| Tom Vernon Great Bend, Kansas |
09.27.08 / Because this week's
official Detroit Schools head
count (88,000 students) fell
far short of the 100,000 target,
the minimum to maintain "1st
class"status, "two community
colleges and suburban dist-
ricts will be able to open char-
ter schools within the city and
the number of DPS board
members could change and
their powers diminish. The
district's ability to borrow mon-
ey, contract for services, issue
bonds,collect property taxes
and direct its school police
department also is now in
question."Current DPS enroll-
enrollment is the lowest since
WWI; just a decade ago there
were 173,878 students. (Detroit
Free Press). In short, rather than
a single corrupt massive
system, DPS can now be
broken up into smaller more
easily overseen local schools
--better, provided there's over-
sight over federal dollars.
official Detroit Schools head
count (88,000 students) fell
far short of the 100,000 target,
the minimum to maintain "1st
class"status, "two community
colleges and suburban dist-
ricts will be able to open char-
ter schools within the city and
the number of DPS board
members could change and
their powers diminish. The
district's ability to borrow mon-
ey, contract for services, issue
bonds,collect property taxes
and direct its school police
department also is now in
question."Current DPS enroll-
enrollment is the lowest since
WWI; just a decade ago there
were 173,878 students. (Detroit
Free Press). In short, rather than
a single corrupt massive
system, DPS can now be
broken up into smaller more
easily overseen local schools
--better, provided there's over-
sight over federal dollars.
| What's just happened in Clayton, Georgia -- last week they became the first school district in the U.S. to have their accreditation yanked in 40 years -- may be a glimpse into what's coming to more American public school districts. While America snoozed our public schools grew from the relatively modest structures many of us recall from growing up to being Taj Mahals designed to be showcases and calling cards for our communities, resplendent with natatoriums and coliseums and indoor football fields. Thanks in no small part to environmentalists having driven our manufacturers and factories |
CA: The San Diego USD school
board's public displays have encour-
aged new supe Terry Grier (L) to call
for stricter "governance" rules. Folks,
in a free nation politics--including school
boards--are supposed to be loud and
noisy, and in public. What Grier's
calling for is totalitarianism, with him in
charge. But what can you expect from
a school board where 4 of the 5 are
educators, including prez Kather-
ine Nakamura (M) & VP John
deBeck (R). Wake up, San Diego.
board's public displays have encour-
aged new supe Terry Grier (L) to call
for stricter "governance" rules. Folks,
in a free nation politics--including school
boards--are supposed to be loud and
noisy, and in public. What Grier's
calling for is totalitarianism, with him in
charge. But what can you expect from
a school board where 4 of the 5 are
educators, including prez Kather-
ine Nakamura (M) & VP John
deBeck (R). Wake up, San Diego.
| offshore, most school districts are now the largest single budget in our counties, and the largest employer. |
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| Copyright 1999-2008 Peyton Wolcott |
"Walk softly and carry a big stick." -- Teddy Roosevelt "Trust but verify." -- Ronald Reagan |
| Just because you can doesn't mean you should. |
| H o w w e t a k e b a c k o u r c h i l d r e n ' s e d u c a t i o n: o n e p e r s o n , o n e q u e s t i o n , o n e s c h o o l a t a t i m e. |
| FAQ's ARCHIVES CONFUSED? FOLLOW THE MONEY SOLVE YOUR PROBLEM STATE & LOCAL GOVERNANCE VENDOR LOBBYING |
| KANSAS FOLLOW UP El. principal in Colorado After being charged with $41,000 KS PTA theft By Peyton Wolcott Thursday, April 24, 2008 - 12:06 a.m. Updated Tuesday, April 29, 2008 - 6:05 a.m. |
| HAPPIER TIMES IN KANSAS Then-Jefferson Elementary principal Don Atkin- son with Jefferson PTA president Pamela Kurtz |
| Until I telephoned officials at Colorado Springs School District #11 last Tuesday, Donald Ned Atkinson was still employed by the district -- despite the fact that school administrators had the week previous received a negative FBI report based on his fingerprints. Atkinson was arrested March 22, 2008 in Great Bend, Kansas and charged with 63 counts of theft by deception. (SOURCE--KSN-TV) Prosecutors say Atkinson stole the money between 2002 and 2007; he resigned last November after PTA leaders, following a training course in accountability and responsibility, took their con- cerns to school administrators, who called authorities. Atkinson had worked at the district for 28 years, 12 of them at the elemen- tary school. (SOURCE--Kansas News-Leader) Yesterday I requested a copy of Mr. Atkinson's employment application at Colorado Springs School District #11. The comments I have received from around the nation over the past two weeks focus on concerns that while all individuals have a right and duty to obtain employment in order to support their families, anyone charged with 63 counts of theft by deception in a public school setting should not be allowed to continue working in public schools anywhere until after the judicial process has been completed. |
| Colorado Springs (Inset: Donald Ned Atkinson) |
| NEW READER SURVEY! What are your thoughts on Don Atkinson? Great Bend superintendent Tom Vernon? Colorado Springs #11 supe Terry Bishop? Don's the former trusted Kansas elementary principal (below and left) who recently sought employment at a Colorado school district before his trial on 63 counts of theft by deception (PTA and other school funds) begins in Kansas. Should Great Bend supe Tom Vernon have exercised tighter internal controls? Should Terry Bishop have hired Don Atkinson? Do you have any solutions for challenges like this which we face in varying degrees in all of our public schools? Please email me by Sunday night. Be sure to mention whether you are speaking on or off the record. I'll post at least a few of the most representative responses Monday. |
| GREAT BEND, KANSAS Great Bend USD 428 employees named by former GBUSD principal Don Atkinson on his employment application to Colorado Springs School District #11 By Peyton Wolcott Wednesday, May 7, 2008 - 5:05 p.m. |
| o David Meter o Janis Link o Carla Maneth o Alvena Spangenberg |
| David Meter |
| Developing . . . |
| KANSAS Steps taken by Great Bend, Kansas USD 428 to tighten their internal controls By Peyton Wolcott Friday, May 9, 2008 - 12:07 a.m. |
| Tom Vernon , Great Bend USD428 superintendent, said by telephone yesterday, "We've tightened our internal controls in two ways. First, all cash and other gifts from groups such as PTA's now come through the district's business office and are posted publicly on the school board's agenda for approval of each item by the board. Second, we now have two meetings annually for all groups such as the PTA who give to our schools or are associated with the schools to outline our procedures to them and answer any questions they might have. We've already had one such meeting (February 4) and the next is on June 10, 2008." Tom confirmed that the district no longer allows district employees to accept cash donations from groups; instead, those monies are deposited directly with the business office and receipts are issued on the spot. |
| The Club at StoneRidge -- site of USD 428's recent education foundation fund raiser, a golf tournament. |
