作為加拿大國際學校（CDNIS）大多數保持沉默的學生家長，我們最終選擇站出來說話。首先，我們要聲明一件事 - 我們關心學生和學校的共同利益，而不只是製造“噪音”。
這麼長時間以來我們一直沒有站出來說話， 不是因為我們不在乎或者對發生在學校的事情漠不關心。我們沒有早一步站出來，是因為我們不想被捲入那些所謂的“擔憂的”父母製造的毀謗鬥爭中；我們沒有早一步站出來，是因為我們曾經（天真地）相信作為一個生活在文明社會的文明人，常識最終會佔上風，我們希望那些所謂的“擔憂的”父母會幡然悔悟， 意識到自己子女地利益才是首位，並因此停止無謂的政治迫害。但我們錯了！這些無知的父母堅持著他們毫無意義的行為，最終迫使我們站起來，大聲疾呼！
在這裡，我們呼籲所有關心孩子和學校長遠福利的CDNIS家長站起來，加入我們，利用這個平台，說出你的看法，尋求真理，結束這場毫無意義而又自私的戰爭，因為這場戰爭對抗的不是學校或學校的負責人，而是我們的孩子。
所謂“擔憂”的父母所犯下的“七宗罪”：
他們的不對行為：
My kid knows Nicole personally and has always admired her outgoing, caring and positive personality. It's no surprise to know what she has achieved. She has positively affected my kid and I am sure she has also done that to many others who have come into contact with her. I have met many CDNIS students and many have impressed me with the same positive attitude. It's a good example to demonstrate the importance of encouraging our kids to get involved with the community and the importance of sharing and caring
There are so many fine students at CDNIS like Nicole. A big congrats to her and others who have also tried their best both inside and outside of school. My kids have been at CDNIS for years and we have seen their progress and the positive influence the school has on them. It's something very valuable.
What a great difference we see in a short year! We have come through a tough time. It's time to give each other a pat on the back for staying and supporting the school and students AND insisting on giving them a healthy environment to learn and develop.
Thank you for sharing this here at The Truth. We need to share more good news like this. I also heard about a nice interview of Mr David Baird. Could we have it here at The Truth too? Congrats to all who have all along believed in CDNIS and supported it, the students and teachers. We should all be proud,
Nicole is an inspiration to young people. She is not only a bright student but also a selfless human being willing to help others less fortunate. Today's young people have become far too self-centered and less willing to reach out to the community around them. This narcissistic culture is becoming widespread and unhealthy.
What an achievement! Happy to see the sharing of such great news. Nicole has been with CDNIS all her life, her achievement goes to show how a good educational approach and healthy school culture could benefit students in the long-term. I would also like to congratulate the school and all others such as her parents, teachers who have supported Nicole in reaching her goals,
Well done Nicole and thank you for your beautiful story. What an inspiring story. You've worked so hard for your personal goals and still managed to find time to dedicate your time to those in need. I am sure you must have inspired many of your peers inside and outside of CDNIS over the years.
Happy to read about such positive and encouraging news and very proud for Nicole and the school. Well done! Please share more of these good stories of CDNIS with the community. Thank you everyone.
Congratulations! Nicole represents the fine tradition of CDNIS and shows how a good education system and a healthy school environment can positively impact our children. CDNIS's fine school culture has again proven to have broad and profound effect on the academic and personal development of students. Just look at Nicole's in school and out of school achievements. She is both a top student and an enthusiastic volunteer helping the underprivileged in improving their living spaces both in HK and beyond. She dedicated much of her time to her volunteer work despite having a hectic school schedule etc. So selfless. A true humanitarian even at such a young age.
Just heard about the great news. We're not at all surprised because we always believe in CDNIS and the quality of its education. Nicole is a fine example of what a student can do when given the right education and more importantly the right environment to learn to become a good student and good young person. We are proud to be part of the CDNIS community. Thank you everyone.
Thank you for sharing, and congratulations to Nicole. It's not only wonderful news for you but also for the school and all of us at CDNIS. I saw the story last week in the newspaper and now this long interview with Nicole. You are not only a great student but also a great human being with such a beautiful soul. You set a good example to fellow students to strive for the best both academically and as a human being. So very proud of you.
Great news and congrats to Nicole and CDNIS. I am very honoured to be a part of the school. Like Nicole, we have been involved in the school community for a long time and have always been proud and now even more proud to be proven right that this is a great place for our kids. Seeing such a success story is a great encouragement for every student at CDNIS.
Congratulations Nicole and CDNIS. The achievement of Nicole only goes to show the importance of holistic education. Thank you for sharing this with the CDNIS community. Nicole has spent her entire school life at CDNIS, which has not only equipped her academically, but also given her all the support to develop into such a wonderful young person. So proud and so happy for all in the CDNIS community.
Congratulations! Nicole Hon makes us all proud. Not only her academic achievements but also her volunteer work. She is a good example for all students at CDNIS and its community. Thank you. We feel honored to share this beautiful moment.
Children always find traveling and experiencing the outdoor a very rewarding experience. My kids especially. Every time after going onto a field trip or overseas experience trip with friends and schoolmates I found them energized and inspired.
I wouldn't mind seeing more outdoor or overseas trips introduced. The idea of outdoor classrooms is also a great idea to explore and expand for CDNIS. This idea doesn't only have to include leaving the school campus or going overseas. Taking the class outside of the confines of a classroom is also a creative way to challenge the young mind. Giving them such a valuable life changing experience should be encouraged. I believe young people who are allowed to open up their minds to absorb new ideas is the key to help them understand the world they live in and educate them to become more of a global citizen. It also helps them to be more receptive to new ideas.
Our school has one of the strongest Chinese language cultural programs in Hong Kong or maybe even in Asia. This is an achievement that we should all be proud of. And we also are very forward looking in our environmental approach. I read the story that Mr Baird wants to do more to reduce the school energy consumption. May I suggest the school to put this initiative to good use such as directly involving more students and the school community not only in the implementation but also in planning. I think meaningful projects like this will help connect people and the entire school. It's the same as taking students to experience the outdoor. I think giving the young people a first hand experience gives them a sense of responsibility and helps them build a positive outlook on life. That way we will all have one very strong positive focus and all for the goodness of the school, the students. I am sure many parents and members of the cdnis community will support this initiative.
I have to say I was quite inspired by the news reports I've seen so far on the new HOS. What stood out was his enthusiasm and positive attitude. We need more of that in our school. I am also glad to see he is planning more informal communication such as coffee mornings to rebuild relationship within the school community and to put more emphasis on clarity and transparency. I also hope we can have even more informal contact with him as parents and as part of the school community. There are so many ways to convey a message and I like the way he approaches this. I hope to be more actively involved in the process in terms of improving communication.
Thank you for posting the newspaper report on the site. We need to hear more positive things about our school.
I took this opportunity to welcome Mr Baird and encourage others in the community to do the same and give him the space and time to do what is best for the school and build an even better environment for the students.
It's definitely right that we need to get the right information out to the school community. As we know the social media can spread wrong information very quickly. I still believe in the value of having personal touch in the way we communicate. When the new HOS talked about getting the right information out, I hope there is a chance of allowing more meetings for all stakeholders in the community. It's a good idea to bring the school, parents and teachers together to allow better exchange of information. I believe good communication is a two way street. He mentioned personal hurt mostly caused by misinformation through social media, it's time to put the past behind us and move forward. And to do that we must have an open attitude to accept new ideas and willing to start fresh. Thank you,
I have read some newspaper reports about Mr Baird. He seems like a man who has plenty of good ideas and motivated to help the school move forward. I particularly like the way he talked about inspiring students to venture out and explore the great outdoor. Helping our young people to be better connected with the environment is good to help them build a positive outlook in life. It will be a way to instill positivity in every day life. It's also a breath of fresh air to see his commitment in boosting communication and transparency. We certainly need to have more communication in the cdnis community to rebuild relationships among all stakeholders.
I also welcome his open attitude to new initiatives and his willingness to be inclusive. I really look forward to meeting him and getting to know him better.
It would be a huge confidence booster for the new interim hos to address the school community, parents, teachers and so forth. I am sure many parents would want to get some idea as to how he plans to take the school forward and what his immediate and long term plans are. having an open or direct dialogue with the main stakeholders is certainly a good way forward. i look forward to seeing us start a positive new chapter. there are so many things to address on so many levels, many of us had spoken openly in the past and many had done some serious damage to the school, it is time to heal the rift and see how we can move forward for the best interests of the school and most importantly for the students.
The new head of school has arrived and I'm excited about the news. David Baird with years of relevant experience, seems like a perfect fit for CDNIS. Of course we'll need some time to really see how great he fits into the school and what he's capable of doing, but based on what he did in the past, his experience in international school accreditation can help CDNIS. His impressive resume does give us confidence and i hope he has what it takes and it would be a dream come true to have such a passionate and qualified person to head the school.
Happy to see the school's finally getting back on track. We've wasted so much time on all the stupid politics and forgot what really matters to a school: the kids! Now that with a new interim head of school, we can put our time in better use. A lot of things he can do to improve the school, from accreditation to hiring teachers, we're waiting for the new HOS to make some changes.
Wonderful news! Finally a new beginning. I am so excited to find out what his plans are. How is he going to deal with the accreditation issues? Also the school needs to hire some more quality teachers, and there's a lot more to be done. Of course this won't be an easy job, CDNIS needs to reinstate a lot of things, mostly stronger community cohesion, especially after the fiasco of last year. But it's not beyond repair! We have a great brand and together we can make it great again. Mr. Baird, now's the time to show us what you got!
From his CV, I understand that Mr. David Baird had done some pretty impressive job in Canada and a few other countries, and he's planning to do the same here in Hong Kong--that sounds promising! His experience in CIS accreditation would also help CDNIS a lot. I hope with him at CDNIS, he can help the school with its CIS and IB accreditation. We must remember this is a school and its accreditation is amongst the most important of all. Furthermore, he will need to do some damage control. With his background and experience he's more than capable to do that. I am optimistic.
Kudos to the school board, who's appointed a new interim HOS and also thanks to Gregg. Hopefully we can turn over a new leaf to reunite the school. That means able to all work together, the HOS, teaching staff, parents and students, we're all in this together. This is an amazing school and it took a lot of work in the past to build such a wonderful brand. We should not let that effort go to waste. I hope the new HOS will lead us all to make CDNIS an even better school.
With a new head of school hopefully this time things will work out, I've read about his previous work in Canada and that looks really promising, if he can bring that to Hong Kong and get rid of all the politics and conflicts then I'm sure the school will get the development it truly deserves. Mr David Baird, please put your focus on improving the school's teaching quality and away from all the ridiculous controversies. The school must move forward.
The new head of school really has to refocus on the school's teaching quality and the general atmosphere of the school community. It's been at a standstill during the past couple years amidst all the godawful chaos. Now that everything has finally settled down, it's time for him to put his full effort on improving the school for the students.
I would love to know what he's going to do in the coming school year. I believe he can do great things, based on his impressive CV. From what i can see he is a passionate educator. Time for you and CDNIS to shine!
Honestly, the last thing we need for CDNIS is more politics. We have already suffered enough in the last few years, that has to stop! Enough with the politics! We parents are really sick of this and I really hope the new HOS can change this situation, all we want is a school that's going forward, an HOS that can lead his teaching staff so that the students can actually learn something! Good luck, David Baird, I really hope you can make this school great again. I'm counting on you.
i'm happy to see some positiveness coming out finally with the arrival of Mr Baird. This is what we need to move forward. Many people in the school community had been inputting too much negativity. we need to get rid of such poisonous mentality. Thank you for bringing a breath of fresh air. Please keep it up.
I am looking forward to meeting Mr Baird and sharing with him ideas he has to take the school forward.
The school needs to be guided in order to not only maintain its standards and quality but also to remain competitive. It also needs to make up for lost ground. Things happened in the past year have seriously damaged the school both internally and externally. Mr Baird also needs the support to mend broken ties between various stakeholders of the school community. I wish him luck.
I'd say give Mr Baird a chance and see what he can do to make the school better. The school needs no more drama and this guy seems to know what he's doing, so let's give him some time and see if he can deliver. We need a fresh new start!
We parents are most worried about the education quality of the school, so I really want to know what the new HOS is going to do to maintain as well as improve, the school's education quality? Any changes in teaching staff or education direction? Hopefully he will bring some good insights to cdnis.
Don't forget CDNIS is a good brand and it deserves so much more. Our students and the teaching staff are top notch in the city and for that we deserve a great head of school! I think David Baird would be a good fit and I hope he can bring his experience in working with international schools around the world to CDNIS, giving the school an extra push to the next level.
The school really needs a new head of school that can lead us away from the mess over the past year or so. A strong and confident person that can lead the school and move forward in the right direction, instead of muddling in a swamp of necessary politics. Now that we finally have such a person here, it's time to start afresh with some new ideas and new directions.
The new interim head of school David Baird has been on board for two months now, I'm really looking forward to finding out what his plans are for the school in terms of its direction, what he has in mind to improve education quality and how he is going to implement all these plans. First and foremost he really needs to move away from the crazy politics happening in the past couple of years and keep the school on track in the correct direction.
From what I've read his background and experience seem like a perfect fit for CDNIS. I look forward to seeing him in action to tell if he can handle the job. It's going to be a touch job. We must give him the patience and support. Good luck.
I have been wanting to say something for ages: CDNIS has been in a state of chaos for way too long, and it should never have been like this from the very beginning! Why do these people think it's a good idea to bring so much politics to a school? We really need to bring the school back on track and away from all the mess happening in the last two years. We need a strong HOS to lead the school and do his job well, and someone who knows his priorities. Let's give the new guy time to show what he is planning to do to fix the school and make it a better place for our children and the entire CDNIS community in general.
I am hoping that the communication would be a lot better now as there's a new head of school! We seriously need to improve the communication between the school, the parents and the community. Without communication there can never be trust and without trust the school will definitely fall apart. We've already seen that once. Enough is enough. I hope this will never happen again with the new HOS! Give him a chance, give the school a chance.
Could someone help me out? What are the updates on the teaching staff of CDNIS? After the chaos last year, I'm really concerned about the quality of the teaching staff and I would like to know if there's any updates on that. I hope the new HOS can maintain a high quality of the staff after the chaos and the how to maintain a stable team of teachers.
Can we know more about the new HOS? What kind of plan does he have for the school to grow? What is he going to do, now that he's on board? We want to see the school develop further, instead of dragging in a pile of mess! I think he's a capable guy, and I hope he knows what he's getting into and can fix the situation in CDNIS as soon as possible. We must move forward from here onwards.
Looking forward to meeting the new interim head of school and see what he's capable of doing, been waiting for this day for a long time. CDNIS needs a new voice and a new head, this mess has been going on for far too long.
I've done some research on the new HOS, David Baird and he's got a pretty impressive CV... proven track record and great experience. I hope he can fix CDNIS and put it back onto the right track.
It's been a very challenging time for CDNIS for the past year... and we parents think the students have been suffering the most throughout the entire unnecessary ordeal. We need a strong and experienced HOS to unite the school, to provide better education for our kids and put his focus on education, instead of politics.
I hope the new interim head can bring the school's staff, teachers, students and parents together for the betterment of the school. The former head seemed to have failed on this and I can only hope the new one is capable of this.
Has anyone of you heard news about the new interim HOS? Not sure who he is and need some time to figure him out, hope he's a good one...
finally a new interim head... we parents have been waiting for this day for a while and from his track record, he seems to be a good hos and i expect he would bring his experience overseas to cdnis and make this place a better one, a truly international school without so much ongoing drama and madness... we love cdnis because it's an amazing school and we just don't want it to be ruined by pointless fights for power. it's a SCHOOL and it should be just that, education should always come first...
We still don't know who this new interim HOS is but I'm hoping he'd be someone who can put his focus on education, instead of being tangled in the hot mess of politics in the past few years. The last HOS, his relationship with the parents and so forth was just really saddening and i can only hope the new HOS will be given a chance to do his job. We need someone strong to lead the school. CDNIS needs a good HOS and I hope Mr Baird will do the job right.
A school is still a business and I hope David Baird would be able to run this business smoothly. But from what I've seen and heard he's a good educator which is a good start.
I've heard great things about this guy, we need someone great to make the school a better place!
Finally a new head for CDNIS! I'm hoping this one is here to stay. David Baird sounds like a legit fella.
The new interim head David Baird seems like a good fit, with plenty of experience working in the education field and especially the international school section around the world, CDNIS definitely need someone like him to spearhead the school's development.
I'm hoping the drama of cdnis is finally dying down with David Baird taking over as the school's interim head. The past few years had been crazy and I really hope that Mr Baird can actually bring the school back on track, it's a school after all and students' education should always be top priority.
A former CDNIS teacher who was sacked by the school recently received a reprimand letter from the Secretary for Education in relation to an allegation that he had sexually harassed a student when teaching at the ESF’s Kennedy School more than a decade ago. He then lodged a judicial review to the High Court, trying to overturn this decision. He claimed that he was not given an opportunity to be heard and that the Secretary doesn’t have the authority to issue the letter. How absurd does this sound? Just like the Chinese saying, “A thief cries ‘Stop the thief!’” And why have those who have been defending what they call integrity and justice remained so silent about this case? And a quick news alert to the beloved investigative journalist who has been reporting the CDNIS controversy from the side of the angry parents. You mustn’t miss this story.
It's actually kind of funny to see people trying to "use" our bad press to promote their new school. It's pathetic and low - if they truly believe in their new setup, why kept mentioning CDNIS, because they have no track record to point to? How sad.
to the cdnis parent who wanted to let the rest of us know how better off she s to be going, because the school is so bad: why couldn't you have spared us all and left a year ago instead of dumping in our yard and then walking away from the stink? i hope for your kids sake you learn from your mistake and behave differently in your new school community. i am tempted to warn them but i don't know where you are going. and who cares? oh yeah, some of you do. for your sorry clique it is a sad day. why not you do yourselves a favour and go with her?reading your posts makes feel i am in school again...grow up helicopter mums..."look what i have done for the school. i am so important. look!i hear a teacher who has been called a rock star is leaving the school. WAH!. it's quite funny if it weren't so rude!
睇嚟睇去份IB report都好似CT/AGR啲信咁，唔通佢哋夾埋一齊切學校？唔會掛，啲IB co-ordinators 唔係應該收人錢財，替人消災咩？有佢哋係度，點解學校會比人講到一錢不值？ 而家咁睇，𠵱班IB co-ordinators 真係唔知做緊乜。仲有最神奇嘅就係CIS同IB竟然就同一個point,都可以有咁唔同嘅opinion? 佢哋唔係一齊開會咩？
點都好啦，千錯萬錯，學校都係度不停改革，一定會同以前唔一樣。 知錯能改，唔知係唔係IB learner attribute, 但一定係right direction! 加油啦！
I am really disappointed and heart broken. I understand our previous Head Of School was in a very bad relationship with the Board when he left the school. However, by highlighting the negative things about CDNIS while promoting his new school, he is not only hurting the Members, Governors, he is also hurting the students. These students are innocent, and many of them joined the school while he was the HOS. Is it the best practice for an HOS? Did he think about the students who are still at CDNIS? Many of them joined the school when he was the HOS? I am really disappointed and heart broken.
Can you give us a break? Most of the parents are not keen to read your long winded posts on PIN and your continuous effort to criticize the school. After last year, everyone just want to go back to normal. The CIS and IB reports will not look good, thanks to yours and your allies' efforts in continuously badmouthing the school and attempts to ask the authority to take away our accreditation. But we have survived though the worst moment. Most parents and kids are back to normal and we are happy. Let the school recovers. We will only get stronger from where we are now.
So far, only 3 parents have come out to admit talking to CIS. How about the other 12? Why are they silent? What did they say? I am not interested in how many alumni attended the alumni gathering, it is not material to my children's education. But meeting CIS, I want to know! So the next 12, when are you going to own up!
How is it possible for a parent to be positive about teaching yet so negative about its leadership? We have parents stating that they are happy with the new teachers hired. Who hired them? The leadership. Everyone raves about the new LS interim principal. Who hired him? The leadership. Who picked the parents to meet with CIS? The leadership. I see a willingness to provide full disclosure, exerts good judgement and provided actions which speak volumes in moving towards building a better school, I see their effort in working to recover for all that's happened in the last school year. The damage that's been done cannot be reversed, and we continue to suffer from the backlash/consequences for the actions taken, be it by the school or by the destructive parents. Isn't about time the standoff stops? This behavior cannot in any way benefit anyone's child!
It doesn't help when their irrelevant friends and lackeys join in the fun and poke at where it hurts and gossip on public forums for all to laugh. Is this what you need to do to make you feel good, and heard? Is this the kind of attention you want to attract. Trust me, no one thinks you guys are saving the school. You are just saving your face, that's all. Sore losers who can't back off.
No one is interested if there is really "bad governance". The clear and immediate danger are the bad parents!
I am going to write to school to ask for complete disclosure of the names of the parents who met CIS. I think I have the right as a fellow parent to know what went on. I want to lead a survey and a vote by ALL parents to demand the identities of all these parents. I will not stop until I get full disclosure and complete transparency!
The school invited the leeches maybe so to satisfy them and so they will just drop off. also, the school has nothing to hide and nothing to fear from these bigmouth leeches. hopefully cis knows enough to see experience when they are looking at it, after all they came to check on how things were improving from the previous admin. but if cis are knee jerkers, like search associates, who needs them.
I think you are misunderstanding the way CIS group meetings occur. The school are required to arrange the meetings and make the invites to the parents. The parents invited to meet with CIS did nothing on their own to initiate these meetings and just received a call from the school asking them to attend.
有冇攪錯，佢哋竟然去見CIS/IB? 我哋學校真係好open! Open又掂？結果又比佢班人反插！佢哋唔話比大家知會議內容，唔通係佢哋插到學校無咗嗰accreditation?!
其實比你見CIS，都幾大量啊。真係未聽過叫自己敵人去幫你去開會嘅噃。呢班家長真係幾好嘢。以前就成日要人交代，而家反而扮懵，話唔知點解會揀佢。你邊道可能唔知會揀你啊？篤完你嘅背脊之後再返轉叫學校交出個report來睇。睇怕都唔坊係好嘢。既然你哋咁清高，唔該其他靜雞雞果未認頭嘅，快啲現身坦白邊個去見CIS!
有膽見，就有膽認！有膽認嘅幾個就應該有膽承擔！
Why there is no meeting minutes from those who met with IB/CIS?? I hope these parents did not try to hide something from the community. No matter how and why you are invited to the meeting, isn't it fair for you, who is so privileged to meet with these two organizations, to tell the rest of the community what was discussed? Where is transparency? Heard that there was no school representative was in the meeting. If this is true, there is no where to turn, but only those who attended the meeting can tell us the details.
Just received a "like" invite from a new school founded by our disgraced ex-admin. I wonder how one rates them as world-class? It's a pretty big compliment to pay without any facts around that. Well, we are used to these guys making sweeping unfounded statements. Going to like the school and hope people who think they are world class will move there and leave us alone.
Tell me tell me !!!! I just want to know what you said!! Tell me!!! Why did you get to meet CIS twice??? Were you invited twice? Or did you gate crash one and got invited the second time? Tell me!! Tell me!! I want to know!! Let's hear it from you people who have been demanding for full disclosure!!! C'mon! What are we waiting for?? Did you have anything good to say? Or what you said were so damning that you can't let me know???? Or are you just as cowardice as those spammers who refuse to leave me alone?
I wonder what did these parents who met with CIS say? Well we didn't get our accreditation after meeting them, what do you think?
I don't understand the big deal about CIS, the value of this accreditation has diminished so much, I wish we never embark on this ambitious political process that has crushed the school. To think we pay these people to come slap us in the face, really sound like money wasted. We had no CIS for a good 20 years, and after we started with CIS we've had nothing but nightmare, call me naive, bloody hard work with no upside, I don't need it now!
Our school governance might not be perfect. I don't think there is such thing as "perfect governance". However, between not so perfect governance and some parents and their supporters who will try their best to RISK the school's accreditations and hoping the school will not be able to issue secondary school diplomas to graduating students?
I will choose not so perfect governance.
Its obvious these AGR, Cometogether parents and their supporters do not have the best interests for the school, for the students nor for the teachers. They have repeatedly written to the Ministry, IB and CIS with a lot of incorrect, biased information to complain about the school. They now want to see the school to lose its IB accreditation and OSSD. How SHAMEFUL are these people?
I totally understand they are angry with leadership for different reasons but its not acceptable for these people to disregard the interest of the 1800+ students at the school and others in the community just for their personal revenge!
No one is in disbelief about what the disgruntled parents have to say. But while the unhappy ones choose to air our dirty laundry to every single media there is, and expressed their discontent to the accrediting bodies about the problems claiming and blaming everyone else but themselves for our situation, the rest of us choose to adopt a positive stance without judgement, accept that to let the school fix the problem, we need to give the school time and space to do so. I would like full disclosure of who attended these meetings with CIS and I want to know if these parents have to say to CIS, and did they help Cdnis in any way towards healing and accreditation?
While waiting for the school to post the CIS/IB reports of the last visit, for the sake of transparency, I am sure those parents who met with CIS will be happy to give a full disclosure of who attended the meeting, what was discussed and the minute of the meetings. Hope these parents will share their experience with the community soon.
Poor Ms Nutting. She lost her job when she sent a letter to parents complaining about her boss's treatment. Now he runs his own school in one of the most lucrative expat cities and rumour is he took a settlement. But she is stuck in labour tribunal. Man's world!
今次學校依單嘢令我深深體會到herd instinct嘅力量。當一個人做緊d每個人都做緊嘅，就算唔適當，都無人會出聲。但係當有人指出係錯果陣仲可能比人排斥同杯葛。對同錯原來可以係唔同人嘅perspective同群眾嘅壓力低下比淹沒。而當一個人認為佢嘅觀點是事實嘅時候，就只會不停尋找支持自己論點嘅資料來重新設定自己係對嘅。記者小姐，只有你明cognitive dissonance 麼咩？
Dear ComeTogether group,
Could you please tell us the names of the parents who wrote to the Ontario board re complaints and taking away our school's accreditation? We really love to see what kind of people will write to the authority and ask to take away the accreditation of the school in which their kids are studying. Please, we are so curious.
從學校𠵱一年嘅事最深嘅感受係乜？真係唔好人云亦云，唔好人講就信，傳媒報導大部份都唔係真，小報更唔可以信。
I wonder why nobody ever question why it is ok for CDNIS not accredited by CIS in the previous administration? If the previous administration was so perfect, why CDNIS couldn't get the accreditation before November 2014 (before the turmoil)? The November 2014 report listed out areas not meeting the standard, many of them are related to administration and curriculum. Can AGR/CT explain why the previous administration is not responsible for not getting CIS accreditation.
If CDNIS lost the accreditation after Dr Maloberti came to office, of course, it would show a problem of mismanagement. However, CDNIS has never received CIS accreditation before, and it failed to get the accreditation right after the previous administration left the office. So, who should be responsible for the failure? Isn't the answer quite obvious?
我真係覺得果位阿太應該停止寫嘢，越寫越自我矛盾。其實你只不過係不停利用老師，來達到你嘅目的。舊年仲叫老師用自己嘅飯碗來威脅學校同家長，今年返問學校點retain talent。八月后當無你走咗，無人係道搞搞震嘛可以retain talent 囉！
"It's not so much how many teachers we lost, it's who we lost".......this is so insulting to all of our teachers. This is basically saying some teachers, according to this parent, are totally dispensable where as others aren't? I am sorry but every teaching staff is valuable to the school. They each have their own roles and responsibilities. Please stop dividing our wonderful teaching community! Shame on you!
Is this how you teach your kids? Some friends are dispensable but others aren't? Perhaps depending on their IQ (according to your assessment) or depending on their academic achievements?
"much is made of institutional memory?" If this is what you believe in, why did you and your group demand the Members to all retire immediately back in November 2014? If you care about staff leaving the school so much, why did you and your group ask the teachers "to hold their contracts as weapons and force the Members to leave"? Anyone with any critical thinking skills would know what you are doing. You are trying to destroy the school because of your personal grudge towards the Members. There are still many of us who plan to stay in the school for years to come. Please stop being so selfish and enjoy your last year as a parent at the school.
Did anyone ask for your take on the letter issued by the school on staff turnover? No! Why? Very simple: No one cares about what you think! Please stop confusing everyone with your poor analysis.
Don't you realize you are making a BIG ASSUMPTION with your analysis to arrive at 35% will have been in CDNIS for one year or less.
Your big assumption is: First in, First out.
However, in reality, there are always teachers decided not to return in a given year who have been with the school for a long time, for a few years or just finished their first contract. Also, there are teachers who continue to love CDNIS and are staying who have been here with the school for a long time, for a few years or still in their first contract.
I am sure you won't get it.....but please stop confusing everyone with your non-sense.
I am so glad that there are some teachers and parents who stand up against those trouble parents. It has changed from last year where the PIN board was hijacked by those parents with one sided or nonsensical opinions. Why are we still mourning about those who left or will be leaving? In a commercial world, no one is indispensable and all of us are adults who make decisions for ourselves and should take responsibility for our actions. While we wish our leaving teachers all the best, lives have to move on and we as parents should focus on our kids, and only our kids. There are bigger things in the world that you need to care for.
I just noticed that every now and then, someone would ask questions about how CDNIS is on the HK School group. The same group of people would like it and chime in with the same negative comments like a broken record. Ex-parents who no longer have kids at our school seems a bit over-enthusiastic to share their concerns. I really have to give them a round of applause for their effort but I hope the general public would see through this.
Thought about writing something about the positive experience I (and my kid) have had but didn't feel like giving them the attention/reaction. I really hope they would be able to find a new hobby to occupy their time soon.
p.s. the Family Fun Fair was awesome this year!
I don't understand why DM keeps insisting that our school needed representation at the Ontario Premier meeting. She wasn't here for any education related reasons. Why would an Ontario Premier has any interest, or power to comment about a private school in Hong Kong? Just because we have OSSD in our curriculum, and we have the word "Canadian" in our school's name? I actually feel very sorry for her to be put in such an awkward and embarassing situation by these former CDNIS students/and the adults who planned it for them.
