Pike Road School System May 2016

May 2016 Read us online at Alabama Gazette.com 1C

Town of Pike Road

9575 Vaughn Road

Pike Road, AL 36064

Gordon Stone, Mayor

(334) 272-9883

A great place to live and raise a family!Community building is booming!Property values have increased!

The Town of Pike Road includes land and homes that are both rural and close to Montgomery.

All conveniences are available!The best America has to offer in today’s society!

Occasionally, concerns are brought before our newspaper

that we feel necessary to pass on to those who may be impacted.

We have been faced with that challenge in this issue which

is written in the next few pages. Because we feel it is our respon-

sibility to disclose and print the truth and bring to light anything

that could hurt our children, families and the economic growth of

a growing town, we are disclosing information that has been for-

warded to us. We have investigated this information and found it

was worthy to pass on the people of Pike Road for their review.

We were given data from a student, (that is the most alarm-

ing), parents, teachers, and residents who are concerned about the

direction the new Pike Road School is taking and the unusual

“progressive” program being used to teach its children.

The information provided in this section has been verified

and is in no way meant to demean or negate all the good honest

work done to make Pike Road Schools the best around.

BUT...FACTS ARE FACTS!

We applaud the people who have worked so hard to make the Town of Pike Road

a success and who have many dreams for it in the future. The Alabama Gazette

has always supported all the efforts of the Town of Pike Road and its citizens.

Town of

Pike Road

New and

Growing!

Continued from Section A- (front page)

Significant numbers of faculty are already applying for jobs in other schooldistricts and prospective teachers, who may have heard negative feedback aboutthe school, are choosing not to apply. At least a few teachers have been toldtheir contracts might not be renewed due to a lack of money to fund their position.

The school has a “cluttered” appearance with book bags strewn through-out some hallways due to the absence of lockers or wall pegs. Much of thenomenclature of “traditional” education has been abandoned.

In faculty meetings, teachers are often cautioned by Dr. Freeman to keep anynegative comments from community members. Undisclosed amounts of taxpayer money have been spent sending Freeman and others to conferences orworkshops hosted by the Schlechty Center (the source of many of the educa-tion ideas that have been conspicuously introduced at PRS) … among other al-legations.

Our reporting also takes a detailed look at Dr. Freeman’s tenure as superin-tendent in Trussville, and to a lesser extent, her time in Cullman. Even today,many Pike Road Patriots may not be aware that Freeman was fired inTrussville (or her contract voided).

Indeed, not only was her $800,000 contract cancelled (she received a$600,000 buyout), this announcement was made at a specially-called schoolboard meeting attended by “more than 500” concerned parents. The announcement was greeted with a loud ovation.

In an effort to determine if some of the criticisms of Freeman might also havebeen prevalent in Trussville and Cullman, we interviewed several people in thesecommunities. At best, we found Freeman was viewed as a “polarizing figure.”

“A cancer on our educational system” and “a divider of communities”were two of many unflattering characterizations expressed to this reporter.

How could a person who engenders such strong and negative commentshave been hired in Pike Road? To seek answers to this question. we reachedout to the board members who hired Dr. Freeman.

Asked one teacher who worked under Freeman in Trussville: “Don’t youhave Google down there?”

To be sure and to be fair , Dr. Freeman has many avid supporters. She isa former Alabama “Superintendent of the Year” and Alabama’s only final-ist for national Superintendent of the Year.

In this edition we also offer a sampling of comments from those who havegreat admiration for Freeman. Being superintendent is a demanding job andher effort to introduce “transformational change” or “profoundly differ-ent” learning philosophies is bound to meet some resistance among thosewho might “resist change.”

Readers will no doubt make their own judgments as to whether this storypresents valid issues for possible community debate.

To us, though, the story is important. The future of a school system - and thefuture of a community that is counting so much on this school system to shapeits future - may hang in the balance.

Feel free to comment on any article in the Gazette in the online issue. www.alabamagazette.com Check the facts!

We all have an opinion...The Gazette respects your view.

How important has Pike Road Schools been to thegrowth of Woodland Creek?

Suzanne Mathison with Lowder New Homes andWoodland Creek subdivision states:“The Pike Road School System has had a major impacton the growth of Woodland Creek. From the day theschool was announced people were buying with justthe hopes of the school. But now that the school is inplace the growth has skyrocketed. Weare opening new lots much morequickly than we anticipated and it isdefinitely because of the school sys-tem and because of the investment thatpeople feel like Pike Road will haveon real estate.”Other statistics Mrs. Mathison was

nice enough to share with us:• 350 homes are occupied in WoodlandCreek.• Prior to the school opening, “we would close between 22-27 homes in Wood-land Creek a year. In 2015 we closed 43 homes in Woodland Creek and are ontrack to close even more than that this year.”

• Around 40 homes (inventory and pre-sold homes)are currently under construction.• Around 80 lots are currently available for sale withplans to put more in.• When all phases of Woodland Creek developmentare completed, between 850-900 homes will be inthe subdivision? • Home prices range from $200,000-$500,000.• Any other comment: “We have been building since

late 2007 and have seen steady activ-ity in Woodland Creek even in sloweconomic years. But we have defi-nitely seen an increase in the last 4-5years, especially last year.

Brent Buchanan, who was inter-viewed for this story, told us that he ispresident of the Providence subdivi-sion’s Home Owner’s Association. Hesaid the subdivision has already

“maxed out” (in just a matter of a few years). He said there are 192 occupiedhomes in the subdivision, all but about two of them did not exist in 2010-2011.

Pike Road School-fueled residentialgrowth in Pike Road.

2C Read us online at Alabama Gazette.com May 2016

WHAT IS DR. FREEMAN’S REPUTATION IN TRUSSVILLE? By BILL RICE, JR.

Suzanne Freeman’s tenure as superintendent ofschools in Trussville Schools ended July 9, 2012 inabrupt, public and emotional fashion.

In a specially-called meeting of the school boardheld in the auditorium of Hewitt-Trussville HighSchool, board president Bill Roberts announced thatDr. Freeman’s contract (which had four years remaining at the time) would be terminated.

More than 500 parents and interested observersattended the meeting and greeted the announcementwith “loud cheers and applause.”

It was a stunning and sudden reversal for an educator who was the second highest paid superin-tendent in the state at the time, a former “AlabamaSuperintendent of The Year” and Alabama’s first-ever finalist for national superintendent of the Year.

Freeman, who was earning a salary of$202,000 (not including other perks and benefits)was not dismissed “for cause.” She and her at-torney ended up negotiating a buy-out settlementagreement of $600,000. Instead of paying her forthe four years remaining on her contract, Freemanand the board reached a settlement where she wouldbe paid for three years. The $600,000 would be paidin equal installments over 24 months.

During at least a portion of those 24 months, Free-man worked as a consultant for Pike RoadSchools, which like Trussville had before it, wasalso planning to start a new school system fromscratch.

In February 2014, leaders of the Pike Road system with whom Freeman was serving as consult-ant decided to hire the consultant as the system’shistoric first superintendent. Her first official dayon the job was in July of 2014, the same month shereceived her final installment of her $600,000buyout.

In the local press, virtually no mention was madeof the fact Pike Road was hiring a superintendentwho had essentially been fired from her previousjob. Even today, many Pike Road Patriots might notbe aware of this portion of Dr. Freeman’s work history.

However, at least some people in Trussville wereaware of the news. And they couldn’t believe it.

“I was stunned,” said one Trussville teacher whoworked under Freeman. “My first thought was‘Don’t they have Google down there?’

Indeed, a simple Google search reveals at leasttwo archived stories on Freeman’s dismissal pennedby journalists and columnists for al.com.

“This came about because of an accumulation ofthings,” said Board President Roberts as quoted inal.com. “But the largest thing was the turnover ofthe principals at the high school.

The decision to let Freeman go “came afterseveral days and scores of calls and messagesfrom Trussville residents.”

We were curious why was there such apparentand wide-spread dislike of Dr. Freeman inTrussville, where she had lived and worked for eightyears. Why would such a large number of concernedparents break into applause at the announcementof someone’s termination? In addition to “principalturnover,” what other “concerns” or complaints didcommunity members have about Dr. Freeman?

Did a “pattern of behavior” exist? Would somecursory “reporter digging” reveal some of the sameconcerns we have heard about Dr. Freeman’smanagement style in her first year in Pike Road?How did parents and educators in Trussville respond to the “profoundly different,” “transfor-

mational” educational philosophies Freeman promotes so passionately?

What did people in Cullman, where Dr. Freemanhad served as superintendent before being hired in Trussville, think abut Pike Road’s first superintendent?

According to almost all of the Trussville and Cull-man sources we talked to or sent email questions to(at least eight people), Dr. Freeman certainlymatches the definition of a “polarizing figure.”

“Trussville is very divided. Even today there aresome people who think Suzanne Freeman walks onwater,” said a long-time Trussville teacher whoasked to remain anonymous (because people inTrussville still have such stong opinions on Freeman).

The one source we communicated with who didnot describe Freeman as a polarizing figure wasBrenda Howell, one of two current members of theCullman City Schools Board of Education who alsoserved on the board for at least a portion of Free-man’s tenure in Cullman (2000-2004).

“Dr. Freeman was an excellent, forward-think-ing superintendent while she was here, “ repliedBrenda Howell in a one-sentence response to anemail inquiry seeking comment.The other side of the opinion spectrum is not as flat-

tering to Dr. Freeman.“I think she was a cancer on our whole educa-

tional system,” said a former Trussville parent andPTA volunteer who is now an educator in anotherstate school district. During Freeman’s tenure inTrussville, this individual was a “stay-at-home mom.”

“She left a ‘trail of tears’ in our town,” shesaid. “She split the whole community.” Like mostpeople in this story, she asked to remain anonymous,citing the fact she works in education and some peo-ple in this career field frown upon one educator mak-ing disparaging remarks about another.

In Trussville, most seem to agree with the schoolboard president’s 2012 comment that the high rateof turnover of principals at Hewitt-TrussvilleHigh School was the primary impetus for Free-man’s ultimate dismissal. The school had experi-enced four principal changes in seven years. Thefinal principal in Freeman’s tenure was Zac Barnes,who resigned three weeks before the Trussvilleboard voted to cancel Freeman’s contract.

Barnes, who did not respond to interview requests,is now the principal of Homewood High School. Thegeneral consensus is that Barnes was very popularwith students and parents.

“He stood up to (Suzanne Freeman) and therewas basically a face-off,” said one of our sources.

“Their philosophies didn’t line up. There wereclashes between the two of them,” added another ofthe two Trussville teachers who spoke to TheGazette.

When Principal Barnes resigned, board memberswere flooded by “scores” of comments from irateparents.

However, our sources say that the unpopular opin-ion of Freeman that developed over time had to dowith much more than one personnel decision andhad been building for years. Indeed, red flags wereevident by the end of her first year as superintendent.

“The morale of the school dropped noticeablyin about one year,” a teacher told us.

“Turnover” was also unusually high amongfaculty members in the 4,200-student system.

“(Freeman) got rid of at least 15 (teachers) atmy school alone,” said the teacher. “(Many teach-ers) were so unhappy. They were subjected to con-stant criticism and felt so much fear. (Freeman)made their lives miserable.”

