Special Note: The author would like to thank Keith Ball, Principal of Woodstock Middle School in Cherokee County, Georgia, for all the extra traffic he has been driving to this site.
If Mr. Ball referred you to this blog, please understand that his actions are the result of his personal vendetta against my fiancee’, Allison Burnes. For the record, Allison Burnes does not write, edit, approve, or support what is published here. I alone am responsible for this content.
Mr. Ball’s problem is with me, but he can’t seem to muster the courage to take me to task directly. Instead, he is referring all of Allison’s prospective employers here, hoping to sabotage her career by blaming my writings on her. It’s wrong, and you deserve to know his motives and the relevant facts. If you would like to read all of the articles related to Mr. Ball as of 2-15-2010, please use this link. The posts are displayed in reverse chronological order, so read from the bottom up. Thank you for visiting.
“It will be a great day when our schools have all the money they need, and our air force has to have a bake-sale to buy a bomber.†-- Robert Fulghum
Times are tough all over. Despite a new law in Georgia requiring that 65% of education funds be spent in the classroom, it seems that funds for actual classrooms are hard to come by.
At Woodstock Middle School in Cherokee County, Georgia, for example, school regulations require that certain items be posted in the classroom for students to see. Most teachers also tend to post class materials, exemplary work, and motivational materials in their classrooms. Most classrooms have bulletin boards for this purpose; very few do not. In the latter rooms, teachers have a real problem.
You see, walls at the school were recently painted. Because of this, proud principal Keith Ball has decreed that nothing is to be posted directly on the walls using adhesives, since these could damage the nice new paint. One teacher has already been disciplined for ignoring this order. Another one is struggling with the stupidity of being stuck between breaking one rule and breaking another.
What to do, then? Well, any reasonable person would say that a bulletin board should be installed. A bulletin board was requested last year on more than one occasion, and the requests were denied because there were no funds. The same request has been made twice since the start of this school year. While it might seem odd for a school system that can afford to pay a middle school principal $90,000 – $109,000 per school year to have trouble scraping up $100-$200 for a bulletin board, apparently things have been that badly managed.
Of course, it’s even more stomach-churningly political than that. Someone has to install the bulletin board. Yes, there are paid custodians on the school staff, but they have been given strict instructions that they’re not allowed to install anything. Instead, a county maintenance person must be called from headquarters to do that, and paid by the school from its own budget. This is, I’m told, to keep the numbers looking good and show that money is being spent in the classroom.
I saw the movie “Evan Almighty” this weekend. In it, a man dreams of changing the world. Along the way, he learns that the world isn’t just changed suddenly by great floods and divine intervention, but also gradually–one small, random act of kindness at a time. I have been told that if I attempt to contact the school and tell them I want to pay for a bulletin board and its installation, I will get someone I’m close to in trouble because they’ll think she put me up to it. I cannot sit here and do nothing, however, so I’m blogging about it in the hope that someone will see and understand how ridiculous this situation is. I know it’s not much, but it’s the best I can do. My gift is my blog, and this one’s for you. Sorry, Elton.
I have a cork board here in my office. I use it, and so do many of my co-workers. I consider bulletin boards to be firmly within the realm of current (rather than advanced or obsolete) technology. The third bullet point in Woodstock Middle School’s mission statment is:
- Students and staff should have current technology and resources to enhance learning.
If (and only if) you personally feel the need to remind them of this, Keith Ball’s e-mail address is keith.ball@cherokee.k12.ga.us , and Woodstock Middle School can be reached at 770-592-3516.
It’s about the kids.
Update: A bulletin board was eventually delivered to one of the classrooms which needed one. Some weeks after it was grudgingly delivered, it was even actually installed. In the intervening time, the cardboard carton it came in made a dandy place for posting required classroom materials.
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I suppose they could stick stuff on the windows.
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Sounds shit to me scott. Things can be changed!
