Saturday, June 2, 2007

Electing the Principal of this school is critical

这位家长说得非常有道理, 我非常同意选校长是个非常严肃的事情。没有标准,没有尺度地走过场是对学校的不负责任。

“Electing the Principal of this school is critical because the person in this position will lead the School up to next level.Does this school have Mission Statement? Does principal candidates have their visions for the development and advancement of the School?I don't know this process of election, one of the most critical steps probably is the Open Hearing you guys have been mentioning dozens of times here. I bet BOD will outline the bullet points for candidates' speech or presentation. My understanding is that each candidate should provide and express her or his:
1. Vision to leading the School to the right direction;
2. Revise Mission Statement, if any, to accommodate School current status;
3. Financial Management Planning, including Pro Forma P&L, Balance Sheet and Cash Flow - Source & Use Format (Not GAAP Format for Reporting)
4. Personnel Management, including positions arrangement and hiring/rehiring plans for ADMIN Staff, faculties
5. Educational goals in terms of students' learning achievement
6. Risk Management in terms of backup plan under certain possible and foreseeable urgent scenariosPrincipal is a paid position, candidates need to know election is a serious process for which they have to be prepared more than they might think before. ”

Alex' letter

“西北中文学校董事会:

敬请董事会解释,除编者按外,刘晓君的会议纪实那个条目与事实不符?

鉴于校长周琳有目共睹的所作所为,提请董事会将其开除,保留追究其法律责任的一切权力。

A)要求董事会:

1)中文学校最赖以集资的暑期班被周琳断送。调查并追究周琳过去两年对暑期班管理的失职;
对其行政处罚。
2)责承周琳和副校长对故意破坏教师和董事会坦诚对话向全体教师道歉。
3)责承周琳向全校解释为什么散布董事会要降低教师工资和解雇教师的谣言。
4)为保护学校的合法性,聘请专职人员,全面调查周琳在职两年内的所有分配细账。已备学校
受法律挑战。

B) 建议董事会:

- 周琳在职期间,积怨甚多。注意调整教职员工的心态。去伪存真。剔除感情因素。只重事实。
- 周琳在职期间,结党营私,招降纳叛。注意会有一批人随周琳而辞职。董事会要准配提拔新
人。
- 董事会应加强自身的团结。对相互攻击的行为应予追究。

谨此
Alex ”

Friday, June 1, 2007

Congratulations to NWCS telented kids

这是学校发来的信,你们大家可呢给已经都看到了。因为这些孩子咱们这个学校在整个华盛顿州都非常有名气了,为了这些孩子我们也要让学校好好发展下去,你们说是不是?

其实这个blog不是为了谁,而是为了家长们有个说话的地方。匿名也没有什么不好,大家毕竟都是低头不见抬头见,有些话说重了以后还怎么见面?如果你觉得匿名更能让你敞开心扉,go a head! 不过攻击性的语言最好不要说,因为那样也解决不了问题,只会让别人难堪。



Dear parents,

Greetings from NWCS!

· Congratulations to NWCS Math Teams
The full result from last Saturday (5/19)'s 2007 Washington State 4th to 6th grade MathIsCool Master competition:

4th grade:
Team 1st place (team members: Caleb Ji, Robert Zhang, Brandon Wang, Kevin Yang)

Individual awards:
Kevin Yang: 1st place
Brandon Wang: 6th place

5th grade:
Team 5th place (Team members: Allen Jiang, Evan Wang, Michelle Na, Qiaoman Chen). They tied with the 4th place for the total score.

Iindividual awards:
Kevin Liu: 2nd place (Stevenson)
Evan Wang: 8th place
Allen Jiang: 12th place

6th grade:
Team 4th place (team member Dandi Meng, Derek Yee, Jennifer Cheng, and Kevin Ma)

Individual awards,
Albert Chu: 1st place (Odle)
Emily Zhang: 5th place (Odle)
Dandi Meng: 6th place
Derek Yee: 7th place
Jennifer Cheng 8th place

Congratulations for all NWCS students who participated!

· Passport/Visa is ready to pick up
For majority of participants (except for two families/7 applicants) who used PTA organized group visa service, your passport/visa is ready to pick up. Ms June Hu, the PTA chair will distribute them in the same area when you turned in your application(s) this coming Saturday (6/2), from 9 - 10 am. Please bring the receipt (or your driver's license if you happen to lose/misplace the receipt) when picking up your passport/visa. Make sure to contact Ms Hu via email: jhurenton@hotmail.com or call: 206-802-4889 if you can't pick up at the above scheduled time to make special arrangement.

