By now you’ve all heard about the anonymous evaluation Jefferson County teachers gave Superintendent Sheldon Berman, right? No?
Then let’s dig in with the general responses.
Nearly 1,000 teachers took part in the survey and the results are rather telling. 2% of the 987 respondents are in early childhood, 46.3% at the elementary level, 20.8% at the middle school level and 30.9% at the high school level.
- 57.1% either disagree or strongly disagree that they are satisfied with the current administration. Only 31.6% agree or strongly agree. Telling, eh?
- 64% disagree/strongly disagree that Berman has taken steps to make workloads more manageable
- 56.8% disagree/strongly disagree that Berman has become a full partner in the JCPS community
- 60% disagree/strongly disagree that Berman exhibits effective leadership that fully supports them as a teacher
- 62.9% disagree/strongly disagree that Berman promotes and supports sound collective bargaining relations with the Jefferson County Teachers Association
See the full-on juicy, juicy – including the scandalous comments – after the jump…
- 45.4% agree/strongly agree that the central office shows respect and concern for the welfare of teachers
- 51.2% disagree/strongly disagree that teachers and administrators are held to equal standards by Berman
- 49.8% disagree/strongly disagree that Berman sets a standard for administrators to respect teachers
- 51.8% have no opinion and 24.2% disagree/strongly disagree that Berman fully values and supports the arts in education
- 34.9% have no opinion and 31.4% disagree/strongly disagree that Berman fully supports and requires code of conduct compliance
- 43.8% have no opinion and 17.8% disagree/strongly disagree that Berman is supportive of Exceptional Child Education
- 56.8% disagree/strongly disagree that Berman has taken steps to reduce undue paperwork
- 54.5% disagree/strongly disagree that Berman has fulfilled his promise to reduce excessive student assessments
- 76.2% agree/strongly agree that they feel safe in their school
- 45.2% have no opinion and 23% disagree/strongly disagree that Berman fully supports full-time library services, programs and staff in the schools
- 50.7% have no opinion and 36.4% disagree/strongly disagree that vocational education needs of students are being met by Berman
- 57.1% have no opinion and 13.6% disagree/strongly disagree that Berman is fully supportive of Early Childhood Education
- 54% have no opinion/disagree/disagree strongly that Berman has met the technology needs of teachers and students
- 56.4% disagree/strongly disagree that Berman and his designess care about them as a person
- 35.1% have no opinion and 25.2% disagree/strongly disagree that Berman is committed to a well-rounded education for each student that includes extracurricular activities
- 59.9% disagree/strongly disagree that Berman involves classroom teachers in a collaborative decision making process
- 60.7% have no opinion and 29.9% disagree/strongly disagree that Berman values part-time and job share teachers
- 58.7% have no opinion/disagree/strongly disagree that Berman understands diversity and its meaning for educational programs
- 32.3% grade Berman’s performance at a C-level, 28.8% D, 16.8% F. Only 5.4% give him an A and 16.7% a B.
Click here (Warning: PDF Link) to review the full results.
Berman has been quick to attack the survey, saying it only represents a tiny amount of JCPS teachers and a minority opinion. He’s clearly insane if he believes his talking point. This spells bad news for Sheldon Berman, especially as his School Board review is set to be complete any day now.
Let’s say it together: ruh ro.
BUT WAIT! You want the real dirt? Then take a look at the specific responses and comments teachers gave for each question.
