GA hasn't weighed in on the Paula Ohaus 'situation' for a couple of reasons. Until now.
When I heard a raging mob bearing torches and pitch forks turned Tuesday's BoE meeting into a free-for-all lasting until 2am attacking the new Superintendent and selected Board members, well... I've got something to tell you.
Reality check time.
First, let me say that I understand Paula Ohaus. She's got an artistic temperament. So do I. Which is one reason I'm inclined to give her latitude on 'things' others may not. There's the greater good principle at work--if someone does so much good, then looking askance here and there if they buck the system on the 'small' things, well what's the big deal? That's how I think. That's ME talking.
Like any true artist- and Ohaus is, she is compelled as a force of nature to follow her own voice, her spirit defies subjugation. That makes her wonderful and special.
Now it's caused her demise.
When Ohaus stood up last month and said on camera that she's taken students with her in her car and had them for sleepovers, GA knew there was no recovery. NONE.
If you think the Superintendent or School Board has the option to REHIRE her after that, then you're living in an episode of Leave It to Beaver. Or maybe Father Knows Best. What about The Donna Reed Show? Didn't you just love her? She was so nice.
Those were the good old days, when front doors were left unlocked, kids rode in the front seat without seat belts, and teachers had kids for unchaperoned sleepovers.
Welcome back from that safe, happy world. This is 2011.
So when GA heard that Ohaus testified about driving kids and sleepovers, I felt SAD. To lose an important inspirational and creative figure that loomed so large in the lives of so many.
Paula honey, you own this. You screwed the pooch.
People know me as a blogger. Blogging is something I do. A parent is what I am.screw the pooch
1. To utterly and completely ruin a work venture, akin to "a royal fuck up".
The rules that 'condemn' Ohaus exist to protect our children. After her testimony on camera, our district has NO CHOICE but to enforce them. NO CHOICE.
Selective enforcement when it comes to rules that apply to the safety and security of our children is NOT negotiable. What if the teacher has a car accident that injures a child? What if the teacher is not who we think he or she is? The next teacher who wins the trust and affection of a child and their parents may NOT have Ohaus' good intentions.
Take a look online. Here's just one story: there are plenty of others.
The first responsibility of our school administration is to PROTECT our children. This kind of breech put on the record in public by Ohaus herself cannot be ignored.
It's tragic to lose her. But she owns it. So STOP BLAMING our school officials. She's forced their hand. By her own admission.
Ohaus's approach to theatre arts left a lot to be desired IMHO. Instead of getting all the high school departments involved in a production (art dept for posters / programs; industrial arts for set-building & lighting; home-ec for costumes; phys-ed for chorehography; business for publicity), which would have been a natural symbiosis for getting the ENTIRE school involved, she outsourced those things and won awards for it, giving our kids the false sense that they'd accomplished this on their own, instead of with a lot of help from pros in exile from Broadway.
ReplyDeleteEgo was clearly the lead role in her productions.
As concerns those sleepovers - imagine if the genders were reversed or if the teacher was gay. Enough said.
Thanks, Oracle.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how the sausage was made, so to speak.
I agree with your gender and sexuality reversal point. It puts the 'controversy' in its proper perspective.
After the performance she gave the other night, which left me speechless at her audacity, I cannot imagine any school system hiring her as a teacher. She basically stood up and gave a big "fuck you" to every tax payer in the City of Hoboken, let alone the Board and the Superintendent. What was equally troublesome was the reaction of too many parents who are drinking her grape kool-aid. I would not want her anywhere near my child. Horrible role model.
ReplyDelete