Thursday, May 31, 2007

做些实实在在的事情,别玩花架子

Per parent's request:

I would like say something to the people in the board,why we need pay the high salary to Principal, why we can't do like other Chinese in North American, everybody in the school is volunteer, and use tuition fee for our kids, or low the tuition fee more affordable for our society, I know some family have more kids they can't afford all the kids go to school, that shame of our society! I believe everybody in this school have ability teach their kids Chinese at home, so why we sent kids to this school? Because we believe this way our kids can learn better, we should stop this kind of issue , put more attention to our kid's learning issue.做些实实在在的事情,别玩花架子

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

So you had enough NWCS news

So surprised by such a larger number of people reading the blog. Just installed visitor count at 10:00 PM, in just one hour, the blog web site already got 150 hits. It clearly shows that everyone cares about our school and eager to know the result of yesterday's teacher's board meeting. of cause, Kudos to some of the posting below.

So, thanks to everyone who sacrificed their time and make tremendous contribution to the site. Like everyone else, We really enjoy reading those article.


Friday is approaching and with such great weather, We like to clip some of good articles and continue entertainning the idea of improving our NWCS.

This sure needs to be on top of the board:
观星期六会议众生有感:
心在牌局兴正酣
突闻众人吵翻天
顺眼看去下一跳
啊!六方会谈起硝烟
志华入Board成议题
选举程序又重提
By-Law变成挡箭牌
你说我辩都有理

智东叹气又摇头
今非昔比几多愁
庆幸跳出是非窝
及早退休无所求

本京出口似经典
实际作到有点难
听说女儿已搞定
理事宝座想当然

虹野说话象土蕃
陈明欲说又无言
老公赋闲不得闲
老婆无权胜有权

周琳未改周琳象
欺诈狡辩多一样
先说保密再摊牌
先封你口再发难

晓君今天有点恼
想必昨夜没睡好
都是捣蛋的L Chen
是男是女摸不着

半路杀出陈文英
惊煞众人闹不清
借问此君哪路神
是斩是拜您说清

乱军突显王南希
舌战群儒无所惜
不让须眉一豪杰
独胆孤军扶正义

Peter静观留心计
老子出山已在际
斗天斗地我不怕
再擒妖人复社稷

冷观众生图热闹
学校乱世几时了
扰我牌局不胜烦
要是睹钱还得了

Another post:
So funny. I am struggling to vote you or L.Chen as the brilliantest in NWCS. We will be sorry if Zhou Lin is fired today. Let her keeps us entertained. At least we should give her a kudo just for that.

Top 10 list why I am afraid of firing Zhou Lin
#10: No one can manage our financial statement without Board’s and PTA’s supervising
#9: Lake Washington Technical College will increase our rent rate so we will end up paying more.
#8: Summer program will be suffered and we can not recruit qualified site managers.
#7: We will pay even more to a new Principal since we all know Seattle is short of qualified principal.#6: We do not have the representative at Governor’s dinner party
#5: 22 parents so call PTA representatives will start fighting amount themselves.
#4. People like Mr. Wo won't talk funny anymore.
#3: No one wishes us with "妈妈更年轻,爸爸多发财" at Chinese New Year.
#2. L Chen will not give people free lectures about Law.
#1: I no longer can attend important school meeting at local Chinese restaurant.

How about this opening statement:
会前有两位家长欲意旁听会议,有些教师有争议。该两位家长坦然离去。但,校长带着副校长未被邀请而到会,引起激烈争议。5名董事会成员劝校长们离开,校长开始拒绝,后迫于压力,答应讨论到关于对校长的意见的时候离开。然而两校长背信弃义始终未离会场。编者按:教师不止一次要求只是教师和董事会的交流。由于校长们在场,所以会议一开始就阴云密布。值得指出,两位校长不仅是不请而来,而且是有备而来。且始终赖着不走。两位婆婆后排座,众小媳妇闭口舌。我乃小媳妇之一也。

This post provide another side of persperctive:
All we need for a principal is someone that loves the job and has a spirit to volunteer. From what I heard/read, Zhou does not have either. I am not here to say that she's morally incapable. Everyone has to make a living but NWCS is not a place to make a living. To be honest, all conflicts boil down to money and power - money first and then power.

L Chen, our legal consultant, provide some glimpse on the legal side opinion:
联邦法律严厉惩处在非营利机构多捞好处的人。在这方面的罪名有三种:Private Inurement,Private Benefit,和Excess Benefit。而当事人则有一个专门的名词,叫做“Disqualified Persons”(DQs)。
民主是什么?民主是一种生活方式,就是说,是一种活法。我们这些从东方来的,身上都多少有点东方专制主义的基因,所以都有个学习适应的过程
孟德斯鸠说:“有权力的人们使用权力一直到遇有界限的地方才休止。”校长不受董事会监督,就可能滥用职权。同样,董事会不受家长监督,也一样可能滥用职权。而让家长能有监督学校的可能性,就必须使得家长老师之间能自由交换信息,包括小道消息。我发现,怎么小道消息往往比那些官样消息更可信呢?是董事会在领导学校,但是要知道还有全体家长在领导董事会。

Closing this clip series with this one:
Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off." (Colin Powell ). A school with no clear financial record is the ultimate way to fail all of us. Choose the right battle to fight. This IS THE BATTLE TO FIGHT.