As just one example, she said one of her teacherfriends was a math teacher who was routinely“harassed. (Freeman) picked on her every afternoon… (in) “one-on-one counseling sessions,” she said.

Per our interview source, several teachers endedup taking their complaints to the American Fed-eration of Teachers chapter in Jefferson County.An investigator with that organization (Sheila Jones)was often at the school and supposedly investigatedthese charges. (The Gazette left Ms. Jones two voicemails and sent her one email seeking comment.More than a week after our inquiries, we had notheard back from her).

Among the teachers and principals who left wereseveral who were “very popular” and “highly re-spected” in the community, we were told. Some re-tired, some got jobs in other systems, some mayhave been fired or asked to resign. Central to manyof these career decisions was conflict with Suzanne

Freeman, several people interviewed for this storybelieve.

Those who challenged Freeman’s philosophy, whodid not share her education philosophy, or “pushedback” in any way or for whatever reason wereviewed as “threats” and were essentially “run off,”two sources in a position to have knowledge told us.

These were people who “had not drunk theKool Aid,” said the school teacher, emphasizing,“that’s actually a phrase that was used often.” (Editor’s note: The same phrase was also used by atleast two Pike Road School teachers we talked to).

“Teachers were literally terrified,” added theTrussville parent. “If you didn’t get on board (withher program), they were out to get you like crazy.”

Defenders of Freeman counter this charge by say-ing that it’s human nature for many people to resist change, especially major changes like thosepushed by Freeman.

At least in Cullman, Freeman never employed “in-timidation” tactics toward teachers, said RussellRaney, who now works in the central office andbriefly served as interim superintendent when Free-man accepted the superintendent’s job in Trussville.“As far as harassment or intimidation, I never

saw any of that,”he said via email. “However, tosay that all teachers were happy with the push forexcellence would not be the truth either. Someemployees were complacent/lazy/unwilling to trynew things, which you will get in any large organi-zation from time to time. Employees were encour-aged to try new things, to be innovative, and theresults were celebrated. However, to say that anyonewas intimidated or harassed is completely false. Ithink it was more a case of a handful of disgruntledemployees who were mad they were being askedto change how they had done things for 20 years.”

The Trussville sources we spoke to disagree withthe characterization that only a small “handful” ofteachers or administrators felt “bullied” or were in-timidated into silence by Freeman.

“Teachers were afraid to talk,” said the teacherwho was colleagues with many of these teachers.Many faculty members were afraid of losing theirjobs or of being labeled as disgruntled or “not ateam player,” she said.

This fear was probably even more prevalent amongnew teachers who had not obtained “tenure” status.She and the parent volunteer don’t discount the pos-sibility this could have been an intentional strategyto create turnover so that Freeman could hire moreteachers lacking tenure.

“Are these people, who in many cases are freshout of college, going to have the fortitude to standup to people in power? I think it’s more likely theyare going to do what (your boss) says. They are un-likely to question anything that is told to them.”

In her own case, she says she has “30 years of ex-perience in education. What was she going to do to me?”

Criticisms of Freeman seem to fall into four cat-egories. The first is her enthusiastic embrace ofthe “innovative” and “transformational” teach-ing philosophies of the late Phil Schlechty. Thesecond category deals with her managementstyle, especially with how she treats at least somefaculty members. The third deals with her compe-tence as an administrator. Fourth, some peoplehave also questioned her reputation for telling thetruth, whether she works to conceal certain facts,whether her actions sometimes come across as hyp-ocritical, and whether she follows through onpledges and commitments made to faculty, studentsand parents.

In Trussville, Freeman arrived “with big goalsand big ideas” remembers the school teacher quotedseveral times above. A second teacher we inter-viewed, who personally “got along well” with Dr.Freeman, agrees that Freeman’s educationalphilosophies “were very different” and confirmedthat “a lot of teachers left voluntarily.” He too em-phasized that “change can be difficult.”

The former stay-at-home mom who volunteeredfor the Trussville PTA and has subsequently returnedto teaching, said her first indication that things mightbe different under Dr. Freeman occurred innocentlyenough.

She said she was asked to help raise money to pur-chase “honor roll badges” given to honor students.When she went to one of the schools to talk to theprincipal about this, she was told that the school nolonger needed such badges. The principal told herthat, per Dr. Freeman, the school would no longerpublish honor rolls.Continued on next page

Dr .Suzanne Freeman, SuperintendentPike Road Schools


Continued from previous page

“That was a huge red flag for me,” she said.She and others later learned that grades – and

the processs of differentiating students by tradi-tional test scores or GPAs – is not part of theSchlechty template of education reform.

She added that not long after this “a small groupof concerned parents” began investigating theSchlechty “Working on the Work,” “learner-cen-tric” model.

Their quick conclusion? “These were shaky, un-proven theories being tried on our students,” shesaid. “It was like our children were going to beguinea pigs … I remember I kept asking to seethe data to support these ideas.” No such data, atleast to her satisfaction, was ever presented to sup-port the superiority of the Schlechty model, she said.

Their perusal of language used on Schlechty web-sites left members of the group with the impressionthat this “was all outcome-based crackpot, un-proven, pie-in-the-sky type stuff.” The languageemployed by Schlechty and his associates struckthem as “vague,” as “academic jargon,” and “gob-bledy gook,” she said.

They brought their concerns to school board mem-bers at the time. She said only one member seemedto share their concerns (he later resigned from theboard, she said).

The rest of the board – who had hired Freeman –supported her approach 100 percent, she said.

It wasn’t like Freeman was trying to hide her the-ories. Other teachers noted that Schlechty bookswere recommended or assigned for teachers to read. One profile story of Freeman published on the The

School Superintendent’s Association website abouther experiences in Trussville has the headline, “TheArchitect of a ‘Profoundly Different’ System.”

According to this story: “Freeman has been ab-sorbed personally in the quest to identify better in-structional models. She has been an eagerparticipant for the past six years in the BellSouthSuperintendent’s Leadership Network hosted bythe Schlecthyt Center in Lexington, Ky.”

The story notes that Freeman on “two occasionsin the last two years” accompanied a “handful of ad-ministrators and up to 45 teachers on a charteredbus … to Indianapolis for “A Working on theWork” conference run by the Schlechty Center.

The story adds that Freeman typically attendsthree such conferences a year. According to GeorgeThompson, president of the Schlecty Center, Freeman’s passion is “contagious. There’s a senseof excitement she personally brings to the role.”

Also from the story: “School board member Dennis Hill (added): “Everything’s driven by what’sbest for children and the world they’ll face. It’s hercalling, a driving force.”

Even today, on the Schlechty website, is a profilestory about a Trussville Middle School student from2010 who was a leader in providing “student voice”to the Schlechty-inspired education “DesignTeam” commissioned by Freeman.

Compared to the reforms that Pike Road has im-plemented (no grades, no textbooks, no tests, etc.)the changes that were put in effect in Trussvilleunder Freeman’s leadership were mild in comparison.

We provided examples of the type of the reformsbeing used in Pike Road to the two current Trussvilleteachers.

“We’re not doing any of those things,” said theteacher who got along well with Dr. Freeman. Hedid say the emphasis on “project based learning”was conspicuous at Trussville and some of the lan-guage Dr. Freeman employed to perhaps alter the“culture” of learning are similar.

The other teacher said Freeman’s emphasis wasdefinitely new to faculty. She found some of the“protocols for lesson plans to be time-consumingand absolutely ridiculous.”

Freeman, it is probably clear, rubbed this teacherthe wrong way. The teacher cited one example ofwhy this is so.

She said that Dr. Freeman “monitored” her class-room on a couple of occasions. “She spent the wholetime on her cell phone sending texts and checkingemails. It was so distracting.”

The teacher is a fan of the Harry Potter series ofnovels and movies. To her, Freeman “reminds me ofthe Dolores Umbridge character,” referencing acharacter who presents a sweet and ingratiating personality, who on the surface is eager to help.However, this is a front that conceals ulterior ornegative motives.

Important community leaders, city officials andschool board members seem to be captivated by Dr.Freeman, according to three Trussville sources whowere not wowed by the superintendent.

“She certainly has a lot of charisma,” said theparent volunteer, who added, “I’m really curioushow she gets the leaders of the community so entranced.”

“Her PR abilities are phenomenal,” agreed theprimary teacher source for this story.

The PTA volunteer said, in her opinion, Freeman“keeps (officials with potential power over her)real close.” She said in a conversation she had withthe mayor he revealed that he and Dr. Freeman“spoke to one another every day.” This, to her, wasodd. Do other superintendents in the state talk totheir town’s mayor every single day, she wondered.

Several people we spoke to about Freeman alsoquestioned her abilities or competence as an administrator.

During her tenure in Trussville, the school systembuilt a new high school (Hewitt-Trussville HighSchool). The 360,000 square foot structure openedin 2007 (Dr. Freeman’s third year).

All agree it is a “pretty” or “beautiful” facility.Any complaints deal with the school’s ultimate pricetag. As the Birmingham News/al.com shared in a

headline, the school turned out to be the “most ex-pensive ever built in the state.” When proposed, theprice tag of the school was estimated to be $40 mil-lion. It ended up costing at least $70 million. Moremoney was subsequently spent to correct designflaws. The City of Trussville ended up having to helpthe school system secure financing or issue debt topay for the construction.By way of comparison, the second most expensive

high school in the state at the time was Spain ParkHigh School (375,000 square feet, opened in 2001)at $45 million. Gadsden High School, which openedthe year before Hewitt-Trussville in 2006, cost $34million and features 300,000 square feet, accordingto an archived al.com story.

The former PTA volunteer says she questionsFreeman’s management of the project and thefact it went so “much over budget.”

She also questioned Freeman’s abilities as a zeal-ous “steward of tax payer money,” when it comesto the “professional development” money that wasspent sending Freeman and others to Schlechtyconferences. “It has to be over $100,000,” she said.

She and others were also miffed by Freeman’ssalary, which at $202,000 was either the highest orsecond highest in the state in 2011-2012. When hersalary is expressed as a ratio of students in the schoolsystem (just around 4200 at the time) and buildingsin the system (just a few), her salary was easily thehighest in the state.

According to Freeman’s harshest teacher critic,her salary “grew and grew” at the same time teachersreceived no pay raises. She and the parent volunteeralso didn’t like the fact her contracts included “rollover clauses” wherein every year (if no reasonswere given for her dismissal), the contract was ex-tended three or four years.

Of the people we spoke to in Trussville, Dr. Free-man’s biggest defender was Scott Buttram, pub-lisher of the Trussville Tribune.Buttram quickly acknowledge that he is a “friend”

of Freeman’s (and even attended the wedding ofFreeman’s daughter at The Waters chapel in PikeRoad). To him, the criticisms expressed by detractorsof Freeman are probably not fair to Dr. Freeman.

“She is an unbelievable educator and is allabout the kids. Her focus on the needs of childrenis why whatever she does works,” he said.

To Buttram, the fact that Dr. Freeman “is ex-tremely driven and is very demanding,” probablyexplains the negative views of certain faculty mem-bers and administrators. He believes “a few (educa-tors) left angry, but not many.”

