Last meeting before being fired

I was experimenting. Working on my next blog. but I wanted to practice on something that wasn't my next blog. I tried to add sound to my other blogs and wasn't succeessful but maybe this will work.

The audio is the last meeting that I had with Mark English the Superintendent of AISJ before he fired me.

The Image are events that happend as a result of working in Saudi Arabia. Basicly the experience was very good. Most of the pictures were taken before Mark was offically employed at AISJ. My first year we had a different administrative staff. I worked 14 school days of the seconded year before they fired me. As you will see most of the pictures are very happy, even while he was there I managed to have good times. The only pictures that are bad I think is the picture of Mark before he started yelling at me. This was taken the very first time he call me into his office.

Any way, I hope this workes, so that I can work on my other projects.

Lawrence Moore

Pushed to leave today

Saturday September 15, 2007






They are getting really desperate. Last night I came in late about 10:30 pm. My room-mates told me That Mr. Ajmal had just called and that I should call him back. They said that it did not matter how late it was he would be waiting for my call.

My feeling is that it was late and he had not called me earlier. So, whatever it was it could not be that important, at least not to me. So I went to bed.

Around 8am the phone started ringing but I was doing my exercises so I didn’t answer it. Around 10 I decide to give Mr. Ajmal a call. He answered the phone as he was walking into the apartment. One of my room-mates had returned to the apartment to get something and met Mr. Ajmal as he was at the door. So he let him in.

It seems that the Board and English want me to move out today. I told them that I was not ready I had not got the information from the packing people yet.

He told me that they wanted to put me out, that they wanted the Apartment.

I told him that if they put me out, I would sit on the street corner in front of the school and tell everyone everything- how they fired me and would not give me enough time to pack.

He then told me that the school would pay for half of my shipping cost if I left today. I told, him, they fired me they should pay all of the cost.

He asked if that could be arranged would I leave today.

I asked him what time would I leave?

He told me at 3:00.

I said OK.

Some students said that they would come to see me, to say good-bye today, after school. School ends at 2pm. I hope they come I would not want to just disappear like some superintendents are known to do.

Sincerely

Lawrence Moore

Farewell Dinner

It was a great time for me seeing my friends and colleagues before I left. I don't think I look too sad.

This is from my students. I wished that I could have said farewell to them personally. I really felt their sentiment when I seen the poster.

Thank you, It was a joy and pleasure teaching you.

Lawrence Moore

How do I feel about all this?

How do I feel? Am I OK?

I feel great!!!

All the time they were telling me to shut-up, to close my eye and pretend what was happening was not happening, to be on their side and collaborate with them.

What did they offer me in exchange for my cooperation?

They offered, over-work, under-pay, humiliation, degradation, lose of self-worth and self-esteem.

For declining their offer I get to keep my self respect, self-worth, and self-esteem. I also get $8,000 dollar for 14 days work, a free airplane ticket to anywhere I want to go, and a lot more vacation time.

It was never a hard decision to make. And I am enjoying ever minute of it. I don't know how anyone could think I would have made any other decision.

Best wishes.

Lawrence

Who Is Mark A. English

After watching this guy for a few days. I saw the he consistient made bad decision. He problably did not make the major decisions. I am sure the board of trustees made them. He will be the scape-goat when they are called to be responsible for those decisions.

But his day to day decisions, his micro management, his relationship skills are all bad. You don't get to be this bad over night. So I started searching to see what I could find out.





Col. Michael T. Anderson passed command of the U.S. Military Academy Preparatory School June 6 to Lt. Col. Mark A. English [2005]. Lt. Gen. William J. Lennox, Jr., U.S. Military Academy superintendent presided over the ceremony held at Fort Monmouth, N.J.
Following the transfer of colors, the superintendent welcomed the incoming command team of English and his wife, Eleftheria. They come to Fort Monmouth from Amman, Jordan.
Selected in 2002 as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar to Jordan, English conducted research on the education of women in Arab societies and served as a visiting professor of linguistics at the University of Jordan.
English enlisted in the Army at the age of 17 and shortly afterwards attended the same preparatory school he commands. Graduating USMAPS in June 1973, he proceeded to the USMA, where he graduated in June 1978 and was commissioned as an Air Defense Artillery officer. He served in many command and staff positions in the 3rd Armored and 9th Infantry divisions as an executive officer, battery commander, operations officer, and division air defense artillery officer for I Corps.
In 1988, as a Middle East foreign area officer fluent in Arabic, English returned to West Point as an assistant professor in the Department of Foreign Languages.
From 1992-1994, he served as the Chief of Army Programs, Office of Military Cooperation, U.S. Embassy, Amman and was the West Point Visiting Professor at the National War College 1997-1998 where he conducted a national security seminar on geo-strategic issues.
In 1998, he returned to West Point as an associate professor of Arabic and Middle East studies. English holds a master’s degree in civil government from Campbell University and a Ph.D. in curriculum instruction and foreign language education from the University of Texas at Austin.
http://www.usma.edu/publicaffairs/PV/030620/USMAPS.htm