| SEX IN OUR SCHOOLS Is Hillsborough, FL supe Mary Ellen Elia unlucky -- or should she be fired? Hats off to Bill O'Reilly, with a question By Peyton Wolcott Thursday, May 15, 2008 - 5:00 a.m. Updated Friday, May 16, 2008 - 12:07 a.m. |
| Bill O'Reilly |
| Mary Ellen Elia with (clockwise from top left) Jaymee Wallace, Stephanie Ragusa, Mary Jo Spack, Christina Butler and Debra Lafave |
| What are the odds that a single Florida school district with 192,000 students would have five of its female teachers arrested for having sex with underage students within the past few years? |
| Fox News host Bill O'Reilly said on air earlier this week that Ms. Elia should be fired. Strong words coming from a TV host with Zencore for a sponsor. |
| HILLSBOROUGH 5 ARREST TIME LINE March 20, 2008 - Mary Jo Spack, a 45-year-old honors English teacher, accused of having sex with a 17-year-old boy after buying liquor and bringing him to a motel. March 13, 2008 - Stephanie Ragusa, a 28-year-old math teacher, arrested and accused of having sex with a 14-year-old boy. Oct. 23, 2007 - Christina Butler, a 33-year-old special education teacher at Middleton High School in Tampa, arrested, accused of having sex up to a dozen times with a 16-year-old boy. Oct. 8, 2007 - Former Wharton High School teacher and coach Jaymee Wallace pleaded guilty to having a sexual relationship with a student who played on her girls basketball team. Wallace is scheduled to be sentenced today in Hillsborough Circuit Court. She previously rejected prosecutors' plea offer of three years in prison. November 2005 - Former Greco Middle School teacher Debra Lafave was sentenced to three years of house arrest and seven years of probation after pleading guilty in 2005 to having sex with a 14-year-old boy. (SOURCE--Rebecca Catalanello, St. Petersburg Times) |
| And what was Ms. Elia's reaction to news of one of the recent arrests? Mario Diaz of Tampa Bay 10 reported recently that "Superinten- dent Mary Ellen Elia was shocked when we first showed her the arrest report." Question for Bill: If you're going to decry the moral climate in America's schools, can't you get better sponsors than one selling sex aids? |
| Duncan's decision to put SBISD's check register online came at a pivotal time at the beginnings of the online check register movement, in November 2006. Spring Branch ISD was the first large suburban district to publicly announce that it was coming online. _____________________ (Posted 05.21.08) |
| PIONEERS |
| Robert Scott Commissioner of Education - Texas |
| When Robert Scott put the Texas Education Agency's check register online in February 2007, TEA became the first state DOE to do so in the U.S.; to the best of my knowledge it is still the only state DOE in the country to list all checks. Pointing out that increased transparency was Governor Rick Perry's initiative, Robert adds, "We at TEA wholeheartedly agree." |
| Terry Bradley Superintendent, Clovis USD (CA) |
| Duncan Klussmann Superintendent, Spring Branch ISD (TX) |
| Clovis USD, just north of Fresno in California's fertile San Joaquin Valley farming region, may have been the first school district in the nation to put its entire check register online -- a natural next step, according to a district spokesman, as part of its move to a paperless board packet. |
| IOWA Supe's 2 DUI's What do you tell his students? By Peyton Wolcott Thursday, May 22, 2008 - 12:07 a.m. |
| Marty Lucas |
| Top (L to R): Chaplains Clark V. Poling, John P. Washington; Bottom (L to R) George L. Fox, Alexander D. Goode |
| Did our nation's IB schoolchildren study these four WWII heroes this week? By Peyton Wolcott Saturday, May 24, 2008 - 6: 40 p.m. |
| The Four Chaplains |
| These four brave warrior chaplains gave their lives aboard their troop ship the USAT Dorchester which was transporting American soldiers to Europe on February 3, 1943 off the coast of Newfoundland after their troop ship was torpedoed by the Nazis. Their courageous stories including giving away their life jackets here and here. |
| It is not likely that any of our American schoolchildren in the 890 International Baccalaureate schools here in the U.S. studied the Four Chaplains in any of their IB classes this past week. Instead, as Allen Quist points out, the IB kids more likely learned that the United States is an imperialist country and that its actions were "compared to Japan during World War II." |
| Bettendorf school super- intendent still on the job WQAD Updated: May 20, 2008 |
| Bettendorf, IOWA-- Nearly three months after a second drunk driving charge, Bettendorf School Board superintendent Marty Lucas is still on the job. Deputies arrested Lucas in February after a crash in Benton County. At the time of his arrest, records show a blood alcohol level well over the legal limit. Lucas pleaded not guilty but until a jury agrees, it leaves the school board with a dilemma. The school board reviewed police records from the arresting officer on Monday evening and completed its investigation. The board will review its findings with Lucas this week. The district's attorney, Cameron Davidson, says the board will make a public statement before the superintendent's pre-trial conference. If the board decides to take any disciplinary action against superintendent Lucas, it will be revealed publicly at a school board meeting. "The school board met in closed session this evening to review the incident regarding Mr. Lucas. The board has completed its investigation. We expect to have a public comment sometime in the near future after reviewing the matter with Mr. Lucas," Davidson said. Davidson says the board will make their decision before the superintendent's pre-trial conference which is May 29th. Court records show that Lucas received a year's probation for an earlier drunk driving arrest in 1999. |
| How many DUI do-overs should our top administrators get? By Peyton Wolcott - Tues. May 27, 2008 Updated Sun., June 15, 2008/5:00 p.m. |
| We live in a generous nation; as a people we are quick to grant second and third--and more--fresh starts to folks who want them. After all, many of our |
| forebearers came to America seeking a new life. |
| Should our public school superinten- dents be in a different category? |
Developing. . . |
y o u r q u e s t i o n s
| School News Links Commentaries Reviews: 2007 2006 |
| Edu-Monopoly (Bohuchot..Coleman) Education, Inc. ERDI Technology TX supe travel/meals Credit cards Edu-Conferences TASA MidWinter Vendor golf 1 2 3 |
| Ask questions Set goals/organize Check registers Board pledges Curriculum Angry victim? Watchdog? Activist Alert PR |
| Joseph M. Vigil |
| Wayne Gerke |
| Rebecca Perry, Marty Lucas |
| Adrain Johnson |
September 2008 Commentaries
| Retired PA superintendent's salary: $0.00 |
| At a time when increasing numbers of public school administrators retire, then begin collecting generous taxpayer-funded pensions, then immediately double-dip, earning top- dollar second salaries while still collecting the pension -- at such a time as this M. Joseph Brady in Minersville, Pennsylvania's lowest-paid superinten- dent (salary $0.00), offers by example a ray of hope: |