On the salary issue, he suggested the figures crit-icized by John Archibald of al.com need to be pre-sented with more context. He notes that Freemanwas named “Superintendent of The Year by the Al-abama Superintendents Association in 2008 and wasone of four finalists for the national award (a firstfor an Alabama superintendent).

Forward-thinking school systems have to be “com-petitive” if they are going to keep administratorswith such credentials, he said. He noted that at thesame time Dr. Freeman received her last pay in-crease upping her salary to $202,000, she was also a“finalist” for the vacant superintendent’s job in Mt.Brook.

According to the local newspaper publisher,many of the very same people who were clamor-ing for her to leave in 2012 were the same peoplewho were trying their best to “keep her” just ayear or so earlier, he said.

Others who were interviewed for this story allegethat Buttram’s paper never presented any articles thatwere negative about Dr. Freeman. One source notedthat Buttram’s other business, a photography studio(Principle Portrait Group) that specializes in studentportraits, secured a contract to do school portraitsafter Dr. Freeman arrived in town.

Buttram volunteered this information in his in-terview with The Gazette. Any insinuation that hispaper might have softened its coverage of the localsuperintendent because of this business arrangementlacks merit, he said. He also added that it’s under-standable to him that the local school system mighthave a preference for doing business with a localcompany. In securing the school portrait business,he also dealt with a school principal, not Dr. Free-man, he said.

He added that The Trussville Tribune publishedplenty of stories Dr. Freeman probably didn’t like.From time to time the paper’s reporters or himselfwould receive complaints or negative commentsabout Dr. Freeman. “We looked into everything,” hesaid. However, reporters could never substantiateanything that met the paper’s standards for publication, he said.

In Cullman, Dr. Freeman’s former colleague Mr.Raney dismissed allegations Freeman was asked toleave by the school board.

“(Dr. Freeman) had just received a new contractprior to her leaving Cullman, so the claim of herleaving due to fear of losing her contract is false. Ibelieve she was tired of the “fight” in Cullman. Yousee, Cullman was in dire financial situation when shecame. She led two failed attempts to increase prop-erty tax mills in the City, which caused a lot of hardfeelings with some. Additionally, since the tax ref-erendums failed, she was forced to “pink slip”every non-tenured person at the end of 2002 yearafter State proration was declared in 4th qtr2001. I believe that further caused hard feelingswith some. I do believe those things caused a rift/di-vide with some in the community, but they were notthings outside of her doing the hard job of being asuperintendent.”

We briefly spoke to one business person in Cull-man (a personal acquaintance of the reporter). Hesaid he was a “social friend” of Dr. Freeman and re-ally had no knowledge about the day-to-day opera-

tions of the school system during her tenure. How-ever, when asked if it was a fair statement that shewas a “polarizing figure” in the city, he repliedthat would be a “fair” statement in his opinion.

The final “Cullman source” who responded to ourrequests for comments definitely falls into the campof those who were and are not fans of Freeman. “Matt Foley” is the nom du plume of the man who

runs an “anonymous blogger” site in Cullman called“Cullman Live.” He responded to several emailquestions we sent him.

When asked if we could give his real name in thestory, he replied, “No, because Matt is not a real per-son. I run a website anonymously that outs peoplelike Suzanne Freeman.”

When asked how he would characterize SuzanneFreeman's tenure as superintendent in Cullman, hereplied: “(It was) a total failure. Nothing but dis-array the whole time. Her nickname was CruellaDeville.”

We also asked him, “What were common criti-cisms of her if there were any?” He replied that, “shewas a dictator type and targeted people who did-n't agree with her.

In our emailed questions, we shared with him thatseveral people had told us Dr. Freeman was a "polarizing" figure? In your opinion is this an accurate assessment of her time in Cullman? “It isVERY accurate …” he answered.

We also asked “Foley” to expound on an earlieremail where he called Dr. Freeman “incompetent.”

“Nothing about her was competent,” he replied.“She was a total failure. The worst we have everhad. Another thing she did was deny public infor-mation on finances. Locals went to Montgomeryto the state superintendent and forced her to release the public records. Those records did notmatch up with what she was saying to the publicabout the finances of the system. She was claim-ing we were broke and needed this tax increasebut we weren't and we didn't.”

In reporting on this story, we were struck bythe stark contrast in opinions on Dr. Freeman. Asfar as we can tell, she has many admirers whospeak very highly of her. Apparently, however,just as many people possess opinions that are negative in the extreme.

Mr. Raney certainly falls into the former groupand addressed this dichotomy of opinions in the lastparagraph of his email to us.

“I am sure there are people in Cullman,Trussville and Pike Road that love her and somethat hate her,” he wrote. “I will say this about her:she loves kids, she wants them to succeed, she en-courages people to think/work outside the box,she is extremely smart, she was great to work for,and she (along with every other superintendent inthe state) has a very hard job.”

