winter of 2015 is one  that no one here in the East will ever forget.

Poets from Shakespeare to T.S. Eliot and William Wordsworth have written paeans to the dramatic entry of spring.  (For my celebration of National Poetry Month and the Anticipation of Spring: click here.)

These poets powerfully recorded  the transition from harsh spring (e.g 'April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out the dead land,' T.S.Eliot) to the sudden appearance of flora ('When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils,' William Wordsworth.)

So I thought it befitting to celebrate summer with some verse from one of my favorite poets, Wallace Stevens, pictured above.

Farm in Oley Valley, Pennsylvania near Reading where Stevens was born.

Stevens writes: 'One of the limits of reality Presents itself in Oley when the hay, 

Baked through long days, is piled in mows.' 
From Wikipedia Oley Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania

Stevens (1879-1955) was a New Englander who attended Harvard and built a career as an executive at a Hartford, Connecticut  insurance company.

When the the dead heat of summer arrives, when the sun beats down daily on our human landscape, when life, as we know and experience it slows down to a crawl--a 'snails pace,'  the sun is magnified into a reigning omnipresent Sun-God.

Truth is illuminated ... by the very light, the very brilliance, the very permanence of the sun.

In 'Credences of Summer' (click here to hear Stevens read the poem) Stevens brings together many images, frozen in time by the relentless heat, that serve to exalt and capture in an iphoto instant image, the majesty and the squalor ('And last year's garden grows salacious weeds') of the universe and the divinity inherent in the Rule of the Sun ("of sapphires flashing from the central sky, As if twelve princes sat before a king.")

The 'author' of summer is not only the active, concerned and caring  choirmaster of '...happiest folk-land, mostly marriage-hymns'  and of '...last choirs, last sounds...Pure rhetoric of a language without  words.'

He can also be seen as a more passive  'inhuman author' who 'does not hear his characters talk,' and who meditates With gold bugs, in blue meadows, late at night.'

The poem ends on a high colorful note;  he sees his characters 'mottled, in the moodiest costumes,

Of blue and yellow, sky and sun, belted
And knotted, sashed and seamed, half pales of red,
Half pales of green, appropriate habit for
The huge decorum, the manner of time,
Part of the mottled mood of summer's whole,

In which the characters speak because they want
To speak, the fat, the roseate characters,
Free, for a moment, from malice and sudden cry,
Complete in a completed scene, speaking
Their parts as in a youthful happiness.

A Modest Proposal: My 2015 Summer Reading List, Part I

A Modest Proposal:  a partial display of my summer reading 

Here is a short description of why I chose these 22 + books of which only 11 are briefly discussed.  

1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (not shown) This is great read told by eight-year old Scout from Maycomb Alabama. She is the daughter of Atticus Finch, a small town lawyer who is unsuccessful at defending a black man who is falsely accused of raping a white woman.

2. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. This is masterpiece of World War II 'concise' prose which won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Read my review for more details.

3. Station Eleven, a novel by Emily St. John Mandel. This is riveting fantastic story that begins with a production of Shakespeare's King Lear in which the lead actor falls victim to heart failure on stage. This event sets the stage for a futuristic scenario in which mankind is 99.9% destroyed by a Russian flu. The play is redeemed by a roving band of Shakespearean actors and symphony musicians managing to survive by their wits, acting and instruments.  

4. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. This 1925 classic was recently turned into a big, big bucks  Hollywood production (which I did not see). I choose to imbibe the life of the ultra rich through the timeless prose of a master writer.

5. Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader  by Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli. This book is on my shelf because of a  recent Fast Company Magazine review entitled The Steve Jobs You Didn't Know: Kind, Patient and Human. So let's learn about the other side of Steve that contrasts with the more limited egotistical, brash and greedy character presented in Walter Isaacson's biography.

6. Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. A recent  Wall Street Journal Saturday essay  by the author spurred my interest in reading her thesis. She is now a fellow at the Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. (There are 875 Comments about the article)
     The subtitle of the WSJ article reads:  "To defeat the extremists for good, Muslims must reject those aspects of their tradition that prompt some believers to resort to oppression and holy war."