The article in the Globe and Mail is also worth mentioning regarding the comments and responses by some of our very vocal anti-CDNIS parents.......the journalist did NOT say it's current students? However, isnt' it very misleading that FORMER students were wearing our school uniforms to do this "protest" ? How dare these two girls wear our school uniform and do something this outrageous?
This was not about IB thinking, or freedom of speech, or whatever righteous reason the anti-CDNIS group may come up with. This was simply an embarassment. I feel so ashamed to be group together with them as a CDNIS parent. I wish there was a way to differentiate them from the majority of us.
I hope Paul Owen will write more. Everything he wrote was exactly the thoughts of so many of us parents right now.
Governance, if you have a problem with governance, since it's always been the same group since 25 years ago, why did you apply to CDNIS in the last 5 years? even 10 years ago? Why you suddenly decided Governance is an issue for you as a parent in November last year?
Stop writing half truths and declare you are the majority. Other people have the right to their opinion that differs, and we certainly love our school right now. If you don't love our school, stop whining, stop complaining, plan your exit asap please. This would be mutually most beneficial for your family and for our school community.
憑表面證供來看，𠵱班扮正義嘅家長已經輸晒。
1，不停send餐肉郵騷擾大家
2，不停周圍寫信去各個教育機構投訴學校，目標令學校不能正常運作及不再被相關機構認可，最終影響學生學習因資源不能完全投放在學生身上。 BTW, 學校資源唔係凈係錢，仲有好多嘢㗎。
3，不停利用電子綱絡平台及一啲無人睇嘅傳媒嚟唱衰學校。
4，成日扮代表知道學校内幕消息。請問如果係真，点解你會知？如果係假，咁都做得出？點睇都好，一樣咁卑鄙。
5，利用小朋友搞政治真係無恥。
6，製造一大堆嘅唔知乜人做過嘅調查，無証據有乜人簽過嘅信。叫學校增加透明度，咁你哋呢？比啲透明度睇吓先公平。
7, 點名人身攻擊為學校服務嘅家長
8, 嚇大家會無好老師想留係CDNIS
9, 夾埋啲外人嚟打擊學校
10，將學校每嗰話題，政策都醜化及政治化
如果學校衰，做得唔好都無你哋以上做嘅嘢咁衰。要數到邊嗰破壞力多啲，你哋sure win。我知以上啲points係thetruth已經重複過無限次，但講到長氣又無point, 真係你哋嘅強項。既然你都贏晒，不如收手啦。
The same person who has repeatedly told different individuals that she will "destroy the school before the end of this school year because this is the last year she is a parent at the school." is now openly saying "I, and others, are trying to mitigate the damage that has been done these past 12 months".
Is this split personality? Honestly, I have no interest in the mental state of these core AGR parents.
So, let's focus on the statement she made openly: "I, and others, are trying to mitigate the damage that has been done these past 12 months".
Excuse me? Who have been damaging the school in the past 12 months? Who have been openly discrediting the school in the media, in public forums?
"You" and your group of "others" have been damaging the reputation of the school in the last 12 months.
"You" and your group of "others" have been emailing IB, CIS, Ministry etc to try to use them to pressure the school to get what you wanted.
"You" and your group of "others" have been feeding one-sided negative information to the press and then turn around to blame the school for damaging the reputation of the school.
"You" and your group of "others" are now trying to ask the Ministry and IB to strip the school's accreditations. You consider this to be an action to mitigate the damage you and your group of "others" have done to the school? Pardon me?
To mitigate the damage is very simple - "You" and your group of "others" stop attacking the school, stop all of the non-sense, destructive actions that "You" and your group of "others" have been doing for the last 12 months.
Is this too difficult for "You" and your group of "others" to understand?
Action speaks louder than words. The fact that "You" and your group of "others" are trying to strip the school's accreditations proves only one thing - "You" and your group of "others" want to destroy the school! "You" and your group of "others" are showing YOUR TRUE COLOURS!
"Parents and students have waged a letter-writing campaign to authorities in Canada and Hong Kong, some seeking to have the school stripped of its right to issue an Ontario diploma" These people will for sure ask IB for the same thing: to strip the school of its IB accreditation.
Can these people sleep at night? Some of these people go to church on a regular basis. How can they face God?
These people obviously do not care about the students at the school and definitely do not care about the livelihood of the teachers and staff at the school!
This shows clearly the kind of people that have been attacking the school. Selfish and self righteous people who put their own agenda, anger and revenge over anything else. They are so selfish that they are not reluctant to risk the education of over 1800 students and the livelihood and profession of over 300 teachers at the school. Saving the school? Give me a freaking break!
Do you feel yourselves like flies angry parents? Everything someone post some positive comments of the school on pin, you comment on something negative. We are all tired of your long winded comments. Please leave us alone.
It is incomprehensible why some parents of our school on one hand, keep disregarding the school's policy and not using the Cdnis email account, and on the other hand, keep complaining about missing the survey and other important pieces of information of their children. Isn't the natural consequence of incompliance is losing the right of something? I do not see why the school has to make extra efforts to compensate for what these parents missed due to incompliance of school policy. Why some parents in CDNIS always want to change the school in favor of themselves? Why they think they have the privilege to be treated in a different way than other parents? Don't tell me about the privacy issue. No school is perfect. Maybe the privacy issue of the Cdnis.hk is not resolved at the moment, but reiterating the problem in FB only shows how disrespectful these parents are and how much they want to be the VIP of CDNIS. Certainly, I respect their choice! of forgoing the Cdnis email account, then please bear the consequences and stop whining. It is definitely their issues and need not to bother the rest of the community.
So Mr. Damon Hambly, you are leaving the school? After leaving so many negative comments on CISPA Pin and on this nationwide newspaper in Canada re the school, you are leaving? What should we do as remaining parents? So you suggested that the Ontario Boatd should take back the accreditation of the schools? What should our kids who stay behind do? You are leaving with all these noises still going on. So are you planning to leave a mess and just walk away, leaving 1800 kids and 2000 parents here? Parents who intend to stay behind, please wake up. So these people are leaving. Do you still want to echo what they say? Have you thought about your own kids if they plan to stay behind? Do you understand the damages these "leaving" parents gave done to the school and then they themselves are the first to jump the boat?
There is NO WAY people who are asking the accreditation bodies to take away CDNIS' accreditations have the best interest for the school! These people definitely do not care about the 1800+ students in the school.
I am confident that the accreditation bodies will see through these people's action. They will not be used as pawns by these people.
請留意，無論在pinboard同HK school, like來like去都係嗰幾個家長。請謹記,HK school 啲like大部分唔係家長或同學校無乜關係嘅人。啲料又不停番炒。好似'Friends'咁不停重播，唔知Mark哥幾時會加嗰'stop' button 係面書呢？
又就到FFF，今年FFF予咗班AGR/CT有動作。點會淨係send餐肉郵咁簡單。班愛生事家長成日講到自己咁愛學校，愛學生。不如唔好嘥時間寫餐肉郵，幫吓手攪FFF仲好啦！
We cannot call on Shirley Zhao or Andrew Work to stop bad mouthing our school(well maybe some parents can if they know these two persons). But we can certainly stop this by ourselves being fellow parents.
Wrong, wrong, wrong! Those trouble-making parents have got it all wrong. Be smart; no matter how much you disagree or dislike the school, if you still have kids studying here, you should do your utmost to make sure the environment is sound and healthy. To put it bluntly, you don't pee in your own pool.
We really should focus on positive elements in relation to the school. What about the huge investment in the Chinese Cultural Center? This is a giant step forward in terms of educational investment. It must be one of the most substantial investments in Chinese study, if not the most substantial in Hong Kong, when it comes to cultivating students' Chinese knowledge in both the language and the culture. Bravo!
Yes if the teacher level is lowered - according to you. Why are you still putting your kids in our school? Do the best for your kids. Some parents say that they dislike the "if you don't like it, please go" phrase. I think - why not? Be a responsible parent. If you cannot convince yourself that this school is best for your kid, you should go. Your kid is watching. Why do you let you kids hate their alma matar? That does not make sense...
The presence of officials from CIS, IB and OSSD serves as a strong reminder on how important it is to refocus our attention on education as a school community. I hope it's still not too late to pull back and steer away from dashing full speed ahead, knowing only hatred and blinded with all the one-sided aggressive and malicious messages against the school. Isn't one year of these negative angry messages enough for us all?
I agree with a previous comment that it was expected that some of the unrelenting troublemaking parents would choose November to stir up problems again, knowing that officials from CIS, IB and OSSD are doing their regular assessments. It's so typical! Many of them are leaving Hong Kong and hence the school soon, but what about those who are staying? These parents aren't being too smart by constantly putting down the school and doing their utmost to destroy the school's reputation while their children are still studying here. The lights are on, but no one is home. LOL.
I wonder if the relevant authority could do something to stop spamming. The latest spammer's illegal activity is a case in point. Parents and the school need to join hands to stop him. But for the time being, the best strategy is to ignore him in our community. We know who he is. Shame on him!
What the spammer is doing is more than annoying; it's atrocious and borders on being criminal. I wasn't going to comment on his action, because I didn't want to give him the attention he was seeking. But I couldn't help it, because I needed to say I hope the right attention/effort is given in order to bring him to justice. He should be stopped and punished. People, who are concerned about the well-being of our children, the community in general and the school, should do something about it.
其實早就預見依d搞事家長會係十一月時再炒大件事㗎啦。CIS，IB，同 OSSD 來考察嘛，佢哋係一定會趁機再創一番大事業！講真，有好幾個中堅份子都就走啦，咁興風作浪做麼呢？果啲仲未預備走果啲呢就真係白痴啦！成日話學校每況愈下，但係仲將你哋細路留響到，直情係不負責任啦。你就話難轉，但係舊年都有好多人好快閃咗，完全冇問噃。咁點解仲賴死唔走呢？係咁係佢哋啲細路考唔到其他學校？或者其他學校學費太貴？唔通轉咗就冇中文讀？嗱嗱嗱，係咁係呢？冇一間學校係perfect,有得就有失，呻麼？
There are about 30 of them still causing all the annoyance. Let them get tired, bored of what they are trying to do. Everyone else in the school are focused on the students ' well being , education and teachers are teaching at their best. That's most important.
Flies in general are pretty harmless, just annoying.
Shame on him! His action was atrocious, belligerent, cowardly and disgusting. And because he is so pitiful I don't think it's worth my while to give him more of my time and effort to describe his behavior. Once again, shame on him!
Using spam and anonymity to hide his identity to attack others through these vicious emails was more than cowardly or immoral behavior. It's touching on the legal issue of libelous. I think someone should look into the possibility of taking legal action against this spammer. And there must be some policy to act against such abuse using the platform the spammer used. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Like the other comments on this page, what the spammer is doing is not only laughable, it's totally pathetic. We shouldn't even stoop to his level. Pathetic people always seem to seek attention and not granting him even a shred of attention is the best way to deal with him.
To the spammer's rant of insults against a number of parents and people connected to the school, I only have one word for you - PATHETIC!
Hats off to the spammer who managed to insult so many people from every walk of life. His tirade was indicative of his inherent ignorance, hatred and hostility. Pitiful! May I remind the spammer that the content was not only inflammatory, but also defamatory and therefore libelous.
継續發餐肉郵啦！得啖笑。睇到學校封信就知全校一條心，一齊遣責你。明知今個月係一週年加FFF加CIS,你哋一定攪嘢，學校點會無2手準備？但係攪事都要有水準啲。發封九唔搭八嘅餐肉郵只可以幫你發洩吓。除咗一小撮人外，99%嘅家長都唔明你講乜，真係唔知有乜用。睇完𠵱嗰電郵，in conclusion, 只係覺得嗰作者一係好得閒，一係就有好大仇口同好大interest囉！睇嚟都係後者似啲。
提醒吓你先，大部分我識嘅家長都只係覺得你好無聊！99%都無睇過就㩒"delete"就算。所以話呢，你覺得自己寫得好Juicy,其他人可能覺得好crazy! 我哋啲家長大部分都好有水準又好忙㗎，所以提意你寫返啲實際啲嘅嘢，有啲意思嘅嘢，咁先有讀者嘛。
I totally understand why one of the parents who posted here felt so emotional over criticism regarding language. I have no problem posting in either English or Chinese. Every parent has the right to post in a language he or she is comfortable in. And to be honest, I think there are enough English comments here, so I don't see a problem at all. I only wish that the critical parent could have shown a bit more respect when it comes to criticism. Being critical doesn't have to be offensive; it could be constructive if conveyed in a more amicable manner. Thank you.
其實都要多謝AGR同CT。雖然上年大家因為你哋都過得好痛苦，但係學校經過你哋嘅事件，加快步伐找到將來要行嘅路。但係條路同你想行嗰條唔同，咁咪各行各路囖！
其實我完全明白學校嘅問題，但係我同啲concerned parents 㗎唔同係我接受現實，肯以務實嘅精神去解決問題。我願意包容學校嘅不足，以positive嘅態度去面對，耐唔係消極嘅方法去處理問題，去唱衰一個你我依然分享緊嘅社群。你話我嘅憤怒源於我啲意見受邊緣化，因為我小氣同好勝。咁點解搵路走㗎係你而唔係我？我嘅憤怒係因為睇唔過你自以為是，狂妄自大，不視對方的歪理。你哋最叻就係將自己問題嘅賴係其他人身上，從來唔會檢討自己一下。Truth網站幾時有得罪你。依道匿名講啲嘢比你哋公開講㗎嘢，真係客氣幾倍。我哋做㗎嘢幾時衰過你？你有幾個FBpall page，又有幾個綱站，又有餐肉郵，又有friend係傳媒界。相對之下一個匿名網站係唔係值得你去勞氣呢？
I am quite sure I am in no way related to anyone on the board, nor do I have anything to gain financially from them, So I must be an idiot, with my poorly written English, and I don't have a brain to understand what's going on. Oh all you high and mighty concerned parents, aren't you concerned to stay in the same school with parents me? It is truly unfortunate that my English is not that poor that I don't understand your insults!
So glad to see silent parents starting to stand up or just ignore the negative comments from the trouble parents. This is a good move. Let their voices die down. Let the school goes back up where it was before November 2014. There is no need to react or response to those naughty parents. They have no more bullets.
Your comments on language are really offensive and insulting. On the one hand, you put down Chinese parents when they post in English on this site, while at the same time complain about other parents posting in English. What's your point? You have claimed that we posted comments that have done more harm than good to the school. Can you specifically tell us what comments posted have damaged the school and in what way? What about your actions outside of the school? Going to the media, feeding them with negative news to smear the reputation of the school and the board and hurting the morale of everyone does not help the running of the school. I hope you will eventually see the damage you have caused to the school. You people know who you are.
My question is why are we not allowed to write and communicate in the language with which we are most comfortable? This is predominantly a Chinese community, with more than 90% Chinese. And when we write in your language you mock us for not measuring up to your standards. How arrogant! And BTW you call this democracy?
To the parent who wrote the wonderfully written post in Chinese on Oct 8 00:49 .
Thank you for your eloquence and you really nailed it.
Chinese is such a powerful language. Sometimes there simply are no English words that suit the expression as perfect as Chinese can.
Let's hang in there. Most parents in Cdnis now just ignore these "noises". See how many "likes" their posts get? Never more than 30...unfortunately, they refuse to admit they are not the " majority".
點解連寫自己感受都要寫英文？ 請記住中文係香港嘅法定語言！ 我係香港嘅土地上寫中文感受犯罪咩！我覺得完全無問題喎！我有啲外國人朋友都用中文同我講嘢啦！成日講IB主義原則，首先學吓尊重先啦。
真係有趣，我寫中文就一定同校董有關係，咁寫英文就一定同英女皇有關係啦！𠵱嗰網站啲人英文差，但係你哋又睇得明？ 我就覺得𠵱嗰網站有好多言論係英文母語嘅人寫。淨係睇𠵱啲列子，就知啲邏輯有問題啦！
我有好多外國人家長朋友，但大部分都我一樣咁睇學校件事。唔通佢哋同校董有關係？點解只有二、三十個家長咁仇視學校呢？
CISPA啲家長盡心盡力為學校社羣貢獻，請問日日係HKschool同pinboard炮轟學校嘅家長們，你之前有冇為CISPA出過力？請你停止當CISPA係奴隸獸。因為CISPA唔係只係為你服務，而係為所有幾千家長學生教職員服務。你對CISPA苛刻嘅要求，要花CISPA大量時間及精力解答及解決你嘅問題，變相剝奪CISPA服務其他家長學生教職員嘅時間，咁又對大家公平咩！
用常理推斷，你愛學校都會想佢好啦，又點會日日炮轟學校？真係好想理解𠵱嗰心態。不合理的言論太多了，不能盡錄，都係留返比大家自己分析啦。
Honestly, if people have any common sense or logic, while reading this site, you would understand what is the REAL reason why CDNIS "seems to be" in such a terrible situation when it is NOT.
There are about 30 or so very vocal parents who insist on badmouthing our school, and our HOS and our Board. They speak without responsibility and bear no consequences. It's always the same bunch who are bashing CDNIS, and same bunch who "like" the posts.
Honestly, if you are so unhappy with the school, you really should just leave our school and let the rest who are happy have some peace! Leave with some class, just go quietly.
其實唔好咁激氣, 都走啦，有時間就拾吓行李。你有5個小朋友應該好忙㗎！CDNIS同你究竟有mud過節，好似向殺父仇人報仇咁去破壞間學校？又可以咁問，你係前朝有乜着數啊？唔通5個細路讀有團體優惠？轉朝之後就無晒？總之，都走啦，就look forward向前看，唔好look back啦。
What's the sudden concern about legal expenses? Are these parents worried that the school has insufficient reserve to pay for it? Are they worried about the Annual Fund (the last I check, these loud parents are not the major donors) being squandered away? Or perhaps they are helping out their admin/teacher friends who are embroiled in the legal tussle to keep the case in the Labor Tribunal so that they don't need to incur any legal outlay that will definitely offset the compensation they are seeking?
Thank you to the Hambly family for being so concern and care about everything in Cdnis, from school bus issues , to the court cases, tuitions etc etc... even though your family is leaving next term. That's enough. Go in peace and leave us quickly! We don't want your voice.
Even though annoying noises still made their appearances here and there, I think their action already speaks louder than words - annoying with no substance. Their arrogance and ignorance has clouded their vision and judgement. What they've done last year has clearly demonstrated to most people what they are really made of.
I have a feeling that they are losing traction and support fast from the community. Let's stay positive and move forward.
I want to echo a previous comment about giving what our children deserve - a happy and healthy environment to learn and grow up. The school is supposedly the perfect place for this until recently when some parents decided to turn it upside down and into a battle ground to achieve their political goals. If you need to advance your political agenda I suggest you take it to Admiralty or elsewhere. This is not the place for you. You are not welcome here.
All of the parents who believe their children deserve a healthy positive environment to learn and grow up please remain silent no more. Come out and be the vocal majority. It's time to tell those arrogant, selfish and hopelessly ineffective so-called representatives of parents to shut up and stop pretending they are doing it for the greater good. We have had enough of your nonsense.
In the CDNIS community, the atmosphere does sometimes give us the feeling we are going through a form of Cultural Revolution that no one is spared. We are all being put under the microscope or more directly speaking being persecuted. Why? It's because you people (those angry aggressive parents) sugar-coat what you are doing by saying it's democracy, but in reality what you are doing is motivated by your selfish belief that "If you are not with me, you are against me." What democracy? Isn't it a bit hypocritical?
而家啲家長唧嘅行為有啲似文革批鬥咁。朋友變敵人，阿仔批阿媽，學生反校長。以前大家互相所擁有嘅信任，禮貌同尊重都消失灑！大家分派分黨，如果同姓就會比人批作黑五類，同哋理事會蛇鼠一窩！一唔回應佢臉書嘅問題就立既比人冠上莫須有嘅罪名！啲人點可以咁黑白不分，不可理喻㗎？
其實為麽呢？點解要行到咁肉酸嘅地步呢？大家都係家長，大家都係成年人，點解唔可以平心靜氣來處理依件事，大事化小，小事化無呢？一間學校啫！使唔使搞到咁癲，比人恥笑呢？真係唔明。
Don't they have a heart? I thought we were off to a good start this school year, but the core troublemaking parents are back again. Still hanging around like a bad smell. LOL.
I love the way one parent put it:
"Education is about ensuring children are happy and well taught." My question is: How did your angry and disruptive actions last year help with that? Did what you guys do help to promote happiness and academic excellence?
"A good school is also a place where high standards and principles of behavior should be imparted and modeled." My question is: You have such high standards of other people, what about yourself? Can you honestly tell me that what you people did last year measure up to your so-called high standards and principles of behavior?
Please stop lecturing us when you cannot practice what you preach.
Parents who support the school have family, social and business connections to the governing body or their jobs are contingent upon the status quo? This assumption must be originated from the parent's past experience with this school. I am a parent with no such connection but I support the school since the beginning of the turmoil. I am extremely disturbed by the comments made by this parent, she is insulting the integrity of the majority of parents and staffs in this school. Although the comment is removed in HK School Facebook page shortly, I demand an apology from this parent.
Those few "angry" families continue to bad mouth our school. If they are so angry, why don't they leave?!?!
And Mr. Work, who has no ties with CDNIS, continues to write negative things about our school . What does he want? Good luck to his newspaper. Hope his business won't last long.
I just love this time of the year, the air is drier and even smells sweet, maybe because of the general mood and atmosphere in the school and the community. Let's make it last guys!
I am happy to see that the general atmosphere in the school is quite good. I get the impression that most parents are determined to put all the bad things that happened last year behind them and move forward. For the new year, I am hopeful that most parents will focus their energy on their children and their academic development, and support the school in providing the right conditions for that to happen.
My main concern is the privacy issue. The person appears to have followed Gregg around for a bit or sent someone to do it. Why? I find the whole thing both pathetic and dangerously threatening. It's threatening our privacy. What can we do about it? We could do something ourselves by reporting it to the relevant authorities. These people have done enough damage to the school as a whole, now they are trying to take away our privacy. I am very concerned and worried.
I want to echo the other parents regarding privacy and I want to add one more thing -- our sanity. The way I see it is this person and his allies want to create an environment of fear to force us into silence. They are effectively telling us that we are not safe either in the school community or in our private capacity. This is nothing but a threat to our safety rather than merely a question of privacy. Am I being a paranoid or what?
Ha ha, I agree! it's very sad for this person to have to deal with someone he seemingly hates so much. That must have inflicted a certain amount of damage on his already damaged mind. But, on second thoughts, maybe that's not so because his mind is already beyond repair. LOL.
I find it ironic that someone who professes to hate Gregg so much (as to send such vitriolic drivel to all and sundry) must have spent absolutely hours going through and looking at Gregg footage in order to create the mash up video. Well done. You have just managed to inflict further damage on your already irreparably damaged mind. It is almost laughable if it was not so pathetic and frankly, sad.
What this anonymous parent/person is doing is like a veiled threat. By spying on Gregg, he is indirectly threatening parents, saying "We are watching you!" Maybe someone should report the case to the police.
Please stop this senseless attack. We have just returned to school and we haven't even settled after the summer break. What a horrible thing to do spying on Gregg. Is it even legal? Someone should find out.
The latest spam email that came out this week was totally despicable. It is spreading rumors, vicious gossip and venomous comments. This person accused others of hiding behind anonymity in posting comments on The Truth, yet is doing exactly that himself. The silent majority parents chose to be anonymous because of fear of a backlash from people like this parent, who is vicious and out for blood, hunting parents and people who disagree with him. In his spam email, he even named names, bringing undue stress to people, while he remains anonymous. What a coward!
Mr. Arthur Wang, no matter what you called yourself, who cares….
I do not think the one who was fined by WTA for integrity issue can be relied on under any circumstances. If you do not like the truth, we are more than happy to see you leaving. Just stop hurting our school any further. As to Work, you did not send your kids to the school back to the old good says when Dave was the King, why do you think you have anything to say in the school affairs now?
Arthur Wang, Sandra Wong, and whoever else it is, we all know you are the very same person, no matter how you disguise yourself. The spam did not achieve anything except re-forcing my judgement that CT/AGR is not trustable at all. For whatever reason you are spamming Cdnis parents, please stop. Almost everyone I know of , trashed your spam without opening. Don't waste your time, you won't get what you want.
"ComeTogether emails are sent only to parents who have opted in to receiving our emails by providing their email address, and each of our emails have a link to unsubscribe" Is this a joke? Do they really believe in their own lies like this?
I have never signed up for ComeTogether, never provided my email address to them but I have received numerous spam emails from them. I have also utilised their so-called 'unsubscribe' button at the bottom of some of their emails but unfortunately, I have continued to receive their emails afterwards.
Hundreds of parents can prove my point above.
Since they have repeatedly proven themselves to be totally untrustworthy, will I believe their line of "To be clear, ComeTogetherCDNIS is not responsible for the email sent today"? What do you think???
Dear Chinese Canadian passport and debenture holder,
Don't hide behind Arthur Wang, Sandra Wong. If you so strongly dislike people who write on this page and choose to be anonymous (with valid reasons stated below), why hide behind some fake names yourself? Come out and stand firmly behind your poorly written emails.
P.S., I am not the same parent who wrote to you earlier.
P.P.S. Instead of wasting time to personally attack other people in the CDNIS community, perhaps you should spend more time on your struggling business.
Dear the Chinese man and debenture and Canadian passport holder,
I just read your spam mail which is once again very badly written with lots of Chinglish and grammatical mistakes. My only comment is that this spam mail is no longer about governance of the school or any other school matters that are of interest to the parents but about personal attack of our HOS (btw, his first name is Gregg and not Greg) and other persons that did not go with you way, which to me is shameful and ugly and as you have mentioned, should be reported to the police (did you actually follow Gregg and took photos of him walking on a street in Central with a friend?? Unbelievable!). Please do not send me any spam email. Also, naming yourself Arthur Wang just doesn't help because everyone knows who you are.
PS - for the record, I am not one of the fellow parents you mentioned in your spam mail.
I talked to some parents recently and got the feeling that many are very determined to fight off any negative forces against the school for the sake of their children. This means they will no longer stay quiet, they will act decisively to stop any damaging forces targeted towards the school because CDNIS means a lot to them as their children's education depends on it.
Hello parents, I am looking forward to meeting new families and a year in which we can really do something in the CDNIS community that's not negative and damaging towards the school and focus on the learning environment for our children. I hereby plead to the teachers to focus solely on the students and call on them to exercise their professional and ethical judgement to do all they can to make it a good and memorable year for students.
A belated welcome back message. I just want to extend a warm welcome to all students, parents and their families. It's nice to see familiar faces at school after the summer break. I sincerely hope this is going to be a year of progression and further academic and personal advancement for all students. Thanks to those who have been supportive towards the students and their academic and personal development.
Anybody care to reveal what happened to last week's CDNIS Explained event? What was explained or unexplained? What was the turnout? And are we expecting another War and Peace style wall-to-wall coverage of the event in HT? LOL.
Could someone explain to me why Mr Work is taking such a keen interest in reporting everything that concerns CDNIS? He even covered the labour tribunal case of the dismissal of a teacher. I thought his newspaper is exclusively for policymakers and politicians. If that is the case, then why would the happenings of a particular private international school be of interest to his readers? It sounds odd to me.
Stop spreading poisonous comments calling the school Pyongyang International. You people are reckless with no regard for consequences and seem determined to destroy the school. You are nothing but scaremongers. I am so sick and tired of your exaggerated comments, twisted logic and selfish behavior. You people should be restrained from using the Pinboard, especially those who have left the school.
I am serious that we need to stop the bad behavior of some who abused the Cispa pinboard using the platform to harass other parents, especially when some of these abusers are no longer with the school. Leave us alone; you are parasites and, therefore, not welcome.
It is very obvious to others that the same bunch of people keep badmouthing, bullying and making ungrounded speculations of CDNIS in HK School. To the potential parents of CDNIS, as a parent of two children in CDNIS, I would like to remind you that many of these disgruntled people criticizing CDNIS in HK School are not related to CDNIS or no longer in the CDNIS community. They do not have the correct information of the school and many times they are commenting from their very narrow understanding of the situation. It is the best for you to come to our school and make a judgement yourself.
Parents who have left the school, moved on and did not bad mouth the school - I respect that
Parents who have left the school and continue to bad mouth the school to cause disruption and destroy the school's reputation - Shame on you! These people deserve no respect whatsoever!
Parents who continue to stay at the school and cause disruption, continue to attack the school for revenge or to fight for their own agenda - 不知所謂！
Dear CISPA board members, please kindly stick with your rules and use the Pinboard for community building instead of school politics. Thank you.
No one can ever convince me that bad mouthing the school publicly and pressuring the EDB, IB, CIS to take away the school's accreditations are for the good of the school. It is very obvious that some people want to destroy the school because they had personal grudges towards some Members and Governors. These people are so ridiculous that they obviously don't care about the education of our children! They will do whatever to avenge and further their personal agendas! Shame on them!
The crazy troublemaker parents have started the bullying on Cispa pinboard again. Please stop now! Alternatively the site administrator should do something quickly to stop the rapid spread of bullying. Also the accounts of those people who are no longer connected with the school must be deleted immediately; they are just spreading poison.
Someone claimed that the school is being systematically dismantled by the founders. I beg to differ. Who has been dragging the school and its good reputation, built over the last 25 years, through the mud over the past year? Who has been disrupting the running of the school since last year? Who has been spreading vicious rumors and poisonous gossip within the school community? And who has been giving the school bad press? Anyone can deduce the answers and decide who has been systematically dismantling the school. Please open your eyes!
I thought Cispa pinboard no longer allow discussion of school politics. I urge Cispa to strictly implement this rule. I personally find the link of AGR and discussion on that thread is irrelevant to 99% of parents in this school. I am just an ordinary working parent. My daily schedule is already up to my neck and I honestly don't have time and energy to deal with "problems" in this school. In fact, I deeply feel the positive atmosphere at the beginning of the school year. All teachers I met are excited to meet new students, new staff and new principals; students are happy with the yummy food in the new cafeteria; everyone is overwhelmed by the beautiful Chinese culture center. The new teachers are well qualified and enthusiastic to be in this school. The university placements of our graduates are excellent and the school finally has smaller class size in some grades. My kids leaves home for school happily every morning. Aren't these the hard ! evidence of the great work done by the administration and the board? Where do the problems lie?