Again: Thanks for all the posts. This Blog is yours. We welcome everyone's contributions.
if you like to post your own article rather than just comment, please drop an email at dwnwseattle@gmail.com or just put it on the comment line and mention it to me.

For all concerned parents, we own ourself a question: what is next step we can do for this school ?

教师董事会会议纪实

Per request from concerned PTA member:

西北中文教师董事会会议纪实五月二十九晚七时至九时半 于 华盛顿湖技校

1 序曲会前有两位家长欲意旁听会议,有些教师有争议。该两位家长坦然离去。但,校长带着副校长未被邀请而到会,引起激烈争议。5名董事会成员劝校长们离开,校长开始拒绝,后迫于压力,答应讨论到关于对校长的意见的时候离开。然而两校长背信弃义始终未离会场。

编者按:教师不止一次要求只是教师和董事会的交流。由于校长们在场,所以会议一开始就阴云密布。值得指出,两位校长不仅是不请而来,而且是有备而来。且始终赖着不走。

两位婆婆后排座,众小媳妇闭口舌。我乃小媳妇之一也。
2 教师工资奖金校长公然造谣:"董事会要学校的详细工资支出是要降低教师工资,还可能解雇教师。"

一理事忍无可忍激动地站起来澄清事实:"周校长,你刚刚说的不符合事实。理事会作了长达两个月大量细致的研究。认为西北中文校长和教师的收入极其不成比例,数倍之差(手势)。理事会花了大量的心血更改工资制度目的正是想把教师工资提高,校长工资降低。三座在此地的台湾学校校长都是义工。东部,加州,德州,大部分中文学校,或董事义工兼职校长,或校长的薪水是西北中文校长工资的零头。周林校长刚才说的不正确 "

编者按:我们的校长已经不是什么能力的问题了。造谣惑众是道德品
质的问题!
小插曲:前任理事张严是董事会工资调查的主持人,被校长用"夫人外交"逼迫辞职了。

3 学校亏损与盈利不请自到的西北中文的簿记员提问:花了一万五千美金的审计结论是什么?董事会财政官答曰:A) 指出了学校的雇佣结构的大漏洞 - - - 雇员与合同工 B) 指出学校赖以生存的校舍是在月租 - - - 校舍极其不稳定C) 指出学校的存款应在多个银行分布 - - - 保护学校财产三五位教师对学校的财务提出了问题,董事会财政官做了详细的回答。编者按:董事会财政管可敬可佩。在压力下,始终保持高度的修养和专业的风范。赢得一致好评。

4 董事会的团结
两位校长赖着不走是董事会内部不团结的表现之一。之二,一董事会成员当面质问董事会财政官。(质问:明知答案,意在影响听众思想之目而发出疑问。录自 《新华字典》)。大家都认
为该董事应该受董事会教育,应以团结为重。

编者按:该董事近来情绪不稳定,有些病态,请大家多多原谅。也望该董事已大局为重,建议你报病休养一段时间。等心理正常后再行始董事职责。

5 暑期班数位教师对校长去年管理暑期班提出强烈批评。

A) 开办之前,分部经理根据以往经验向校长提出该分部将会亏损。开办后再次提出亏损警告。校长的回答是:"亏损也的办,中文学校有的是钱!"该分部整反个夏天亏的是一塌糊涂。校长因为该分部,两千块美金饱入自囊。为什么?西北中文和校长的合同不论盈亏,只要开一个分部,校长就有多出两千美金的收入。编者按:令人发指!

B) 校长五月七号晚向全校发的邮件请董事会追究校长的责任。为何到今天尚未作出任何解释?

C) 夏天开学的第一个星期,是最需要校长的时候,校长选在该星期度假。数个课程没有教师。整个夏天,校长到各分部的时间屈指可数。抱怨者说,"她一次是带着父母来游了一圈;另一次是来看看,顺便吃了一个包子" (众人笑)

D) 今年暑期班还办不办了? 前任两校长时期,暑期班是西北中文赖以集资的重点。到今天,零七年的暑期班的存在都十分危险了。教师们很困惑。编者按:校长看到大事不好,在一周前告诉董事会不管暑期班了。鉴于校长把暑期班破坏到如此程度,建议董事会追究校长行政责任。大略如此,其实过之。本人只是略记一二。有出入者请原谅。尽量提事不提名。另,希望大家也来弥补本人忘却的地方。畅所欲言。婆婆们去睡觉了。

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Who should be fired?

For the most of time this month, I have been asking myself, who should be fired? Is that Simon who speaks out with XXXX word or Zhou Lin who obviously manipulated mail thread, has acknowledged that she post it with school DL system, expose school financial question, and even worse, we still do not know if she hand over the financial statement as board mandated May 25 deadline.


