Wow! Dallas Superintendent Mike Miles called the police to remove a school Board member from a school in her district.
Bernadette Nutall was escorted out of a middle school by three police officers. I guess Mike Miles forgot that he works for the board.
“Nutall said she showed up at the South Dallas school around 6:30 a.m. for an emergency staff meeting after Miles replaced the campus’ leadership team and 10 teachers on Friday. Nutall said that when Miles entered the building, he told her she couldn’t be at the school or at the staff meeting and asked her to leave.
“Nutall said she refused and left Miles to talk to staff, greet them and meet with teachers other floors of the campus. When she returned to the main entrance and asked Miles about his changes at Dade, he had three officers remove Nutall from school, she said.
“I have never ever experienced anything like this in my life. I cannot believe he did it,” Nutall said Monday. “I felt like how teachers and principals feel when Miles walks into a building.”
“She added: “This is a clear example of the consistent bullying tactics that we continue to hear about Miles exhibiting to staff. I have experienced it firsthand myself the abusive behavior of power…..”
Miles visited Dade last week and ordered massive changes at the academically low-performing campus. The principal is gone, as are two assistant principals. Ten teachers have been replaced with instructional coaches from other DISD campuses.
Nutall said the main reason for her visit Monday was to encourage staff. “It is a crisis there,” she said….
“Nutall said teachers are scared, worried about their jobs and concerned about how the sudden staffing changes will affect children. Nutall said she was escorted out of the building right after she questioned Miles and deputy superintendent Ann Smisko on the changes at Dade.
“Dade, which is rated “improvement required” by the state, has had four principals in 18 months. Miles hired Alecia Cobb to run Dade last year. He removed her during the summer and replaced her with Michael Jones, an assistant principal at Skyline High School. And on Friday, Miles brought in Hogg Elementary School principal Margarita Garcia…..”
“I felt like how teachers and principals feel when Miles walks into a building.”
Okay, so, what, you didn’t believe the teachers and principals when they would tell you these things? Or did you think such things were acceptable then, as long as it wasn’t your behind on the line? So now that it is your behind, what are you going to do about it (which you should have been doing before)?
I’m sorry, but I need to hear some sort of mea culpa from her.
Seems to say more about the Supes leadership (or lack thereof) than about the principals he picks.
Unless she was acting on behalf of the board, she had no business at the meeting. Boards, not members, can interject themselves in matters like this.
Or unless individual board members do have the right to visit schools and staff meetings. Presumably the local rules could permit that.
In the article it states that other board members who Miles does not conflict with, have gone on campuses.
She is the board member who represents the district that this school is in: she was voted by the Puoc to oversee the ISD and specifically represents this school.
I sent this to Diane: as a teacher and taxpayer in the Dallas area, I want word of this to get out.
Our superintendent has been investigated for bid rigging, was found to have dictated a letter flattering his policies to the press, hired someone who was under investigation for misuse of funds to be hired as our financial officer (he is now in jail), has recently fired an investigator who questioned the criminal background of one of his hires, scores have plummeted each year he has been here: educate yourself! I am sick of my tax dollars being utilized to support this arrogant, unprofessional joke of a man and I am thrilled that he embarressed himself here yet again: can’t wait until he gets himself fired…unfortunately for our students it can’t come too soon.
Titleone, if the board has a policy on this, that’s fine.
But if the board has issues with how Mile is dealing with situation, they need to deal with him as a board. If they aren’t happy with what he’s doing, they shouldn’t interfere as individuals.
Otherwise, you get chaos.
Miles is a Broadie
peter, in the article and its comment thread the board policy is quoted & this member was within her rights. As the member representing that area, where chaos was already created via Miles’ fiat staff upheaval Fri aft & emergency staff mtg Mon 6:30am, the least she could do as the rep taxpayers elected to oversee this district is stick her head in & ask what in Sam Hill is going on.
Peter,
His board is stacked with his board members. Miguel Solis, his former employee, was put in a rented apartment in a part of the district and was “voted” in by dubious means. He has two years teaching experience from TFA and now he is running the board. Nancy and Morath always back Miles up and are supported by our mayor who supports charterizing Dallas. Our board is in the pockets of Miles and the mayor, with about two dissenters, one being Nutall.
Amazing what being a Broad graduate will do for you!
Peter–The trustees are his bosses.
Dealing with them as the elected face of the constituents these PUBLIC SERVANTS are supposed to serve while being paid with our tax dollars is part of his job.
The kids are miserable. The teachers are miserable. Don’t be that American in WWII who ignored the intense suffering of the Europeans.
Not unheard of in public education.
She did have reasin to show up and these members ought to be more .involved like this. Whike her remarks were vaguely insultung , I think they are sooken by someine in shock. She is like most of the suits, she affords more respect to the upper ranks . It is actuaoky a good thing thus went down. If she makes a PSA out of it m we will see mire personality disorders like this weeded out .and replaced by saner leaders. Psychopathy is too pervasive
Thank you for posting this! I feel like, through you, I finally have a voice!!!
Sorry Diane but you’re off base in this one. Board members don’t have an entitlement to be micro managers or intrusive. The superintendent manages the district, not the board.
Andy Rinko
Past President, NJASA
I couldn’t disagree with you more. Board members do not spend ENOUGH time in the ‘trenches’ of public schools they are supposed to be governing and rely far too much on biases, propagandistic reports from superintendents and their cronies.
How many times have I heard a board member publicly tell a blatant lie because the superintendent (or a lackey) has told it to them first?