7 Roosevelt and Stalin: Portrait of a Partnership by Susan Butler. It is 1943 and World War II is winding down after huge losses of human life by the Russians. Stalin is eager to have the Allies open up the Second Front (the D-Day Invasion) and Roosevelt is keen on getting Stalin, especially, and Churchill to agree on a world peace keeping force open to both small and large nations.
     Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill and their aides meet in Tehran in December, each with his game plan on the table. FDR uses his enormous diplomatic skills, charm and superior bargaining position to overcome Stalin's mistrust and paranoia and Churchill's reluctance to forge the framework for a lasting peace both at Tehran and Yalta in February 1945, just two months before FDR's death.
   This book is  highly recommenced  not only for its engrossing drama, but its beautifully and intricately developed narrative.

8. Strangers in the Bronx: DiMaggio, Mantle and the Changing of the Yankee Guard by Andrew O'Toole  The year is 1951 and the legendary  Yankee Clipper Joe D's last season. On the scene arrives the 19 year old boy wonder slugger, fleet footed Micky Mantle from  Commerce, Oklahoma. The story is enlivened by the many quoted interviews with noted  sports journalists of the day. There are great portraits of Yankee owners Dan Topping, George Weiss as well as the Ole Professor Casey Stengel who led the Bronx Bombers to the second straight World Series win.

9. The Innovators:  How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution by Walter Isaacson. The author, President and CEO of the Aspen Institute introduces us to Ada Lovelace, Lord Byron's daughter who was an early computer programmer in the 1840's. He then continues the digital revolution with personality portraits of Vannevar Bush, Alan Turing (subject of the cinematic success The Imitation Game), J.C.R Licklider, Doug Engelbert, Robert Noyce, Bill Gates, Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs, Tom Berners-Lee and Larry Page.
   This is a must read for anyone wishing to track what the superhighway of information hath wrought.

10. The Remarkable Education of John Quincy Adams by Phyllis Lee Levin. My interest in this biography was sparked by  the 'remarkable' biography of JQA's father President John Adams by David Mcullough (2001) and a subsequent tour of The Adams National Historical Park in Quincy, Massachusetts.

Most recently, I published a review of another JQA biography, John Quincy Adams, American Visionary, (click here)  by Fred Kaplan--discussed in a New Yorker Magazine article

   My passion for unearthing the amazing contributions of this family to the growth of our republic from its earliest times is endless. John's son John Quincy was "The Greatest Traveler of His Age."
At age 14,  JQA accompanied the Minister to Russia, Francis Dana who sought Catherine the Great's aid for the American cause. He later became this country's minister to the Netherlands, Prussia, Russia and Great Britain.

 ....and now a 'breath of fresh' air as I digress to discuss some poetry books. My reader may recall that I celebrated National Poetry Month (April) quoting T.S Eliot, William Wordsworth, and Haiku and later William Butler Yeats (click here), as we, in the East Coast were emerging from one of the most brutal winters.  (click here for my postings) 

11. From the New World: Poems 1976-2014 by Jorie Graham. Her honors include winner of the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the 2012 Forward prize. one of the UK's "most prestigious poetry accolade."  The Poetry Foundation has called her "perhaps the most celebrated poet of the American post-war generation," She teaches English at Harvard where in 1998,she was appointed Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory, a chair that dates back to John Quincy Adams, who was appointed as its first recipient in 1805 before his presidency.

  The best introduction to her poems is to hear her public recitals. It is best to hear the rhythms and pauses and hold the images in your mind, however brief. (click here to listen)


Tune in to Summer Reading List, Part II.

  

E.L. Doctorow passes: One of my favorite authors (1931-2015)

He had the marvelous facility of transporting me back in time to the Bronx of my youth, the East Tremont Avenue of the 1940's with full rounded characters that roamed, breathed and possessed the streets of my youth.

 E.L. Doctorow (1931-2014)

Courtesy of Wikipedia

He will be remembered for his many novels including Ragtime (1975), Billy Bathgate (1989) and World's Fair (1985). 

