hiring a principal in the atlanta public schools
Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2003 8:41 am
OK ; I spend most of my time in Atlanta. Been here for 35 years. It only took me about 35 minutes when I arrived here in 1967 to discover that the government schools operated by the City of Atlanta are little more than training programs for future government clerical employees. Georgia has some of the worst government schools in the nation, ( No. 49!) and Atlanta has the most inept and lowest performing government schools in Georgia.
I read a column yesterday morning written by the S. Richard Gard, Jr., the editor and publisher of our local legal newspaper (The Fulton County Daily Report).
Gard recently found himself sitting on a school panel interviewing candidates for the principals job at one of Atlantas lowest-ranked government elementary schools. You just wont believe some of the limitations that this panel faced while interviewing these candidates:
Gard wanted to see the resumes of the candidates before he interviewed. He was told he could not see those resumes because it would violate the rights of the applicants. So, lets see here ; someone submits a resume in order to be considered for the job of school principal, and the people interviewing this person for that job arent allowed to see the resume because it would violate the rights of the person who sent that resume in to be reviewed? Only in the world of government bureaucracies could such an absurdity possibly thrive, let alone exist at all.
The Atlanta government school bureaucracy asked Gard if he had any questions for the candidates he wanted to submit in advance. He replied that since he wasnt permitted to see the resumes beforehand he would just wait until he met the candidates to see what he wanted to ask them. No good. Against school policy. Gard was informed that the questions had to be approved beforehand and had to be exactly the same for every candidate interviewed.
Finally the bureaucracy came up with the form questions in advance of the interviews. The questions, according to Gard, read like speeches. They consisted of two or three unrelated ideas and ended with a question like what would the candidate do to develop school pride.
Gard and the other members of the interview panel were each given one question to ask to every candidate. They were told that the question had to be asked verbatim ; exactly the same to each candidate.
The interviewers were also told that they would not be allowed to ask any follow-up questions.
Before the questioning the interviewers were given a list of 44 buzzwords to listen for in candidate responses to their questions. Some of the buzzwords, or buzz-phrases, were Blooms Taxonomy, and Higher Order Thinking Skills. The interviewers were told that the use of these buzzwords would be an indication of the candidates depth of knowledge.
These are the people who are educating your children. Is it any wonder that Atlantas government schools are among the worst of the worst? Just how long are Americans going to put up with the these disasters that are our government schools?
http://www.boortz.com
I read a column yesterday morning written by the S. Richard Gard, Jr., the editor and publisher of our local legal newspaper (The Fulton County Daily Report).
Gard recently found himself sitting on a school panel interviewing candidates for the principals job at one of Atlantas lowest-ranked government elementary schools. You just wont believe some of the limitations that this panel faced while interviewing these candidates:
Gard wanted to see the resumes of the candidates before he interviewed. He was told he could not see those resumes because it would violate the rights of the applicants. So, lets see here ; someone submits a resume in order to be considered for the job of school principal, and the people interviewing this person for that job arent allowed to see the resume because it would violate the rights of the person who sent that resume in to be reviewed? Only in the world of government bureaucracies could such an absurdity possibly thrive, let alone exist at all.
The Atlanta government school bureaucracy asked Gard if he had any questions for the candidates he wanted to submit in advance. He replied that since he wasnt permitted to see the resumes beforehand he would just wait until he met the candidates to see what he wanted to ask them. No good. Against school policy. Gard was informed that the questions had to be approved beforehand and had to be exactly the same for every candidate interviewed.
Finally the bureaucracy came up with the form questions in advance of the interviews. The questions, according to Gard, read like speeches. They consisted of two or three unrelated ideas and ended with a question like what would the candidate do to develop school pride.
Gard and the other members of the interview panel were each given one question to ask to every candidate. They were told that the question had to be asked verbatim ; exactly the same to each candidate.
The interviewers were also told that they would not be allowed to ask any follow-up questions.
Before the questioning the interviewers were given a list of 44 buzzwords to listen for in candidate responses to their questions. Some of the buzzwords, or buzz-phrases, were Blooms Taxonomy, and Higher Order Thinking Skills. The interviewers were told that the use of these buzzwords would be an indication of the candidates depth of knowledge.
These are the people who are educating your children. Is it any wonder that Atlantas government schools are among the worst of the worst? Just how long are Americans going to put up with the these disasters that are our government schools?
http://www.boortz.com