I always see the same few names appearing in the pinboard criticizing the school. It seems like only the same few parents have concerns about the governance of the school. I am more than happy to know if there is a real problem in terms of the administration and governance. However, pushing CISPA to meet your requests in this aggressive manner really turns me. AGR, please don't forget CISPA also represent me and many other parents who don't share the same view as you do. If CISPA act on your behalf, who act on my behalf? Please let CISPA to remain neutral and keep it away from politics. If you wish to bring up the governance issue, please directly discuss with the members and stop dragging all parents into your problems.
My heart felt when my grade 7 son told me how his summer camp teachers and students outside of his school commented about CDNIS and how unhappy he was when he heard about the comments. Who made CDNIS a joke of Hong Kong by taking some internal management issues public? I don't care about givernance. I just need a school that is reputable and have a good curriculum that can train my son for a few more years to bring him to the next stage. Please stop everything that you are doing or intend to do this year. There are a lot of CDNIS parents who are highly educated lawyers or doctors or professionals who are as smart, if not smarter than you. Please don't think that you are saving the world or doing something great for the benefits of others. We don't need your help. We don't need you. Please leave us alone.
Perhaps my English is really not up to scratch, but I do not understand why would a Parent Suuport Group be giving any recommendations? As the name of the group suggests, it's role is to support the work of the 2 parent reps on the Task Force. And the group that is solely responsible to formulate the recommendations for governance reform is the Task Force. AGR seems to forget that the community is not just parents alone. The Task Force is the only group that represents the entire community. Is it another case of over zealous AGR members in the Parent Support Group overstepping their boundaries and bullying their way into the reform process like the way they are trying to bull dozer their ideas onto CISPA?
Another SPAM from AGR on CISPA pinboard? All right, let's look into the facts:
• How many parents know about PSG and its charter?
• How many parents were asked by PSG to provide comments on the Reform Task Force Recommendations?
• Do you know how much due diligence and debates were put into the PSG comments before they were submitted to Task Force for consideration?
If you have little knowledge about the above, will you assume that PSG comments were collective feedback of all parents and have to be taken in full by the Task Force? If you have never heard from the PSG, then what make you think that your thoughts are being represented by them? Noted that PSG was only one of the many support groups for the governance reform.
PSG was established with the good intention of promoting communication between the Task Force and parent community, and supporting the parent representatives on the Task Force, and nothing else. I was told that PSG was hijacked by AGR soon after its establishment and I am not surprised to see that most of the PSG recommendations were only AGR's wish list.
Another thought about an earlier SPAM from CT titled "What CDNIS has Lost... so far" . Here is what is on my mind- I am thinking to switch my kid to HKIS/CIS. Does that mean I am on your side? Think before you drink.
Parents, please try to join the September 2 meeting. The AGR leader has signed up to join the CISPA meeting and there is no doubt she will oppose everything that is for the school. Please come and stop her action. We need to stand up and let those people know that there action are not welcome by most parents.
AGR又係度誤導家長。佢哋明知大部分家長都唔知TF同PSG係乜，所以咪亂噏囉。大家要明白, Task Force 嘅工作係比 governance reform recommendation 比members 同board。至於啲members同唔同意跟住啲recommendations 去做，真係只有members先可以決定。PSG更加無say la,因為佢哋只係根據嗰TF recommendations 比啲家長方面嘅意見。PSG嘅建議連TF都可以否決la,點會全部比members睇到呀。所以唔好講到PSG啲建議咁大，其實佢哋嘅建議真係可能連TF嗰關都過唔到。
我唔知道做人可以咁無賴，想踢你出局嘅時候就同你搞針對但係想拖你落水的時候又玩字眼遊戲。神又係你鬼又係你，黑白都係你，真係噏得就噏。都幾佩服呢班鐘意自導自演自說嘅人。
Some people just don't get it. And to think that so many of them are legally trained yet have no respect for what "Private" means. As in Private Property? Private Space? Private School? No one is challenging your right to push for reform, but don't bother me with your disgruntled accusations. Stop spamming me with your self-righteous obnoxious letters of professing to love the school yet torturing me everyday with your problems. It's enough! Give it a rest for goodness sake and go find a new hobby or something. Do something meaningful with your life, I don't really need you to educate me on what's wrong with the reform. I had enough of your rubbish for a whole school year, I don't need another year to be ruined by people who dislike my existence i.e. the silent majority and have no respect of my space in this community!
I recommend all AGR to stop bombarding CISPA and the school. I recommend AGR to disband immediately. I recommend the AGR to stop commenting on governance of CDNIS. I recommend all AGR to leave the school. Will the AGR take and act on my recommendations? What do you think? The AGR of course has the power to make these decisions. If the AGR don't act according to my recommendations, why the members have to act according to what the Task force and PSG recommended?
AGR/CT, you have lost your biggest leverage. The teachers know you are not interested in helping the school. They know you are only interested in achieving your own agenda with no regards to the pain your have caused the entire community. So what's left for you to stir? Like the way you arm wrestled the board to reform, you are trying to arm wrestle CISPA to be a pawn in your game. CISPA has time and again stated that politics is not their mandate, yet it has gone on deaf ears. Please accept that parent support for AGR/CT is dwindling. It's your last year in CDNIS ex-governor, your time is running out, stop spamming the community with your long AGR letters, stop playing with words, and give up your meaningless fight. This is NOT your school, why can't you get it.
I was talking to a friend the other day. She said she's in the process of selecting a school for her kid. She asked me about CDNIS because she knew it's a very good school but her only concern she said was the politics. Her take on the controversy was "It's like seeing a wonderful family being divided by two parents who can't get on and keep on arguing in front of the kids. What a shame!" I guess it sums it all up.
AGR has posted their comments on the School's recent governance reform paper on CISPA Pinboard, which is against the ground rules for posting on PINBoard. See how these people talk about governance where they themselves are the ones breaking the rules. Frankly, I was never concerned about the governance structure of the school. I only want a stable and peaceful environment for my child to continue his education. IF I don't like the school's governance structure and if I care so much, I will move my kid away from the school. So AGR, please leave. Go to HKIS or CIS to continue your revolution. Leave us alone!
Another spam....another letter with misleading information....Why do the AGR think their recommendation must be adopted by the members? They are only recommendations! The members have right to adopt the recommendations if they see fit and vice versa! Don't forget we are only parents, we can't see the big picture. Isn't it irresponsible to make comments on something that we don't completely understand. I actually find the members are quite open-minded in terms of disclosing the details of governance reform. The demand of transparency of the AGR is already met. Now, they want more, they want the members to do everything in their way! Come on, the AGR is only part of the many stakeholders, they certainly have the right to say something, but it does not mean they can decide anything. The power still rests with the members. If the AGR do not see the members make decision for the benefits of the school and all stakeholders as a whole, please leave this school. There is just no reason for one to continue to live under the shadow of someone you don't trust.
I call on all parents to fight these troublemaker parents and get rid of those who have already left and are still trying to mess up our lives. Please leave us alone!
The pinboard is not a political platform for those parents who are political animals to show off their political skills. We won't allow you to use our kids' education as political chips. Leave us alone.
Parents who have left CDNIS have no business in our business. If you still have some self-respect, please remove yourselves. Otherwise, I ask that they be removed ASAP. I also demand that these troublemaker parents leave us alone and let our kids have a good school year. We have just started school and here they go again. This is so pathetic.
Not again!! Ms ML and Ms VG, can you give us a break? And there should be no posting of the school's governance issues on the PIN board - CISPA, please help to remove. Also I noted that some parents who posted on PIN has already left CDNID for HKIS. Can CISPA help to remove those parents from the PIN ? Thanks.
Does anyone know how many people in the CDNIS community have signed up for the CDNIS Explained event? Who is going? How much is there to be explained? Will the event help better explain what has happened in/to the community? A lot needs to be explained. LOL.
My family is prepared to make 2015/16 a good year for the kids and the family, as well as people we have known for years in the CDNIS community. We need to have everyone onboard to make it happen. Thank you.
I'm glad someone has pointed out that the actual number of students switching to HKIS is only 20-something and that the figure of 90 was just hearsay. I call on all parents to be aware of the biased information put out by the disgruntled parents and their associates. Think positive and don't let their negativity influence you. Let's make the new school year a positive and productive one.
I know from some parents that they moved to HKIS mainly because they believe the CDNIS environment is too stressful and scary for their children. And who, may I ask, contributed to creating such an unbearable environment over the past year? No need to argue over figures, the root cause is clear to us all.
I have been in touch with a lot of parents who are determined to make the new school year count for their kids. They want to make sure that the silent majority can contribute and won't be drowned out by the noise of troublemaker parents. We need a platform that allows all voices and different opinions to be heard. For the sake of our children's future, we can't afford to be sidelined any more.
Would it not be perfect if most of the families who left are the troublemakers responsible for smearing the school's reputation and general morale? I hate to think that we have lost good families because they are fed up with the toxic environment. But you can't cry over spilled milk, we just have to make sure that the next school year is a good one that counts.
有啲𢦓語係喺中文同英文都有出現嘅，例如一箭雙雕，kill 2 birds with one stone。今次學校依件事，好多人都唔認同嘅就係有人向傳媒將件事揚開。好巧合哋，中文同英文都有類似相同嘅成語來形容大家嘅感受，就係家醜不可外揚，don't wash your dirty laundry in the public. 咁我係唔係可以斷定其實大家對依種做法都唔認同，其實每個人都要面呢？咁分歧就唔係因為文化嘅不同，而係個人嘅抉擇呢？
What happened at CDNIS is simply a case of boardroom politics overdone. Sometimes I try to put myself in the shoes of the radicals, and hope to see the purpose and reasons for all the drama. The only conclusion I have is a bunch of people who had successfully opened Pandora's box with their overly ambitious plans. It started with a request to remove the board, then they went on to try and remove the HoS by having teachers turn on admin, and now they are persecuting CISPA by getting parents to turn on each other. It's hard enough to orchestrate a coup. But these guys are trying to engineer a Revolution and a civil war along the way too! Rome was not built in a day, neither is CDNIS. You guys should have contained your game within the boardroom and not drag the entire community down with one grand plan after another. What ambition! What failure!
I think people have learned to read through the fudged numbers. One said 250 applied, another claimed someone from HKIS welcome committee had said 90. But honestly, who cares. These people have left our community. Good bye and good luck. My concern is whether we fill all the spots that has been vacated. And from the looks of it, the school still looks pretty busy and crowded, and not the ghost town some parents are claiming it will be with the exodus of students from the school.
Similarly, AGR/CT had said all the good teaches will leave and no one would want to teach in CDNIS. But guess what? We manage to find new teachers and new principals to fill the shoes of those who left. And after reading their credentials, they look pretty great to me.
The world goes on, no one is indispensable, don't make yourself out to be more important than you really are.
I have a number of observations on the invitation issued by Mr Work to attend the "Bad-mouthing CDNIS Series".
First, he makes it sound like the CDNIS saga is such a big deal that it would interest outsiders as well as the inner community by making a highly exaggerated statement: "The implications for Hong Kong are subtle, but important". Yeah right, it's a bit like making a mountain out of a molehill?
Second, he is inviting the anonymous backers of thetruthcdnis.org and more. Why? My guess is he has a number of motives. 1. He wants to out these backers. Clever, but not so clever! 2. He wants to appear neutral and inclusive. Sorry, too obvious! 3. He wants to have more attendees. 4. He wants to create more fireworks to make the event more exciting and hence more attractive ... ultimately to attract more attendees. 5. He is being divisive by describing the pro-school people as backers of thetruthcdnis.org.
Finally, I have a question. What does Mr Work mean by backers of the truthcdnis.org and "more"? What is more? Are there more backers out there or more other unknown people that are neither backers nor opponents? Maybe he wants to attract government officials to join, who knows?
Have heard that Mr Work is desperately trying to drum up support for his show CDNIS Explained. He tries to package it as a story of Hong Kong by saying how a bright and brilliant rising star of an international school has become so downtrodden in just one year. The reasoning behind this tangled web of complex events, weaved by Work's mates/allies, will be unravelled by none other than Work himself. LOL.
There you go someone has already clarified the numbers; the figure of CDNIS students transferred to HKIS is 29. So, stop spreading vicious rumors people! You have done enough damage already.
Regarding the number of CDNIS students switching to HKIS, 90 students sounds a bit OTT. That figure raised a few questions. First, do they have that many vacancies? Second, why would the school supply this figure? Isn't it supposed to be confidential? Also, if it's that easy to transfer to HKIS, the school doesn't seem that selective at all.
Stop scaremongering people! Stop and think why people leave CDNIS. It's because some people have made this school environment so unbearable that they had no choice but go somewhere else to keep their sanity and allow their children a good healthy environment to learn and enjoy school life like ordinary kids. So who has been creating such a negative environment in the past year? Who has been smearing the school's reputation by running to the media every time the school did something they didn't like? You people know who you are and I am telling you that you are the reason these parents left CDNIS.
Oh...So 90 families switched to HKIS is just a hearsay! Maybe it is time to clarify other numbers too!
I really have had enough. You guys are back spreading vicious rumors even before the school year has started. Don't you have better things to do in life? Is it because your lives are so dull and boring that you need to experience adrenaline thrills from other's lives? I feel sorry for you.
Exaggerating and painting a negative picture, as we learned from last year, is not a good practice and can be very damaging on many levels. And who came up with the figure that 90 students are leaving CDNIS? Have you talked to all of those families and asked why they are leaving or have left? I wouldn't be surprised if the main reason given was because of the toxic environment created by those angry, nasty parents had forced them to get out.
Please don't blame others for your mistakes!
May I know how this parent know the parent email address issue was not discussed in the ICT committee? I hope this parent will stop leaking information from the committees. If he/she was not leaking information, then please stop spreading rumors. In both cases, what he/she did is definitely unethical.
How did CT know 90 families moved to HKIS? This is probably not an official number from HKIS nor CDNIS. Then how did they get this number? Don't tell me it's an estimation!
44 students left CDNIS and went to HKIS. There are 13 kids who did not inform where they headed to . Let's assume those 13 ALSO went to HKIS. (which I know isn't true). That would still add up to only 57.
How they got the number 90? Definitely not announced by HKIS or CDNIS.
Anyways, what is the point of this? People leave for many reasons, not necessarily those assumed by CT and AGR group. We also have a long waiting list , 44 left for HKIS, surely we have filled up these spots already by kids from other schools.
Can we just have some peace and let us all enjoy having our children study at CDNIS without all this politics and rumours ?
The reality is only less than half of the number of CDNIS families moved to HKIS. CT has once again used this kind of exaggeration and wrong data to mislead us fellow parents. The other way to look at it is - why bother? You can also choose to leave! And once you make this choice, please shut up and stop bad mouthing the school cause you are no longer part of this family. If you choose to stay, please work with the school to ensure that your sons and daughters return to a stable and peaceful environment.
For the parent who wrote on 2015-08-17 10:33:14... Just to let you know... Mr. Work who claimed to be a governor had never been a governor officially... He thought he was though...
Shame on him...
Only 85-90 CDNIS families switched to HKIS? It is definitely a smaller number than I thought. Are you trying to create another fear scene to scare parents? It simply won't work. The more spam emails you sent, the more parents get annoyed. Parents in this community won't fall into your same old trick again.
Just got another illegal spam from Come Together at hush.com. Nothing new to add except they state that HKIS welcomed 90 CDNIS families to the school on Friday. I find it hard to believe that HKIS Administrators would make such a pronouncement, but why don't we phone and ask them?
I know of one family myself who did move, and now regret it so, for me, the most unfortunate thing is that some families that left got caught up in CT / AGR's fear-mongering. Some left because, I assume, they just didn't want to be there anymore for a variety of reasons. But what I find disgusting is that some of the biggest blowhards of the previous year HAVE KEPT THEIR KIDS AT CDNIS. You people perpetrated enough anxiety to cause good people to move their kids, never an easy decision to make, and then you crow about it. But YOU keep your children at CDNIS! You knew YOU were never going to leave. Have you no shame?
Wow! So guess who is on the board of advisors of that small time kindergarten where the Canadian Club such as it is holds its kids event. What a tangled web he weaves!
Someone needs to contact Shirley Zhao from the SCMP and tell her to cover the Harbor TImes Happy Hour CDNIS Explained event! She has covered the school all year, and this is important! The SCMP can continue to shed light on the matter! Oh wait… Andrew Work (self-described journalist) says: MEDIA NOT INVITED!
OH well… maybe a disgruntled CDNIS parent / staffer can sneak Shirley into the Harbour Times / Canadian Club Happy Hour like they did with for the parent / BOG meetings at our school. WORK IT!!
Love the way the Harbour Rag guys like to misrepresent the facts: "Canadian Club is a venerable organisation founded in 1949 LOL"… But he also says it is a charity, so lets all make sure that he keeps the accounting books in order when he is charging for these Happy Hours. Lets tell the Inland Revenue Department. I want to know where the money is going! We can help bring in the numbers at his events and write letters to all the Diplomats that he likes to hobnob with and let them know that he is offering such important events. Next: Norwegian International School explained.
One of the resigned governors is using our school crisis to make money by charging entrance fee to an event organised by him and by asking people to subscribe to his newspaper. If this is not considered as self-interest, I am not sure what is. Shameful for someone trying to make money by taking advantage of our miserable experiences in the last school year! Especially by one of the resigned governors, the whole crisis started after they resigned!
The last time I checked, the Canadian Club HK, of which Mr Work is President, doesn't have an address or official website, just a Facebook account and funny enough it is somehow linked to Harbour Times, Mr Work's paper. And if you want to join a small-scale kindergarten event, which charges up to $600 per head, you need to register with his paper Harbour Times. Does sound a bit odd, doesn't it? So Mr Work owns a small paper with an even smaller readership, a small kindergarten, maybe, and a small "club". He really is very multi-talented and an all-round businessman.
I am also baffled by the whole CDNIS Explained Happy Hour event. If those who are interested have first-hand experience of it why do they still need an outsider (and very likely one that's biased) to explain to them what they have experienced/suffered? It does sound a complete waste of time. But I have noticed one thing; Work is trying to drive traffic to his so-called newspaper by telling people to go to HT online to read stories on the issue. Is he serious?
We should all stand together, determined to make the new school year a productive one and a year of solidarity. Let's leave behind all the differences of the past and embrace diversity to advance our goal, which is academic excellence and overall prosperity for students, the school and the community at large.
Why is Mr Work organizing the bad-mouthing of CDNIS under the Happy Hour Series banner? Is it the kind of thing you would normally discuss with your mates over Happy Hour? Has it become pub talk/pub gossip now? I think the whole concept is grossly inappropriate and tacky.
We need to be reminded that it takes a lifetime to build a reputation, but you can lose it in a minute. The school has worked really hard to build and become what it is today. To those people who have been working against the school, bad-mouthing it both here and overseas, I would like to ask: Have you thought about all the negative consequences brought upon the school and the students, including your own children?
Work is indeed hosting a happy hour for two hundred dollars admission. He says he has invited the admin, board and anonymous backers of this site! Does that mean I get a free beer?
What's abundantly clear to me is that what happened in CDNIS over the past year has created an environment that's toxic to everybody. Stop for a moment, think clearly and ask yourself: Who started the fight? Who kept smearing the school's reputation both here and abroad?
I agree with previous comments that CDNIS business should be dealt with by people inside the community. We should not allow people who have non-related interests to stick their noses into our business. These people have nothing to lose, but we do! These people know who they are.
I heard that Mr Work is organizing a Happy Hour Series (a charging event, I believe) entitled "CDNIS Explained" later this month. I was just wondering about the logic behind such an event. First, does he think people who are in the community would need to have explained to them what has been going on for the last school year? Second, does he believe those outside the community would be interested in attending a pay event to hear something they have no vested interest in? It all sounds like a desperate attempt to serve his personal interests, rather than explaining what really needs to be explained. LOL.
Have you read the latest HOS message? It seems that Gregg and his team are determined to defend the School in a more efficient basis. And the rebuttal to the spam emails are to the point and well drafted. I really could not understand why we still have those spam emails coming out. Come on, the Chinese male, Canadian passport and debenture holder, your daughter has such a good IB results. Can you give us a break?
Hello CDNIS Parents. I checked the school website and note that there are several updates: Importantly, two people have resigned from the 2015/16 CISPA executive. The FLASH is available, which includes info about the new Parent Code of Conduct, Parent/Admin coffee mornings, and a Parent / Governor meet-and-greet event. Also, I note that a new bullet point has been added to the "JUST THE FACTS" section (left red box on the CDNIS website) relating to the Parent Code of Conduct. This is all impressive and gratifying, and as far as I am concerned it is keeping with the approach Admin has taken all along... initially lenient and gracious, but over time we all saw just how low the bitter people would go and the [perhaps] unintended consequences of their actions and the escalation that resulted. As a new school year is upon us, the time has come to set out community-wide expectations, and to be firm and resolute in how the bitter people are dealt with. We don't know which parents are still at the school (many have left) but I am willing to let bygones be bygones as long as they have come on board supporting the school and not tearing it down. Having said that, I still hope and expect that the LEADERS of the AGR / CT and the Student/Alumni forum dissent groups (and the guy who thinks he's a CDNIS parent but isn't and never was... you know the one who wants people to buy his blog)will STEP UP. To those "Leaders" I say prove your leadership by providing closure for all the people that you got to follow you. Tell us what your real motivations were. Perhaps they were different for each of you. Honest self-assessment is not easy, but you can do it!! When you do so, the entire community can learn a great lesson from start to finish and it will not have been in vain. If you are honest, we will forgive you ;-)
I really don't want to pour cold water over some parents who have been so positive in their comments. I still have a suspicion that some angry parents will come up with more tricks to try to further damage morale and the school's reputation. But, at the same time, I am hopeful that truth will prevail and justice will be upheld.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank those of you who have maintained their faith in the CDNIS community and for keeping an unbiased view and approach. Thanks for listening and not passing pre-conceived judgement. May your positivity continue to influence the rest of the community. I look forward to a great, productive and positive year ahead.
Hooray! Finally, we have parents rising to speak the truth. From the bottom of my heart, I still believe many parents are well-intentioned and do see their children's welfare as the priority. Some of them, unfortunately, might have been led astray in the way they approached the matter, which led to a year of chaos and disarray. Hopefully these last couple of months off will have done many parents some good in refocusing their attention on things that really matter to the future of our children. Good luck to all parents. Enjoy the rest of the summer, wherever you are.
又用同一招！把事實亂說，擾亂視聴。𠵱位人兄，每次都說一些半真半假及片面的個人意見當作事實寫出來。真的不明白為什麼CISPA有40%的directors辭職，希望這位人兄能多作解釋。好像他有很多內幕消息。更不明白CISPA為何要為辭職的人解釋辭職理由，不是辭職的人給理由才是正路嗎？明明是義工，仲要給義工巨大的政治壓力。誰會想做這份工？如果這位人兄是為CISPA好，學校好，就不會提問這些沒有意義和引起爭議的問題。在過去一年,很多家長已被那羣活在過去的人折磨夠了。請這羣人不要折磨這些為小朋友及老師出力的熱心家長。他們做義工不是為政治及權力。他們只是一心一意為這個社群加點支持和愛。活在過去的家長們，請不要打壓CISPA，打壓 CISPA directors 的熱和愛，因為他們都是沒有要求回報的在為你的小朋友服務，為你服務。他們應被尊重和贊揚，不是被懷疑和質問。我們應該用最大的包容，忍耐和支持CISPA directors 的。希望這位在cometogether扇風點火的人兄能用感恩的心去看待CISPA directors，用宏觀去看事情，發表言論時以CDNIS這個社群的利益和和諧為依歸。這才是真正為CISPA及CDNIS好。
Everything seems to be politicized in our society these days. More and more people are using the excuse of exercising their rights in order to stick their noses into other people's business that has nothing to do with them or in areas they have little or no expertise. What if these angry parents were allowed to run the board/the school, do they have the expertise? Can they run it as well as the current board and the administration?
The school is successful today not because of luck and not because of having angry parents taking over management of the school because they don't like who is in charge or who is the HOS. The school is what it is today because it's run by a group of dedicated people who are professionals in what they do to help the school build its reputation, as well as its academic and financial strengths.
Facts speak louder than anything. The evidence is right in front of us.
I don't agree with others who want to ask the angry parents to leave CDNIS. What about their kids? They should have a say in all this. They are the ones who need a good education and CDNIS can provide it. The only obstacle is their parents causing trouble. These parents need to learn and prioritize things in life. The kids should not suffer just because their parents are not grown up enough to handle obstacles and frustrations in life.
We are more than halfway through summer and I dread to think what awaits us back in Hong Kong. I seriously hope not what we experienced last year! I hope we can all make a fresh start, try to embrace our differences and be inclusive. Thank you.
I wonder, does anyone agree that the controversy regarding our school has to do with personal egos? The angry parents started the fight because they thought they would win; when things didn't go their way, they couldn't let go. Plus I don't think they had a clear path to begin with and the biggest problem they are facing now is that they don't have an exit strategy. Admitting defeat and walking away now has become too big a loss of face for these parents. Humility is maybe something they need to learn.
I want to echo previous comments regarding trust. If we don't trust the school and challenge every piece of information disseminated by the school, why bother staying? Take your kids out and find another school that you can trust. If you are suspicious of everything the school does, it's meaningless to stay. It's like a marriage; if you don't trust your partner and have to question his or her whereabouts whenever he or she is out of your sight, get a divorce. It's really not very healthy for the entire family, and the kids especially, if you stay in an unhappy marriage and fight with each other every day. Life is short. Make the most of it and live happily.
Talk about haters. I seriously don't understand what has gone wrong to turn a good healthy school environment into a battlefield. And it's all because of what? I think there may be more to it than meets the eye. Maybe the angry parents are losing more than just their best bud as the HOS. Maybe there's a lot more at stake. Maybe there's a lot more self-interest hidden beneath the surface. But no matter what, I still believe the majority of parents are being used and manipulated. The majority of parents are emotionally driven by these haters. I call on these parents to wake up to the fact that the future of our kids is the most important thing. Nothing matters more.
Tolerance and mutual respect have to be learned. If we as parents do not act as good role models how can we expect our kids to grow up holding these core values dearly in their hearts? Those angry parents should be reminded that how they act today will greatly influence how their children will behave when they grow up.
Parents greatly affect their children's behaviour. Children are like sponges and they model everything their parents do and incorporate what they see into their own lives. So it's vitally important that parents set the right example for their children. We must remember negative examples can be detrimental to a child's development and can lead to bad behaviour.
From what I have seen over the past year, the HOS has been a true gentleman in the way he has handled the mess created by some disgruntled parents and teachers for reasons that I believe are mostly motivated by self-interest. Dr Maloberti has gone beyond what's required to accommodate many unreasonable requests from the angry parents. He has acted in good faith on many occasions, trying to accommodate their needs. And that's not to mention how they tried to humiliate him in public on numerous occasions.
I agree with earlier comments posted on this site that we need to bring back mutual respect, tolerance of diversity, and personal integrity. These are all shared values and a common vision which form the basis of humanity.
A fellow parent once told me that CDNIS is the laughing stock of Hong Kong. I thought about the adjective she used, and was initially angry at her. It is not the governance issues that has put us in the spotlight. It is not the HoS who has attracted all this attention. No, none of the "crimes" that the radicals have charged with school with has made us the laughing stock. It is the relentless shaming of the school by its very own community that's made us the laughing stock of Hong Kong. Washing our dirty laundry in public coupled with irrational and emotional behaviours of our community has made us the laughing stock of Hong Kong. The toxic environment we've created for our children in their school has made us the laughing stock of Hong Kong. The disrespect and rude behaviour we have exhibited to each other, displayed like a public cat fight is what made us a laughing stock of Hong Kong.
People who are not part of our community are reading and watching our social media posts for a good laugh. Like watching the soup Nazi tormenting his customers. Reeling in our pain.
It's funny for them, but not to me. My stomach turns with every posts I read and every destructive comment made. I cannot imagine this being easy for people on the other side. As much as you need to see change, I need you to change too. Stop your anger and your bitterness. We are in the same boat. Is it too much to ask for healing now. How long do you need to lick your wound and feel victimised? We have a choice, and that is to stop making ourselves the laughing stock of Hong Kong.
Yes, I am ready to ignore the haters... but just one more thing ;-). I checked the CDNIS student-alumni forum Facebook page. Yes, the administrators posted Dr Maloberti's recent letter, but I see there are comments attached to that post, and to previous posts (as well as 'likes'). I don't mean to stalk, so I will assume the commenters and 'likers' are all former students and staffers. They seem to be in agreement that much of the information (unspecified) in the letters from the school is not true. The language used by these esteemed former student / staff include "shxt" and "BS".
People, why do you have to CONTINUE to be so unprofessional? Why is it so hard for you to understand that there are some families that like CDNIS and still do? You certainly have passion, and I don't doubt that you feel hard done by somehow, but it has NEVER been honestly communicated. There has been speculation... For example, it was written in Harbour Times (your bible) that the new HOS got 50% more pay than the former. (money money money yawn, welcome to Hong Kong) Some former staff are resentful that their kid was asked to find another school because of their learning deficits (there are few international schools in HK that don't do that, unfortunately). Speculation that some students were being given admission NOT based on their entrance exam results but on something else (probably money)(if this is true then I want my money back for having to pay for those admission exams). The 'bible' and other sites made hay about how the admin was going to fill the school with unqualified supply teachers, which made many teachers 'concerned', but I will believe the admin's version which is that standards (including OSSD staffing quota standards) had fallen away over the years. If that scares you, then I can show you a room in New York City where teachers spend the day reading newspapers. That scares us parents. Some people are bitter that the BOG removed their right to be governors. But if the Canadian Consul is supposed to on the BOG of CDNIS, then why isn't he also on the BOG of Delia School of Canada, the Christian Alliance School, or the International School of Macau, which also have Cdn curricula? And for those who don't know, the Canadian Club has been defunct for a decade (although 'yours truly' set up a "Canadian Club" Facebook page last year and I suppose that makes him feel that he has a right to govern our school, God help us!). There have been enough lies and nonsense told about this school! You people have all left, and I can't figure out what! is compelling you all to turn back and launch your ridiculous! attacks. It can only be revenge. Why can't you be more professional and put your 'concerns' in a place that will benefit your international school colleagues... there are websites set up (and mentioned below) where you can offer advice to people who wish to teach in Hong Kong. Your input will be taken on board (or ignored) by these potential teachers traveling on the international school circuit. It will make for great a read, anyway. But the way you're doing it is just, as you know, causing torment and anxiety to a couple thousand children and families. We all have our opinions and they don't have to change. But why do you STILL want to vent your spleen publicly after a year? No, you DON'T get your way. You can't let go. Stew in it, then. But we on the receiving end have had enough! We have children to care for!! Can we go now, please?