| Minersville Area superin- tendent M. Joseph Brady doesn’t get a paycheck anymore. The lowest-paid superintendent in Pennsylvania is among a shrinking number of administrators who don’t jump to other districts seeking higher compensation. “We had plans for a business manager,” Brady said while passing an empty office near his desk. “Down the road.” He also serves as the business manager for the Schuylkill County district. Brady, 79, works for no salary. He officially retired in 2002 and started taking his state pension. He mostly works for the cost of his health insurance. Without a business manager, Brady is on his own when recommending that his school board raise taxes. “Since I have to raise the taxes, I figured that I would help lessen the burden that’s passed on,” Brady said. “I wanted to give something back before I go.” (SOURCE--Jay M. Young/Altoona Mirror) |
| M. Joseph Brady (PHOTO--Jason Sipes/Altoona Mirror) |
| For selfless service to his community, hats off to Joseph Brady. God bless you, sir. |
| Chris Morrow |
| Texas school districts to have voluntarily posted its check register online (you'll see them listed at far left on the U.S. roster) but also they have no credit cards for administrators, plus BISD takes exceptional care of the two merchant cards the district owns. But that's not the whole story. In a recent interview BISD superinten- dent John Hardwick quoted educator John Dewey, "'What the best and wisest parent wants for his own child, that must the community want for all of its children.' That's what we do here in Beeville," he says. "In celebrating our students and their day-to- day learning in the classroom with the same passion as the best and wisest of parents, we work on a daily basis to build trust with our parents and families. A component of building that trust is our financial transparency." |
| Beeville ISD (TX) Internal Controls |
| John Hardwick |
| Beeville ISD appears to have a firm grip on trans- parency. Not only is BISD among the first 20% of |
| Further addressing both trust and trans- parency, long-time community leader Gwen DeWitt, who helped the district pass its recent $12 million bond election, said, "Our hard-earned tax dollars fund the public school system and the only way for the public to accurately hold the schools accountable is to be aware of how funds are used. It is our desire to provide a quality education for our youth. It is appreciated when a school system makes every effort to provide financial transpar- ency and subsequent accountability to the taxpay- rs and parents. Beeville ISD provides this transpar- ency and accountability on a continuous basis." Hats off, Beeville ISD! (Posted June 24, 2008) |
| Regarding the two merchant cards, access is carefully monitored and the cards are kept in BISD's business office. "Anybody wanting to use one has to submit a purchase order first and it must be approved for that specific purchase and amount, then the card is returned immediately with the receipt," says CFO Linda O'Connell . "The few times anyone forgets, we go ask them for it by the end of the day." She adds, "It's the taxpayers' money." |
| Linda O'Connell |
| Beeville ISD administration building |
ERDI supe Alton Frailey v. public freedoms
| What was Alton Frailey thinking? By Peyton Wolcott Tuesday, June 24, 2008 - 3:52 p.m. |
| What could have been going through this veteran respected Katy ISD superinten- dent's mind when he included limiting his community's access to information regard- ing how he's spending their tax dollars and educating their schoolchildren on the agenda for last night's board meeting? |
| Alton Frailey |
| Surprising that he'd consider this, given that they made such strides last year by voluntarily posting the district's check register online, but here's the agenda item: |
| AGENDA - REGULAR BOARD MEETING KATY INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT / BOARD OF TRUSTEES EDUCATION SUPPORT COMPLEX BOARD ROOM/6301 SOUTH STADIUM LANE KATY, TEXAS MONDAY, JUNE 23, 2008 IX. Action 2. Consider Board approval of the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) Advocacy Resolutions. |
| Oh, you don't see the reported 18 TASB resolutions on Katy ISD's board agenda above? Oops! Neither could I. Somehow they weren't included in the agenda supplied to the public. Look for yourself here (scroll down to "Regular Meeting" on the right, then "June 23, 2008"). Well, we can all be thankful that Helen Eriksen and Jennifer Ratcliffe were on hand to tell us about it in this morning's Houston Chronicle: |
| The Katy school board on Monday backed off a plan to propose a law requiring those who want access to public records to first explain why the information's release would benefit the community. Katy officials say they're trying to stymie a flood of what they consider frivolous requests for open records. To that end, the school board intended to ask the Texas Association of School Boards to push for a new law to make information requestors justify themselves. But they canceled the vote just a few hours before the meeting because administrators said they don't want school board members to be criticized as being anti-open government. "I don't want our board to be conflicted and misconstrued and misrepresented as trying to thwart public information," superintendent Alton Frailey said. "I don't want this on the backs of the Katy board alone. I'm not wanting to carry the water, but I have put the bucket in the well." A draft of Katy's proposed resolution reads: "There is a growing trend where private citizens use provisions of this act to retaliate, harass and hold hostage the public school district when there clearly is no public interest being served." In May, Frailey told the school board that Katy was being terrorized by [493] public information requests. |
| Owning up to it here Friends, at least one of those 493 requests may have been considered by Alton to have been from me. Let's back up. Even though I don't live in Katy ISD, according to TEA's most recent PEIMS actual financials for KISD, the district received $17.4 million in federal funds for the most recently reported period, and as a federal taxpayer this gives me a lively interest in where Alton was on Friday afternoon, April 18 -- the first day of the TAS/MUS spring conference at Horseshoe Bay Resort. |
| First They Came First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out -- because I was not a communist; Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out -- because I was not a socialist; Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out -- because I was not a trade unionist; Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out --because I was not a Jew; Then they came for me -- and there was no one left to speak out for me. -- Pastor Martin Niemoeller |
| Given that Alton is a TAS/MUS director, it seemed likely that he might have been golfing with the other administrators and vendors on some of Texas' finest links. But was he doing so -- if he was doing so -- at taxpayer expense? Sorry, Alton and his PR staff have not yet answered phone and email queries so you'll have to file a public records request to find out. Here's a friendly idea. Make it easier for them: Mark your request "Public Information Request #494." In the meantime, our friends in print didn't speak out very loudly last year when TASA/TASB made newspapers exempt from the onerous fees HB 2564 imposed on parents and taxpayers for public records. Here's hoping this new move by TASA/TASB will encourage the press association to speak up during this next Lege. |
| Texas superintendents golfing with vendors at Horseshoe Bay Resort on Friday, April 18, 2008 |
Two ERDI-tied execs' exits announced same
week in July 2008: Billy Cannady (VA DOE);
Hector Montenegro (TX) from Arlington ISD.
