Teacher's blog shares passion, heartbreak

Normally sharing a well-written blog by a passionate teacher is a joyful task. Today's discovery comes with an overlay of sorrow.

I met Vivian Connell,  a former Providence High teacher with strong views on the fate of the profession,  at the Emerging Issues Forum in Raleigh in mid-February. I enjoyed her way with words,  and we exchanged emails afterward.

Connell

If you read Jane Stancill's recent story,  you know that about a month later Connell was diagnosed with ALS, or Lou Gehrig's syndrome.  She's a few years younger than me, facing a relentless and fatal illness.

I was tempted to feel sorry for her. Then I read her blog, "finALS."

"Well, hello there, Death! I was not expecting you, yet, here you are,"  she writes of getting her March 12 diagnosis. She moves quickly on to her plans for the years she has left:  "I want to join my fiery, righteously indignant, kick-ass colleagues in education blogging as we defend the essential civic institution of public education against an onslaught, a wrong-minded and dangerous take-over by private interests that threatens the nature of American democracy."

Not much hand-wringing there.  I get the sense she'd much rather face a good argument than a dose of pity  --  and someone who describes Diane Ravitch as her hero is likely to spark plenty of good arguments.  You can read more about her path from teacher to lawyer back to teacher,  as well as get her take on all that lies ahead for her.  That include not just her illness,  but her plans to take her students to the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington.

Lieberman

And while I'm sharing good writing,  Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has posted a piece about International Baccalaureate life by East Meck student journalist Hannah Lieberman,  titled  "I think, therefore IB."   CMS spokeswoman Stacy Sneed said as far as she knows,  it's the first piece of student reporting posted on the district's site.  I think it's a great idea and hope to see more student work. 

$94 million worth of success

The 8,000-plus members of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Class of 2013 brought in more than 2,600 scholarships worth almost $94 million, the district reports.

The scholarship report always makes me twitch a bit. Years ago, I treated these tallies like hard data, trying to figure out why some schools were so much more effective than others in getting their graduates college money and why numbers fluctuated so wildly from year to year.

What I learned was that these totals rely on self-reporting by seniors and guidance counselors, both of whom have a lot of distractions at the end of the year.  So now I don't put a lot of energy into the specifics.

But the big point is worth recognizing: A whole lot of students leave CMS with a great education and bright prospects.

And let's face it,  lists are fun.  So in the spirit of celebration, let's take a look at the report and tip our hats to ...

Providence High topped the tally,  with 361 scholarships worth just over $16 million.  Next were Myers Park (302,  $13.7 million)  and Ardrey Kell (245,  $9 million).  Those were also the top three schools based on academic scholarships only.

Vance topped the list for athletic scholarships,  with almost $4 million,  followed by Mallard Creek ($2.6 million) and West Charlotte ($2 million).

Ardrey Kell logged $840,000 in military scholarships,  followed by Providence ($677,606) and Independence ($188,500).

South Meck topped the fine arts list with $537,290,  followed by Providence ($253,100) and Northwest School of the Arts ($184,500).  It's probably worth noting that the arts magnet is much smaller than the two traditional high schools.

And for band scholarships, South Meck was way above all other schools with $279,300.

All in all,  that comes to a lot of students and parents with good cause to celebrate.

The absent teacher and reader questions

It's been an interesting week on the ed beat.  On Monday I posted an item about a Providence High teacher,  listed on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools salary database as earning more than $69,000 a year,  who hasn't worked in a decade.

It quickly became the most-read item I've ever posted,  and generated enough public questions that both CMS and the teacher are providing explanations that had been withheld. Short answer:  CMS and the teacher's lawyer agree he's actually getting worker's comp checks  --  about $35,000 a year worth  -- and not being paid by CMS.  The salary listing is the amount he'd get if he returned,  an unlikely prospect given that he's 71.  (Update: On Friday CMS added a new "Rumor Has It" feature on its web site,  debuting with a statement on the "phantom employee.")

The post also frustrated some of you.  You knew or figured out the teacher's name.  You had questions and speculation about the circumstances of his departure.  And you wanted to post them.

Here's the thing: There is no indication that the teacher in question has done anything to scam the system.  As it turns out,  he was just the one CMS employee among some 200 currently on unpaid leave whose case dragged on long enough and got the attention to shine light on something employees have been wondering about for years.

Some of you will still think I was wrong to withhold his name.  That's not surprising;  it's a tough decision.  In this case,  understanding a public policy issue required access to confidential information beyond the salary listing. That doesn't make for tidy solutions.

I'm about to frustrate the active commenters more.  The follow-up on the teacher will be published soon,  along with a big piece on a Project LIFT school.  And if you log on here to weigh in on those hot topics,  you'll find that I have disappeared and turned off comments.

It's tempting to let everyone speculate about whether I've been fired,  furloughed or whisked off by The New York Times  (sigh --  OK, that last one never comes up).  But the truth is this:  I wasn't thinking about the cycles of education coverage when I planned my wedding in 1983.  And now that my husband has put up with me for 30 years,  I figure he deserves a nice anniversary trip.  So weigh in today,  and I'll rejoin the fray in mid-May.

Providence teacher absent for 10 years

Update: This story provides answers to many of the questions raised here.
Why would someone who hasn't set foot in Providence High for a decade be listed as a teacher there, earning more than $69,000 a year?

