Well this is getting interesting. We finally are getting to know some of the behind the scenes dealings that may have occurred prior to the board making their decision on Baker.

Proving any infractions to the sunshine laws is alway difficult but they may be on to something here.

I find the information on this teacher wanting to be a principal to be very interesting. Is he now in line for a promotion? One has to wander if that has anything to do with the system going after Mr Miller at BCHS. I am not condoning what Miller did as he was wrong but it does open an opportunity to fill an principals position.

This should make for some great reading as it goes along.

How can anyone have a problem with Calabrese doing his homework and talking with advisors?

It seems RC was trying to do a good job.

the same cannot be said for Ray "Why Nelson I will Just Look the Other Way" Baker or for Ron "How Many Lewd Emails Will It Take To have Sex With You" Miller

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Wow, lissack, did you forget about the "kiss on the shoulder kid" ? I, personally, do not know him, but Mr. Calabrese seems to be a bit divisive, don't you think?

Lissack
Sir, would I love the chance to talk to you !!!

Knowing you, Lissack, this Walters guy has to be ok. He is involved with the Farber atrocities? That's a rotten comment to make and you better be able to back it up.

Thank the Lord Naples hasn't outgrown small town political buffoonery. City Council, County Commission, Marco, School Board. The hits just keep on coming. Better than Comedy Central.

I still can't understand why, if the Board was bent on terminating Baker's contract without cause as spelled out therein, thus obligating the taxpayers to pay him for the contract balance, why they couldn't wait the 14days, nor can I understand why the Board, en masse, gave Thompson a contract which was more generous and not in the public's interest.

Seems to me we should start electing people whose IQ is greater than a 5th graders.

NONE of this had to happen like this. Now WE pay for it. Must be nice to spend other's money!

Incompetent administrators hide behind the sunshine laws. How can the school board gather evidence when allegations occur? Do these allegations get aired in public meetings? Then they are accused of prejudice. If they do some investigation on their own, they are accused of not being transparent to the public - sunshine law violations.

The school bureaucracy needs to become transparent and abide by the sunshine law ethics themselves. The admins are the ones that operate behind closed doors, in secrecy, with no public transparency.

The public, and their elected representatives, need to revolt against the admin bureaucracies in Collier County - CCPS, CCBC, ...

I would vote for anyone that is cynical about our local administrative bureaucracy and questions everything they say and every penny spent!

Oh, the wicked webs we weave....

Maybe, this will provide the perfect way to "VOID" Thompson and the Dixie Chick's Contracts.. BEFORE, they do any additional damage to our "LIGHTHOUSE SCHOOL DISTRICT"..

What a bunch of "BULL" this school district has fallen to an ALL TIME LOW..

Next on the agenda: Screw the teacher's and staff... so the Administrators can REAK EVEN MORE.

All appointments should be made with a signed undated resignation letter that would enable incompetent people to be let go without redress in money spending court battles!

Just watching the $$ for teachers get sucked into a lawsuit. It's sickening...

"The report indicated that some students were receiving different credits for taking the same course and the district added the term “honors” to course titles, although the Florida Department of Education didn’t authorize a course title with that designation."

In other words, the district gave credit for courses that didn't exist. Good one. And as I recall, Baker said, "We've done nothing wrong."

As long as we are getting testimony from people, let's hear it all and see all e-mails,including Baker and his cronies and former cronies. Then let's see who was acting in secrecy. Let's get testimony from the Florida Dept. of Ed. Let's hear it all.

When good kids get hurt and cheated, I guess good citizens should sit back and take it and never go up against a corrupt administration. Is that what we're supposed to teach our kids?

Ths was never about Baker. This was about uncovering a huge scandal. He had a chance to fix it but said that the district was doing nothing wrong.

Remember: at Naples High School, students were given credit for washing towels,carrying water for sports teams, and for taking courses that don't exist. I guess that's okay.

Looking for sunshine violations? Fine. Find them, Mr. Baker, or end the witch hunt. You want your money, but this credit scandal will hurt our students for years to come and will damage the credibilty of the Collier diploma. But recall Mr. Baker's response to students when they went to the board with their concerns - as I recall, he wouldn't fix it saying that the district had done nothing wrong.

"This was never about Baker. This was about uncovering a huge scandal. He had a chance to fix it but said that the district was doing nothing wrong."

Grades? Over age high school students? Band leaders having sex with students? School Board chairman having sex with a student?

