Taken From www.marshall.k12.mi.us/district/index.html#belief
Belief Statement
Belief Statement
- Every individual has worth and dignity, is unique and learns in relation to that uniqueness, and has the right to educational opportunity in order to reach his or her potential.
- Students have the right to acquire the greatest possible understanding of themselves and the right to gain an appreciation of their worth.
- The mastery of essential skills is the primary focus of its educational program.
- Learning is a lifelong process, and therefore, the school district must provide the opportunities for all students to develop in the physical, cognitive, affective, and creative domains.
- The preservation of a free society depends upon the ability of its citizens to protect individual liberty; thus, schools must promote the democratic ideal, promote social justice, and develop an appreciation of America's heritage.
55 comments:
The role of the Superintendent is to be a compassionate leader and cooperative partner in promoting these noble goals with the staff, students and the community. Not a hinderance and de-motivator, like the current MPS Superintedent. The MPS will likely start making significant progress again and move forward with the next Superintedent. Hopefully we will not have to wait until 2009 to do so!
Then what with the new superintendent when he or she makes a decision you don't like. The very fact that she is in that position proves that she is more competent than most of you. TEACH THE KIDS. It is so hard to have any sympathy for ANY teacher problem. Look at the numbers....can't afford shoes, my ass! You are all paid very well, and all taken care of too well with benefits. You don't have any other worries in life, so you have to create this thing and attack something for your own personal drama. So you didn't get the assistant Principal you wanted. So what? You are union, you will continue to get your checks, no matter how sub-par your methods are. That's the REAL problem.
Of course Dr. Phillips got a lawyer. If I were her, I would to, and I would give them a blank check and aim them squarely at about 3 agitators in the school. And if the newspaper published any union propoganda as fact, I would aim the lawyers at them too. If I were Dr. Phillips, I would stay in this district and put out the fires that are being fanned on this website no matter what it took. Lawsuit....firing...whatever. This level of childishness is pitiful for a group of "professionals". Teach the kids. No matter what you say to each other in the hallways at school, the fact is most of you don't even live in Marshall. You are not reflecting what is on the streets. You are reflecting what is in the teachers lounge. The basis for everything is laughable.
That's enough for today - I am a Marshall citizen....I am going shopping, I need new shoes.
What if the Superintendent lies often? What if they are a poor leader? What if they are far less competent than the other administrators below them? What if they seem not to care about the staff, students or the community in general? What if they are arrogant because they think they have a rubber-stamp board to back them no matter what? What if they engage in improper or illegal behavior and then try to deny it, ignore it or cover it up? What if they lose the support of nearly 100 percent of the staff and much of the community?
You think this is just about a few "agitators"? What town do you live in? It is hard to find anyone not on the school board who supports Phillips. Maybe you should write a letter to the Chronicle and sign your name so Phillips knows she has another supporter in town. You seem to be one of the very few to share her "management" philosphy.
To the "anonymous" above: Do you need new shoes because of your recent foot surgery? Get well soon!
Actually anonymous....if you will listen to the talk on the streets and not just the rants of the MPS teachers, you will see that the community is not nearly as passionate about this as the few posters on this board are. K.P....let it go. No matter how many blogs you start, no matter how many cards you print, no matter what you think, this is not an issue you are going to get public support on. As a Marshall taxpayer, I LOVE the fact that the district is being managed toughly.
If this is all the music department has to do at school, perhaps it should be one of the budget trims?
Dr. Phillips - you go, girl!
Perhaps before you take another pot shot at the entire music department of MPS you should compare that department to what it was 6-8 years ago. The fine arts are one of MPS attractions to school of choice - parents/students. By the way - KP is far to busy doing the district fall musical to get into a petty exchange with you. I'll make sure she is aware of this blog site in case she has the opportunity in her 12 hour days to respond to you. Once again - it would be the lack of facts that leads some. I do agree with your statement "Dr Phillips - you go girl...." all the way back to Hoosier land! YEAH!
To the anonymous two posts up...
It had been widely reported that Phillips has a clique of staunch supporters who are very ignorant of what goes on in the Marshall schools. This clique wants to fire many people in a bizarre belief that they are the cause of some fictional set of problems, where Phillips is their hero leading the charge. This clique is rumored to be targeting most Principals, Hulkow and many of the best teachers in the district. Their motives seems to be revenge for one reason or another. Some may be former coaches or their friends. Others disliked Giannunzio and are taking out their revenge on those they think were supporters of Giannunzio.
