Was Cobb principal a heel for suggesting she wear stilettos?

You need to do some actual investigative reporting into Cobb schools in general. The Cobb Board and Central office are a joke. The kids are the last thing on their minds. Look into the new spelling curriculum “Spelling Their Way” . The promoting of moral inept is wide spread. Principals having affairs with teachers, fathering children etc, the kids all know what is going on.

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For Maureen, ‘ScienceTeacher671′, and ‘mom’, Bynum was suggested for promotion because “Fuddy-Duddy” Fred (Sanderson, CCSD Superintendent) “said” he didn’t think it was crucial (not certain as to the exact words, but similar to these) to let the CCSD Board members know about pending investigations, and that it wasn’t material to his promotion as North Cobb Principal. HA!! Fred and Bynum were old buddies, and Fred reportedly kept any trouble at arms length away from Bynum. Plus, Bynum (along with some family & friends) sued CCSD due to minorities being “few & far between” in administrator positions. That reflects badly on CCSD-and was a wart on the district and its reputation-but since Bynum reached a principal position, he & Fortson kept the district at bay and held more power over it than the general public realized (but teachers who knew of him knew this). They held some other skeletons over the district – other problems with Bynum’s treatment of CCSD teachers were brought to the attention of the district, and it always ’said’ there wasn’t enough to substantiate the charges against Bynum (no one wanted to testify nor publicly attest to these, lest Bynum’s reputation for retaliation hold true). This while he was an assistant principal and/or a principal at places OTHER than Floyd Middle. Plus, Bynum’s wife (I doubt anymore now) worked in some department at the CCSD central office. Add to this the status of Georgia as a “right to work” state (with unions having NO power NOR any respect in state government-related agencies and prelatures), and this situation (him in a position of power) was allowed to fester like a cancer for the better part of a decade. He also ran afoul (in addition to teacher groups, due to his conduct towards many different types of employees) of a local NAACP group, and infuriated a local minister in the Floyd Middle district. As an example of his conduct, a teacher who was reportedly one of his “favorites” (AND a GREAT teacher on every account) introduced her husband to Bynum (hers was an interracial marriage), and ever since that time, his treatment of her REVERSED by 180 degrees. This is only a fragment of what went on!

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What do I think?

I think if this was a white guy he would have been fired a long, long time ago. The only reason they kept Bynum on is because the politically correct pathogens cannot stand to admit a mistake with their affirmative action employment practices.

But hey, it is just your mothers, sisters, aunts, wives and daughters who had to put up this deviate while the lawyers and the school board finally figured out how to fire him.

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Why is it that the “Add your comment” box has disappeared from the Obama speech thread?

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What? You’ve been blocked in the Obama thread? Mine works just fine!

(JK!)

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There is no place to continue commenting on the Obama speech. Comments are stoppped at #131. There are over 600 comments on Momania. Perhaps Maureen and the AJC who are Obama supporters do not want to give any more space to the negative opinions which prevail. Media control??????

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Finally! Someone who is not afraid to stand up for justice! Citizens of Georgia, wake up! Bynum was allowed to behave unprofessionally because people covered for him. Parents should DEMAND a review of all administrators and ALL county office employees. Too many teachers sufferred and are still sufferring because they did not bend to his will. Retaliation is still out there. Quality teachers have left the county and will continue to leave. Students are not getting the best education possible due to the administration welding power for personal reasons. Teachers have NO allies, no recourse. It’s time for a new state and local school superintendent.

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Here is what I see a lot of in our county: a teacher is incompetent but in mid-career. They are kicked into an AP position, then a principalship, then into the CO when they show they are inept at each level. Sometimes they go directly into the CO. All because “x is nearing retirement; let’s use his/her experience where it can do the “most good” (ie, least harm) so that he/she can retire with full benefits.” I have seen it more times than I can count. And, frequently, after the person retires they are hired back at 49% time. Incompetence and political connections COUNT!

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Hey Justice, (sorry the original post refreshed and plain disappeared!)

