Make mine a double (standard)
Albatross alleges double standards; the evidence is piling up
by the Albatross
The double standards in Hamden Public Schools are absolutely infuriating. Teachers who run afoul of a board of ed policy are investigated, put out on leave, and fired. The bureaucrats do whatever they want.
Well-connected bureaucrats win the Chamber of Commerce 'Educator of the Year' award. Teachers are not eligible for this award, as Superintendent Highsmith observed in his September 8 email, because they are recognized through the Teacher-of-the-Year award. Teachers get a coffee mug and their picture taken with the superintendent at Central Office. The bureaucrats get feted at Cascades, Hamden's banquet facility. Cascades better serve craft beers this year.
The recipients of the Chamber of Commerce awards are like the cool kids at the high school lunch table. They are management and have little to do with students, yet they are still considered educators. Who are they educating? The uncool kids are the teachers, the 'extras on the set,' not worthy of consideration for the more prestigious and exciting award.
Last year, the disgraced Nadine Gannon, former principal of the high school and now the "director" of adult education, won the Chamber of Commerce award.
This year, it is Sue Smey, Director of Media, Assessment, and Intervention. She directs two departments. She must make more than the superintendents.
Hamden schools have not fared so well over the past years, putting out more and more poorly educated students. This year, we are still down Chromebooks and chargers. Students cannot do their work. Surely Sue bears some of the responsibility for this, even though she is not an educator and does not work with students. She is a bureaucrat. And a beer pro. If you want to know where to get Connecticut's best brews, ask Sue.
Sue's public Facebook page is filled with her love of beer and gambling, not Hamden students. On her page, Sue says that she has a "beer trail passport."
Her Facebook page showcases frequent trips to breweries and casinos, including Bad Sons Brewery, Fox Farm Brewery, These Guys Brewing, Epicure Brewing, Caius Farm Brewing, Tipsy Tomato Bar, Dockside Brewing, Firefly Home Brewing, Four Quarters Taproom, Cheshire Craft Brewing, Evening Sky Brewing Co., Steady Habits Tasting Lounge, (where Sue is drinking "Ice Cream Man" and reports that there is "a nice selection of draft beer."), Burial Beer Co., The Quail and Ale, Black Hog Brewing Co., OEC Brewing, Woodbury Brewing Co., Brewery Legitimus, Bhramari Brewing Co., Wicked Weed Brewing Co., Eurisko Beer Company, Veracious Brewing Co., Elicit Brewing, S & S Brewery as well as Mohegan Sun. Sue seems to be a regular at some of these places. Bad Sons is one of her favorites. She even traveled as far away as the Adirondacks to get to a brewery, her t-shirt so sweaty that it looked waterlogged, but the Bolton Landing Brewing Co. was closed the day she arrived for a pint.
Sue also posts pics of drinking with her adult daughters. On May 27, she and her daughters appear to be doing a beer crawl. At Stop #4 of the crawl, a Facebook friend comments that it looks like the daughter "has had enough."
Sue and her husband also appear to do beer crawls. On December 28, 2022, at Foam Brewers in Vermont, Sue writes, "Nothing like a cold beer on a freezing cold day." On December 27, at the Whetstone Station Brewer in Vermont, Sue writes, "I never go north on vacation, but this one involves beer, so it's okay." At the Chimney Rock Brewing Company in North Carolina, Sue reports that there are slippery, wet rocks where she is drinking. "What could go wrong, " she quips.
On May 19, 2020, Sue writes, "I drink all the time and I haven't gotten Covid-19. That must mean that beer is a proven preventative measure."
Amazingly, Sue once gave up beer for Lent. Once, she received a gift of IPA beers. She was ecstatic. IPA beers have a greater quantity of hops. They have more alcohol.
On Mother's Day, Sue went to Bad Sons Beer. A Facebook friend wrote, "It's a school night." Sue responded, "Yeah..."
Forget Heineken. There is something luxurious about treating yourself to a craft beer, and something destructive. It should be noted that craft beers have a higher ABV (Alcohol by Volume) than, say, an Amstel Light, with some going as high as 29%. It does not appear that Sue is drinking zero-ABV beers. She needs to take better care of her liver. The brew that she drinks tonight will have to be paid for later.
The Hamden Chamber of Commerce award dinner might be better held at a brewery. Breweries are simply upscale dive bars. They are where the rich go to drink. Sue must be the patron saint of these places. She calls her excursions "brewery adventures" and they extend from New York to Ashville, North Carolina, (where on October 27, 2021, Sue wrote, "We are expanding our horizons. Visiting breweries in Ashville."), all the way down to Fort Lauderdale, where she summers annually and which she calls her "happy place."
On a trip to an event in Hartford, where she appears to have been tailgating, Sue complained that she didn't get a free hat because "I took too long drinking my beer in the parking lot." A May 24 post from the Little Barn Pub in Shelton says, "Tonight is my happy night" - May 24 was a Wednesday. There is even a post titled "Thirsty Thursday." Does Sue drink every day? What is the definition of a louche?
In another post, Sue boasts about "working" on her deck during the pandemic.
There is nothing wrong with liking a pint. It is not illegal to enjoy an evening of booze, go on a bar crawl, even party 365 days a year. Lots of people come to work with hangovers. Or drunk. Some people can't have fun if they don't drink. And there is certainly nothing wrong with turning your deck into your office.
There is something terribly wrong, perhaps illegal, with double standards. If a teacher posted about their "brewery adventures," the superintendents would allege an overuse of alcohol and investigate. They would say that the teacher is not a good role model for students and fire the teacher.
Teachers across the United States have been fired for holding up one glass of wine on only one Facebook post, and the courts have upheld their termination. A Hamden teacher was fired years ago for such a post. Sue has a trail of posts that go back years, but Sue is management. Management holds teachers prisoner in the buildings every chance it gets, even though a lot of the work can be done at home on a deck. Teachers get fired for posts like Sue's. Sue gets an award from the Chamber of Commerce. It takes a certain kind of chutzpah for an "educator" to advertise her drinking on her Facebook page. Teachers are warned every year about Facebook posts, but Sue knows she will be protected. Superintend Highsmith, in his email announcing the award, called her his "partner" and "friend."
Anyone else?
If you are afraid to comment, we understand that thought diversity is not allowed in public schools. But this substack is not school; this is a safe, inclusive, diverse space. Joan and Liz here have a God-given right to express themselves. Don't let strong opinions frighten your different opinion into silence, because you have that God-given right of self-expression as well. First Amendment. Keep calm and carry on.
This is a disgusting display by a bitter and uninformed keyboard warrior. Albatross, if, as some suspect, you are a disgruntled teacher, that’s a travesty, as you represent the very worst of us. It doesn’t take much courage to tear apart an educator on a public forum anonymously. This latest subject of your attack is an EDUCATOR who has spearheaded work that has positively impacted students across the board. Her work has increased equity and fine tuned a system for targeting interventions for students who might otherwise fall through the cracks. Her work has had a positive ripple effect that someone as ill-informed as you are couldn’t begin to grasp. That’s what happens when you do your “research” on Facebook. Screenshotting someone and their family members from their personal social media is pretty disgusting. I guess we should shame everyone who enjoys a beer or frequents a brewery. Given the number of craft breweries popping up in CT alone, we are all doomed. Retire your pen, Albatross,…and, even better, RETIRE. You are an embarrassment.