As of the first week of May 2016, the story ofPike Road Schools has just begun to be written.However, if history is a guide - or perhaps a predic-tor of future events (and it usually is) - it seems al-most certain that Dr. Suzanne Freeman will end upbeing a lighting rod of controversy in Pike Road.

~~~~

Parent very pleased withfirst year at PRS

Brent Buchanan, a local businessman, is a bigsupporter of Dr. Freeman.

“I am beyond pleased with how the firstyear worked out,” he said.

Buchanan got to know Dr. Freeman when hewas one of the finalists for the school board andwent through training sessions she conducted.

He said all of the education programs she believes in are designed to provide better learn-ing experiences to children who will need to beable to function in a rapidly-changing world.

He said the “traditional” ways of teaching simply don’t resonate with many students in2016. “It’s a very different world in educationtoday,” he said.

“What she is introducing is more reflective ofwhere we are as a society,” he said.

As for her planning abilities in launching a new system from scratch, he would “give her a solidA” especially considering how little support staffshe had, he said.

Buchanan is father to one child who started atPRS this year (in kindergarten) and his familyhas more future Patriots on the way. His childhad a great experience this year, he said.

Project-based learning and collaborativelearning better reflect how children will collaborate with peers “in real life” down theroad, he said.

Possible research sources:

* The Schlechty Center

* Phil Schlechty

* The Alabama Transformational Leadership

Academy

* Superintendent’s Leadership Network

* Center for Leadership in School Reform

* Pike Road School website

* Project-based learning

* “Working on the Work (WoW)”

* Education Solutions

* Center for Leadership and School Reforms.


SECOND! Student Response to their new progressive learning style!

AUTHOR’S NOTE: The following essay was writ-ten by a student at Pike Road School. The studentprefers to remain anonymous. The piece was writ-ten approximately five weeks before The Gazettedecided to do a story on the school system. After ob-taining and reading the essay, the paper decided topursue its own investigation. It has been lightly ed-ited in spots and is not presented in its entirety (12pages) for space reasons.

Let me first just say, it’s not that I completely hatethis school … but there definitely have been manyfaults, misunderstandings and errors that have oc-curred – problems that have affected me and otherstudents on an academic level, emotional level, andmental level.

However, let me make this clear that my commentsare solely based on the middle school side (thismeans 6th, 7th and 8th grade only). If anything, theelementary school is a success.

Now don’t take this the wrong way into thinkingthat I want to completely obliterate their system justbecause I don’t like it here. No, I have over 30-pluskids that agree and probably won’t be back nextyear. You may think that I’m merely an ignorantteenager who doesn’t know what they’re talkingabout and is only letting hormones speak, but –guess what – I’m on the inside and you’re not.

‘The only thing this schoolhas given us is chaos’

I guess I should start from the beginning, beforethe school year started. We were told that there wasgoing to be a new school built in the town of PikeRoad. Naturally, the parents and children alikethought it was going to be a regular public schoolwith an elementary and junior high school, while anew grade of high school would be added on everyyear.

So I was kicked out of magnet school because ofthe district where I lived, while others pulled theirkids out of private schools, putting them in a schoolthey assumed was going to be great for their kids andcost them nothing. Some even moved out to PikeRoad just to go to this school only to be disappointedwith its results. What we were not told was that therewould be no grades, no report cards, no classrooms,no desks and no structure at all. The only thing thisschool has given us is chaos.

I remember my mom coming home from the veryfirst meeting that was held for parents baffled at thenews she was given. They discussed how the schoolwas going to be run, and I literally went ballisticwhen I heard there were going to be no grades. Andof course everyone’s thoughts go to college withouta GPA?

When the 7th and 8th grade kids had a separatemeeting at Saint James United Methodist Church be-fore the year started, we discussed the privileges thatwere going to be permitted. We didn’t talk about theway the system was going to work, nor the style oflearning they had in mind. All we talked about washow we weren’t going to have homework or work-sheets and how we were going to be able to have ourphones and do whatever. We talked about the “pros,”not the “cons.” They wanted to give us the lollipopbefore they stuck us with the needle.

The first three months of school were a dud, mean-ing we didn’t do anything. We literally sat there forone whole month and did “Get to Know You” activ-ities, which are normally meant to last maybe threedays, while the second month consisted of brain puz-zles and games, which were useless.

And by the third month, we had to try and adjust tosomething of a schedule the administration suppos-edly made. And even then it was pure chaos. Theadministration thought it would be cool to allow stu-dents to choose their own classes and pick what theywanted to do

… During this new schedule, kids didn’t knowwhere to go; teachers didn’t know where to go; stu-dents didn’t know what classes they were supposedto be in; others were in the wrong classes; kids wereskipping classes. It was always noisy because classnever had structure or control so kids talked andscreamed over each other; teachers practically gaveup on trying to quiet down the room so they endedup trying to yell over everyone else as well; it waspure anarchy.

I mean, don’t they have kids of their own, Dr. Free-man, the superintendent, and Mrs. Lang, the princi-pal? I mean, haven’t they seen the kids who havebeen born into this century? If you wouldn’t let yourown child run around and do whatever they please,why in the world would you let kids you don’t evenknow – from all different backgrounds and state ofminds - do so?

Would you let your child sit in a classroom withtheir phone out texting their friend, while the teacherwas trying to give a lesson? Kids are given a foot,but take a mile. This school is trying to favor to theappeal of the students.

They want to be known as a school students lovebecause of the freedoms they permit and the coolchairs and the absence of desks … It’s like you’re ata daycare run by no one. It’s only here to keep thekids while the parents go off to work, not to teachthem.

Lack of discipline is major issueMost of the issues are caused by a lack of discipline.The Administration wants to be our friend, not ourauthority, not our teachers. I see children being sentto the principal’s office all the time only to be sentright back to class again.

At Pike Road, the students are called “learners”and the teachers are considered “lead learners.” Ifthe teachers are still learning, how does that givethem authority to teach us if they don’t even knowall of the information on their subject? All I’m say-

ing is if I ever talked back to my teacher or just gotup and left at my old school, I would be sent to theprincipal’s office and sentenced to a week of deten-tion. I mean do they not have any pride or respect inthemselves to put a foot down and say, “No?” Is itthat hard?

…. And what’s all this talk about “hands on learn-ing?” In case you haven’t noticed, not everyonelikes the idea of building something or putting aproject together. Time and time again I hear manyof my classmates complain about and beg for testsand worksheets back. They always talk about howhands on learning would be all, or at least most, ofwhat we do, but the only thing our hands are on isour computers.

…. If you ask any student in the 8th grade whatthey’ve learned this whole year, I guarantee they willnot know at least a quarter of the information thathas been taught. We can’t remember. Why, you ask?Maybe because we don’t take notes, we don’t studybecause there is no test to study for, and we don’tread. There’s no repetition; there’s no review. Wedon’t practice. How are we supposed to study in col-lege, or even study for the ACTs when no one isteaching us how to study? How will we know howto study when we have no tests, no need to study?

… The students feel that it should be a mix of “pro-ject based learning” (PBL) and traditional, becausenot all subjects flow together with projects, likemath. Whenever teachers try to find a way to mergePBL with math, it always ends with a wrap song ora video.

…. Since I was in a magnet school, I’m just re-learning mostly everything I already know, exceptfor science, which is the only class I’m actuallylearning new information. So I and many of my col-leagues that also attended magnet schools are boredand easily fly through everything. This year has ba-sically been a review for us. But it’s not just the magnetstudents.

… This school treats all of us like babies and as-sumes we are just like second graders who need amonth to finish an English essay.

…. All of the information we learn is from the in-ternet. The internet is not always a reliable source.You never know what’s right and what’s wrong,what’s opinion and what’s fact. I know a student inthe 6th grade and her teacher told her that as long asthe article has an author it’s good. Well, that meansthat practically every website under the sun is cred-ible, because if it doesn’t have an author, how in theworld did it get there?

Students want textbooks ….This is why we need textbooks. Before the yearstarted, parents and students all got the impressionthat the books were going to be on computers, butcome to find out, they were not. For goodness sake,we don’t even have text books! I realize that at timesthe internet is a very reliable source, but booksweren’t made to just catch dust.

…. Now that I’ve come to this school, I have devel-oped a loathing for computers and technology. Afew of my friends and I talk about how by our senioryear we’re all going to have tumors in our heads be-cause of the constant staring at a screen.

… When we get into college, you’re going to haveto know how to take a test, study and read. Recently,we had a career day … Every one of the speakerssaid that you need to study, make good grades andprioritize your time. How are we going to do any ofthese things if we have no grades or tests? Thisschool system isn’t teaching us how to study or howto take a test or how to prioritize our time.

Student suggestions ignored...Previously … the students formed a High SchoolCommittee of maybe 15 students. Every Thursday,we would meet and discuss what we wanted for thenew high school. I clearly remember (Principal)Mrs. Lang specifically asking us what we wanted thenew school to have and look like. She even asked usto write it down on white boards and discuss it as awhole.

All 15 of us listed: grades, valedictorians and salu-tatorians, senior trips, to be called “freshmen, soph-omores, juniors, seniors,” to have a senior prom, foradministration to live up to their own expectations.One girl even put “We want a regular highschool!”

You see, we want the full high-school experience.Mrs. Lang asked why we would want to be calledfreshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors, becauseshe said that we could be a sophomore and graduateat that age if we were to pass all of our standards.But at the rate we are going, no one is going to begraduating in their sophomore year … If any of uswere to transfer to another school, we would have torepeat the 8th grade because we didn’t understandor learn it at Pike Road.

At my old school, your goal in life was to be an 8thgrader. When you were an 8th grader, you were coolbeyond cool … Being an 8th grader was like beingroyalty. But when I came here, 7th and 8th grade wassmushed together and treated as a whole. At PRS wedon’t get to have the ambition of being the oldest orbeing the “cool kids” because everyone is equalhere. … At PRS, kids won’t get the pleasure of the“Full High School Experience.”

In the committee meetings, we also discussed theissue of grades, but once we brought it up, Mrs. Langand Dr. Freeman shot us down immediately. Bothhave claimed the only thing that matters to a collegeapplication is your ACT score, which is a test. Butif we don’t know how to take a test, what chance dowe have of even getting past the first ten questions?

(Editor’s note: The author discusses how he/she re-searched the college application process and foundfrom several college websites, including AUM’s that

“a combination of test scores and your high schoolGPA (Are used) to determine your academic eligi-bility for admission.”)

Although when we brought these things up in thecommittee meetings, Dr. Freeman responded, “Ifyou want a GPA, I’ll slap on a 4.0 or 5.6, but thegrading process will not be like other schools. Ifwe have to and it’s what you really want, then we’lldo it.”

They just don’t get it do they? We don’t just wantone slapped on a report card just for the pleasure ofhaving a GPA. No, we want to be graded fairly andto be graded according to whether we know or “mas-ter” the information.

‘FreshGrade’ gets an ‘F’ from students …The grading system we have (FreshGrade softwaresystem) tells us nothing and is so broad … Their ver-sion of grading is more like, “if you do it once andget it, then you get a green for the whole standard.You passed school because you did it once. If youask me this isn’t “A+” deserving work.

Most students, like myself, think of their gradesas being a form of motivation. When you see a “C”or a “D” on your report card, you start to worry andtry to bring it up to a “B” or an “A.” … Dr. Freemanbrought up the issue that she didn’t want learning tobe wanted for a reward.

… I’ve heard one student claim that a teacher toldthem that a green dot is equivalent to a “C” on a re-port card … For instance, say a student is given anassignment and meets the criteria and turns it in onthe preferred due date. Yeah, he gets a green dot.

But let’s say another student gets the same assign-ment but doesn’t do it. However, when the lastmonth of school comes around he scrambles to fin-ish it and ultimately turns it in but unfinished, he getsa green dot. Just like the student who turned it in ontime and met the whole criteria. That isn’t fair. In aregular school, you didn’t do it, you got an “F.”

….The school claims that as long as you understandit by the end of the year, you have reached mastery.But in the real world there are – guess what? – (dead-lines). In the real world, bills are due by a certaindate or else you live without water. In the real world,your resume is due by a certain date or else you don’tget a shot at the job …And this system is trainingkids to think that as long as it gets done, it’s okay.But in reality, it’s not. … The administration is al-lowing us, students, to believe that we can do what-ever we want, whenever we want.

