Thursday, May 21, 2009

What would change do you suppose?

I am trying to institutionalize Character Counts! in the APS.

The leadership of the APS is trying to stop me without ever
having told the truth to stakeholders.

There will never be an open and honest discussion of
administrative and executive role modeling of
the Pillars of Character Counts!.

So what difference does it make?

I am really not the only person who believes in
Character Counts!
. If you google it, you get 1,770,000 hits.

The people who support Character Counts! will argue that
there will be less truancy and a lower drop out rate.
There will be less bullying and vandalism.
Adults will regain charge in their schools.
There will be less teacher burnout.

Test scores will skyrocket.

The deliberate decision of the leadership of the APS
to sabotage Character Counts! is bad for everybody,
except for the incompetent and the corrupt
in the leadership of the APS.
For them, it works out great.

Students cannot be held honestly accountable to
the Pillars of Character Counts!,
if no one is willing to step up and show them what it looks like.

Its easy to tell kids a story about George Washington and a
cherry tree. It is far more difficult, and far more important,
to show them what it looks like to accept honest accountability
for your conduct.

The best thing that could possibly happen for the 90,000
of our sons and daughters who are students in the APS,
is for them to learn at school, that their character counts.

It is the worst thing that could possibly happen,
if you're one of a handful of good ol' boys with a record to hide.

There is not a legitimate agenda in the entire APS,
that does not move forward on the day that there is an open
and honest discussion of standards and accountability in
the leadership of the APS.

There is no good an ethical reason, that public servants
should not be held honestly accountable to meaningful
standards of conduct and competence; at least for the few
hours a day that they are the stewards of our trust and treasure.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Charactor Counts! is a wonderful program and can work wonders, and we need it now more than ever.
Unfortunately, many districts other than APS use it as a funding tool. they throw a paper at the teachers at the beggining of the year that outlines topics and samples for presentation, then you never hear about it again, and nobody asks.
It's a deficiency in charactor for supes, admin and teachers to agree to do Charactor counts!, take the funding money, then never deliver the product. It's basically deception and theft to do so, plus you rob the kids of a great program.
If a Charactor counts! check and audit were done by an outside organization, they would find that so many schools have taken the money and ran.
What a shame. Hell, the adults must need Charactor Counts! training as well.