Which scandal are we talking about?

Just what did Nelson have on Baker anyway?

There were always rumors of a ring of CCPS people who had sex with students ......

I fancy to know when they're going to dispose [sic] Dorene McShea.

ecotrash is back.
Cyberstalking.
Cyberstalking private citizens and kids.
This stinks of McCarthyism. The last time I looked, private citizens have freedom of speech especially about corrupt leaders.
What a town. What a newspaper.
Who's next to be deposed? The lemonade girl?

Are you suggesting that Baker or Miller had some kind of "relationship" with the lemonade girl?

If true then Entertainment Tonite can come to Naples. Yippee!

Let's be serious. Calabrese's behavior toward Katherine Lewis was grossly inappropriate. We all agree with that.

Calabrese has every right to talk with private citizens and school employees about school business. We ELECTED HIM to do that.

The law says he cannot speak with OTHER SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS about school business except in the "sunshine". Calabrese could speak with Fred Coyle about school business til the cows come home and that is not a sunshine violation.

Indirect communication via emissaries who transmit oral messages is NOT a sunshine violation -- thus even if someone was used as a messenger so what? (Have you been to the County Commissioners offices? They all sit near each other and their secretaries actually talk with one another to transact public business like coordinating schedules -- are Baker and crew going to call that a sunshine violation?)

The problem with this article is that it ran at all. The deposition revealed much of nothing and the NDN is playing it up BECAUSE THE NDN IS IN CAHOOTS WITH BAKER.

The esteemed editorial board is on Baker's side.

Wonder what Nelson had on them? I go back to those old CCPS rumors ......

Graham is right. Maybe we should take the turned down 1% raise and use it to start a tutoring program.

Graham for school board!

Attn NDN:

The general public does not care about the details of who said what to whom when. We care about:

1) when will the teachers go back to putting the kids first
2) how will we improve the day to day quality of the kids educational experience
3) what hours is school
4) what will it cost

What Terry Walters did or did not say to whom when is completely irrelevant to those four issues.

Try covering what we care about and not the extended gossip mongering that substitutes for serious political debate in this town.

Much of the responsibility for the focus on the wrong issues lies with your coverage.

Lissack
you complain about gossip mongering just a post or two after you insinuated there was a pedophile ring
in the Collier County Public Schools.
In fact, your entire collection of posts in this thread have a sexual connotation.
Perhaps you are projecting?
I suggest you get to a doctor posthaste and perhaps spend less time "peeking in to desolation row."

Lisssssssssssp: The teachers never STOPPED putting the children first. In fact, it seems teachers are DYING, in their classrooms, putting children first instead of their own health needs. How do I know? Check the paper. Then check with any teacher you meet on the street. I guarantee they have some type of ailment be it small as a cold or as large as a heart attack waiting to do them in. I'm not sure how you can say that teachers don't put chldren first, but of course you did. You must educate yourself before you speak. My sister is in her classroom RIGHT THIS MINUTE with pneumonia. She took 2 days off. That is it. Do you have any idea how much dedication she has for her children? I didn't think so. And before you say she's stupid etc for going in that soon she is basically forced to since the dreaded FCAT is coming. Her principal guilts them all if they get sick, need a personal day etc. They are afraid their jobs are on the line; especially with Osama Bin Thompson at the helm.
Now, it would be nice to hear you make true claims.

I gotta agree Lissack. He said she said. That's what NDN reports on the best. I haven't seen one story on the prisoners becoming county employees. Now that is a substantiated story. Big Mouth was on 3 stations last night spewing his BS. No story about that in the NDN.

Give Peace a Chance Work to Rule is Putting the TEACHERS first. No Discussion Necessary. the kids are getting the raw end of the deal.

Another POV: it does not matter who asked who to say what ITS LEGAL

GreatHorned: What else can you say about the Nelson Cabal? He killed himself due to his pedophilia. Baker covered it up. .....

POV,
If you haven't noticed, the NDN creates their own news, wether it is accurate or not. They go by he said she said. Not the facts. That way everybody gets all out of sorts by what they read. It took me a couple of years to figure that out. Then just because someone is a Commissioner or a board member, they think whatever they say is fact, not their pipe dreams. Well I think if you review Commissioner Big mouths stories ovver the past couple of years you will see very little fact and a lot of pipe dreams.