Either way the die-hard Phillips supporters seem to be as mean-spirited as she is. No surprise there!
So when my opinion disagrees with yours, I am mean spirited. Perhaps I am just mad that my taxpayer money is going into a modern day witch hunt that need not exist. And, as a taxpayer in Marshall, I think if this is being done on school time, there SHOULD be firings. I am sure Dr. Phillips can get whatever she needs from the IT department at the district. Find out which school computers accessed this site....find out why it was done on school time....discipline appropriately.
The MPS staff are not stupid and know that it is not below Dr. J to do something like this. I do not work for the MPS but I often talk to staff and they tell me that they do NOT access anything like this at school, they do not trust Dr. J in any way, and they know that she would investigate and fire them in a heartbeat if she could. They also know she would gladly squander your taxpayer money on uneccessary and unfair staff investigations. They know she would not be fair and honest toward anyone but a few loyalists at the top. So if any MPS staff acccess or dare post on this or any other web site, you can be sure they are not doing this at school.
If you think that a good Superintendent is someone who fosters a cold, hostile and unsupporting school work environment, then I can understand why you think she is doing such a great job.
Dear "Anonymous"
What modern day witchhunt? How does your taxpayer money pay for this web site? Do you think any Marshall teacher or support staff member would be foolish enough post from school? Should they be fired if they merely read this web site from school, say on their lunch break? Maybe Phillips has blocked it already, I do not work in the Marshall schools.
Why do you think it is a "witchhunt" because so many are criticizing Dr. Phillips based on her actual performance? Should all of these actions and controversies be ignored? Would any other school district keep a Superintendent employed who has lost so much trust, respect and support from her own staff? Do you think she is perfect and blameless in this entire mess? Do you think dozens or hundreds of people just made all of this up for no good reason?
I would like to address anonymous from above:
You state that you think that Dr. Phillips should investigate to see if anyone is using the schools computers to post to this site. You state that they should not use school time, ie, work time to do such personal and useless things. So...What is your input on Dr. Phillips sending two MPS employees over to Principal Bennick's home to put in an air conditioner during school,ie, work time and using school equipment? This is something that is public knowledge that was done which if we use your input from a previous listing you think that Dr. Phillips should be fired for not doing her job and using school equipment for personal benefit. Please don't spread more untruths. You have no idea who is behind this blog and who is posting on it. You, yourself aren't even putting name behind your comments. I feel that the person, whoever it is, should be commended for putting this site up. They are giving the public an area to express their feelings. This is not something that all are able to do, since many phone calls, emails and such are never returned from administration much of the time. I say GREAT JOB to the person that started this site!
Signed:Concerned MPS Parent
I like others of you have been reading and posting on this site. I personally would like to "type" to the person that is being quite negative about the staff of MPS. I have spoke with some of them and I have heard a collective group of them that actually say they do not trust the Dr. She has lied about numerous things and then tried to buy some of the peoples silence. She lied to the police about it, and she buys gift cards for the ones who did as they were told to do, for fear of discipline action. I work for MPS and am proud of our staff except Amy Jones and the Dr. because we are sticking together like we need to do. Continue to teach and show our kids that they are number one. When my child is ready to go to school I will be proud to enroll her at Marshall.
GO REDHAWKS!!!!!!!
Wow! I am flattered that someone thinks I am creative enough, and computer-saavy enough to be behind this effort. Thank you to I.N. Diana for bringing the site to my attention. First of all, I would have no clue as how to start a blog. I am having to send this to someone to post because I can’t even figure out how to post from my computer. I find it curious that someone just assumes that I am spending my time at school dealing with this. To the popular “anonymous” person who wants me to let it go, what am I supposed to let go? If I was spending the time you accuse me of in this mind-boggling effort, I would not have been able to pull off a TWO hour concert last weekend. I am a dedicated teacher who loves her kids and her job very much. Do I get passionate when people I care for are targeted? You bet I do. I can take heat from the people who choose to remain anonymous, but anything I believe, I am willing to put my name to. I am curious why one would want to take funds away from my kids as a punishment to me? Why would one even suggest I am tainting the students? My students are probably not even aware of this site yet as they haven’t been talking about it nor have they asked. Why is the entire music department being targeted? The music department in Marshall is one of the things this town has to boast about. Marshall’s music department is known all over the state for its excellence. My only goal in getting vocal about any of this stuff is to make sure people know what outstanding building principals we have. All along the way, I have stayed away from name-calling and targeting any one person, trying to stay true to integrity.
