Is another well respected Administrator on their way out? We are hearing that Susan Townsend - Principal of Walters Elementary is in the running for an Administrative position in another District. Anybody have any information on this rumor we are hearing? How long do we all stand by while all these great Administrators leave us? But hey, as long as we have the good "Doctor" at the helm we should all be happy - - Right?!?
72 comments:
She is also well-know to have been on Phillips "hit list." She is hard-working, caring, honest, trustworthy, respected, competent ... in other words all of the characteristics that Phillips abhors and will add such people to her "hit list" as she does everything she can to fore them out or fire them. Phillips is well-known to have treated her, Ron Behrenwald, Mr. Hanson and many others very badly! This is an outrage!
Principal Townsend always does an excellent job and it would be another major blow to the Marshall Public Schools if we lose her too. If you are angry or conerned about the bad downward spiral that has occurred under Phillips failed leadership, please contact school board members and come out on Tuesday March 27th at 6 pm to quietly show your support for change.
No surprise here about Mr. Behrenwald being forced out by Phillips and her dwindling gang of supporters. They have also targeted many other good people including Susan Townsend. Those who have been reading this Blog since fall or talk to many MPS staff and parents know all about Phillips schemes, lies and overall very bad "leadership."
If Sue Townsend leaves Marshall - the combination of loosing two very wonderful building principals will be an astromonical blow to our community schools. The only things I have ever heard that would cause Ron and Susan to be targets of the good doctor would be that they insist on running their own buildings as they were hired to do. They know if any problems happens in this management they will be pushed in front of the line of fire. Joyce likes to micromanage everything but step back when any problems occur. I am now beside being terribly sad about what is happening to our schools. Why are our elected board members not stopping this madness? Tuesday night - 3/27 community room - 6 pm.
For a long time now I have been a silent observer of all that is going on and really thought it was all just a bunch of hot air from just a few disgruntled as Vic Potter has been alledging. But now I am convinced there are real problems with our schools and it has nothing to do with the working employees doing the wonderful jobs they have been doing for many years. All this has happened over the last three years and the only thing new to this once wonderful district is the top two leaders. Neither of them has any connection to this community and yet this current board backs them over the great staff who has consistently brought excellence to the schools. I am a parent and a taxpayer and a longtime supporter and I am not alone in saying I can not support any bond for improvements when the best improvement will be a change at the top. If this board doesnt see the catastrophe that is coming in the next few months they will have alot of explaining to do. If we lose a second wonderful principal the outrage will finally become very public and our community and schools will suffer even more. Do we deserve this because this board for some reason blindly supports two leaders who obviously can lead us nowhere. I will be at the meeting on Tuesday and hope all others who care will be there too.
Lets really put the "Kids First"
This is the last straw for me too! I realize that I have been lied to repeatedly by Dr. Phillips and some board members as to the causes and the magnitude of the school problems. I will be there also on Tuesday at 6 pm! I encourage everyone else who truly cares about the Marshall Schools to do the same.
I am not very happy with Toms Duffeys interview in the paper about staff morale. I know Tom is a nice guy and not much for conflict but for him to pretend that everything is getting better because some of the board members have coffee with a few teachers is far from accurate. Tom knows there is a terrible volcano brewing and about to erupt if the board sings JKPs praises on Tuesday night. As a union member who had some faith that the honest surveys done last summer would lead to real change I and many many others are even more disturbed now at the top leaders. Tom appears to buy into the spin of Joyce and the board and it is sad to see. With the loss of a wonderful high school principal only because of mean spirited treatment and the potential loss of a beloved elementary principal and the morale of everyone I work with at an even lower level than ever Tom Duffey has done his members another diservice even worse than secretly giving the surveys to the board and Joyce before the agreed upon time. He is a great guy but not a great leader.
Tom did blow the interview badly! He would have been much better off to say "no comment." I did talk to him a while back and it was clear that he had been threatened with legal action or worse. My guess is that he tried to leave gaps in his comments so people can read "between the lines." The problem is that most people do not know Tom and he is obviously being used. The best thing to do now is to get a huge turnout on Tuesday at 6 pm, especially of MPS staff! If that does not materialze, then the teachers will have no one to blame but themselves for not taking action. On a positive note I think that John Bedient had an excellent letter in the chronicle blasting Phillips! Personally I doubt I can vote for any bond if they keep Phillips, so lets hope Phillips is fired so we can all unite behind the bond and other improvements.
