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Sean McElroy 
Member since Aug 8, 2009

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Recent Comments

Re: “Sweeney's Room”

The article is "fundementally" (sic) flawed. The fact that the author selected a short, misspelled and generic quote to represent the position of Sweeney's supporters betrays a bias that verges on malice.

If he had given due attention to the matter the author would have seen that there are a number of salient issues underlying this room change.

School politics, for example: Ms. Chapman has been at Lincoln for two years, and in that time has alienated much of the staff with a heavy-handed management style. The last-minute and unilateral move of Sweeney to the portable gives it the appearance of a retributive sneak attack.

As PDXwahine writes above, "As the daughter of two teachers, I have heard this story every single year since I was born." That is exactly the point. This kind of thing--a clash between a hard-working veteran teacher and an new authoritative administrator--happens all over the school district. It happens, for that matter, in other professions as well. Some people call it "being a maverick." Others call it "alienation and bad management."

The district has been in slow decline since Measure 5, and as we grapple with how to improve it, we have to ask questions about how our schools are being managed, and how our teachers are being treated. What are administrators doing to create communities in which our kids can learn and grow?

I have more to write but I've already spent more time on this post than Matt Davis spent on his snarky little article.

Posted by Sean McElroy on 08/08/2009 at 8:29 AM

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