We the people of Hillsborough County...

Have you ever spoken at a School Board meeting? Have you ever even seen a School Board meeting?

The ‘Guidelines for Public Comment’ to speak at a school board meeting states: Comment on specific agenda items will occur near the start of the meeting. When 10 or more speakers wish to speak to the same agenda item, speaking time will be reduced to two (2) minutes per speaker.

“10 or more” makes it sound like they have lots of participation but they almost never have more than 3 people speak at a School Board meeting regarding agenda items and of those 2 or 3 it is the same ‘regulars’ desperately trying to get the public’s attention.

You would think that the school board must be doing a phenomenal job but the Superintendent’s performance review shows that is not the case. It has been one of the worst years on record. Even board member Susan Valdes stated in her performance review of Superintendent Elia:

“Morale depends on who you speak to; overall it seems that morale is low among employees as they feel petrified to speak up in fear of retaliation, etc.“

To see more excerpts of this performance review go to OlsonandEliamustresign on Facebook.

School Board agendas are supposed to be posted online in advance of the school board meetings. The school board agenda frequently has more than 100 items on it dealing with every aspect of the school district including curriculum, instruction, and student services.   

Logically, teachers should be regular speakers at the school board meetings since these agendas items dictate every aspect of their lives; so where are all the teachers that should be speaking in their own behalf and that of their students?

At the April 2, 2013 board meeting board member Candy Olson read out loud an anonymous complaint against teacher Michael Weston. You can view this online at http://sdhcwebcasts.com/index.html and select the 04/02/2013 Regular Board meeting then advance to 167 minutes.   

Michael Weston was one of the lone teachers that bothered to speak out about the issues like the Gates initiative.

Afterward, Stephanie Baxter-Jenkins, executive director of the Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association, said “I think that given the fact the board, including Miss Olson, had just discussed how much they cared about the employees and their privacy, it was among the most hypocritical things I have ever seen someone do.”

And to add injury to insult teacher Michael Weston’s contract was not renewed by the district.

So where are all the teachers?

As board member Susan Valdes noted “…employees feel petrified to speak up in fear of retaliation, etc.”

Where is the Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association? Why are they not regularly speaking about agenda items?

Where are the parents and residents of Hillsborough County? Does anyone care about their child’s education? If so why aren’t you speaking about agenda items at the school board meetings.

The next board meeting is July 16 at 9am. Please govern yourselves accordingly.