Should Simon sue Zhou Lin for her email manipulation and defaming Simon? It is Simon and Zhou Lin's personnel matter. It is no one's business even Board and PTA. I would sue her if I were Simon just to get justice. Is this going to make NWCS look bad? Of cause it will. And it is exactly the reason Zhou Lin should be disciplined.


But the sad fact is that Board does not act fast enough to do the damage control including discipline Zhou Lin and terminate her contract immediately. The delay of such action causes more damage to NWCS reputation.


Should Simon be fired because he is suing school principal? Rumor mill is that Board is asking Simon involuntary resigning from Board. Do you think we have not yet enough joke? This will create even bigger joke for our NWCS beyond Northwest. Hope that will match "FBI will monitor email and arrest you for sending email anonymously" joke. Based on my so so IQ, I do not believe our board will do such uncivilized decision and make our school even bad. Or the person who started the rumor has worse logic than you know who.

Like Letterman's show, here is my top 1o reasons why I am afraid of firing Zhou Lin.

Disclaimer:
These are no facts except entertainment because I am also afraid of being sued.


#10: No one can manage our financial statement without Board’s and PTA’s supervising

#9: Lake Washington Technical College will increase our rent rate so we will end up paying more.

#8: Summer program will be suffered and we can not recruit qualified site managers.

#7: We will pay even more to a new Principal since we all know Seattle is short of qualified principal.

#6: We do not have the representative at Governor’s dinner party

#5: 22 parents so call PTA representatives will start fighting amount themselves.

#4. People like Mr. Wo won't talk funny anymore.

#3: No one wishes us with "妈妈更年轻,爸爸多发财" at Chinese New Year.

#2. L Chen will not give people free lectures about Law.

#1: I no longer can attend important school meeting at local Chinese restaurant.

