Bill in Portland Maine
Fri Dec 14, 2007 at
02:51:40 PM PST
From the GREAT
STATE OF MAINE...
http://www.dailykos.com/
The Democratic
Leadership's New Oath
of Office:
I, [State your name],
do solemnly swear,
that I will faithfully
warm my chair in
Congress. And will, to
the best of my ability,
remember to put my
coat on the correct
peg in the cloakroom,
flush after I go pee or
poopies, show up to
work fully clothed,
brush my teeth twice
a day, hold hands
when crossing the
street, use the plastic
safety scissors
instead of the sharp
ones that the
grownups keep in the
high-up drawer, give
the President all my
lunch money, and
use my indoor voice
at all times.
I promise to collapse,
cave and kowtow in
the name of political
calculation, even
when soldiers are
dying daily in a war I
have the power to
stop,
To convince
Americans that I lack
courage, conviction
and common sense in
the pursuit of a brass
ring that can't be
grabbed for another
year,
To do everything in
my power to meet the
needs of my
Republican friends
and colleagues
across the aisle, lest
they get upset with
me and give me
wedgies. So help me
god.
The Republican
Leadership's New Oath
of Office:
I, [State your name], do
solemnly swear, that I
will faithfully do
whatever the hell I feel
like and get away with
it. Goddamn this is
great. Oh look! There's
a Democrat! Wedgie
squad...Go!!!
Thank ya, Jesus!
Fri Dec 14, 2007 at
02:51:40 PM PST
From the GREAT
STATE OF MAINE...
http://www.dailykos.com/
The Democratic
Leadership's New Oath
of Office:
I, [State your name],
do solemnly swear,
that I will faithfully
warm my chair in
Congress. And will, to
the best of my ability,
remember to put my
coat on the correct
peg in the cloakroom,
flush after I go pee or
poopies, show up to
work fully clothed,
brush my teeth twice
a day, hold hands
when crossing the
street, use the plastic
safety scissors
instead of the sharp
ones that the
grownups keep in the
high-up drawer, give
the President all my
lunch money, and
use my indoor voice
at all times.
I promise to collapse,
cave and kowtow in
the name of political
calculation, even
when soldiers are
dying daily in a war I
have the power to
stop,
To convince
Americans that I lack
courage, conviction
and common sense in
the pursuit of a brass
ring that can't be
grabbed for another
year,
To do everything in
my power to meet the
needs of my
Republican friends
and colleagues
across the aisle, lest
they get upset with
me and give me
wedgies. So help me
god.
The Republican
Leadership's New Oath
of Office:
I, [State your name], do
solemnly swear, that I
will faithfully do
whatever the hell I feel
like and get away with
it. Goddamn this is
great. Oh look! There's
a Democrat! Wedgie
squad...Go!!!
Thank ya, Jesus!
Maura Larkins note: This
article reminds me of the
leaders I've observed in
schools
Army worries
about ‘toxic
leaders’ in ranks
By Greg Jaffe
Washington Post
June 25, 2011
A major U.S. Army survey
of leadership and morale
found that more than 80
percent of Army officers
and sergeants had directly
observed a “toxic” leader
in the last year and that
about 20 percent of the
respondents said that they
had worked directly for one.
The survey of about
22,000 Army leaders was
conducted by the Center
for Army Leadership and
comes during a year when
the Army has removed or
discipline three brigade
commanders who were en
route to, or returning from
war zones in Iraq and
Afghanistan. Selection to
command a combat
brigade, which consists of
about 5,000 soldiers and is
commanded by a colonel,
is highly competitive in the
Army.
Army Gen. Martin
Dempsey...has led a series
of initiatives aimed a
producing quicker-thinking
and more flexible Army
leaders.
The survey also found
that 97 percent of
officers and sergeants
had observed an
“exceptional leader”
within the Army in the
past year.
The Army defined toxic
leaders as commanders
who put their own
needs first, micro-
managed subordinates,
behaved in a mean-
spirited manner or
displayed poor decision
making.
