I am going to begin by prefacing this post with my personal opinion that all children should be given every advantage possible in the years leading up to full time school (K-12). Of, course "every advantage possible" is limited by many things to include money to provide programs.
That being said, does anyone remember just a couple of years ago when Brad Caufmann sat before the BOE touting the revenue we could be expecting from four-year-old kindergarten? How about the argument that we have no choice but to go to universal 4K to get state funding or lose the 4K ESL program. Anyone remember when I questioned such a claim or other parents asking when children will be allowed to be children?
Below was taken from a letter from our Superintendent, Dr. Ron Heilmann, proponent of the revenue generating 4K program:
November 14, 2007
Ms. Sharon Wendt
Charter School Grant Consultant
Department of Public Instruction
P.O. Box 7841
Madison, WI 53707-7841
RE: Ready 4 Learning Charter School
Dear Ms. Wendt:
This correspondence serves as notification that the Oshkosh Area School District will not be pursuing the Ready 4 Learning Charter School grant due to the contingencies and how their implementation would change the intent of the initial proposal. Thank you for the opportunity.
We look forward to working with you in the future on other prospective endeavors.
Sincerely,
Dr. Ronald A. Heilmann, Jr.
Superintendent of Schools
Cc: Patti Vickman, Principal, Webster Stanley Elementary School
Board of Education
Of course, this letter leads to numerous questions. Being that it is short and sweet with little detail, one wonders what is not included or has already been said.
We are a district that has faced several years of shortfalls and will probably face more in the near future. We are also facing a huge referendum sometime in the future. Now we have expanded 4K and will not be receiving the grant at our administrations choice. Were the conditions DPI placed on the grant so difficult that we would throw away money for a program we have already implemented? How are we going to pay for 4K for this year and in years to come? Are we going to cut the program? What about all the children desperate for the leg up before regular kindergarten? Can we now let 4-year-olds be children if they want to be? What about 4-year-old ESL?
Hopefully some of these questions will be answered in the next Superintendent's Report at the November 28th BOE meeting. It would be nice if the community knew the future of our grants and the 4K program as soon as possible. Some families may have to make other arrangements.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Dr. Heilmann Says "Thanks, but no thanks" to 4K Grant Money
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4 comments:
From Thiels blog...
Teresa, would you please start a thread on the Ready 4 Learning Charter School grant money not being pursued by OASD? I understand M. Monte has posted Dr. Heilmann's letter to the charter school grant consultant for DPI on her blog, followed by a bunch of questions that she says she hopes will be answered by him in a future report.
Unfortunately, this is more typical Monte hypocrisy. Throw out a fact or two, followed by questions designed to stir the pot of gossip, innuendo, rumor, and speculation. Why is this hypocritical of her? Because she always tells others to go directly to the source, but refuses to do so herself AS LONG AS SHE CAN GET PEOPLE RILED UP BY NOT DOING SO. I AM SO SICKENED BY PEOPLE LIKE HER ALWAYS VIEWING THINGS AS IF THERE'S SOME CLOAK AND DAGGER MYSTERY GOING ON. EVERYTHING IN THEIR MINDS IS CLOUDED IN SUSPICION, AND YET M. MONTEHAS TALKED ABOUT BEING A POSITIVE PERSON ALWAYS LOOKING FOR SOMETHING TO SMILE ABOUT. Where's the nearest trash can or barf bag?! These days she talks about insanity doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. She must've been thinking about her and Kent's failed political efforts?
I hope we hear answers from Dr. Heilmann too because they'll put this hypocrite in her place. He's done it to her before and I'm sure will do it again. Between now and then, might you be able to get some real answers on this from administration? If Monte knew how to work with people she could, but that isn't possible, given her reputation. Thank you for your help. You can transfer my comment to the new thread.
Saturday, November 17, 2007 11:04:00 PM CST
Kent Monte said...
Mrs. Thiel,
Funny how you just wrote a whole book on how you didn't want anymore negativity regarding us but continue to allow it.
You knew about this letter several days ago yet you posted nothing on it. Please give us some insight to this administration and thier thought process on turning this money down.
Thanks.
Sunday, November 18, 2007 10:37:00 AM CST
Please don't ask Teresa Theil to explain ANYTHING. She's a waste of time. She's irrelevent.
I hope she's stupid enough to run for school boad again. That way she can be reminded of how irrelevent she is.
Ms. Thiel's suggestion of going to the source is a good one. There are, in fact, MANY misconceptions and statements meant to upset the masses made in this posting. A quick call to Dr. Heilmann or Ms. Vickman would have cleared up any questions regarding the charter grant or the developmental appropriateness of the 4K program. However, instead, Ms. Monte has chosen to make suppositions and draw her own conclusions without any factual information.
The one redeeming factor in all of this is the fact that very few people read this blog and therefore cannot be driven to distraction by its contents.
Maybe Thiel's suggestion has merrit. Too bad OASD administration has little to no credibility and is only concerned with selling what they want the community to buy and divulging only what they want the community to know.
I think the thing that urks some people is that more people support Monte than Thiel and Monte is not afraid to question OASD administration publically. Sure beats the heck out of skulking around Heilmann's office like a lost dog waiting for scraps she can call "facts."
I'll take questions and conclusions based on some information over accusations, conspiracies, and twisted excuses for "facts" any day.
Sign me:
Not a Monte, but glad to vote for one!
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