Monday, May 28, 2007

L Chen's public letter to NWCS

致中文学校的一封信
说明:我有一百几十个email地址。但YAHOO限制发送地址的数目,所以必须分两次发出。全部email地址见最后。如果您愿意,请您转发给其他老师家长或者放入NWCS blog。谢谢。
中文学校这三四个月发生的事情已经越来越清楚了。感谢各位的发言尤其是Wang Qi先生的来信(我相信此信,合逻辑嘛),使得此事的来龙去脉已为许多家长老师所知悉。本着对社区的责任以及对孩子中文教育的关心,我想再多说一次,澄清几个问题,因为此事对于我们都是一个很好的教育。如果您不愿意听,直接删掉或者BLOCK了就行。假如我一下子收到很多信而没时间全部回复,也请您原谅。如果有不正确的地方,敬请各位指出。
我想说三个方面的问题:一,关于诽谤罪和言论自由。二,关于非营利组织的法律法规。三,关于西北中文学校的游戏规则。
一, 诽谤、辱骂、匿名与言论自由
美国宪法作为世界第一部成文宪法,通过第一修正案明确保护人民的言论自由。我这儿用的“人民”而不是“公民”,因为非公民也享有同样的保护,这些人所共知。
诽谤,英文叫defamation,分成两种。一种是slander,即口头诽谤,另一种是libel,即书面诽谤。打官司的主要是后者。诽谤罪的法律标准到六十年代因为《纽约时报》对Sullivan案件的判决发生了巨大的变化。从那以后,美国最高法院陆续制定了区分公众人物和非公众人物的界限,其判决标准也是不同的。公众人物分“无限公众人物”(如,Bush、bin Laden)和“有限公众人物”。后者是指一个范围内自愿参与公众事务并且有些影响的人物。比如在关于中文学校的问题上,董事会成员是公众人物,前董事会的也是,校长副校长是,PTA主席是,连Jay Na都是(他自愿去开会并通过投票施加了影响嘛 ─ 免费为他炒作了)。反过来,假如一个老师教书很有名,但是没有参与到这个事情里来,他就不是此事的公众人物。
在美国什么样的言论构成了对这些“有限公众人物”的诽谤罪呢?诽谤的言论必须满足下面所有的条件:
 该言论必须是陈述(statement)而不是看法(opinion)。比如,说“张三打死人了”是陈述,而“李四是泼妇”则是看法。因为张三是否打人了可以予以查证,而李四是否泼妇则无法查证是否属实,即使她参加过泼水节也无法证明是否泼妇。
 该陈述被证明为不符合事实。
 该言论的受众至少包括第三者(仅仅给原告的不算)。
 该言论损害了原告的名誉。
 原告须证明被告是故意地恶意诽谤(Actual Malice)并为法庭认可。
由此看来,即使发现与事实不符,但只要他无法证明对方是成心的、恶意的,诽谤罪也不成立。所以,只要本着自己的良心说话,即使没有控制好情绪,也不存在什么诽谤的可能。让所有的人自由发表意见而心中没有恐惧,正是宪法第一修正案的动机。中文学校那几个人动辄以诽谤罪来吓唬大家,其实只是个笑料而已,还希望那几个人以后多发一些这样的信,也好为大家的生活多增加欢笑。
也许你会问,辱骂算不算罪?比如用Bitch, Asshole这样的词骂人?辱骂叫Profanity,它更多是一种道德范畴而不是法律范畴,作为一种情绪发泄,它也受宪法第一修正案的保护。但是,在下列几种情况下辱骂不受保护:
 辱骂的词是Fighting Words,通俗地说,就是因为这样的词导致当场打架等等不和平的事情发生。
 真正的威胁,比如,“你不给我钱我晚上去打死你。”
此外,公共媒体、在公立学校内的学生、军队、以及Telemarketing行业的辱骂也不受第一修正案的保护。
至于匿名是人民合法享有的权利因而受宪法保护的事,我已经说过了。法律设置了重重的障碍来禁止相关公司(如ISP)揭示出匿名者。简直可以这么说:除非能被定罪,否则是难以揭示其身份的。法律这样规定是因为要保护弱势者的言论自由权而使其免于打击报复。
二, 非营利组织的法律规定
William Aramony 在United Way of America (UWA) 任首席执行官达22年之久,但是却于1992年被开除、起诉并被判处7年徒刑。替代此人并重整UWA的就是当今的劳工部长赵小兰。UWA是个501(c)(3)的非营利组织,和西北中文学校完全相同。那人为何被起诉判刑?就是做假、拿UWA的公款为己谋利。此事,在美国待久的恐怕还记得。赵小兰马上重整UWA的财务制度,增加监督和透明性,才使得人们逐渐恢复了对United Way的信心。
中文学校是谁的?中文学校是慈善机构,它可以说是家长的,但是更多是社会的。为什么?因为非营利机构没有赋税,于是免费使用了其他纳税人所支撑的社会资源。也正因为如此,任何人(注意,是任何人,没有任何限制)都可以对非营利机构进行监督。比如,按照联邦法规规定,任何人都可以来索取报税的990表。假如一个陌生人来到中文学校对周琳说:“我要一份学校最近三年的990税表。”周琳必须马上给,顶多收一点复印费用。假如拖延不给,推延一天多罚20美元,直到一万美元为止。而且交罚金的还不是中文学校,而是当事人自己。非营利机构财务的核心是透明,向全社会开放并由全社会监督。许多组织把他们的990表和财务状况在网上公布。所以,即使中文学校的财务没有违法的地方,校长不交出详细的财经报告,既违反了学校的规则也违反了联邦的法规。
联邦法律严厉惩处在非营利机构多捞好处的人。在这方面的罪名有三种:Private Inurement,Private Benefit,和Excess Benefit。而当事人则有一个专门的名词,叫做“Disqualified Persons”(DQs)。Private Inurement是指这些组织内的DQs把组织的财产或资源转移到自己手中。这大概相当于我们说的贪污。Private Benefit是指DQs为自己、家人或者亲朋好友谋取不公正的利益。比如,雇用自己亲属的公司而价格偏高,等等。这大概是相当于中文的谋不当私利。Private Inurement是Private Benefit的一种。在此,我引用一家法律事务所的一段话:
A salary might be "incidental" to the purpose and incidental in comparison to expenditures on the overall program and still be excessive as to an individual, thus possibly violating the private inurement prohibition. For example, an organizer of a nonprofit school can properly be employed by that school as a teacher, and the organizer's compensation might be small (incidental) compared to the overall expenditures on the nonprofit educational activity of the school, but the salary might be 4 or 5 times that paid any other teacher at the school although credentials, experience and teaching duties were generally similar. The salary, if deemed excessive, would be a form of prohibited inurement.