About half of the soldiers
who worked under toxic
leaders expected that their
selfish and abusive
commanders would be
promoted to a higher level
of leadership.
“This may create a self-
perpetuating cycle with
harmful and long-lasting
effects on morale,
productivity and retention
of quality personnel,” the
survey concluded. “There
is no indication that the
toxic leadership issue will
correct itself.”
The Army began
conducting annual surveys
of its leaders in 2005 to
determine trends in
morale, the overall quality
of leadership and the
willingness of Army leaders
to stay in the military until
retirement.
The strain of combat in
Afghanistan, which has
seen an increase of about
65,000 troops since
President Obama took
office, did not appear to
cause a major drop in
morale. Overall, about 43
percent of active-duty
Army leaders serving in
Afghanistan reported high
morale in 2010, compared
with 47 percent in 2009.
About 55 percent of Army
leaders in the United
States reported high
morale in 2010, down from
63 percent in 2009, a sign
that some leaders,
accustomed to repeated
battlefield tours, may be
chafing at the regimented
and rule-oriented nature of
garrison life as the pace of
combat deployment slows.
Army Gen. Martin E.
Dempsey, who was
recently selected to be
chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, has led a
series of initiatives aimed a
producing quicker-thinking
and more flexible Army
leaders.
As part of that effort, the
Army is exploring whether
subordinates’ views should
be factored into the
evaluations of
commanders being
considered for higher-level
posts.
“We are looking at the
command selection
process asking how can
we introduce 360-degree
evaluations,” Dempsey
said in a meeting with
reporters this spring. “We
can ask a battalion
commander, does the
senior commander [over
him] engender a climate of
trust.” Such an approach
could help weed out toxic
leaders.
Army officers and enlisted
leaders have spent much
of the last decade shuffling
between the war zones
and home. It is not unusual
for sergeants to have
taken part in as many as
three or four combat tours
in the past decade.
More than 70 percent of
officers and sergeants in
the survey, which was
released late last month,
said that Army leaders
were “generally effective”
at combat and
counterinsurgency skills
employed in Iraq and
Afghanistan. But the strain
of combat did seem to
leave many of the Army
leaders pessimistic about
the future, with only 38
percent saying that the
Army was headed in the
right direction to prepare
for the challenges of the
next 10 years.
With budget cuts looming,
many senior Pentagon
officials have started to
express concern that the
military services will not get
the resources that they
need to replace and repair
equipment that has been
damaged in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
“These two wars have
exhausted our force,”
outgoing Defense
Secretary Robert M. Gates
said in an recent interview.
“One of my worries about
the budget situation is that
particularly the Army and
Marine Corps are going to
have to reset a lot of their
equipment. . . . I mean they
have just basically used it
up.”
article reminds me of the
leaders I've observed in
schools
Army worries
about ‘toxic
leaders’ in ranks
By Greg Jaffe
Washington Post
June 25, 2011
A major U.S. Army survey
of leadership and morale
found that more than 80
percent of Army officers
and sergeants had directly
observed a “toxic” leader
in the last year and that
about 20 percent of the
respondents said that they
had worked directly for one.
The survey of about
22,000 Army leaders was
conducted by the Center
for Army Leadership and
comes during a year when
the Army has removed or
discipline three brigade
commanders who were en
route to, or returning from
war zones in Iraq and
Afghanistan. Selection to
command a combat
brigade, which consists of
about 5,000 soldiers and is
commanded by a colonel,
is highly competitive in the
Army.
Army Gen. Martin
Dempsey...has led a series
of initiatives aimed a
producing quicker-thinking
and more flexible Army
leaders.
The survey also found
that 97 percent of
officers and sergeants
had observed an
“exceptional leader”
within the Army in the
past year.
The Army defined toxic
leaders as commanders
who put their own
needs first, micro-
managed subordinates,
behaved in a mean-
spirited manner or
displayed poor decision
making.
About half of the soldiers
who worked under toxic
leaders expected that their
selfish and abusive
commanders would be
promoted to a higher level
of leadership.