Hope for the best but be prepared for very bad news on Tuesday night! If the school board foolishly keeps supporting Supt. Joyce Phillips on Tuesday, then things will keep getting much worse! There is some hope with Ali, Chris and John. Previous hope in Dan has faded (I hope we are wrong!) and Paul is smart and should know better but up until now has been nothing but supportive of JPs awful actions. Vic and Janice should know better and they are believed to be the two most closely associated with JP and all the bad things she has done.
The chronicle interview with Tom may hurt. If he did it to show support for the board (maybe a secret deal?) and not Joyce, and the board fires Joyce, then it will all make sense. The school board probably would like a face-saving way out of this huge mess! If the school board backs Joyce on Tuesday then we will know that all of their talk and actions that made it look like they were doing good things were all fake and a big lie to cover for Joyce! Any school board member who backs Joyce on Tuesday night will lose all respect and support from all decent and caring people in Marshall! We will know their true colors very soon! There are no more excuses. They must choose between good and evil. Tuesday March 27th will either be a step towards a bright futuer or a step backwards into further darkness and decline. What will each shool board members choose for the Marshall Public Schools?
If kids are first why is the Middle School Principal being directed to schedule the orchestra director at the middle school full-time? What will happen to the high school orchestra students???
It sounds like orchestra may be cut at MHS. In the past Joyce set up Ron to take the fall for her bad decisions and mistakes. This may have been another plot to set him up. Now with his departure she may restore orchestra somehow at MHS to avoid taking the blame for her own bad decisions. Does Amy still control the piano at the high school?
I've wondered now that Joyce has successfully forced Mr. Behrenwald out, how long it would be before she set her sights on Mrs. Townsend. What a sad thing that is happening to Marshall Schools. Who will be next after Susan?
To anonymous at 10:21 - as far as we know, yes Amy still directs Mr. Armstrong to come unlock the piano as needed. Oops, there's an added expense/inconvenience.......paying someone mileage to make them take unneeded trips and taking them away from regular jobs because Central Office does not trust the music staff to have a key.
Unfortunately I have a feeling that the board is going to support Joyce. Maybe i am just preparing myself for the worst and praying for the best.
Joyce has had all of the Principals that she did not hire in her sights to one extent or another. Last year none got a raise, at all! Therefore she gave them all bad performance reviews- even Linda Bennink. The administrators she did hire are caught between a rock and a hard place. If they are not 100 percent loyal to Joyce, at the expense of what is best, then their job is at risk. Also they are tainted as JP stooges which makes them far less effective from the get go.
The school board has been working behind-the-scenes for some months now with the MTA and the teachers to find out what was really going on in the schools. They all know very well the magnitude of the problems created by JP and how "the good doctor" has to go for the good of the schools.
In return for cooperation and public support for the Marshall School board, they are supposed to find a way to replace JP so we can get a new Superintendent ASAP. The union and the teachers have been very cooperative with the board members. Could this explain Tom Duffy's conciliatory interview in the Chronicle this weekend? Now it is the board's turn this week to find a way to replace Joyce. Without naming names, at least 3-4 school board members have said they are working on this. Several told me personally that we should be "pleased" with their efforts. Knowing how us teachers feel, I can only interpret that as they are working on JPs removal, one way or another. If they do this, we will all be very happy and work together for a brighter future, including uniting to pass the school bonds.
On the other hand if this is another JP scam, and if they fail us and support Joyce, then we will know we had been deceived and lied to by the school board these past 4 months. The future well-being of the our schools is in their hands. I also think a good turnout of people on Tuesday would be helpful and show the board they have strong support to do the right thing!
I do not know anyone in the Marshall Business Community that supports keeping Phillips. She is bad for the Marshall schools and bad for business.
Will any school board members betray the kids, teachers and the people of Marshall and support keeping Ms. Phillips when they evaluate her this week?
Where is Sue Townsend going? It does not surprise me. Friend at Walters told me how Joyce Phillips treated her like crap since she arrived. They could not believe that a new Superintendent could be so arrogant, rude, unsupportive, uncommunicative and very difficult to work with. I hope Sue stays and Joyce Phillips goes!
