September 25, 2013: We’re celebrating Westie’s First Birthday!
We are truly grateful to our audience for hanging in and hanging out with us. We started with WesternConnections.com in an effort to shine a bright light on things that top-level leaders at Gilbert Public Schools did as a matter of thoughtless routine. We began by sharing information about GPS’s obsession with firing a National Board Certified Teacher, for which they manufactured a laundry list of outrageous accusations in December 2011. When we received public records that revealed that miscreant administrators, vindictive processes and atrocious conduct were the norm in GPS, we knew we had to share so other good people wouldn’t have to endure the same. The Good Old Boys had grotesquely corrupted what was once a stellar school district, and we believed citizens as well as employees needed to know all about what was really happening in Gilbert Public Schools.
As time passed, and our website grew, we found that people all over the country had similar experiences. WesternConnections.com became a helpful resource for educators who were falsely accused or otherwise unfairly subjected to adverse employment actions. We helped people in many situations and many different positions in school districts around the country. Sometimes, our contribution was simply a shoulder to cry on. We firmly believe that whatever doesn’t kill us makes us stronger, although with the Gilbert Education Association, we might be dealing with a vampire.
Here’s shout-out to the folks in Colorado who are building a Westie style website as a local resource for educators and parents of students. We’re waving hi to folks in California who have been coping with similar challenges facing their school boards. Our hats are off to the employees who kept their jobs by standing firm against intimidation and harassment by deviant district administrators. We’re giving a standing ovation to Glenna–and to Rose, a Tucson psychologist; they both brought in the Office for Civil Rights to protect their vulnerable Special Ed students. We were vastly impressed by the courage and grace Gladis has shown in the face of unrelenting discrimination and generalized hatred based on her skin color and the way she talks. We flip the bird to all the jerks, inside and outside Gilbert Public Schools, who perpetrated disgusting stereotypes and displayed crass manners. (We’re looking at you, charter school operator The Leona Group LLC. Hey, Nadine, we took photos.)
Mostly, we want to thank our old friends and colleagues, and all the new friends we have made through WesternConnections.com and our WestieConnect blog. We love our Birdies! Sharing information among people who have so many different talents allowed us all to do some really cool things … like help save Gilbert Junior High School from total extinction. Let’s hear you roar, Tigers! We loved being introduced as Westie at social events, especially when people told us that “Let’s do this for Sarah!” had become a political rallying cry. We felt gratified as we shined a light on years of sexcapades at Highland Junior High School and the sordid sleaziness of the Loose Zipper Brigade. It has been very satisfying to expose the corrupt gut check promotion system that GOBs instituted in GPS. And we’re really glad that Meridian students FINALLY were able to benefit from the Target grants Sarah won for them (we’ll talk about your “creative reallocation” of those funds later, Vicki).
Significantly, none of the corruption and mismanagement we exposed ever had, and was never intended to produce any benefit for students. We saw that opportunistic adults were using GPS as a cookie jar for themselves and their friends. We still hope for accountability and we know we will greatly enjoy watching GOBs eat their just desserts (stuffed crow with a little humble pie, perhaps). We were gratified to wave bye-bye to Nikki Blanchard and then Dave Allison, and we wish Clyde Dangerfield would just go instead of hanging around longer to line his pockets pump up his retirement pay at taxpayer expense. We still advocate for a clean sweep so GPS and the Gilbert community can heal rifts GOBs created. Losing the 2012 override was a high price for Gilbert students to pay because citizens lost confidence in GPS leadership.
We love staying in touch with students and families. Those ice cream parties and MasterMind learning sessions were pure joy at a time when there was little for Sarah’s students to be happy about. We do a happy dance when former students and their parents drop us a line at one of our websites. We’re grateful for all people who cheered us on, and we’re happy to offer assistance and insight to help others in dire straits. Your tips and comments made all this possible, and we truly believe that good has come from helping to shine a 10,000 watt spotlight on wrongdoing.
We can’t rest, we have a long, long way to go. Those students at Meridian Elementary School who were victims of prolonged bullying still need to be protected. The child who was bullying still needs to be protected. Those kids all deserve personal attention and any remedial services they may need to address the damages suffered in their young lives. While you’re at it, GPS, you might consider telling their parents the truth about what really happened to those students. Oh, and finish that school garden!
Thank you, Birdies! Together, we can try to restore some of the luster that those misguided Peter Principle admins running Gilbert Public Schools so thoughtlessly squandered in recent years. The children whose lives and educations have been adversely affected by misdeeds and mismanagement at the top levels of GPS deserve everything we can do to set a better course and make things right for their benefit. Those kids never will get back the years of their lives that were lost because GPS miscreants betrayed the public trust. We’ll continue to try to seal that pit of evil machinations and self-serving manipulations in an effort to make things better for students, parents, employees, taxpayers and all stakeholders of Gilbert Public Schools.
Chirp, chirp! Have some birthday cake.