Ignore the loud noises. Ignore the unethical actions taken by some in our community. Don't feed their negative energy.
Focus on the positive things that the school will be doing. Focus on moving the school forward.
These people will soon realize this is not the place for them. They are not welcomed here. They will leave.
If I find myself challenging every piece of communication sends out by the school and believe only in the information sends out by other unauthorized groups. I will know its time for me to look for another school for my children. There is really no point in staying at CDNIS if you find yourself in this situation. I mean seriously, if you can't trust a word from the school, do you really want your kids to stay and study here?
There are many parents like me who only read the official communications from the school. I trust the school and that's why my children are staying at CDNIS to continue their education.
But if you don't trust the school at all, why waste your time and your children's time? Find a school that you can trust, just like the way I trust CDNIS.
I cannot agree more that everyone's focus should be back on the children and their eduction. I am only here, at CDNIS, for one reason: For my children's education. If anyone does anything that will negatively impact my children's education including:
1. continue to provide one-sided, misinformation to the media that will negatively impact the school's reputation
2. continue to persuade our teachers to fight for their meaningless cause making our teachers not able to focus on our children's education
3. continue to bombard parents with their one-sided, misinformation with the sole purpose of creating anxiety in the community
4. continue to attack the school making the Board, HOS, administration cannot focus 100% on the children's current and future education because they have to use a large portion of their time to defend the school
I will fight these people in order to ensure my children's education can move forward, that my children's education won't be further disturbed by these people like last year.
I will continue to support the school and Gregg to move forward with the school!
I see that the CDNIS student-alumni forum Facebook page has had some movement since Dr Maloberti's last communication to us. I am glad to see the student leaders are taking their leadership role seriously (that is, if that Facebook page is actually administered by students/former students and not someone else). Dr Maloberti's letter has been posted, with no explanation from the Facebook administrator. And interestingly, all comments and 'likes' relating to the previous posts (all about Harbour Times commentary) have been deleted, also without explanation. If the student/alumni forum and Facebook page really was thought up and developed by our students and alumni then this is what I want to say: It's a promising start 'student/alumni leaders' as it shows some balance for the first time... but how about some message for all your followers. Be honest. Leadership is HARD, isn't it? But please don't be afraid. Everyone makes mistakes. We are on your side, don't forget. You represent the school, as we do, too, but in a different way. We always were on your side. And always will be. If you have learned anything from this experience please share it.
I think it is good that the HoS gets proactive with communications and clarify all the lies and misinformation that's been going around, and continues to get circulated by the disruptive parents, ever since the troubles started. Like the fact that the low Canadian teacher ratio was a problem since the previous admin, and assuring angst parents that the calibre of teachers recruited in the new year are well qualified.
I have never doubted for one single second that the school is committed in meeting their obligations of educating our children. Unfortunately, the radical parents are just as committed to see that the school fail in it's sole purpose of existence - ensuring and improving the quality of education to the children. In their quest to bring change at the board and admin, they have sucked significant resources away from the school to address and snub out the disruption to their the usual business of educating the children.
Of course we can always finger point at each other with - I told you so! He started it first, blah, blah, blah. But what purpose is it going to serve? The letter by the HoS was clear and his tone resolute of the road ahead. And after a year of wasted energy and disruption, isn't it time to make some compromise? This school is not going to yield to you. At the end of the day, the school will do what they need to restore order. Any one who continues to be disruptive will be stamped out. Be it forcefully or cordially. Truly the only choice is to stay on board and support the school, or find your happy school elsewhere.
I want to take this opportunity to echo other parents' comments calling for solidarity and, most importantly, to make sure that our focus in the next school year is on our children and making sure that academic excellence and the general welfare of our children are being taken care of.
We need to forget about personal egos, forget about getting even or personal gains. My call to parents who are genuinely interested in their children's welfare is to please stop this meaningless fight, stop this campaign and throw your support behind students' welfare and their long-term benefits.
Let us forget about our personal egos so that our children can build a positive future. Let us sacrifice our today so that our children can have a better tomorrow.
In any big organization we will always encounter opposing voices and troublemakers; education institutions are no exceptions. I agree with previous comments that, while we value different opinions, the school is no place for people with ulterior motives to bring down the school and ultimately hurt students' interests. The school must stop these troublemakers who are destroying the good foundations built over the years. As parents, every one of us is a stakeholder and we do have a say in how we want the school to move forward. These loud angry parents do not represent all of us as they claim. Just because they are loud and more visible in the public arena doesn't give them the right to decide what we want and what's best for my kids and your kids. We need to take more decisive action to stop them from further damaging our school, its reputation and the futures of our kids.
Thank you to Dr Maloberti for the wonderful letter that was sent to the entire CDNIS community. The letter and facts only finally provide a lot of clarification and shows worthy cause to support Dr Maloberti's leadership. CDNIS, we must stand firm and do not allow external forces to attempt to destroy our wonderful school.
It is nice to get the letter from the HOS. I am not worried about education quality at the school. I am worried about having to pretend that everything is okay to work with cispa exec when some cispa exec have an agenda that goes against the students benefit. I hope the HOS will make sure that all cispa members are asked to sign a document that they have not spammed us or given lies to third parties about us or the school. Since I am forced to be a cispa member I demand that these ones be removed if they won't go voluntarily. I see a pattern of these troublemakers who then shut up and act as if they are not responsible, and now I see the same pattern happening with the alumni on their forum and Facebook page. We are not hearing anything from those 'leaders' in weeks, now that more information has come out into the open and misinformation has been corrected. They encouraged other innocent students to get on the bandwagon and now they have been left hanging. Where is their leadership now? Why are they silent now? We on this forum are criticized for staying anonymous but WHO ARE YOU? Student leaders, address the people that you convinced to follow you, write your letters that you dictated, signed your petitions, etc. This issue has to be addressed... closure for these students needs to happen for the community to heal. And these 'leaders' can learn a real lesson in integrity.
Having a break from the chaos and divisiveness of last school year is certainly a welcoming break. I am sure my child feels the same, although I suspect she misses her friends and the fun part of school. As I stress, the fun part, NOT the stressful and confrontational moments when everybody was put under scrutiny to screen who was for and who was against the school and who was or was not an ally to whom. It was a time when our community was unnecessarily divided. For what, may I ask? I am sure we all miss that fun part of our community, when parents' attention was mostly focused on their children's happiness, academic performance and school activities. Life was simple and fun in those days.
I want to say thank you to those who keep The Truth site going, bring positive elements to this site and encourage others to understand the importance of mutual respect and tolerance. I hope this sense of togetherness and constructive mindset will continue to grow and expand in our community.
Thank you for the comments below for bringing back some hope. Maybe we are the silent majority, but we are strong if we stand together for a good cause. We didn't say much in the past because we didn't want to provide ammunition to the other side or any excuse for them to keep going this negative campaign. But now it’s time to put a stop to this and refocus our attention on our children and their learning environment. I am not for or against having forums as a platform; my only concern is they may be used as a tool to manipulate others, especially the younger ones. Everyone has a right to speak out and should be allowed to hold different viewpoints. So I beg those angry parents not to keep smothering our freedom of expression. We prefer to remain anonymous because we don’t want you to gang up against us and bombard us with vicious comments. We just want to have a friendly platform that encourages the expression of personal views.
I believe many here at The Truth site have directly or indirectly talked about solidarity. I for one wholeheartedly support that idea. Once we have a common goal we can find common ground, work out a compromise to accommodate different ideas and methods, and then move forward together. Even though our approach may be different, if we keep our eyes on the set goal or goals we will still be able to reach our targets. In the end the most important thing is to have the same goals and priorities.
First, I would like to thank all those parents who have remained open-minded and are willing to accept different views. In order to move forward as a community, we need to spread this positive and open attitude. We need to understand the needs and wants of others. We need to put others first and give them a chance to voice their opinions. Finally, we need to be unbiased if we truly want our community to remain intact and operate in a constructive manner. To achieve that, we all need to look in the mirror and see if we as individuals hold and support that view. Let's start with ourselves first.
I want to echo a previous comment about taking positive action in the next school year. Reading the earlier comments has reminded us what our priority should be. It's definitely not about beating down the school. It shouldn't be about individuals that some parents wrongly believe are beneficial to the school. It shouldn't be about fulfilling personal egos or advancing personal goals. It should be about one thing and one thing alone – what's best for our children.
Talking of preserving or bringing back the goodness of our community, I wonder if anyone is ready to take the lead to help rebuild it. We need to gather all the positive forces, so that we can flush out the negative elements. First we parents have to join hands and take a stand against those who keep trying to divide us and destroy the good foundation of the school and its spirit. We need to say no to bad influences, as well as biased and vicious viewpoints. If someone would take the lead I would definitely second.
Following up on previous comments regarding the involvement of outsiders who have little or nothing to do with our community, I just want to sound an alert. Please don't let others, who have no connection with the community or the school, tell us how to take care of our internal affairs. We need to question why they are so enthusiastic about our "family" business. Do these people see an opportunity to obtain benefits directly or indirectly by driving a wedge between us? Does their involvement make us stronger or weaker? If we are divided and become weaker, does it give these people an opportunity to seek personal gains and benefits? If the answers are all one-sided, benefiting the outsiders only, then we know what to do in order to preserve the integrity of our community.
I really appreciate seeing some students and alumni taking the initiative by trying to help with the problems faced by the community and possibly the school. I heard a lot of comments regarding the authenticity of their online forum. In my opinion, we don't have to worry about by whom it's set up; all we need to focus on is what the forum will write about or feature. If it came out with the same old defamatory material and biased comments, then we know who is behind it and who is calling the shots. So there is no need to waste our time and energy trying to identify the culprits, they will expose themselves in time.
If the angry parents and those at CT are planning something for the new school year I hope their energy is spent on making next year a constructive one for everyone, especially the students and the teachers, who have been put through a highly stressful year undeservingly. I hope, before they do anything, commonsense will dictate that this time they will cast aside their egos, their insistence of winning this war and put their children first. I don't think many parents could bear another year of chaos and disruption to their lives and those of their children.
Thank you so much for all the messages calling for positivity and less confrontational ways for the community to move forward. It would be sad to see parents throw away everything we had built as a community because of differences of opinion. Being different means diversity and that is a good thing. We shouldn't try to drown out others who hold a different viewpoint. We shouldn't criticize others who don't speak our language better than us. We should appreciate others who try to communicate in our language. Being critical is not just a sign of intolerance, it's also a sign of ignorance. Hong Kong is a melting pot of so many cultures; we are lucky to be guests here.
I have always been happy with the school as I have always been positive and optimistic of what the future holds for me. Despite all the troubles the school has endured, I do not see why I need to change my approach. Yet my optimism has been criticized and I am now charged with willfully blindness. Perhaps those who made such accusations should evaluate what they need to do to adapt to the changes and not expect me to change for them!
I want to echo previous comments about bringing back the mutual respect, trust and togetherness to our community. We share a lot of common interests, especially the welfare of our children. We shouldn't lose sight of the fact that we brought our children to CDNIS because we valued its educational standards and principles. We shouldn't forget the fact that parents come together to support the school to help advance those standards and principles. The school is not a battlefield for personal crusades to boost one's ego, either professional or personal. Let's remind each other that our children's welfare and futures always come first.
I have been following the coverage in the Harbour Times and I have begun to notice a lot of it is on topics that are not of public interest. It seems to cover issues that the editor or editors think are interesting or maybe have potential advertising value. So if we take a step back and assess why it is covering CDNIS, maybe there is more to it than meets the eye.
Summer, summer, summer! I want to remind fellow parents to please cast aside your anger and differences and use this precious summer break to spend time with your children/family and see how wonderful it is for them (and you) to have a stress-free happy time with your family and friends. Take that thought and mood back to Hong Kong when the new school year starts.
I really appreciate other parents for bringing up the solidarity issue. Together as a community we are stronger. We were once a very tight-knit community and we spent a lot of great, happy times together. I'm sure many of us remember and miss those good old days.
There are a few postings regarding one angry parent putting down some of the parents on this site regarding their standard of English. I just want to remind everyone that we used to encourage diversity and enjoy sharing with each other in the community/parents' circle, embracing our different cultures and experiences. Having different accents is a sign of cultural richness and using one common language to communicate is a bridge for all of us to share that richness. English is just a tool for that cultural journey, so why are we putting so much emphasis on who does or does not speak good English? Why are we not focusing on the quality of our communication? From what I can see, and from what has happened over the past year, we have lost sight of what we had -- the ability to open our arms and embrace others in this community, despite our differences in culture, lifestyle and especially viewpoints.
舊年十一月爆咗件單嘢眼嘅時候，只係幾個不服氣嘅前理事係個度指責創校理事閉門造車，處事欠透明度。最嚴重的指控就係話前理事會主席，廖生 ，製造敵對嘅工作環境，令到管理學校嘅三位校長曾經想集體辭職，以抗議廖生嘅管理方式。
但係唔知點解，件事依家搞吓搞吓演變成一種政治革命。啲人為咗唔不同理念，言論自由又好，民主又好，捍衛加拿大精神又好，堅持繼續前校長嘅教學理念又好，總之好似失去咗方向，只為戰鬥而戰鬥。各位家長，請唔好忘記，CDNIS只係一間學校，唔係你哋嘅戰場。CDNIS在香港仔，唔係金鐘，要佔中都搵錯地址 。CDNIS只係一間私校嚟㗎咋！你哋將你嘅憤怒，前世冤屈，種種不知名嘅不忿，都算係學校嘅頭上。為乜呢？
就算你想推行黃絲帶行動，但亦都唔應該否定藍絲帶嘅存在，或者鄙視我選擇做藍絲帶嘅權利！
The point about diversity is valuing differences and being inclusive, or even better, putting other people first. It's also about recognition, respect and accepting differences. And if we continue to ignore these virtues, we will not reach any meaningful outcome and achieve anything significant. Thank you.
Thanks for a previous post reminding us of the good old days. But I'm forever an optimist and I still believe we can go back to having the same good old days. I always believe in the school, in the people and in the community. I think it's just some people who have lost their way. They need to be reminded that as a community we are stronger. Look at what we, as a community and a school, have achieved over the past 20 years. We have become one of the most sought after international schools in Hong Kong and maybe even Asia. We have achieved in academic terms. Whichever way you look at it we are number one. Why are we throwing all this away? And for what, may I ask?
There is nothing worse than having the best taken away from you. We had a fantastic school environment with teachers totally dedicated to the teaching of our children. Parents played a significantly supportive role towards the school administration. Then, suddenly, some parents who were supposed to leave the educating of their children to the school and the teachers decided to take over the management of the school, just because one of their buddies was not involved in running the school anymore.
What if a buddy of yours, who's a manager of a bank making a pretty good investment for you and your family, left the bank; would you go demand to take over the bank management, do all you could to demoralize senior management and then go to the press to spread vicious rumors to smear its reputation while your investment is still sitting in the bank making money for you?
It does sound pretty stupid and illogical, does it not?
I have a question. I don't read CTs website, but I do get the impression AGR / CT parents are still hammering away somewhere on the internet that I don't subscribe to, so I did go to the CT website just now to try and get a better of idea. It says in the first line that Coates' was not allowed to send his resignation letter to the CDNIS community. But I DID get his resignation letter by email via the school (which makes sense, since it was the resignation letter of a staffer.) I just cannot get my head around how the CT / AGR gang so shamelessly and relentlessly engage in such an obvious game of manipulation, lies, innuendo, and misinformation. This is compounded when HK's mainstream media report on the results of this mis-information campaign (such as the alumni open letter), rather than the real scoop, which is how and why and by whom all this stuff has been orchestrated.
CDNIS is the Canadian International School of Hong Kong. A place where English is the medium of instruction (except in Mandarin and French class). A place where students can become proficient if not fluent in a second or third language. Where a community is created by bringing together children from all around the world to interact through a common language of instruction, through shared learning experiences, and the bonding that develops along the way. It is a school that is committed to excellence (a broad concept) and also a guardian of Canadian values (pretty much universal among the developed nations, if you ask me)and also an outpost of Canadian culture in Asia.(Canadian culture is a mix of immigrant cultures and indigenous cultures, pretty darn fascinating.) The school could 'up its game' by becoming a bridge between HK/China and Canada for the current times (creating responsible global citizens...). Plenty of room for innovation in learning /! school administration there! May I suggest we take a break from the usual on this forum and lets suggest ideas for admin for the next school year... wish list ideas anyone?
I am having such a great time on holiday relaxing with my family. It's really nice to see my children having fun and looking relaxed. The last school year has taken its toll on my children; they were obviously very stressed and unhappy with the school controversy. Even though they tried to ignore the issue they were affected nonetheless.
To be honest, if others around them showed signs of stress there is no way they could have turned a blind eye, shut their ears and pretended nothing was going on. It's certainly a bad thing for children at their young age to be exposed to this level of stress. I certainly don't want them to get back to this kind of unhealthy environment. I think many of those “concerned parents” have lost sight of their cause.
They might have started off wanting to bring change, but I think they are now only focusing on winning and getting what they want.
What they want is not what we want. They want to beat down the school management/the system, have their changes implemented, their people appointed and have all things their way. But have they thought for a second why they chose this school in the first place?
It's definitely not because of just one person who made this school so great; it's the system, the board of governors and the administration among other things.
So why are they so stubbornly focusing on only one or a few individuals? Do they really think that the school has been operating so well over the last 20 plus years all because of a handful of people? If the board of governors and senior administration are really as bad as the angry parents have claimed, how could the school be so popular and successful over the years and its financial status so robust?
Facts speak louder than words, especially words that come from people with little credibility.
Let's stop and think where we were before November, 2014; where we are now after the year-long campaign against the school, and where we want to be in the new 2015-16 school year.
I don't want to be caught in the same mess created by the angry parents.
I don't want my children to be bombarded by the same negative messages spread by the same angry parents and disgruntled teachers.
I don't want to be called to a meeting during which the same old bunch of people are blabbing the same old messages and calling for the resignation of the school head.
Come-on, be imaginative, be different and be daring. Look for a way out for yourself now. I think the problem is you angry parents can't find a way out; you don't have an exit plan because you were so sure you had everything under control, but now the fact is you are losing support. The more you say the more you expose your true colors and the quicker you lose support. So quit before it's too late!
Just because I am a Chinese parent. If I did not agree with the actions taken by and the aggressiveness of the AGR and CT parents, I am either biologically related to or have business relationships with the Members or Governors or my English is at a sub-par level. Just because I am a Chinese parent at CDNIS, I cannot be good enough to form my own judgements on the actions taken by some people in our community. Its heartbreaking for me to say that I felt I had been discriminated by some people in our community. I had been discriminated in my hometown, a place where I was born and raised and a place where majority of the people are Chinese.
I truly respect parents like the one below who stated: We are foreigners in another country, so the least we can do is to show respect for other people's culture and language, I have met many parents at CDNIS who share the same values as this parent and I respect them wholeheartedly.
However, for parents who have no respect for the Chinese culture, the language, and the values. Please, reconsider if Hong Kong is a good place for you and your family. As a matter of fact, majority of the people in Hong Kong are Chinese.
A) Are we coming back after the summer break to the same toxic environment that was prevalent throughout the last school year? I hope not.
B) Are we going to see angry parents pointing accusatory fingers at anyone who doesn't agree with them? I hope not.
C) Are we going to see teachers who are more interested in schoolyard politics than teaching? I hope not.
D) Are we going to see parents and teachers ganging up against the school, forcing changes which they claim represent the interests of the majority of parents when in fact it's the opposite? I hope not.
On the other hand:
I HOPE we are going to really "come together" and create a more amicable school environment for our kids.
I HOPE all parents and members of the community can learn to embrace diversity and different opinions. Remember the famous Voltaire quote: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
I HOPE our teachers will bring positivity to the classrooms and schoolyard and take a deep interest in students, as they did before, and maybe even try to help heal the community.
I HOPE we as a school community can work together and resolve differences in a peaceful manner and bring solutions that benefit not only all stakeholders, but make our children the top priority.
Where can I subscribe to HT? And how much would it cost for placing ads in the newsletter? I want a subscription form please. I don't want to miss any exclusive stories Mr Work has written in collaboration with the angry parents and his strongly biased reporting and opinion articles on CDNIS. Stop the presses!
Please, please, please leave us -- the parents who genuinely care about our children's futures -- alone. Please let our kids and us get on with our lives and most importantly don't rob our kids of their happy school years. Let us have a good school year in 2015-16.
I have a question to ask Mr Work. Why does he think readers of Harbour Times would be interested in the political mud-slinging happening in a privately owned international school in Hong Kong if his readers are supposed to be the movers and shakers in the city, including lawmakers and top-level business people? And if he is the publisher of the publication, wouldn't it be a conflict of interest for him to write a commentary attacking the school and calling for EDB's interference, especially if he has been personally involved? One final thought: Don't forget, a professional journalist should always be impartial and provide unbiased coverage.
I totally agree that humility is a quality of leadership. We are foreigners in another country, so the least we can do is to show respect for other people's culture and language. And if parents on this site want to express themselves in their native tongue we should respect that, too. Why should we force others to speak and write in a different language when they are in their home country? As visitors we should learn the local dialect. Don't you agree?
We shouldn't make fun of people who speak a second language worse than us, especially when we are guests in their country. English is an international language, but Chinese is also a common language spoken by more than a billion Chinese around the world. We shouldn't complain about others who don't speak or write perfect English. Humility is a virtue. But I have a bigger question to ask: What was this parent's intention? Did she complain about the imperfection of some parents' English because she wanted to put others down so that she would look better as a leader of the opposing camp? Why did she think language ability is a leadership quality? How naive and superficial. I feel sorry for her.
Agree with the previous parent! I think the parent who made the comment was just trying to make sure this space doesn't exclude parents who aren't able to read Chinese, instead of trying to criticize those writing in Chinese.
I personally LOVE the fact that there are different languages on this site. I don't understand the Chinese and I regret that, but I speak other languages and cant teach an old dog new tricks so I will not beat myself up. And we shouldn't get on other's cases also. Besides, I want my kid to speak Chinese (Mandarin) and so I sent him to CDNIS. NO regrets!!!. I love the fact that when you watch the evening news here in HK, we can listen to people in the street express themselves in a foreign language... and I always listen without judgement as to their delivery... we are all interested in education, in learning, and so we admire ANYONE who makes an effort like those people on the evening news. This would never happen in other countries.... you would be edited out for not being good enough. So please lets not argue that all posts on this site should be in one language... I think the real message was a plea that if anyone would love to translate anything for us non-Chinese that would be great.While I think we are all on the same page here on this site, I would like to know what everyone thinks.
Echoing on a comment of a parent below, for the information of the "angry parent" that said that parents on this website does not speak or understand English, fyi, a lot of the silent parents are actually highly educated professionals in Hong Kong that speak or write English well. There are highly educated people that speak English as their second language but there are also ignorant English speaking people in this world. Don't think that speaking English is more superior than others. The world has changed. You are living in China. If you look down on the people in this place so much, you should look down on yourself having to earn a living here.
I saw a post, which came from one of those regular angry loud parents saying some of us here on The Truth site don't write or understand English. I would like to remind that parent this is China, so primarily we are speaking and writing a language that's spoken and used by a fifth of the world's population. You SHOULD learn and speak our language! English is our second language and we use it for business purposes. Have some respect for other people, especially when you are in their country.
There is only one thing I want to say: Enough is enough!
I just want my kids and other students to focus on getting a good education. I certainly don't want them to get involved with the dirty politics that's now prevalent online and offline. If the online forum is really the work of some disgruntled parents who want to use our kids to fight the school, I beg them to stop using this tactic. You are not only ruining the lives of your kids, but also my kids and others' kids. Please have a heart.
Why is it that these angry parents always want to drag innocent people into their mess? Is it because they want other people to make sacrifices for their cause on their behalf so that they don't need to do so themselves? Is it because they are not prepared to own up to their mistakes? It all sounds cowardly and hypocritical to me.
To the parents of the student-alumni forum members, can you please ask your children if they know who administers their facebook page? The administrator seems to really admire Harbour Times and its publisher, as it appears that these are the only things the administrator of the CDNIS student-alumni forum facebook page wants to post. Critical thinkers want to know.
I would like the student 'leaders' of the open letter (we know who they are) to tell the CDNIS community, on their so-called forum (its not really a forum since no one can communicate openly to them)who helped them draft the instructions and plan the whole thing. If you go on the Student forum facebook page, I think we will find a link (joke journo - star student with her own twitter feed). I would also like the CDN consul general to tell us if he is familiar with joke journo and if he ever had conversations with joke journo about CDNIS since before November.
Funny how star student will tweet about the forum but she has nothing about it on her facebook page. If you really want to be a leader then do the right thing and front up about who guided your efforts. I won't say you couldn't have done it yourself, but the 'guidelines' looked VERY VERY professional! And if you have regrets just tell us, we understand! Oh, as for all the awards CDNIS handed you back in May... YOU'RE WELCOME. A bit of gratitude and respect can go a long way to build credibility, my dear.
有d人講嘢真係離灑大譜。除咗扮學聯咁，自把自為，而家仲侮辱埋我哋唔出聲家長嘅英文。小姐，你自編自話自說自演，我都算了。扮叻教𢰸家長答問卷，我亦都廢事理。但係你今次就過灑缐！話我唔識英文所以唔知發生乜事！我唔該你唔好再睇低我哋唔鐘意講英文嘅家長。你先係不知所謂果個！我覺得你唔識中文，先至搞唔清楚狀況。你都唔知路。依道係人嘅地方，人有人嘅處事方式，幾時輪到你係我嘅地頭攪亂？！
What's going on with that Canadian outsider? He keeps writing the same issues about CDNIS and when he couldn't find any more news angles to spin, he wrote a so-called opinion piece trying to push the Education Bureau to step in. Who does he think he is? An opinion mover and shaker? What a joke! He is only writing for a newsletter with very limited circulation and readership.
Are you guys not tired of this mess? It's been a year and you angry parents are still flogging the same dead horse. It's really pathetic. Move on and find something more meaningful and interesting to do. Join a summer camp, a cooking class, do some voluntary work or join a political party. With the 2017 Chief Executive election coming up the HKSAR Government certainly needs talent like you people. LOL!
My family didn't sign up for this. If we wanted to get involved in politics we would have joined a political party or run for election. If you are so keen to play politics, go find a party or form one since you are so competent and political savvy after spending a year honing your political skills here at CDNIS. You wouldn't be missed here, I am sure about that.
Young people should be motivated, but how it's done and what they are motivated to do is important. In this case, our students and alumni might have been motivated, or more correctly influenced, to do something that they might not fully understand or agree with. Judging from the format/appearance of the student alumni online forum, it's obviously a cookie-cutter product looking exactly like the others produced by the angry parents and their associates. I don't believe for a moment it's a coincidence. So stop telling us that the students and alumni are fully independent in this matter and that you angry parents didn't play a part in influencing them. Enough is enough!
Re: another parent. Perhaps we should use English in this forum, given that CDNIS is an international school and like a parent has mentioned before, not everyone is bilingual - this rule cuts both ways, because just as some parents may not be able to understand English, others may not have the slightest clue what is written in Chinese, and may not necessarily agree with being lumped in any group.
I am a parent, I pay full tuition, I do not have a family social or business relationships with any Governors or Members. I am a stay at home mom so I don't have a job contingent upon the status quo at the school. My husband's job is also not contingent upon the status quo of the school. I am fluent in both English and Chinese. I am sorry....but you are wrong, completely wrong. There are many, many parents like me. I do not agree with the actions taken by you and your group of AGR parents. I support the school's pragmatic approach to governance reform. I am not just looking for status quo. I am expecting the school to continue to move forward in a positive way. Just like what it has been doing for the last 24 years, up until the school was being attacked by a group of radicals in November 2014. Can't you wake up? What you said in a public forum was all wrong!
As you claim yourself to be a journalist, I really urge you to double and triple check your facts before you start writing or open your mouth. From what I can see, it looks like you are the one who needs some serious counselling. How can you claim to be a journalist when you can't even get one simple correct fact?
You do not represent me, you cannot speak on behalf of me. Please stop sounding like you are talking on behalf of the majority of the parents because you are not!
Please stop writing all these non-sense to misguide people. Its totally unacceptable, ridiculous and unethical. Please also note that you have lost all of your credibility (not much to begin with, especially after how you and your group of AGR parents have destroyed the CISPA survey) in a big part of our parent community. I, for one, will call into question your integrity before I will question the integrity of the group of people managing the school, based on the actions taken by you and your group of AGR parents in the last school year.
I do agree with you on one thing. We all need to take what any press says with a large pinch of salt, especially when the press is trying to openly gain financial support or subscriptions, in other words - taking advantage, through this situation our school is facing.
If you are unhappy with the school, with CDNIS, just leave, you won't be missed. We do not need people in our community that are miserable, disrespectful and mean!
Even if it is true that some of our students and alumni were not pushed into the fight (base on my understand - at least some of them - were given detailed guidance on what to do). There are also many students and alumni who do not believe in this fight. They also believe enough is enough - in terms of the unethical and disrespect actions taken by certain people in the community.
So AGR/CT parents, when will you give some credit and respect to our biggest stakeholders, our students, and stop your unethical and disrespect actions. Stop your fight that have done nothing but destroy and harm our community?
Please don't forget, there are also different points of view in our student and alumni communities. Just because some of them are loud, just like some other stakeholder groups in our community, does not mean they are right!