In reply to four postings up, we will see on Tuesday March 27th if the school board follows through with their end of the deal to resolve the current crisis in the Marshall Schools. The teachers and support staff have cooperated with them for months, kept things quiet and took the "high road." Unlike last year when they claimed they did not know what was going on, they cannot make the same claims this year. The teachers have held of their end of the deal, now it is time for the school board to do their part and move, one way or another, to replace Phillips. Anything short of that will be a betrayal of both the MPS staff and the best interests of the Marshall Schools.
Teachers and support staff will NOT likely turn out Tuesday night due to conferences and the very real fear of retribution. It is sad it has to be this way. Hopefully that will all change soon. Because of this there will not likely be many turning out on Tuesday evening. PLEASE Paul, Vic, Janice, Chris, Ali, Dan and John, don't let us down!!!
Be prepared for the worst. Since the school board will go into open session to possibly vote on a contract extension and a big raise for Joyce Phillips, things could go very, very badly on Tuesday evening.
Many suspect that the school board members have been plotting with JP for months so they can justify not only keeping her, but extending her contract and giving her another raise. By choosing to do this during conferences and just before spring break is very suspicous. The goodwill they built up by working with the staff, in the hopes they would "see the light" and get rid of JP, may all have been a big scam from the beginning. Would the school board be so mean-spirited, nasty, dishonest, hateful and full of vengeance against the Marshall Schools, teachers, parents and community? Let's hope not! But if they give Joyce a good review and go into open session to keep her and probably approve another big raise, then these predictions above will all be true. I hope they are wrong! Everything will either be much better or much worse depending on the outcome of their decisions. Less than 24 hours until we will know. The future of the Marshall schools are at stake here!
Don't be too hard on Tom Duffy for his interview. The last two previous MTA union Presidents were forced out using sleazy tactics by old JP herself! Tom must know that he is a main target too! She also is still threatening a possible lawsuit against the MTA, so he had to be overly nice due to the huge amount of threats and pressure on him and the teachers. Read between the lines of what he says. Things are NOT well by far and if you want to know the truth talk to the teachers yourself.
Unfortunately all the interview with Tom was not the way the employees actually feel. Yes, in any given situation it is important to express any progress...and perhaps there is some small progress...Perhaps the communication is better between MTA and supt...but in the eyes of the majority of employees (not all are MTA) MORALE IS STILL SINKING, RAISES ARE NOT EVEN EQUAL TO COST OF LIVING - AND EMPLOYEES DO NOT WISH TO SEE ONE PERSON IN THE DISTRICT GET HUGE RAISES WHILE THEY HAVE TIGHTENED THEIR BELTS FOR 5 YEARS WAITING TO ENJOY THE GOOD TIMES AT MPS. Fairness should be equal percentage raises for all persons....not just the superintendent. Tom should have perhaps asked the Chronicle to interview the other groups at Marshall as his interview sounded like 'everyone is happy in Marshall' and that is NOT THE CASE AT ALL!
We will find out tonight (Tues 3-27-07) if the Marshall School Board are "Kids First" or "Joyce First." If they keep Joyce then they care absolutely nothing about the teachers, parents, kids or the community. They will have sold out to a tyrannical incompetent Supt. who greatly deserves to be fired. Each school board member will be responsible for how they vote. If they choose to support "Kids First" and remove Joyce, then we can all unite and celebrate!
Is the board evaluation of Mrs. Phillips going to be a short open session to start it, then go into closed session to do her evaluation, then back to open session to possibly vote on any other related decisions? Why should people turn out at 6 pm when the board has already done their evaluation (didn't they do it last night?)?
This school board has not given me much reason for hope. I know I cannot support any school bonds with Phillips in power, I simply do not trust her at all!
It would be great if there was a big audience (20+) when they come out of closed session. If they vote to fire "the good doctor" they can cheer the board on. If they vote to give her an undeserved good evaluation and keep her they can share disgust and outrage with the board and make such actions uncomfortable at best.
The Marshall School Board have everything to lose and nothing to gain if they do not replace Dr. Phillips.
If Joyce is fired, will Susan stay?
Joyce was not fired, the board stupidly decided to back her for two more years. So expect that we will lose more excellent people and replace them with lesser people.
My daughter has a funny story from when Sup. Phillips visited walters in the fall. Apparently Phillips was in the hallway and thought no one was around when she decided to "break wind" rather loudly. Well my daughter and a few other students were around a corner and started giggling. Phillips saw them and turned red while looking mad that they were there. Normally I would not share such an embarrassing story but after last night, why not. He He He
Well don't you feel like she 'breaks wind' on our entire community each time she is present?
