Welcome. This site is for all who seriously seek positive change for the Lebanon Community School District. I will go by "IE," and those who have visited the "LT" blog will notice I have views quite different from those LT expresses.
Unlike LT, I will work to state the truth as I see it without name-calling, put-downs, or otherwise arrogant writings. That said, I know I will not do this perfectly, as this is an emotional area of concern, and I am not a perfect person.
While I understand Lebanon has a history of tumultuous relationships between school superintendents and the community, I believe the time has come to support any efforts by our school board to replace current Superintendent Jim Robinson as well as administrators who support his continued presence at the district office.
In recent months it has become increasingly clear that Robinson's reputation, deserved or not,
as a condescending and dismissive administrator who punishes teachers who voice opposition to any of his ideas by transferring them to positions they don't want, has made it impossible for him to effectively administer this district. He needs to resign. Until he does so, this district will continue to muck around in dysfunction.
It's true his resignation will no doubt be followed by a transition fraught with confusion and turmoil, as most transitions are, but it is necessary for any healing to begin. We must somehow end this cycle of lawsuits, accusations, and conflicts without effective resolution. We need a clean slate for healing to begin. Sometimes one must lance a boil, vs. continuing to apply salve and bandages, before positive change is possible.
Since Mr. Robinson has not resigned, it seems he cares more about himself than this community. This should not surprise, since he has a history of making scornful comments about Lebanon and its residents. Some say Robinson has changed. I have seen no true evidence of this, have you?
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8 comments:
Thank God! This is great! Thank you for starting this blog! How refreshing!
Glad to see this started. It's nice to have this perspective on a blog.
It is ideous how Robinson and his supporters (there are a couple)want to characterize the community division as between the educated elite (Robison) against the blue collar know nothings.
I am a longtime member of the community, have undergraduate and graduate college degrees and believe there is broad support for showing Robinson the door.
Robinson came in as a change agent. Change was needed. But Robinson is such a control freak that no idea is any good unless he thought of it first.
Thoughtful employees who dare to question any of Robinson's "my way or the highway edicts" face transfers and reassignments.
The most recent high-profile victim of Robinson's retaliation was Athletic Director Bo Yates.
Perhaps Robinson's next victim will be Head Football Coach Allen, who criticized Robinson's removal of Yates at a school boad meeting and called upon the school board to reinstate Bo.
Miller's statement of support for Bo was a gutsy, class act. Miller deserves our support for this efforts to stand up.
If Robinson follows his normal practice he will wait until school lets out in June to retaliate against Allen.
Not until Robinson is gone can this community get down to deciding how to move ahead.
I and many other members of the community are not wanting a wholesale rejection of the current educational program.
Rather we want to assess what's working well, what's not, and reach consensus on how to fix the parts that aren't working.
To get there we need the full involvement of the community and the district's teachers, classified staff and building administrators.
That's not going to occur as long as Robinson is in power.
Anonymous #3 -- Thanks for the thoughtful observations. I think Bo Yates and others like him who speak their minds despite Robinson's history of punishing those who challenge him, are very brave souls. In some ways, they may be foolish; akin to running into the path of machine-gun fire, but brave and inspirational to us all.
aint going to happen!!!
I'm not sure what, "ain't going to happen," but I will guess you are referring to Robinson resigning?
I guess getting rid of Mr. Robinson is your goal. I do not see any comment as to the illegal activities of the school board, specifically our rogue members who illegally tried to suspend Mr. Robinson and continue to act in ways that are contrary to the advise of the board's own counsel. What about the issue of lack of community? No change is done without controversy but change is a necessary component to good schools. Maybe Mr. Robinson is wrong, but without addressing other issues, we won't get anywhere. To focus only on one person/issue is missing the entire point.
This community is dis-functional. We do not want to change from our mill based past and look to the future. Tech jobs are not the way out in my opinion. I believe we need to prepare our students for all possible paths. We don't know what will happen in the future and if we don't prepare our students for change, they will continue to fall behind. At least Mr. Robinson has seen this and tried to do something to help. Maybe a different method is necessary, I don't know. I do know that his way has not been supported enough or been around long enough to judge properly. Educational change takes 5-10 years to show results. From what I have seen at school board meetings, the board has no clue about education.
Thank God for blogs. This one was started a year and a half ago and chronicles the departure of a superintendent that allowed some of the worst possible educational decision making take over the entire district. While things are not vastly improved, they ARE improved.
The worst administrators under him used lying and intimidation to control staff. As they were exposed after his departure, the worst were let go or resigned early. HR continues to be a big issue because they keep hiring people who have been serial rejects from other school districts. It's run like an insider's club, so make sure that you've got decent HR and Assistant Superintendents or replace them. Good luck to Lebanon!
http://www.theorangejuice.com/2006/07/sausd-corruption-coming-out-with.html
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