已經講好多次啦，唔係人人都要聽你話㗎。 唔識英文唔代表無知。滿口英文唔代表乜都知。但係，識中文又識英文嘅就知多啲。至少知道好多家長唔睇啲英文網頁啦！又知係啲英文網頁裏面只有幾把聲音不斷咁互相應和啦！更知道有啲傳媒鐘意'做'新聞搵食！
要人信你唔係話比人聽你有幾credible嘅。係要知道嗰事實。不斷用推理嚟convince人，估估吓咁，就算不停咁寫到自己有幾可信，明眼人都知有問題啦！就好似話𠵱嗰site得幾嗰人寫咁，戴返眼鏡，用心去讀就知有好多人寫！你估我哋啲家長同一啲傳媒一樣有着數寫嘢咩。咁多posts, full time 都唔掂！仲有嗰一大堆無signers嘅請愿信，咁叫credible?! 咁叫做facts?! 唔好再嘥大家嘅時間同侮辱大家嘅智慧。
Is it so hard to believe that our students and alumni have not been pushed into the fight but instead taken up arms for what they believe in? From my knowledge, CT and AGR were not the catalyzing forces that caused the students to take action. Perhaps we should give our biggest stakeholders some more credit - I believe that we should listen to our children when they say enough is enough.
For the newspaper that has been very very keen on reporting the one sided point of view of our school issues: To openly ask for financial support and ask people to subscribe to their newspaper - in order to support their continuous reporting on CDNIS. Is that a sincere fight for a cause? I am sorry but to me, this clearly demonstrated personal self-interest and motivation behind the enthusiasm for the continuous reporting of our school issues. It is very sad to see people taking advantage of our school, using our school to further their personal business and to try to seek personal gains out of the situation. Shameful!
So, he is looking for subscribers, and also he is hoping that AGR / CT will hire him for emceeing gigs. After all, he is Hong Kong's Mr Self-storage Expo!!! He knows how to work a room... yup... and a room full of naive people, I agree. And also maybe a room full of innocent children? He says that he is a libertarian, who was involved in youth politics in Canada. Even claims to have been a candidate... for Harper's cons?
Please, all of you, take your politics back to the land you were born, if you don't like it here. To the province where teachers who complain get ordered back to work by the premier... duh.
It's a business opportunity obviously. CT and those angry parents are naive enough to think they have an ally. It's payback time.
Come-on can you not read between the lines? That Canadian scooper made it clear that he has been dedicating journalist time and resources to this issue, which means it's payback time now. CT and the angry parents have a problem on their hands. At the end of that message, he wrote “any support would be welcome. A great way to do that would be to subscribe to Harbour Times”. I heard that the annual subscription is around 20K and you get a weekly Harbour Times, which comes out at around $400 per issue. I guess it's like buying advertising space.
I feel sorry for the parent who sees the inept of CDNIS board and HOS and then EDB and HK government. It seems that the parent is extremely upset with the situation in school as well as the HK society. If you really feel this way, a warm reminder, home sweet home. It might be a better way out than struggling here. Good luck.
I enrolled my children to the school because I trust the school. The Members and the existing governing structure were there when I enrolled my children to CDNIS. I did not sign up to be a parent at CDNIS to go against the school. My experience as a parent during the last school year was very stressful and ridiculous. I have been a parent at the school for quite a few years and could have never imagined it can be so difficult being a parent at a school.
I was seen (by some other parents and some teachers) to be not supportive of the teachers because I did not join their campaign to openly call for the resignation of the Head Of School. I did not attend the meeting setup by some vocal parents to call for the resignation of the Head Of School. As a result, regardless of the hundreds of hours I spent in the school helping out with classroom activities, school activities, I was seen as not supportive of teachers.
I am sorry but I did not sign up to be a parent to go against the school, to go against the Head Of School, to go against the whole governing structure of the school. That said, I am supportive of the school and CISPA's pragmatic approach to governance review.
Also, if one day, CISPA decides that it will act against the school, I will opt out. I don't believe for a second that having a parent association acting against the school has any benefit to the community. That said, I am not saying we parents cannot have a say. However, parents having a say does not mean parents will get their way.
Also, there are clearly different points of views in this whole situation. Why do we have to go with YOUR way but not MY way? We are all parents and we paid the same amount of tuition fee. Why do you think YOUR say is the only right way and YOUR voice deserves to be louder than the rest of us?
Think about the actions that you have taken to-date AGR/CT parents: Were they helpful to the whole situation? - NO Did they make the situation worse? - YES Did they further divide the community? -YES Did they disrupt the normal operation of the school? -YES
I respect that everyone has a different point of view. We all have our freedom to express our point of view. What I am having problems with are they actions taken by some in our community. So it has nothing to do with Freedom of speech! I don't understand why people can't tell the difference between Freedom of Speech and unethical actions.
I am very sick and tired of all of these non-sense. Please leave us innocent parents alone - Please go away!
To all the write-ups charging the School of criminal actions, and calling parents to act, I cannot respond not agree with their views. I took the admissions test, and my child was admitted based on my child's merit. I have no personal relationships with any of the school administration, and I continue to feel that I have not been discriminated in any way. My child excelled in school despite the turmoil thanks to the professional teachers, and I am not leaving as I will not subject myself to the scare tactics of the radicals. Especially one who has no children attending our school and no business with the school other than the fact that he is a Canadian. He has made this out to a fight for Canadian-ness which I find ridiculous as this is a school, not a civil war!
Harbourtime's latest 'scoop': that CDNIS is under watch by Ontario Govt for having less than the required number of Canadian teachers. The 'scoopers' draw a link between the last-day firings and this issue. BUT IN FACT, this happened under the McMaster era, and that is why Maloberti and Kaiser went to Canada back IN THE FALL to recruit and get the Canadian numbers up. (Now trying to be objective, but so much is in the dark for us... perhaps one of the problems was that BOG would not let McMaster hire more Canadians... I know other schools in HK where the HOS cannot hire; I was told this by a teacher. If that was the case, the BOG has certainly learned a lesson, too late to stop the acrimony though bewteen the old HOS and BOG... just speculating here.)
The Harbourtime pooper-scoopers headline is something like , CDNIS gets IBO and OBE approval... for now. LOL.
Wouldn't it be great if someone did a big profile feature in the SCMP on this 'wannabe'. Shirley Zhao maybe?
I want to echo a previous posting – let's hope that our students and alumni are not being used by angry parents and CT to help humanize their meaningless war against the school and the community. I hope someone will come forward to stop them and save the students and alumni from this trap. It is totally wrong to involve children in their dirty warfare.
It looks like the angry parents are so desperate that they will do anything to mobilize anybody who will listen to them and respond to their actions. Who says money can't buy you friends?
I think Andrew Work is a brilliant newspaper businessman. No one would have thought of turning a mundane story about a bunch of angry parents trying to take over the management of a school into a regular mainstay of a newsletter with a very limited circulation. He certainly knows the news value of a story.
You are correct in saying that he is not a parent and he had no connection with the school at all. He worked as a scout leader as his daughters joined our school's scout group but as far as I understand, he left (not sure whether this is because her daughters no longer participated on scouts or because he was asked to leave). He worked for the Canadian Chamber of Commerce but then left a few years ago and started Harbour time. He was an ex governor due to his work as Canadian chamber. But he did not put his two daughters into the school even when it was under the ruling of the ex governor. I strongly believed that this guy was just trying to make things more complicated than to help. We should definitely boycott anything he has to say.
Hey what's this message from Andrew Work on CT regarding a "CDNIS Conflict Explained" event? Who is this guy and why is he suggesting hosting this event and asking to be hired as the MC? I'm a bit confused about this man because as far as I know he's not even a parent. What's the connection?
I truly believe that the Student-Alumni Forum is a constructive platform. By its very definition, a 'forum' is meant to foster meaningful communication and dialogue between divergent parties - if people actually read the letters, they would understand that their three primary objectives have all been defined with particular regard to student concerns. It is encouraging and inspiring to see the dedication of our students and alumni, and the Forum should serve as a reminder of our biggest stakeholders - not the parents, not the administrators, not the Board, but the students.
放假就真係抖下啦！仲要寫咁多recap! 又無乜新料。不過我都明，IB result 咁好，派位又好，咁多good news, 唔做返啲嘢，又點可以令AGR/CT支持者継續戰鬥？嗰幾個人出聲嘅朋友，好心就好似啲蛇頭咁去放假啦！人哋嘆世界，你就做做做，點解要咁辛苦喎。祝大家繼續開心放暑假！
I have serious doubts about the students and alumni forum. I do hope that if the intentions are meant to be constructive and positive it will help build trust and heal the community. But if the forum is set up by people with the underlying intention of bringing further disruption to our community, it' s important that our parents stop them now.
Being on holiday reminds me how wonderful it is to be around my children; to see them enjoying themselves. For me that’s a good holiday no matter where we are. I am also relieved to be away from all the negativity and hatred -- all generated by the angry parents over the past school year. I sincerely hope that these angry parents will use this time off to clear their heads and think hard what’s important to them -- their kids and their futures. Please take this thought back to Hong Kong in the new school year. Thank you.
I am really curious to find out why you people have so much time on your hands. Don’t you have a job to go to? Or kids to take care of? No friends to meet? Or loved ones to spend time with? My advice: Get a life!
I hope the angry parents will stop going to extremes to achieve their goals without regard for the welfare of other people. And it’s all for what? To make themselves feel good, for their egos? Honestly, is it really worth it? If they truly love their kids they should put their kids’ welfare first and that means thinking about their schooling and their learning environment. Why are you turning their learning environment into your battleground? This is also a learning environment for my kids and other kids. If you must pick a fight and look to boost your egos, then please pick a battleground well away from the school.
To all parents who are genuinely interested in their kids' welfare - please ignore the noise, please ignore the one-side information, misinformation shared by these "very concerned" parents, please ignore the destructive actions that these "very concerned" parents are engaged in.
The new action that they are engaged in - to officially drag in students and alumni into this "crisis" that was created by them - its irresponsible, unethical, destructive and ridiculous.
They are continuing to pressure the Ministry, IB, CIS, everyone in the world to give pressure to the school, give pressure to the administration. Did they ever consider there are people in the same CDNIS community, many of us, disagree with their action? They obviously don't care about other people.
We don't agree with your actions, we don't see how these actions can lead to any positive outcomes for the school. We only see these actions to further divide and destroy our school community. When will you wake up?
These people are so disrespectful in all of their actions that we don't want them to be part of our community. Please go away! All of you disrespectful, self righteous, very concerned parents!
I wonder if the main students and alumni behind the new website and petition are child or children of the core AGR/CT parents. If so, shame on the AGR/CT parents to use their child or children to influence other children, to get other children to involve in this ugly adult battle. As other parents have stated, shame on them to use their own children and others' children as pawns/human shields. Just like everything these people have done in the last school year. Shameful!
Politically motivated or not, no real, loving, caring parents would want to drag their kids into such a mess; a mess that's created by them. I am saddened and I feel sorry for them. What they are doing is very selfish, using their kids as shields and ammunition to help them win. If it's not selfish, then I don't know what it is.
Honestly ask yourself: do you really want your kids to go through the same messy, ugly mud-slinging you have been experiencing since last November?
Haven't we had enough over the past year? Haven't we all suffered enough both physically and mentally? If those angry parents really wanted to fix what they perceived as problems, they should seek positive ways to approach the issues, instead of creating a hostile environment that makes problem-solving even more difficult.
I call on parents who are genuinely interested in their kids' welfare -- please help us to stop this nonsense!
I totally agree with other parents. It seems that the students and alumni online platform resembles the other existing online platforms created by those behind AGR/CT. If that's the case it doesn't bode well. Whatever they have against the school and its administration, the angry parents should never use students as political pawns. Please stop for the sake of your children and their futures.
School is a happy place and so it should be. That's what we need to keep reminding ourselves. As for the students, we must provide them with a state of peacefulness and creative space to let them grow into what they aspire to be in the future. We must nurture them and give them hope and sufficient resources to maximize their talents. To those angry parents who at the moment are doing the opposite, please take all this into account before you launch into meaningless political activity against the school -- our kids's learning environment -- in future. Thank you.
You may not want to believe you are wrong, but you are! You may not want to stop because it would show that you are wrong. But sometimes admitting you are wrong is the only right thing to do. It's time to right your wrongs now.
For quite some time, I managed to stay on the sidelines, just observing. I had been pro change, hoping to bring on board positive changes to the school, the staff and governance. But I am NOT pro change for the sake of change, just because I don't like certain people running the board. But things have gone too far. Now even I, one of the silent majority, want to shout STOP!
I always knew that you guys fought dirty, but I never expected it to sink this low. How could you involve children, your children, our children?
Please, please, I beg you DO NOT involve students in this dirty mud-slinging. This meaningless war has already wasted too many precious hours that could have been spent on our kids and families. Now you are dragging our innocent kids into this. Please have mercy!
I agree with the previous comments -- there are always two sides to a story. If the new student forum site is created with good intentions let's hope good things will come out of it. And if it's a tool created by AGR/CT to justify their illegal action and insatiable desire to seize control of the running of the school, all good parents and students must rise to stop this act.
I saw the instruction sheet that went with the email sent by the new alumni to other students to get on board the 'open letter' campaign: exactly what percentage of the letters were supposed to be about certain things: something like 10% of the letter should be about "how much I miss McMaster", etc etc... So much for free speech kids!! Who put you up to it?
My first reaction on seeing the alumni forum website was SHOCK and HORROR! Judging from the appearance of the website it looks like a carbon copy of the other sites created by CT and those troublemaking parents. If that's the case, I do hope someone will stop them. No matter how you look at it, it's wrong, wrong, wrong! It's like using innocent people as human shields in warfare. Please stop!
I don't think students, especially the current ones, should get involved in school politics. Their focus should be on achieving academic goals, not administering school policies. Every organization has a clear division of labor and roles for different parties. The role of students is to study for their future. I hope that former and current students are not being dragged into this muddy situation we are in.
Firstly, it's good thing to see students proactively taking part in school affairs, but I do sincerely hope that their involvement is genuine and voluntary, rather than them being coerced into it. Secondly, I hope it's a positive progression that can help heal the community and bring it together. Let's hope that the students will bring positive energy to the community in the near future.
People talked about their desire to bring the old school back. What is the old school? The one that belongs to the ex-HoS? The dismissed admin? The dismissed teachers? Firstly, these people won't be back. And in the most remote possibility even if they do, the scars that are left behind remains big and raw and ugly. Reminding us daily of the destruction we have caused each other. Why do they miss the good old days so much that so many are prepared to lose so much to get it back? I guess for me, I had never gained from the previous crew so I have nothing to lose. Can't say the same of the others....,,
Come on. Be real... If they keep on saying the current board/senior admin as clowns, and they feel shame, and think other schools are so much better with many more qualified staffs... Then move on, leave us alone. We are happy with what we have, we just don't want you guys to be around. Go somewhere that make you feel good. No point to stay at CDNIS if you feel this place does no good to you! Goodbye please!!!!
AGR/CT parents' requests have been repeatedly made to ask you to leave the CDNIS community. Your actions have not achieved anything positive or constructive, your actions have only destroyed our wonderful CDNIS' reputation, destroyed our community.
Please leave CDNIS! The whole community will be much more peaceful and happy without you!
We can only go back to our happy school after you LEAVE! Please Leave CDNIS asap!
I completely agree. If AGR/CT will again control the school, I will pull my kids out of CDNIS. These people are willing to use parents, teachers, students, alumni to achieve their goals. They never put student's best interest as the top priority. They are extremely closed minded. They did not only refuse to listen to other points of view, they bullied others with different points of view.
Imagine this group of people controlling the school? Transparency? Students as priority? Democracy? Are you kidding me? Their actions had never reflected what they preach.
I have said it at the December 2014 CISPA parent meeting and I will say it again here: " I prefer a pragmatic approach for governance reform." I do not want to have a drastic change in the school governance as it will create a lot of uncertainties and anxieties in the community.
I do not agree with having outsiders to temporarily control the school as it will be extremely expensive ( I am not willing to pay for it. I am also a full tuition payment parent.) I don't see any benefits by doing so.
I want a pragmatic approach for governance reform.
可能我嘅教育方式好唔同，我始終覺得學生在學校嘅時候就應該專心學業而唔係參與校政。至少到高中都盡量唔好啦！但似乎學校有好多家長同我觀點唔同。依個世界，唔係樣樣嘢都是黑白分明。就算我哋嘅高中生受咗IB嘅薰陶，我好難想像佢哋有適當嘅成熟度同客觀度去評估成件事。其實真正嘅處理方式係應該以最務實嘅方式，以對話同compromise去搵個大家都可以共存嘅方案。而唔係學啲激進份子，show英文，寫啲又長又沉嘅信，叫外圍勢力來罰一間依然有人讀緊書嘅學校，跟往一個so
far 係失敗嘅方法去要求改變。煽動你啲嘅人最後只會令你啲理想破滅，冇心情讀書，影響學業，可能會陪上前途。試問，一個學生嘅priority係唔係學業呢？而是學作反呢？要學嘢，係跟好榜樣而係跟壞榜樣呢？
I agree with the parent who says they will pull their children out of CDNIS if the AGR / CT leadership parents get control of the school. Their self-interest and lack of concern for the students of this community is clear. These people have decided that OUR children's academic future and wellbeing is simply the COLLATERAL DAMAGE of their selfish quest for power.
Well no, it is not, and never will be.
Fortunately, we know now that the school will never be taken over by the media-hounds, the narcissists, the blind followers, the 'keep-it-in-the-family' staffers, the bitter former 'establishment' and those that are no longer, or never were, part of the school community but latched on to help their buddies or simply for the thrill. This awareness has come too late for some families, and they will be missed, but I look forward to the new school year. It is going to be full of learning and meaning.
I agree with the other parent's suggestion of removing all the ex parents, staff and ex staff and anyone who has no relationship with cdnis in the pinboard. I also would like cispa to strictly apply the rule of no posting of current school issues in the pinboard. How can they sometimes apply the rules and the other time don't? We have seen enough double standard in this school and this is another example. I urge the cispa moderators to be consistent or the pinboard should be shut down for good.
I totally agree with the parent who suggested that only CURRENT CDNIS parents are allowed to stay on the CISPA pinboard. CISPA admin please make the pinboard a communication platform for REAL CDNIS parents only. Thank you!
I hope the plea to CISPA administrators to remove NON-CDNIS people from the CISPA pinboard is read by admin. They may need to step in to make it happen.
It looks like I won't be joining the pinboard, and I won't be joining CISPA, either... if the parents running the show have this kind of judgement.
I couldn't agree more with another parent that the CISPA Pinboard should be for current CISPA community members only. It has proven to be a bad decision to have all previous CDNIS community members to remain on the Pinboard. Previous CDNIS community members can definitely remain in touch through other means as suggested below. CISPA Pinboard is not the only way to stay in touch. Hope CISPA will make the right decision in regards to the Pinboard once.
Thank you CISPA for your consideration.
今次學校爆咗依單嘢，好多家長入咗一個三人成虎嘅狀況。造謠生事嘅人，將Upper School 流失咗四個教育人員，講成好似世界末日咁，真係唯恐天下不亂。人云亦云，d人講下講下，就好似真有crisis咁。家長們，如果你真係擔心，唔該立即同學校核對同討論而唔係喺臉書道尋求答案。
I refer to the article written by the owner of a prominent after-school centre for writing and debate in Hong Kong. I would like to ask her, how would she feel if one day, her teaching staff and her customers, decided to gang up together and told her that she's out-dated, and out of touch with the centre that's named after her, and told her to get lost and cede power to the teaching staff and parents who now know the centre better and should run it their way.
Customer feedback is critical to any organisation success. But the writer seems to suggest that's the only point to consider, and infer that the debacle in CDNIS is solely because of a lack of interest in customer feedback. I find her reasoning fundamentally flawed. She has made many assumptions, and has not considered all sides of the story when she wrote her article.
CDNIS is clear about the market segment of the families it serves. The unique business proposition has successfully drawn many families to the school, and in recent years saw a boom in admissions which the school had never really envisioned. As a result of unexpected exponential growth, brings along unexpected issues. From its humble beginning, the school has transformed beyond anyone's wildest dreams. The writing was on the wall for changes to happen to cater to the growth. It was just whether it was going to be evolutionary or revolutionary.
I really didn't expect such a one-sided biased article to come from a highly educated well-respected person of the community. But unfortunately, I too have witnessed many parents of my community of similar calibre with such biased views too. Many parents have posted on this site had commented and continue to re-iterate the other side of the story. The point made that the school is ignoring the customer because demand for international school spaces outweighs supply is just one argument presented by one group of customers. I am a customer too, I do not feel I have been ignored in the school. I feel the school has considered all possible ways to resolve the crisis, and every step calculated and deliberated thoroughly. I am disappointed that the article is acting as an echo chamber for the clients the writer serves, versus giving the readers a real insight to the entire situation.
My kids will stay in CDNIS. It is the right school for them and the only time I will leave is when the AGR and CT parents actually get a chance to run the school.
May I put forward a suggestion to the current CISPA representatives.
In regards to the CISPA Pinboard facebook page, I think it is imperative that all ex CDNIS staff, ex CDNIS Parents, non CDNIS persons should no longer be a member of an invited closed members of the CISPA pinboard facebook page. What ground or right do these people still have in adding comments to the pinboard when they are no longer a member of the community. If they want to maintain their contact with some other CDNIS community members, they are welcome to do that in their own facebook page or through their own whatsapp chat group or their very own CT facebook page. BUT please you do not belong to the CDNIS current community any more.
Will the administrator of the CISPA pinboard listen to our plea please ! Pinborad members should be restricted to current CDNIS COMMUNITY MEMBERS ONLY, this is just fair enough !
Thank you !
Oh my GOD!
I checked the ESF jobs website and they are hiring NOTHING but supply teachers for ALL secondary schools, ALL primary schools, and ALL kindergartens!! Quick somebody contact Shirley Zhao and HarbourMan so they can cover this important journalistic scoop of the century!! Do it NOW!!!
And don't forget the AGR / CT spammers!!
This is great text book psychology stuff going on here:
1)These bullies will never back down in public
2)The idea of putting all this work in, and achieving nothing, is too painful for them to even contemplate
3)They then become deluded and 'double-down' on their efforts
It's just like mental illness (gambling addiction, etc)... AGR / CT need counselling.
In today's SCMP... many HK schools will raise their fees WELL above what CDNIS is doing... Thank you CDNIS board of governors, for your vision, foresight and fiscal accountability. Parents generally do not mind paying fee increases if they know they are getting value for money. Because they want the best for their children. I believe that CDNIS IS the best for my kid. I really do!!! And I STILL do! Maybe more than ever now, because as a parent mentioned below, we can see the fearless resolve that the admin is dealing with the problems, and their admirable personal courage in staying silent in the face of insult from Trainwreck Lady and Harbour Man and their friends. Also, I have heard a lot of horror stories about other schools. I know that this mess we are in is not about other schools, but I think it is one of the reasons why the 'naughty' parents and ex-govs have dug in the way they have. They know that CDNIS is the best and that's why they want to take it over. Was it the [mc]master plan that Fairchild Canadian Academy be a 'taken-over' CDNIS? I am confused about that? I read online about how the exHOS is now founder of the Fairchild Canadian Academy but.... where is it?
I would also like to say here that I finally understand why Kennedy Liu had a rift with exHOS and other former govs... I have a very good understanding NOW of what he was dealing with... and I don't blame him for acting the way he did (cutting off communication in a way during the new HOS-selection process). The result of that action has been devastating for us all. But I trust the judgement behind it now... I think Kennedy Liu is owed an apology... and so I offer one here, for what it's worth. I never knew you Mr Liu, but I hope you can get a measure of solace knowing that there are many of us who now realize the bigger picture and are sorry for what has happened to you. If you ever choose to visit the school, I will be the first to come to introduce myself and shake your hand (although I may not be because I think I will have to get in line).
The news of the crisis first broke when I read the long letter from the previous HoS on the "vindication" of the admin by the previous chairman of the board , how Mr Liu created a hostile environment so much so that both the US and LS principals had threatened to resign in protest of his actions. I voted the chairman out NOT because I truly understand governance nor because I am interested to know the issues on hand. I just wanted everything to stay the way it used to be, keep everything intact and maintain stability of the school. I truly believe the board members were monsters and they were responsible for all the problems, and in true parent spirit, I panicked and acted. The chairman resigned quickly enough, and the boardroom drama was over. But no, I was so wrong, it was just the beginning.
Looking back, how far has my stance changed. Ex-admin whom I had looked to as the solutions to the problem turned out to be part of the problem. Some teachers who I used to hold in high regard turned out to be part of a close knitted "family" who put their needs ahead of the kids. A school and a community I was so proud to be associated with is filled with so much toxic waste that needs to be cleaned up. I will not make the same mistake again. Fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice? No way!
Seriously, we as parents, don't really care if the private school model is a dinosaur. We were very happy with everything, until November 4, 2014, when a group of people (parents and teachers) started attacking the school - Members, Board and Head of School. Most of us did not feel like we were paying a high fee for products that we weren't happy with. So please don't speak like you are speaking on behalf of most CDNIS parents, because you don't.
Also, as a customer of a company, if I am not happy, I stop buying the products, I buy from the competitors. Its as simple as that. I don't go and ask the company to change how the company is managed. Now, someone is asking the whole HK private school industry to change management practice because you are a customer? Seriously?
Also, as customers, we can also provide feedbacks. However, its up to the company to act on it or not. We cannot and have no rights to force the company to change anything (esp. management practice) to what we want it to be.
How can you tell CDNIS is not responsive to customer feedbacks? There are many different points of view on school issues. I can tell you for sure that certain actions taken by the school definitely reflected customer feedbacks, just not feedbacks from your groups of friends.
If some parents are so unhappy with how CDNIS is run, they should go and open up their own school and manage the way the want it. In their groups, they have ex-members, ex-governors, ex-administrators, ex-parents, ex-teachers and ex-students! Perfect! You have all stakeholders you need to build your own dream school. Please go away and open your own shop and stop bothering us.
I completely agree with the post below that by thinking that running a school like a public company will avoid politics and bring good governance is just way too naive and shallow.
Can CDNIS find a way to legally stop these nonsense organized attacks and bad-mouthing by the CT parents/teachers/ex-staffs? Please stop these crazy people from destroying our school! They are totally insane!
So the publisher of Harbour Times (whatever), the self-professed "resigned" CDNIS Governor, and also Head of the new Canadian Club in all its Facebook glory, is pals with the former administrators. And he sends his own kids to another school? No surprises there.
Can anyone fill us in more about the buddy-buddy relationship between "D-Man" and the recently sacked Head of IT at CDNIS? Hey D-Man tell us more about your 'upcoming adventures', we wanna know too... Party's over boys... please come clean so the cyberstalking of 1000 CDNIS families and children can finally end. D-Man [and your loyal lady]... you care NOTHING about the students of CDNIS! Shame on you both. Glad you're gone!
I think the most shocking thing for me is not the firing of the teachers but the tenacity and determination of the radical parents. Their relentless persecution of the school and the HoS is unprecedented in any school, even the governance consultant Marc Frankel noted that it's the most dysfunctional community he's ever seen. Their campaign has destroyed the school's reputation, ruined careers, affected the education of the kids (even their own!), and affected the peace of our once happy school. I see that they are changing gear in their course. They seem to promote themselves as the leader for change, to create a new paradigm, change the way private schools are managed, challenging the existing management models. Advocating for a voice from the customers.
Schools, be it private or public, should be governed by different group of people to ensure the right checks and balances are in place to take the school through different stages of its development. Parents are considered a valuable but biased and short termed group of stakeholders. Teachers may have a longer time horizon, but nonetheless searches for different educational ideals which in reality, usually conflicts with parent's.
For all their noble reasons in doing what they do, the fact remains that the radical parents have not achieved what they want. The school remains strong and steadfast in their course to defend itself, clearing any obstacles that obstructs them from achieving stability and peace to move forward. And the school will continue to do so at all costs. I trust the school from their actions! And having faith and trust is different from being an ostrich, I am still silent because I see results in the clean up! In times of crisis, there can only be one team, and you are either in or out. So come on board if you are in, but get out if you are not!
The disgruntled and unhappy parents are just a group of spoilt brats who can't get what they want. In their desperate attempt to gain control of the situation, I am appalled to read that some even go to the extent of exerting their professional diplomatic positions to corner the school for their personal agenda. I find their actions disgusting and distasteful.
Another lack of depth article from SCMP by Kelly Yang. One cannot suggest that sacking of nine teachers is not listening to parent stakeholder. On the contrary, sacking nine teachers is a move which reflects the school is listening to parent stakeholders and putting the interest of students and majority of parents as the foremost priority. These nine teachers created so much chaos in the school in the past eight months. Knowing that most parents and students in the school had enough of drama and would like to have peaceful environment for the students to study in the new school term, the school took a bold step and sacked these nine teachers to allow the school to move forward.
As a parent of the CDNIS, I see this step of "detoxification" is inevitable and it is the answer of I had enough of the drama caused by a small number of so called "stakeholders" of the school. These stakeholders tried to increase their stakes in this profitable and reputable school and created some so called "crisis" to remove the board and the HoS. They chose to destroy the school if they couldn't achieve their goal, which is to take over the school. These are the people who would run the school as a company. Their actions so far had no considerations of the students and the community as a whole. This is what we want to have for a school? Thinking that running a school like a company to avoid politics and bring good governance is just way too naive and shallow.
I hope SCMP will stop misleading readers with superficial understanding and biased report of the CDNIS turmoils and stop abusing the celebrity effect to fortify a make-believe crisis. Cdnis is running by a group of enthusiastic founders and governors with good intentions and long term visions and a HoS who is a well known educator. The school has no crisis without those "stakeholders" who eye on the name and wealth of the school. I would highly recommend those who want to find out the truth to read this website. I am sure one will have a different perspective after knowing the other side of the story.
I absolutely agree with a parent who said that the CDNIS case is a clear moral issue. This is what the silent majority experienced in the last eight months:
A group of teachers pressured their colleagues to sign petition to urge resignation of the chairman of board of governors, otherwise 270+ teachers would resign; and the lower school principal used this petition to threaten the board in front of 300+ parents. The vocal parents and teachers kept on threatening the board and the HoS to step down by all means, including leaking confidential information and badmouthing the school to the media; sending spam emails to all emails of their one sided story; spreading rumors to go on strikes and protesting in black T-shirts. Teachers discussed school politics with young students; abused their power to force neutral parents to take sides; brainwashed children with their side of story and expressed their unwillingness to work during the turmoil in the blogs.