The first person that should be investigated with Cobb County School District is Dr. Nancy DiPetrillo of Russell elementary school. For years she has run teachers off, placed some improperly on PDPs, threateded some and made life miserable for false reasons. Last year, a teacher that she was harassing died suddenly and she could not have been older than her late 30s. Superintendent Freddy boy is aware of her antics, yet he still does nothing? Chances are, if you hear the same story being told by different people at differing times, it is TRUE! Maybe the fact that her husband also works for the district (insurance or something) makes Fred Sanderson turn the other cheek. Whatever the reason, they are lining themselves up for a major lawsuit. DiPetrillo herself has indicated that she has lacked following protocol when approaching teachers. There is an open records act.

Maureen, use the open records act to see what you find going on in Cobb County School District. You will not be disappointed, or maybe you will.

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An excellent way to look at a prinicipal and his/her conduct would be to review the number of “good” teacher requests for transfers that happen in the first few years of a principal’s tenure. Cobb County has several problem principals. Instead of addressing the known issues they allow these principals to undermine the schools, the faculty and students. Ask Cobb County for the transfer information for principals who have been hired or transferred to a new school in the last few years. The schools with many veteran, good teachers who transfer at a high percentage should be a red flag that something is wrong with the principal. Why is Cobb County allowing this to happen?

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I won’t let my kids hear what Obama has to say. My kids are not going to be brainwashed in the public school. I voted against him, and don’t like any of his political hacks…an obese Surgeon General, Tax Cheat the head of IRS, Green jobs czar that is a communist, etc.
How is that “HOPE AND CHANGE” working for you?

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If you really want to investigate, aside from Bynum, ask why the district let Joshua Morreale resign his principalship in November of 2008, and then they rehired him as an assitant principal at South Cobb High School this year. The county claimed he resigned for personal reasons, but the truth is he was a married man having an affair with one of his teachers. He gave her a private office that numerous teachers saw him enter and then lock the door. The teacher he was having an affair with ended up getting pregnant. A search on the PSC website shows his certification was suspended for ninety days from November 2008-April 2009, but good old Cobb county rehired him as an adminstrator because of his stellar role-model credentials.

Teachers are almost always thrown under the bus in Cobb, but adminstrators are forever being protected. (Yes, I’m a teacher in Cobb, and find the hypocrisy stifling.)

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Shows ta goya…there are idiots, morons, and embiciles, even in the educational elite community. What I find interesting is this:

1) Is this the first time he has shot his mouth off prior to engaging his brain’s transmission, or is this yet another inappropriate gaff? Somehow, I rather suspect the later.

2) More importantly, what are this guy’s qualifications? I don’t mean collegiate paper and organizational affiliations, but rather, real accomplishments in the educational camp.

I rather suspect his position, as a leader and as a standard bearer of inspiration, was a political gift. I doubt, very much, if truly qualified people would make such stupid idiotic remarks. This moron is better-suited plucking chickens where he can shoot his stupid mouth off and probably not offend anyone…except, of course, the chickens.

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At least in Cobb county when they recognize a principal with bad people skills they intervene. When I was in Cobb several principals were required to take management type training to learn how to be a better manager and work with people. Can’t say that for the place I am now.

I guess the good news is that principals don’t seem to stay for very long, 2-3 years seems to be the norm. Although they sure can do a lot of damage in that time.

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To ‘echo’: unfortunately for staffs, parents, and students, Bynum had been a principal since 2001 before his employment was terminated almost one year ago. He must have had some sway (or his lawyer did) – the PTA at his first school where he was the top leader, McCleskey Middle, could not stand him. As a result, the district moved him down to Floyd Middle (in the South Cobb area) where it was thought he wouldn’t do any more harm. Yes. . . after his 2001-2004 “reign” in Northeast Cobb, he was transferred to an end of the county where it was hoped he’d quietly stay away from trouble. Four years as a principal, with one community already sick of him?!!!!! It isn’t known if he was suggested to be “re-trained” or take sensitivity training of any type, but the result was his being a principal for. . . FOUR MORE YEARS!!! Noting the comments of ‘echo’, since principals are observed to last only 2-3 years (one school at a time, no doubt), this man was permitted to last four years each at two different schools, then PROMOTED to a high school, where his behavior – and it was not a secret he was like this – FINALLY was too egregious to ignore/cover up!

