From a reader:
He certainly does not treat his teachers as college educated professionals. He has also shunned people in the community who have been long standing volunteers and supporters of First Coast High School.
The worst part of all this for the teachers is when he and his Vice Principal, Ms Townsend, started handing out egregious evaluations after only being a First Coast for a little over 2 months. The Union, and DCPS district staff said you can contest the process of the CAST evaluation, but not the ratings. He knew this and even stated it in the faculty meetings as he basically used the CAST evaluation as his big stick to fire anyone who deviated from his mandates. He would tie everything back to particular domain in the evaluation. The correlations were tenuous at best, and his use of the CAST evaluation demonstrated a serious flaw. If you can only contest the process and not the ratings, that creates a serious lack of Due Process. You can get an administrator who has issues and as long as that person does everything in a timely fashion, they can rate you anyway they want and you can not question their validity. That is what happened last year, and that is why so many teachers are so unhappy. They were completely devalued and they could not do a thing about it.
I have read your examples of bullying, and have one that is particularly unprofessional. He told the teachers in a faculty meeting that he expects his teachers to get to school early. I can respect having high expectations and rewarding those who go above and beyond. However, that was not Brennan's intention. He told the teachers that he would pull the sign in sheets at 7am and make note of who had not signed in yet. One problem...teacher sign in is 7:05am. Not a big deal unless you're running around like a crazy person dropping off your own children at daycare and rushing to get to work. Many people complained to the Union (and this is why Unions are still relevant). Brennan was told he could not pull the sign in sheet early. This made him angry, so at the next Faculty Meeting he let everyone know, and I quote..."if you want to live by that contract, I'll bury you in that contract". He bragged about how most people have not really read their contract, but he knew like the back of his hand.
I'm no lawyer, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn express last night, and I know there has to be an ethics violation when you threaten reprisal for taking contract violations to your Union. I can not believe that the Duval County School Board is going to tie their horse to this sinking ship and not support their teachers. This is the same staff who made First Coast an 'A' school before the good doctor got there (and by 'good', I mean 'horrible').
He certainly does not treat his teachers as college educated professionals. He has also shunned people in the community who have been long standing volunteers and supporters of First Coast High School.
The worst part of all this for the teachers is when he and his Vice Principal, Ms Townsend, started handing out egregious evaluations after only being a First Coast for a little over 2 months. The Union, and DCPS district staff said you can contest the process of the CAST evaluation, but not the ratings. He knew this and even stated it in the faculty meetings as he basically used the CAST evaluation as his big stick to fire anyone who deviated from his mandates. He would tie everything back to particular domain in the evaluation. The correlations were tenuous at best, and his use of the CAST evaluation demonstrated a serious flaw. If you can only contest the process and not the ratings, that creates a serious lack of Due Process. You can get an administrator who has issues and as long as that person does everything in a timely fashion, they can rate you anyway they want and you can not question their validity. That is what happened last year, and that is why so many teachers are so unhappy. They were completely devalued and they could not do a thing about it.
I have read your examples of bullying, and have one that is particularly unprofessional. He told the teachers in a faculty meeting that he expects his teachers to get to school early. I can respect having high expectations and rewarding those who go above and beyond. However, that was not Brennan's intention. He told the teachers that he would pull the sign in sheets at 7am and make note of who had not signed in yet. One problem...teacher sign in is 7:05am. Not a big deal unless you're running around like a crazy person dropping off your own children at daycare and rushing to get to work. Many people complained to the Union (and this is why Unions are still relevant). Brennan was told he could not pull the sign in sheet early. This made him angry, so at the next Faculty Meeting he let everyone know, and I quote..."if you want to live by that contract, I'll bury you in that contract". He bragged about how most people have not really read their contract, but he knew like the back of his hand.
I'm no lawyer, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn express last night, and I know there has to be an ethics violation when you threaten reprisal for taking contract violations to your Union. I can not believe that the Duval County School Board is going to tie their horse to this sinking ship and not support their teachers. This is the same staff who made First Coast an 'A' school before the good doctor got there (and by 'good', I mean 'horrible').
He is a bully and a monster and has no business in leadership. He continues to create a hostile work environment where ever he goes and what he is doing is not new. The staff at Forest High School can remember him bullying everyone including a pregnant staff member. You could also people running across the parking lot to try to get that sign in sheet. It was total madness. He even threatened to have teacher licenses revoked and surplussed the union representative because he did not want to be challenged with the issues that rapidly started surfacing. He is consumed with belittling his staff and is always heard yelling at teachers. He is known for publicly humiliating staff. Moreover, he brags about the fact that he has a doctorate, but I am sure he did not learn how to treat people like he does in any of his college courses. Nevertheless, he will have transfer letters in every box at the end of the school year because he just does not care about his staff or the stability of his school. Teacher moral means nothing to him because he thinks everyone working in the school is beneath him and he can run the school without them. If he was working for any respectable organization, they would throw his ass out. This guy is a slow train wreck happening and Vitti made a huge mistake in rehiring him! When will Vitti see that his First Coast train has run off the tracks and it is time for a new engine ?
ReplyDeletegood luck. A similar principal in OCPS has just risen in the ranks. THis is the new model for principals...bully your teachers into compliance.
ReplyDeleteThese IDIOTS will create a serious crisis in education! Potential teachers have begun changing their majors. Smart students are already making comments about never becoming teachers. It is pathetic that a bunch of professionals, some with advanced degrees, would be running across a parking lot to get to the teachers sign in sheet just because of some wimp. Vitti himself might be intimidated by this moron, as he is quite a character.
DeleteThere we go again - 2 vacant math positions suddenly popped up at First Coast High School. Has teacher flight from First Coast just started? Is Principal Brennan the Architect of this flight?
ReplyDeleteIf the First Coast faculty wants to succeed where others have failed. They need to stick together and refuse anything or any actions where they are not treated with dignity. They the Dr. B's of the world treat teachers like this because they know you are scared and worried about your job so he brings the fear and people cave under the pressure, the union can only do so much after all they accepted the CAST. This man knows how far to go do you know his limits?
ReplyDeleteYes, the First Coast Faculty needs to start a SIGNATURE CAMPAIGN to have this BULLY removed. We already have a lot of young thugs in many of our high schools, and we should not be tolerating a BIG ONE at the HELM of a SCHOOL. Vitti will not want to remove him, but once the NEWS MEDIA begins putting it out action will have to be taken. Send this BULLY packing, teachers!
ReplyDelete