No matter how these parents and teachers justified themselves, as long as they disrupted the operation of the school and learning of the students, they are wrong! No matter how many sides of story there are, one single fact is those troublemaking parents and teachers are the ones who started all the drama, they are held responsible for all the damage caused to the school and students, they are wrong! The justifications of these parents and never be strong enough for them to create all these drama as they all originated from their own interests, again, they are wrong! There is nothing more important than the welfare of the children in a school which this group of teachers and parents chose to ignore, they are wrong! These people are shameless when they tried to use the word 'moral' to justify themselves. If they feel they are morally justified to cause all these problems, they are simply not fit to this school. CDNIS is just a wrong school for them.
From what I recollect, the author of Harbour time is a good friend of the ex HoS. But even during his time as HOS, the author of the Harbour time did not put his two daughters into CDNIS instead to ESF. What does this mean? He also has no confident on the ex HOS? And now he is accusing the new HOS and our new administration team? Strange. Other than the fact that he has no other news to report in his "newspaper" or due to his personal agenda, I have no clue as to why CDNIS can attract so much interest in Harbour time.
To the parent who wrote at "2015-06-21 11:23:30", the promoter of HarbourTimes 'was' a governor just because he was working for Canadian Chamber at that time, and I heard that he wasn't even officially recognized by the school that he was a governor. Anyways, no one out there really know Harbour Times, so we shouldn't care too much what they write... They use Cdnis to 博出位！
Summary of events since November 4, 2014 to reflect the truth of what have happened.
Fact: a group of parents, ex-govenors, teachers and ex-admin (the original working group) planned for months to attack the Members, BOG and the school. They official launched their attack on November 4, 2014.
Fact: the crisis began right after November 4, 2014 (after the ex-governors did not get what they wanted) with emails containing confidential information by ex-administrator, resignations letters spread like wild fire in the CDNIS community. Ex-governors and some parents started spreading rumours that there will be a mass exodus of teachers in a couple of weeks (when their contracts are due for renewals). This turned out to be nothing except a rumour. Not sure why so many people still fall for their non-stop lies and rumours.
Fact: the "very vocal and concerned parents" have repeatedly lied, spread rumours in the community.
Fact: the 'very vocal and concerned parents' in conspiracy with the original working group, have repeatedly leaked negative one-sided (at times, factually incorrect) information to the press. Directly damaging CDNIS' reputation. They are the ones totally responsible for damaging the school's reputation.
Fact: certain teachers and parents have repeatedly shown disrespectful behaviour towards the new HOS Dr. Maloberti. A lot of us are grateful that Dr. Maloberti has remained professional and remained loyal to the school, despite he has been with the school for only a year.
Fact: many innocent parents have expressed their dissatisfactions toward the radical actions taken by some parents and teachers. However, these innocent parents' genuine concerns had totally been ignored.
These innocent parents had been called "cowards, ostrich, digging heads in the sands" by the "very vocal and concerned parents".
Fact: under the current HOS, the Members and BOG agreed to have a governance reform. The school has engaged Marc Frankel, one of the two governance specialists requested by the original working group, to review our governance structure. This achievement was made under the current HOS, a step that did not materialise under the previous administration.
Fact: the governance structure had been in place since the school was formed. If the previous HOS believed it to be so bad, why didn't he try to address it while he was at the school? Why did he wait until after he left to complain to the community about it? Completely unfair to the new HOS.
Fact: Marc Frankel had repeatedly stated "CDNIS governance is a minor issue. The biggest issue we are facing is that we have some very bad behaving parents and teachers."
Fact: simply because Marc Frankel did not give them exactly what they wanted, members of the original working group started discrediting him but saying the BOG has bought Marc out. Seriously? You think Marc will risk his years of reputation for CDNIS?
Fact: many innocent parents have expressed their support for governance reform. However, they prefer a more pragmatic approach, they are happy with the school to lead the governance reform process. However, the 'very vocal and concerned parents' do not accept this alternative solution and continued to attack the innocent parents.
Fact: members from the original working groups have repeated held secret meetings with some teachers (in school corridors, classrooms, or offsite) to discuss and update their plan of attack of the Members, BOG and the school.
Fact: some parents have repeatedly complained to the EDB, Ministry, IB and CIS. However, they totally ignored the fact that many parents do not agree with them and they don't represent us and they have no rights to demand actions from these authoritative bodies on behalf of other parents or the school.
Fact: the CISPA survey, a chance for all parents to voice out, was destroyed by an email sent out to all parents, using the illegally obtained parent database, by a group of 'very vocal and concerned parents'
Fact: some members in the community had obtained the school's parent database without permission. These people have repeatedly sent out mass emails containing one-sided information, in cases lies and rumours.
Fact: teacher(s) had voice recorded private, confidential staff meetings and released the confidential information to the press and some parents.
Fact: teacher(s) had shared school information, that had been shared only with faculty by the school, to parents without permission.
Fact: the so-called 870 petitions that asked for the resignation of the HOS is anonymous. No one knows how many are actual parents of the school.
Fact: the teachers' petitions to call for the resignation of the HOS is anonymous. In addition, no one knows how many teachers signed under peer pressure.
Fact: the school has officially explained the hiring process of the new HOS. Many of us are comfortable with the process after reading the communication.
Fact: 8% of the students are leaving the school at the end of this current school year. Slightly higher than normal? Totally not surprising as there are quite a few who left because they disagree with the radical actions taken by the "very vocal and concerned parents". It took a lot of courage for many of us to continue to stay and have to continue to face these parents in the coming school year. Its not easy! But what can we do? We love the school and we support the school and we have faith in the school. That's what keep us here.
Fact: Search Associates accounted for less than 1/3 of our hiring for this current school year. In addition, the school will continue to work with Search Associates to rectify the situation.
Fact: the school has successfully hired a new interim lower school principal, and two new lower school vice-principals. All of them are very qualified candidates and we all welcome them to join our school.
Fact: the school has officially announced that all, except one, vacant openings have been filled with qualified teachers.
The above all are facts that have happened in the last seven months. The above all happened in the CDNIS community, a school.
Unfortunately, these 'very vocal and concerned parents' including the original working group, have already declared they will ignore the pleas from us, the innocent parents. They will continue to ignore our different opinions, they will continue to ignore the fact that we are also part of the community, that we are also fees payment parents, that we also have a say.
We will have to continue to form a defence line and protect and save the school. Ultimately, to protect the students. We will have to support the school to move forward and not being dragged down by these 'very vocal and concerned parents'. We can do it!
Why would CT/AGRs stop anytime soon? They aren't getting any punishment.
They can keep twisting the facts, making up lies, spreading rumours, and our school does not do any explaining. Sometimes, when one gets bullied too many times, it is necessary to strike back.
The publisher of the Harbour Times says he is a resigned Governor. But this is not true. The Board voted to remove that post... Representative of the Canadian Club. Maybe because the Canadian Club disbanded about ten years ago. I can see that the Publisher of the Harbour Times (whatever that is) is also the President of the Canadian Club now. But from what I can tell it is just his facebook page. Now we can ask ourselves if we would ever want a guy like that running CDNIS. He wants his seat back at the table and he is sore! His own ridiculous headlines make a mockery of his own publication and its alleged purpose. CDNIS is more important (in the Harbour Times)than the HK governance fiasco. LOL LOL LOL. Thank you, Board! Thank you for showing him the door. And yes, he is not a parent. He is probably just buddies with the AGR / CT gang.
I really respect resigned governors George Chan and Geroge Hongchoy, they resigned but did not take any further action to destroy CDNIS as a revenge. The rest of them? Absolutely no respect for them. These people have proven they have absolutely no integrity. For people who continue to follow their leadership. Good Luck!
I recently found out the person who has been actively promoting Harbour Times is also a resigned governor. Not a parent...please don't tell me there is no personal agenda to be so active in giving so much negative publicity to CDNIS. I won't believe that for a sec.
It's very depressing to see that the AGR/CT are already determined to continue their fight in August 2015. It's such depressing news for the remaining innocent students, parents, teachers, and admin. Why can't they see they have already caused so much troubles, distress and division in the community? When will they stop?
Please leave us innocent students, parents, teachers, and admin alone. We don't want you to continue to be part of our community! Please leave. You are not welcome to stay!
唔知大家有冇係CT同HKschool嘅FB度發覺寫來寫去都係嗰幾嗰人？最近發現原來啲vocal人有親戚關係㗎。有啲人有怨氣又唔岀得聲，咁咪出動全家囉。由其事食咗魷魚嗰啲人啦！所以佢哋寫得咁有感情囉。所以睇還睇，睇完就算啦，唔好太上心。
Another spam email from CT today. Now it is about the firings. I urge people to read the reports of Hong Kong teachers who are posting to an online site called: International Schools Review. No school in HK is perfect, according to these schoolteachers, A current principal at Discovery College is quoted as saying how much he likes teaching in an international environment (his first time, btw) because he can fire people whenever he likes and doesn't have to answer to anyone. I wonder if the staff he fired ever got packages like those who were asked to leave CDNIS.
Also, about the hiring of supply teachers... it is almost laughable how CT are twisting that fact. It IS laughable, expect that the maliciousness behind the twisting is not laughable. CDNIS has decided to hire full-time supply teachers to take on SUPPLY roles (most full-time roles have been filled). I think this is another example of how CDNIS goes that 'extra mile' to do things in a way that most schools wouldn't bother (or can't afford). I am appalled that CT are still spamming us. And happily inform us that they will be in touch with us again in August. It gives me the creeps. What they are doing now is malicious, and a form of cyber stalking. This is a crime in other jurisdictions if not HK yet... I will ask the Canadian Consul General to investigate and see what he can do if the CT spammers turn out to have Canadian passports. I may as well also contact the New Zealand Consulate.
I very much wish to know how many out of those 800+ who signed the petition still have children in the school.
Seriously? One parent posted a negative article about our school on the pinboard and 4 parents clicked "like"??? What are these parents thinking? Why are they still staying in our school? One parent has a kid at Grade 12, one is the spouse of a terminated teacher and the two others. After the cleaning up of teachers, I think the school should see if they can do anything with these unsupportive parents who are doing nothing but add to the fire.
I would like to thank the admin of this website. This website allows“normal” parents like me to be kept informed of what is going on, besides being swamped with spam emails sent by CT parents.
I can't imagine those ct parents can act like that. I really can't imagine... that those are parents with kids, and some are/were even 'educators'. How can they teach kids?!?! They act like irresponsible individuals, they act like morons. I am totally speechless.
Hope they would wake up and act responsibly one day!
各位家長Chris Coates係自己辭職,有乜問題？係人都有選擇權，人人轉工都好多理由，咁都要頼校長？ 可能佢見到有啲咁癲嘅家長嚇嚫呢？！佢一定話唔係，點敢啊。我祝佢all the best.
I saw one parent commented in the pinboard that the school is burning Maybe the school is burning to some parents, but judging from the happenings in the last few days, I can see the school has stopped burning and just started rebuilding. If you are one of those parents who believe the school is burning, it might be better for you to find a safe place for your kids.
It's strange how the 9 teachers who were given notice to leave has not uttered a word on most of the social media. On a relative scale, they would have created mayhem on any social medial network (except for one very unhappy spouse) based on the previous instances when something blows up in school. But its a deafening silence. Did they finally wake up that being vocal is not going to help them? Or are they satisfied with their compensation there's really nothing to complain about? Or they have read enough here that they FINALLY understand the meaning of professionalism and silence speaks louder than words? Only they know. Now all that remains, is just the trouble making noisy crazy parents.
The HoS is the one who is responsible for hiring and firing in the school. Writing to the Board for answers is quite useless. If the Board is to interfere, they will then be accused of meddling in school matters again. The school is no doubt in turmoil, but if we have faith, those we lost will not be the best and only teachers/educators left in this world. I am very please with the replacements we have for Dylan and Kathy (ahem...anyone asking for them back now?). And the school will act to prove to all that there are many better talent we have not met. Don't be fixated with the past. I look forward to the future.
I am sad to hear the resignation of one of the VPs of US. But I salute his choice! At least he made the right choice. If he feel he can't continue to work with the new admin, he should resign. He must have struggled for a long time to come to this decision, but at least he has been professional, and that's what a professionalism is all about. He least he didn't ruin his reputation by sending an email to the entire parent community airing his displeasure. At least he manage to last till school end and fulfilled his responsibilities to the kids under his charge. It is very very unfortunate but I wish him well and applaud his courage and strength, and his support for a very difficult year.
今次學校e件事，真係令我認識到好多人性嘅醜與惡。原來係我嘅周邊有咁多奇奇怪怪嘅家長。有自私嘅，有戇居嘅，有跟風嘅，有好鬥嘅，有痴缐嘅，有博出位嘅，有二五嘅，有死蠢嘅，有賤格嘅，有認叻嘅，有邀功嘅，有搵笨嘅，有陰毒嘅，有卑鄙嘅，真係多不勝數。你哋古到佢哋係邊啲人未？可能CT會批評我無品咁鬧人。對我來講，對付無品嘅人，我亦都無需太有品。我只不過回敬下CT啫！
有d家長真係幾感情用事。學校係一個機構，唔淨得係老師㗎咋。因為d家長同老師close，佢哋完全忽視灑e個機構入便其他部門嘅重要性。佢哋覺得推冧成個機構，只要d老師就得了。只需要對得住班先生，就算傷害我，傷害e個社群嘅人，影響其他小朋友嘅教育，都沒問題。仲要係自己覺得自己好有道理，好啱，為佢d老師 friend 出頭，打輸咗仲同佢哋道歉，簡直係豈有此理！咁有冇人同我道歉啊？學校養咗成揸不負責任嘅先生，成群結隊，搗亂作反，影響教學，又有邊個同我道歉啊？你哋眼中只有老師最大，只要保住佢哋，不惜工本，不顧後果嘅結局，就係兩敗俱傷，而家就睇你想唔想全軍復未？e個世界，唔係大聲就啱。同埋e個世界，唔係你講嘅嘢，人哋一定要受。自由就係有得選擇，選擇唔接受你哋嘅廢話！
可能我唔會咁洗錢。有家長情願將錢捐給人打官司都不把錢捐給學校，真係令我匪以所思。當然，錢係嘅，佢想點洗係佢嘅自由。但係為咗一班對你沒用嘅先生，而選擇唔將錢捐去學校來益自己嘅仔女，真係有d傻囉！
So if SA accounts for half of our recruitment, we are only counting on them to secure 4.5 teachers from this dismissal, right? We lose about 20-30 teachers every year, so in Dec we are talking about 10-15 teachers who may be from SA, right? Stop pressing the panic button people!
I totally agree with another parent: "I pay the school and trust the school to teach, if you don't trust the school, don't stay in this school. Aren't you tired of being the admin and checking on everything that the school does?"
Just want to clarify my post below. It's true that I haven't read the junk emails for a long time and my life had been more peaceful. I urge all other parents to do the same.
However, before I wrote my post, I asked my parent friend to forward me the last CT email to confirm the emails are still anonymous, without any specific writers to the email. I did not bother with the contents as usual as I don't see how they will help me with anything. I want to have my facts cleared before writing because even though my name is not attached to the post, I am still accountable for it.
TruthCDNIS continues to call for vocal parents to leave CDNIS and leave us alone.
TruthCDNIS.
For more information, please continue to visit www.thetruthcdnis.org
I signed my kids up for CDNIS, not CT, AGR, nor Dave. Why am I at wrong now being loyal to the school, to CDNIS? What have I done wrong? I don't get it.
Dear CDNIS teachers,
I sincerely hope by now most of you realize what these people claimed to be doing for you, claimed to be fighting for you are not realistic. They have only achieved to destroy some of our teachers and are continuing to try to destroy the remaining teachers. Please be very cautious.
The actions that they are taking to destroy the school now, are you sure you still want to be part of this community if they can achieve everything they want to achieve now?
Lets say these people are successful in taking away our IB accreditation, the OSSD accreditation, and hence making our students cannot graduate. Lets say by doing so, they successfully force out the Members, force out the governors and HOS (actually by that time, we might as well close down the school). Do you think everything can be revert overnight? Do you think we can regain the accreditations overnight? The whole governance structure will be empty. Do you think having three law firms in place to hold the school can revert everything, will solve all problems immediately? Do you think it is possible for things to stabilise right away or things will be much more chaotic? Do you think you want to be teaching in that environment?
Please don't forget, there will be people fighting strongly against all of their actions along the way. So the chance of getting exactly everything these people wanted is close to impossible. Please kindly consider their track record to-date. Nothing constructive, only destructive.
Also, no one can ever guarantee the new governing structure will be better than the existing one. No one can ever guarantee the new governors will be better than the existing ones. No one can ever guarantee the new HOS will be better than the existing one. What if the new HOS be a real, mean 'dictator'? (honestly, anyone who knows Gregg slightly better can tell he is far from a dictator.)
People that ever asked you to take actions that do not take into consideration your career, your livelihood, your family and children, you really should step back and think if they are seriously concern about you. Some people (esp ones in the occupation of media, communication, etc). can make everything sounds so ideal, can make their personal cause sounds very genuine and selfless. People who really care about you will never ask you to do anything that will jeopardize your career, livelihood and family. Please be very cautious.
Having said that, I am confident in our teachers. I know they will make the best decisions for their careers, for the school they love (CDNIS), and for their families. GOD BLESS CDNIS.
I agree completely, CDNIS will move forward. However, it will not move towards the AGR/ComeTogether direction. The best option for parents who are not happy with the way the school is moving forward? Move to your perfect school. Best of Luck.
I have not looked at any information sent out by a small group of parents for a long time. I am a parent of CDNIS. I only look at information sent out officially by the school. I urge other parents to do the same so you won't fall into the traps setup by these parents. They are only trying to scare parents and teachers and gain momentum to go against the school. I am not going to fall into that.
Trust me, life is much more peaceful when you stop reading their junk. Life will be much much much more peaceful when these parents are no longer part of our community. Hopefully that day will come soon.
To everyone who just found out about this site. We are CDNSI parents who had been suppressed by a group of very vocal parents to speak out our side of story. Our side of how we see the whole situation CDNIS is facing. For example as you can see in the HK school website, when someone posted this site to bring people's attention to the fact that there is another side of the story. These vocal parents jumped in and discredited everything about this site. However, everything being shared on this site are genuine concerns from REAL CDNIS parents, including myself.
Many of us did not speak out earlier because we would be seen as 'against the teachers' by being supportive of HOS, supportive of school. Which parent will ever risk to been seen as 'against the teachers'? We are grateful to have the site where we can share our views on what is really going on in our school and don't have to be labelled as 'against the teachers'. We need to remain anonymous in this case simply to protect our children.
Speaking of double standards again- the ComeTogether emails including the latest End-of-Term Report one had no specific senders' names. They came from ComeTogether. That to me its the same as anonymous. So from now on, whenever we post, we will add TruthCDNIS at the bottom of the post to make it not anonymous?
TruthCDNIS continues to call for vocal parents to leave CDNIS and leave us alone.
TruthCDNIS.
For more information please continue to visit www.thetruthcdnis.org
I am not too concerned about Search Associates either.
1. I can't believe for one second that there is only one search firm that can provide quality teachers.
2. In today's world, I don't think hirings can only be done through search firms.
Again, I can totally see this as a scare tactics by some in our community.
Why don't we wait and see if we will have sufficient new, qualified teachers to fill all the spots in the new school year? Why conclude now? Isn't it a bit too early? We were able to find qualified new lower school principals and vice principals. (I wonder if they were found through Search Associates or some other channels)
Lets stay positive.
I agree that we must thank the stars for Dr Maloberti, Mr Kaiser, Dr Will Chan, the other new administrators, and all the dedicated and professional teachers that have stuck with the school and have held the line against the onslaught of all these disgruntled and resentful former governors and former staff, and their active followers, who clearly want more than a reform of the governance structure. Others in the position of HOS / Deputy etc positions may have caved by now and what would we have: A school under the thumb of the AGR / CT selfish bullies and those followers that have been doing their bidding. Some of these followers have actually lost their jobs, and maybe their children's school places, but the 'masterminds' are hardly affected. What has happened to the loyal families of CDNIS is unfortunate, but not anywhere near as bad as what has happened to these families. I am sure many of them regret their actions now. Since these people have now lost everything and have nothing more to lose, we can expect that their tactics will be ramped up. Many of them I would bet are in denial about what their actions have caused. Perhaps because they underestimated what the response would be to their actions.
This whole thing started as a determined effort to seize control and power over something that was not theirs (they claim it was, but they are wrong)... but now it is about VENGEANCE. Loyal CDNIS families and staff, please prepare yourselves and your children for more of the same. We have shown ourselves how determined we are to stick together for the sake of our children, their education, and the wonderful people who have given, and continue to give, our children the best education money can buy in Hong Kong. We are a community under attack. We have done nothing wrong except to help others achieve success and protect our 'precious cargo'. We are also united in the quest to learn and grow from all adversity, and come away stronger and more committed. We are doing well! Hold the line CDNIS families and enjoy the summer.
If anonymous posts have no accountability. How about the petitions that the 'concerned parents' had been repeatedly quoting? All petitions to date were anonymous. So they must have completely no accountability as well. Why do we bother with them?
有啲人真係唔識乜嘢叫積口德。似個癲狗不停係咁吠，邊到有平台比到佢，佢就會係果道破口大罵。其實你自己都承認你嘅老婆好少出聲啦。咁一定唔係因為講嘢而收大信封啦。點解唔利用依啲時間為你嘅小朋友著想，同反省下呢？事出必有因。因果報應啊！見到你淨係識得發嬲，但係你再繼續咁破壞，咁吵法，係唔會幫到你去解決問題。唔好再咁自私，米已成炊，都係諗下自己屋企先啦！
Was it done by the students or those who posted the pictures in HKschool? Taking down the portrait of HoS is mockery, and it seems that those who posted the pictures in HKschool found no problem with the incident. They are happy to see what the "hooligans" have done. What kind of core values do these outspoken people have? Still they ask everyone out there to trust them...
As a fee paying parent, I don't really need to be checking if a search firm has delisted CDNIS or not. I just need to be concern if the vacancies are filled and whether the teachers are qualified. That's all. Why are we calling all over the globe checking with these search firms, and why am I checking the status of the vacancies and the qualifications of the teachers. I pay the school and trust the school to teach, if you don't trust the school, don't stay in this school. Aren't you tired of being the admin and checking on everything that the school does?
Yes, if you ask me. I want to see all these troublemaker parents leave asap. CDNIS has always been a great school, our only problem is we have these troublemaking parents who caused so much disruptions to the community.
Who say the school will not change? The school has done so much to make CDNIS a better school last year. The governance reform review, the hiring of qualified principals and vice principals, reviewing the vision and mission statements and etc., not all of these are done and many are work in progress, but these are the important tasks that Dr. Maloberti and his team are working on at the moment, which might take time to accomplish, especially when these troublemakers keep attacking the school non-stop.
This group of troublemaking parents are like dictators, they hijacked the CISPA pinboard, now the HK school FB page, they even tried to hijack SCMP FB (but it is out of their control). They spread rumors and create crisis to make parents and teachers panic. They blocked and cyberbullied parents with opposite opinions in their FB platforms (Ruth Benny removed Phil Yue in HK School). They want the school to do everything in their way. Whenever things are not done in their way, they would attack the school by going to the media, write to third parties, spread rumors and send spam emails to destroy the reputation of the school, governors and HoS. These are concrete facts and everyone witnessed all these events. No evidence is stronger than these facts to prove these troublemakers are not principled and have no integrity. Why should anyone believe in their arguments?
CT/AGR, many things are changing in school and many more changes will take place, however, all these changes will not be done in your way. CDNIS is moving forward and will evolve into an even better school than before.
Firstly, why add pressure on SA to boycott us? At a time where we will need lots of fresh blood, isn't it against SA's interest to line us out? I was initially concerned, but I have learnt to take a step back and thought about it. It's a big world out there! Is SA the only search firm? No. Will we be able to find someone else who will do the job for us? Yes. Even common sense tells me it's just CT's typical method of trying to create panic and chaos amongst the parents. Stop your destructive ways! Parents can see through it! Like what one parent posted below, stop over estimating your value and under estimating your opponent. You may think your way of adding pressure will get you what you want, but from the end of year report, looks like all you've done is get lots of staff and admin fired and create instability in the school. Summer is here! Give it a rest and get on with your life! Or get one to begin with!
I really really do not understand some people’s mind-sets — those who have made so many inaccurate comments about our school in the social media. Some of them are parents to CDNIS students, some of them are ex-parents of CDNIS students, and some of them have no relation to CDNIS (including the so-called journalist who claimed to be a resigned governor but was NEVER on our school board — thanks goodness).
For those who are still parents to CDNIS students, why would you listen to the non-CDNIS parents who suggest we write to Ontario Minister of Education, CIS and IB HQ to urge them to strip out CDNIS’ accreditations?! How would that help your kids please? Why do you want to keep bashing the school that your kids attend?!
For the parents to ex CDNIS students — Why do you care so much about what's going on at our school? Your kids are no longer studying at CDNIS. MANY MANY MANY existing parents are satisfied with the school governance and are supportive of the HOS/BOS, who are you to decide for us that our school is not good enough??!! Yes I am talking about you Mr. Q.
For those who are not related to CDNIS in any way, IT IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS. Leave us alone!
To the parent who single-handedly destroyed the CISPA survey -- the same person who said in the Hong Kong School FB forum that the comments in this TruthCDNIS website are likely written by no more than one or two people. YOU ARE VERY WRONG. You really need to learn how to admit your own mistake --- just like you need to admit that you are responsible for the CISPA survey being scrapped. AND the silent majority does exist!
Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains to bring it to light - GEORGE WASHINGTON
We all know who you are, AGR/CT core members, it's just that you don't have the guts to own up and claim what you have done to the school so far. Let me just recap one of your latest attacks and actions -
On the last day of school, you were fed information from your school's insider link that the school was going to take actions on some of the teachers. Within the next hour or so, you have brought in all reporters from your befriended organizations, namely SCMP, TVB, ( and likely Harbourtimes, Apple Daily) to broadcast the drama from that afternoon. Yes, you have successfully done what you wanted to do. Now the public and the school community were fed with the biased news of what you want them to hear. You told the media that the school had sacked 25 teachers? COME ON ! Verified your 'leaked' information next time before you sent out CT email to scare all the parents. BUT do you think we all believe in all the media news? HK people have learned which newspapers to trust and what not to trust, especially after our experience with Occupy Central in late 2014. Likewise, our parent community knows what to read and what not to read. I have asked several of my friends' view (non-parents)when they heard about the story from these media, their general conclusion was that it looks like it is a problem started from a small group of people . Any sensible people (whether parents or the general public ) can tell between black and white, but unfortunately those who are deeply engaged in this turmoil within the school are blinded. They can't pull themselves out from all this madness and to look from the outside. The latest example was the suggestion of one these concerned parents to tell the teachers to come out and take actions against the school. Well, do you really want the teachers to get involve again on the last day of school and even during their summer holiday? Please don't be so naive and selfish. You do not own the school, you are only the parents. As everybody has expressed in this forum, if you hate this school so much, you are welcome to leave and find a perfect school for your kids. If you are talking about human rights, this is your absolute right to leave and find your own choice.
If your own kids are still enrolled in the school, what benefit would you get by continuously damaging the school with the actions that you have taken? For some of you, your kids will be graduating soon, would this help in your child's school history? Do your kids suffer from all these damages as well?
Please put aside your hatred and think rationally and let us all move forward and start afresh in August 2015.
Happy holidays to you all!
好耐冇收過CT嘅餐肉郵啦！今日佢哋派成績表，我就嚟睇下佢哋今年成就咗乜。第一，佢哋攪到最少九個先生比人炒；第二，佢哋攪到兩個小學校長比人炒；第三，大校長仲係到！哈哈哈，真係多得你唔少！
Stop asking the teachers to fight for your meaningless cause! Stop pressuring them by using words like 'principled' to make them feel like they are fighting for justice. Ever since you started using the teachers as pawns, the teachers had been divided, depressed, emotional and feeling helpless. Your action speaks louder than words.
Stop torturing our beloved teachers. Stop pushing more of them to the point of no return. Stop using them to further your agenda. Enough is enough. Go away you irresponsible, vindictive parent!
A parent posted on the CISPA PIN an email he sent to the school. He commented that the school's reputation has been destroyed because of the firing of the 9 teachers. I disagreed. The school's reputation has long been damaged since November 2014 when a letter from the former HOS, marked strictly confidential, was suddenly made public and a group of concerned parents used governance as an excuse to sack the chairman and since then our School's name was on SCMP and other international media frequently. The reputation was further damaged when the "concerned" parents and some teachers started promoting the negative emotion on some teachers and even students as they interfered with the School's management issues and started taking side on the internal politics between the HOS and its team. Then when a reputable consultant came to advise the school on governance matter, that group of "concerned" parents concluded that he was not trustworthy just because he gave reasonable suggestions that were not what the "concerned" parents wanted, despite the fact that they were the ones who suggested to hire him. Our school's reputation has once again been damaged when those concerned parents, without even slight finance background wrote to the ED and disagreed on the school tuition increment and once again, our school on was SCMP. Our school's reputation was damaged as well when our survey was terminated as a result of some spam mails being sent out teaching parents how to fill in the survey as if we were all dumb people. Not to mention the childish advertisement being posted on Rugby 7s... Yes, we sacked 9 parents, but how worse can it go???? From 0.1 to zero, I would say, not material at all!!
It's very true what another parent said earlier. If what happened the last day of school was simply a repercussion for teachers who spoke up against the school and/or the HOS, then the number would have been much higher than 9. Any intelligent person would know that's not the reason behind the decision.
添添，我明白你的感受。但繼續咁做對大家都無好處。不要再為學校的問題紏纏。請以家庭為重，以子女為先。要珍惜自己所擁有的。希望你能看通啦。
As a tuition paying parent, I completely agree with another parent that I paid full tuition fees for my kids to learn in the classroom. I did not pay for the teachers to conspire with parents to attack the school, to force the Head of School out, to have secret meetings with parents or simply to involve in school politics.
Dear teachers, please don't let others to influence you to fight for their causes. Please don't let others to destroy your life and career. We need you to protect our school! We can move forward together.
It is heartbreaking for me to see a parent is already asking the remaining teachers to act against the school in the coming school year. Can't you give them a break? Can't you give them a breathing room?Haven't you tortured them enough this past school year? I feel really sorry for the teachers that this irresponsible parent is once again trying to push some of them to a point of no return.