Another POV: I hope the general public cares more about how their money is being spent, how the future of the county is being planned,and how our quality of life can be improved or at least maintained. That we have public officials whoa re concerned with who said what to whom when is a disgrace and a large part of the problem. And I represent the ONE-THIRD of the public who voted for me. I suspect many of the two thirds remain like you more interested in gossip than policy and more interested in preserving your "privileges" than in what happens to our children. Unfortunately we get the leadership we deserve. Four grossly undereducated County Commissioners and a School Board that is in desperate need of new minds.

Lisss...what aren't the teachers doing for kids other than staying late? You really think they aren't taking their work home with them? I would say maybe, and this is a gross over estimate, 15% of the teachers are "working to rule" in the true sense of the words.

Get over yourself.

How they fired Baker, and I can't STAND the guy, was not legal. They were to have given him 2 weeks notice. If they had we wouldn't be spending more and more money over this entire fiasco. What are contracts for if they are not followed. If it were anyone but Baker I would say more power to them. Sue the heck out of this nescient district.

and ps. Once again...it was not a raise but a one time $400 bonus. Could you get that straight? At least NDN reported that correctly.

Lissack,
I have to disagree with your last part of #33. I really don't think education has anything to do with their ability or in our commissions case inability to do their jobs. Level headedness, listening to the people you represent and not thinking they know more than everybody else is what I look for. And most times the over educated are the worst. Probably why you only got a 1/3 of the vote. You seem to be a I know more than everybody else sort. I do agree with some points that you make, but some I don't because some show you as a pompus I'm smarter than everyone else, and you couldn't be more wrong.
Just an observation from an uneducated hick that lives in the sticks.

If any teacher is working to rule that teacher is hurting his/her students.

The mere fact that the teachers' union is willing to put their own selfish interests ahead of the students is a major problem and indicates that the teachers (who chose to be represented by this union) deserve no raise at all.

If the School Board found a way to fire Baker without paying him why does that concern so many of you? You are more upset with the Board for taking action than you are with baker for screwing up and covering up.

Naples will not be the place it could be or should be until we start putting the law and principle first and who is speaking or who one knows or who one supposedly "is" dead last.

Baker broke the law and is paying the price. Miller broke every principle and is paying the price. Nelson broke God's law and paid the price.

Being a teacher does not excuse misbehavior or selfishness.

Having done good things in the past does not excuse misbehavior now.

Try focusing on the behavior in question and how to deal with it and NOT on who is doing the behaving and how you feel about them.

More than 350,000 people live here. yet we have public officials and a newspaper that wish to pretend its only 1200

Our public officials mean well but for the most part are in way over their heads. We all are suffering from it.

This newspaper's staff means well but for the most part are also in way over their heads. WE all are suffering from it.

The two-thirds that voted for the undereducated to lead them mean well but have put us all in way over our collective heads ....

Paradise has headaches

As far as this whole Bake School Board thing, it boils down to Baker didn't do his job, nor did the board. They both were wrong, now the question, was who was more wrong? I think there is equal blame. If Baker would have done his job and not tried to be so smart, and the board would have waited the 14 days, and not been so quick to react, I think the county taxpayer would be a little richer.
All of this suing, I wonder if Joe citizen can sue because Baker didn't do his job and the board screwed up big time? Anybody?

Fletcher our governmental units spend over $1 billion. And get bamboozled by staff every step of the way. Education would help alleviate that.

The losers are the students and their teachers. Sad. All school officials need to be elected, starting from the top.

do I really think that way, Lissak? You sure? And are you sure teachers aren't doing their jobs by working their contract hours? How do you know? I'm just curious because you seem to really know quite a bit. Do you volunteer time in schools? Do you go to board meetings? Are you involved in SAC?

So, if I want to fire a teacher all I have to do is make sure he/she is just working their contract? Sounds like your logic to me!

Baker was offered an opportunity to resign and collect a nice severance package. He refused. The Board members were angry. Stuff happens.

Give

Yes any teacher just working to rule should be fired.

Liss,
Maybe. And then again maybe not. It depends on how smart or how much coniveing the staff is doing. Take Mudd for example, it doesn't take a M.I.T. graduate to see he is a overbearing beauricrat that doesn't care about anyone but himself. Look at his record.
Then again Commissioner Big Mouth believes everybody that has a P.E. or PHD behind their name.
I sit back and watch the commission meetings and laugh. I know what staff members are manipulating the board and ones that are not. But then again I'm not overly educated so maybe I really don't know anything. I do know that the tax payers of Collier are getting screwed every step of the way.

