Hathaway-Beck becomes second member…

…of Pr. George’s school board to quit in 2 months

Donna Hathaway-Beck

Donna Hathaway-Beck, one of the longest-serving members on the Prince George’s County Board of Education, submitted her resignation Wednesday, the second member of the newly reconfigured board to quit in less than two months. According to many keen watchers of the current Board of Education, Hathway-Beck will be missed. She was a true trooper whose leadership knew no bounds and freely helped the community. We at Reform Sasscer Movement wish her well and God’s blessings in retirement.  May God bless her soul. Our wish is to see our County Executive Rushern Baker III appoint a capable leader to carry on the rest of her term and continue the current innovation / accountability initiatives currently in progress.

Hathaway-Beck (District 9), whose resignation will take effect Sept. 6, said work on the board was taking too much time away from her family. She has served on the board for nearly seven years.

Beck said she felt the time had come to step down.

“You need to know when it is time to go, and when to let someone step into your seat,” Beck said. “I am not irreplaceable.”

Read more Washington post and  Gazzette.

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Teaching for change and deep learning.

In a hard-hitting essay, Anthony Cody describes how accountability has been turned into a weapon to create demoralization, failure, and privatization of public schools.

He reviews the recent fiascos involving Tony Bennett and New York’s Common Core testing.

He notes that both the AFT and the NEA are trying hard to meet the demands of the corporate reformers. Both are trying to help teachers prepare for the Common Core sledge hammer, but Cody says it is a fruitless enterprise. The game is rigged. The reformers’ goal is to generate failure so they can advance privatization.

Cody writes:

“Our response must be, as members of the teaching profession, and as members of the unions that represent educators, to reject as baseless these phony, politically-driven accountability systems. These systems to rate schools based on proficiency rates are really much more accurately reflecting levels of poverty, rather than the quality of teaching in effect. Many of those advocating them are, like Tony Bennett, attempting to promote their own favored competitors, in a race in which they have made themselves the rule-makers and referees.

“When someone sets up a competition that is rigged from the start, our response cannot be to ask for more time to prepare. The answer is to expose the machinery at work behind the scenes, and demand that our schools be accountable not to some state or federal bureaucrat, but to the students and parents of their communities. We will not overcome poverty by firing those who have chosen to work with the poor. Our schools and students need support, not more means by which they can be ranked and rejected. Real support from our unions means educating and organizing members to respond with vigor and pride about our students, our schools, and our work as professionals. Teachers cannot “succeed” under these systems because that is not their design. So rather than trying to prepare for tests many of our schools were never meant to pass, we need to prepare teachers to defend and reclaim their schools, and reject the accountability scam.

Even though we do not fully agree with the article, We think there are some points to consider. However, every situation is different compared to what we have seen here in PGCPS District. The current top-down approach to education governance is the hallmark of an authoritarian, not a democratic egalitarian society! Our country is at its best when we have egalitarian institutions which rely on the collective wisdom of the participants, in this case the teachers, students and their parents, to make the important decisions to transform the institutions into something more effective for those participants.

Above all, we should never neglect the will of the homeless youth in Education. Many homeless youth face difficulties attending school because of legal guardianship requirements, residency requirements, improper records, and lack of transportation. As a result, homeless youth face severe challenges in obtaining an education and supporting themselves emotionally and financially including with testing requirements. Many of these disadvantaged children are at a different level all together. Let us be fair to all people.

What do you think? Are our high poverty schools being set up for yet another round of condemnations without proper leadership? Aren’t we ready for new union leadership in PGCPS? How should we — and our FUTURE NEW union leaders — respond? What are your views especially with our current unions here in PG County which seem not to work anymore and appear to be serving special interests? What about ASASP, MSEA , PGCEA and other unions who seem to be involved in corrupt enterprise a long with Thatcher Law firm? What role should our law makers play in creating accountability for all players in this mess? What about the failed grievance system in PGCPS? Any ideas?

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The most important thing in communication is to hear
what is not being said.

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Impunity and injustices have permeated all spheres of our society. We are really in a sorry state of affairs.

Greatest General of his day – Gen. Bonaparte.

Gen. Napoleon Bonaparte – Emperor of the French.

Napoleon Bonaparte was the greatest general of his day and one of the greatest of all time. He was also an astute politician with an unconquerable will to win. Above all, Bonaparte revolutionized military organization and training, sponsored Napoleonic Code,instituted lasting reforms in higher education, established a tax code, road and sewer systems, and established the Banque de France (central bank). He negotiated the Concordat of 1801 with the Catholic Church, which sought to reconcile the mostly Catholic population to his regime. It was presented alongside the Organic Articles, which regulated public worship in France. Later, Bonaparte became President of the French Academy of Sciences and appointed Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre its Permanent Secretary.^[57]His goal was to rule the world and he seemed well on his way to achieving that goal.

History records how he boasted, “Russia next, then Britain, and Napoleon shall rule the world.”

When leading his army en route to conquer Russia, one tiny snowflake fell on Napoleon, “Then another, and another, and another, and they kept on falling until Napoleon’s proud army was reeling back, broken and defeated” not by an enemy’s army nor even a single shot, but by a mass of tiny snowflakes. Napoleon’s response? “God almighty was too much for me.”

