First let me say I have met the superintendent numerous times
and generally he has taken the time to answer my questions, as critical as I am
that can’t be easy and he deserves kudos for it. I also don’t want to be that
guy who hates puppies just because he likes them. The parent academy is genius,
him bringing back the arts though ham-fisted was the right move and this
administration can write a grant better than just about anybody.
All that being said I think the district is worse off since
he arrived and perhaps the biggest problems is that he runs the district
through fear and intimidation and please don’t take my word for it ask a
teacher or an admin. I have heard time and time again, please keep my name out
of it because I don’t want to be fired or messed with when teachers have come
to me with stories. Sometimes it’s over mundane stuff but other times it’s over
things that negatively affect children. I am sitting on stories I can’t tell
because after people came to me they asked me not to write about them because
they are afraid they will lose their jobs. The bottom line is a lot of the
district work in fear of speaking up because they are afraid the super or one
of his minions will make them pay for it.
Apparently with the revelation that his wife Rachel Vitti
followed school board member Connie Hall after a school board meeting where she
introduced a letter to be put in his file because of what she and at least two
other school board members deemed inappropriate to them, demeanor, using fear and intimidation
are apparently common Vitti family traits.
Nobody I have talked to with one notable exception (and if
you PM I will tell you who) buys for a second that Rachel Vitti and Wendy
LeHockey, Vitti’s chief of staff, parked across from Hall’s car waited, moved
to the back of the parking lot and waited and waited and then just by
coincidence followed Hall out.
The entire story is kind of crazy too. Vitti, took LeHockey’s
car home, because Rachel and her wanted to talk and apparently she doesn’t
drive in the rain and they may have taken some of the same streets but they can’t
say for sure it was Hall was in front of them or not? Oy vey.
I can’t be completely sure what was going on in Vitti and
LeHockey’s heads (and how does LeHockey still have a job, if a teacher or
another employee did the same, followed a school board member home then they would
have been fired) but I believe she was mad and wanted to put a scare into Hall,
as in don’t you dare mess with my man kind of scare.
Look, I don’t believe what Rachel Vitti did is anything
approaching criminal, though if Hall felt intimidated or scared that could be
considered assault, I think she just exercised in a moment of anger, bad
judgement. Just like the superintendent does when he daily treats teachers like
easily replaceable cogs, and refuses to value their input.
We have problems in the district and they aren’t going to fixed
as long as we have a teacher corps, that feels marginalized and intimidated.
To see the tapes of Vitti and LeHockey waiting for Hall and
then following her out, click the link.
Dr. Vitti: “I left in Wendy’s car, Wendy and Rachel stayed in Rachel’s car and continued to talk through the night, uh the video tape shows, possibly that they moved in the back, both in the vehicle, my understanding is they drove together."
ReplyDeleteI am a good reader and this comment does not make sense to me. They talked through the night???? Drove together where? Moved to the back of what? And the school board accepted this explanation? I think Vitti could have said Um Uh Huh and they would have accepted it. How about a real investigation? Or are those special and only for innocent teachers and administrators?
This is the craziest story to come out of this administration and hit the media yet! If the public only knew the stuff that doesn't make the media.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to add that his main intimidator that he sends out is Kelly Coker-Daniel. Talk about crossing the line in what is and is not inappropriate in her dealings with certified personnel...I'm truly shocked she still has her job.