week in July 2008: Billy Cannady (VA DOE);
Hector Montenegro (TX) from Arlington ISD.
| Fr. Greg Boyle, SJ Homeboy Industries/CA Working to end the school-to-prison pipeline |
| Los Angeles USD has failed to educate its poorest students about as spectac- ularly in its degree of failure as any district in the country. And for the past 20 years Father Greg Boyle, SJ has worked selflessly and tirelessly to do something about that failure through a nonprofit he founded, Homeboy Industries. |
| Homeboy Industries "has had an important impact on the Los Angeles gang problem, with young people from over half of the region’s 1,100 known gangs seeking a way out through Homeboy. Thou- sands of young people have walked through the doors of Homeboy Indus- tries looking for a second chance, and finding com- munity. Gang affiliations are left outside as these young people work together, side by side, learning the mutual respect that comes from shared tasks and challenges." Happy 20th birthday, Father Greg & Homeboys! |
BILL HARRISON: Cumberland schools
foundation executive claims her boss the
supe's ERDI award is proof of his leadership
ability.
foundation executive claims her boss the
supe's ERDI award is proof of his leadership
ability.
| Gloria from Luling on sidewalk outside Walsh Anderson party at Austin's Iron Cactus with unnamed man who was shy about revealing his name (TASA Mid Winter, 2007 ) |
| ERDI supes in the news |
HECTOR MONTENEGRO: Arlington asks
HOPE for info, wants $240,000 back; hats
off to the AISD board! Dallas News says
new law was Hector's undoing:
HOPE for info, wants $240,000 back; hats
off to the AISD board! Dallas News says
new law was Hector's undoing:
| All that plane-hopping might have flown with his school board had he not run afoul of a new, tougher state law that forbids superintendents to take money – including speaking fees – from groups and companies that do business with their districts. |
CONNIE NEALE's Elgin, Illinois "rich" pay,
$100,000 more annually than comps
....community outrage over $750,000 buyout;
look at timeline re her unnamed 'illness,'
negotiations, timing of her Missouri house
purchase.
$100,000 more annually than comps
....community outrage over $750,000 buyout;
look at timeline re her unnamed 'illness,'
negotiations, timing of her Missouri house
purchase.
KEN BURNLEY: Detroit PS trustees: Where's
$1.6 mil in art he and William Coleman bought
from Sherry Washington Gallery; is it lost?
DPS is as of Fall 2008 $408 million in the hole
and they can't provide an inventory of the art.
09.21.08 UPDATE: I'm emailing Ken this
morning to ask him if he recalls the names
and/or locations of any of the art he bought.
$1.6 mil in art he and William Coleman bought
from Sherry Washington Gallery; is it lost?
DPS is as of Fall 2008 $408 million in the hole
and they can't provide an inventory of the art.
09.21.08 UPDATE: I'm emailing Ken this
morning to ask him if he recalls the names
and/or locations of any of the art he bought.
CAROL JOHNSON: Memphis schools
scandal follows her to Boston -- along with
FBI?
scandal follows her to Boston -- along with
FBI?
GEORGE GARCIA: Retired as Boulder supe
after HS sex'n'drugs panel leads to Bill
O'Reilly (Fox News) reporter on his doorstep.
after HS sex'n'drugs panel leads to Bill
O'Reilly (Fox News) reporter on his doorstep.
JOSEPH WISE: Edu-hopskotch up and
down the East Cost, from Disney to
Christina in Delaware to Duval in Florida
to edu-vendor Edison Schools in Feb.
2008.
down the East Cost, from Disney to
Christina in Delaware to Duval in Florida
to edu-vendor Edison Schools in Feb.
2008.