One board member completely embarrassed herself at a televised, public board meeting by chastising angrily a parent who complained about her daughter’s kindergarten class having over 25 children when state law limits class size to 18.
The board member claimed that “not one kindergarten in our county has more than 18 students! I read the superintendent’s report!”
What she didn’t know was that he cooked the numbers, counting coaches and resource teachers as classroom teachers, making the numbers look much lower than they actually were.
The newspaper had a field day reporting on the kindergarten classes that had 27, 28, and 26 kids in multiple district schools and the subsequent state fines that were paid for violating the law.
This is just one of many, many examples of superintendent shenanigans that could have been prevented by a little more eyes wide open, real time visitation from publicly elected board members.
Why is it that superintendents and principals are free to micromanage now but board members are forbidden? That’s about the best example of self-serving hypocrisy as I’ve encountered lately.
Andrew & Chris, policies no doubt vary from place to place but the pertinent policy was quoted in the comment thread. Nutall, as the rep elected by taxpayers from that particular area to oversee the district would have been remiss in not showing up to see what’s what in the midst of the chaos created by Miles between end-of-school Fri & school-start Mon. Hardly micromanageing (not much evidence of management there, either!)
If the board is like Gordon the Goat, and blindly follows the lead goat (the superintendent), into a tornado, that standard operating procedure should be rethought.
Then lets just do away with school boards.
NO! We need democratic oversight of districts. School boards aren’t perfect, but they’re democratic, unless messed with by jerks like this. The fact that they’re messed with by dictators does not mean the concept is bad, but that the dictators are bad.
My comment was an ironic reply to Andrew Rinko’s idea that board members should be hands off.
If Mike Miles wants my tax dollars to fund his salary, he gets my elected representative all up in his business.
If Miles wants privacy, he can go work at a private company.
I’m telling you: Miles’ actions are a threat to democracy, to representative government.
Mike Miles is the sort of person the Founding Fathers sought to protect us from.
That’s not micromanaging. If you want to see micromanaging, look no further than the Washoe County School District Board of Trustees. They have wrecked havoc in that school district with their illegal termination of superintendent Pedro Martinez. Many board members have no clue what their jobs are supposed to be.
Andrew,
What is NJASA?
Thanks,
Duane
Let me add a bit more to the story:
Ms. Nutall and Ms. Foreman are African American women. The bought-and-paid for shills in various publications around Dallas constantly pick on them for asking “too many” questions and for “interfering” with DISD.
Both of these women were elected in overwhelmingly AA districts. They serve their constituents very well.
I have to say, they see things pretty clearly and speak out. For that “crime,” they have earned the enmity of all white male journalists in Dallas. It’s appalling.
Firing almost all of the administrators and 10 of the teachers 6 weeks into the school year–his 3rd principal in 2 years and chosen by him–and then calling the police on the trustee who “dared” to show her face in the halls of one of her district’s schools is CLASSIC for this superintendent and Broad.
This is not American, this is not Christian, this is not moral–this is none of that.
Jesse Jackson was just here for the Ebola death. WHERE IS HE NOW THAT BLACK CHILDREN AT DADE ARE BEING SUBJECTED TO CHAOS AND A POLICE STATE?
Diane, please please please ask him.
*Interestingly, not a PEEP about this on the news tonight in Dallas. Not a peep.
Cupcake is just telling it like is in Dallas. Preach Cupcake!!!
This man is from the Broad academy. Need I say more. This is very alarming.
Here is a white male journalist in Dallas who sees right through Mike Miles, predicting exactly this situation in 2012:
http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2012/04/predicting_mike_miles_future_a.php
“Predicting Mike Miles’ Future at DISD: Broadly Speaking, I See Blood and Privatization”
(For irony-impaired readers, the header is a joke)
The author started out as a journalist but has lost respect from all but a few of his groupies.
His complete turnaround causes many in Dallas to wonder about his age, his judgment, etc because his sudden change to adoring acolyte was so obvious.
I think these Broad superintendents (Miles and Deasy of Los Angeles) are emboldened by the belief that their true boss is Eli Broad. They are thumbing their noses at the Boards that ostensibly employ them because they know one of the wealthiest men in the nation has their backs.
I wonder if these very rich men really want to use their riches to defeat the democratic process, or are they just generally clueless while others make decisions for them?
Excellent points.
This country would have been much better off without Eli Broad. What a terrible person he must be.
So the Broad sent a ‘Broad-faced’ barking bulldog Miles away from their headquarters.
DISDblog.com is saying that the Dade principal was fired because discontented TFA teachers at Dade called Todd Williams, former Goldman Sachs guy who was appointed the Mayor’s “Educational Advisor” or something like that.
At one time, Todd was the CEO or owner or whatever of Uplift charter schools. “Williams Preparatory Academy” here in Dallas is/was his.
The TFA babies supposedly didn’t like having to deal with the bad kids at Dade and since the principal wouldn’t disappear the bad kids off the TFA teachers’ rosters, the TFA babies called Todd for backup.
Next thing you know, according to that blog, Miles marches in and goes off on everyone. Including the elected trustee who represents the taxpayers of that part of the district.
Does Todd have a problem with representative government? Does TFA?
Yes, they do! They want things done that favor them, they are, after all, the chosen few. They really do thing they are better than the rest of us and here in Nevada they think they are beyond the rules and policies the rest of us operate under.
cx: think they are better than the rest of us.
Update on Miles’s antics: http://educationblog.dallasnews.com/2014/10/community-members-demand-superintendent-mike-miles-apologize-for-ousting-trustee-from-school-he-does-not.html/
Amazing arrogance!