Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Another Stratford Parent":
We haven’t just lowered the standards for our students. We’ve lowered them for the faculty and administration as well.
I read the bio on our new Assistant Superintendent. Undergraduate degree from Salisbury State (no not Salisbury Steak) and graduate degree from Dowling.
No, I am not an elitist. But I can not ignore the obvious.
Those are two uncompetitive schools. And anyone I know that went to Dowling did for only one reason. Poor grades.
AT BEST, they were average students in high school (avg. of 70-75).
So this leads me to ask. How can she raise standards in this district if she couldn’t raise them for herself?
Look at the US News and world report listing of 100 top education programs. Why didn’t we hire a candidate with experience that also attended an institution on that list. (Then again, how many of our current teachers have?)
And please spare me the boilerplate lingo “she has a proven track record for success…or was an asset to another district.” Or better yet…”she attended a summer program at Harvard”. Let me guess how you get into that program….I know, you merely register for it. Please! Can’t our BOE recognize that it was an attempt to hang her hat on the name of a respectful institution to buttress an otherwise subpar education.
Bottom line….I wouldn’t have hired her.
We need to be honest with ourselves. The market was flooded with smarter candidates who had taken their own education more seriously.
All of which leads me to question….how did she get the job? Did she know someone? Did she grow up in this district?
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Why don't you join the hiring commitee?
ReplyDeleteI have two ivy league degrees. Clearly the individual who posted this comment does not. If you did, you would realize that prestige and expense does not necessarily equate with quality standards. Your spelling and grammar would also be correct but I digress.
ReplyDeleteThere are many reasons one would attend such schools as Salisbury State and Dowling that go far beyond grades in high school. Family situations, financial issues and scholarship awards are factors to consider as well. Unless you can attest to having seen this woman's transcripts from all institutions mentioned, the aspersions you cast are inconclusive. Incidentally, there are many fine students who attend both Salisbury and Dowling. Oftentimes, they are the first people in their families to ever go to college. They put tremendous effort into their studies that far surpasses many who spend their college years drinking at ivy league frat parties.
It remains to be seen how this woman will influence our schools.
Why do you think anyone who attended one of US News & World Report's Top 100 education programs (to name your criterion for excellence) would want to teach in Plainview? We're not that great.
ReplyDeleteIt is now over 1 1/2 since this topic was started about our associate superintendent for curriculum and instruction. Whether we agreed when this was posted back in November 09' or not, we are now on the brink of her tenure year.
ReplyDeleteA few of us have gotten together to send a letter to each board member expressing our disappointment in the limited improvements Ms. Gierasch has made in our district, in her aggressive arrogance, rudeness to parents and her questionable integrity. She is neither a friend to Project Challenge nor the special ed population nor anyone anywhere in between. Her output and actions demonstrate someone whose primary concern is for her own professional advancement, NOT the well being of our children.
This individual has been with the Plainview schools for 2 years now. If you believe the job she is doing is not worth the six figure salary she is being paid, we urge you to do as we did and write letters to the board of education. Let them know of your disappointments. Strongly suggest a more qualified person be given the job. Let's wish her the best as she finds a job somewhere else and put someone in her place that will truly make the Plainview Old Bethpage School District everything it can be. If we wait too long to raise awareness of this weak link to our schools, it may be too late.