Document & Document & Document.

One of the single most important things we can do to help in this fight (in addition to attending the July 11th Board Meeting AND future BOE meetings until this is resolved) is to document, document, document.

 

It is clear that the Board of Education has no interest in investigating the concerns that both teachers and parents have repeatedly brought to them so it is now imperative for us to bring the evidence of Dr. Henkel's incompetence and demand action. Many children at our school have been denied services they are legally entitled to.

• If your child has an IEP and was NOT provided remedial reading by a certified reading teacher AND/OR your child went months without RtI, please write down any conversations you had with the school regarding these matters, include dates and a description of the conversation, as well as anyone else who may have been in attendance along with any email exchanges.
• If your child's teacher told you that they could not release your child's reading level or test scores please document this.
• If you were denied access to BOE members or asked to not attend Board of Education meetings please document this.

In addition to bringing this to the BOE meeting, you can also file a complaint with the Commissioner of the New York State Department of Education using this link: http://www.counsel.nysed.gov/appeals/ While you may not be able to have anything prepared for the July 11th BOE meeting, there is always next month and the month after that and so on. The complaint process can seem overwhelming but there are many resources available and community members who are happy to help.

Please contact us if you have questions. We may not be able to answer them but can hopefully guide you in the right direction. Gdpride12198@gmail.com 

URGENT NOTICE: For All

Downloadable Printable PDF Version

 URGENT NOTICE TO TAXPAYERS

Gardner Dickinson: Time for Change
 

Please join us, the parents, guardians, grandparents, friends, citizens, teachers and taxpayers of the Wynantskill Union Free School District in demanding the immediate resignation of Superintendent/Principal Dr. Lisa A. Henkel.

 

The Wynantskill Teachers association has voted 28-1 in favor of a “no confidence” resolution against Superintendent Lisa Henkel. Below are points from the resolution, the complete document can be viewed at http://gdpride.blogspot.com/.

• Dr. Lisa Henkel has used behavior that is not acceptable, such as bullying, intimidation and retaliation, when managing the staff
• Dr. Lisa Henkel has inappropriately attempted to interfere with both staff members and parents attempting to access the Board of Education
• Dr. Lisa Henkel appears to be incapable of performing the basic administrative function of developing a daily master schedule for the school
• Dr. Lisa Henkel lacks a rudimentary understanding of how the school functions on a daily basis and disregards staff recommendations for adherence to Federal and State mandates                               

Dr Henkel has failed the students and parents of Gardner Dickinson.

• Dr. Henkel has violated the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act by refusing to provide parents with the results of their children’s reading evaluations.
• Dr. Henkel has failed to uphold state and federal laws and regulations by not fully implementing mandated Individualized Education Programs for special needs students. Thereby potentially exposing the district to costly compensatory education expenses.
• Dr. Henkel has failed to meet legal requirements in regards to remedial services for Response to Intervention. RTI is a state mandate, designed to assist students in danger of not meeting state standards.
• Dr. Henkel has repeatedly failed to respond to the questions and concerns of parents and has actively discouraged parents from presenting their concerns to the Board of Education.

Dr Henkel has failed the taxpayers.

• Dr. Henkel will have FOUR administrative positions in the upcoming school year, for a district of just over 300 students.
• In the past year, Dr. Henkel has awarded personal friends administrative consulting positions costing the district thousands of dollars.
• Dr. Henkel has initiated legal action against a teacher that will cost the district tens of thousands of dollars without first exploring alternative remedial actions.

 We urge you to show your support by attending the Board of Education meeting July 11th, in the school library, at 7pm and by adding your name to the petition demanding the resignation of Dr. Henkel.

It's Time: For our kids.

It is said that music inspires.  

It's Time!

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How about the Wynantskill BOE "hire an outside firm to collect data and interview" in our district?

"Interesting that the Superintendent and BOE in Saratoga have decided to look into the cause to staff dismay at one of their schools at the apparent poor management by the principal. But in Wynantskill, where there is a teacher and parent revolt going on regarding the Superintendent, the BOE rejects both the staff and the parents. Maybe they should pay attention to Saratoga and show some respect to both teachers and parents and investigate."

The Times Union story ran today 07/02/13: Principal blamed for staff exits: Spa City school chief cites management style issue at Division Street