第三种叫Excess Benefit,是指在里面的人员尤其是和决策层有关的人员,其得益大于其为该机构做出的贡献。I.R.C. Code Sec. 4958详细规定了对501(c)(3)和501(c)(4)里面DQs的惩罚。假如一个人应该拿$10000却拿了$20000,那么,不仅征收其多拿的25%的惩罚税,即$2500,并且必须把多拿的$10000加利息退还。如果到时没有退还,则加收200%的惩罚税,即$20000。在501(c)(3)和501(c)(4)里面,凡是不合理的薪水都可能犯这一罪状。什么是合理?其它类似机构对同样的位置付多少薪水,正是判断该DQs的薪水是否合理的标准之一。不仅如此,该条款还要直接追究批准者的责任并罚款10%,即$1000。所以,如果校长的薪水不合理,即使是董事会批准的也不行,因为董事会也不能损害全社会的利益。注意,现在的董事会成员们,你们如果续签校长的合同,尤其是在已经知道其他学校的薪水情况以后(见Qi Wang和Wo先生的Email),你们就得承担自己的法律责任,你们的责任保险恐怕也保护不了你们。我这儿可绝对不是吓唬谁威胁谁,不信,自己去网上查Internal Revenue Code: Sec. 4958,Taxes on excess benefit transactions。
非营利组织可以营利,但是所得利润必须全部用于该组织制定的社会福利目标上。所谓的“提成”,英文叫 Revenue Sharing,更是Private Benefit最明显的迹象。正因为如此,990报税表的V-A部分要求列出机构里面所有有影响的人物在该机构内的收入,这当然包括董事(虽然未拿钱),校长和副校长,会计,以及所有的“关键员工”(指所有其他有影响力的人),有学校990表的可以发过来大家看看。
以前,对于非营利组织的财务问题,政府往往直接取消该组织的非营利地位。自九十年代以来,政府开始集中打击里面的DQs,也就是说,集中惩罚里面的烂苹果而不是一整棵树,William Aramony的七年徒刑就是铁证。我不忍心看见中文学校的任何人步William Aramony的后尘,所以我在此提醒大家。
三, 西北中文学校的游戏规则
人类从野蛮走向文明,最根本的一步是脱离丛林法则,有了一个相对公平的游戏规则。在中文学校,游戏规则就是她的by-law。在申请成为非营利机构的时候,by-law已在联邦政府备案。
基于校长是有薪水的职位,对于校长的监督,尤其是对于财务的监督,是董事会最重要的职责。校长受董事会监督,而董事会受家长监督,整个学校受社会监督,这样一环扣一环。在校长犯错不再适任的时候,董事会可以以3/4的多数将其免职。在某董事不合格时,董事会的3/4或者家长大会的2/3可以弹劾他。
最近,接连许多董事辞职,严重损害了董事会的合法性(Legitimacy)。最近进去的这几位,到底是谁替补的谁?哪三位明年到期?哪三位后年到期?哪三位大后年到期?你们恐怕连想都没想过,真是一笔糊涂帐!补选之前,里面仅仅剩下5名董事会,这还包括了最近进去的两位。我对于这两位没有任何个人成见,或许他们二位都是非常好的人。但是,我质疑其合法性。这不仅仅是因为参加家长大会的不足半数,以往也曾有家长大会不足半数的情况,但是这次明显不同的地方,在于这次选举有明显幕后操纵的迹象,因而既缺少程序正义也缺少实质正义。这点从有的家长的信里面就明显感觉出来了,就是对于董事会整体上不信任,有的甚至没有撇清和校长的关系!
现在的董事会面临着合法性危机!By-law设计让董事会自己选举替补董事成员,是有假设的,就是假设很少有董事辞职。但是这次完全不同。设想9人的董事会里面有8人辞职,根据现在的规定,由剩下的那一位董事“选举”其他8位董事。这样,这个董事会不就成了他一个人的了吗?所以,在过多董事辞职的情况下召开特别家长大会,才是符合法理的,也是完全必要的。只有这样新选出的董事会,才能总体上获得家长的信任。
在董事会自己合法性不足的情况下,聘请的校长也会合法性不足。如果你们匆忙聘请校长,会对学校造成更大的伤害。比较理想的办法是先任命一位无薪临时校长,清查帐目,尽早重新公平公开地提名选举董事会,再由新董事会正式招聘校长。我想家长们应该严肃考虑搜集15位家长的签名而要求召开全体家长大会,并重新选举董事会全体成员的时候了。
PTA是老师家长的联谊组织,其参加是自愿的。自愿参加这一点,就决定了PTA不是第二权力系统。PTA主席参加董事会会议,仅仅是起到把家长的意见反映到董事会的作用,这是一个传信员的角色。假如PTA变成校长威胁董事会的工具,那可真是荒唐透顶了。所谓的“PTA有权开家长会以弹劾董事”和“PTA主席决定召开家长大会”这样的说法,都违反了学校的by-law。只要有半数董事要求,或者15位家长要求,都必须召开家长大会,因而可能以2/3弹劾任何董事。PTA开会弹劾,是指其中有15位以上家长的要求,是家长的要求,和PTA组织无关。PTA作为组织没有权力召开家长大会,更不用说PTA主席了。甚至可以这么说,假如若干家长自行成立一个和PTA差
不多的组织叫PTB,那么,PTB就有和PTA同样的权利。PTB主席也可以参加董事会会议(任何家长都可以,可旁听无决策权)。之所以在by-law里面专门提及PTA主席参加董事会会议而没有提及PTB,完全是因为要求学校内部至少应该有一个这类组织的缘故。
民主是什么?民主是一种生活方式,就是说,是一种活法。我们这些从东方来的,身上都多少有点东方专制主义的基因,所以都有个学习适应的过程。比如这两天,董事会黄主席曾在一封email里说:你们请不要在这儿发email,给董事会写信就行了(大意)。他应该是好意,但我仍不禁问自己:是言论自由和舆论监督珍贵,还是“上访办”珍贵?你们当董事的,学着在大家的言论监督中工作吧。我甚至想,应该设置一个专门的永久的讨论区,让老师家长在上面实名或匿名发表意见,由董事会和校长答复。孟德斯鸠说:“有权力的人们使用权力一直到遇有界限的地方才休止。”校长不受董事会监督,就可能滥用职权。同样,董事会不受家长监督,也一样可能滥用职权。而让家长能有监督学校的可能性,就必须使得家长老师之间能自由交换信息,包括小道消息。我发现,怎么小道消息往往比那些官样消息更可信呢?是董事会在领导学校,但是要知道还有全体家长在领导董事会。
我们离开家人、离开自己的母文化而来到这块土地上,图个什么?还不是为了这儿相对公平清廉的社会和健全的法治?一个地方的不公平就是对所有人的不公平。今天你有说话的机会却不说话,明天你就会连这个机会都没有了。就象癌症一般是从一个细胞开始一样,社会不公也是从一个小地方开始。应该象爱护眼睛一样爱护自己的自由权、象珍惜生命一样珍惜这个法治的环境。
最后,我引用校长她自己在今年4月Newsletter上的一段话作为结束:
“„„西北中文是一所非营利性质的学校。这是一种公开的面向社会各界的组织。学校自建立之日起就不是属于某个人的财产,将来也不会是。„„没有公平和均衡的民主意识,学校必然向单方面倾斜,丧失团结的力量;没有开放的言路和透明的体制,任何团体或组织都会产生一言堂,变成少数人牟利的工具。„„”