Editor’s note: The author asserts that the HighSchool Committee was disbanded after just twomeeting and that Dr. Lang “lied to us …”

“I and many other students feel that (Dr. Lang) …is ignoring us because we’re a threat. We have thepower to change their system if we continue to press.She knows we’re right. She knows we have validpoints and questions that need answers now. Butshe’s too afraid of failing to accept them, Dr. Free-man too.

Because they’re so focused on trying to defend thefaults of their creation, they won’t listen to what thestudents have to say and what the students feel. Imean, can’t we just get what we need off of ourchests, without being interrupted, for once? And Ad-ministration has repeatedly told us that they “value”the students’ opinions and want to know how wefeel, but nothing has changed, nothing is making usfeel better. I realize that changes don’t happenovernight but we have two more months of schoolleft and we are no closer to success than we were be-fore the school year started.

Public does not know the truth …… See the problem is we’re staged. The public

doesn’t know how bad it is. Administration makes itseem like they’ve got all their junk together, but theydon’t. They show how well the little kids are doing,they don’t get to see what happens in middle school.

And even when visitors do tour the school, theydon’t see all of it. I watch as the ambassadors andAdministration whisk them away at the sight of the7th and 8th grade. The ignorant only see what ap-pears to be a happy, kid-friendly school. Well, it’snot, and they keep the troubles of this corrupt systemfrom the public view. They are determined not togive society the pleasure of watching them fail.

I’m tired of being a welcome matt. I’m tired ofthe fear. I’m tired of the chaos.

‘It’s chaos’PRS student shares views on first year

Not Schlechty fansWe asked two StateBoard of Educationmembers about the latePhil Schlechty and theSchlechty Center. BothStephanie Bell and BettyPeters are very familiarwith Schlechty’s ideas.

“I’m not a fan,” saidBell, noting that she hasnot seen any empiricaldata to support the re-forms promoted bySchlechty enthusiasts.

Peters used even harsherwords in a post on hereducation blog. “He is a snake oil sales-man for 30-40 years.“He just talks aboutchange…how to get peo-ple to support change…but it doesn’t matterwhat the change is.

He (got) lots of money

for professional develop-ment on implementing“change”and training su-perintendents and teach-ers. This training is veryexpensive and superin-tendents who implementhis rules often cause somuch trouble that the su-perintendent’s contract isbought out at very highprices. This appears tobe quite common. Theyare very well connectedwhich is so helpful whenthey need a new job.

If your school uses theterm “WOW” for Work-ing on the Work,Schlechty has been toyour school system.When you visit one ofthe schools that havebeen influenced by himor his acolytes, you’llnotice how often the stu-dents will profess to be“engaged.”

THIRD ! Teacher ResponseTeachers paint a different portrait of “The Pike Road Way”


AUTHOR’S NOTE: Allegations and characteri-zations of the first year of Pike Road School high-lighted in the stories below come from one currentteacher, one former teacher and one former “Para-professional” teacher at the school.

All three of the sources requested that they remainanonymous, citing concerns that their commentsmight negatively impact future employment oppor-tunities, result in possible retaliation from superiorsand/or foster ill will among some colleagues.

On the opposite page we publish excerpts of anessay written by a student. This essay clearly sup-ports many of the teacher comments. Several otherteachers, who we do not quote directly, corroborateor confirm the comments that follow. We also spoke at length to one parent who has vol-

unteered at the school. This parent said her daughterhas come home from school many times “sobbing”because of her experiences at Pike Road School.This individual agreed that our conversation couldbe used for background and general descriptions,and could be used to confirm other allegations.

We also reached out to other teachers and theschool’s first PTSA president (who resigned andwithdrew her children from the school) for com-ments. These individuals ultimately decided not todo interviews. The views of teachers who passion-ately defend the “Pike Road Way” are summarizedin a separate story.

Interview 1 – ‘A Nightmare’“I thought I was going to a dream job and I’ve gone

to a nightmare,” said one current Pike Road Schoolteacher in the first statement she made to this re-porter in an interview conducted two weeks ago atThe Alabama Gazette office.

The teacher, who mentioned that for the first timein her life she is now taking anxiety medicines be-cause of her experiences at Pike Road School, elab-orated in depth on why her own experience has beenso unpleasant. She also highlighted the reasons shebelieves students are not being “well-served” bythe education initiatives being utilized at theschool.

Like others we talked to in this story, she said shestruggled with the question of whether she shoulddisclose her story or remain silent. Ultimately shedecided to share her story.

“Really, I’ve reached the point where I nolonger care about what might happen to me,” shesaid. “In the big picture, I’m not important. It’sabout what’s best for the kids. The students arewho really matter and they are the ones who arebeing made to suffer unnecessarily.”

At the end of our interview, we asked her whatshe thought the reaction to this story might be amongfellow faculty members.“My guess is that a handful will say, ‘I don’t know

what you are talking about,’ but I think the majoritywill say, ‘Oh my God; somebody said what I wasthinking.’ “

The teacher said, “absolutely 100 percent” that“lack of discipline is a problem” at Pike RoadSchool (PRS). Teachers routinely send students tothe office and (principals and assistant principals)“will take that child’s word over (teachers) in a heartbeat. Kids have said, ‘You can send me there, butnothing is going to happen.’ ”

She added that teachers such as her “need to havethe support of the administration if we are going tohave discipline.”

The teacher, who is Caucasian, also said she be-lieves that Principal Angela Lang (who is African-American) often interjects race into discussionsdealing with student discipline. She specifically saidthat teachers, herself included, have been accused ofbeing racist for sending too many minority studentsto the office.

“I don’t say this lightly, but there is definitely a‘race card’ being played,” she said.

Teachers (referred to as “lead learners” at PRS)are not the only adults who are frustrated.

From the first teacher-parent conference she par-ticipated in, the teacher learned that at least someparents “are not happy. They have been frustratedfrom the beginning.”

One major source of frustration is the “Fresh-Grade” assessment software that PRS utilizes. According to Superintendent Dr. Suzanne Free-man, PRS is the only school in the nation, or oneof just two systems, that use the novel approach.The system assigns color dots – not letter gradesor numeric grades - to “assess” whether studentsare meeting proscribed academic standards.

For many, the use of FreshGrade has createdanxiety about the logistics of providing useabletranscripts for children who transfer to anotherschool, as well as questions about whether Fresh-Grade will be accepted in the college admissionand scholarship process.

Dr. Freeman and Principal Angela Lang did say aformula for converting FreshGrades to traditionalgrades exists. However, as of early this week, theschool’s website (under the title “Assessment ofLearning”) includes the following statement: “StayTuned for Additional Information and ParentMeetings Regarding Assessment of Learning ThePike Road Way.” This announcement has appar-ently been on the site for some time.

Both parents and students are “very confusedabout the FreshGrade system and how it works,”the teacher said.

This teacher, along with others, told us that“FreshGrade” is much more time-consuming touse than traditional report card evaluations and takesmuch longer for parents to consume. For teachers,this takes away time that could be spent preparinglesson plans or “designing” the “projects” that areused extensively at PRS.

She said that the “technology” that is celebratedat PRS is delivered primarily by the laptop comput-ers all students in the higher grades received.

“Multiple times” in a typical teaching day,teachers have to close students’ laptop “note-books” because “they are playing a video game

and not listening to instruction,” the teacher said.The learning environment is one where a state

of “commotion” exists, she said. In part, this couldbe because “assigned seating” is not typical (but isused in some instances, the teacher said).

Traditional desks aligned in rows, with theteacher’s desk placed front and center, was intention-ally eschewed at PRS. Students instead work ingroups at tables.

“(Students use) these “horrible stools (describedas “domed shaped mushrooms.”) …. We havesome chairs with coasters, plus soft seating andbean bags” interspersed throughout “learningspaces” (classrooms) and in the hallways.”

Students “roam” about the classrooms, hall-ways and other parts of the school at their ownvolition to an extent that was foreign to her at herprevious school, she said. “Paraprofessionals” andother teachers are telling the truth when they reportthat they routinely spend school time “trackingdown students.”

“Project-based learning” and “collaborativelearning” where students are encouraged to “takeownership of their learning” are central tenantsof the “Pike Road Way.”

This teacher has no blanket criticism of either ap-proach. However, she does criticize the extent towhich these methodologies are used at PRS.“I’ve always used Project Based Learning,” she

says. “… I just don’t think it should be the be alland end all.”

Dr. Freeman acknowledges that Pike RoadSchools is the only school system in the state thatis using such innovative (others call it “radical”)learning methodologies.

This in itself has been a source of criticism.From both students and some parents, the teacher

has heard the concern that “our kids are beingtreated as guinea pigs.”

The teacher also expresses skepticism that PRSstudents are learning as much at PRS as they wouldat a school that uses traditional teaching techniques.

If traditional grading systems were being usedat Pike Road School, “a huge percentage of stu-dents would fail,” she said.

Under FreshGrade and Schlechty teachingmodels, whether students master a standard by a cer-tain deadline is not vitally important. All that isimportant is that they show mastery before theschool year ends.

Because of these lack of traditional deadlines (forexample, “there will be a test on this material Fri-day”), some students are now scrambling to meet re-quired standards.

With the school year nearing completion, theteacher reports that students are now coming up toher and asking “What can I do to get a green doton that,” she said.

We asked the teacher her thoughts on the new vo-cabulary used at PRS and the fact there are notests, no grades, no homework, no textbooks.“PBL” is omnipresent. Teachers are “lead learn-ers.” Classrooms are “learning spaces.” The 8thgrade is “Community Eight,” etc.

“To me, (administrators) are trying to change theculture in education (in part by the use of lan-guage),” she said.

She adamantly believes that naysayers and skep-tics among the faculty are being “harassed” or“bullied.”

“It’s all ‘we’re a family.’ Don’t say anythingnegative in public. Everything is “hush hush.”

In her dealings with Dr. Freeman, who often em-phasizes the positive value of “collaboration,”Freeman’s rhetoric doesn’t always match her deal-ings with at least some staff members, the teacher said.

“As long as your opinion is (Freeman’s) opinion,it is okay to say what you believe,” she said, addingthat Freeman is “definitely trying to hide thingsfrom the public.”

Other points made by this teacher:At first teachers had no “real planning period.”

They do now, although in practice this budget ofschool time is used by teachers to “do remediationwork” with students. There are “no private areas”for teachers. School spaces often are “cluttered”which is not conducive to a professional learning en-vironment in her opinion. “I’m constantly pickingup things,” she said.

Finally, she believes that teachers are being tar-geted as “scapegoats” for any thing that is notworking smoothly.

“It’s amazing to me how good (Principal AngelaLang and Freeman, who also served as principal thefirst four months of school) are at making you feelhorrible about yourself,” she said.

Today, this teacher regrets accepting a positionat PRS. She even compared the work environ-ment, and Freeman’s role at the school, as “beinglike a cult.”

“I’ve always wondered how people could fall inline behind people like Hitler, Jim Jones or CharlesManson,” she said. “But now I think I’ve gotten abetter idea of how this can actually happen. I feellike I ‘drank the Kool Aid’ – at least at the begin-ning. Now I’m asking myself, “how did I dothat?’

AUTHOR’S NOTE: As a journalist, I debatedwhether to include any references to a “cult-like”atmosphere that may or may not exist at PRS. Suchdescriptions do strike me as surreal. I also recognizethis is quite the charge. However, the cult analogywas used to me by at least three PRS sources andwas also used by at least three sources in Trussville.

It seems clear to me that two distinct factions offaculty exist at PRS. One group is not happy and itsmembers dislike much of what is happening at theschool. The other faction is made up of staffers whoare “all in” on the “reforms” Freeman is trying toimplement.

Members of the latter group (here and inTrussville) are regularly described (in a joking man-ner) as “those who have drunk the Kool Aid.” Mem-bers of both groups seem to be wary of each other.

As a result, the skeptics speak amongst themselvesin hushed tones, apparently always looking overtheir shoulders to make sure they are not “outed”by members of the other group.

In Trussville, Freeman was described to this re-porter as “a divider of communities.” Before thiscommunity division occurs, however, evidence sup-ports the belief that a schism of opinion quicklyemerges among faculty. Because this is not a randomor isolated “anecdote,” I thought a note about thisdynamic was appropriate to include in this piece.

Interview 2

Former paraprofessional says PRS lacks structure, discipline

Pike Road Schools uses the employment serviceAppleton to screen and place “paraprofessionals”and substitutes. Such “Para’s” are conspicuous atthe school, according to several sources and“turnover” among them is quite high. Superin-tendent Dr. Suzanne Freeman said “para’s” and othervolunteers are needed in part to better serve students.In an interview, she noted how the school’s enroll-ment (about 1,200 students) was far higher than sheand others anticipated (the high 600’s was the initialprojection based on available census data).

“Para’s” are thus needed so “lead learners” arenot overwhelmed. It helps bring the “teacher-stu-dent ratio,” down, Dr. Freeman noted.