| Soghra Najafpour (L) was sentenced to death at age 13 for the first time in Iran; she's now 31 -- more here. Did principal Robin E. Lowe (L) mention Soghra during her 'Islam 101' day May 22 at Friendswood JH? Will she mention Soghra at her new gig running Houston ISD's Pershing MS? Wouldn't that be a step towards "raising [her students'] awareness of the culture" -- of the true culture -- in Iran? That perhaps Robin's invited speakers from CAIR might have forgotten to mention? Oops? |
IRAN: Execution Danger Alert
| More School News Quick Links here |
| The American Superintendent (Leonard Merrell) as Allan Ramsay's King George III (Mixed-media collage by Peyton Wolcott, Copyright 2008) |
Wolcott
Peyton
| Here's the thing, friends: Trustees who enjoy any kind of revenue stream at all from our school districts, whether they themselves are district vendors or they work as subcontractors for district vendors or their spouses or other family members are employed at the district or by district vendors, such school board members are not in a position to hold their superintendents accountable. The trustees have allowed themselves to become compromised. If employment isn't the issue, the compromising incident might be something as seemingly innocuous as school board members accepting their superintendents' offer of district credit cards, or luxury travel to in-state or out-of-state conferences, or even luxe meals. |
| August 2008 commentaries here |
| Partners in Education at Mount Zion High 2007 - 2008 ~ Partners in Education Gail Buckner, State Representative Arby’s - Mt. Zion Chic’n D’Lite Buffalo’s Southwest Café at Stockbridge Chili’s Grill and Bar CiCi’s Pizza - Stockbridge Waffle House Truett's Grill Il Forno ~ New York Pizza & Pasta Atlanta Coca-Cola Bottling Company Community Capital Bank Baisden & Associates daVIDO’s Pizza Kaiser Permanente Outback Steakhouse Primerica Financial Services Washington Mutual Bank |
| Morrow HS Thought of the Week ----------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- "I visualized where I wanted to be, what kind of player I want to become. I knew exactly were I wanted to go, and I focused on getting there." -Michael Jordan Upcoming Events ----------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- August 16 Varsity FB (Home) Mustangs Vs. Spalding August 18 Senior Meeting Following Homeroom Senior Parent Meeting @ 6pm Cafeteria August 26 Teacher-Issued Progress Reports August 27 Parent Teacher Conferences 3:15 - 4:00pm Cafeteria August 30 Varsity FB (Home) Mustangs Vs. Jonesboro 7:30pm Twelve Oak |
| NORTH CLAYTON HS THEY ALSO HAVE INTL BAC Mission Statement The Mission of North Clayton High School, in partnership with the community, is to ensure high student achievement, facilitate character development and provide opportunities for leadership development through parental involvement, effective teaching and student mastery of the Georgia Performance Standards. --------------------------------------- --------------------------------------- -- Vision All students will learn and will emerge from North Clayton High School as life long learners and as productive members of a global society. --------------------------------------- --------------------------------------- -- |
| Clayton County Schools Performing Arts Center ($7.5 million) |
| MIAMI-DADE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS (FL) Friends, here's solid proof the winds of change are blowing through Miami By Peyton Wolcott Thursday, September 4, 2008/1:27 a.m. - Updated Thursday, September 4, 2008/10:18 p.m. |
| THE SCHOOL BOARD OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA - Miami, Florida OFFICIAL AGENDA SEPTEMBER 4, 2008 SPECIAL BOARD MEETING 11:00 A.M. School Board Administration Building Auditorium PURPOSE: To discuss the Independent Budget Reviewer. This Special Meeting conducted by The School Board of Miami-Dade County, Florida, is provided in accordance with Section 1001.372, Florida Statutes. An agenda will be available by 11:00 a.m., Tuesday, September 2, 2008. A citizen wishing to speak to the agenda should submit a written request to the Superintendent of Schools, Room 158, 1450 N.E. Second Avenue, Miami, Florida 33132, by noon on Wednesday, September 3, 2008. For further information, telephone Citizen Information Center 305-995-1128. 11:00 A.M. CALL TO ORDER PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE MOMENT OF SILENT MEDITATION |
| The solid proof that the winds of change are blowing through Miami may not look like much at first glance. There are no flashing stadium lights, no bullhorns, no sirens. When you look at the agenda for today's special called board meeting (below this funny cartoon from the Nuevo Herald), you're going to have to imagine that the flashing lights, bullhorns and sirens are there. Because in the greater sense, you can be sure they are. |
| SP-2 SELECTION OF SPECIAL COUNSEL TO PROVIDE LEGAL OPINION ON SCHOOL BOARD ATTORNEY'S AND SUPERINTEN- DENT'S CONTRACT OF EMPLOYMENT (good cause) ACTION PROPOSED BY MR. AGUSTIN J. BARRERA, CHAIR: That The School Board of Miami-Dade County, Florida: 1. Receive the names of the attorneys who submitted their resumes and documentation; 2. Discuss and review the resumes from the four attorneys that applied and select the one that will provide the specific legal opinion, establish the hourly rate and contract amount; or 3. Establish a timetable for the selection of the attorney that shall provide a legal opinion. |
| SP-1 AWARD BID NO. 010-JJ10 INDEPENDENT BUDGET REVIEWER RECOMMENDED: That The School Board of Miami-Dade County, Florida, AWARD Bid No. 010-JJ10/ INDEPENDENT BUDGET REVIEWER, to provide recommendations to The School Board of Miami-Dade County, Florida, regarding its budget, during the term of the bid, effective September 4, 2008, through December 9, 2008, with an option to extend for an additional ninety-day (90) period, if necessary, as follows: 1. RODRIGUEZ, TRUEBA & COMPANY, C.P.A., P.A. 1985 N.W. 88 COURT, SUITE 101 DORAL, FL 331 72 OWNER: MARIANO J. RODRIGUEZ, PRESIDENT 2. Authorize Procurement Management Services to purchase up to the total estimated amount of $36,000. |
| This cartoon sums up so much. It makes powerful fun of Miami superintendent Rudy Crew, at right, barely holding on to his desk in the face of the winds of change blowing in through the door opened by trustee Renier Diaz de la Portilla (L) when he called for Rudy's ouster last month (you'll recall Rudy held on by one vote); that's new trustee Larry Feldman (C) in the eye of the storm. This cartoon was published not in the Miami Herald, to which Rudy paid $2 million in the past few years for advertising, but in its Spanish-language sister, the Nuevo Herald, housed in the same building and with the same owner. |
| The fact that this special called meeting is occurring at all today tells us how far this district's leadership has |
| come this past year. Where just last year trustee Marta Perez had to take her employee, superintendent Rudy Crew, to court to learn how much he was paying district administrators, since Marta persuaded her board to put Miami's check register online in January, where before Marta been one vote out of nine, there have been more votes, more questions about Rudy's financial acumen and overall leadership abilities, this in the face of his being named American Ass'n of School Administrators superintendent of the year in January. The first agenda item today, an independent budget reviewer WHO REPORTS TO THE BOARD, is significant because the board didn't receive a significant budget until this past week, just before school started -- after Rudy had no-showed at called budget meetings; the district finds itself $88 million in the hole. Rudy's spending decisions appear to have been capricious. There was enough money for his own raise and apparently unlimited travel and other perqs, but no money for promised teacher raises, plus 70 P.E. teachers received programmed telephone calls two days before the start of school telling them they had no jobs. There was no money for administrative costs to give Perez administrative spending info (what couldn that have been, thirty cents?), but there was a six-figure amount available for board member Evelyn Greer's pet project, affordable housing, which is also her family business. An independent budget reviewer is the Miami board's next significant step after the check registers went online towards the board's exercising its fiduciary duty of care as regards district finances. The second item, a legal opinion to the board on Rudy's contract and the school board attorney he hired for them -- who still hasn't bought that home in Miami -- is a double whammy. A discussion of Rudy's contract? Good cause, indeed. |