Professionals do not "work to rule." Being a professional means going above and beyond in recognition of your responsibility toward those entrusted to your care/mentorship. Working to rule is a sign of being something other than a professional.

The janitors, bus drivers, etc are free to work to rule -- they have jobs not professions. Teaching is a profession. If you want to work to rule you are not a professional.

I believe that teachers who just want a job and not a profession should not be teachers and should not be involved with our children.

So what about those Red Sox?

Oh, I was right into thinking something was rotten in Collier. Gotta trust that gut feeling sometimes.

Walter seems to have politically conspired to get the principalship as a reward for helping Thompson be the ONLY candidate for the lucrative position of superintendent.

And a teacher at the school might have known what Miller's achille's heel is too. This is a freaking soap opera. Can't wait for the next installment of "As My Stomach Turns" in the sleepy hamlet of Naples.

Lissack, I give you credit for

1. using your real name (I sure as he_ _ wouldn't, not in this town!)

2. say the following:
Baker broke the law and is paying the price. Miller broke every principle and is paying the price. Nelson broke God's law and paid the price.

I agree, gatorhater. From what I've heard, there's juicy stuff out there ---- real juicy stuff! Pandora's box has been opened! Great stuff for tourists and potential homebuyers to read! Nobody'll touch this place with a ten foot pole!
What's a Chamber to do?

Back to the article:

The clear purpose of the Sunshine Law is that the PUBLIC'S BUSINESS be conducted in an OPEN, TRANSPARENT and PUBLIC MANNER. Obviously the termination of Mr Baker was NOT done in an OPEN, TRANSPARENT and PUBLIC manner. The simple fact that while there is a sitting Superintendent, someone from the community flies more than 1000 miles away and for whatever reason approaches a Superintendent from another district to "discuss" issues in Collier County schools raises a HUGE number of RED FLAGS to me. (Why did he not contact the Florida Dept of Education?) It is even more suspicious since the remote superintendent was a friend of one school board member AND the board chair says on the same night that Mr Baker is fired that a call should be made to Mr Thompson to schedule "contract negotiations". THEN the board IGNORES it's own policies to replace the superintendent WITHOUT A PROPER SEARCH for the best candidate. Dickie Calabrese did "due diligence" ---- Give me a break.

REMINDER:

CCPS is on the edge of losing accreditation. WHY? It is NOT because of Mr Bakers actions OR inactions. It is NOT because some course were mislabeled. NOR is it because teachers are "working to rule". IT IS BECAUSE OF POOR GOVERNANCE ON THE PART OF THE COLLIER COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD. This article is a good illustration of that fact.

Well, this will play out! Some of these people who blog seem a little uptight right now, I can totally understand.
Some of the Haters seem even nervious! I can understand!
I was raised to believe, "the truth will always prevail"
and,
it will!

Southern

The purpose of the Sunshine law is for Officials with voting rights not to have secret meetings regarding matters on which they can vote in their official capacity. Appointed officials and employees can meet with whomever and whenever. No business would happen if ALL business had to happen in the sunshine.

Calabrese ran on a platform to oust Baker. There was no secret.

And Baker might still have his job if he had ever "outed" Nelson or "outed" the grade fixing etc instead of doing cover-ups.

I will be blunt -- Baker's cover-ups meant he deserved to be fired for cause and without pay.

Cover-ups of Nelson, grades, etc stink.

Time will tell if Thompson is "de-odorant" or merely perfume

Lissack - Please explain to me why a teacher that is working to the rule should be fired. A teacher that is working to the rule is coming in exactly when she/he is supposed to, and leaving exactly when she/he is supposed to. They are posting grades as required by contract, teaching lessons and making lesson plans. Every little one in my family is being well - educated, and believe me that is something we stay on top of. If they were not being educated to a high standard, we'd be right there talking to teachers and asking questions. I'd love a detailed list from you about why these professionals, who are all fulfilling every term of their contracts should be fired! Do you believe that you and yours are entitled to freebies from teachers? If you have students not doing well, look to yourself, their ability levels, or hire a tutor. Please reply with the specific reasons for your suggestion...

Professional

Definition

A professional is a worker required to possess a large body of knowledge derived from extensive academic study (usually tertiary), with the training almost always formalized.