One such Para (who no longer works at theschool) agreed to be interviewed for this story.

This former Para confirmed most of the allegationsand concerns expressed to us by both the currentteacher and the terminated teacher.

Her bottom-line conclusion about Pike RoadSchool?

“I would not send my child there,” she said.She said a lack of student discipline is perhaps

the most striking take-away she had from hertime at Pike Road School.

“It’s like a zoo,” she said. “… There is no struc-ture. No structure. No structure … Children haveto have limits. They are too young to have the free-doms they have been given. If you give a child oneyard, they are going to take 50. That’s what’s hap-pened there in my opinion.”

Her experiences were in the higher grades (Com-munities 6 – 8). Younger students, who had no ex-perience or less experience with “traditional”schools, seem to have adjusted better to theSchlechty-inspired teaching model, she said.

But for the older students, “It was a cultureshock to those kids,” she said. “They were used topaper and pencils.” She added that many of thesestudents desperately miss things like regulartests, using workbooks and textbooks, and as-signed seating in desks.

Kids “playing games on lap tops,” is common-place, she said.

The Para said she is familiar with the Schlechty-argument that students need to “be engaged” to learnat a profound level. To achieve this level of engage-ment, lead learners seek to design “projects” thatwill build on students’ interests.

“My question is how can they be so engagedwhen they are roaming all over the place?” she said.

Another take-away: “These students are beingtreated as test tube babies.”

The para (who is African American) directedher harshest statements to Principal Angela Lang(who is also African American).

“She needs to be gone,” she said bluntly, addingshe can’t believe that Dr. Freeman named her thefirst principal at the school. “She is the worst per-son she could have hired,” she said.

To her, Lang is “a very vindictive women” whocomes across as mean-spirited. “If (the public) couldread some of the emails she sends to teachers, shewould probably be gone in a day. She chops themup and beats them down. It’s just my opinion now,but I think she treats those teachers like a dog.”

The former paraprofessional also said that she wasstruck by the fact that older students and youngerstudents are often in close proximity to one another.“The younger children do not need to be around

some of those older kids,” she said. “They are a badexample.”

When asked if she had an opinion on why therehad been no public disclosure of these allegations(until this edition), the former “para” predicted,“that’s coming.”

“People have been quiet,” she said, “but I can tellyou that parents are discombobulated, especially be-cause of the grading thing (the use of “Fresh-Grade.).”

She also predicted that any discord that may beprevalent at PRS is “going to get worse.”

“It’s going to be just like MPS (Mont-gomery Public Schools),” she said. “The best par-ents and the best students are going to startleaving. So are the best teachers.”

Finally, when asked if she could define the “PikeRoad Way,” she answered with a laugh. “Yes I can.The Pike Road Way is the wrong way.”

Interview 3

Dismissed teacher talks about hisexperiences at PRS

AUTHOR’S NOTE: The third educator (or“Para”) who agreed to be quoted for this story is aformer teacher who was dismissed the week beforeChristmas. (The school’s music teacher was also dis-missed the next semester).

This teacher, who has 14 years teaching experi-ence, confirmed virtually all of the allegations de-tailed above. However, he did offer several uniquecomments.

The teacher understands some might dismiss hiscomments as those coming from a “disgruntled for-mer employee” who feels he was treated poorly. Hedoes, in fact, feel this way. He said he’s still not re-ceived a satisfactory reason why he was dismissed.


“I never disobeyed an instruction (from admin-istrators),” he said, adding that he also worked ashard as he could, typically putting in “12 hourdays.”

“Nobody gets fired in the middle of the year un-less they have harmed children or maybe stolensomething,” he said.

He said he retained the services of an AlabamaEducation Association attorney and documented hisobjections to his dismissal in a 7-page letter thatwas presented to the board of education. He alsorequested and received the opportunity to addressthe board at a formal meeting.

When he had finished his presentation, not a sin-gle board member addressed his comments. “Theyjust stared at me,” he said. He said he was particu-larly offended by one board member who was “eat-ing a breakfast muffin the whole time” he wastalking.

His wife was also at the meeting. Later, she toldhim that she wished she had spoken up. If she had,she would have asked board members, “Don’t yourealize how much he has suffered because of what(this school) has put our family through?”

Although he “hates to say this,” he places muchof the blame for the “crazy” atmosphere at PRSon superintendent Dr. Suzanne Freeman.“(PRS) has great kids,” he said. “Everybody there

is working their butts off. So I’ve got to ask: whereis the problem?”

The teacher said that the administration was“changing the rules” all the time. Teachers lackedadequate direction in his opinion. He said the ad-ministrators “didn’t give us a curriculum at all.”Teachers were “overwhelmed” and had no cleargrasp on the intricacies of the many new waysclasses would be conducted.

This despite the fact that all the faculty members

attended a five-week boot camp of sorts beforethe school year started (teachers were not paidfor these half-day sessions).

One important characteristic of the PRS way of“learning” is the ability to assess student’s strengthsand weaknesses. With this information, “lead learn-ers” can tailor projects that can help the studentsget from where they are to where they need to be.

But assessment tools or software designed tohelp with just this was not made available, hesaid. Teachers were told it would be “forthcoming”but it never was, he said.

The teacher said he routinely taught 40 or morestudents and conducted learning sessions in mul-tiple areas of the school. “For the first five weeks,I taught in the hallway.” Later he was moved to aroom originally designed to be a staffer’s office. Ta-bles designed to accommodate four students typ-ically had seven students, he said. “You felt likeyou were crammed into a garage,” he said.

He echoed concerns about how teachers aretreated. In faculty meetings, the superintendentwould rave about what a “great job” the lead learnerswere doing and “talk about how important we are.”Then in “coaching sessions” many of the sameteachers were “taken into a room and told whata bad job we were doing.”

If our sources are to be believed, many teachersleft these sessions either in tears or on the vergeof tears.

He said knowing what he knows, he “would notrecommend” that any parent send their childrento the school, “at least the way it is now.”

He believes the AEA is hearing “from other peoplewho have complained.”

He added two more anecdotes make him questionthe management ability of the school’s leaders.He pointed out that PRS teachers were never pre-

sented any employment contract. Teachers“never signed anything” and many didn’t evenknow how much they are being paid and if theyare getting all the benefits they are entitled to.

“We were told that our contract was when theboard voted to hire us,” he said.

When he was fired, he immediately went to theDepartment of Labor to register for unemploy-ment compensation. An employee at the officetold him that they couldn’t process the claim be-cause Pike Road School was not “registered” intheir system.

He never did receive any unemployment com-pensation. Fortunately, he quickly found anotherjob with Montgomery Public Schools.

During his job interview with MPS, “did you ex-plain what happened to you at PR?” we asked

Yes, he said. “I just explained all of the crazy thingsthat were going on at Pike Road, and that I assumestill are,” he said.

His answers must have satisfied them. He washired and is teaching again today.

When he had finished his

presentation, not a single board

member addressed his comments.

“They just stared at me,” he said.

He said he was particularly offended

by one board member who was

“eating a breakfast muffin

the whole time” he was talking.

By BILL RICE, JR.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: To obtain the perspective of teachers who are avid be-lievers in the merits of “The Pike Road Way,” we asked superintendent Dr.Suzanne Freeman if she could recommend some good interview subjects. LastMonday in the school’s conference room, four such teachers joined Dr. Free-man, Principal Angela Lang and IT Director Ryan Kendall in a “round table”type discussion.

Question 1 was simple. – “In your opinion, what is the Pike Road Way?” Responses are printed with only minor editing.

Shara Wade (Community 6, science)

“For me, it has to do with thinking; it’s about getting students to open up andthink … It also has to do with creativity and getting kids to own their learning… In the beginning (some of the changes were) very shocking to the students.It’s very different than what they had been asked to do (at their prior schools).It’s kind of amazing as the year went on to see how they kind of ‘did a 180’ andjust completely changed their thought process.”

Mrs. Wade added that the type of questions students posed at the beginningof the year seem to have all been answered, and students are now far more com-fortable with the “Pike Road Way” of learning.

Natalie Tucker (Community 3)

“For me, (the Pike Road Way) is just doing what is best for kids and meetingthem where they are … What I love about this school is that I never have a text-book in my hand, and I never have anything mandated to me as to exactly whatthey need to do. But I have kids who tell me what they need and I do that forthem.

“At first kids did not know what to do with (this approach). They thought,‘Oh, where is my worksheet?’ They learned that their worksheet was ‘doingthings.’ It wasn’t a piece of paper where they answered questions … It’s been atransition for them and for us, but it’s the best kind of transition.”

Jamie Shelton (Community 1)

“What I like about the way Pike Road School does things is that “we as edu-cators have the freedom to teach what our kids need …. If they need some skillsin the next grade we are free to do that. If they need remediation, we’re able todo that. We are free to follow their interests, which is great as a teacher becausewhen somebody tells you that you have to say this, or you have to do this - ‘youhave to take this test’ - then it’s very boxed. In that way, you don’t have creativityand you don’t have excitement. So I have grown as an educator to be excitedabout coming here. I think, ‘What are my kids going to come up with today?’And when I’m excited and the kids are excited, it’s not like school anymore.”

Catherine Kenny (Community 8)

“I am extremely passionate about helping students discover that they are theirown best teacher and we have that opportunity here. In traditional school, theylisten to a person who tells them what to learn and they memorize these factsand they regurgitate (the information).

“Here we allow them to discover their passions. We allow them to dabble inbasic content, but it is taken to a depth that is far beyond anything they wereable to do in a traditional school, which is what they do in real life.”

“We emphasize over and over again that we are here to facilitate, and they aregoing to teach themselves far more in their lives than any one person is goingto do. So we equip them with these skills here and they can be life-long learners.That’s the greatest difference here vs. traditional education.”

Question 2 – We also asked teachers if they thought parents and studentswere prepared for the significant changes they would encounter at theirnew school. In the opinion of the teachers who spoke with us, most parentswere.

Mrs. Wade – “In theory, parents knew that it was going to be different.” Sheacknowledges there were some “unexpected hurdles along the way,” adding,“My husband still talks about, “Wow, I can’t believe they are doing this or that,’or that ‘this is different.’ ”

Principal Angela Lang – “Parents knew it would be different,” she said, not-ing that she and her husband had already moved to the area even before she ap-plied for a position at the school. She and her husband were researching theschool for their own children and her husband attended some of the 11 commu-nity meetings Dr. Freeman hosted. “We expected that things were going to bedifferent … We wanted our children to (for example) participate in the ‘handson learning’ and be able to have a voice in how they learned. (The school gaveus) different choices.”

Natalie Tucker – She noted that there were “a lot of meetings.” IT director RyanKendall noted that handouts documenting all of the major changes were alsodistributed to those who attended these meetings.

Mrs. Kenny is somewhat unique in that she and her family are long-time resi-dents of Pike Road. She said the desire to do things differently was emphasized“from day one” in the conversations about starting a school.

“This community has always said that we wanted something different. FromDay 1, community stakeholders “wanted to revolutionize education. We don’twant to do the same things that MPS (Montgomery Public Schools) is doing.”

She added that when town leaders were “looking for someone to groom and de-velop our school board, I know that this was the appeal of Dr. Freeman (whoserved as a consultant in the planning phase of the system). She was someonethat they knew thinks outside of the box. She wanted (this kind of change).Now, (community members) might not have known exactly what this (change)would look like in practice. We didn’t necessarily know that, say, there wasgoing to be no tests or this and that. But we always knew that we wanted tochange.”

Question 3 – The teachers were also asked a couple of questions about com-plaints the paper had heard about discipline at the school.

None of the teachers in this interview seemed to share the view that disciplinewas a serious problem.

It’s probably about the same as in any school with similar demographics, saidKendall and others. They did agree that teachers sometimes had to repri-mand students for using their laptops for activities not lesson-related.

But this too happens at probably any school where laptops are used extensively, we were told.

Dr. Freeman noted that even if kids are playing games or watching videos,this in itself could provide clues to the students’ interests.

Another source of apparent controversy is the “FreshGrade” assessmentprogram. The faculty members acknowledged that FreshGrade has taken awhile for teachers and parents to get used to. But this should be expected asPike Road Schools is the national pioneer in using the program.