| Godspeed to Miami's school board today. Remember to look for the sirens and bullhorns and flashing lights, y'all. |
| Rudy |
| MIAMI-DADE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS (FL) - NY - TX Winds of change in Alaska, Texas, NY, Miami: Breathtaking -- and very encouraging By Peyton Wolcott - Sunday, September 7, 2008/1:14 a.m. - Updated Monday, September 8, 2008 / 12:43 a.m. |
| Hector Montenegro (L) at January 2008 TALAS reception (PHOTO--Peyton Wolcott) |
| Its obvious that the board members voting against crew were in the right and had the districts best interest in mind. They were called everything under the sun and were insulted directly and indirectly. Crew sup- ports even sued racial and ethnic overtones to suppres views critical of crew. Now it seems the joke is on them and Crew really is truly responsible for mismanagment! funny how your disrespect of the Dollar Principal ended up putting your head on the chopping block an incompetent egotistical chubby-cheeked bully If this was a corporation this guy and his entire accounting staff would have been gone long ago this egomaniac who is so full of himself that he has placed this school system in total and complete jeopardy and chaos! He's lied, he's tried to manipulate the board and the public Crew's attitude and mismanagement is reminiscent of carpetbagger Florida politics during Reconstruction |
| In Miami, it's all over but the counting -- of the size of the check for superintendent Rudy Crew's departure. On the heels of last week's special called board meeting, another one is set for today, to discuss a possible buyout of superintendent Rudy Crew's contract. |
| prison) made off, along with family and associates, with $11.2 million. Attorney Leonard Pugatch, a Roslyn resident, told Newsday this past week that he recognized some of the names of the attorneys prosecuted thus far. "That practice shocks my conscience," he said. "People taking advantage of the school system's lack of, I guess, careful oversight of what they're doing with our money." Cuomo is asking for felony laws. |
| Andrew Cuomo (PHOTO--Times Union) |
| Miami-Dade superintendent Rudy Crew (2nd L) receiving scholarship check for a student of his choice from Miami-Dade vendor Aramark at AASA convention in Tampa, Florida, January 2008. (PHOTO--AASA) |
| Can you recall any other Ameri- can Association of School Administrators "Superintendent of the Year" -- this was the title awarded Rudy in at the annual meeting of "the Lodge" in Tampa in January -- being gotten rid of by their board the same year in which they were named? Neither can I. In the past, conveyance of such a title seemed to cloak its recipients with an aura of automatic protection if not invincibility during at least the year of the |
| the Rodney Dangerfield of education Its scary to think he could have a role in Washington. an over-rated egomaniac that New York City had the good sense to send packing He does as he pleases and do not question him or he will bite you like the dog he is How many districts have sent you packing after your bloated ego, waistline, budgets and statistics based BS about your success have come up short in the light of day? New York, Tacoma, Miami? Am I missing one? Please send this old scoundral and his rascaleons to their next suckers Crew has done a horrible job of spending our tax payers dollars. Just imagine what he would do if he was given the position of secretary of education. My god that scares the hell outta me. He has fostered waste across the district why with his lousy record this guy was employed? |
| The appearance of self-dealing practices by Miami board chair Gus Barrera and other trustees must stop. As professor Constantine Konstans of The University of Texas told the Dallas ISD school board -- faced with similar issues -- last month, even "to disclose conflicts of interest is not enough." (SOURCE--Lori Stahl/Dallas Morning News) |
| Ofelia San Pedro 2005 Broad grad |
| "employees" while continuing their private practices in which they worked for other clients and charged districts fees over the past dozen years are being stripped of their pension benefits as part of state attorney general Andrew Cuomo's school ethics mop up, an effort which began with former New York comptroller Alan Hevesi in reaction to the Roslyn school scandal in which then-supe Frank Tassone and business manager Pam Gluckin (both now in |
| Lawrence Reich |
| award. No more, my friends. This is how quickly the luster is fading from the American superintendency in the cold clear light of financial transparency made possible by the Internet, for which I always say, "Thank God and Al Gore." (Remember, Al invented it, along with so-called global warming and possibly Twinkies.) |
| increasingly liberal political slant, as confirmed by The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza's headline in July, "How Matt Drudge Rules the (Political) World," the admission stunning for the newspaper which had once dominated national politics. Given that in most counties in America the local school district is the single largest budget and employer, it's surprising that so often fluff pieces from school district PR machines are reprinted as news with little or no investigation or verification that the facts are true or complete. Have you ever wondered, by the way, given the dollars involved, why school news isn't in the business section? |
| Part of the encouraging winds of change is that citizens are no longer dependent solely on their local newspaper editors for substantive news about their public schools. (Forget TV; as one reporter told us years ago, she only wanted "scandals.") As our friends in the newspaper business scramble to stay alive, more are offering both community feed- back forums, a few featuring online videos of school news such as the Newsday link above (the private Long Island attorneys' school pensions) |
| This is personal: I really and truly love everything about a newspaper -- especially over a morning cup of coffee -- in a way I will never love my laptop. But like more and more citizens I have not loved newspapers' |
| In the meanwhile, aside from a few Rudy supporters, the tenor of reader comments in the local press has grown increasingly anti-Crew. When a superintendent has lost the support of his blogosphere, it's time for him or her to move on. We saw this with Hector Montenegro earlier this year, and now with Crew. Too often superintendents have tried to counter real public opinion of their job performance by importing phalanxes of PR professionals, Hector and Rudy no exception. Yet, in the end, no matter how much money is poured into PR -- including Rudy's $2 million to the Miami Herald -- people will be heard and listened to. Here's a sampling from the Herald: |
