APS students are currently expected to "model and promote" a nationally recognized, accepted, and respected code of ethical conduct. That the result of a resolution passed unanimously by the APS School Board in 1994, that recognized the Pillars of Character Counts! as the student standards of conduct.
This has always been a problem for board members and administrators who are uncomfortable being held accountable to higher standards of conduct; who could not, and can not, summon the character and the courage to step up as role models of the Student Standards of Conduct.
That "problem" will be resolved this afternoon at a meeting of the APS Policy Committee.
According to their agenda, link, reference to the APS Student Behavior Handbook, will be dropped from the section of School Board Policy entitled "Student Discipline". With the removal of the reference to the Student Behavior Handbook, comes the removal of the last remaining mention of the Pillars of Character Counts!, in School Board Policy.
The old policy reads;
Administrators will utilize the progressive discipline procedures and options specified in the APS Student Behavior Handbook.The new policy reads;
Administrators shall use the progressive discipline procedures and options specified in administrative procedural directive.The fallout from this decision could be far reaching. At the very least, it removes the mention of Character Counts!, as APS' student standards of conduct.
There is no citation of language of the "procedural directive" that will replace the Student Behavior Handbook, but it is a safe bet that the procedural directive will not contain the current language which reads; students are expected to model and promote the Pillars of Character Counts!.
By logical extension, as role models, adults, including administrators and board members, are expected to "model and promote the Pillars of Character Counts!
The leadership of the APS has no intention of being held honestly accountable to any standard of conduct higher than the lowest; the law. In particular, they have no intention of being held accountable to any standard of conduct that requires them to "respond to any legitimate question, candidly, forthrightly and honestly"; the current standard for students.
With the removal of the reference to the Pillars of Character Counts!, the standards of conduct for students are being lowered.
They are being lowered to accommodate the needs of board members and senior administrators, not one of whom, can summon the character and the courage to stand up and hold themselves honestly accountable as a role model of a nationally recognized, accepted, and respected code of ethical conduct.
This is reminiscent of their change in School Board Policy that struck the language that required the Audit Committee to provide due process to whistle blower complaints; a story that was conveniently missing from the Journal coverage of the APS.
There is no public forum at Policy Committee Meetings.
This step is being taken in relative secret in order that the public will not discover and discuss their moral cowardice. I am still illegally banned from board meetings, so they will take this step without anyone raising any objection.
This is the second worst day in the history of the leadership of the APS.
Their worst day was they day they voted unanimously to remove the role modeling clause from School Board Policy, the one that used to read;
In no case shall the standards of conduct for an adult,Shame on them.
be lower than the standards of conduct for students.
Shame on the Journal for helping them hide their shame even through school board elections.
photos Mark Bralley
4 comments:
APS was either denied, or asked to be removed from, the Character Counts program in Summer of 2009. Since then, no mention was made, and all CC! posters and training materials were removed from APS schools before School opened in August 2009.
Because CC! is a trademarked and copyrighted program, APS can no longer refer to it, as it is no longer participating in that program.
I would love to follow up on that. Do you have any more information?
Does Winston Brooks still have the large Character Counts! quilt on the wall outside his office?
They still have a (handmade) Character Counts! quilt on the wall in the DeLayo Martin Board Room.
I would ask a small favor of my readers; email the Journal and ask them to investigate and report upon apparent abandonment of the Pillars of Character Counts! and APS' Character Education Program.
I think they saw it coming in Summer of 2008. During that summer, they took away CC! from the person in charge, and gave it an additional duty to a person in Join-A-school office.
I noticed in the JAS office in the Summer of 2008 all the CC! admin manuels were in boxes and half-hazardly stacked on a storage shelf. The JAS lady told me it had been added to all her other responsibilities.
Then, the next summer, all onsite posters, manuals, training materials were mysteriously vanished. When asked about CC! in the first faculty meeting in Aug 2009, no one had an answer other than "We feel there are other programs out there we can rely on other than CC!"
Post a Comment