The Truth About Teflon

John Gotti was one of the more notorious heads of the Gambino crime family. His nickname was the “Teflon Don.” He was so named because while indicted many times, conviction evaded him—the charges didn’t stick. His crew was imprisoned while he went free.

I read in the newspaper that our school district has decided to forgo the process to retain its accreditation from the Middle States Association. The high school principal was charged with doing the research into whether retaining the accreditation was appropriate for the district or not. The superintendent would then act upon her recommendation. So pretty much if the principal’s decision proved to be a poor one, it would rest on the principal’s shoulders and not the superintendent’s. The blame would stick to her.

The superintendent has used this modus operandi before---when he wanted to change graduation and he charged the high school site based team as the conduit of his wants. In the case of graduation, the site based team and the principal who headed it took the heat for the public’s outrage. They were the tool. The superintendent escaped criticism as he simply acted on the recommendations of the charged committee—recommendations he himself had crafted.

Yet I do agree with the principal’s recommendation to abort Middle States reaccreditation—but not for the ambiguous reasons cited at the Board of Education meeting. My daughter Briana served on the Middle States Committee the last go around. It was a wonderful collaborative experience for her. And so I understand what is really going on here-- it requires a great deal of volunteer time from the high school staff for them to research and recommend applicable educational improvements. But because the teaching staff, due to budget constraints at the high school, is spread so anorexically thin, the principal cannot afford to surrender key staff members to the Middle States process. The staff is already too overworked as it is—they are overburdened by a host of other committees.

And just as importantly, since the Middle States committee is above the superintendent’s influence the committee’s recommendations cannot be externally crafted. So the recommendations for improved education may not have an audience. The recommendations made by the committee in 2005 were not fulfilled under this superintendent’s regime—which is why our district was in jeopardy of revocation.  There is no reason to suspect that a new committee’s recommendations will end up any differently--or at least while the current leader is still at the helm.  It would be a colossal waste of people’s time and taxpayer money. Money that might be better spent (I jest) on the obesely sized and salaried central administration staff.

Ultimately John Gotti went to prison. Sammy “the Bull” Gravano broke the code and ratted him out. The charges finally stuck. He died an incarcerated man. Even Bruce Cutler could not save him. Gotti was convicted of murdering Paul Castellano even though he did not personally pull the trigger---he simply organized the hit. The fact that Gotti had his crew do his dirty work on his behalf was enough to put him away for life.  

There is a lesson to be learned. Teflon gets old. In time the non-stick coating wears thin. Multiple tiny scratches allow the subsurface to show through. Stuff eventually sticks. And all the spray Pam and plastic utensils in the world cannot prevent its evitable replacement.