Elizabeth Celenia-Fagan visits TUSD
(Dr. Elizabeth Celenia-Fagan) Tucson, Arizona. Readers can believe whatever they wish regarding the selection of Elizabeth Celania-Fagen as the next Superintendent of Tucson Unified School District over SG insider and President of the Southern Arizona Leadership Council, Rick Myers. Rick has never served as principal of a school, has no education credentials whatsoever, but hey, he knows how to butcher a spreadsheet. Maybe he's a great guy. Still, I am inclined to believe that the individual walking into an extraordinarily challenging school district facing seemingly insurmountable difficulties should be someone with experience and extensive certifications in education, one who has served as the principal of a school, stood at the front of the classroom, one who understands schools, school districts, and has spent time in one of the best school systems in the country.She visited Tucson, an event covered by the Star as well as the Citizen. The following video shows footage of Celania-Fagan discussing her initial thoughts after a short visit. I ask the reader. Would the Supergroup insider and SALC king pin speak the words you hear at this link?
Notice the lack of discussion about "cultural groups" that don't value education.
I wish Dr. Celania-Fagan the best and hope that this community can put aside the nonsense and come together under her leadership. She faces a tough task to arrive at optimal solutions for educating our students inside one of the most difficult states in the country regarding the education and well being of its children.
Godspeed, Elizabeth, and good luck.
posted by x4mr at 12:01 AM
6 Comments:
Good post.
Celania-Fagan is a good, competent person walking into a hornet's nest with two jerk board members that have bought into your "club" or SG and wanted SG Honcho Myers to barge into the place.
Good for Alex Rodgriguez for having the courage to go against the SG. Alex was the only board member to visit Iowa and see first hand what she was doing and what people had to say.
I just hope they don't do to her what they did to x4mr and make success impossible. We have seen the willingness to destroy what they cannot make subservient to them.
I offer this way to distinguish the Supergroup: It is the fat cat arrogant egos that produce almost nothing yet have the connections to work the system to their own advantage.
Based on what I have read so far, Snell, Hecker, and the head of the MTCVB appear to be prime candidates. Clearly, x4mr and Don Martin are the straight talking producers that the SG cannot stand.
Good luck, Elizabeth.
Dr. Elizabeth Celania-Fagen is a blessing for TUSD. She is the best thing to have happened to the district in decades. TUSD was in desperate need of a miracle and thankfully, it found one.
I am a teacher in my seventh year but brand new to TUSD. Today we high school teachers heard Dr. Fagan speak at Rincon High School auditorium. "Miracle"? It may well be. Now I've been teaching enough to see some craziness inherit in this business, but Dr. Fagan has deftly cut through the confusion and gone to the source: Granted, it is a message that I've heard all week, maybe even for my whole career, but it's finally starting to get through: "It's about people, not programs." These are not only the words of Dr. Fagan, but they are also the attitude and outlook of my new principal. The confluence of these two messages (which are really the same message) has lead to some serious reflection on my part about the orientation of my entire practice. I have, in the past, chosen the intellect over the heart in making pedagogical decisions, or excluded it as much as I could because I was in thrall over the ivory tower of academia. Now, I’m still a rigorous teacher, but since I’ve been directly contemplating EXPLICITLY why we're there. So many things that I wanted to do as a teacher are coming back to me. I just know how to teach something way better than I every have before and I know that it will work. I was mistaken in my former practice that I had to fill an empty vessel. Even in my best moments when I tried to teach them what it meant to be human (a high and lofty goal of mine that they all could be proud of, I’m sure), I so often failed to see the human being already within them and failed to acknowledge the dignity and respect that each one of them deserves REGARDLESS of what they have done at any time in their past, and teach them how to recognize that in other people, to respond to others in a way that is befitting of someone who respects and who is respected. I have too often failed to give my students my unconditional love. This is, in my own way, that I have come to really understand what these amazing people at TUSD have been trying to say. I'm lucky to have a source right on campus with me, my principal, but Dr. Fagan, I’m seeing, is also a real part of that mindset. I hope it spreads everywhere, incomparably.
Hope you still like her...we couldn't wait to get rid of her!
guess she's looking for greener pastures...POOR US!!!!
Poor us...she is coming to Colorado. People here are none to happy. The unfortunate thing is the Colorado is small-minded, unforgiving, and do not like outsiders. She has not started yet and she is receiving considerable criticism, LOL!!! Wonder how long she will make it here... 19 months???
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