However, teachers told us that the system does a far better job of accurately as-sessing where students are in the learning process and helps “lead learners”design projects tailored to student needs.

Teachers highlight positives of ‘The Pike Road Way’

Full disclosure from author Bill Rice

A full disclosure is necessary in the piece of journalismpresented in today’s edition. My wife, Carrie, and mymother-in-law, Elizabeth Fryer, are both employed byPike Road Schools.

Due to this, some may conclude that the negative toneof this piece could be explained by fact that either ofthese family members might be “disgruntled,” “out toget Suzanne Freeman,” etc.

Any suggestions along these lines are not true. It wasme, and me alone, who ultimately reached the conclusion that this story needed to be told.

My wife – like most spouses no doubt - talks to herhusband about events that take place at her workplace.So I was certainly aware of many of the characterizationspresented in this story well before the “man on the street”might hear such stories.

I’m also a journalist, so I immediately thought “thereis a story here.”

I think it was the student essay presented in this editionthat made me overcome any reservations I had aboutdoing such an “awkward” story. Here was a student who

spent weeks working on a 12-page document that sheclearly wanted to reach a wider audience.

I should also note that my wife had nothing to do withthis student’s essay. She didn’t know it had been written.However, one person (for whatever reason) presented acopy of this essay to my wife, who showed it to me.

About three weeks ago, I talked to Loretta Grant, co-owner and publisher of The Gazette and asked her opin-ion on whether the paper would publish a piece that wasbound to be controversial. Loretta concluded that thiswas a story that needs to published.

As far as my wife being a “source,” I didn’t interviewher or use any quotes from her. Some of the things shehad told me, or concerns she had, essentially served as a“starting point” for my investigation. When I learned certain facts, I invariably asked her “now is this true asfar as you know?”

My mother-in-law and I never talked about this story,although she was aware I was working on it.

Readers should also know that my mother-in-law, whois the English as Second Language teacher at PRS, wastold months ago that there would be no place for her atPike Road School next year.

For the record, my wife is a nervous wreck about thisstory. On one hand she believes the story needs to betold, but she also has to work at the school every day.In my opinion, my wife is displaying real courage in al-lowing me to pursue this story. So too are all the otherpeople who shared their stories.

Carrie requested only that I let people know that she inno way holds any ill feelings to all her colleagues, stu-dents and parents who have enthusiastically embracedthe “Pike Road Way.” She admires their dedication andability to adapt to change.

She too has put in long hours and done her very bestfor the students she has grown to love.

Sometimes good people simply have different opin-ions. Sometimes stories people don’t want to be toldmight need to be told. My only hope is that those whomight criticize Carrie at least respect and value her rightto reach different conclusions than they may have.

Finally, I wrote the story. It wasn’t fun and I wish Inever had to write it. I do, however, hope good comesfrom it.

DR. FREEMAN RESPONDS TO ALLEGATIONS,

DISCUSSES POSITIVES OF FIRST YEAR


Pike Road Mayor GordonStone says some parentsand other people in PikeRoad have expressed crit-icisms to him about PikeRoad School, but the number is “not that dramatic” nor do suchcomments strike him asbeing “epidemic.” Headded that he wouldn’tcharacterize any of thecomplaints as “over thetop.”

“I think our school system’s first year would be evaluated by a lot of people as being positive and productive. I think we’ve achieved some excitinggoals from what I’ve seen at a distance.”

Mayor Stone described the types communicationshe has received.

“I’ve had conversations with people who say, ‘I needto let you know this,’ or ‘I am going to send you anemail on whatever,’ “ he said.

Another example: The mayor has received callswhere a parent says, “we were really excited about(the school opening), but this just doesn’t seem tobe right for my child.”

He says he typically “sends all that stuff back tothe school. I just don’t think it’s my place to be in-volved in the day-to-day operations (of the school).But these type conversations have been very infrequent … I don’t want to be a mayor who micro-manages the school.”

He’s heard just as many, if not more, positive

comments, he said.

“I’ve received phone calls where a parent tells me,‘This is the best thing I’ve ever seen. My childrenlove getting up in the morning and going to school.So I’ve heard both ends of the spectrum, but I havenot heard anything that I would describe as epi-demic or over the top in either category.”

The mayor said he has been to the school manytimes, but has made “no surprise visits.”

Some people The Gazette spoke to have expressedcriticisms about the Schlechty model of educationreform. Stone said the people who helped createthe Pike Road School system were seeking to be“innovative,” but there was certainly no “man-date” from this group or from him to push for,say, hyper employment of “project based learn-ing” or installing a system that doesn’t featuretraditional grades, use tests or eschews textbooks.

“I don’t know much about Schlechty at all,” hesaid. “I’ve seen the name, but I have done no research (on this program).”

Mayor Stone was instrumental in hiring Dr. EdRichardson, former state superintendent of educationand former president of Auburn University as a con-sult to help lay the groundwork for the future schoolsystem. Later, at Richardson’s recommendation,Dr. Suzanne Freeman was also hired as a consultant.

Her first role was to “help train school boardmembers.” Her duties later expanded to provideguidance on financial and planning matters. Henoted that he she had experience with a schoolsystem that was going through “separation issues.” (She served as Trussville City School’s first super-intendent when Trussville broke off from theJefferson County Public School System.)

If his memory is correct, Mayor Stone said Dr.Freeman was paid $5,000 month and served in aconsultant capacity for “maybe a little over ayear.” Her pay was the “going rate” for people inher profession, he said, adding that “she was alsodoing consultant work for several other places.”

Some people have criticized the school board forhiring the person who “trained them.” Stone saidschool board members could better address anyquestions along those lines.

He said Freeman was “thoroughly” vetted beforeshe was hired.

“We talked to education people throughout thestate (when seeking consultants) and the topnames that kept coming up were Ed Richardsonand Suzanne Freeman,” he said.

Mayor Stone was asked if he was aware of the un-pleasant circumstances of Freeman’s departure inTrussville and the fact that “more than 500 people”cheered when it was announced at a school boardmeeting that her contract would be voided.

“What I know about the situation in Trussville is thatshe and the school board came to a mutual decision”to part ways, he said, adding, “I don’t know all thedetails of that.”

He added that, Dr. Ed Richardson handled thesuperintendent selection process. “He would havebeen the one responsible for ensuring back-ground checks were completed.”

The mayor again emphasized that he makesevery effort to let school leaders make school-related decisions.

But we are certainly going to “support ourschools” every way we can, he said.

MAYOR STONE HAS NOT RECEIVED ‘DRAMATIC’NUMBER OF COMPLAINTS ABOUT SCHOOL

Mayor Gordon Stone

By BILL RICE, JR.

By BILL RICE, JR.

To give Superintend-ent Dr. SuzanneFreeman an oppor-tunity to respond toany unf la t ter ing characterizations orcriticisms of PikeRoad School, we re-quested an interview.Our request wasgranted. We endedup talking to four

teachers and Dr. Freeman over the course of threehours, about half the time allocated to teachers andhalf to questions directed just to Mrs. Freeman(Principal Angela Lang and IT director RyanKendall also sat in on this interview).

Before we present Dr. Freeman’s general commentsabout the school’s first year, we will highlight orsummarize some of her responses to our direct questions.

To this reporter, the model for “The Pike RoadWay” is largely taken from the ideas espoused bythe late Phil Schlechty (who passed away in Janu-ary). In 1997, Schlechty contracted with the Bell-South Foundat ion to run the Bel l south“Superintendent’s Leadership Network.”

Freeman said she was invited to join this Lead-ership Group in 2001.

We asked her (in the years since 2001) “how manySchlechty conferences would you estimate youhave attended?” Strangely to us, she refused toanswer this question.

In a feature story on Freeman (from the AmericanAssociation of School Board’s website) publishedwhile she was superintendent of Trussville CitySchools (2004-2011), the story pointed out thatFreeman had made it a practice to attend at leastthree such meetings per year, with up to 45 otherteachers, administrators and school board mem-bers attending at least two of them.

She also did not answer our question seeking to findout how much taxpayer money may have beenspent for Freeman and others to attend such confer-ences or workshops (in Trussville and now Pike Road).

The same story featured a sidebar Q&A. The firstquestion asked her to identify the “Greatest influenceon her professional career.” Her answer: “Being amember of the Bellsouth Superintendents’ Leader-ship Network with the Schlechty Center. GeorgeThompson (the center’s current director) and PhilSchlechty have become true mentors to me.”

Thus one might appreciate our surprise when shetold us that Pike Road Schools “does not pushSchlechty.” In our question about Schlechty-influ-ence on Pike Road School, she spoke at length aboutnumerous other influences on her thinking.

Dr. Freeman chose not to expound on the detailssurrounding her dismissal as Trussville superin-tendent. She said no questions on this topic wereposed to her during the “public” interview processof the three finalists for the Pike Road superinten-dent’s position. She did say, however, that the cir-cumstances of her departure were brought up in theformal and private interview conducted by boardmembers. She didn’t provide any examples ofquestions that may have been asked by schoolboard members.

She stated that “God puts you in places you need tobe” and that she is blessed that He brought her toPike Road. She mentioned that she thought the focusof the interview should be on what is happening atPike Road, not on her past.

We asked her about her role as a school consultantprior to being named superintendent. She said she

did help “train” prospective school board mem-bers, but rejects any insinuation that this mighthave given her candidacy undue weight.

We asked her how much she was paid for these con-sulting duties. She said she did not know. MayorStone later told us that to the best of his recollectionshe was paid $5,000/month and served as a con-sultant for “a little over a year.”

Dr. Freeman was asked if she had received manycomplaints from parents about any aspects of theschool’s first years.

“I get a lot of nice emails from parents,” she said.She certainly did not give the impression there havebeen numerous complaints nor did she characterizethe nature of any of the complaints.

When asked how many parents may have with-drawn their children from Pike Road School, shesaid she did not know.

To be fair, we sent her several follow-up questionsand requests for additional information. She re-sponded that in just one day (before our deadline)she and the “lean staff” at the school did not havetime to immediately respond to our request.

“It is important for us to provide accurate infor-mation and it will take some time for us to re-search and pull together the volume ofinformation you have requested,” she wrote in anemail sent Tuesday morning. We certainly agreewith these words.

One of the more serious accusations made againstDr. Freeman and Principal Angela Lang might bethe charge that administrators bully, harass orintimidate certain teachers, usually in one-on-one“coaching sessions.”

“I hate that they feel this way,” she said. She saidany feedback given to teachers - or critiques of theirperformance she or Lang may have offered - are“never personal” and are given “lovingly.”

When we asked if there were “honor rolls” at PikeRoad School, and if not, why not, she answered thatthere are a number of student groups at the school,such as the SGA.

We asked her if the school system lacked moneyand if it was true that some teachers have been toldthere might not be a position for them next year be-cause of a lack of funding. She said she is currentlylooking at “all of our positions” and trying to de-termine if there might be a need to “reallocate”resources.

In our reporting on Dr. Freeman’s tenures as super-intendent in Trussville and Cullman, several peopletold us that they thought the Cullman board mighthave informally told her that her contract would notbe renewed and that it was perhaps a good idea thatshe start looking for other opportunities. There is notruth at all to this, she said.

“The board had just extended my contract rightbefore I left,” she said.

She also rejects any insinuation that the more in-novative or ‘profoundly different” aspects of PikeRoad School may have been intentionally con-cealed from parents.

“We tried to make it real clear (at the 11 neighbor-hood meetings she attended) that this was not goingto be ‘traditional’ education,” she said. Indeed,much of the feedback she received was that theTown of Pike Road embraced change and wantedto be a leader in education reform.

And this reputation seems to have materialized, sheadded. She noted that when Pike Road facultymembers attend various educational conferences,“they are treated like rock stars.” Everyone wants

to know more about what is happening at Pike RoadSchool, she said.

Dr. Freeman would of course prefer that a story onthe first year of Pike Road Schools emphasize anyand all positive reviews.

She made a brief statement in an email to us: “Weare proud of how our lead learners have inspiredour learners to conquer challenging work andalso discover the joy of learning,” she wrote. Sheexpounded on the positives in our conversation.

“I think we have had a great first year at PikeRoad School,” she said, adding that she is “amazedat what our children have learned” and how theschool’s teachers “have embraced their newroles.”

The faculty has indeed inspired students to take“ownership” of their learning, she said.

She described some of transformations she has seenin students as being “magical.” Every day, she is“inspired” by something students do, faculty mem-bers do, or both.

She emphasized how much she appreciates the greatlevel of support she and the school have receivedfrom parents “who have trusted us with their chil-dren” and who have been so willing to “partner withus.”

The school system has certainly encounteredsome “curve balls” but these obstacles havelargely been overcome, she said.