Our teachers are very Principled. They chose teaching as their career because they want to teach and assist the next generation to be global citizens, they want to teach and assist the next generation to be ethical, principled and respectful people.
Our teachers did not choose teaching as their career because they want to be involved in school politics, to be used as pawns by the parents in a power struggle.
I am confident our teachers will remain principled and professional, they will continue to focus on the children. That's what they are passionate about.
Please stop victimising the terminated teachers. They are mature adults and I would be extremely surprised if they did not realise that there will be a consequence when you act unprofessionally with your job or swear at your boss. In a commercial world, you will be asked to go the next day, not wait until two months and with a termination package. Don't get me wrong, I am as sad as anyone else in the School with what has happened and so are my kids who actually cried for the loss of some of the good teachers. No doubt, they may be good teachers but the school must move on.
How did the child know the letter was a letter of termination? It's because the reader told them. And does a child understand what that means? It's because the reader explained to the child. And why would the child cry? It's most probably because the reader was sobbing while explaining the content of the letter. So if the reader choose to express uncontrollably their emotions of their termination at a child/student, should we be calling the school demanding for reasons of termination? Or should we be asking the teacher why can't he/she keep an emotional moment to himself/herself in front of his/her students? Why didn't he/she choose to raise his unhappiness at the admin instead of displaying outrage and create mayhem in front the students? I can't control the decisions made on my employment, but I can control myself in front of my students. But did I make that choice? Once again, emotional parents are rallied to attack the admin and the real perpetrators are absolve from any responsibilities. Shouldn't all parties take some blame for the situation?
Honestly, only 9 teachers? The school has been too kind and soft hearted. For some teachers, they got away with it . I think it's time for some of these teachers to reflect upon themselves over this summer . Ask yourself if you have whole heartedly perform your teaching responsibilities to our kids, or have you in some time or most of your time spent your school hours to talk about school politics, to have secret meetings, to talk among yourselves how to vote down HoS, to join petitions, to badmouth the school to the parents (sadly, I was once a reluctant audience too!), to send persuasive emails to us parents asking us to join CT meetings and other more and more actions that you probably know better. If you are one of these teachers who are lucky to get away with this time, then may I please ask you to bring your focus back to our kids. I don't think this is an action from the school to get rid of those teachers who speak up. It is because of what you have done to our kids for the past 7 months. As parents, we have paid our full tuition expecting our teachers to teach and for our kids to learn. I sincerely hope some of these teachers will wake up and behave as an educated professional in the new school year. Please use your own sensible judgement and think for yourself, do not be influenced by the 'concerned' parents who are trying to destroy your career and life . I will thank you for doing this !
那些搞事家長，永遠靠嚇，只會製造恐慌。學校人事變動無人想發生。學校一定是無可奈何才出此下策。
搞事家長又再次將事情搞大，再繼續損害學校聲譽。他們這樣做是爲學校好，爲學生好嗎？
我們不要再上當，不要被他們嚇到。
他們無人理，就會知難而退。
這是唯一救學校的方法。
而家又邊嗰出嚟幫老師？又係前狗仔隊長囖。乜佢咁得閑？！做完問卷權威後，今次輪到做工會代表。大佬，e啲老師究竟有啲乜嘢咁唔開心？用理性分析吓。
1，你話嗰board同admin好corrupted,但你有乜証據？Hearsay唔算數。如果有，嗰啲知情人事做乜唔叫佢哋飲三角枱咖啡？
2，話大校長改變學校culture? 究竟e班老師講嘅係乜文化呢？
-在學校飲酒？開P?
-要老板cover up你做錯嘅嘢？
-全家一齊係學校搵錢？
-不停叫家長volunteer,連碗都要家長洗？
-校內秘撈？
唔怪得你哋覺得人哋corrupted啦，你哋老師都可以咁做，你話啲"ex"可以幾離譜！
3，無transparency? 不如首先講吓啲老婆仔女啲hiring process先啦。
4，無freedom of speech? 你哋都自己寫咗出嚟啦！你要大校長approve 你哋鬧佢嘅台詞，要大校長保証唔會秋後算帳，你哋仲有冇再cheap啲？有吉士去作反,就唔好咁驚。老實講，無freedom of speech？ 校長幫你睇埋你個真情speech?! 你話校長秋後算帳，但真係因為你個真情speech咩？唔通成年無教書都要忍你？醒吓啦！
睇完以上嘅points,請問邊嗰唔principled?邊嗰無integrity? Principled 同 integrity 唔係不停話自己有就有，要其他人話你有先有。以上咁多樣控訴，有邊樣同你哋嘅工資薪籌員工福利有關？當然無啦！而家早續約仲有extra bonus! 但係the most important point is, none of above that the teachers fight for is about their compensation nor our children! 完全為小撮老師嘅利益。
工會代表，請不要再推我們的老師進火坑。You have nothing to lose, but our teachers could lose everything if they listen to you! 唔好再攪我們的好老師！大部分老師真係淨得想教書。You put them in a difficult position! Risk their livelihood! 咁叫為老師着想咩。
各位，請深思！
I can see their strategy. The AGR and CT know very well they lost a lot of support and momentum because of how they single handedly destroyed the CISPA survey. Don't forget what they have done.
Be prepared for more negative press articles. They are trying their best to gain back some momentum and some support. They are once again trying to create another round of 'crisis' and anxiety in order to achieve that. Don't be fooled.
These people know nothing else except to use pressure. So all along, they had been trying to brainwash teachers, parents, alumni, and students because in order to use pressure, they need numbers, they need to gain momentum. That's why they have repeatedly pushed for Townhall meetings, pushed for surveys, pushed for petitions. Another way to use pressure was to bombard EDB, CIS etc to try to use them to pressure the school.
In order to gain momentum, they had been using media, (Anyone suspected why there were reporters on site at the end of school on the last day of school. Do you think it was the school who asked them to come?) Facebook, internet forums to spread rumours, lies, to create 'crisis' in order to scare parents and teachers into feeling they need to do something.
Whatever happened on the last day of school was very very unfortunate. No one ever wanted something like this to happen in our school. I totally agree with another parent that the school must have weighted out all options before making this decision, knowing very well the backlash waiting for it.
To save the school, parents and teachers, we need to ignore the AGR/CT, they will only stop when they realize they won't gather enough support, won't gather enough momentum. Everything they have said to try to scare us, nothing ever materialized. They are the ones who repeatedly damaged the school's reputation in the media. They are the ones who pushed some teachers to a point of no return. They are the ones who destroyed the CISPA survey, destroyed the opportunity for all of us to share our point of view.
Just ignore them. This is the only way we can move forward from the crisis. This is the only way we can save our school, save CDNIS.
有啲人，都唔知係咪家長啦，話學校炒啲vocal嘅老師，好唔加拿大喎。嘩，如果要炒所有speak up又有opposite opinion嘅老師，點會炒9個？真係會炒到手軟。所以呢，e9個老師係唔係淨係vocal 同有opposite opinion 咁簡單？
嗰啲關心e件事嘅朋友請注意。e班老師咪係係過去一年攪學校風雲嘅老師靈魂人物囖！佢哋夾埋班家長同啲"ex"一齊攪「拍丅唇」，教堂真情，老師round up問卷, you name it....多到記都記唔到。全年都全心全力全職全天侯咁去攪革命。你話係唔係vocal又speak up同持反對意見only? 咁忙攪革命點得閑教書呢？大家覺得真係無人投訴過e啲老師唔教書咩。局內人都知炒佢哋好justified wor! 私底下同一啲老師傾，佢哋都話no surprise。大家都知佢哋有幾癲，而被炒嘅大部分都無太大反應，即係話佢覺得予咗啦！
至於加拿大定唔加拿大就唔評論啦。因為一樣米養百樣人。但一様肯定嘅係係任何一個機構，如果你反你老板又做到出面，仲攪革命，一定唔會有好嘅下場。使乜講到機構啊，大家個工人姐姐玩嘢，大家都會同佢say goodbye啦！有乜唔啱？係有啲家長另有目的，但又無法得到想要嘅嘢先至不停攪間學校。總之，全世界話學校係件事上點唔啱都好，我e個由件事開頭跟到而家嘅家長，仍然對學校充滿信心，有學校嘅admin同各位校長，CDNIS只會變得更好。
I am confident in our teachers. They are highly educated and professional. I am confident by now they realise the 'concerned parents' never had and never will put the teachers' best interest in mind. A parent is still asking teachers to voice out and take actions against the school. How can that be for the best interest of the teachers?
Leave the teachers alone. Stop using the teachers as your weapons.
To the core AGR/CT parents,
Since the day some of you asked the teachers to withhold their contracts to force the Members to step down, you had put the livelihood of the teachers at risk. You had started using the teachers as your weapons. Don't tell us you have no idea you were jeapordizing the teachers' livelihood since then on.
It was very clear to many of us when you started dragging the teachers into your power struggle, you had pushed some of them to a point of no return.
See what you have done? Are you happy? Are you satisfied?
Your final report card: You had divided the community, damaged our school's reputation, destroyed some teachers' livelihood! Congratulations! You exceeded expectations in all of these areas!
Please leave us alone! Please stop attacking the school! Please stop all the non-sense!
We want a fresh start beginning in August 2015. If you are not willing to move forward with the school, please leave! We don't want you to be part of the CDNIS community! Please go!
CDNIS is hijacked by Somali pirates? The Members who have started the school are still part of the school. Nothing has been hijacked. If anything, the school is under terrorist attack. The school is under attack by the trouble making parents.
The school will not sink, the school will be perfectly fine once the terrorists stop attacking!
Dear all trouble making parents, please stop your attacks! This is the only way we can rebuild our community! Please, think about the students, focus on the students! What you are doing are definitely not helping the school and ultimately the students, our kids, are the ones to suffer! Please kindly reconsider before taking any further destructive actions!
Let us take 5 steps back and ask the questions. Why does the school have to make so many difficult decisions since November 2014? Ever since a group of governors and members resigned, the school has been under tremendous pressure and attacks by some trouble making parents and teachers. The trouble making parents have now ADMITTED OPENLY they had been making troubles at the school. Then the answer to everything the school has done is very obvious and simple. ALL decisions that have been made by the school and ALL actions taken by the school were simply defensive actions taken to fight against the trouble making parents and teachers. These trouble making parents and teachers have shown they stop at nothing, they just keep attacking, attacking and attacking. These trouble making parents and teachers had used pressure to force the previous chair of the board out. These trouble making parents and teachers had tried to use the same strategy to force Dr. Maloberti out, to try to force the Members out. Luckily, we all know better now and won't fall into their traps again!
So why have there been trouble making parents and teachers? I think only these trouble making parents and teachers can answer this question. Since they are the ones who started this whole crisis, they are the ones who started making all kinds of troubles at the school. What exactly do they want? Are they doing it for the sake of doing it? Or simply because they are naughty? (People who sometimes want to pull the table cloth off the table just for the sake of doing it? I can totally see this kind of people naughty enough to want to cause troubles for the sake of doing it). I personally have never thought of or wanted to pull the table cloth off the table. What exactly are their hidden agendas? Well, only the trouble making parents and teachers can answer these questions. The school, the board, the members cannot answer these questions for them. It will be great if the trouble making parents can let us know the real reasons behind all of your trouble making behaviours as all of us deserve to know the truth. Thank you.
I am glad that finally one of the brains behind ComeTogether admitted OPENLY in their forum that there are indeed "trouble making parents and teachers at CDNIS", there are 985 parents (assuming those who signed the petitions early plus a few others) who had been making trouble at the school, there are a high percentage of teachers who had also been making trouble at the place they work. Thank you for your confession that you are indeed a trouble maker! Thank you for your confession that many of you had been causing all the troubles at CDNIS! AMEN!
I do also hope the media will be more responsible before reporting in the future. What they have reported had been very one-sided and in some instances, far from the truth.
They had absolutely ignored the fact that there is another side of the story.
Many parents, teachers (who had remained extremely professional and loyal to the school), Dr. Maloberti, Mr. Tim Kaiser, and other administrative staff had been brutally bullied simply because they did not collude with the radical parents and teachers.
These are the real victims of the whole situation, the whole crisis. These people simply are loyal to the school and continue to believe in the school. However, these people are now portrayed as dictators and heartless. This is called insanity.
Talking about Tim Kaiser, our upper school principal. He is a role model for our school. A real 'Canadian', the type of 'Canadian' that we are all seeking to be and what we want our school to be. He has been with the school for almost 20 years. He has worked with different heads of school. He has remained loyal to the school, not any individuals. He has been standing firmly in what he believes to be ethical and integrity. He did not get influenced or brainwashed by the radicals. He always has the best interest of the students in mind. He respects everyone. He respects different point of view. What happened to him during this crisis? He had been bullied and criticised simply because he did not collude with the radicals.
HE DID NOT befriend the pirates. Tim is a person with high integrity.
這是什麼世界？我聽到有學生連大校長幅相都攪。有冇攪錯。點解學校唔叫警察？
If there's anyone who is not part of this community reading this trying to dish dirt, I hope this site has satisfied your curiosity to hear from the other side. And I am glad you found your way here because everything that's been reported so far has been either sensationalised or biased, and it must the urge to hear another side of the story that brought you here. There are parents who have opposing view from me, accusing my comments as false and cowardice, but I need to be anonymous to feel safe to speak up. Have I lost my freedom of speech just because I didn't come out to put my name to this post? Have I said anything offensive and rude so far? This is the kind of judgements that has been passed on parents like me who refuse to collude with the radicals (parents and teachers alike). When you hear of the "ruthless firing" of beloved teachers, consider the following. The reputation of a school is one of its most valuable assets, would they choose to destroy it so simply just to get rid of 9 teachers? Why would that be a worthwhile risk to take? Because the damage to the school to retain these teachers far outweighs the bad press of firing them. And when weighing out the options, they had to choose this knowing very well the backlash waiting for it. So to people reading my comment, another train of thought I would like to put you on. When planning your strategy of attack, you need to weigh in how destructive your opponent can be, and as such pick the right weapon to strike. From the media backlash the school is getting now, you should be able to gauge what kind of forces the school is up against to decide on this route. Once again, there are many sides to a story, and the social media and the media has been very successful in getting one side out very quickly. The irresponsible side. I hope the time has come for the truth to be told.
The media loves to dish dirt!! The messier the better! If anyone can add to the stinker, load it on! It's human nature to read trash, that's why newspaper and the media likes to report trash. As the school stands alone, under the intense media spotlight, what have we as parents, who still have kids here do? They decided to rally more parents to let the world know! What a lousy school their kid is in. Does this make any sense to you? It doesn't to me.
I saw on the CISPA Pin board that a parent suggested that we use the money from annual fund to subsidise those terminated teachers' kids' tuition fees. Seriously? With the intellectual level of our fellow parents, I now understand why our school turns out to be like this. It was reported that 5 kids were affected. My understanding is that the School has NOT terminated the enrollment of the kids but asked that they pay full fare from now on. I think this is fair, especially to us as fee paying parents. And I understand that at least 2 of the teachers have spouses working in other international schools in Hong Kong. So why can't they move their kids to those schools? If the next year annual fund has an item like this for the use of proceeds, I will definitely not donate. My friend, who is a fellow parent, just go sacked by his bank employer, and following this logic, we should subsidise his child as well. Using the CT or AGR's words, it is OUR MONEY! Think before you speak please.
Dear CDNIS teachers,
Please join us to rebuild a positive environment for our school, our beloved CDNIS! We all know you love the school and the students! We understand it had been a very difficult year for you! It had been a very difficult year for everyone! We know what has happened the last two days had been very emotional for all of you! However, with the new and strong administrative team, we are confident next year will be a better year! Please ignore the loud, negative voices in our community. Their actions/suggestions have all proven to be nothing but destructive to our community! None of their actions/suggestions have added any values to the teachers, students or the school! Please ignore them and join us to rebuild a positive environment for our beloved CDNIS, for our students. Thank you!
Is it true that some students took down Dr. Maloberti's photo from the wall yesterday and drew all over it?
How disrespectful is that? We are seeing students behaving like this because we have some very poor adult behaviours in our school community! These adults should feel extremely shameful for setting such poor examples for their own children and for other students in our school!
This kind of action is definitely not 'Canadian' and should NEVER be allowed in our school! These families are definitely not welcomed in our school!
Marc Frankel was right, no wonder he is the leading expert in school governance. The biggest problem we have in our school is not governance, that's a small issue, the biggest issue we have in our school is "we have some really bad behaving parents and teachers".
I witnessed the letter being delivered to one of the teachers. The admin staff and the guard did NOT deliver the letter during class time as some of the news reports described, it was delivered around 2:30pm after school ended. The dismissal was not announced in front of the children, the teacher just received an envelope. however, it is true that a bunch of kids were hanging around the classrooms after school especially on the last day.
I left school soon after and couldn't see what happened with those teachers. I heard from other parents that some teachers were crying and screaming. I understand how shocking the news was, but whether to cry in front of the kids and to tell the kids what happened after receiving the letter is a matter of choice. I don't know whether it was the best timing to deliver the termination letter, but I must say the teachers who cried in front of the children were inappropriate. Teachers who are considerate and professional would have hidden in somewhere to explode without affecting the kids. If what I heard about the reaction of these teachers is true, it is just as shocking as the terminations.
It is very unfortunate to what happened to the teachers and it must have been a difficult decision for the school too. From a parent point of view, I cannot see how the school can move forward and refocus on children and learning without this move. Hope CDNIS can start fresh in August.
AGR/CT parents should start doing a fund raising for the silent majority parents . We had to suffer so much because of their actions in the last seven months. We had never done anything wrong to deserve such treatments and tortures from these 'concerned parents'. You had put us all in extremely difficult situations. You had continuously instilled anxiety into us and into our community. AGR/CT parents, please start fund raising to compensate us for what we had to suffer because of you!
I don't think anyone could be happy about what had happened on the last day of school. It was very unfortunate. However, we understand sometimes the school needs to make difficult decisions and not everyone will agree with each of these decisions.
Hope the school will move forward with the new administrative team in August. Hope everyone's focus will be back on the students! All of us should work together to rebuild a positive school environment for the students! They really need it! Please stop all the fight and focus back on the students! At the end of the day, that's the reason why we are all part of CDNIS!
When the school decided to halt the CIS accreditation process, the 'concerned parents' were really upset and blamed the school. Now, they are hoping the school to lose the OSSC and IB accreditations? Are these people serious? How can any normal person think this can be beneficial for the school or the students? And these are our "highly intelligent, professional parents"?
Let's get the facts straight on the termination of the teachers, as witnessed by some parents who were at the spot.
• Only 9 teachers were terminated, not 20
• The envelopes enclosing the notification letters were delivered AFTER classes ended, not IN FRONT of the kids. Impacted staff persons were supposed to go through the exit procedures quietly. Unfortunately, some of them chose to openly express their emotion in front of the kids who still hanged around the classroom and hallway, and hence the "crying of kids".
If you have watched the movie “Gone Girl, you would probably have a pretty good idea on how TRUTH is defined by public media nowadays! SCMP, Next Media etc seemed to have chosen to take side and print whatever their friends told them to.
Removing the accreditations??? Are you serious? Are you parents of the school? Do you care about your own kids? I really feel sick reading patents destroying their kids' school. And those irresponsible, irrelevant persons whom are not related to the school. And frankly, if those teachers really acted wrongly, I don't see a legal or moral problem with terminating their contracts. Nothing last forever and no one is indispensable.
Honestly, WHY can't our school fire any staff? These 9 names, three knew it was coming, two swore and yelled at HoS and insulted BoG in public/staff meetings, and bullied parents!
Today, social media and news articles everywhere were filled with rumours, lies, and people who don't belong to the CDNIS community. What exactly do CT and AGRs expect to achieve!? The school will not rehire the fired teachers, so do you just need time to mourn the loss? Then please do it quietly over the summer holidays! Let us all start fresh in August towards a brand new school year!
講真炒9個真係太少！除咗個小腫瘤，
E家仲有癌細胞游走，唔通要再電療同化療？本來希望可以狠啲 aggressive 啲，一了百了，新學年重新出發，睇嚟都未必得。不過大部分留低果啲都只有一年約，唔會續約㗎啦！不過又要忍多年？定係學校又有秘密武器？
Teachers! Please stop allowing yourself to be manipulated by a bunch of unethical parents to fulfill their dreams and ambition! In the end, they don't pay for their deeds. Standing up for what you believe in and speaking up is different from the destruction I see from some particularly radical teachers. Never over estimate your value (as exemplified by your abled but jobless leader), and under estimate your opponent. i hope after this humbling experience you will be able to decipher good advise from the bad.
I don't mean to sound unkind, but it's really only 9 out of more than 200 teachers who were let go. It's is very sad to end the year on such a note, and many have called for a more humane treatment of the situation. But honestly, there will never be a perfect timing for actions like this. Unfortunately, after all the emotional roller coaster I have been put through, even though I witness one of the darkest days in the history of the school, I have run out of tears. All I can say is I pray that dawn will come soon.
Another irresponsible ex-parent suggesting on CT pinboard for parents to write to IBO, OSSD and EDB to take away our accreditation. He is also suggesting a lot of underhanded methods to add pressure on the board. If parents on that pinboard follow his call beware! Mr Q is NOT a fellow parent. His children will not be affected, but the kids who remain in CDNIS will be severely affected if we lose our accreditations!!!
Out of the 9 teachers who were dismissed how many were wrongfully dismissed? Can they stand up and say that they have acted professionally, with integrity & respect in the past 7 months? Those who are members of the CISPA Pinboard would have seen what these teachers posted in the past 7 months. I personally witnessed one of those fired, screaming and shouting and swearing at the HOS. Those who've attended the many Townhall meetings & lobby gatherings this past 7 months will know how poorly behaved these teachers have been. These are not people I want to teach my kids. They do not set a good example.
The fact that they are educated or have worked at CDNIS for many years and are well loved should not give them the right to behave in such manners. When they chose to act the way they did, they should have been prepared for the consequences of their actions. We have always taught our kids that we must take responsibility for our own actions. It is really too bad that we have to end the school year this way. But did teachers think that they can get away with what they have done?
As for the parents of those kids who scrawled swear words on the school's walls and who threw and broke the HOS portrait yesterday, do you think your kids behaved well? Did you teach your kids to act in such a manner? Our school should not tolerate such behavior. Any organization, education or commercial, in fact society, will not accept such behavior. This is basic common sense.
May those who remain at the school take the summer holidays to reflect and repent. If you still feel that you have done nothing wrong, you should leave CDNIS before it is too late. This is not the place for you.
CT constantly accuses the silent majority of willful blindness. But I find CT to be just as guilty too. We have wonderful teachers but they are not infallible. Many have made wrong choices in this crisis and they need to be responsible for their actions! They may be good but they are not indispensable. The school has been criticized for ignoring the children of the sacked teachers. But I wonder if these teachers had thought about my children when they engaged in their destructive actions to the school? Wouldn't it be naive of these teachers to think that such a day of reckoning won't come? Weren't they prepared to "sacrifice" for their cause? Where has all their valour gone? It's easy to talk, but what's with this cry murder outcry when you need to face the consequence of your actions. You your family and your children will bear the brunt of your action.
就好似家長中，有啲特別攪事，令到我好痛苦，幾想佢哋走。先生當中，都有特別攪事嘅，令到其他老師生不如死。可能依幾個收大信封嘅，係果啲先生啦！佢哋嘅存在只會繼續制造分化，令到學校冇可能進一步。如果只係因為講嘢而被炒，咁講真，九個就太少啦！
Some vocals in CT are really rascals... Sorry to say... But as parents, don't you teach your kids what's respect and kindness? Even if you don't agree with someone, be it parents with other views or teachers/staffs/senior admin/hos/ whatever whatever... You should still behave and teach your kids to respect others. You may find other ways to oppose our ideas, but not throwing foul languages or personal attacks to other people, painting other people's face or making fun of others.
Come on... You are adults and you are supposed to be educated and civilized! Don't act like a rascal!
如果要開刀噚日都係最好啦。老實講，如果學校早啲開刀，又會再攪到小朋友，老師，家長都人心惶惶。遲過噚日又驚見啲老師開完party第二日唔返工，比唔到信佢仲要攪到新學期先開刀，咁咪更亂！當然任何人比人炒都會激動，喊都好正常。跟住啲小朋友見到老師喊咪跟住嚇到喊籮。我聽到咁嘅場面都好唔開心，但係學校要move forward又可以點？每一件事都可做得更好。但係我只係一個交學費嘅家長，學校要點炒人就真係學校嘅事。批評還批評，我諗佢哋盡咗力去減低對大家嘅影響。我都有為噚日既事有啲唔高興，真係有啲小朋友受影響，但希望今次之後學校會平靜啲啦。
There are so many people who are not in the CDNIS community commented about the firing of teachers. I don't know how much they understand the school and how these people make judgment. As a parent, I feel what happened today is very unfortunate, but the school needs to move forward. It would be difficult for the community to continue this fight. Our children's education has been continuously disrupted by some unhappy teachers. Isn't it just like a divorce of an unhappy marriage? Now the teachers are well compensated, and they can take time to find somewhere more suitable for them. It is a positive outcome for both parties. I am sure our well qualified teachers will find better opportunities with the growing demand of international school teachers. Wish you all good luck.
Complaining to the Ministry, EDB and IB AGAIN? Seriously? These parents think taking away all of our accreditations is for the best of the school and students? They think making our students cannot graduate is for the best of the school and students?
Absolutely IRRESPONSIBLE suggestion and complete NONSENSE! Especially the suggestion was made from an ex-parent. Of course it's easy for them to make this suggestion as it won't impact their children nor their family! I seriously don't understand how these people think and it makes me sick that some of these people are in the same community as us!
Why everyone say 25 teachers were fired? When will CT/AGR stop the rumor? The official email from school mentioned 9 staff changes. Taking all these drama to the media will only make the job search of these teachers more difficult. I doubt if any employer would want to take an employee who keep fighting against himself! AGR parents please stop ruining other peoples' life!
而家好話學校秋後算帳，d先生都唔係聖人，佢哋終歸都要為佢哋嘅言行負責任。如果唔係做到咁絕，就唔需要行到e一步。有邊個想炒人，但係有這一班毒瘤留係體內，唔清，冇可能move on.，只會將病毒惡化。都比咗好多機會e啲老師㗎啦，但實在係睇唔到點繼續合作，分手係唯一嘅辦法。希望大家用e個暑假消化e件事，時間係會衝淡任何嘢，望就望其他老師唔會比e件事影響。
To the parents who dragged the teachers into your power struggle: Now do you feel sorry for the teachers?
Now you blame the school? When will you realize you are the ones who are totally responsible for what happened to the teachers? Take some responsibilities for your own actions and stop putting all the blames on others. Give me a break!
賞罰分明！有何不妥？
I am deeply saddened by the termination of teachers today. AGR/CT parents, this is what you have done to our beloved teachers. You gave them false hope, you supported them to act against the school. Are you sure your true intention is supporting your teachers or you are using the teachers to achieve your own agenda? Now these innocent teachers have to bear the consequences of what you made them to believe and what you asked them to do! As a parent, you can easily walk away and change side without losing much but now some of our teachers lost their livelihood. This is the darkest side of human being. What you have done is unforgivable!
As we probably read from the CISPA pinboard, some teachers have been fired. I feel sorry for those teachers and I really hope that the HOS and the Board has considered every factor and consequence before they made this decision. On the other hand, in a commercial world where I am working at, no one is indisposable in an organisation. I am not sure about the full facts behind this so I cannot judge. I can only say that if parents are so upset about it, please consider the best choice for your kids and OUR kids. I saw parents writing on the Pinboard saying they should take away the Ontario accreditation and I am shocked - does it do any good to yours or our kids? Sorry to mean selfish but after eight months and as we are about to take this summer break, I really hope this will come to an end and it seems the school's administration is trying to clean things up as well (again I am not saying that they are doing something right). But the bottom line for me is to keep CDNIS as a school that my kid can continue to study here. I have sympathy for the teachers but I am just a parent and I don't own or manage the school. As parents, what we need to do now is to stay calm and do not add oil to the fire to influence the remaining teachers and students that are staying behind.
這個學期終於完了。我充心多謝認真教學及關心學生的老師們。祝大家有一個開心暑假。八月回來後，雨過天晴，再回復正常開心的學校生活。
I think the only crisis at the school is the inability of the parent-spammers and their cohort to own up to their collective involvement. Their lack of integrity is causing others to distance themselves from CISPA, which is a pity.
Also, I would also like to know if the motivation of some of these parents has anything to do with a policy of asking parents to find other schools for their children at a certain point. It is actually quite common in HK. Some parents refer to it as "The Call". It is a sad commentary on the HK education system, but whereas some schools will give the impression that they are welcoming in terms of 'diversity in learning' they will then tell parents (at the end of the MYP) their child is not suitable for the Diploma Programme and to look for another school, or else offer some sort of bogus 'partial DP' and try to convince families that there are tertiary institutions out there that will accept 'partial DPs'. They do this so as not to sully their IB graduating results. My impression at CDNIS is that the school is very up front with its policy of academic excellence and also gives families two years notice and works with them to help students be better prepared for the academic intensity of the DP. In addition, by giving students the OSSD, students actually ARE qualified to go to some universities that accept results on IB 'choices' (as they have the proviso that the student must also have another high school diploma). What I am asking is how much of what motivates these 'crisis' parents is based on personal resentments.
有時候呢，我都唔知道係咪大家文化背景唔同。A劇組啲人講嘢特別乞人憎 ，完全冇禮貌。果口氣高高在上咁，不可一世 。點解你會覺得你講嘅嘢，人哋就一定要受。講到尾，權力係人哋手上，話知你有乜嘢好recommendation, 最終接唔接受都係佢哋話事啦！幾時輪到你哋係依度阿吱阿咗? 你哋就真係唔明呢啲老人家啦。你越嘈佢就越拖。盞搞！本來諗緊開開心心去放暑假，見到呢班人出啲咁嘅垃圾，真係忍唔住，要講少少嘢。唔該你哋收聲啦，你哋果套係唔啱駛㗎！只會將件事越搞越耐。唔該你哋學下點去尊重人啦。大家好聲好氣去傾，先可以將件事解決。你咁樣個口氣，邊個會聽你講啊？如果你真係有心實現今次嘅改革，唔該先檢討你嘅態度！你哋實在太囂張喇！
Finally it almost gets to the end of the school year. It's been a really tough and unreal year. Glad that we still have a big group that we can stay together with harmony and respect, and support each other, support the school, the staffs and teachers and the board... to go through this difficult year. We have sacrificed lots of our valuable time and energy on this whole crap. And now, lots of unhappy families (and teachers) are leaving... Which is sad... But I believe it's a good choice for them, and for us.