WEST POINT -- The U.S. Military Academy Superintendent, Lt. Gen. William J. Lennox, Jr., has selected Lt. Col. Edgar “Tyge” Rugenstein as the 25th commandant of the USMA Preparatory School. He will replace the current commandant, Lt. Col. Mark English, June 2.
http://www.usma.edu/PublicAffairs/PV/050513/rugenstein.htm



The Continuing Education of Mrs. Ross
Mrs. Ross at times seemed to be spitting nails at Terry Cook, her chief of staff of a single month. And after the school moved into the Tweed Courthouse, the school’s avuncular black president, Dr. Mark English, a man who’d taught at West Point and the National War College—the former commandant of West Point Prep, whose responsibilities included hiring faculty—was informed that his presence wasn’t wanted in the building. He was now to conduct all business from Mrs. Ross’s Soho offices.

{I think the New York times writer is calling Mr. English a " Uncle Tom". look up avuncular it means uncle. why use such a big word to call a back man uncle.}

Mrs. Ross was always deciding she knew best, suggesting they start up a summer school before the location was even finalized. And for a time, she decreed that the fifth- and sixth-grade teachers instead of the students be the ones to pack up all their things and move from room to room at the end of each period. English lost the fight over the uniforms Mrs. Ross was demanding—including shoes and extra shirts that could cost students as much as $200 (25 percent–off gift certificates were eventually distributed). English disappeared the first week of November; not long before, he’d arranged for a photo to be taken of Chancellor Klein with the children when Mrs. Ross was out of the country, and some wondered if the two events were connected. (“If you don’t get the right person, you make the change,” board member Marty Payson explains.) In its first few months, Ross Global lost art, music, and Chinese teachers, a kindergarten teacher, and two sixth-grade instructors. A Ross spokesman maintains that the turnover has only strengthened the school’s programs.
http://nymag.com/news/features/29724/index6.html

Ok MarK English was head of two different schools before coming to AISJ. I have not been able to find out what he did for the two years that he was at the Milatary prep school.

But I was able to find out somethings that happened while he was briefly in charge of the Ross Global school.

"English came to ROSS in February 2006 with a strong background in military schools. For three the headmaster at West Point Preparatory School in Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, English also served as associate professor of Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies at West Point for 12 years. "

"The school focuses on healthy mind, body and spirit which, English calls, the "wellness component" to their approach to education. Students are exposed to eating organic, seasonal and natural foods. "We are working with the DOE to incorporate this in to our school," said English. Yoga and Tai Chi will also be taught in the mornings and during physical education. "


"Classes are taught using an inclusion model in which special education pupils are integrated into regular classes, with the help of a special education teacher and a consultant. "We are still working on the files to see what kinds of special educations needs we are talking about," said English."

What did teachers say about the school that Mark headed:

"Many of the promised programs have never existed in the school," including the central "spiral" curriculum, writes a teacher. "There has been a revolving door of staff members, mostly because they expressed concern or disagreement about the current conditions at the school." This teacher writes that among the school's many problems are the "loss of experienced staff members, minimal support for students with special needs from qualified, experienced staff members, and a lack of basic policies that help a school to function, such as a discipline plan." (June 2007)

A teacher who recently resigned writes that the school is in turmoil instructionally and in terms of discipline. She writes: "I was never given any support - no one even would talk to me about the curriculum that we were using. I was lost and floundering even though I have experience. Discipline problems are rampant and serious incidents routinely go unaddressed by the administration. The current administration is oppressive and threatening." (June 2007)

"As you enter the school you can feel the chaos," writes a teacher. "The majority of teachers in the upper school are substitutes. The principal has no problem telling people what they want to hear and it not being true; for example, she tells parents that teachers are certified when they are not." This teacher also echoes concerns about discipline. "Many teachers have left and there have been more fights due to lack of proper supervision," she writes. "The school has no discipline procedures. There is little to no collaboration among staff, and the principal does not encourage collaboration." (June 2007)

There has been a revolving door of administrators and principals at Ross Global Academy, according to a New York magazine article and parents who contacted Insideschools. Ross is on its fourth principal since opening in September, according to a feature about the school's founder, Courtney Ross, in the April 2 edition of New York magazine. The article reports that founding principal Jon Drescher left just before school began. He was replaced by an interim acting principal Robert Durkin. He, in turn, was replaced by Frank Marchese, who had run a private school in Canada. After two weeks, according to parents, Marchese was removed and replaced by Stephanie Clagnaz, an administrator who previously worked in a suburban school district and who had been at Ross for two weeks as an assistant principal.
http://www.insideschools.org/fs/school_profile.php?id=1557

If work(ed) at AISJ this my sound like your school now.