The question struck me as one of those  "too strange to be true"  rumors.  But this is the reason I check them out:  In this case, CMS confirms that a math teacher who's still listed on the Providence High web site and the 2013 CMS payroll has been on worker's comp leave since an injury that happened in 2003.

This raises a host of follow-up questions:  Why isn't this teacher on long-term disability or,  given that he's 71 years old,  retired?  How common is it for schools to have teachers on leave for years?  How many inactive teachers held onto jobs during the years when CMS was laying off active teachers by the hundreds?

CMS isn't answering. Neither is the state Department of Public Instruction.

This whole thing began when reporter Elisabeth Arriero went to Providence for another story last fall.  Faculty members asked if she knew the story behind the missing teacher, and she relayed the question to me. (We obviously have his name,  but I'm not using it to protect his privacy.)

After finding the name she gave me on the Providence online faculty listing and the 2012 payroll,
 I called a source at the school,  who confirmed that he has been gone for years.  His continuing presence on the roster is apparently a puzzle to the rank-and-file faculty.

I asked LaTarzja Henry, who was then head of communications, to check on his status. She reported back on the worker's comp leave from 2003.

I've heard of schools having to fill a gap for weeks, even months, when a teacher is seriously ill,  injured,  recovering from surgery or on maternity leave.  But I was flabbergasted to realize someone could be on leave for a decade. I followed up with questions about the broader context, including whether there's any time limit and how such extended leaves affect hiring and layoffs. I also requested a list of employees who have been on leave for more than a year.

Henry told me she had erred in releasing any information about the teacher's status because such actions are confidential.  And she said it wouldn't be possible to tally people on extended leave without searching individual files.

I emailed DPI spokeswoman Vanessa Jeter,  asking her to steer me to someone in the state who could either shed light on this situation or explain the concept of extended leaves. She referred me to CMS attorney George Battle. "Our people did not feel comfortable commenting on this issue,"  she replied.  "Generally,  leave issues are local board/central office issues.  I am not sure we would have any trend information, etc., to share."

By then, I was busy with other stories,  and frustrated that I wasn't getting enough information to give this any context.  I let it slide  --  but got curious again when we posted the 2013 payroll.   There's the absent math teacher,  making $69,369 a year.

There's been a lot of turnover at the top in CMS over the last few months, so I tried again,  emailing Battle, new Communications Chief Kathryn Block, new HR Chief Kelly Gwaltney and Providence Principal Tracey Harrill,  asking if anyone would explain this teacher's situation and tell me whether there are other teachers on similar extended leaves.

"Any payments received by (the teacher) have been and are being made in accordance with North Carolina law,"  Block replied.  "CMS strictly follows all state laws concerning employee compensation, retirement benefits and confidentiality of personnel records.  We cannot legally disclose any additional information about (the teacher’s) compensation without his written permission.  Please understand our need to honor the confidentiality of this situation."

I called the teacher at home,  and he said someone from CMS had told him I might ask him about this.  "I'm not at liberty to talk,"  he said.  "The school called and said I shouldn't make any comments."

State Rep. Bill Brawley,  a Matthews Republican,  read this post and says he has a pretty good idea what's going on.  Temporary total disability,  a worker's comp category that indicates an employee is totally disabled but might be able to return to work in the future,  has created a number of situations like this,  he said.

"We had cases of prison guards who had been on total temporary disability for 17 years and the prisons had to pay overtime to cover for them,"  Brawley said.

In 2011,  the legislature capped the length of time that disabled workers could collect under this category.  But Brawley said the cap only applies to people disabled after the revision.

I won't be able to sort out all the questions related to this right away.  I've been looking up workers comp and finding contradictory information;  apparently there's a reason HR people and lawyers get paid to wade through these regulations.  But the case of the absent teacher raises a question for taxpayers and employees:  Is this system working the way it should for all involved?

Providence tops magazine's "best" list

Providence High again took the No. 1 spot on Charlotte Magazine's "Top Public High Schools" list.

Providence is a neighborhood school in southeast Charlotte with a long history of strong academics.  Second on the list is Cato Middle College High,  also part of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.  It's made up of juniors and seniors who apply to get in and take classes at a campus of Central Piedmont Community College.

The magazine ranked 47 schools in Mecklenburg,  Union and Cabarrus counties,  giving each a rating in environment --  class sizes, students in AP classes and teacher qualifications,  for example  --  and performance (SAT scores and graduation rate).

Third on the list was Union County's Marvin Ridge High,  which edged out Providence  on performance but landed much lower on environment.  East Meck was No.  1 on environment,  but 28th on performance.

North Meck jumped from No. 8 overall last year to No. 4 this year  --  interesting in view of the questions raised about how that last year's opening of northern Hough High would affect academics at North.  The list doesn't answer those questions,  because it's based mostly on 2010 data.  Neither Hough nor Rocky River High,  which also opened in August 2010,  is listed.

**

On another issue,  I'm curious to know what CMS staff thought of last night's presentation on the "talent effectiveness project"  (if you missed it, it's on video here).

There was vigorous discussion among board members and top administrators about how different this is from last year's "pay for performance" push,  which most are now describing as a bad start to a worthy goal.  Some members said it sounded mostly like repackaging;  others say this is a far more constructive approach to using "assessment" (the t-word is taboo in the latest presentation) to benefit kids and teachers.

I'll be heading back to the Government Center soon to hear more about this from the top folks.  Let me know what you think.