Looking forward to have the new senior leadership team... Looking forward to a wonderful year ahead.
Have a great summer holiday everyone and God bless!
I agree 100% with other parents and Dr. Chan that it is our CHILDREN that bring us to CDNIS, bring us to this community. Children's education should always be the top priority over any other matters!
Also, as another parent has mentioned, during this last academic year, many ''concerned parents'' have repeatedly bombarded New Parents with their one sided information, continuously instilled the idea to the New Parents that the school is in crisis. I really hope this will STOP next academic year.
Please give the New Parents a break! Please have some empathy! Imagine yourself being a new parent, joining a school with all the excitement and then a group of "concerned parents" keep bombarding you by telling you the school in "in crisis". Imagine the guilt that these New Parents must have felt by finding a school that is "in crisis" for their children.
Please! Have some empathy! Please let these New Parents enjoy their first year of school! Please don't bombarding New Parents!
The truth is: only some of you think the school is "in crisis", the rest of us have faith in the school and are ready to move forward with the school!
為什麼恐怖whatsapp留言無咗下文?究竟學校同警方有冇跟進？唔係又不了了之嘛。
It is so sad to know there is another kid that my family have known for a long time change to another school. These some good families leave CDNIS without a second thought after receiving offers from other school. CT/AGR, this is what you have done to our great school, jeopardizing our children's education to achieve whatever you are targeting at, which is absolutely not what most families in CDNIS want. Whatever reasons you have given for harming this school cannot justify the damage you have done to our children.
The message of Dr. Chan's speech last week is very clear, it is our children who bring all of us to community. We should always give children's education top priority other than any other matters. As parents, we should always remind ourselves this is why we are in this community.
I agree with another parent that teachers please kindly think about your career, family and life. There is really no point aligning with some parents who are making false promises and giving you false hope that things will change back to the old way or change to those parents want. It won't happen.
We hope you will see past what have happened in the last seven months. If you still love CDNIS and our children, please stay, we need you. However, if you really hate the school and are really feeling miserable every day you go into the school, please kindly consider your options. There is really no reason to stay in a place that you hate so much and to ruin your own CV, career path and your life.
What is it these friends of Dylan and Kathy want? Lack of vertical integration? People working in silos? Applauding the effort but not looking at results? I got these comments from this forum and the cis visit report. A culture where some teachers scheme with parents to do all sorts of unprofessional things? A place where admin will ask their buddystaffers to do unprofessional things? Where SOME governors won't name which will ask for policies that favour some parents over others? Whose idea was it to offer some parents a seven thousand per year rebate on tuition for as long as their kids are at the school? It's alright for some! If the friends of Dylan and Kathy want this then maybe you can create this place at dave's new Canadian academy .
I echo the comment made about highly educated teachers being emotional and unprofessional. The same applies to parents. Highly educated and successful parents can be emotional, selfish, and unprofessional. In their pursue of gaining control of the situation, for whatever reason, many have lost sight that the school is still a business organisation. The teachers are the fluff and the sugar coat to the school's business of educating the children. But the truth is, in any organisation, no one is indispensable. Unfortunately, the damage has been done. A lot of healing needs to take place, but we need to recognise we will never be the school we were before, and it's not because of governance, and not because of the HoS, but because of the judgments we have passed on each other.
I have unfollowed the CISPA pinboard a long time ago as it only added to the negative feelings on me. With the new policy of CISPA re not to post anything that is related to the current crises of the School, I have chosen to start reading the pinboard again. It is all about happy stuff and how our kids are doing at school. How nice. CISPA should have done this much earlier on.
And for those parents who have complained about literally everything in this school, please reconsider whether you would want to stay in our school. The School will not change just because you are mourning and yelling. There is no point for you to fight. Please make the best choice for yourself and your kids.
PS - I don't mind paying a fee increment in the coming year. I think the percentage of increment is reasonable as it approximate local inflation rate. ESF and other international schools are having similar increment (if not higher). And even after the increment, we are still having lower tuition fees than most 1st tier private international schools in Hong Kong. As a consumer, I am not in a position to judge how my supplier (the School) spends its money, likewise, I don't care how HSBC or McDonalds spend their money as long as their increment rate is reasonable and they provide good services and they are sustainable. If I don't like it, I will just move to other suppliers.
When my kids joined the school, they joined CDNIS. They did not join because of a particular senior admin or teacher. We have faith in the school and we are staying. When we don't have faith in the school, we will move on. It's as simple as that!
If you are a teacher of the School that still loves to teach at CDNIS, please stay as we and our kids need you. If you still miss the old administrators but understand that things have to move forward, we love to see you next year as well. But if you think that you lack confidence in the School's new management and you just do not like to stay anymore, please leave. There is no point staying in place that you hate so much, ruining your own CV and career path, and more importantly, your life. There is no point aligning with some parents who are making false promises and giving you false hope that things will change back to the old way or change to a way those parents want. It just won't happen.
我話知你大陸化,美國化，加拿大化，最緊要唔好攪分化。攪分化啲人真係唔化！
學期尾真係靜咗好多。啲餐肉郵無矖。Pinboard又只係見到啲開心嘢。CT都無料到。希望戰爭從始結束啦！係依度充心多謝各位出心出力維持正義嘅家長，教師同admin。希望大家有一個愉快假期，將今年唔開心嘅嘢都忘記啦！
There is no doubt that teachers are highly educated. People who are highly educated do not mean they are not emotional; do not mean they are professional; do not mean they are dedicated to their work. Please do not confuse others. Parents on this site are unhappy about the attitudes of some teachers, not about qualifications of the teachers. Many parents witnessed how some teachers brainwashed our children in the past seven months. While these teachers asked parents to support them, did they ever think about how parents feel? While you dissatisfied with your new boss, did you also aware that many parents dissatisfied your work attitude? Or you are so indulged in your unhappiness and forgot how you are being perceived by other parents who don't show up and influence you all the time.
Meanwhile, there are some other teachers, who managed their emotion and continued to focus on children's learning. These teachers do not feel bothered by the comments of the truth site as they know they have done their best to protect their students from harm. They are proud of being professional and responsible. CDNIS is so blessed with these teachers around.
Only a few days to go before the end of the term, it is perhaps the best time for all of us to reflect what has gone wrong in the past few months. Hope everyone in CDNIS can refocus on children with a fresh start in August.
I am happy to see comments from all sides about the party. The debate about the after party is as divided as we are about all the matters the school has been dealing with for the last 8 months. The school should invite ICAC to provide some training to all parents and staff so that we can all be clear about what constitutes a conflict of interest, and the grey areas of receiving monetary benefits so that we can all be on the same page on future matters like this.
Our dear teachers, please don't let others manipulate you and make you jeopardise your livelihood. Otherwise, I can guarantee you, when you look back in the future, you will regret it.
When people who don't have to worry about money asked you to make a decision that will negatively affect your livelihood, you really should question their motives, their intentions!
What will happen if you listen to them and things don't turn out the way you anticipated? Who will suffer? Whose family will suffer? Whose career will be destroyed?
However, I am confident our teachers will make the best decisions for themselves and their families. I agree we have highly educated and intelligent teachers who will think everything through independently and make the best decisions for their careers and families!
Thank you CT for respecting our wishes and stop spamming us! We really appreciate it. Many of our lives have been much more peaceful and we can go back to be a parent and don't have to feel like we are living in a 'so-called crisis'. Please don't start spamming us again in the next school year. We all really deserve a new, peaceful school year starting in August 2015. What we had to go through in the last few months had been more than enough for all of us. Thank you for your understanding and thank you for continuing to respect our wishes!
OOPS sorry! Forgot to mention that if any of you want to express your concerns to EDB, or IB, or CIS, or Ministry, please kindly make sure all parents who agree with the contents of your complain letters sign on them. Your letters had never represented our point of view and you don't represent us. So please kindly don't mislead these departments. Please kindly make it VERY CLEAR to them that the contents of your letters do not represent parents who had never seen or agreed with the letters in advance. Please also kindly make it clear to them the names and number of parents who have seen and agreed with the letters in advance.
After meeting the new lower school principal and vice principals, I am confident that our school will move forward. We will have a strong senior administrative team to guide us through this unsettling time. I believe in our school! I trust our school will move forward!
AGR/CT, with the drastic changes you want the school to make, I don't see how they will bring any stability to the school. I only see they will divide the school further, they will make the school completely unstable as the plan is to empty out the governance structure and replace it with something you think is better. The plan is completely unrealistic and with too many uncertainties.
Please, if you are that unhappy with the school, if you have no faith in the school and the senior administrative team, please move on to another school! Many of us are still very happy with the school! Please remember, you have no right to drag us all down with you!
The great teachers in CDNIS are a key reason for its critical success. But a great teacher is still human and humans are not perfect. By acknowledging that you are a great teacher does not give you the right to brainwash my child with only your side of the story; it does not give you the right to judge me when I don't support your politics; it does not give you the right to spread unfounded hearsay and rumor to fellow parents to discredit the very institution that you serve.
Take off your blinders! Listen to the truth! Your refusal to recognize my comment is a reflection of how close minded you are. And guess what, the truth hurts! Only when you start to accept the comments here is when you realize that there are a lot of parents out there who see a different side, and hopefully you come out of your cocoon and accept the differences in our community! That's the first step to a compromise.
I wonder why parents think that teachers are always swayed by other parents in their major decision making. These are ADULTS who we trust to look after our most precious resources every day... our children. We know they put great thought into planning and delivering lessons that engage our kids and foster amazing growth in them. They have the critical thinking skills and discernment to identify student needs and adapt accordingly. They show passion and commitment all year long no matter what gets thrown their way. I highly doubt they became teachers because they couldn't attain other career goals. They are highly educated and intelligent people who I'm sure take the time to independently think through and make their own decisions, particularly those that impact their careers and families.
有時啲人真係噏得就噏。話學校大陸化。其實講真今時今日嘅香港社會都係而道變緊，講普通話嘅人多咗，中國抬頭成為強國，連一啲英國高等私校都教中文啦！咁如果因應返需求而改變，有乜問題啫？不過我哋一日唔比人用中文面試，就算點大陸化都冇用啦！所以又係一班特擔散播謡言，維恐天下不亂嘅人係道危言聳聽。唔該家長唔好淨係聽臉書啲人係道亂噏，用下腦，發揮自己嘅獨立思想，唔好再比人誤導。
There is a striking absence of noise among the majority of parents, but in this deafening silence it is clear to us all that when words fail, silence speaks!
真係唔明點解啲AGR/CT友要成日同老師出頭。連人哋有冇申請bonus,有冇續約都要管。唔通佢哋唔使交學費？交咗學費就唔好理咁多啦！依啲係學校嘅問題，唔係家長嘅問題。唔通𠵱啲人去麥記買包都要管下嗰Cashier係full time定part time,有冇出bonus咩。
Why does CT dissect and criticise every single thing that the admin does under a microscope? Even if we disagree, we need to make sure that the feedback we give is positive and constructive. The result of such negativity is that you will be ignored and nothing you want will be taken seriously (which is what is happening now). This is just common sense! Why don't CT get it?
If teachers are still listening to AGR / CT parents (now regarding whether or not they should consider a bonus package) and not using their own best judgement then face it do we want them to be teaching our children? I hope the school is embarking on an ambitious recruitment process that will fill in the gaps when these people leave, along with their parent leaders. All of you obviously want something here at CDNIS that you are not getting. Not anymore, anyway. We do not need to make value judgements as to which school will be better. Off you go to Dave, Dylan and Kathy's new school. Maybe this was part of the plan: some sort of mass poaching strategy. We will find new teachers as experienced and committed as the new LS Principal.
It is very strange that some parents discouraged teachers to join the bonus plan, aren’t they the one who want to retain the teachers? If they really want the good teachers to stay, they should encourage teachers to apply for the bonus plan. It is quite obvious that the purpose of launching the bonus plan is to boost morale and show the teachers that the administration values them. Hope most teachers will apply it soon.
Why the AGR/CT try to persuade teachers not to sign up for the bonus? Aren't they the one who want the teachers to stay? I am confused, not too sure what they want.
我想請問CISPA嗰位家長係pinboard講IPSOS survey, 係唔係已被警告？Survey都係學校問題嘅其中一部份wor。請快追究，做嘢要公平和公正㗎嘛。如果唔追究，請解釋，正如我哋學校啲大聲家長話齋，要Transparency㗎！如果唔係邊有公信力？
The AGR/CT parents, I have heard so many times you care about and love pour teachers, but what did you do to them in the last few months? How many times did you ask them to put the job on the line to help you remove their boss? How many times you create dramas to make them worry something that they should not worry about and keep distracting them from their work? How many times you keep discussing with them about the school crisis during class time and deprive the learning time of our kids? I am sure not all of you have self interest as mentioned in other posts on this site. If you don't have any self interest, please see whether what you advocate for is really benefitting our children and teachers. I am sure we all understand there is no perfect world, and certainly there is no perfect school. I don't know whether CDNIS will change to a better school for your and my children or not, but if the change is not suitable for my child, I would buy time and find another school. The only end result of keep fighting against the school is only a dead end, a lose-lose situation. There is no upside at all. Please don't fight for the sake of fighting and don't bash for the sake of bashing. Please re-consider and see if continuous fight is beneficial to you and your kids. It's only a few days to go before the end of term, probably most parents in the community and myself are very tired of the endless fight in CDNIS, we all can't wait to take a good break over the summer. It's a good time for all of us to cool down and reflect. I hope we finally can 'come together' after the long break.
To CT / ARG parents: What exactly do you want? I don't get it. You said you are concerned about teacher's morale. You said you are proud of our teachers and want them to stay. Now the school offers some incentive package to retain teachers and you are challenging it? Money does not just fall down from the tree. Teachers' renumeration has to come from somewhere i.e. parents. If you truly value our teachers so highly and concerned about their retention, why are you making a big fuss on fee rise? Or your saying of valuing our teachers are just lip service? In the past few months, what I've seen is just opposition from you guys on every single decision the school makes. Please, you don't own the school! Please respect other parents' wish to let the school be run by the school admin team, just the way it should be. If you are so unhappy with every single decision the school makes, maybe this is not the school for you. Maybe it's time for you to move on. Maybe you can raise fund to open your own school. With Dave as HOS, Dylan and Kathy as Principals and so many CT / AGR parents knowledgeable in school governance and keen on meddling in school administration, your school will sure rise to become a top school in HK in no time. Please take the battle elsewhere. School is the place for our kids to learn, not a battlefield for power struggle. We want our school back!
Did transparency and openness about the school made us a better school? Did the freedom of expression provide us with any compromise and resolution? We have regressed as a community and as a school over the last 7 months. Do we continue with the way it's been, blaming each other, or decide to move ahead and heal. Make the right choice. For the community. For your children.
有時真係心淡，見到啲好老師同好family離開，唔係因為啲所謂嘅governance issues, 而係頂唔順啲痴線造反嘅攪事家長同先生。佢哋嘅所作所為令到嗰學校環境每況愈下，同事之間互相批判、家長之間互相猜疑。真係唔明為乜？可能佢哋覺得佢哋需要爭取啲嘢，但是我只係反感。因為佢哋未醒覺到佢哋嘅行為已經到咗損人不利己嘅地步。
I would like to respond to a few comments below on CISPA. For record, I am not a board member of CISPA nor have I ever helped out on any of CISPA activites (sorry!). As well, I am not agreeable to all actions by CISPA in the past months. But I must say that I really appreciate all the board of CISPA this year for the hard work in the past months. They are all volunteers (to one parent below - the board are all elected, just that in previous year, the election was not as prominent as this year) who are willing to give out time and effort for the betterment of our school (Though the result may not be acceptable to everyone) and our kids. Some decisions made by CISPA was being "attacked" by either the AGR and the silent majority (in Chinese, they are not "human" from both sides) and I am sure that all the board members are under a lot of pressure. I think the whole parent community should really applaud CISPA board this year for their hard work and persistency during the year.
On the contrary, I noted that some of the newly elected CISPAs are from AGRs and I really questioned their motive of electing themselves to CISPA. To those newly elected and AGR members, CISPA is not a place for you to continue your political fight against the school. This is an association that exists because we want to contribute to the education of our kids and we need to work with the school to fill the gap (e.g. Chinese fun fair, family fun fair...etc.). While you are wearing two hats being on CISPA and AGR, please do not use CISPA to be a tool for you to criticise the school in a disrespectful or uncooperative manner as what you have been doing in the past nine months. It is not too late if you decided that you do not want to waste your time to work on this demanding task and you should leave.
有冇攪錯,又漏P&C信? 究竟幾時會停.
嗰位洩漏機密嘅人兄,簡稱阿茂,真係屢勸屢漏。佢平時最鐘意就係放料，越放越多，成日做到自己有大把料放咁。可能咁先可以埋到堆啦。但最唔明就係明知佢係一個漏口嘅人，點解佢仲可以做公職。佢擺明放啲P&C信係面書都唔驚，好似好正常咁，佢啲friend仲要comment。CDNIS嘅漏料之神，真係非佢莫屬。對於CDNIS嘅漏料culture，漏料正常化，佢功不可沒！
我終於明白我哋學校嘅culture,其實就係太nice。做錯事都唔罰，咁點知錯。所謂要governance reform,真係要reform。首先攪掂漏口依個重要問題先啦！
I just want to know the timing of the departure of some of the vocal parents. Did you decide to leave before all these happen, so you conveniently add your voice to the revolt with no reservation or did you decide to leave only after the crisis happened? It is terribly irresponsible to bask in all the attention as the "defender of the cause" when you had already made plans to leave before all these happened. Instigating the discontent of the community without any consequence.
有冇人見過嗰恐嚇性whatsapps留言?
I was told by some new parents that some AGR/CT parents keep on telling them how inept and corrupted the governors are and how deep trouble CDNIS in and trying to justify the outrageous actions that the AGR/CT parents have done. As a parent, I only concern about whether the administration are taking good care of our children, putting the interest of the students in the top priorities, having a good curriculum and a balance school life. More importantly, I care about the qualification of teachers, disciplines of students, university placement and IB score. These are the concerns that directly affect our children. Anything other than that, e.g., school governance....is definitely at the lowest priority in my opinion.
Since both our HoS and LS principal are so qualified, what more do we worry about? I am sure they can lead us to a better school providing they are given enough time to do so. Can't we give the new administration more time to work on the concerns more directly related to students? Both parents and children cannot afford to waste another year on "issues" that are so distant. The AGR/CT want to change the school, but in fact, the school has been changing in many ways under the new administration. Maybe the AGR/CT parents are just not happy that the school is not changing into something that they want.
Life is a matter of choices. We have to make good choices to have good consequences. This principle applies everywhere in life. We have to make good choice for our children. If you find this school is not the same school when you chose it, isn't it a good time to look out for options? Don't waste your time and our time time, please make good choice for your children and yourself.
I posted on this website and I am happy most of the time. I only become an "unhappy bunny" when I saw comments from parents criticising whatever decision the School made as if they own it, or when I received spam emails from CT or whatever email address or when our school's name are being posted on SCMP and report on negatively by SCMP.
Stop accepting all comments relating to current crisis at the school is the best decision made by CISPA in the past seven months. This is a big step forward to bring the community back together and return to peace and harmony. It is understandable that CISPA must allow parents to express their concerns and feelings towards the school crisis. However, when the pinboard being dominated by a few CT/AGR parents and teachers and they cyber-bullied anyone who voiced out different opinion, what is the value of having the pinboard as a platform for discussion? CT/AGR, please stop defending your shameful behavior by freedom of speech. Freedom of speech does not give any license to make irresponsible comments! It is incomprehensible why CISPA couldn't make this decision earlier. Anyhow, thanks to the parent who shared her experience about the whatsapps message, which alarmed CISPA that those irresponsible comments in the pinboard do lead to negative! sentiments in the community and possibly cause harm to CDNIS families. I hope the police can solve the case shortly.
I think fellow parent should stop circulating P&C information to the community, especially when it related to remunerations for staff. Parents were critical about the lack of effort by the school to retain staff, and the school is trying to entice retention with a bonus. What is wrong with that? Is there no end to the bashing?
I was told the mom who complained about the school's bunny exhibit who is also the same parent heavily criticised parents posting anonymous comments on the Truth website called the Silent Majority parents "unhappy bunnies". I am supporter of freedom of speech but I would encourage we all express our right to freedom of speech responsibly and respectfully. Does anyone have a screen shot of the "unhappy bunny" comment please? I love to see it. Its ok to have different views but IT IS NOT OK to feel so righteous about your own actions. You have problems that parents made disparaging remarks about others on the Truth website, are you doing the same thing yourself -- calling the Silent Majority unhappy bunnies?? I hope this is not true. If the rumour is indeed not true, I apologize to you here.
Hello! I am going to use this forum to address another issue, which is related to communication in the school (and perhaps is a symptom of a problem). Yesterday's FLASH had all sorts of interesting news.Two things I thought were interesting was that the School "logo" will be removed from the building and replaced. With what? Has there been a rebranding going on? Who got to decide? Who created the new logo? I have heard nothing about this. I felt that a rebranding would be tied into to all the coming changes at some point, and that the 'boring' (pardon me) logo could be redesigned through an in-school activity, as part of design studies, maybe. Can someone please let us know more about this? Also, regarding the Alumni mentoring programme. Again, I knew nothing about it.
For those who might say that we need to ask our children to be more communicative about what opportunities are going on at the school, I would prefer that efforts are made to inform parents of all programs. 'Outside' parents don't want to hear about staff internal issues such as morale and their opinions of their new boss, or who can't afford 'After parties' because of pay-scale differences. (We all have our stories there.) But we do want to know about everything in terms of school activities.
Are people aware that the EDB has given the current CISPA board authority to decide the issue of tuition increase this year? The hike was approved FYI, and the decision was made by majority consent of the 15-member CISPA board. But these people were not elected. (I know that there was an election for NEXT year's board, but hardly anyone participated for reasons that have yet to be understood or addressed.) What do you suppose would have happened if next year's board had been given that authority?
If the EDB is going to deal with CDNIS issues in this way it is all the more reason why Admin needs to act and create a viable system of parent involvement.
This CISPA situation is similar to what has happened on the many school committees in past years, where people who were chairing committees (including parents) wanted things to go their way (for example as a reward to certain sections of the parent community, i.e.: long-term parents) and the rest of the committee would defer to them! I think the Admin and BoG have learned a lesson and there will be no more 'pork barrelling'. All parents are equal. All students are equal, too, regardless of how long families have been here.
I see a lot of people seem to be concerned about the staff parties and I'm a bit confused as to why. Are you staff? Does it matter how many parties a group of people choose to have? I can see why you'd want to be sure that it's an inclusive party if you have contributed, but otherwise, why does it matter to you how other parents choose to anonymously and voluntarily spend their money? How is it that different contributors to this site all have "the truth" about the party, yet the "facts" in each post are different? What does this even have to do with presenting other perspectives on governance reform or leadership at CDNIS? I thought that's what this site was for.
Someone extremely rude to call parents who write on this site "Shameful self centred cowards......who seek to draw attention to themselves while pretending to be anonymous."
Shameful self centred cowards - must be referring to people who have illegally obtained the whole parent database without consent - SHAMEFUL.....people who cyber bullied other parents because their opinions are different are self centred COWARDS.
Who seek to draw attention to themselves while pretending to be anonymous - perfect description for the CT spam emails sent to parents. I cannot think of a better example of people seeking attention than to send emails (without senders' names which to me is the same as anonymous) to ALL parents!
No one asks you to visit this site.....its voluntarily.....how attention seeking is that??? It is merely a site to allow parents to share their thoughts....and don't have to worry about being bullied by shameful self centred cowards.....
I completely agree with what another parent said: "When the ousted chairman of the board Kennedy Liu resigned, he wrote a long letter to the community. With what I know now, I could feel the sincerity in his letter. His methods may not be popular, and his manner unlikeable, but I do not doubt that he was a man who was doing what he felt was best for the school.
After he left, there has not been a single word of reproach from him about his adversaries. On the contrary, I can't say the same about the ex-governors and the previous HoS. The behavior they have exhibited is despicable and distasteful. They look like a bunch of sore losers demanding a rule change to get back in the game. I can see why they were kicked out in the first place!"
Given what have happened last 7 months, I will choose Mr. Kennedy Liu over AGR&CT to be part our community anytime! AGR&CT should have been the ones being ousted in November 2014, not Mr. Liu!
We are still waiting for the secret group behind the November 4, 2014 attack to identify themselves...we are still waiting for the people behind all the spam emails to identify themselves....we are still waiting for these people to tell us how they got our parent database.....we are still waiting for past, present admin/teachers who had been secretly working with these people to identify themselves.....we are still waiting for past, current and future CISPA board members who had been part of the secret group/who had been behind the spam emails to identify themselves.....WE demand transparency!!!! These are areas where we lack transparency in CDNIS!
My greatest gratitude to the teachers who had remained focus on the education of the kids in the last seven months. I understand it was extremely difficult under the toxic environment. I am very proud of you! Thank you for your loyalty to the school, to CDNIS!
I completely agree with the other parent that I feel our school is moving forward!
I also agree we have a strong administrative team that will lead us forward!
For those who do not want to move forward, please leave!
Stop all disruptive actions like bombarding IB, CIS, EDB and Ministry by complaining to them we are in "crisis" NOW. These actions do nothing but harm our school and the students! If you are that unhappy, no reason to be part of this community.
Please join us to leave AGR/CT behind....ignore these negative forces....they are nothing but negative energy!!
PLEASE join us to move forward with the school!
You are invited to a celebration party to mark the end of a very educational year; an amazing learning experience, which challenged us all, and our children, in ways we never imagined! We felt despair at times, and bewildered, too. But the results are in: We made it through, with distinction. And highest honour.
Time: June 11 after school, whenever.
Address: www.thetruthcdnis.org
No need to rsvp, we welcome everyone!
I've noticed a poster in a few classrooms that we might do well to remember here or on any site that allows posts. Before you speak, THINK.
T=Is it TRUE?
H=Is it HELPFUL?
I= Is it INSPIRING?
N=Is it NECESSARY
K=Is it KIND?
Posting anonymously does not mean we should be posting without respect for others or accountability for our words. Alternative viewpoints and dissatisfaction with tactics can be expressed assertively and politely. If we expect that of children, should we not expect that of ourselves?
Dear Site Moderators,
I am a staff member writing to appeal to your sense of truth and respect, values you claim to hold. I understand why you felt the need for a site to post other viewpoints related to governance and leadership at our school. I, for one, was interested in reading what others had to say.
Instead, I have left this site feeling beaten down, discouraged and even angered by many things I've read. Why are you allowing other parents to publicly (and often wrongfully/inaccurately)shame and defame the teachers? It's one thing to say you disagree with their actions, but it's quite another to call their teaching into question without any evidence. Many of the comments related to teachers are vicious and mean. I am requesting that you remove them immediately.
I have always been taught by my parents, employers, etc that, if you have a problem with somebody, you should go directly to them to deal with it. Perhaps instead of posting derogatory comments about the teaching staff you suggest that those people instead speak directly to the teachers with whom they're upset. Saying that you're only referring to "some teachers" doesn't lessen the blow, as you may think it does. It still casts all teachers in a very poor light. Yet, according to the CIS report, compiled by an independent, objective and highly qualified group of educators, the teaching at our school is of an excellent standard. They were in our classrooms...they saw it first hand.
You keep claiming that YOU are the ones who are reasonable people and are open to building bridges. Tell me how this site does that...please. I have read a lot of angry posts saying that the CISPA and CT Facebook posts are terrible, but if you compare those posts with the ones on your site, there's no comparison as to which posts are the most aggressive.
For the record, this comment is not meant to be posted, nor do I give you permission to post it. As I've already said, I believe in dealing with my problems directly.
Because I do not know who you are, I will not be signing my name. If you choose to state who you are at some time, then I will happily tell you who I am so we can discuss this further.
Sincerely,
A dedicated but disappointed teacher
The first order of business when Dr Chan comes on board, should be to improve our math program. Creating the math continuum is just the beginning. Although I am still struggling to understand it, I hope there can be an open forum for the parent community for us to provide feedback on our issues with regards to Math. I really want to drill down how math is taught. What are the methods used to teach the math units and how it is integrated through the grades. There are big disconnects! I would rather attend meetings like these!
Since this site is called truth cdnis, we, a small group of staff, would like to factually answer some questions and comments regarding the staff after-party that seems to be concerning many people.
1. It is an AFTER party. It is not competing with the traditional staff good bye celebration at the LLAC. Staff are encouraged to attend the normal party, as usual.
2. The after party is being organized by STAFF MEMBERS.
3. ALL staff have been invited.
There are no political implications and parents are not jockeying to gain popularity with teachers (teachers have no information whatsoever about the donors...so how could that be possible?) All we want to do is to have a party to celebrate the end of a long, tough year....and we had fully intended to pay on our own (though we appreciate the anonymous, voluntary and unsolicited generosity of parents that makes it possible for staff at all pay-grades to attend if they wish).
I heard that all teachers are invited to the after party on June 11. I welcome the final decision of the party organizer. What a good news! Unity and inclusiveness are what we need during this time of turmoil.
Dear Parents of thetruthcdnis site,
l feel our school is moving forward. I see it, feel it, know it. Let those CT and AGRs stay behind. We just need to ignore them. June 11, let us all have a wonderful peaceful summer holiday. With Dr Wil Chan and Dr Gregg Maloberti, we now have two new, very educated leaders for CDNIS. Let's not forget Tim, our upper school principal who has stood by Gregg and in support of our school throughout this crisis. With their team work and leadership, I believe CDNIS will become an even better school than ever before!
(dear Admin, appreciate all that you do for this site! much appreciated.)
就算請我去Party都要諗清楚! 嘩,最近咁風頭火勢,避忌啲好。 真係要同一啲人劃清界線。