Professions are at least to a degree self-regulating, in that they control the training and evaluation processes that admit new persons to the field, and in judging whether the work done by their members is up to standard. This differs from other kinds of work where regulation (if considered necessary) is imposed by the state, or where official quality standards are often lacking. Professions have some historical links to guilds in these regards.

Professionals usually have autonomy in the workplace—they are expected to utilize their independent judgement and professional ethics in carrying out their responsibilities.[4] This holds true even if they are employees instead of working on their own. Typically a professional provides a service (in exchange for payment or salary), in accordance with established protocols for licensing, ethics, procedures, standards of service and training / certification

I FAIL TO SEE WHERE THE DEFINITION SAYS A PROFESSIONAL MUST STAY LATE, WORK FOR FREE, DO EXTRA JOBS NOT IN CONTRACT OR PAID FOR.

Work with out pay is volunteering or charity work. Not a profession.

There have been several classic threads on this blog about the proper usage of the term "professional."

Some suggest that professional means one who gets compensation for a duty performed. Certainly this is an acceptable contemporary usage, often employed to denote athletes who compete for money as opposed to athletes who compete for no money.

Still others insist that a professional is a doctor, lawyer, engineer, or other highly skilled and educated practitioner of a selective vocation. Using professional to describe a skilled worker, however, is where the trouble really begins.

There are a gaggle of middle-class vocations competing for the ranks of the "professional." The middle class, being inherently insecure about its social standing, is where you find much pride in calling oneself a professional, and much scorn directed at those who apply the term too liberally. The middle class loves labels, being mostly incapable of seeing the world without rigid black-and-white classifications.

The architect is the perfect example. He's skilled in artistic design as well as complex mathematics, yet he wears jeans and a hard hat to work each day, where he finds himself surrounded mostly by laborers and other proletarians.

The teacher is another example. While some hold that babysitting kids and a bachelor's degree in "education," a most intellect-devoid field of study, is not grounds for admission into the professional ranks, others insist that teachers, or "educators," to use the euphemistic buzz of the day, are surly more professional than real estate agents. They have a point.

Teachers hold the charge of preparing the young for a lifetime of faithful capitalistic adulthood. Real estate agents perform a needed task indeed, but selling something, no matter if it's a house or a Tupperware set, is seldom considered a profession. Yet even here we find controversy. A good salesperson, no matter how loathsome the idea of coercing the witless into buying things they don't really need, is a rarity, and there's no school where one can learn salesmanship. It's an innate skill.

Are innate skills (artists, writers, etc.) less professional because one doesn't need years of schooling to practice?

Okay, out of time. Peace, Nizzaples.

Terri: Liss has never stepped foot in a classroom. He has no idea what a contract is. If you are working your contract you're working what THE BOARD decided upon. You are doing your job (or in your case, profession). Now, maybe parents can do their jobs, too. Maybe Lissy can get off the computer and do his job...oh wait....no homes are selling are they?

Teachers are not hurting students. They're the only ones giving a crap about them these days (as far as I can see--of course there are exceptions). I'm thankful my children were educated in schools up north. I can assure you I would never have my children educated down here. They would sure have a backwards way of thinking about education, teachers, ethics, contracts, and right from wrong.

Farewell, Lissy...I get paid TOO MUCH MONEY and I work a lot less than my sister. I guess I should write up my proposal now.

TheLissack.............. I have a question, do you have a favorite chair in Richard Calabreses house or do you just keep to the toilet!
Why are you so bothered by the "fact" that "current facts" are finally going to play themselves out and Everyones actions will come to the light of day!
Let the Truth speak for the Truth! However it comes out Let the Truth shine! I do not need to be "right" I do desire the truth!
These comment concerning Nelson F and other things have nothing to do with any of this at all!
It seems like some people need help in letting go, and dealing with personal vendettas (if I spell anything wrong I'm sure you will let me know! thanks)

Lissack:

Even writers (hey aren't screenplay writers striking), artists, architects, and lawyers often work under a contract. Even free-lancing professionals require a contract.

A work to rule contract does NOT make them less professional. I know that teachers up north have to often go to college between 4-5 year and must continue to get continuing education credits - 6 graduate level credits every 5 years in order to maintain their professional licenses.

There are other "professions" that don't require that type of investment of time, money and energy in order to maintain their licenses. And often districts do NOT reimburse them full, if at all for that expense.