“This may create a self-
perpetuating cycle with
harmful and long-lasting
effects on morale,
productivity and retention
of quality personnel,” the
survey concluded. “There
is no indication that the
toxic leadership issue will
correct itself.”
The Army began
conducting annual surveys
of its leaders in 2005 to
determine trends in
morale, the overall quality
of leadership and the
willingness of Army leaders
to stay in the military until
retirement.
The strain of combat in
Afghanistan, which has
seen an increase of about
65,000 troops since
President Obama took
office, did not appear to
cause a major drop in
morale. Overall, about 43
percent of active-duty
Army leaders serving in
Afghanistan reported high
morale in 2010, compared
with 47 percent in 2009.
About 55 percent of Army
leaders in the United
States reported high
morale in 2010, down from
63 percent in 2009, a sign
that some leaders,
accustomed to repeated
battlefield tours, may be
chafing at the regimented
and rule-oriented nature of
garrison life as the pace of
combat deployment slows.
Army Gen. Martin E.
Dempsey, who was
recently selected to be
chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, has led a
series of initiatives aimed a
producing quicker-thinking
and more flexible Army
leaders.
As part of that effort, the
Army is exploring whether
subordinates’ views should
be factored into the
evaluations of
commanders being
considered for higher-level
posts.
“We are looking at the
command selection
process asking how can
we introduce 360-degree
evaluations,” Dempsey
said in a meeting with
reporters this spring. “We
can ask a battalion
commander, does the
senior commander [over
him] engender a climate of
trust.” Such an approach
could help weed out toxic
leaders.
Army officers and enlisted
leaders have spent much
of the last decade shuffling
between the war zones
and home. It is not unusual
for sergeants to have
taken part in as many as
three or four combat tours
in the past decade.
More than 70 percent of
officers and sergeants in
the survey, which was
released late last month,
said that Army leaders
were “generally effective”
at combat and
counterinsurgency skills
employed in Iraq and
Afghanistan. But the strain
of combat did seem to
leave many of the Army
leaders pessimistic about
the future, with only 38
percent saying that the
Army was headed in the
right direction to prepare
for the challenges of the
next 10 years.
With budget cuts looming,
many senior Pentagon
officials have started to
express concern that the
military services will not get
the resources that they
need to replace and repair
equipment that has been
damaged in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
“These two wars have
exhausted our force,”
outgoing Defense
Secretary Robert M. Gates
said in an recent interview.
“One of my worries about
the budget situation is that
particularly the Army and
Marine Corps are going to
have to reset a lot of their
equipment. . . . I mean they
have just basically used it
up.”
San Diego
Education Report
Education Report
Why This Website
Stutz Artiano Shinoff
& Holtz v. Maura
Larkins defamation
SDCOE
CVESD
Castle Park
Elementary School
Law Enforcement
CTA
CVE
Stutz Artiano Shinoff
& Holtz
Silence is Golden
Schools and Violence
Office Admin Hearings
Larkins OAH Hearing
Stutz Artiano Shinoff
& Holtz v. Maura
Larkins defamation
SDCOE
CVESD
Castle Park
Elementary School
Law Enforcement
CTA
CVE
Stutz Artiano Shinoff
& Holtz
Silence is Golden
Schools and Violence
Office Admin Hearings
Larkins OAH Hearing
The only worry is Kowba may be too nice for the job. He is so skilled at
defusing tensions that some critics fear he has shied away from confronting or
even defining some of the district's problems.
"I wish Bill was a little bit more of a son of a bitch," said board member Scott
Barnett, elected after Kowba was chosen. "Because you can't run a fairly
dysfunctional organization of this size without sometimes being a son of a
bitch."
San Diego Schools' Mr. Nice Guy
Jun 26, 2011
by Emily Alpert
Voice of San Diego
Everyone likes Bill Kowba.
That seems to be one of the few things almost all in the fractured San Diego Unified
school system agree on. The superintendent has a spotless reputation and a
workhorse schedule. He answers almost every email and keeps his door open. He
has earned trust from staff and the board.
The only worry is Kowba may be too nice for the job. He is so skilled at defusing
tensions that some critics fear he has shied away from confronting or even defining
some of the district's problems.