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Maureen, this type of behavior seems to be the norm rather than the exception. At my school, a married adminstrator was caught in the throes with his secretary while at school. He received a promotion. Another married administrator had an affair with a subordinate. The subordinate was transferred to another school while the administrator was allowed to keep his job. As a former manager for a major international corporation, I find that many school administrators lack the basic management and people skills. The drum that I keep banging is that education programs across the state are not very rigorous and tend not to attract the best and brightest candidates. And rather than recognize and get rid of those who are incompetent, the system, through cronyism and nepotism, ultimately places these incompetent people in positions of authority.

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I totally agree with Tonya. I know MANY classroom teachers who would be effective leaders in the field of adminstration. I know at least 3 right now at my current school that I feel could go in and take over Tuesday and turn that school around. Talk about excellent classroom teachers with outstanding work ethics…and it SHOWS.

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http://www.dad2son.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/toto-exposes-oz1.jpg

Here is a quote from an article in THE STILETTO, posted on September 18th, 2008. (Comments on yesterday’s blog about Obama’s education speech are closed so I thought I would combine with today’s topic. LOL!)

Obama has a lot to say about how your kids should be educated in public schools, but sends his own kids to private school – unlike McCain running mate AK Gov. Sarah Palin – a practice he will no doubt continue should he get elected president. In a New York Times op-ed Sandra Tsing Loh, a self-described “Democrat P.T.A. mother” in Los Angeles feels about that (aside from “depressed”) writes about how she feels about that:

I do not know why Barack and Michelle Obama cannot send their children to a nice public school in Hyde Park. … [E]ven though real estate prices seem high, the brave little public schools in its ZIP code seem to be flailing. Their scores on http://www.greatschools.net are largely 2’s and 4’s (on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the best).

When you read the tea leaves as manically as I do, those low numbers suggest that few children of educated, middle-class children are attending the local schools. Rather, they’ve withdrawn, with nary a ripple, into their whispery private enclaves. …

[I]f Mr. and Mrs. Obama – a dynamic, Harvard-educated couple – had chosen public over private school, they could have lifted up not just their one local public school, but a family of schools. First, given the social pressure (or the social persuasion of wanting to belong to the cool club), more educated, affluent families would tip back into the public school fold. And second, the presence of educated type-A parents with too much time on their hands ensures that schools are held, daily, to high standards. …

So it is with huge grief-filled disappointment that I discovered that the Obamas send their children to the University of Chicago Laboratory School (by 5th grade, tuition equals $20,286 a year).

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OFF TOPIC: You can add comments to blogs as old as August 31, but you can’t add comments to the Obama speech blog. Why?

ON TOPIC: I’m glad that I don’t teach in Cobb, Gwinnett, DeKalb, or Fulton

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How can someone be a “director” of anything in a school and not have a degree?

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Tonya,

If teachers should be allowed to evaluate their superior then students should be allowed to evaluate teachers. Your argument is that teachers understand the job of administrator although never being an administrator. I can make the argument that students can identify good teachers and good teaching although they have never been teachers.

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Oh, yea, I did not vote for President Obama!

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Good points 30 year teacher. I also forgot to mention that when the speech is televised our Kindergarten classes will be at lunch. We have two t.v. screens in our cafeteria. We show pictures and math problems continuously throughout lunch. We have music playing for 4 minutes and the children can’t talk while the music is playing. Then the music is off for 3 to 4 minutes and the children can talk. They are suppose to use their quite inside voices. It usually gets very loud in the lunch room. Our Kindergarten students are new to the music/no music rules and don’t follow the music, no talking, rule. I’m sure they will not pay any attention to the President speaking even though the teachers will try their best to tell them that they must listen to him.

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To those in the McCleskey Middle community in Northeast Cobb, I forgot to include the source of why the PTA (and other concerned parents) wanted Bynum gone in 2004 {forgive me for this accidental omission}: his treatment of the parents was so appalling, and his attitude of “I’m in charge here, and you’ll talk to me when I say you will” so deeply rankled almost EVERYONE with whom he dealt, few {if any} could work with him. Word in some Cobb circles was the district’s Board and/or higher-ups made a “deal” to send him to the southern part of the county {and scuttle any talk over the real reason for his x-fer}. As a result, the district avoided any action from the man’s lawyer.

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I was just thinking a couple of thoughts.

1) how nice it would be if all the pta moms were to WEAR a skirt and stiletto heels to the pta meetings.

2) is it where or wear?

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