And I agreed with someone with a previous post that the contracts and unions DO protect teachers from the caprious whims of their administrators, students and parents. It's not a perfect system that much is true because sometimes it does protect a teacher that shouldn't be teaching, but it's a check and balance that is important if you want to keep and retain people into the teaching professions.

Gee Give I guess my six years being a university professor was not teaching or in a classroom by your definition.

Teachers who care and who put the children first deserve pay raises. Teachers who put themselves first deserve to be fired. We can find many well qualified teachers who care who would love to work here.

We could eliminate 65% of the employees at the Taj. I am no fan of bureaucrats.

Professionals are those who are entrusted to take responsibility in response to their advanced training. The trust creates an obligation to go above and beyond. Without the going above and beyond you are not worthy of the trust.

Teaching is also the ONLY profession which allows practitioners to be skilled only in process and not in subject matter. Those CE credits etc are a joke. Give us teachers who know their subject and can share that passion with their students. Education degrees are mostly a crock.

Forget the Red Sox and the Red Wings go Blades!

TheLissack: When are you going to run for the school board? I would consider voting for you based on your comments about eliminating the 65% of the fat at the Taj. Not sure about everything else, but boy, you go my interest with that figure! Put some of those costs savings into the classroom and return the rest to taxpayers? That would be a winning plan.

I agree that teachers who put the children first deserve raises, too.

so research on how to vote is "conspiring?" hopefully sanity will prevail in court...seems like Baker was "conspiring" when awarding credits...

Since I'm not on the clock I'm chiming in.

TheLissack: Up north CE credits aren't worth squat. It would take so many of them for the DPI (Department of Public Instruction) to recognize them that they're not worth going for. Basically elementary educ. majors take education or classes you would define as "process" courses because it helps them deliver a plethora of content such as reading, math, etc. more effectively.

As a secondary educator, most of my graduate credits (thanks for pointing that out RitaPearl5197) are almost always in my content or subject area and not as you say, "process".

(This comment was removed by the site staff.)

DThomas

a doctor who treats his/her patients merely as a means to defraud an insurer or Medicare is not a professional

one who actually stops to give the patient care is a professional

I've said my bit on the teachers pay the good ones fire the others get rid of tenure and of the contract and of the union

get rid of 65% of the Taj

no bi-lingual ed after 2 years in the school system

no grade advance without mastering English

start school at 8:30 not at 7 give kids a chance to do their best

Dthomas

were you the slug in the back row who always was asleep or eating in class?

or were you the kid with the laptop looking at porn and ignoring the class discussion?

TheLissack:

You talk about Baker's cover ups!!?? What about Thompson mess with high school credits in Rockford. Seems he had the same problem up there was Baker had here. Did that somehow make him uniquely qualified for the job down here?

Wow! Enlighten me on that stream of logic please.

Quite frankly I have no interest in what happened in Rockford I care about Collier County. I suggest you keep your interest focused here. We have Thompson. They HAD Thompson.

But Rita why do you think we should pay Baker for NOT doing his job? Explain that to the court.

To all the anti Thompson people. We elected a School Board. they have a right to have whomever THEY want as superintendent. You do not like it vote for a new school board. But enough is enough. Dr. Thompson is here. Give the man enough support or the courtesy of enough silence so he can do the job he was hired to do.

the whining about "how it was done" is counterproductive and takes time and attention away from the real problems the CCPS has

ask not what you can do to screw up Thompson
ask not what you can do to alienate the School Board

ask instead what you can do to help the students

its a much better use of time and it will make you feel better in the long run

Calabrese metions to Thompson Walters would be a good Principal

Calabrese brings up Larson as an interm Super right after Baker is fired

Calabrese gets review from Walters concerning visit with Thompson in Rockford, why was Walters talking with Thompson anyway, if not old family friends that smells like spoiled tuna!

Calabrese Calabrese Calabrese

Whe need to do an "adit" of his actions and behaviors! I'm fairly sure the check book of his actions would not balance!

Well I think this adit is underway!

When asked one question concerning mentioning Walters as a Principal, Calabrese responded
"I can Not Recall" Wow
"RECALL" interesting word!

Lissack:

You're not that good at deflecting a question, so don't. I asked you to explain your logic. In addition, I challenge you to find a post where I said "Baker should be Paid!" or something even close to that.