Kathy
Well said! :-)
Wow! Way to go Kathy! Hopefully this will put to rest the argument that "anonymous" (can't she just come up some kind of fake screen name, I'm getting sick of seeing anonymous) has been posting about you being the ring leader of this campaign. Hope the fall musical is going good. Good Luck with it!
Good Job Kathy. Keep up the good work in the music department.
Thank you for the great comments. I will vouch for Kathy and her integrity as I have seen it in her daily work with my and your children. Great example of the issue at hand: Targeting persons who choose to stand up for ethics and integrity. Good people find it very hard to sit still and watch other good people, who are just trying to do the jobs they are hired to do, be bullied by Joyce. In closing - Kathryn Petrich is absolutely one of the many "good people" that are teaching ethics and integrity to the children of Marshall EACH DAY!
Top anonymous above. At any time any person can access computers at the MPS. There are not in a lock box - like the new grand piano - some are shared. In fact, you could enter the buildings and actually get to a computer. These are not nuclear weapons under guarded watch. All persons should have them checked - if any checking is going on - this means the IT dept. would have to feel free to check those top 3 administrator's computers as well. That my friends is the root of the problem. No one feels there can be fairness without retribution. I can hardly imagine the Tech Dept. entering Joyce's office and letting her know she has broken internet policy. Get a grip and understand the facts. Oh - to all those employers in Marshall. I think we should have your employees computer sites checked too. What is fair for one - should be fair for all - yes - even in Marshall!
Makes you wonder if Metcalf used the school computer to do any on-line doctorate courses. Let's start with his computer. Usually colleges have many on-line courses which means you have to access a given site to do your school work. I vote we start with his, then Amy (check on that shopping), then Joyce. Let's start at the top so the Board can say it was in fact a fair investigation. OOPS - fair investigations don't usually take place at MPS.
I just checked the Indiana Department of Education web site and here is their list of Superintendent duties and expectations:
1. Balance the book
2. Teach your school board to obey you. Become their personal friends- lunch, dinner, shopping, etc.
3. Avoid all positive contact with staff, other than your top and most loyal administrators.
4. Insist that everyone call you "Doctor" at all times. If you do not have a PhD then check the back page ads in Rolling Stone and get one for about $50 at the University of the Pacific.
5. Always keep investigating your staff. Your goal should be to try to fire or force out 5% of yur staff per year, this will scare the other 95%.
6. Don't be fooled by those who may try to work with you or be friendly towards you on staff. Show no emotion, ignore them and when need be ask them to leave your office with a mean look on your face.
7. Do not get to know your staff or learn their names very well. Make your "annual" visit while they are giving final exams so you have no real contact.
8. If anyone criticizes your actions, obtain a lawyer and threaten legal action against them.
9. Ignore all "nonsense" requests, such as the Boy Scouts asking you to visit.
10. Befriend a few rich and powerful people in the community. You can pretty much ignore everyone else.
Now it all makes sense! We hired an "Indiana" Superintendent expecting her to act like a Michigan Superintendent. How foolish of us all! ;-)
Shame on us. Not too late to correct that error. With Michigan having the highest unemployment rate...I am positive we can find a few canidates that can do the job they were actually hired to do. We didn't ask for a disgruntled Indiana employee to show up in Marshall and totally "change our vision". We were excelling in excellence before she got here. Look at us now!
How hilarious, sad and true! Someone hit the nail on the head with the list about Joyce above.
How can the school board keep defending her? It makes you wonder what is really happening behind the scenes.
The Board of Education does have in place a document called "Code of Ethics" This can be found with an internet search to Michigan Board of Education guidelines/codes. Check it out then ask yourself....are they doing what they are elected to do?
The upcoming school board meeting will be crucial in answering that question. The people will be watching one way or another. Are they planning to turn on Joyce or plotting to support her no matter what the consequences are?
