I felt I had to respond to the Oct. 26 article concerning the special-education teachers whining about their boss, Special Education Principal Barbara Berman. They sound like teenage kids with their complaints about their mean boss.
They refuse to identify themselves for fear of retaliation. That itself is laughable. Thanks to the California Teachers Association, the LAUSD was unable to immediately fire teacher Mark Berndt for feeding semen-laced cookies and spoonfeeding semen to his blindfolded students. In fact they had to pay a $40,000 severance to get rid of him.
Then the CTA lobbied to kill SB 1530 in committee, a bill that would have made it easier to get rid of teachers who were sexual predators. So for the teachers to hide in this instance is a joke. Based on all the rules in place to protect teachers from being fired, they have nothing to worry about.
Their first complaint was: the kids swing was closed down after a student tore a hole in the protective cover. The question I would ask is: where were the teachers when this was happening? After all, these are special-needs kids, and they should be watched closely for their own safety as well as others.
Isn’t it the teacher’s fault this situation happened? And wasn’t Ms. Berman taking the proper step to close the swing until the mat was repaired to prevent potential injury to a falling student? After all, as the teachers kept saying, “It’s all about the students.” If they could not keep the damage from happening because of lack of supervision, what makes them think they could keep a student from being injured?
And if it was “all about the students,” why didn’t the teachers call the facilities department every day until the repairs were complete to expedite the process? Oh, that’s right – it isn’t in their contract.
The second complaint was the tricycles used by the students were not put away by the staff as directed. So the principal had them locked up for several days. While this might have been more about punishing the teachers with the unintended consequence of depriving the students of the trikes, it could have been easily avoided if the adults would have acted like adults instead of children.
The last paragraph was the most shocking of all. The unnamed teacher says the principal is “all about the rules and not the kids” and then goes on to say she “is all about the kids and not the rules.”
Excuse me, but in life there are rules we must follow even if we don’t agree with them. If you don’t like the rules, work to change them, or work harder, smarter or better and become the boss, then you can make the rules.
In closing, it is a good thing these unnamed teachers have nothing to worry about as far as retaliation, because in the private sector, they would have been gone long before now for acting so childish.
Stan Gozzi
Brentwood
I am a parent of two special needs kids that went to Turner and I have no problem giving my name. Shari Campbell. How would you like to hear your child escaped the campus. This has happened to us a few times. Or your child has been on the bus for more than 2 hours after school and hasn't eaten or drank anything since 11:00am and it is 4pm and 101 degrees out. And the pricipal lies to you about what happened and you can't get the truth about what really happened to your own child. These are just a few things. I could go on and on. But I don't want to get Barbara in anymore trouble than she is in.
My kids are still under her but at a off campus sites and have made it to 10 and 11 years old under her so I guess we are one of the lucky ones.
Unless you work for CCCOE, I suggest you and Divamom get some real facts before you spout off. Teachers across the county are treated poorly and disrespected by administrators on a daily basis. The ratio of administrators to staff and students is also a joke. The old saying, " Too many chiefs and not enough Indians" is an appropriate analogy. They preach "25 Rules of Civility" at staff meetings, but if you don't follow the party line perfectly, staff members are belittled, harassed,and put down. Also, any good teacher does their job because they want to make kids lives better. We know what students need better than bureaucrats or administrators as they either have never taught a class or haven't taught in decades so yes, many put the kids before the rules as the rules often get in the way of good teaching practices. Do what the teachers do before you criticize.
First of all ,you need to get your facts together before you run your mouth of about me, Unless you work for CCCOE, I suggest you and Divamom get some real facts before you spout off.
2nd, I suggest you man up and see me on Monday at the school because I will seriously put you back in your place. I have been there 5 years with my son and who are you? One of those employees that is too afraid to show their identity because God forbid you get retaliation , karma will come either way. Don't contradict what you said about getting my facts straight and then telling me that you are genuinely happy for me that I am happy with the education I receive for my son. That is not your business and if you were true to who you were you would not be afraid to say who you were because I am sure you know who I am. I just hope you know who your messing with ! I will be sure and take this all the way to the county office Monday morning so watch what you say.
I have seen all of your comments and wonder why you do not take your child to another site. You seem so disrespectful to the professional staff. If you think they are not doing a good job with your child I do not think you should keep him there.
To Mr. Ozzie, you are so wrong about this whole situation even though you think you have it right, you don't.
I SEEM DISRESPECTFUL TO THE STAFF, LADY YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHO YOU ARE DEALING WITH, LET ME HAVE A RUN IN WITH YOU. YOU WILL SEE THAT I AM NOT SOMEONE YOU WANT TO MESS WITH BUT GO AHEAD MAKE MY DAY. AS FAR AS YOU , YOU DON'T KNOW ALL THE FACTS AS TO WHAT HAPPENED AT THAT SCHOOL. DO YOU HAVE A CHILD WHO ATTENDS THERE? YOU PROBABLY WORK THERE FOR ALL I KNOW. DON'T GO AROUND TELLING PEOPLE THAT THEY ARE WRONG UNLESS YOU HAVE ALL THE FACTS. YOU MUST BE ON THE INSIDE OF THEIR OPERATION BECAUSE YOU THINK YOU KNOW EVERYTHING KNOW IT ALL. I HAVEN'T SEEN ANY FACTS THAT YOU HAVE BACKED UP. ALL THE GARBAGE THAT COMES OUT OF YOUR MOUTH SEEMS TO ME AS IF YOU ARE A BUSY BODY. DON'T YOU DARE TELL ANYONE THAT THEY ARE WRONG AND ONCE I FIGURE YOU OUT I WILL MAKE SURE TO EXPOSE YOU.
I have seen all of your comments and wonder why you do not take your child to another site. You seem so disrespectful to the professional staff. If you think they are not doing a good job with your child I do not think you should keep him there.
To Mr. Ozzie, you are so wrong about this whole situation even though you think you have it right, you don't.
Shame on you!
Good job teachers! I am glad that my student is loved enough by you, that you felt to stand up for what is right.
Mr Gozzi, hopefully you don't have a special needs child because we can see from your article that you have no idea how significant these incidences impact our children. Please, stay in the private sector.
I hope you don't have a child with special needs because if you do I have to say to you , why in the world would you praise the teachers? They acted like chldren , I am not ashamed to give my name out. They are not scared of retaliation. They are scared they will get caught lying. My son attends that school and has since kindergarten. I really hope you know all the facts on what actually happened, The principal only did her job. In other words ,some of the staff there are so incompetent that they don't even know how to communicate . They sure know how to create drama though.