torn80 wrote:The smaller Trona gets the more obvious the nepotism becomes. It's hard to hide the corruption and ultimately karma is a bitch!
More families are pulling their kids out of the school. Tjusd has purchased yet another online teacher replacement program. Recent notifications from school about state testing- sounds like they are concerned about parents opting their students out of testing again this year. Why has providing a quality education become difficult in Trona recently? Hmmm Incompetent Administration Delusional school board members Unqualified teachers Lots of lawsuits
It's like a perfect storm of incompetence, nepotism, arrogance, and stupidity.
From what I hear a bunch of teachers are quitting at the end of the school year. They are sick and tired of administrative incompetence, school board interference, and rampant favoritism. I think there are about twenty teachers on the staff. Only fifteen are fully qualified and of those fifteen, I hear as many as ten might be quitting. Trona has developed a reputation as an EDUCATIONAL DISASTER ZONE and so it might be hard to recruit competent teachers. It will be interesting to see what things look like at the beginning of the upcoming school year.
torn80 wrote:Coyote: Here's the way I see it. There are many ways of categorizing employees, but here's one way of grouping them: 1) Insiders - Those who run things or who are close allies of those in charge. 2) Useful Idiots - Those who will never have much influence, but who are productive and non-threatening to insiders. 3) Fillers - Non-threatening and not terribly good at their jobs, but better than not having someone to fill the position. 4) Challengers - Those who pose some kind of threat to those in power or who are generally critical of established organizational norms. Coyote: The infractions you describe can be used by leadership in different ways depending on which group we're talking about. Those in group 1 are given a free pass unless the infraction is sufficiently serious, in which case they will be given a raise and publicly complimented for working so hard and being exceptional in some way. With groups 2 and 3, the infractions can be held over their heads as a way to make them work harder, to be more compliant, or to publicly show enthusiastic support for leadership. As for group 4, leadership is always looking for a way to punish these people or possibly fire them and any small excuse can be construed to be more serious than is actually the case.
twister wrote:Trona School Board Does Favors For Friends And Family Three of the highest paid employees in the district are related to school board members: 1) Benadom - Mother of tech guy who is grossly overpaid. Staff members say the guy knows next to nothing, but he gets a big paycheck anyways. 2) McCullar - Brother of head of maintenance. His salary is massively inflated. Must be nice to have a brother on the school board. 3) McCullar - Wife of head of maintenance. Salary way too high compared to past individuals who did the same job. Special Friends: K-12 Coordinator - Described by many staff members as braindead, bossy, and clueless, the lady doesn't even have a valid teaching credential. Superintendent - More like stupid-intendent. The guy has a doctorate, but he is a complete ignoramous who can barely speak a coherent sentence. Based on his lisp I can guess what he had to do to get his doctorate! Suck Ups: I won't name any names, but one bald PE teacher has a hard time resisting any chance he has to suck up to the superintendent or the school board. He must be hoping for a bonus of some kind. Also the K-12 Coordinator has a couple special friends who are not worth much.
All this has been discussed openly between staff members and I happen to know several of them and they're sick and tired of the BS going on at the school!
It sounds like someone needs to come in and do some housecleaning. What a mess!
twister wrote:Isn't there a law that students are supposed to be provided with a quality education and if a school district fails to do this they have to provide transportation to a school that does? Wouldn't this make Trona responsible for providing free transportation to Ridgecrest so students can get a quality learning experience? Everything I've heard is that the elementary school falls far short of providing anything close to an adequate learning environment for its students. Uncredentialed teachers plus the uncredentialed joke they call the K-12 Coordinator result in a completely unacceptable situation.
Many states have a law like that, but I think California is one of the states that doesn't. I could be wrong, but California would probably force parents to jump through an endless number of hoops before it would actually honor their requests even if such a law exists. On the other hand a group of parents could make a big stink and complain to the press....
All this talk about school choice and what choice do people in Trona have? Not much! Absolutely the school in Trona should be required to provide a bus (or buses) and pay for transportation for students whose parents don't want them attending school in Trona. There are so many problems with Trona that I'd imagine quite a few people would like to have an alternative which doesn't require them to stay home and supervise their kids online or drive them back and forth from Ridgecrest.
I wonder if this could happen in time for the beginning of this next school year. If Trona loses as many teachers as expected, then the situation will be even worse. The only option that will make any sense will be busing students to Ridgecrest. There's no other way of ensuring that students receive a quality education at this point!
tronagirl: Well, if half of the teachers at the high school bailed rather than deal with an idiot superintendent and moronic school board, then the high school will probably go all online. That might sound good at first, but it's boring as boring gets. It would be much better to take a bus to Ridgecrest. Parents should insist on this option being made available.
