"Tina Long, the manager of the Portland and David Douglas Schools was let go as of Thursday the 28th. If you would like to tell her goodbye please send her an email at t6long@gmail.com."
(As an administrative note...a few comments were left on other posts in regards to this topic. They have been moved to this post to keep on topic. Thank you for your comments...they are welcome!)
I am so sad that Tina Long (PAA)is no longer with us. She has been an absolutely fantastic school manager. Parents and children adore her.
ReplyDeleteI am seriously considering pulling my kids from this school. What is happening to Arthur Academy? Who will be next?
I wish the parent organization would discuss Tina Long, the manager of David Douglas and Portland Arthur Academys, being "let go" based upon a conflict of interest.
ReplyDeleteI am wondering how many other teachers or staff who have been out spoken against the current leadership are also on the chopping block? As a parent who values her teachers, I am very worried!
When will it end?!?! Now they've gone and fired the Principal at the 2 most successful Arthur Academies....what is going on over there and how do we stop this?
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I will be pulling our daughter next year. We value her education very much but we also value her moral education. What are we teaching our children if we continue to support leadership that is acting like the bully on the playground. I have had several conversations with Mr. Arthur and he has yet to give me a straight answer about anything. The answers he does give are directly opposite of what has been written in black and white in the board meeting minutes and their budget. I don't understand. The minutes are things that are being said by the board members. Perfect example was one of the David Douglas parents asked what his salary was and he said $25,000 however in the proposed budget for the year it shows $50,000. This is just one example of what I am talking about. Where is the truth and honesty. Who is going to be the next one with their neck on the chopping block because they dare to question him. I stand amazed that all the parents and teachers are not standing up for our children and saying enough is enough.
ReplyDeleteTo the last Anonymous poster, Why wait?
ReplyDeleteI asked a manager at another school about Tina being fired, and was told very clearly that she resigned. This is absolutely not the case! She "resigned" the way the John Liljgren and the two board members resigned. This is Mr.Arthur's stock excuse when he forces people out of the organization. It will not end until Mr. Arthur has accountability is some way, shape, or form. Staff and teachers alike are being subtly threatened if they do not pledge complete allegience to Mr. Arthur and his chosen leadership. This is corruption at its finest, and in the public school system no less! Parents, we need to stand up and demand changes. If do not, many of our valuable teachers and staff will be gone, either fired or leaving due to poor leadership. I want to hear the results of the staff surveys. We heard the results of the parent ones at the January board meeting, but were told that the staff results were not ready yet. I am sure they are ready by now. We have aright to know how our staff are feeling. Does anyone have any thoughts on how to make this happen?
ReplyDeleteI think that it's very sad that she couldn't finish out the school year like she wanted to. I thought that one of the goals Mr. Arthor had was to help open other schools with the same format and cirriculum. I think that he feels very threatened that the schools have grown and that he can't control everything. It is apparent to me that any teacher's that supposedly "oppose him" are gone very quickly. I was very disturbed at the way he spoke to one of our teachers at our PTA meeting regarding info that she reserched for use concerning classroom equipment. He was very rude and it made him look ignorant. I think that it's very disruptive for my child to have a new teacher and school manager in the middle of the year. His decision to remove Mrs. Long effects three schools and those children.
ReplyDeleteIt just shows us that if we don't agree with Mr Arthur then your gone. A concerned parent called him today and he basically said he doesn't care this is how it is and that's that. He only cares about himself not teachers, parents, and his students. Keep up the good work Mr Arthur and pray that you have schools because at this rate you will have no one to back you up. You give charter schools a bad name and really make me think if I made a good decsion by putting my kids in your school
ReplyDeleteWe currently have our two daughters in the Portland Arthur Academy. When our oldest daughter came of age to enter school, I researched for the best alternative to the public schools, and was impressed with Mr Arthurs accomplishments and approach. This remains my view, all the current controversy notwithstanding. Obviously, its difficult to deal with all the inevitable personality conflicts to everyones total (or sometimes even partial!) satisfaction, But here for me is the bottom line: the school is called the ARTHUR Academy, not the LONG Academy or any other! Charles Arthur paid the dues to develop his ideas and go to the trouble to start this thing, and it was because of his accomplishments that we signed up for his school. And ultimately, regardless of who are the school managers or teachers or anyone else, he will be held accountable for the success or failure of this school, hence he must maintain some sort of overall direction over the whole thing. Personally, I think he has shown a much more patience through all of this than I would have!
ReplyDeleteIn what industry are you allowed to hold a management position in a company while at the same time working to start up a competing company? I like Mrs. Long, but already once a group has tried to force Mr. Arthur out of his position. This is his school and his vision and none of that has changed from the beginning. The only difference seems to be people who don't feel they are getting enough recognition and that is more important to them than our children's education. Mrs. Long has said in her own letter that she chose to work on the other school, knowing that it was seen as a conflict of interest and that she should make a choice. She made her choice and I wish her the best in her future endeavor.