I am sure they will keep protecting Joyce, I do not see any real leaders emerging that are strong and brave enough to speak out like Bob and Sam did.
There is some hope in John and Chris emerging as positive board leaders. Also Dan and even Paul could also if they lose their faith in Joyce.
So how does everyone feel now that basically nothing was done at the board meeting. Time for that "No Confidence Vote"? I would rather push her out than cause any kind of community breakdown. We, including board members, are the community. Phillips is nothing but a paid visitor! Why recall our elected community members...let's get on the phone, email...etc. - it is time for this community to push for a "No Confidence Vote" - where all members feel insulated, together, unafraid to speak out, unafraid to give their vote without retaliation.
Something major needs to be done soon. Keep up the pressure! If Joyce is not gone soon we will regret it for years to come. The bridges have been burned, there is no fixing all that she has broken.
Don't kid yourself....she is still very busy burning bridges...today...this week...it continues. She has learned to be a bit more sneaky... She has also began the practice of assigning her dirty works to others to do...when they don't do them...(unethical deeds) she then reprimands them too... This is not how MPS district has ever been run under any other superintendent. I think it would be curious to hear from some of our past supers....they seemed to know how to manage this district.
Lou never looked so good!
Think about this one, she will never resign and lose all of that wonderful money that the board has given her while the rest of us eat cake. She will fight tooth and nail. How about having the board reassign her, maybe evening janitorial staff or even grounds crew. That way she'll have to honor her contract, we won't have to pay an exhorbinant amount to buy her out and she'll resign after waking up at wee hours of the morning to plowing the parking lots and salting the sidwalks. I love the thought of her cleaning the restrooms,what do you think?
I love the idea but I do not feel it is fair to put her around other honest employees. She is not a people person. How about the laundry room where she doesn't have much of any contact with other employees. Or of course - some secretarial position - that way as soon as she learns her job (ha ha) someone can change her description - (but not let her know) - then we could just fire her...say ...we don't like the tone in her voice on the phone. That can be a fireable offense these days I am sure. But I do like the vision of her cleaning toilets!
Bellevue wised up to a bad Superintendent and demoted him to a lower job until he resigns. Do the Marshall schools still run the teaching at the juvenile home? Maybe that would be a good place to send her.
Hey - that gives me a great idea. For Christmas let's everyone write letters of recommendation for Joyce and send her resume off to Bellvue. You are right - at least then we know someone's school board would be willing to take care of bad leadership. Let's do something while we can still enjoy EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION
Joyce might be better suited to run the Abu Ghraib prison.
She sure is well versed in torture. I am not sure she is qualified in doing proper investigations though.
She is very good at doing investigations that leads to false charges, false evidence, testimony from people who made it up and were not there, blocked evidence in favor of the employee, wrong information written down when people are questioned, leaks to the newspaper of false info, etc, etc.
I very much agree. See how she went about the 'background check' personnel investigations. Calling people in to torture regarding things like 'public intox' at age 18 yrs. 30 years ago, impaired driving 18 years ago, impaired 24 years ago...ooops wrong person...the background check indicated the female employee was a male with the same birthdate. This background check system was to be done by the State Police. They have a system. Joyce used I believe ICHAT - why? Because she was trying to show the board what a proactive hero she could be. The items she harrassed employees over are not even on the list set by the State. Too bad one employee even had to get an attorney to help them out. This is how Joyce met Judge Line...! How many employees had to retain an attorney? 4? Because Joyce was out of line. This is sad for Marshall educators!
The only ones dumb enough to believe Erica Hisler's false allegations against Mr. Foreman were Joyce Phillips and the Marshall school board. The courts through them out (she had multiple conflicting versions of events) last May, and her friends have since reported that it her made-up stories had gotten out of hand and she was pressured by Phillips and her mom to keep saying things that were not true. She probably was afraid of more legal trouble for herself and her family from other unrelated incidents. The whole town knows this! I knew her in high school. No one belived her wild stories back then. Now it is time for the Marshall school board to listen to the truth and drop this whole mess before they waste any more thousands on it.
