At the Board of Education Meeting at Barnard School tonight, Schools Superintendent Richard Organisciak will read his 2010-11 Goals and Objectives to the board.
Why he does this each year is anyone’s guess since he never reviews his progress against those goals. Same with the rest of the administration. They read their goals and then toss them in the trash can. In discussing this with board members from other districts around Westchester County I learned that school boards routinely have the administrators to mid-year and year-end reviews against their goals.
These goals are even more meaningless for certain administrators because they do not preset their Goals and Objectives to the Board until halfway through the year or more. Last year, for example the principals at Webster and Trinity read their goals to the board in the 4th marking period.
In other words, this is just another farce by the administration and the board to create the illusion of accountability without delivering it.
Consider how much better students might do if they were given tests that were never graded by their teachers. Except in New Rochelle, the administrators are not only not graded by they get to give themselves an “A+” at the end of each year.
You can read the “Order of Business” for tonight’s meeting here. It will not take long since it is BLANK!
The Same thing Every Year
If someone were to be very curious, you would see that for the past three to four years, the yearly Goals and Objectives of all of the Principals and Assistant Superintendents are essentially the same template with a de minimus addition or deletion. In essence, the same thing every year. You are right Bob, what is the point of presenting your Goals & Objectives in January or February, which does happen, when half the year is over. Also, there is never an effort to critique or review whether indeed those goals and objectives have been accomplished. So, again, if this is an effort at transparency or engagement with the community, it certainly has failed. A couple of years ago, while on the BOE, I asked Mr. Conetta about some items in his Goals & Objectives, simple questions about graduation rates, racism, etc. The then President of the BOE, Cindy Babcock-Deutsch and other BOE members were visibly convulsing that I had asked a question. In fact, CBD tried to muzzle me by moving on. I wonder if anyone who has attended these Goals and Objectives meetings recently has heard any questions posed to anyone of these administrators? Let us know. Has anyone reviewed the Goals & Objectives of Mr. Bongo or Mr. Conetta from last year to this year? Has anything changed? Have they indeed met their goals and objectives? What do you think New Rochelle?