Later on in his own country  of France, the unarmed masses rose against him and toppled him despite having a strong army! The will of the people is powerful.

Likewise, as we have seen events of the last few years here in Prince George’s County, we have had Union bosses, school system officers and the Thatcher Law firm which has millions from questionable sources hell bent on wrecking havoc for employees by engaging in the following:

1.  Making false statements of fact or law to the courts and presenting false evidence to the judges that they know to be false.
2. Further, the same law firm is engaged in criminal or fraudulent conduct related to the proceedings.
3. In representing a client, a lawyer shall not use means that have no substantial purpose other than to embarrass, delay, or burden a third person, or use methods of obtaining evidence that violate the legal rights of such a person.
4. Misconduct. It is professional misconduct for a lawyer to:  (a.) engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation (b.) engage in conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of justice; (c.) harass a person on the basis of sex, race, age, creed, religion, color, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, or marital status in connection with a lawyer’s professional activities;

We have seen public  school funding outsourced to State officers for the sole purpose of racketeering conspiracy in order to defeat justice. Yes! There  has been money to bribe specific people rather than fight a clean war in the courts and a shame the devil.

As we approach 2014, we must remain vigilant and help create a society which cares for one another and not one which is driven by malice, a hostile work environment, racism, retaliation, nepotism, professional misconduct and corruption. Prince George’s County is bigger than a few individuals and we must never rest until we have seen proper changes in our society.  We pray that the new leadership together with others, will scrutinize each and every diabolical acts committed in the County these last few years. It is our hope that the grievance system will be respected in the future. As things stand now, everything is disarray.

As we have said before, It is our hope that the accounts that follow, highlight qualities of school system leaders who will guide the county forward into the future.  It is our sincere believe that the issues that we highlight concerning racism, professional misconduct, discrimination and nepotism within PGCPS system and elsewhere , not only captures your attention, but motivates you to proactively fight for a better America. By holding our county government and elected officials accountable, We can continue to build and promote an inclusive culture that encourages effective workforce performance not cover-ups! State and county employees, guardians over the public trust, must be able to pursue the missions of their organizations free from discrimination, racism and retaliation.  Public servants should not have to operate in fear of retaliation for reporting workplace, program or policy abuses that are racially discriminatory.

If we work together with all our stakeholders around the world, we could change the status quo of doing business especially in schools. Children are suffering around the world not just in Prince George’s County alone. It will be a wake up call for many of you, not just for those who live  and work in Prince George’s County. Anyone with time could pay a visit to the juvenile court in Upper Marlboro, Maryland to see for yourselves how vulnerable youth are faring.  A close look will show that sometimes, the docket is full with about 90 cases a day. If every family, teacher, administrator etc played their part, life could be much more meaningful. With our new CEO, let us see how much more we can do to change the status quo.

In the end, It’s comforting to know that God is in control no matter what, and that this world and the life of each of us who put our trust in Him are in his hands.

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Napoleon at the Battle

Call your elected representatives now and demand changes to this criminal behavior involving justice to the Highest Bidder. We must demand action this year to create accountability within the legal system. Unless we take action, Maryland as a state will be going to the dogs in the future. Take time and call your elected leaders for action is now. Let us demand changes.  

USE OF GRIEVANCE SYSTEM IN PGCPS.

  

USE OF GRIEVANCE SYSTEM IN PGCPS

The Grievance system is unique process that governs dispute resolutions in the schools.  Principal, supervisor are made aware of the grievance and can address it before it comes to the attention of the principal’s supervisor. If the grievance remains unresolved at Step 1, it then proceeds to the attention of the principal’s supervisor. The purpose of a grievance is generally to enforce the terms of a collective bargaining agreement between the unions.

The following unions in PGCPS District led by ASASP, PGCEA, ACE-AFSCME Local 2250 and SEIU Unions filed grievances on behalf of several members on several occasions. These grievances proceeded all the way up the chain of command for Prince George’s County Public school district to various managers, Directors and Chiefs, Superintendent William Hite Jr., Dr. Crawley who resigned recently and others also received grievances. However, the PGCPS management did nothing to address the discrimination, retaliation and other corrupt activities, despite being aware of the issues. The management failed to respond to any of the Union grievances filed by the Union because the Unions themselves are involved in questionable activities. It is this egregious conduct fueled by Thatcher Law firm corruption which has polarized the whole school District. The whole school District will never move forward until corrupt lawyers are cleansed from the system.