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Keith Ball should pay for the bulletin board, of course. One act of random kindness would be good for the kids, tis true, but then Keith Ball would be led to think he can be as mean as he likes (whilst soaking in a jaccuzzi in his back yard, perhaps) safe in the knowledge that other, more generous, souls will pick up the tab for items he refuses to pay for.
Maddening, isn’t it?
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I had similar rules at my halls of residence at university – we weren’t allowed to use blue tack or other adhesive, nor drawing pins on the wall. Interestingly there were no rules about using 6 inch nails to put up posters though.
I was never quite brave enough to try it.
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There is a reason both Cherokee County High School and Woodstock Middle School faculty and staff refer to this man as Napoleon. He really does ruin careers at will because of his personal opinion. Teachers are afraid of him.
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I can NOT stand this man. He is EVIL. I transferred the first year he came to our school. He has NO children and only knows what he has read from a book. I think I know who left the previous message and please don’t stop teaching. Don’t let him win!!!
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I have had the misfortune of crossing paths with Mr. Ball before. In 20 years of school system experience, I have never met a man as rigid and cold in a position to make major decisions about the lives of children. I have made contact with several school system employees in top positions who all tell me the same thing. Basically, when I mention his name they sigh and say some version of “everyone knows he’s a tyrant and a loose cannon who only cares about powering over staff and parents and making a name for himself.” I am told directly by those who would know that he is under a very watchful eye. I believe there are also parents with legal representation forming a group to address his tyrannical behavior in a more formal fashion. Apparently several complaints about his unreasonable and down right abusive behavior have been filed over the years dating back to his days at Pope High School in Marietta. I am also told that at Pope the parents staged an uproar which eventually led to his transfer. I am also told that he showed such a display of anger at a baseball game that he punched a glass window to the scorekeepers booth causing it to shatter…and he was the coach! During a time when the school system is making cuts can’t they cut him??
He creates an atmosphere of looming intimidation which seems to fed his ego. Meanwhile, the children and parents he is supposed to encourage and support are left devastated in his wake. He leaves you too afraid to challenge him for fear of retaliation that he goes unchallenged. If you so much as even politely question his rule or authority he will target you like a witch hunt. What do you do about bullying in our schools when the principal is the bully??
Everyone PLEASE find a way to get the message to the school board!! Is this middle school or prison camp! If he stays there the only staff left will be those just like him!
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Wait a minute folks. This guy is going to meet his match. He’s now at Etowah and things continue. However many of us ARE NOT afraid to take him to task. This will do him some good and maybe he can leave for the challenges he seeks in an under performing school. We are a high performing school and he is going to grind it down. If this is the best that Dr. P can provide then we have all lost faith in the leadership. Stay tuned.
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You folks at Etowah go for it. When I reported him to the PSC the report was given to the school board to deal with and they swept it under the rug. He falsified a report to a parent and tried to scape goat me. My career has been trashed thanks to him but the student ended up getting what he needed thanks to the parents who caught on to his crap.
Just be aware. He will load your personnel file with crap up to and including soliciting other teachers to write letters about you. You don’t know these things are in your file. I sat down and reviewed my file with him then he added things that predate that meeting after we had the meeting. I was never given the opportunity to refute anything. The parent letters complimenting me and thanking me were excluded from my file even though I personally delivered those letters and was assured they would go in my file.
If you are going to fight this man, fighting fair won’t get it. He doesn’t adhere to any rules but his own. Someone in the upper ranks has his back and he now has tenure. People at Woodstock tried to fight and were burned badly for it. I am only one of the ones whose career has been permanently damaged. I had the nerve to stand up to him. He is still employed and I am not.
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We are ALL in trouble at Etowah! Keith Ball…our school was GREAT before you were sent to us. Now…teachers want to walk out left and right. It is NOT fair that NO one listens to the complaints! NO ONE CARES WHAT MR. BALL IS DOING TO ETOWAH!!!