Yes, daily and most of the board members too!
JP does more than that on the staff and parents.;-)
What will the board do now so we do not lose Sue Townsend too? If they let JP out of her cage she will show her teeth and chase her away. Will the board tolerate ongoing abuse and bad treatment of Principals and staff?
Maybe Phillips office should be moved to Gordon, or the bus garage?
I love that idea. There is a custodial closet at Gordon that the school nurse must use (due to space constraints) - I will bet in the spirit of cooperation the nurse would sacrifice her lovely closet for the superintendent. We could put some lovely carpet down so she feels right at home. I hope she doesn't mind all our lovely little munchkins in the hallways....or would she make them walk outside, around the building, through the rain, to get to the library???? But I am absolutely sure she and the bus supervisor (I heard he gave her a great eval and attended her eval session with his boss Amy) could share his office without any problems. But would this be fair to the wonderful bus drivers that work with our little ones each day?
The school board will have to keep JP on some sort of tight leash unless they want things to get much much worse!
If they let her out to roam and cause trouble as a lame duck "everybody hates her" leader, who is also lusting for revenge, they will have nothing but battles, harrassment and big big problems on their hands for the next two years.
You can be sure JP is plotting her devious plans to wreak as much havoc as possible before she departs for Hoosierland in a few years. Its a cold war now between JP and the staff! The staff have had enough and are now peacefully and justifiably fighting back! We will use all legal and moral means to do what is best for the kids! Keeping Joyce around for two more years was clearly an unwise decision by our school board (thanks for letting us down again!) and is clearly against the best interests of the kids, the schools and the community!
I hope we do not lose Susan too!
It would not surprise me if Susan Townsend also left soon for another job. Joyce treated her and Ron very badly for three years now. Neither of them deserve such unprofessional and bad cooperation from their boss. I am also angry that the Marshall School Board has known about this and some members may be encouraging it! If they care about "excellence" they should instead step in and stop this bad "non-excellence" behavior by Joyce!
JP gave Susan a bad performance review last year. We know that because she got no raise, 0 percent! Imagine how you would feel if you did an excellent job, were hardworking, caring, highly respected and then treated like this from your boss and the school board?
Why has Supt. Phillips treated Principal Townsend so poorly? I have heard this from teachers at Walters too. Is it because she did not hire her?
Phillips hates hardworking, honest, well-liked, highly motivated and very competent Princpals. They make her look bad, as she is none of these!
Susan likely was waiting to see if the school board would do the right thing and fire Joyce. When they wimped out, as usual, that made it more likely that Susan and other good people will be looking for jobs elsewhere. Who wants to be treated badly by Joyce for two more years? Joyce will be a lame duck, imagine how bad she can be and not have to worry about any accountability?
The outlook for the next two year is very grim at the top. Expect no "excellence" above the building Principal level (other than Mr. Hulkow) until at least JP is replaced.
I have never in my life had to be treated by a doctor for work related stress. (and I'm pretty old) When you work in any union capacity with joyce as supt. you are her automatic target. I have had to refill a presciption twice now...that is 9 months worth of stress med...spread out over 2.5 years. Which isn't nearly as bad as those employees that just break and have to leave work for several weeks to learn how to work for very 'indianan' bosses. I don't know what they feed people in Indiana but somehow, something just isn't the same as US WONDERFUL MARSHALLITES!!!!! 2 years and counting down....then I will love my job at MPS again!!!! See how much damage one person can wreak on a school system!?!?!?
Two more year of damage. Dr. J will be out for revenge as a "nothing to lose" lame duck. We will be paying for her Michigan retirement for decades to come if we do not fire her sooner. If she gets in two more year the kids will ultimately pay the price for the tragic blunder of hiring her and keeping her around longer.
Keep Ron Behrenwald and Susan Townsend, fire Phillips! Doesn't anyone care about our "rich tradition of excellence" any more?
Recall Vic, Janice, Dan, and Paul....keep Susan and Ron....FIRE PHILLIPS...now there would be a return to A RICH TRADITION OF EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION!!!!
If Susan is forced out like Ron, I am sending my kids to Marshall Academy!
The loss of Susan Townsend would be a big blow to Walters.
Time for change at the top is not just with the doctor, the board members need to step up to their responsibilities or get out. It's amazing that they can let this situation continue and not realize they are shirking their duties, especially with all the negative reaction/comments in the community. They should remember that Joyce will be gone soon (sooner than soon would be better) and they will have no one to fear. Step up and be responsible leaders of the community as you were elected to be! Fire her now!