Rachel DeWolf has a nice letter to the editor in the new Marshall Chronicle about this today. This case should have been dropped long ago. Some school board members launched a smear campaign in the fall against Mr. Foreman saying there was bad stuff they know that we didn't. I talked to several people who have seen ALL of the information and they said that was not true! If anything they told me the case is even much weaker than the public thinks. These board members were doing Joyce's dirty work. Were they the same "anonymous" sources that got false information into the Chronicle when the charges came out (eg a student was involved) last spring? It has been a flawed and shady investigation from the start!
Joyce is betting that an old Engler administration appointee who decides teacher tenure cases will rule in her favor against Mr. Foreman because he always rules against teachers. That is why Engler appointed him! But Foreman will likely win on appeal. This whole mess will cost the MPS over $250,000 by the time it is over. If all goes well Mr. Foreman will be back teaching next fall, and we will hopefully have a new Superintendent by then too.
Keep the Foreman family in your prayers this week and through the coming months of the tenure proceedings. Their future and well-being is on the line. The three oldest Foreman children attend the Marshall Public Schools. The Foreman family still live in Marshall and enjoy tremendous community support. They are all victims of one of Phillips' unjust and unfair investigations.
I know many people who will not vote for a school millage until Mr. Foreman is restored to his teaching position! Fire Mrs. Phillips, keep Mr. Foreman!
I will not vote for a millage until we have a new Superintendent!
The school board clearly has 'no confidence" in Mrs. Phillips. If they did they would not have asked for such a small millage. Even that small millage will be hard to pass if Phillips is still in power and MPS teachers are still being harrassed and abused by her.
Don't forget how she abuses support staff too!
Two new excellent letters in support of Mr. Foreman in the new Chronicle out today December 16th! They both also blast Phillips. Everyone I know hopes that Mr. Foreman is returned to his teaching position soon. He has been a victim of a false accuser, a zealoous and sleazy Superintendent Phillips and a flaky former assistant tennis coach. He should be cleared of everything in the coming year, we all hope! Pray for the Foreman family, especially the four suffering children, this holiday season!
Contact the school board, they are evaluating Phillips on Monday Dec. 18th according to the Chronicle. Hopefully this is the beginning of the end of her reign as Superintendent.
Mr. Foreman was one of the best teachers I ever had! I know he is innocent and that Erica Hisler is lying. Everyone knows that if they know the Hislers. I heard a lot about erica in high school. Phillips is working with them to get Foreman, how nuts. She should shut down their house for providing tons of underage drinking to Marshall students. This is a known fact.
Everyone I know wants to see Mr. Foreman back soon! My prayers are with him and his family this holiday season.
Mrs. Phillips needs to go on trial!
Everyone knows that the stories about Mr. Foreman were never true in the first place. Mrs. Troutner reported Erica Hisler outrageous stories to Superintendent Phillips who then went after Foreman. When the truth came out and the charges were dropped before there was even a trial, the Foreman supporters started publicly criticising the dishonest way Phillips mishandled the investigation. Then Phillips kept calling the police (according to a police officer I know) and kept digging for dirt but could find nothing true about Foreman. Phillips looked like a fool for the way she screwed this up and cost the Marshall schools over $250,000+. Now she is wasting more money in a pathetic attempt to fire Foreman despite no solid proof of any wrongdoing. It is clearly a personal vendetta by Phillips against Mr. Foreman, the Marshall teachers, and the parents and former students who strongly support Foreman. If all goes well Mr. Foreman will be back teaching next fall. My kids all thought he was an excellent teacher. I also know Mr. Foreman as a great coach.
I knew Erica in high school and the daughter of Mrs, Troutner, Kim Ross. I would not trust either of them to tell anything that is true. Foreman is an awesome teacher and he needs to be brought back ASAP!
My daughter was on the tennis team under Mr. Foreman and he had an excellent reputation for the way he behaved around the girls. I want him back as a teacher and coach.
My son is on the tennis team and I definately hope that Mr. Foreman is back soon. The tennis program needs him, especially the girls program from what I have heard. He is a very good teacher and person too.
Phillips really botched the entire Mr. Foreman situation! I heard that Foreman is planning a lawsuit when the tenure process is over. Phillips blunders are costing the MPS hundreds of thousands of dollars for not justifiable reasons. Can you think of any programs, sports or classrooms that can use this money to do what is "best for the kids"?
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