| Lately, when changes have occurred in public education, the speed has often been stunning. We had decades and decades of school finance being a closed book; school costs went up while enrollment numbers and quality of education went down. Superintendents seemed to forget that it was our money and our children that we'd entrusted to them. When some of us started asking for financials, they showed us pie charts and the Taj Mahal high schools and natatoriums they'd built. |
| Then in February 2007 Texas' now-Commissioner of Education (then deputy) Robert Scott, an early advocate of transparency, posted our state DOE's check register online, first, ahead of any other state. A few months later, state representative Scott Hochberg succeeded in getting his HB 189 passed, which put a muzzle on superinten- dents' honorariums from vendors. And exactly a year later Alaska's governor put her state DOE's check register online, which is when I learned who Sarah Palin was. You can see Alaska at the far left on my national roster. |
| Sarah Palin (PHOTO--D.Todercan) |
| Robert Scott |
| Scott Hochberg |
| the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, is already out of a job and presumably looking for his next pay- check, but without the now-customary six-figure buyout of the 2 1/2 years left on his AISD employ- ment contract, thanks to HB 189, and despite Hector's holding a national office (president of the Association of Latino Superintendents and |
| and The Oklahoman early this year with its coverage of gone-in-the-blink-of-an-eye superintendent John Q. Porter. And of course there are many new independent websites, many answering local needs, some such as this one providing a national lens and stated perspective. |
| Rudy Crew, Miami schools & the Miami Herald's ombudsman In yesterday's Miami Herald ombudsman Edward Schumacher-Matos appeared to apologize for the Herald's reporting on Rudy and the schools this past year -- without mentioning that Rudy has paid the Herald $2+ million at a time when the paper's just cut staff by 17%. The $2 million figure is difficult to verify because Ofelia San Pedro's staff has removed 2006 and older 2007 checks from |
| Ofelia San Pedro with Rudy Crew, August 2008 |
| employee expense accounts." Memo to the Herald: Rudy should have had employees in place -- especially given the many layers of administrators he's added -- who DO check whether the board's attorney actually bought a house within the school district after accepting a cash allotment for such a move. Schumacher also mentions board chair Gus Barrera -- but doesn't mention Mrs. Barrera's recent promotion from school social worker to assistant principal, at Glades Middle School near the Barrera manse. Speaking of which, Schumacher also doesn't mention that Gus used a district vendor for the recent remodeling of his home; this was however reported by Francisco Alvarado in The Miami New Times, which has not received $2 million from Rudy. |
| M-DCPS executive Allina Gallego (Mrs. Gus Barrera) |
| Rudy's departure represents a great opportunity for Miami-Dade schools to clean up their act, starting with the board. No deals with vendors, no nepotistm. Now that's a breathtaking idea. |
| Clayton County School District board meeting (top photo/ABC); four elected trustees removed last week by Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue |
I grew up in the south and
readily saw the school
system as capable but
always having a taste of
corruption. They hire friends
of the board or friends of the
teachers. The construction
projects always have some
friend of the board involved
and one can only suspect
that payoff's occur with each
project. Most don't know a
thing about ethics and just
look the other way. If you even
discuss ethics with a board
member....they look at
you....as if you were foolish.
http://ripleyporch.blogspot.co
m/2008/08/clayton-county-geo
rgia-continuing.html
readily saw the school
system as capable but
always having a taste of
corruption. They hire friends
of the board or friends of the
teachers. The construction
projects always have some
friend of the board involved
and one can only suspect
that payoff's occur with each
project. Most don't know a
thing about ethics and just
look the other way. If you even
discuss ethics with a board
member....they look at
you....as if you were foolish.
http://ripleyporch.blogspot.co
m/2008/08/clayton-county-geo
rgia-continuing.html
| Big piles of money What Dallas News editor Scott Parks calls "big piles of money" attracts folks who want some. Sometimes it's contractors who encourage bond elections to build more Taj Mahals, and other times it's vendors of goods and services, everything and everybody from lawyers to a variety of consultants (financial, energy, curriculum) and education-related corporations. |
| What's so troubling about Clayton County, Georgia is that on the surface everything still looks so normal. It could be Anywhere, U.S.A. Clayton could be your town. Everything's fine, then suddenly housing plummets by ________ and your school district loses its accreditation. Mt. Zion High School has Partners in Education |
| More than 200 New York private attorneys such as Lawrence Reich who had asked to be put on Long Island-area school and other public district payrolls as |
| CREDENTIALS ALERT Attention: All U.S. school boards, parents & taxpayers By Peyton Wolcott - Monday, September 8, 2008 / 7:03 a.m. |
| What a surprise to Emeryville, California's school board to learn last Tuesday from Nanette Asimov in the San Francisco Chronicle that the search firm -- the California School Boards Association, no less -- they'd hired to find their new $150,000 a year superintendent had not fully vetted the resume of their new hire, Dr. Stephen J. Wesley. Wesley resigned the next day, then showed up, contrite, at Thursday's school board meeting to offer an apology of sorts to Emeryville residents along the lines of, "for failing to be factual, " and "for not being truthful," and "for being stupid and selfish" -- without actually saying the most important words, "I lied to you." And he still hasn't admitted to his trail of similar incidents in Pennsylvania. Turns out the man who insisted that he be called "Dr." isn't. Earlier last week -- after first refusing to answer reporter's queries then stating it wasn't their job to vet all credentials as part of their $7,000 fee, CSBA has now announced they will start verifying creds. Wondering now if this has been standard practice in all 50 states with all firms, to not vet. |
| Emeryville's ex-superintendent apologizes; Stephen Wesley (R) talks with Emery USD assistant superintendent Joe Frantz. (PHOTO--Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle) |
| If you're shopping for a new superintendent--or have just hired one--have you asked whether your search firm vetted each & every education and employment credential on your finalists' resumes? |
| Sept. 10, 2008 UPDATE: Asking questions re recent hires. |
| DEFICITS: DETROIT PS (MI) - MIAMI-DADE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS (FL) - DALLAS ISD (TX) Three big districts, three big deficits, shaky superintendencies, lots more in common: Detroit Public Schools $ 408 million Miami-Dade County Public Schools $ 88 million Dallas Independent School District $ 64 million By Peyton Wolcott - Wednesday, September 10, 2008/6:31 p.m. - Updated Friday, September 12, 2008/11:08 a.m. |