Let voice be heard

Thanks for everyone's reading and posting. I really enjoy reading many of the articles here. This truely reflect our passion for making this Chinese Community a better place for us, for children and for the generations to come. I like to share couple of them here.

One people wrote below:

We want to use the letter to encourage NWCS board to focus on what matters to the community instead of individuals. We want them to stay laser-focused on the three issues listed in the open letter. This is the right battle to fight. Don't be distracted. Go after the root cause.We want them to work with parents and teachers to build an ever stronger NWCS community and set a great example for all Chinese schools in the nation. If you have a pure heart, why worry? We want them to bypass any emotional feelings and view justice and fairness above any personal friendship. "Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off." (Colin Powell ). A school with no clear financial record is the ultimate way to fail all of us. Choose the right battle to fight. This IS THE BATTLE TO FIGHT. Just do it. No one is perfect but God. Everywhere has good and bad days. Say sorry and step down and you will be remembered. We are extremely confident that NWCS will not only survive but also significantly improve its own governing system because of dealing with these incidents. Learn from the mistakes. Last, we encourage everyone inside the community to think about President Kennedy once said:“Ask not what your country can do for you -- ask what can do for your country." This “country” at this very moment is our NWCS community (children, parents, and teachers). Do the right thing for the community. Challenge the board to do the right thing. Ask hard questions. This is our duty as a citizen of this wonderful Chinese community.

This is Another one:
谢谢您为大家创立这一空间,希望您把民意转达给 New Board.大家静静想一想: 为什么有Anonymous emails?因为靠正当渠道反映情况已经不起作用! 大家看的很清楚,中文学校一段期间是正不压斜!有些老师向 board 曾经反映过学校leader 的问题,学校管理以及运作弊端, 要求过 board 主持大家讨论解决. 事实上大家看到的是,这些好老师受到冷遇, 招到打压, 受到不公的对待!在拿现任校长来说吧: 去年我们家长们想把孩子送到一个好的 Summer Program. 这下可惨了: 报纸上每家中文报NWCS 一大幅篇幅作广告! 更搞笑的是广告竟上了世界日报就差人民日报了. 翻开广告一看, 里面竟然没有我们想知道的内容而是一些"中文学校在XX校长领导下..."的字眼.我们挂校长电话不接,好不容易打通是一问三不知!最后, 据说此君, 放着我们的孩子不管,放着我们家长管, 放着中文学校Summer Program不管, 拿着我们的钱去度假了! 可怜几个 Site Manager 在那里苦干! 对了, 我们有些家长长期为中文学校的支持者, 不惜牺牲孩子的 Summer 保贵时光, 执意要送孩子去 NWCS Summer Program, 向校长发了N次email竟没人理睬? 该家长实在是忍无可忍,在 Microsoft CHIME 里大发老骚.竟然发现许多人也有相同的经历, 引起大家对中文学校在XX校长的不满. 据说 此事 board 也知道. 可是, 校长却越发得益. 该大家只好把孩子送到另一所学校. 这件事情, 大家一定记忆犹新! 听说NWCS Summer Program 亏损, 好好想一想吧! 为什么???

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Up coming meeting with NWCS teachers by boards

There will be a meeting with teacher's only on May 29th, Tuesday night start at 7:pm at LWTC. If someone can confirm this, please post it here.