The terrorist attacks in 2001 were aimed not only at destroying buildings and human lives, but also at undermining Americans’ confidence in their government. While the terrorists’ attempts at the latter ultimately backfired, they did illustrate that our country is only as strong as the commitment of our people and leaders to protect the ideals upon which it is based: individual liberty, freedom of expression, and the ability to redress grievances through a system of laws rather than violence. When lawyers for the local board retaliate and acts unethically on behalf of the School District, when the unions appointed lawyers and other attorneys hired by staff are compromised, they undermine the rule of law and faith in the system. The image of lawyers is not just a matter of professional or personal pride; it affects the public’s belief in our justice system, and ultimately, our faith in our democracy. The fact that there has been so many cases in both the State and Federal courts filed against PGCPS by several employees in recent years, is a clear manifestation that there are many problems within the PG County School District. We must demand answers from our elected officials in regards to the Thatcher Law firm which is engaged in criminal conspiracy with Mr. Bryan A chapman, Mr. Damon Felton and others in defrauding staff within the PG County district.   One female employee who protested mistreatment of her colleagues was fired in the middle of her discovery case with malice rather than settle the dispute. There is a big possibility that she might never even win the case because of what her attorney did to the case in conjunction with the Thatcher Law Firm and Mr. Roger Thomas. Only time will tell.  It’s clear there’s a criminal cabal around the Thatcher Law Firm that’s giving deadly advice to lawyers hired by various personnel. The Book of Mark, 8:36, sternly asks: “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?”

Other PGCPS employees have been chased away recently like goats in the middle of Savanna after filing cases… Who does this to employees for exercising their rights and fighting for the rights of others? Who does this? Who else is involved in this criminal enterprise?  What happened to common decency ladies and Gentlemen?

In this school year, we pray that the new County Chief Executive Officer Dr. Kevin Maxwell is going to look into these issues with sincerity and demand a new beginning from a new set of attorneys committed to the rule of law in PG County. Time has come to move in the right direction with new leadership and a new agenda!

POWER POINT SLIDE -GRIEVANCE SYSTEM

Grievance and Grievance handling.

Methods of Bringing conflict into surface

Grievance?

Characteristics of a Grievance

Types of Grievances

Causes of Grievances

Causes for a Grievance

Need for Grievance procedure

Grievance Redressal system

Basic Element of Grievance Procedure

Steps in Handling Grievances

Steps in Handling Grievances

What are the punishment?

Grievance Frame Work

Do’s in handling grievances.

Do’s in handling grievances.

Federal judges rules in favor of 4 Cases.

Two different federal judges have ruled that a total of four separate discrimination lawsuits against the Prince George’s County Public School System can advance to trial in federal court. The first of these four trials is scheduled for November 2013. Collectively, these four discrimination lawsuits allege violations of the following laws:

•Rehabilitation Act of 1973 – failing to accommodate an employee with a known disability.

•Title VI and Title VII – racial hostile work environment/retaliation.

•Title VII and Title IX – sexual hostile work environment/retaliation.

The four plaintiffs include two white men and two African American women. One lawsuit is demanding $1,000,000 and three lawsuits are demanding $5,000,000. The attorney Bryan A. Chapman who has been handling some of these cases and who was reprimanded by Hon. Judge Peter J. Messitte on several occasions for filing defective complaints, refusal to file rebuttal and other issues has been fired by several clients recently. The said clients decided they will never go to the jury trial with Mr. Chapman for letting their friends down and making false and misleading statements to defeat justice. As indicated, the termination arose from unethical behavior of an attorney who is entrusted to uphold the rule of law and who instead led several cases being dismissed deliberately. According to confirmed reports by several plaintiffs in Federal court, Thatcher law firm and PGCPS legal department played a major role in this corruption and an investigation is warranted to uncover the truth of what happened. “We are not going to rest until the whole truth comes out.” said several former clients who no longer have faith in the Court system. “Everything is so broken down starting with the Prince George’s County District and Circuit Courts and it is not funny anymore.” added another.

Mr. Chapman “far exceeded zealous advocacy and included repeated abuse of the tools of the legal system.” Among some of the rules Mr. Chapman violated were; asserting a position for which there is no non-frivolous basis in law or fact; using means that have no substantial purpose other than to embarrass, delay, or burden a third person; engaging in conduct that was not legitimate advocacy, in a professional capacity, manifesting bias or prejudice based upon race, religion, and disability (mental condition). Mr. Chapman who has a history of unethical litigation practices and disciplinary proceeding in other cases in Washington Dc, the virulent bigotry he has manifested in Federal proceedings in Greenbelt should never be ignored including his lack of any insight into his misconduct.

The school system has a two billion dollar annual budget. The school system also receives hundreds of millions of dollars in federal assistance, so there is no cap on the amount of damages a jury can award in each of the four lawsuits.

One of the four lawsuits alleges that Angelique Simpson-Marcus, the African American principal of Largo High School, called Jon Everhart, a white male English teacher, “white bitch” and “poor white trash”. In the fall of 2007, the principal told Mr. Everhart that she would fire him and take away his teaching certificate as “payback” for a time when white principals mistreated black teachers. Complaints of racial harassment were made to Superintendent William Hite and other school board officials in 2008 and 2009, nonetheless, the racial harassment/retaliation continued until Mr. Everhart was terminated in the summer of 2010. Jon Everhart v. Board of Education of Prince George’s County, 11-cv-1196 (PJM) Others on the way to the jury include Tracy Allison v. Board of Education of Prince George’s County, Ruth Johnson v. Board of Education of Prince George’s County ~> Tracy Allison – Order, jon everhart order and Ruth Johnson)

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