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| James Williams : a trademark hybrid of shiftlessness and arrogance |
Has anyone seen anything as comical and self delusional James Williams' job application for the Superintendent's position in Duval County Schools Florida? Jaysus Dubz, are ye daft or something? He actually refers to himself as a shared decision maker and has the balls to use a phrase like "student achievement." He avoided using the phrase Williams actually managed to lower the graduation rate of Black males to something hovering around 25% He also failed to mention firing attendance teachers in the hopes of using them as pawns to force unions to drop pending litigation caused by his earlier misdeeds, bad faith and general sliminess. That this moron in the information age thinks he can just throw this bucket of shite in the eyes of a school district anywhere and not get caught LYING is the best testimony one could ask for of his absolute lack of any character, credibility or decency. James Williams is a liar and a thief. He hired his pals from Maryland to come in here and run an alternative program for the city's most at risk children. Their plan lacked any kind of human interaction and was based on the programs used in drug rehabs and prisons where interaction is discouraged. The kids @44 stared at computer screens and failed because a good number of them were being taught with the wrong grade level software. So when they took their exams the stuff they "learned" wasn't on them. The entire class of grade 8 students failed the math exam. They had a 0% passing rate. Williams and his friends on the board renewed the contract with them and it wasn't until NYSED became involved that anyone seemed to notice the child abuse going on at Academy @44 under the direction of a band of thieves who called themselves Resultech. When the state finally shut them down they took all of their stuff and left the teachers and kids in the dark with no computers no software and no books 2 weeks before Christmas. They also stole 7.1 million in the deal while failing to meet the needs of our most needy students. Resultech saw no cause to return any of the money they took but did not earn. But hey they were James Williams friends from Maryland how could they be bad?
He not only fired attendance teachers, but librarians as well, and tried to tell us all that we'd be hired back if we convinced our union to drop the lawsuit. Oh well. I vividly remember the people of Buffalo (Buffalo Rising, Buffalo News, etc.--a lot of EV people seemed to love him) LOVING him and praising him and all that. I remember who on the board hired him (it wasn't just the female African-Americans; I believe a white woman led the way--with Wilmers in tow). It is all disgusting and it is amazing what a short memory people have. Hopefully, the people in Florida will have more sense.
ReplyDeleteWilmers hit the daily double with J Dubz. He got the nasty intractable anti union monster he was looking for and the sisters and whote do gooders ingored his record and cheered for their enlightened selection of a black man who would truly understand the children and lead them out of the desert and into the Promised Land. Except that book didn't have a sequel but the one from Dayton did. Nobody at Art Voice waited around until last Spring to do journalism. They were onto Williams immediately. The News Stan Lipsey is Bordeax Bob's Harvard pal I think so nobody there was going to say anything and Buffalo Rising is so crammed with hipsters and "reformers" I need an emesis basin nearby to read it. Elena Cala writes for them if that tells us anything.
ReplyDeleteLet's make a list of memories, already started by Slim:
ReplyDelete* firing attendance teachers...
* firing librarians...
* threatening to beat- up the the Union President...
* Refusing to negtiate a new contract for 7 years...
* tranferring an innocent boy who had been assaulted ...
* personally accompanying the bullies back to their school...
* appointing a large number of "exempt" assistants...
* refusing to"comment" when the heat was on...
* ignoring the excessive suspension of Javonna K. at McKinley...
*
*
Oh and he ran away when John King came to town to chew his ass off last Spring,
ReplyDeleteHe cancelled voluntary transfers partly because several of the principals he'd failed to censure and/or remove were driving their entire staff out of toxic buildings
Started a pay for play paradigm with vendors who all were shaken down if they wanted to do business with BPS
Presided over Hell Week out art Byrncliffe every August not exactly a city business for those who take offense to meetings outside the city proper. His fellow admins gave it this lovely name and did everything short of faking angina to get out of it, It was all paid for or so we were told by the shakedown money from vendors. Whatta guy
Was known as an outrageous tightwad in the fine eateries he liked to grub food in, servers avoided him like the plague except of course at Emerson where they had no choice.
the list go on all the way back to Maryland....