And in court, if this board didn't go through all the correct legal steps necessary to dismiss Baker, and it's very possible that's what happened, then the people of Collier will have to pay for their incompetence. We are after all a nation of laws for better or worse - those laws need to be recognized. A nation or community is only as good as it's word or how it abides by those laws or it's contracts.

It reflects poorly on the board and ultimately does and will continue to taint your boy Thompson.

The fact that Walters helped Calabrese get rid of Baker, and then had interviewed Thompson, Thompson is the only candidate and now Walters is a very viable candidate for a coveted principalship is and should raise eyebrows. I personally think this Walter's fellow is a weasel and would be well advised not to turn my back on him.

Might not be illegal, but definitely is unethical and smacks of conflict of interest where Walters is concerned. And since Thompson must have been aware of the circumstances that he was being brought in on - it ultimately makes him look manipulative as well.

If he had advised or insisted that the board interview other candidates to add more credibility to his hiring (and perhaps he did, but we don't know that at this time), then I will actually have a health respect for the man, but my hunch is that that never happened.

What do I have to do to run for school board? I want Abbott's seat.

Abbott is up for re-election in November of 2008, but you have to live in District 4. Abbott NEEDS TO GO!!!!!!

As an aside, I think I had a run-in Thompson at K-Mart on the east trail last weekend. I'm 95% sure it was him.

He was in the cleaning supplies aisle holding a pack of ant traps. He mistook me for a K-mart employee (must be my Hispanic heritage) and asked if I knew anything about ants in Florida.

I played along. Sure I know about ants, I told him. Then I looked around suspiciously, as if to see if my "manager" was in the area. I leaned in and said in a whisper that none of these products work a lick. I told him the best thing for fire ants is human urine, which is totally true, consequently.

I told him to pee each day and night into an empty milk jug. After enough urine has been stored (three-to-five days worth) pour it all over the ant mounds. It's totally non-toxic, 100% sustainable, 100% eco-friendly. Urine doesn't even kill the offending ants, leaving in place a necessary part of the delicate suburban ecosystem. It only makes them unhappy enough to move their mound to another person's yard.

Then I added, "You of all people should understand that concept."

Again, 95% sure.

I bid you all a fantastic weekend.

anotherPOV,

There have been several classic threads on this blog about the proper usage of the term "professional."

Some suggest that professional means one who gets compensation for a duty performed. Certainly this is an acceptable contemporary usage, often employed to denote athletes who compete for money as opposed to athletes who compete for no money.

Still others insist that a professional is a doctor, lawyer, engineer, or other highly skilled and educated practitioner of a selective vocation. Using professional to describe a skilled worker, however, is where the trouble really begins.

There are a gaggle of middle-class vocations competing for the ranks of the "professional." The middle class, being inherently insecure about its social standing, is where you find much pride in calling oneself a professional, and much scorn directed at those who apply the term too liberally. The middle class loves labels, being mostly incapable of seeing the world without rigid black-and-white classifications.

The architect is the perfect example. He's skilled in artistic design as well as complex mathematics, yet he wears jeans and a hard hat to work each day, where he finds himself surrounded mostly by laborers and other proletarians.

The teacher is another example. While some hold that babysitting kids and a bachelor's degree in "education," a most intellect-devoid field of study, is not grounds for admission into the professional ranks, others insist that teachers, or "educators," to use the euphemistic buzz of the day, are surly more professional than real estate agents. They have a point.

Teachers hold the charge of preparing the young for a lifetime of faithful capitalistic adulthood. Real estate agents perform a needed task indeed, but selling something, no matter if it's a house or a Tupperware set, is seldom considered a profession. Yet even here we find controversy. A good salesperson, no matter how loathsome the idea of coercing the witless into buying things they don't really need, is a rarity, and there's no school where one can learn salesmanship. It's an innate skill.

Are innate skills (artists, writers, etc.) less professional because one doesn't need years of schooling to practice?

Ecoterror:

I love it! LOL

The first thing you have to do, ecotrash, if you want to run for school board is to decide which name you want to use. Will it be promdate, wisernow? You decide. Then it would be tough for you to run against someone who you so admire and support , Chatty Cathy Curatolo. Are you storing her campaign signs in your garage? That leaves Linda Abbott. You could run against her, like a big fish in a small pond. Right, like a big fish in a small pond.
Then you could continue to cyberstalk people and kids! Things just don't change, do they?

