Friday, October 17, 2014

Seckman Pom Squad Asks To Stay at Hard Rock Hotel in 2015

The Seckman High School Pom Squad is asking the Fox C-6 school board for permission to attend the 2015 National Dance Competition in Orland Florida and stay at the Hard Rock Hotel. Yes. It's the same hotel that our administrators stayed at in June 2013 during the MarzanoGate Conference. At least the pom squad asked for permission to do so.

Please download and review the October 2014 Fox C-6 School Board Meeting Packet from the district website ahead of next week's meeting on Tuesday October 21, 2014.

The board packet is the same information that is provided to the school board members to review each month prior to school board meetings. Nowadays, the board packets are made available to the board a week before the meeting. The board packets used to be provided to the board members on the Friday before the meeting.

Some information is still provided to the board the night of the meeting in their Late Materials.

One item you'll notice in this month's board packet is a request for permission from the school board to allow the Seckman Pom Squad to attend the National Dance Competition at the Hard Rock Hotel in Orlanda Florida.

In 2013, former Fox C-6 Superintendent Dianne Critchlow told then Assistant Superintendent Tim Crutchley that if the pom squad could stay at the Hard Rock Hotel then the staff could stay there too. That's why they upgraded from the $99 per night DoubleTree Hotel to the $350 to $550 per night Hard Rock Hotel for the June 2013 Marzano Conference in Orlando Florida.


The difference here is that I don't recall seeing any requests in board packets from former superintendent Dianne Critchlow asking the school board for their permission to take trips to their training conferences like each of the school teams and groups are required to do.

Use the link below to review the October 2014 Fox C-6 board meeting packet. On page 208 you will find the Seckman pom squad asking for permission to travel to the 2015 National Dance Competition to be held in Orlando Florida in March 2015.

If the direct link to the board packet below doesn't work then use the link to the Board Packet folder for 2014-2015 and click on the October 21, 2014 board packet document.




Perhaps it was much easier to take luxurious trips to conferences and hope that no one found out rather than ask the board for permission ahead of time. When your district has $600,000 in training funds to use, you have to spend it somewhere.

And if your high school pom squad can stay at the more expensive hotel then so can your staff. Let's not forget the fact that the conference hotel at the DoubleTree was only $99 a night and was first booked for the 2013 Marzano Conference. It's just that the DoubleTree Hotel didn't advertise that you could Live Like a Rock Star!

Attend the Next Board Meeting
Plan to attend the Tuesday October 21, 2014 Fox C-6 school board meeting so you can ask your school board questions about what's been happening in our school district.

You might want to ask them about the recent statements in the Letters to the Editor section of this week's Leader newspaper. Several people wanted to know why former Fox C-6 superintendent Dianne Critchlow hasn't already been arrested for stealing and fraud.


You may also want to read Patrick Martin's Editorial page as well comparing former Fox C-6 superintendent Dianne Critchlow's departure to former Fox C-6 superintendent Diane Bourisaw's departure from the district.

It's somewhat strange how the Leader has turned from supporting Diane Brown-Critchlow to finally noticing and publishing that there was a problem with the leadership in the Fox C-6 district. Some of my Letters to the Editor never got published in the past regarding my "concerns in the district" as Dianne Critchlow liked to document them in the board meeting minutes.

I sent an email to Patrick Martin and Kim Robertson in February 2011 regarding the online posts that were being made on Topix. My email was brushed off in an editorial as online name calling. It was much more than simple name calling that was linked back to the Critchlow's home.