What do I get for being fired?

What do I get for being Fired?

Final payment due to termination of employment contract effective Sept. 9, 2007.

Salary for Aug 20 to Sept8 14 days @ SR 746 10,444.00
One month Salary in lieu of notice period 11,500.00
Length of service
for 2006 - 2007 = SR 11,500 x 50% 5,750.00
for 2007 - 2008 = SR 11,500 x 50%*1/12 479.17 6,229.17
Shipping allowance 3,750

Total SR31,923.17
divide by exchange rate 3.75 = $8512.85

Plus SR4500 for flight home. which is equivalent to $1,200.

Why did they fire me, today.

I was thinking about this. It was clear that they were going to fire me, it was just a question of when. So why now?

1. It could have been because Mark English the Superintendent came to our living quarters to see how much furniture that we have. We showed him around the house and then he asked if we minded if he went upstairs to our private bed-rooms. I said that I minded, and he left.

(There are three adult men living in this apartment. Our contract says that two is the requirement for singles living in accommodations provided by the school. So once they put three people in the apartment they breached the contract. In a few rooms there is either no or little furniture. Scott one of my roommates told Mr. English that we need more furniture.

English told Scott that the only way we would get furniture is if he went around an inspected all the villas.

I felt that Mark English coming in our home was in invasion privacy and him looking around my bed-room was unthinkable.

When Scott said that it was the only way that we could get what we should have been entitled too, I gave my OK. But I told them that he was not allowed in my private bed-room.

So when Mark asked if we minded if he looked upstairs I said yes.)

2. I told our newly appointed teacher's representative about several breaches in our contract by the school. She may have brought the issue to the attention of the superintendent. But I don't think she would have done it that quickly.

a. (In our contract it said that our work week is not to exceed 40 hours in general.

Our work week is 40 hours just for teaching, We clock in at 7:30am and clock out at 3:30pm. This does ntot include a lunch break because we may have a duty during that time. When they have any meetings, events or affairs then the week obviously will exceed 40 hours. so our work week regularly and continuously exceed 40 hours because they allways have at least one meeting planned for the week if not more plus some event.)

b.( our contract states that we are to do 30 hours of after school service. It states that we have been paid for those thirty hours.

This leave the implication that those 30 hours are to be included within the 40 hours. Because the only thing that we are paid for is those 40 hours. And it clearly says that we are not to exceed 40 hours in general. It does not say that we are not to exceed 40 hours a week plus the 30 additional hours for the year.)

c. (We signed our contracts under coercion. When we were in our home countries they sent us a contract to sign. It was called a contract summary. They said that we needed to sign it get our visas. I read it, it looked OK. It had everything that I agreed with.

But when we got here, after we left our home, jobs, cars and family and friends: They took our passports and gave us another contract to sign. This contract was completely different from the one that they had sent us. I did not have to sign it. But I did not have a income, a home, friends or family with me. I was no longer in position to negotiate or bargain. So I signed it in good faith, trusting that they would be honorable people.

They could have sent the real contact and they chose not to. Even when asked by one couple They sent the real contract when it was too late for the party to change their mind without compromising there social and economic position.)

Somehow I don't think those are the reasons.
3. What i think is the reason is that we had Parent\teachers meetings scheduled for the day after I was fired. I am pretty sure that they did not want me to have a talk with our students parents.

(a. not enough book for the students.
b. Over crowding of classroom
c. lack of school discipline
d. lack of organization
e. lack of a plan or directions for improvement or development of teaching.
f. An increase in unskilled, unqualified teachers
g. students in the wrong or inappropriate class
e. lack of leadership and responsibility from the administration.
These are the changes the Board of Trustees approved of and the new administration brought.)

The day after I was fired all my students had new schedules. I've seen students waiting weeks to get their schedules corrected. To change 12 classes of students, the teacher who replaced me and my classes, schedules over night is not likely here. This had to be planned well in advanced.

Lawrence Moore