Monday, April 1, 2013

Bradenton leader copies CMS plan

When Rick Mills recently took charge of Manatee District Schools in Bradenton, Fla.,  he vowed to restore public trust,  rebuild employee morale and establish a culture of respect.

If that sounds familiar to readers in the Charlotte area,  that's because Mills copied most of his 100-day entry plan from the one Heath Morrison presented to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools last May,  the (Sarasota) Herald-Tribune reports.

Mills
Mills,  who was hired from Minneapolis,  told the newspaper he lifted the language with permission from Morrison's office and thanked Morrison on the last page of the report.  But after the article ran,  Mills added attribution to the district's web page and the cover of his report.

"I gratefully acknowledge Dr. Heath Morrison,  Superintendent of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools,  for giving me permission to adopt his Entry Plan for use in Manatee District Schools,"  a new cover note says,  adding two additional points:  "*Contains verbatim portions of Dr. Morrison’s entry plan, which were used with his permission. **Though the initial publication of this plan acknowledged the use of Dr. Morrison’s plan as the foundation for this document and cited his permission to adopt any or all parts of that plan for this district’s use, the above citation was improperly omitted."

I doubt anyone is shocked that superintendents share thoughts on common problems and solutions.  The headline-grabber might be finding a district that doesn't have issues with morale,  trust and transparency.  But the extent of the copying (the Herald-Tribune posted both documents with the common language highlighted) was enough to raise questions from an official at the Poynter Institute,  a journalism center in St. Petersburg, Fla.  The Herald-Tribune article quoted plagiarism expert Kelly McBride as calling the work "intellectually dishonest."

But Mills'  plan got a thumbs-up from the editorial board of the Bradenton Herald,  which Sunday praised the plan as a bright spot in his opening days and called his willingness to confront public distrust  "a breath of fresh air."

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Now start going door to door

Just like

MOrrison

Anonymous said...

Boy I wondered how long it would be before CMS was compared to the worst state in the nation for public schools Florida. I wonder if fla paid this idiot some Morrison money? Maybe Heath should get Petey to publish his book with a copyright? Heath I recommend talking with the chambers council and work a deal. Just be careful as Petey is real slimy.

Wiley Coyote said...

When Rick Mills recently took charge of Manatee District Schools in Bradenton, Fla., he vowed to restore public distrust, rebuild employee morale and establish a culture of respect.

....I love that typo.

Ann Doss Helms said...

Yikes, Wiley, can I claim furlough brain? Corrected that.

Anonymous said...

Oh excellent, chaos AND confusion. Can't wait!

Anonymous said...

Just don't try copying anything if you're applying to be a charter school...

Anonymous said...

I still tend to think that even in a cut and paste I-World..

“The first draft of anything is shit.”

― Ernest Hemingway

Alicia

Wiley Coyote said...

Ann,

I thought maybe you were eating ice cream and had a brain freeze.

We'll just say you briefly experienced sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia as you were typing.....

This does bring up an interesting question.

Can people who are furloughed from the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences get furlough brain?

Anonymous said...

Disillusioned.And how does this article serve the CMS education system?! Running out of relevant things to report? Such as why Dr Chris Cobitz,CMS Administrator,resigned alittle over a year ago due to CMS reporting inflated graduation rates.What happened to those involved and responsible with manipulating the numbers? Why should we believe any numbers now being reported? When I recently learned of this and questioned,your reply "appears you are just Googling old stuff which I reported on then" was truly disappointing.When I could have been guided on where to find the answer to give me piece of mind.Also ref another email to you,trying to understand what information is desired.You replied,"you really seem to be in the thick of things.For coverage purposes,I'm looking for things that would grab the attention of tens of thousands of people and have implications for the community at large.Basically,if you think I'd want to read about this,even if I wasn't connected to this school or issue,it might be a worthy story.Hypothetically,every bit of info related to education helps inform me.But the challenge of technology is it brings in far more information than my old fashioned brain can process!" Still disillusioned as to what specifically is desired to cover that will not overload what you deem as relavent.By the way,this attitude (and CMS)in general is why I did not raise my children in the CMS system. I'm just a very concerned tax paying citizen who cares about children,the future.As validated by your Mar 21 article,Education advocate,Diane Ravitch,NC on wrong path".Article quote,"it's an effort to turn public education into a profit making venture,and not a profit for the children".Appears there are many more in "the system" who's old fashioned brains are over loaded.As well same is observed by hard working CMS employees who fear voicing same concerns due to fear,intimidation.The only reason they stick around is their passion for children.It certainly is not the pay.46th lowest in the nation.Should we give thanks for the "Educational" lottery.
Don't worry Ann you'll not be receiving what you perceive as non pertainent info from me that will put you and others in overload,like this article,"Bradenton leader copies CMS plan" because it's deemed relavent and will help the CLT (NC) children's education,the future.Now let's go focus on the non relevent concerns outside the NC system.Hoping this will help take the focus off getting to close to the rotting roots at home.Per a veteran CMS teacher,it's called "bullsh..logy" journalism.The defination can be found in the Urban dictionary. Google it. Respectfully.

Ann Doss Helms said...

Anon, I get several emails a day from you, some of which seem to be directed to me and some which are group forwards. It's often unclear what you're saying/asking, as was the case with the old Cobitz news. At the time, I reported the problems with the data, his resignation and his explanation that he was taking responsibility for those errors. I also followed up on the fact that a CMS audit found many more errors in those school progress reports, and that the interim administration never provided a good explanation for how the grad-projection error happened. Since then, the chief data officer and the superintendent have been replaced. I'm sorry you're disappointed that I'm not veering back to report last year's news, but so be it.