Many of you know me from my family business. But previously, I was a middle school and high school Mathematics teacher. I worked in a low performing district and then a top rated one. I only received good evaluations. I learned a lot of from both. Those experiences can help me reform our system and improve morale amongst employees.
Lodi has many talented school employees that have
dedicated their lives to the children.
Too often they have been disrespected, bullied, and passed over for
promotions because they don’t have one of those political last names. They don’t have a parent, spouse, sibling, or
child sitting on the Lodi Board of Education.
Lodi
politics has always hurt the system. But
the disrespect from the current Board directed towards employees is at an all-time
high. Here are some concerns that need
to be addressed.
Too many of best and talented can never
advance in Lodi.
Unless you are related to Capizzi or have a mother
managing the Capizzi campaigns, you never had a shot at the last two principal positions. That needs to change moving forward. Every current Lodi employee will be given an
opportunity for advancement. They will
compete for the position. They will earn
the position. Their dedication and hard
work will no longer be ignored. The
Board needs a strong local anti-nepotism policy to carry this out.
Pointless paperwork just takes teachers
away from important things.
You can all read Frank Quatrone’s ridiculous merit
bonus goals drawn up by Jamie Ciofalo each year. Many require even more pointless paperwork to
be done by teachers. Teachers have to do
more paperwork just so the Board can justify paying Quatrone $25,108 more.
Lodi now has four “Supervisors of Curriculum”, yet the
teachers are doing much of their work also.
How about telling Jamie Ciofalo to give up his dozens of side businesses
so he can do his job himself. Very
often, poor standardized test scores are a direct result of problems with
curriculum.
Problems with observations and certain
people doing them.
Lodi has many good administrators and supervisors. Lodi also has some very bad ones that only
got their positions through relatives and/or political campaigns. Some of the bad ones have been very
disrespectful and abusive to school employees.
People from the outside looking in are saying why are they in that position
in the first place? Shouldn’t the roles
be reversed? Employees should always be
respected and encouraged.
Clearing the way for family.
When I taught in Tenafly, a teacher with more than
thirty years’ experience asked me what town I was from. I told her Lodi. She made such a face. She said she taught in Lodi for three years
(decades ago). She said she was let go
and a Board member’s daughter took her job.
This is a story you hear all too often and it has gone on for too long. Good teachers are let go to make room for
family. Bad teachers stay if they have
Sunday dinner with Joe Capizzi and Nick Vara.