"I wish Bill was a little bit more of a son of a bitch," said board member Scott Barnett,
elected after Kowba was chosen. "Because you can't run a fairly dysfunctional
organization of this size without sometimes being a son of a bitch."
Barnett is far from the only person to call San Diego Unified "dysfunctional." The
superintendent inherited a messy and plodding bureaucracy that needs cleaning
up. He has to wrangle a school board criticized for micromanaging its chiefs and
trying to run the school district itself.
And while everyone likes Bill Kowba, not everyone likes what Bill Kowba was hired to
do. Choosing Kowba was part of a bigger shift towards decentralizing the district,
letting each school seek its own path rather than embracing an overarching reform
plan. New ideas have spurted mainly from the school board or activists, not the
district's chosen leader.
"They wanted someone who would make the trains run on time," said Scott
Himelstein, president of San Diegans 4 Great Schools, which wants to overhaul the
school board. "They were not looking for a visionary."
The arguments over Kowba go to the heart of what a superintendent should be:
Should Kowba set the agenda for San Diego Unified? Or should he hang back and
take notes? Superintendents are traditionally seen as superstars who drive reform.
But after turbulent years with more traditional chiefs, many parents and teachers are
relieved Kowba is listening, not littering the district with new projects.
"He may not be the most dynamic speaker. He may not be coming to the table with
earth-shattering ideas. But he's gotten folks to work together and reach a common
goal," said Michael Greenwood, who directs community support programs for the U.
S. Navy, including partnerships with San Diego schools.
One year ago when he was tapped as superintendent, Kowba was seen as a balm
for a bruised school district. San Diego Unified had suffered from a revolving door of
superintendents — three in five years — leaving it dizzy after each hired new
people, reorganized offices and started new reforms.
The last superintendent, Terry Grier, skipped town after less than a year and a half,
bitterly at odds with a new board and its allies in the teachers union. The school
board set out to find someone who wouldn't try to overhaul the district again. The
threat of another year of budget cuts made everyone even more wary of sudden
change.
Kowba was about as stable as you could get. He was a gentle insider with a good
ear, a retired Navy rear admiral who joined San Diego Unified as its finance chief
five years ago and later oversaw logistics and special projects. He was already
sitting as interim superintendent and had taken the helm once before.
Principals knew him. Parents liked him. And a year later, they like him even more.
One San Diego Unified staffer compared working for Kowba to having a loving
boyfriend after years of abusive exes.
"He doesn't seem like he has an ego," said Philip Liburd, a father active in the
Morse and Lincoln area. "He's receptive. He listens. If you've got an issue, you come
talk to him."
School board President Richard Barrera coined the term "community-based school
reform" and Kowba has touted it. The push is rooted in the idea that schools figure
out how to fix themselves. Classroom reforms are still in their infancy, but test scores
surged in the year that Kowba served as interim superintendent.
Barrera says Kowba has been exactly what the board had hoped.
"It's hard for me to sit here and say, ‘I'm not going to talk to you,'" Kowba said of his
famously open door. "I'm in a position of public trust. I would never want to be
accused of being remote and distant."
But the question that has dogged Kowba was whether someone so nice could reel in
the school board when it meddled or warn it away from bad decisions.
Superintendents are supposed to take their direction from school boards. But they
are the leaders who spell out issues for school boards, the public and workers,
gathering up expertise from the school district staff. They tell everyone what is at
stake.
School board members say Kowba often talks to them in private. Keeping
disagreements out of public keeps the peace, a welcome tradeoff for many
educators sick of school district drama. But it also keeps important debates out
of the public eye, making it harder for the public to gauge board decisions...
defusing tensions that some critics fear he has shied away from confronting or
even defining some of the district's problems.
"I wish Bill was a little bit more of a son of a bitch," said board member Scott
Barnett, elected after Kowba was chosen. "Because you can't run a fairly
dysfunctional organization of this size without sometimes being a son of a
bitch."
San Diego Schools' Mr. Nice Guy
Jun 26, 2011
by Emily Alpert
Voice of San Diego
Everyone likes Bill Kowba.