There have been a lot of discussions among teachers just like parents. We like to hear from you. Do you have any concerns regarding our school financial statement? What kind transparency our school's financial statement should look like. Why this sticky issue still hanging around?



Teachers are the role model for our children. Their inferences to children are far more stronger than parents. More than 70% of children before age 8 will like to be a teacher when they grow up as many survey indicated. Should school official hold the same standard as our teachers? What kind accountabilities school official and school board hold?

Regarding the pay? Do you think, as a non profit organization, our leader should have the same pay scale as normal school. Or should we have a non pay Principal in the next term? None paid principal systems do work in many none profit school organization.

Should parents attend this meeting? I strongly encourage you to just as the witness. And in the meanning time, please send your concern to your teachers or provide your supports.

To our parent, our board and anyone who care our Chinese School

Dear concerned parents, NWCS board:

As a concern parent, I do not think every parent of NWCS understand what is exact going on. Also, I do not think you have the place to express you concern. Therefore, I created a web site for everyone to express your concern in this free space. I know everyone is caring our children's future, caring our community and like to make this great Chinese school a better place.

At this point, you can only put your comment in each of my post. But if you like me to post your voice in a dedicated thread, please drop me an email.

Board, please take it in a positive way. It provide you a better way to understand what exactly our parents are thinking regarding what has been happening in the past months.

Please use your own judgement when you post your comment. I do not responsible for the context you post. But I will do all my best to monitor the site and report any illegal activities to blogspot.com

Thanks,
Wang Family

Now it is our turn. Letter to our board

People's eys is bright and clear. I pay great respect to those who continue their flight, who continue voice their concern. Because they care this community.

Thanks Sandra, Thanks L Chen. Thanks Tim and many others.

This open letter is the one Sandra send to board and I like to share it with you. If you agree and like to sign the letter, please put your comment.

亲爱的董事会;
首先恭喜我们董事会终于有了9名会员,能正式运转。

一个非营利机构,董事会就是最高领导.在中文学校你们的职责是监督学校管理机构,保护学校的利益,规划学校的未来。这是非常重大的职责。你们当中有的是家长选举出来的,也有是指定的,不管你们的背景如何,我们相信在这个职位上的每一个成员都是平的高尚,从满智慧,可以信赖的人。相信你们处理问题时都讲道义,有原则。你们每个人都有爱护中文学校的心,因为你们每一个人都在为中文学校无偿地工作。所以我们相信你们能够毫无私心地为我们大家看护着学校,我们相信学校出现问题和危机的时候,你们能够公正的处理,一切以学校的利益为重。
大家都知道最近学校出现了一系列的问题。从5月7日周琳发给大家的那封信之后,学校流言四起,一片混乱,对此家长老师们都很期待着董事会给大家回应。过去你们董事会人不齐,有些问题不能马上解决我们家长老师们都可以理解。现在我们非常需要董事会给与以下问题一个明确的答复。

第一:学校的帐户不清(参考 5月7日周琳转发的电子邮件)到底是怎么回事?我们所有家长和老师要求董事会给我们公开学校账务。
按税务法501(C)(3), 作为一个非营利机构,中文学校的一切来往账目都应该是公共信息。做预算和监督学校的财务是董事会的职责。学校所有员工,包括校长,职工和老师,的工资和红利的发放。都必需要由董事会审核和许可任何个人或群体都可以随时监督查看。任何个人都不能据为己有,否则这就是非法占据公物。

第二周琳已经承认了她用学校的名义与5月7日发给全校改过的电子邮件。先不说这样的行为是否合法,但至少它让我们全体对周琳失去了信任。学校是个育人的地方,大家都一样谁都希望自己的孩子长大后成为一个诚实,善良的人。我们相信董事会和我们一样绝对不能容忍学校任何一个的领导或者老师有道德问题,这是雇用人的时候最最起码的一个标准。所以这样的校长绝对不可以继续再做下去。校长的处理董事会什么时候作出裁决,我们需要答复。

第三:因为董事会没有及时处理以上两个非常重要的事件,最近学校流言四起。家长之间,校方老师以及家长和董事之间出现不少矛盾。邮件来往中也出现出言不慎的情况,我们对此感到遗憾,也非常同情受到辱骂地同志们。如果他们觉得有必要到法庭上解决那是可以理解地。但是这是私人之间的恩怨,学校没有义务更没有责任为他们出钱找律师,如果任何人动用学校的钱为某些个人因为这些的事情打官司的话,那就是乱用公款,全体家长和老师绝对不答应!!

如果以上这么几件事情你们做起来还是为难的话,那么作为董事,你们辜负了大家的信任和期望。如果没有能力处理好上面提到的第一,第二件事情,或者认为这不是学校的头等大事。那么你们就不配再坐在董事会里,因为你们在藐视学校的利益,忽视全体群众!!我们期望董事会能秉公办事,把学校的利益凡在第一位,如果董事能这样的话,我们家长一定鼎立支持你们!