You’ll want to read all of these. We haven’t made our way through all of the comments, but, well, RUH RO! Really. Really. Terrible. (Warning: PDF Links)
- I am satisfied overall with the current administration. [Question 3 Comments]
- The Superintendent has taken steps to make our workload more manageable [Question 4 Comments]
- The Superintendent has become a full partner in our community [Question 5 Comments]
- The Superintendent exhibits effective leadership that fully supports me as a teacher [Question 6 Comments]
- The Superintendent promotes and supports sound collective bargaining relations with JCTA [Question 7 Comments]
- The central office (i.e., payroll, human relations, employee relations and benefits) shows respect and concern for the welfare of the teachers [Question 8 Comments]
- Teachers and administrators are held to equal standards by the Superintendent [Question 9 Comments]
- The Superintendent sets a standard for the administrators to respect teachers [Question 10 Comments]
- The Superintendent fully values and supports the arts in education [Question 11 Comments]
- The Superintendent fully supports and requires the compliance of the code of conduct [Question 12 Comments]
- The Superintendent is supportive of Exceptional Child Education [Question 13 Comments]
- The Superintendent has taken steps to reduce undue paperwork [Question 14 Comments]
- The Superintendent has fulfilled his promise to reduce excessive student assessments [Question 15 Comments]
- I feel safe in my school [Question 16 Comments]
- The Superintendent fully supports full-time library services, programs and staff in the schools [Question 17 Comments]
- The vocational education needs of our students are being met by the Superintendent [Question 18 Comments]
- The Superintendent is fully supportive of Early Childhood Education [Question 19 Comments]
- The Superintendent has met the technology needs of me and my students [Question 20 Comments]
- The Superintendent and his designees care about me as a person [Question 21 Comments]
- The Superintendent is committed to a well-rounded education for each student that includes extracurricular activities (i.e., athletics, clubs, academic teams and the arts) [Question 22 Comments]
- The Superintendent involves classroom teachers in a collaborative decision making process [Question 23 Comments]
- The Superintendent values part-time and job share teachers [Question 24 Comments]
- The Superintendent understands diversity and its meaning for education programs [Question 25 Comments]
- What are the Superintendent’s strengths? [Question 26 Comments]
- What are the Superintendent’s weaknesses? [Question 27 Comments]
- If you had to grade the Superintendent’s performance, what grade would you give him? [Question 28 Comments]
Let us know if you find anything juicy or scandalous in the comments.
18 responses so far ↓
1 Taylor // Jun 16, 2009 at 3:46 pm
just a heads up…you’ve got a typo in the second line of your very first bullet point. should be “Only 31.6% agree or strongly agree”, not “Only 31.6% agree or strongly disagree”
2 Novena // Jun 16, 2009 at 4:20 pm
“The Invisible Man”
Teacher #1: “Have you ever even see Berman?”
Teacher #2: “Only when he jogs at midnight with Natalie. I eat late at Twig & Leaf.”
3 Novena // Jun 16, 2009 at 5:23 pm
“Hard Evidence for Re-Hiring Sheldon”
Teacher #3: “Does he have any strengths?”
Teacher #4: “He has a nice smile.”
P.S. These are direct quotes from the survey.
4 Mona Lisa // Jun 16, 2009 at 5:53 pm
Is there no way to buy out his contract. Taxpayers would save thousands in travel and reimbursements.
How much have we spent on new positions for his friends from the east coast?
Is the newest hire the husband of a Berman co-hort at The Choice Program and Civnet? There seems to always be a motive for his hiring friends.
Who paid for Natalie to attend the Civnet PD in Cape Town Africa?
Come on board members, take a collection. You might be surprised how many would donate. We have assistant superintendents in JCPS that would/could do as good and probably better than Berman. Open your eyes! No board administrator is going to be honest with you, they are just as frightened of this man as the teachers.
5 Steve Magruder (I, not D or R) // Jun 16, 2009 at 6:37 pm
This is why I never became a teacher. It was never about the money. It was about the lack of respect.
6 Always Amazed // Jun 16, 2009 at 6:48 pm
These are shark infested waters to be sure.
Daeschner was able to contain JCTA for a number of years, not sure why, wasn’t around then. Then he must have done something to really piss off Brent, or maybe he pissed off Abramson, who knows, but it caused Brent to yell “JUMP” and the school board members (bought and paid for) yelled “HOW HIGH?”, and Daeschner was gone in the blink of an eye.
Then came Berman, riding in on his Harvard trained white horse, everyone bowed to his connections, his credentials, his “nice smile”. But even though he is still surrounded by Daeschner’s well trained army of well paid henchmen, he fails to negotiate the shark infested waters. Hmm.
Brent once again yells “JUMP”, but the board members are blinded by the white knight, more ammunition must be gathered. Is the resounding chorus “HOW HIGH?” near?
Will Berman find a gas-filled canister in time to blow up Jaws? Or will the bloody stench from Felner-like associations do him in?
Do the sharks at his side have ulterior motives? Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.