That seems to be one of the few things almost all in the fractured San Diego Unified
school system agree on. The superintendent has a spotless reputation and a
workhorse schedule. He answers almost every email and keeps his door open. He
has earned trust from staff and the board.
The only worry is Kowba may be too nice for the job. He is so skilled at defusing
tensions that some critics fear he has shied away from confronting or even defining
some of the district's problems.
"I wish Bill was a little bit more of a son of a bitch," said board member Scott Barnett,
elected after Kowba was chosen. "Because you can't run a fairly dysfunctional
organization of this size without sometimes being a son of a bitch."
Barnett is far from the only person to call San Diego Unified "dysfunctional." The
superintendent inherited a messy and plodding bureaucracy that needs cleaning
up. He has to wrangle a school board criticized for micromanaging its chiefs and
trying to run the school district itself.
And while everyone likes Bill Kowba, not everyone likes what Bill Kowba was hired to
do. Choosing Kowba was part of a bigger shift towards decentralizing the district,
letting each school seek its own path rather than embracing an overarching reform
plan. New ideas have spurted mainly from the school board or activists, not the
district's chosen leader.
"They wanted someone who would make the trains run on time," said Scott
Himelstein, president of San Diegans 4 Great Schools, which wants to overhaul the
school board. "They were not looking for a visionary."
The arguments over Kowba go to the heart of what a superintendent should be:
Should Kowba set the agenda for San Diego Unified? Or should he hang back and
take notes? Superintendents are traditionally seen as superstars who drive reform.
But after turbulent years with more traditional chiefs, many parents and teachers are
relieved Kowba is listening, not littering the district with new projects.
"He may not be the most dynamic speaker. He may not be coming to the table with
earth-shattering ideas. But he's gotten folks to work together and reach a common
goal," said Michael Greenwood, who directs community support programs for the U.
S. Navy, including partnerships with San Diego schools.
One year ago when he was tapped as superintendent, Kowba was seen as a balm
for a bruised school district. San Diego Unified had suffered from a revolving door of
superintendents — three in five years — leaving it dizzy after each hired new
people, reorganized offices and started new reforms.
The last superintendent, Terry Grier, skipped town after less than a year and a half,
bitterly at odds with a new board and its allies in the teachers union. The school
board set out to find someone who wouldn't try to overhaul the district again. The
threat of another year of budget cuts made everyone even more wary of sudden
change.
Kowba was about as stable as you could get. He was a gentle insider with a good
ear, a retired Navy rear admiral who joined San Diego Unified as its finance chief
five years ago and later oversaw logistics and special projects. He was already
sitting as interim superintendent and had taken the helm once before.
Principals knew him. Parents liked him. And a year later, they like him even more.
One San Diego Unified staffer compared working for Kowba to having a loving
boyfriend after years of abusive exes.
"He doesn't seem like he has an ego," said Philip Liburd, a father active in the
Morse and Lincoln area. "He's receptive. He listens. If you've got an issue, you come
talk to him."
School board President Richard Barrera coined the term "community-based school
reform" and Kowba has touted it. The push is rooted in the idea that schools figure
out how to fix themselves. Classroom reforms are still in their infancy, but test scores
surged in the year that Kowba served as interim superintendent.
Barrera says Kowba has been exactly what the board had hoped.
"It's hard for me to sit here and say, ‘I'm not going to talk to you,'" Kowba said of his
famously open door. "I'm in a position of public trust. I would never want to be
accused of being remote and distant."
But the question that has dogged Kowba was whether someone so nice could reel in
the school board when it meddled or warn it away from bad decisions.
Superintendents are supposed to take their direction from school boards. But they
are the leaders who spell out issues for school boards, the public and workers,
gathering up expertise from the school district staff. They tell everyone what is at
stake.
School board members say Kowba often talks to them in private. Keeping
disagreements out of public keeps the peace, a welcome tradeoff for many
educators sick of school district drama. But it also keeps important debates out
of the public eye, making it harder for the public to gauge board decisions...
Leadership