I recently read World's Fair and here is my review.(click Here)

Kudos to Random House which published a full page notice in the New York Times, Thursday, July 23, 2015. After referring to him as BELOVED AUTHOR AND FRIEND, the ad goes on to quote George Saunders' accolade, from the citation for the 2012 PEN/SaulBellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction:

"We salute him, and we thank him: 

for his courage, his playfulness,

his fire; for reminding us with 

every book that language is 

infinite, and essential. What 

an inspiration and an astonishment

to see how much beauty can be

 made by one amazing artist." 

Rediscovering Jazz Pianist Red Garland at the Keystone Korner: San Francisco 1978

Red Garland (1923-1984) at Keystone Korner Jazz Club

San Francisco, California, May 1978

Photo Brian McMillen, Courtesy of Wikipedia

Kudos to Todd Barkin, who ran the the Keystone Korner in North Beach from 1972 until 1983 and Ze'ev Feldman.

They  produced and recently released the Elemental Label 2- CD album featuring performances of Red Garland accompanied by bass virtuoso Leroy Vinegar and legendary drummer "Philly" Joe Jones (Red played with the latter in the 1950's with the Miles Davis Quintet).

Not only have these 16 pieces never been released before, but this is the first and last time the trio played together. The group played the Korner from December 6-10, 1977. 

Love for Sale (Cole Porter), On Green Dolphin Street (B. Kaper-N.Washington) , Straight No Chaser (Thelonius Monk), Bag's Groove (Milt Jackson)  and Autumn Leaves (Prevert-Mercer-Kosman) are among the classics featured on the album. 

The accompanying liner notes booklet features photographs and accolades to Red by Nat Hentoff, Ze'ev Feldman, Benny Green, interviews with record producer, photographer and label executive Don Schlitten, Kenny Washington and Ira Gittler.

As Jurassic World sets new box office records, Dinosaurs dominate the downtown area of Stamford

In its second weekend since opening, Time Magazine reports that  Jurassic World has garnered over $981 million in global box office gross according to Box Office Mojo.

The film is slated to reach the one billion dollar mark this Thursday, less than two weeks after its release.

What an amazing run! (Watch out Furious 7, which reached the billion dollar mark in 17 days)

Just as amazing is Stamford Downtown's presentation of the Dinosaur's Rule outdoor art show.

40 originally designed and painted fiberglass dinosaurs are on display for free viewing throughout the summer months.

Here are examples from the Downtown art exhibit:

                                               

Columbia Teachers Alan Purves and William York Tindall illuminate the Poetry of William Butler Yeats

My introduction to William Butler Yeats (June 13, 1865 - January 28, 1839) was as a Freshman at Columbia College. Alan C. Purves, my English instructor, assigned our class Yeats's  Second Coming to explicate.

The first stanza was very disturbing to say the least. It begins with a disruptive image of a falcon not being responsive to its trainer, the falconer and

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

                The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere

The ceremony of innocence is drowned.

The poem was written in 1919 at the end of  the "blood dimmed tide" of World War I and "anarchy is let loosed" as the the Russian Revolution has gripped the attention and toppled the stability of the world.

My appreciation of Yeats was greatly enhanced by studying some of his great poems under the aegis of Professor William York Tindall of Columbia University's Graduate Faculties English Department.  He brought the rhythms of Yeats's poems alive by reading significant passages out loud.  His favorite was September 1913 and his favorite lines:  

Romantic Ireland's dead and gone,

It's with O'Leary in the grave. 

The poem was occasioned by the lockout in September 1913 of employees by the employers and merchants of Dublin. The poem also pays tribute to those early Irish revolutionaries and  patriots who tirelessly devoted their lives to the futile cause of creating a free Irish Republic;

Here is a video animation of Yeats reading The Second Coming 

Other Yeats poems that I suggest one read include: Adam's Curse, The Lake Isle of Innisfree and The Wild Swans at Coole.

Yeats won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923. 

Happy Birthday Mr. Yeats.