Apparently the school board decided they would rather have two more years of damage, scandals, embarrassments and major problems rather than take Joyce on and fire her for poor performance. Joyce's gain is everyone else's loss.
I totally agree with two posts above. How can an elected official simply hope for the best for the next two years and disregard the concerns of those citizens that elected them. This is NOT IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE CODE OF ETHICS FOR SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS. The board, according to school policy, reaffirms this code each July - or at least they are supposed to.
Ethics? What ethics? It seems this does not apply to the top leaders or the school board.
I am very concerned about Walters and the other elementary schools. It feels like we are under assault by our own school leaders.
The entire Marshall Schools have been damaged by bad leadership. We are all under threat.
Let me clarify, bad leadership at the Superintendent, Asst. Superintendent and board level. The building level Principals do a great job, maybe too good for Joyce. Last year they got poor performance reviews and zero percent raises for their efforts. Thanks Joyce for treating everyone so badly!
I hope we keep Susan Townsend, Tom Hanson and Linda Bennink.
Linda doesn't even like Joyce anymore after last year when Joyce gave her a bad review and no raise.
Thanks to all of the pressure from this web site and many concerned parents and citizens Joyce has been backing off from many of her threats and plans to force our Susan Townsend, Rich Hulkow, Tom Hanson and others. Let's keep up the pressure to help protect our good staff and Principals.
Linda sure puts on a great act then. She seems to gush all over Joyce when the opportunity is given, bad review and all. I've been there and seen it, very recently at that.
Maybe Linda is trying to brown nose to Joyce's face and then dis her behind her back. Kind of covering her bases until she sees what happens.
Amy Jones has learned very well. She has been treating employees exactly as her boss joyce treats employees. Therefore, watch out for the top three. You don't really have to be doing anything wrong. They like to tell stories that are so incorrect. What they believe is more than not most people do not have the nerve of steel to take them to task and prove to the board the lies and deception that they use. Most recently has been Amy. Why can that woman just not admit when she forgets to do her job . Instead she blames others. It appears if she says something she believes it and hopes the board does also. Do be careful of her as well as joyce.
Amy is becoming a Joyce-clone and Brian is their lapdog.
Amy has been awful towards the staff and needs to be replaced as badly as Joyce. Brian is just lazy and takes advantage of the "perks" of supporting Joyce (year off work with pay and tuition). What does he do anyway besides take credit for other people's efforts? Oh yeah, he spent 8 months trying to figure out how to better call subs. What an accomplishment!
I hope Susan does not leave. I would understand with the current problems with Sup. Phillips. I hope Phillips leaves.
I know under normal circumstances Susan Townsend would love to stay with the Marshall Schools. Unfortunately things have not been "normal" in the Marshall schools and I can understand her interest in possibly leaving.
Until the community truly rises up, and the teachers too, things will get worse and worse for the Marshall schools. Apathy is the best friend of incompetant and corrupt rulers. We just lost Behrenwald, and now we may lose Townsend. How much more evil should we tolerate? Our kids are suffering enough.
Things will get worse, maybe much worse, before they start getting better. Remember, we have TWO MORE YEARS OF JOYCE! Thanks MPS board!
What a wonderful world we would be living in if: Jones, Metcalf and Phillips were all to leave. Townsend could take Metcalf's position, Behrenwald could move into the office with really nice new carpeting...and we could get one of our 3rd or 4th graders to do Amy Jones's job (gosh - I hope they don't do so well as to make her look even worse!!!!). See how easy it would be to MOVE MARSHALL FORWARD! Fire the incompetent top three and replace them with persons that at least can say - sorry, I made a mistake, or I apologize I did not know I could not send employees out to repair personal residentials.
Heck, JP did better than that! She sent Brian Metcalf to MSU full-time last year for his PhD on school time and at Marshall schools expense! Talk about corruption! He didn't do crap for the district last year. That's about another $100,000 down the drain, plus $10,000 for tuition! And now they want a big bond?
Any new news about Susan Townsend? I know she has been treated very badly during the last three years of Joyce Phillips and some board members. Susan is always very dedicated, professional, caring, honest, hardworking and cooperative- everything that Joyce is NOT!
I hope we do not lose Susan too!
Post a Comment