'Chief' Saegert tops 'A LIST' for April 2014... Micro managing classroom instruction while still learning her way around her new home city, Rhonda Saegert brings crazed bureaucratization of teaching the little ones to a new gritty peak of inanity
The competition was still for the first monthly "A LIST" award to CPS bureaucrats, but after reviewing the entries for April 2014, the judges found that Rhonda Saegert, the "Chief" for "Network 10," had won our first honor by more than a length. One year ago, Rhonda Saegert was out in Ohio working in one of Barbara Byrd Bennett's farm team districts -- the places (all of them outside Illinois) where the real talent to run the nation's third largest school system. Saeget has doubled her pay since a year ago, when she was abruptly hired by Barbara Byrd Bennett to become one of the most powerful administrators in America's third largest school system. In Ohio was where she had been lurking.
One of the questions Alderman Matt O'Shea probably doesn't ask Chicago "educators" like Rhonda Saegert (left) and Barbara Byrd Bennett (right) is why Ohio is a better place to find executive talent to run Chicago's schools than Illinois or Chicago itself. Saegert quickly rose to the top after she was hired last summer by a vote of the Chicago Board of Education without discussion or debate. First, she want to a previously non-existent downtown job (during the time CPS was "cutting administrative costs"). Then, in October 2013, she went to the position of "Chief" for Network 10.
Her annual salary is $151,000. Not bad for a person who has never taught in Chicago, would be arrested were she to try to substitute teach in any Illinois district, but apparently fashions herself a data driven manager. And in Saegert's case, a "data driven management" means that principals and teachers are supposed to SIT DOWN, SHUT UP, AND DO WHAT YOU ARE TOLD...
What brought Saegert to the head of the pack (and a competitive pack it was indeed, as next month's winner will show) is the awesome arrogance with which she conducts business. Undaunted by the fact that she still needs a GPS to find her way around her new home town, Saegert has actually told underlings who asked "Why?" -- BECAUSE I SAID SO, THAT'S WHY!!!
But her SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP OR ELSE!!! management style was only part of what brought her to this gruesome Chicago-style Race To The Top. During the week before the Spring holiday, Saegert issued one of the most classical memos we have read in nearly 40 years of studying Chicago bureaucratic inanities. Rather than reproduce it as a graphic here, we are sharing the whole thing below, reproducing only the first page with this article. Substance regularly know that the A LIST is reserved for those of the rank of principal or above, and the competition has become more and more stiff since Rahm Emanuel's Board of Education took over in May 2011. Who knew, for example, that there were no talented administrators left in Chicago, so that Chicago had to go outside Illinois to locate its "Chiefs" and "Officers." There is more, but that's enough for today.
SAEGERT LESSON PLAN:
Network 10
11424 S. Western Ave
Chicago, Illinois 60643
Telephone: 773-535-2600
Rhonda Corr-Saegert, COS, Lorenzo Russell, DCOS
Network 10
Sight Word Development Expectations 2013-2014
� Assessment Binder contents:
o Sight word assessment scores should be recorded as percentages on the student progress chart
o Copies of the parent letter/calendar indicating distribution of current weekly word list
� Student Progress Wall Chart:
o Chart enlarged and posted on the wall
o All student names entered and weekly progress tallied
o Mastery recorded as follows:
� (+)represents mastery of 80% and above
� (-) represents non-mastery or below 80%
o Re-Assessment displayed using a vertical line in another color
� Individual student folder:
o Individual student folders
o Storage bin labeled �sight word assessments�
o Scored weekly assessments/reassessments
o Scored cumulative assessment sheets
� Instruction
o 20 minutes of daily sight word instruction
o Sight words displayed on the word wall(evidence of daily use)
o Use of sight word games, activities, technology and reading materials for words in context
Network 10 Sight Word Development. Teacher Checklist, 2013-2014
� Classroom Environment:
o Visible sight word centers/games/technology and reading materials for words in context
o Current sight words displayed
o Evidence of previous sight words taught
� Instruction:
o Lesson plans reflect current sight word list
o 20 minutes of daily sight word instruction o Multiple opportunities for reading and writing using sight words daily
o Re-teaching, reviewing, and reassessing
o Interventions and enrichment opportunities
� Data Records:
o Assessments recorded in 5 week intervals and sent to Network ISL
o Student Progress Wall Chart with mastery noted as follows:
� (+) represents 80% mastery
� (-) represents non-mastery
� Absentees must be assessed upon return
� Re-assessments displayed using a vertical line of another color
o Data Binder:
� Transfers �in or out� should be noted
� Classroom progress chart with current data updates recorded in percentage
� Individual Student Folders
o Individual folder for each student
o Contain weekly, cumulative, and re-assessments
o Stored in a bin, labeled �sight word assessment�
Network 10. Lesson Plan Component Checklist. 2013-2014
ALL LESSON PLANS MUST BE CURRENT, PRINTED AND POSTED INSIDE CLASSROOM DOOR ALONG WITH CURRENT DAILY SCHEDULES
� Lesson Objectives
o Aligned to cited common core state standard.
o Objectives describe specific, measurable, student outcomes that can be observed during the lesson.
� Gradual Release of Responsibility
o Instructional strategies are appropriate for learning outcome(s). o Instruction for small groups is identified according to data
o Includes all the components of gradual release of responsibility framework:
� Direct instruction, modeling and guided practice, peer collaboration and independent practice as well as sharing and reflection.
� Instructional Tasks
o Instructional tasks are aligned to learning objectives
o Task serves as an effective formative assessment to measure student understanding and to inform ongoing instruction. o Task engages students in authentic, real-world applications of skills and content.
� Checking for Understanding
o Strategies for monitoring student learning are identified.
o Planned probes of student understanding are placed throughout the lesson.
o Checks for understanding vary from such methods as whole class survey, individual questioning, monitoring student products in progress, and active observation of student discourse.
K-2 Classrooms Only
� Sight Words
o Weekly sight words are identified in the lesson plans
o Sight word activities reflect current list
o Evidence of re-teaching if necessary
o Evidence of weekly assessment and
� Phonemic Awareness
o Identify the week # from the Heggerty Phonemic Awareness guide you are currently teaching
