Hi All
It is awhile since I last blogged, but that doesn't mean that I have forgotten how to do it, just that sometimes life gets in the way.
However, this has been a HUGE year for public education in Alberta, and it is time to resurrect the Annual Report Card for the Minister of Education.
Some of you may not be familiar with this ritual. In fact, our current Minister of Education, the Honourable Mr Hancock, got a free pass last year since he was a newbie, yet to make his mark. A year later, one has to say he is a fast learner, and covering the curriculum at such a rapid pace we are having trouble keeping up and think he might do well on the track team as a 200 m runner (a bit slow to start but has a kick for the last 50 metres that would surprise even Usain Bolt.)
So I have delved into the archives and am posting reports pertaining to the former members of the Education Ministerial relay team, Ron Leipert and Gene (Who?) Zwozdesky and will be imminently publishing the Annual Report Card of the new baton carrier, Mr Hancock (altho I heard rumour he can also do a bit of baton swirling aka cheerleader style too).
Enjoy.
Report to the Provincial Board of Expulsions, June 2008
Dear Sir:
You have asked us to make a recommendation in respect of the application to have R. Liepert expelled from his place of Education.
We have the following observations to make, and our recommendation follows.
Background:
At the beginning of the term, his dad (Steady Eddy) was very clear about the hopes he had for Ron, and in fact gave him a mandate that he could have followed to the letter. There were three assignments:
1) Work collaboratively with teachers to ensure there were no un-fun responsibilities when they retired;
2) Increase his access to early learning opportunities; and
3) Develop a strategy for his high school completion.
Observations & Findings:
There are no report cards on file for Ron as he failed to hand in any assignments for the term except one in the last week or so of the term. It was his first assignment. While that assignment was excellent, a cursory glance showed that it was not his own work, but that of his dad.
In fact, when his teachers offered to work collaboratively on the assignment, he got angry at them and stomped out of the room. This occurred very early in the term, leading his teachers to think that there was no likelihood of negotiating a positive relationship in the future thus potentially leaving them on the hook for stuff that wasn’t their responsibility in the first place. Very un-fun indeed.
In respect of his second assignment, his work was clearly inadequate - he didn’t seem to learning anything early on and all he did was throw in a little French. This really didn’t change a thing from the assignment of the previous student. In any case, the outcome of this assignment was nothing compared to the outcomes for him AND many other younger students that could have resulted if he had fully invested his resources into doing it properly. Nobody ended up with access to anything, except the occasional “Je ne sais quoi”.
In regards to his third assignment, it is obvious Ron has not cracked the nut of how to complete his high school. While we were hoping he would go public with his strategy, instead he seems to prefer a more private approach to completing his high school (both in “Building for Tomorrow” and the educational sense). He seems much more interested in the 3 P’s than the 3 R’s. This will cost him and us taxpayers all very dearly in the end.
On the question of deportment, he creates problems rather than trying to solve them, and he picks fights rather than working through issues and differences with others.
Recommendations:
We regret to have to conclude that based on his poor track record with his three assignments and associated attitudinal issues towards our teachers and younger students, taken together with his penchant for demonstrating his interest in education privately rather than publicly, he is a risk to others and will take those risks at our expense. Therefore, our strong recommendation is that he should be expelled immediately from his place of Education.
Yours Sincerely
SUSAN O’NEIL
CommissionWatch
ANNUAL REPORT CARD JUNE 2006
Name: Mr Gene Zwozdesky
Classroom Behaviour & Attitude:
The Education Minister’s strong social skills and the ability to listen to those around him has not helped him tackle major assignments this year. In fact, what he has turned in to date is both lacking in substance and in tangible support. While we maintain great optimism that the Education Minister will in future years follow through on his good intentions, it is apparent that he requires strong leadership to reach his admirable educational goals. He undertook a very small portion of his homework on school buildings so we had to mark this assignment as “Not Completed” and he failed to hand in anything at all on staffing and classroom conditions. While the groups (ie School Boards) seem to be turning the heat up, the Minister isn’t prepared to cover the heating bill, or indeed the lighting, cleaning or maintenance costs. The roof is threatening to fall in. All of this will lead to the school closing down the road.
We have had to talk to him about his reversal of supporting the completion of some of his high school credits (CEUs). It is simply unfair to withdraw support once the work has been completed and seems contrary to his values around collaboration in his group work.
Finally, despite all his research, and while continuing many worthwhile community-based activities, the Minister suddenly abandoned the early learning program, leaving many young children in “learning limbo”. This was very unfortunate and does not bode well for the future.
Grade: C
Numeracy Skills:
The Education Minister is displaying good effort in these areas but continue to struggle with math. He continues to gloss over the concepts of annual indexing and has not mastered the basics surrounding averaging despite many hours of remedial teaching. As a result of his sums being wrong, many groups are experiencing negative impacts and they are having to cut back on members. We are trying to help him to make adjustments to his formulas but it may be too late to see positive results next school year.
Grade: D
Literacy Skills
The Education Minister is an excellent reader but continues to completely miss the main theme in the reports he is asked to analyze. We think he should be assessed to determine the nature of the problem, but there isn’t enough money in the budget to do the testing. And while we would like to recommend a reading recovery program, it is unlikely to be staffed next year so he may continue to struggle or simply give up. The librarian has quit and the counselor went south a long time ago. Perhaps the custodian (whose time has been cut back) can multi-task.
Grade: C-
Second Languages:
The Minister took a step back from his commitment to a Second Language this year, which disappointed all those who were eager to take the class with him. He said it was because he couldn’t find the teacher, but many others didn’t have that difficulty. We encourage him to sign up again next year.
Grade: D+
Social Studies & Economics
The Minister has not learned his history from four years ago. If he had read that chapter, he would have known that teachers earn more every year and that supply (of dollars) needs to meet demand (of services). We are hoping that he can take summer school and gets a better result leading into the next school year.
Grade: D+