7 le gardien de but // Jun 16, 2009 at 7:14 pm
Today’s CJ also had an article about the Max Gilpin case. In my opinion, his handling of this situation merits Berman’s termination, if not charges of obstruction of justice. Add in his other shenanigans & it’s hard to understand the thinking of the board in not dumping him. Mona Lisa says “No board administrator is going to be honest with you, they are just as frightened of this man as the teachers.” I ask how can the board members fear the superintendent? I ask how can a TENURED UNION teacher fear speaking out? It appears that the governance set-up is similar to UofL’s inthat in that the board in reality “reports” to the CEO, not the other way around. At UofL there are airplane trips, bowl games & other perks. What hold could Berman possible have on board members, Mona??? At UofL Ramsey appears bulletproof–he was a Frankfort insider. Where is a yankee like Berman getting his support from???
8 le gardien de but // Jun 16, 2009 at 7:21 pm
76.2% agree/strongly agree that they feel safe in their school….
that is troubling…
This is not Berman’s fault–I believe the cause is far more complicated…
But it boggles my mind to think that one of four people feels unsafe in the workplace…
9 bestmid // Jun 16, 2009 at 8:07 pm
After spending a good while reading these comments, I think a sub-scandal revealed by this survey is the overall poor grammar, spelling, punctuation, sentence construction and word choice of a large number of JCPS teachers. I know they probably did this on the fly but wow.
10 Mona Lisa // Jun 16, 2009 at 10:25 pm
I did not mean that JCPS school board members are afraid of Berman, but staff in administrative positions at the board tiptoe around the superintendent. There are hundreds of staff members at the school board who have dedicated years of their lives to ensure that all children, parents and staff members are treated with respect and dignity. I am sure it is humiliating and demeaning to watch people who have no buy in with JCPS receive positions created by Berman when they are just as or more qualified then his friends.
His actions have made it quite obvious that JCPS is not a priority. Shelly is using JCPS as a stepping stone to reach his own personal goals (whatever they may be). He proved this by attending a PD out of the country during one of the most important times of the school year.
I haven’t heard, did anyone see our superintendent at a graduation ceremony?
11 Taylor // Jun 17, 2009 at 12:14 am
bestmid – although I’m not 100% sure, I would guess that all of those comments were typed by a secretary (or several of them) from anonymous handwritten comments. That being based on my experience doing evaluations as a student and teacher on the college level – so perhaps not the case, but the spelling may just as well be attributed to the sloppiness (and the extreme boredom induced by typing ~1500 handwritten comments) on the part of those who digitized.
12 Richard Day // Jun 17, 2009 at 8:49 am
Jake,
I was not aware, so help me understand. Did I miss the source?
That respondents are anomymous is not a concern. But who conducted the survey? Is this a JCTA poll?
13 jake // Jun 17, 2009 at 8:57 am
Jefferson County Teachers = JCTA.
Not really a poll, but an in-depth survey, as you can see by checking everything included here in the story.
14 Chien Music // Jun 17, 2009 at 10:01 am
Pedantic Taylor is a teacher? Imagine that. The drop rate must be astronomical. Save the children.
15 jake // Jun 17, 2009 at 10:07 am
I’m done with your bullshit personal attacks.
16 Chien Music // Jun 17, 2009 at 10:14 am
Awwwwww. It’s your blog, Jakie.
17 Taylor // Jun 17, 2009 at 10:19 am
I thought you were done with me? And to come back trolling after just a couple of days for what may be the least argumentative remark in history? You are awfully obsessive, Mr. Neither-Jeebus-nor-the-library-could-teach-me-to-play-nice
18 Former JCPS Employee // Jun 17, 2009 at 6:18 pm
Berman and the rest of his cronies at JCPS are a sick joke. I’m a former substitute teacher that is working on a teaching degree, and had nothing but positive evaluations in my personnel file. I was terminated back in February because somebody at JCPS accidentally deleted me from payroll (preventing me from working), and when I called my supervisor to try to find out what was going on, she terminated me because I was “not authorized” to disturb her.
I filed a grievance, which they are supposed to be responded to within 5 days, but as of today (day 123), it has not been addressed. I have had absolutely no luck in getting the matter addressed in any way whatsoever by the supervisor, Carolyn Meredith, Bill Eckels, or Sheldon Berman. Worse yet, I recently got in touch with Carolyn Meredith’s assistant who told me that I was not entitled to the grievance process because I was “no longer an employee,” but they MIGHT “consider” giving me due process rights.
In a nut shell, JCPS central offices are a total joke.
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