ReplyDeleteI am so thankful to Mr. Arthur for what he has done for my children and other children alike. I don't know where our children would be if he hadn't started these wonderful schools. But as most of you have said it isn't fair how he is treating his staff and teachers. If we don't have these quality teachers and staff we don't have a quality school. Mr. Arthur is and ever will be a wonderful educator. He is not a businessman. Unfortunately, when you have employees, (aka staff & teachers), you must run your school as a business. Why is Mr. Arthur on his own board? It may not be illegal but it is unethical. If we as parents do not stand up for our teachers who will. We must stand together with our teachers and tell him their needs and see that they get fullfilled. Yes these wonderful schools were brought to us by a wonderful man, but public schools do not belong to anyone but the public. And these are public charter schools. They belong to us!
ReplyDeleteThanks to the comments for pointing out that Arthur Academy is a PUBLIC charter school. Like Mr. Uding, I enrolled my child in Arthur Academy because of the schools approach and accomplishments, on the other hand, I attribute the success of the schools to the Teachers and Staff who make it work on a daily basis. Furthermore, when the school was first established Mr. Arthur was not alone, there were many people that worked right along with him and did a lot of the footwork involved in starting a school…unfortunately most of those people are no longer associated with Arthur Academy (makes a person wonder??). As far as Mrs. Longs situation, it is my opinion that this was an incredibly unfair dismissal. How are her actions deemed a conflict of interest when Mr. Arthur himself has stated that Charter Schools are not in competition with public schools or each other, and in fact, he has spoke in public forums advocating for charter schools and choice. Mrs. Long said in her letter that she was offering advice on her own time to a potential charter school because she is an advocate of charter schools and because...again...IT WAS ON HER OWN TIME. I’m shocked and very troubled that Mr. Arthur thinks he can dictate what an employee does after hours with their personal time.
ReplyDeleteIf teachers/staff speak out about Mr. Arthur then they are let go, that is why nothing will be ever said. Parents are the ones who have the power. For people who think that these are Mr. Arthur's schools you are wrong. They belong to the tax paying people of our country. If parents want good teachers/staff to stick around then you need to demand change!
ReplyDeleteThis is my son's first year at the Arthur Academy in David Douglas. He was in 3rd grade last year at Lincoln Park and we really felt like he was being shuffled under the carpet and that his educational needs were not being met. We began this year having him attend an internet school when we came across the Arthur Academy(thanks to one of my daycare parents!) I immediatly filled out an application for my daughter for fall of '09 but then decided "just for fun" to call and see if they had a spot for my son. This was about 3 weeks after school began. I talked to Tina Long and she informed me there was one spot open in 3rd grade but that the curriculum was so much higher he just might test for their 3 rd grade, I brought him in, Tina and Mrs. Brown tested him and of course coming from Lincoln Park he was able to be put in 3 rd grade. He LOVES it and we love it , as parents it was so discouraging watching your child get "lost" and not to mention bullied and pushed around by the other kids.
ReplyDeleteI have listened to Charles Arthur speak and explain why he started the schools and his philosophy on education and he is an amazing man. In the business world things have to change and orders have to be made in order for everything to work, I do not know the exact reasons Mrs. Long was let go but I really dont feel like our children should suffer. I am so very grateful for Charles Arthur and the Arthur Academy. My daughter will be in Kindergarten next year and I cant wait for her to get the best education ever her whole elementary journey.
I would never pull my children out of the best school ever because of someone getting let go, People get let go of their jobs every day, yes, I liked Mrs. Long, I also really like Mrs. Brown, she is great for the school and is the best 3 rd grade teacher my son has ever had, she will be a great leader for our school.
My family came across the Arthur Academy this school year, we were starting our son on an internet school because the "normal" public school he went to was so terrible .He was failing and they knew that but were just going to move him along like his education was no big deal, he was also being pushed on and teased by other children and bullied on the bus.
ReplyDeleteI called Tina Long the second week school started and she said there was one space in 3rd grade(technically he would have been in fourth grade) but since The Arthur Academy is so "above" academically she thought he might test ok for that classroom. He did and was able to start the following week. He loves the schhol, the children are amazing, the staff is amazing. We could not be happier. They have already brought him to a fourth grade level and it is barely March.I have met Charles Arthur on several occassions, the last was at the "We teach kindergarteners to read" meeting. He is such a wonderful man and I thank him everyday for starting these schools. Unless you pay for private school your child will not get a better education! I feel sorry for Mrs. Long but Mr. Arthur is the founder of these schools and without him our children would be stuck in regular public schools.
With my son being in 3 rd grade we obviously know Mrs. Brown very well and We wish her the best of luck, she is such a wonderful teacher and now she will be a wonderful school manager.
I would not pull my children out of Arthur Academy for anything!