Bussing kids to Ridgecrest makes a lot of sense under these circumstances. I don't see any other way they can get a quality education. I know many parents in Trona don't give a darn about a quality education for their kids, but those who do probably should get their kids out of Trona one way or the other.
tronagirl wrote:There's a rumor about a video showing the newly hired football coach drinking with student athletes. I'm told that the school board knew about this guy's problem before hiring him and that he has continued with this behavior which can reasonably be considered to be CONTRIBUTING TO THE DELINQUENCY OF A MINOR since being hired. I realize that the guy is a friend of a school board member and that that same school board member's son is one of the kids drinking with the guy, but there's a limit to what the public should tolerate. Given all the issues faced by the school in the last few years, knowingly entering this minefield is just plain DUMB!
I saw a video and so I know it's more than just a rumor.
shotgunmary wrote:As the person who told me about this situation said, "The guy doesn't know jack shit about football." She added that he probably thinks by hanging out and drinking with the guys (underage football players on the team he is supposed to be coaching), he might get lucky with a cheerleader. Sounds like the guy needs to grow up and start acting his age! How irresponsible of the school board to hire such a dolt in the first place!
He's supposed to be a coach, not their drinking buddy!
torn80 wrote:shotgunmary: The school board doesn't give a rat's ass about the kids at the school. To them the school is a money pot that they control and they use it to enrich friends and family. There are all sorts of rumors about friends and relatives on the list to be hired for the upcoming school year. Nepotism at it's worst!
You'd think they wouldn't be so obvious. It's right out there for everyone to see.
Should High School Coach Drink With Players On His Team? Eight different people have taken the time to make me aware of this issue and so I put together this quick video presentation. Some of the details shared with me are as follows: 1) The guy (Travis Gilmore) who appears to drink with a minor was recently employed to be the football coach at the high school. He has in the past worked as a baseball coach. Allegedly he has been observed drinking alcohol containing beverages with minors on several occasions. 2) Recently he was kicked out of the Elk's Lodge for sharing alcohol with a minor. 3) He was observed drinking with minors at a recent fireworks display and at at least two parties during recent months. 4) Board member Skylar McCullar wore a T-shirt associated with the television show "Yellowstone" with the following slogan on it: "Take them to the train station." The meaning associated with this slogan has to do with killing someone and throwing their remains over a cliff. Some community members interpreted the act of wearing this T-shirt as an attempt to intimidate people the board member disagreed with. Additionally, it was brought to my attention that: 5) There are several cases where family and friends have been provided with jobs they are not qualified for and then their pay has been bumped way up beyond what could be reasonably justified based on their experience and training. 6) A rumor is that Sari Sprouse Fleishauer is being considered for the job of principal. While serving as an employ of the district she is said to have used the N-word and the term "wetbacks" in reference to students of the school district while at a Homecoming event. Allegedly she was hit by a water balloon and lost her temper and then uttered these terms in reference to students belonging to the relevant ethnic groups. *It should be noted that all of these alleged events were shared with me by credible sources and so there should be a serious investigation done to determine if these events actually occurred. I know that using the N-word and the term "wetbacks" is more than enough for a teacher or administrator to lose their credential. I also know that drinking with a minor is considered to be unethical behavior according to state ed code. I might add that both of these behaviors are far worse than creating fictional and video presentations which some feeble-minded snowflakes might find objectionable.
blackturtle.us wrote:6) A rumor is that Sari Sprouse Fleishauer is being considered for the job of principal. While serving as an employ of the district she is said to have used the N-word and the term "wetbacks" in reference to students of the school district while at a Homecoming event. Allegedly she was hit by a water balloon and lost her temper and then uttered these terms in reference to students belonging to the relevant ethnic groups.
I'm sure she'll tearfully apologize for saying what she said, but anyone who would utter such words in anger in the past is likely to do so in the future. Working with kids is stressful and people who are easily emotionally overwhelmed and prone to anger and who use insults this way can't be trusted to work with kids.... and over a water balloon?!!
wildrose: My prediction is that she'll stubbornly deny that she ever said any of those words until witnesses come forward and then at that point she'll try using tears to get away without consequences. It would be nice to see her held responsible for her actions, but I wouldn't hold my breath!