My point, dear rude person, is that you're hopelessly status-insecure if you care who calls oneself "professional."

A middle-class parent will dream of his children becoming doctors and lawyers, not because these vocations are noble and respectable, but because they pay well and thus the vicarious parent can assimilate into the upper-middle class and look down with contempt at all the kids who were drawn to wood-working, or even teaching.

Real Estate Agents = Teachers that couldn't handle the stresses, pressures, and failures in teaching. IMHO of course ;)

ps...lissy, I just put my house up on the market and it wasn't with you. I wonder why? If you're as ignorant with your comments on here as you are with customers I would hate dealing with you. I went with a "professional" that has a Master's degree, a proven record and has no time to spout off on here. She's a WORKING realtor. A PROFESSIONAL if you will...And this is the perfect time for me to sell. I bought back in the late 90s.

Anyone ever hear of NOcatee in Ponte Vedra?

Eco, there is no K-Mart on the East Trail anymore. Kinda like your name.

And in a previous entry I noticed someone saying they'd loved to vote for Lissack for school board.

In a previous blog (article regarding Welty), Lissack said that Calabrese's inappropriate behavior wasn't legally an issue because he's an elected official and doesn't have to abide by the same code of ethics that Miller did. That's fine, because he's looking at it as if it's the letter of the law. No problem.

But now he's implying that it shouldn't matter if the board violated their contractual agreement with Baker?

It's that fussy line between what might be ethical and what might be legal that has gotten this board into this legal mess. Lissack would simply add to the problem because he doesn't want to make the clear distinction either. I'm not sure whether it's intention or not, but regardless, there it is.

Personally, I wouldn't vote to let him clean my cat's litterbox. This pseudo-intellectual thinking IS the problem here with this board and is why taxpayers are going to have to pay.

Can't wait to see that tutoring program you got in the works with tha 1% turned down teacher's bonus by the way.

fatlady: I think there is one on the East Trail. Right at 41 and 951. I thought I'd chime in.

To FATLADY:

Cyberstalking?

Lose the sensitivity, first family of Collier. You people have the ear of Linda Abbott, a sitting school board member. All I have is this lousy web forum.

I've never posted under any other names, just FYI.

I know, it's shocking! The way you tattle-tale, self-serving people have treated others for the last decade in this town, and you're surprised to learn there's more than one blogger who doesn't much care for you? Goes to show that good grades and flawless attendance doesn't equal wits.

Amen ecoterror!!

And you're right - good grades and flawless attendance doesn't equal wits.

Lissack,
It truly amazes me how clueless you are.
In your post at 1:06, you mentioned how several other activities would not be such a waste of time as posting these blogs is, YET YOU ARE ONLY A FEW AWAY FROM POSTING 30 ENTRIES TODAY.
Back away from your keyboard, and go out and VOLUNTEER at a school.
With your six years of "experience" as a professor, you should have no problem enlightening some students as to any of the subjects taught in school.
and, by the way, the majority of us are not "WORKING TO RULE," because we care too much about the kids, so quit putting one profession in the same boat.
So, take your own advice and go out to do something beneficial for the area.

DJTHOMAS, I could not stop laughing at your change of Lissack's name!!!!
You are too funny, and make excellent points.
Have a great weekend everyone, except Sir Lissack, the blog king,because he'll be too busy blogging!

OOps, mind your Ps and Qs. Mr. Lissack is DR. LISSACK to all of the unprofessional teachers out there.

And I bid you all a peaceful night

Peace:
"Dr. Lissack"?????
THAT is scary.
I know he didnt teach at the college I attended, because I learned a lot.
If he spends this much time blogging, I can imagine how he spent his time in the classroom.

Lissack is a doctor?

In the words of Bob Hope from "Spies Like Us,"

Glad I'm not sick!

Now about those Red Sox.

Yep, you suck at deflecting criticism let alone answer a question put to you.

I don't buy you were a professor unless tiddlie winks was a college level course at that school.

Forget the Red Sox, Lissack GO!!! (AWAY!!!)

not an MD. Just a PhD...like many of us have. In fact, my sister (the unprofessional teacher that works well within her contracted time), is obtaining her PhD. Hmmmm, I wonder if she's learning any content?

there's over 100 posts on this and 90% are anti-Lissack. Yeah, run for a board seat.

Funny 20% of the posts are mine so Giv