And let's not forget the hiring of Folasade Oladele. She poisoned the environment of the BPS and frightened the administrators into silence and total compliance. This queen of ebonics was Williams right hand and her insistence on "fidelity" to scripted programs imposed an almost immoral method of teaching on the children of Buffalo. Wonder where her sorry butt landed? Let's not forget that she was also "bought out" at the end. In fact, I think she actually did more actual damage than Williams.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Dark. Oladele was the true evil.
ReplyDeleteRegarding not allowing teachers to transfer--well, now they are and it is a mess. He knew he wasn't going to be around to pick up the pieces when the teachers won the grievance.
An entire case study, PhD thesis, whatever, could be written about how easily coerced and fearful our upper administrators became under Oladele and Williams. They went right along with educational strategies that they did not believe in and even adopted the clothing and pursed-lipped silent arrogance that Oladele liked to see in her underlings. Now, with our new Superintendent, Dr. Pamela (can I call you Pam?) Brown, I can't wait to see which administrator will be the first to show up sporting the iconic pearls and jaunty suit(let's hope it's not Kano or Kerestes). Our leaders at City Hall have lost all shred of decency and only serve to prove that they will go along with any cockamamie crap coming down the pike to save their own salaries. Our educational "leaders" are not warriors for what they believe in but rather spineless, fearful middle managers. "Run it like a business, y'all".
ReplyDeleteSo, Chalk, I guess I am adding to your excellent list, my own fondest memories:
ReplyDelete*Hiring Oladele to frighten the locals.
*"Outing" the utter lack of conviction of our admins
Almost done! Although the blame for hiring Williams goes to the Board and their depraved following of Wilmer's selfish insistence on a dim bulb but thuggish anti-union Superintendent, the BPS administrative hierarchy shares ALL the blame for their soulless, sheepish behavior in implementing to perfection the harmful policies of Williams/Oladele. They proved that it does not take much to frighten those who are willing to change their colors instantly to please the master. Perhaps Amber would have been able to slowly winnow out some of the worst offenders. Dr. Brown, however, will never know the history of the shameful behaviors of the recent past. She will most likely just bask in the reflected glory as the admins rush in to carry out any ill-formed idea she can possibly concoct.
ReplyDeleteOh, and a tip of the hat to Phil Rumore who never lost sight of the harm being done to students and teachers during the reign of Williams/Oladele. He is STILL trying to undo some of their dirty work. The 2010 transfer issue, that not one administrator or Board member saw fit to question, is still being arbitrated even though it was already arbitrated. Phil has had to read and digest mounds of legalese from NYSED and the district in order to formulate a fair response to every issue. He never lost his cool in the face of Williams blowhardiness. I hope that this school year, teachers will stay actively informed on the Cuomo/King anti-teacher strategies. I hope that the anonymous teachers who go running to Mary Pasciak will instead attempt to understand the history of collective bargaining and the past and current attempts to crush the unions. Thank you Phil and staff. Strength in the new year. And I laugh every time I think about the drudges at NYSED trying to "unwrap" the APPR that you worked so diligently on to protect the Buffalo teachers from those in Albany who work to diminish them. You submitted the APPR on time and with a thorough vetting of the mountains of legalese and anti-teacher bias. We never did read in the News that Buffalo was one of the first to hand their APPR in on time. Phil Rumore has the respect of his local members as well as the admiration of his NYSUT colleagues.
ReplyDeleteExtremely well said....
DeleteI have to go with the enmity a small handful of gasbags has for Phil as a sign that he is doing that hard work we need him to do. When you read other edublogs from around the state you notice people saying things like This Rumore guy looks like the real deal not like the spineless hacks we get at NYSUT. I actually read that somewhere. And people think there's something in the water in B-lo that causes us to fight with NYSED and King. They always express admiration for it and voice their hopes that it is spreading. I am with them on that one.
ReplyDelete