One such obstacle was caused by the amazing inter-est in the school. This interest manifested itself withenrollment numbers that were far greater than sheand others anticipated. In planning the school, cen-sus figures indicated the school might have only653 students. Current enrollment is 1,142, shesaid.

Because of the surge in enrollment, she and teachershad to be creative in providing learning space for allthe students. New campuses will resolve any “over-crowding” issues in the future. Also, modular class-rooms have already been installed on the campus. Itwas hoped these class spaces would be ready forlearning in January. However, use of the modular fa-cilities have been delayed for a variety of reasons,she said.

Dr. Freeman is a big believer in “community in-volvement” and community participation. She saidshe always welcomes input and ideas from parentsand members of the community.

“We are very excited about the future of PikeRoad Schools,” she said.

No immediate comment from school board...

On Monday of this week, The Gazette emailed 20questions to Ray Hawthorne, president of thePike Road Board of Education, at his workplace .We also included a copy of the questions we askedDr. Freeman. When we called the law firm whereHawthorne works, we were told he was in a meetingand we left a message for him to call us back. As ofpress time Wednesday, we had received no replyfrom Hawthorne or any other school board member.We also asked Hawthorne to forward our questionsto fellow board members.

We found it somewhat strange that the Pike RoadSchools’ website does not include direct phonenumbers or email links to any of the school boardmembers. When we called the school and spoke tothe receptionist seeking this information, we weretold that people with such inquiries are told to emailthe school and that the school forwards any ques-tions to board members.


The Education StatioThe Education Stationn . . .. . .THE BIRTH OF

AMERICA’S EDUCATION

The Inheritance for America’s Children

By Bobbie Ames

In the introduction to the 1828 Dictionary, distributed by the Foundationfor American Christian Education, Rosalie Slater has chosen to includesome selections from Noah Webster's Masters Thesis from Yale College.Her selections in the preface are carefully chosen to guide us in the use ofthis volume. Many people consider the 1828 Dictionary as the second most

valuable book in the home library, next only to theHoly Bible. This writer certainly does. It containsthe language of Liberty, and the definitions areBible related, when possible.

“The Declaration of Independence,” July 4,1776, served to announce to the world the separationof the American colonies from Great Britain, theirestablishment as “free and independent states,” andtheir “firm reliance on the Protection of DivineProvidence.” To this ringing declaration to faith inGod, was affixed the signatures of the 56 men whomutually pledged to “each other” the their “Lives,”their “Fortunes,” and their “sacred Honor.”

It took seven long years of the AmericanRevolution to “dissolve the Political Bands” whichconnected them to England, and “six more years

before the document detailing the Christian philosophy of AmericanGovernment took shape and form. But political separation alone would notsuffice to keep the young republic on her Christian Constitutional course. IfAmerican Liberty was to be complete, all mooring from the old world mustbe cast off...especially those that might bind her in alien philosophies ofgovernment, and hence to educational systems lending them support.”

“This country must in some future time, be as distinguished by her literaryimprovements, as she is by the liberality of civil and ecclesiastical constitutions.Europe has grown old in folly, corruption, and tyranny. In that country, lawsare perverted, manners are licentious, literature is declining, and human naturedebased. For America, in her infancy, to adopt the present maxims of the oldworld, would be to stamp the wrinkles of decrepit age upon the bloom of youth,and to plant the seeds of decay in a vigorous constitution.”

“It is the business of Americans to select the wisdom of all nations, as thebasis of her constitution, to avoid their errors, to prevent the introductionof foreign vices and corruptions, and check the career of herown,... to promote virtue and patriotism,... to embellishand improve the sciences,... to diffuse a uniformity andpurity of language,... to add superior dignity to this infantEmpire and to human nature.”

Webster's statements were included in his dictionaryand in his translation of the Holy Bible. His vision, hisresearch, his writing and his passion for America’s unique-ness, was used by God to prepare this one individual, whowould give birth to American Education. In God'sProvidence, it has been the means to preserve Liberty untilwell into the 1900's.

How God prepared Noah Webster for this monumen-tal task is fascinating. He was a descendant on his mother'sside of Governor William Bradford of “PlimothPlantation.” His great, great grandfather was the governorof Connecticut in 1656. With such a devout heritage, it isno surprise that he would write: “The Christian religionis the most important and one of the first things inwhich all children, under a free government, ought tobe instructed. No truth is more evident to my mindthan that the Christian religion must be the basis forany government intended to secure the rights andprivileges of a free people.”

Webster was certainly not alone in his views. TheFounding Fathers of the nation made clear the relation-ship of Christianity to American government andliberty. Their dream was to extend the blessings of liberty to all people throughthe liberating gospel of Jesus Christ.

In recognizing the role of American Government, Webster was carefulto limit the jurisdiction of government when it came to Education and theFamily. He wrote: “The foundation of all free government and of all socialorder must be laid in families and in the discipline of youth. The Education foryouth, an employment of more consequence than making laws and preachingthe gospel, because it lays the foundation on which both law and gospel rest forsuccess....”

It is a fascinating read to learn how God prepared this young man for hislife's work of the “founding of America’s distinctively Christian EducationalSystem.” Growing up in New Haven, Connecticut on a family farm, he and hissiblings were happy to be diligent laborers and prayed for good weather,because a good crop of corn harvested in good weather would provide for thewinter months. The corn was grown to eat, of course, but primarily forexport to ship to England. However, when night came, while the brothers,Abram and Charles, slept nearby, Noah could be found with his small candleburning brightly by his bed. Books were scarce, but words and a printed pagehad always fascinated this young boy. In 1771, books were rare in the colonies,but everyone had a family Bible. The local pastor probably had 20 or morebooks, but most of them were in Latin.

Probably, on a weekly basis, a family might see the newspaper fromHartford, and an annual Ames Almanack at Christmas time. It brought weatherinformation and tid-bits of things, such as maxims, poetry, etc.

In the little school house by the church, there was a scarcity of booksas well, but usually had a speller from which the small child could learn hisletters, a primer and a Psalter. In 1764, Noah was six years old, and alreadyfascinated with letters, words, and spelling.

At age 13, when the fields and harvesting was done, Noah went back tothe one room school house. Boys usually did not continue their schooling afterage 14. He walked four miles to school. Without books available, many ofNoah's questions remained unanswered. In the following spring, a new ministercame to town, Dr. Nathan Perkins. He had graduated from Princeton and hadmany books for this time. Dr. Perkins took a great interest in Noah Webster.He welcomed him into his study and loaned him books, first of all, a LatinGrammar. Novels and story books as we know them today, hardly existedin Noah's childhood, certainly not in the colonies.

After serious study with Dr. Perkins over many months, Noah decided thathe MUST go to college. He discussed it with his pastor and his father. He foundthat Yale college had 2500 books in its library. That set on fire Noah's ambitionfor college. After another year of preparation with his minister and his work inthe Latin Grammar School, he was almost 16, and determined to enter Yale inSeptember. With parents willing to place a mortgage on the family property,

Noah had the determination to prove its worth.Yale college had three buildings,and those not in good condition. On the edge of Long Island Sound, New Havenwas a lovely town of fine old trees, and an atmosphere of “quiet dignity.”

Noah plowed into the academic life of Yale. There were 150 students, andforty boys in his freshman class. Noah displayed leadership ability from thestart. He was well aware of his responsibility. He was attending on borrowedmoney, and would prove his worth to his beloved parents. During the summermonths, he would be back on the farm with his hoe.

These were turbulent times in the mid 1770's. There was a universaldemand for Liberty, and in 1776, Thomas Jefferson took a pen and paper, andwrote the formal statement that we know as “The Declaration of Independence.”It was adopted on July 4, 1776, by the Continental Congress. Noah Webster wasthrilled and now he wanted to learn everything he could about the 56 men whohad signed the document. He learned that 14 were lawyers and 12 jurists, whichwas really much the same thing. He began an interest in law as a possible careerpath, and over time, would add that to his many accomplishments.

Due to the war, college would be in recess for months at a time, and Noahwould be back on the farm... always reading, always studying. When the newpresident, Dr. Ezra Stiles, came to Yale, he decided to bring back the boys whowere too young to go to war. The New Republic would need educated men andDr. Stiles was there to see to it. He was extremely versatile and well educated.

Thirty of Noah's classmates returned to graduate. Some had left for the war.Noah's graduating address proved to be the most impressive one of all. Uponreturning home after his graduation, Noah learned that the war had ruined hisfamily financially, and his parents could not help him with law school. In amatter of just days, Noah had a position of teaching in the village school atGlastonbury, Connecticut. His class at Yale had spent one summer therepreviously. The children loved him at the school, but the lack of books wasthe chief problem. There was only one spelling book for 50 children. In thecruel winter, of 1779-1780, Noah walked four miles to school. It made Noahthink of General Washington and his troops at Valley Forge.

Nights found him deep into his law books, and he passed the Bar in April,1781. However, education was still his passion, and especially for Americanchildren. His first to be published textbook, titled The American Instructor, wasa spelling book, but filled with inspiration for patriotism and for the courageof Christian character. Simple early phonics were included as well. He took itto Philadelphia, and after a name change and a delay, The Spelling Book was

published in 1783 under the title, A GrammaticalInstitute of the English Language. Later,millions of copies would be published asThe American Spelling Book. This was thebeginning of Noah's Webster’s school textbooks, which would form the foundation ofAmerica's unique education in all of worldHistory.

One writer has described Noah as “the man onhorseback,” for all the travel he did, from colonyto colony, with his speller. Among his travelswas a visit to Mt.Vernon, hosted by GeneralWashington. By this time, not only The AmericanSpelling Book, but a Reader was in print.

He took a 27 day sailing trip from Baltimoreto Charlestown, South Carolina, and was success-ful in having his textbooks adopted for the entirecolony. In addition, he had now written the Historytext which told of America's founding and earlyhistory. Over a period of one hundred years, onehundred million copies of Webster’s dictionary andtexts were literally worn out from faithful use. Fromthe pen of Noah Webster, American children, fromnorth to south and from east to west, have learned“their letters, their morality, and their patriotism.Noah Webster was “America's Schoolmaster,”

When American colonies were first settled,each group brought their old world philosophies. Some were indeedChristians, such as the Pilgrims in Plymouth. Some were more culturalChristians, but not Orthodox in Bible terms. Some were Humanists or fans ofother philosophies, mixed together. Webster was very aware of the threats fromforeign shores. He made sure that his textbooks and the dictionary addressedthose threats. Thankfully, he lived to see the fruit of his labors. Prominentmen, such as John Jay, offered support and encouragement.

Looking back over his remarkable life, remembering the direct anddivine operation of the heart, Webster wrote: “I could no longer question orhave a doubt respecting the Calvinistic and Christian doctrines ofregeneration, of free grace, and of the Sovereignty of God... I was struck bythe 26th verse in John 14, ‘But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whomthe Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring allthings to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said to you.’ ”

America's History is the story of Individual Liberty as no other nationhas ever known. It is a legacy to which every American child is entitled.The Christian Constitutional Republic has been blessed by God as no othernation in world history has been blessed. God used one man, Noah Webster,to set the Truth in textbooks for generations of early America children.One hundred million copies of his textbooks were circulated.

He stressed that it all begins in the Family – the family living out theBiblical mandates of Scripture. Do we have enough families today, toembrace that Biblical order in their home, to cherish and live out onceagain, “life and liberty,” as generations of our forefathers dared to dream?

Noah Webster

EDUCATIONMODERN DICTIONARY (1980) - The action or process of educating orof being educated; a stage of such a process, the knowledge and developmentresulting from an educational process, the field of study that deals mainlywith methods of teaching and learning in schools.

WEBSTER DICTIONARY (1828) - noun [Latin educatio.] The bringingup, as of a child, instruction; formation of manners. education comprehendsall that series of instruction and discipline which is intended to enlighten theunderstanding, correct the temper, and form the manners and habits of youth,and fit them for usefulness in their future stations. To give children a goodeducation in manners, arts and science, is important; to give them a religiouseducation is indispensable; and an immense responsibility rests on parentsand guardians who neglect these duties.

Pike Road School System May 2016

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