| What size buyouts will Mike and Connie want? Rudy's already named his price: $368,000. Such a price for work not done comes at the expense of the schoolchildren on whose behalf he's told us he's been working. Such a price also comes at the expense of the taxpayers who have funded his extensive travel while at the helm of Miami schools; surely Rudy's many trips over the past few years gave him an opportunity to land another job. Whether it's fellow Broad associate Arlene Acker- man's $375,000-plus buyout from San Francisco USD, or the $741,000 Keansburg, New Jersey supe Barbara Trzeszkowski was set to receive in severance and unused sick and vacation time (until disgruntled taxpayers protested and the state stepped in), the skyrock- eting amounts of superintendents' contract buyouts are prompting increasing citizen and taxpayer questions and ire. (NOTE TO AASA: Surely you guys are taking note. Six-figure superintendent buyouts have got to stop; just because you can doesn't mean you should.) Time for tighter trustee ethics Big whoop, right? For the trustees in the three districts we've been discussing, I realize this may be about as appealing a prospect as welcoming a 32-man forensic audit team to your schools. I wish we could dress it up with pretty ribbons and pearls and flashing lights to make it more enticing. I wish we could give you each thousands of dollars (or millions as in the case of Jack Lowe) to replace any revenue you might lose. I wish most of all that each and every one of you will want to tighten your local district's board ethics and forego all dollars and family employment and meals and travel from your schools and begin to do your jobs as elected officials because you genuinely, with no element of self-benefit of any kind other than your community's gratitude, want to serve your schoolchildren and parents and taxpayers and teachers because it's the right thing to do, and because on 9/11 and 9/12 and every other day of the year you're grateful to be a citizen of the United States of America. |
| Detroit, Michigan supe Connie Calloway (L); Miami, Florida's recent supe RudyCrew |
| After national security at home and abroad, there is no more urgent crisis facing the United States today than making sure our public schools remain strong, free and locally run. To do this, they're going to have to stop wasting money and learn to better educate our schoolchildren for fewer dollars. Trustee ethics All three school districts named above share one unfortunate common thread: school board members who are doing |
| business in one way or another with their districts or who are otherwise sufficiently challenged that discharge of their responsibilities is difficult. Such trustees are simply not going to be in a position to ask the tough questions they need to ask in order to hold their superintendents accountable. This is the only explanation for whopper deficits having recently caught three major U.S. asleep-at-the-wheel school boards by surprise. |
| Dallas ISD board president Jack Lowe (at left) is a good example. His superintendent Mike Hinojosa's revela- tion yesterday that Dallas schools had overspent by $64 million last year reportedly came as a surprise to Jack: |
| Dallas supe Mike Hinojosa (L), Dallas board president Jack Lowe |
| "I should have said, 'I'm not convinced yet, show me the numbers, prove it,' and I didn't," he said. "In hindsight, I wish that I had dug deeper. We have a great education plan, we made big strides, we just lost track of the finances. This is unacceptable. It's embarrassing." |
| Oh, gee. Might perhaps Jack have not dug deeper because he's also a district vendor? His day job is chair of his family's business, TD Industries, which has received at least $9 million from DISD since 2002. |
| Miami school board chair Gus Barrera's wife Alina Gallego was promoted earlier this year from school social worker to assistant principal (new pay $71,854) at Glades Middle School, closer to the couple's recently remodeled house, the remodeling done by Howard Diston, a full-time employee of district vendor Jasco Construction. Was Gus in a position to jeopardize his family's additional income not to mention the reno- vation on his $415,000 home by holding Rudy accountable? |
| Miami Schools exec Alina Gallego (L), her husband, Miami board chair Barrera |
| DPS home page 9.11.08 |
| No wonder Detroit Public Schools' $408 million deficit came as a surprise to Connie Calloway's school board; they can't even get Connie to provide them with an inventory of the $1.6 million in original art purchased by DPS from the Sherry Washington Gallery by Calloway's predeces- sors William Coleman and Ken Burnley. DPS board member Marie Thornton, one of the more active of the board members seeking accountability, may have been distracted currently by her upcoming court proceedings on charges of assaulting a |
| Sherry Washington (L), William Coleman |
| minister, Rev. Loyce Lester of The Original New Grace Baptist Church, after a school board meeting, the trial set for October 20, 2008 in Judge Paula Humphries' 36th district court in Detroit. Lester is a member of the Citizen Tax Board and chair of the Detroit Public Schools police oversight committee. |
| Commonalities among Detroit, Miami & Dallas Aside from all three being urban, other threads the three districts share are directly tied to lax board oversight: declining enroll- enrollments and widespread reports of nepotism (Mike |
| Marie Thornton(L), Rev. Loyce Lester |
| Hinojosa's friends the Viramontes are now both key DISD executives, and when William Coleman was at the helm in Detroit his wife Deborah Bodrick headed the DPS Early Childhood program). There have been massive infusions of unsupervised-by-anyone federal dollars including grants and eRate ($200 million to Dallas during 2006-2007, for example), connections to Eli Broad (one local wag has nicknamed Hinojosa's "Road to Broad" the "Road to Ruin"), credit card abuse ($78 million in the last three years of DISD's unsupervised procurement card program), large layers of administrative staff including PR professionals whose chief job appears to be to shore up the images of their bosses, and superintendents who were paid by Education Research & Development Institute ("ERDI") to consult with vendors. ERDI consultants include former Detroit supe Ken Burnley, former Dallas ISD supe Mike Moses, and former Miami supe Rudy Crew. * |
| Another common thread: The FBI In addition to the FBI's investigation of $500 million spent in Detroit on their failed student retention program ("Retain and Gain"), there's the Yachtgate trial recently ended in Dallas which tied together executives who had worked in both Detroit and Dallas: former supe William Coleman, former DISD tech director and later would-be Detroit tech vendor Ruben Bohuchot, plus former DISD tech vendor Frankie Wong. (More here) |
| The Sir Veza (Spanish for "beer") |
| * There may be more, but ERDI executives have declined to furnish further names. |
| "Let them eat cake" Another quality common to all three districts is a general perception that the folks at the top have become too removed from the common man and are primarily looking out for them- selves. An incredulous reporter called me from Dallas ISD yesterday moments after Mike Hinojosa had announced his district's $64 million overspend. "They're feeding an entire |
| roomful of people down the hall," she said. "How out of touch is that?" In Miami 2008 AASA supe of the year Rudy Crew recently refused to honor the teacher and staff raises he had earlier promised -- while insisting on receiving his own -- and yesterday collected a fat exit check for doing nothing, leading us to wonder whether his superintendency has been about the kids or whether it's really been about Rudy. Connie Calloway tools |
| Detroit Public Schools |
| around Detroit in a Town Car with a chauffeur -- at a time when her students and teachers are going without basics. And speak- ing of Detroit schools' artwork, look at the first and largest image that greeted me yesterday morning when I went to the DPS web- site: a poster for Ramadan on of all days, the seventh anniversa- ry of 9/11. Even though the Ramadan image fades to several others, none of them are of 9/11; in fact, there's no mention anywhere on the Detroit Public Schools home page of 9/11. |
| Next steps: Baby or big strides? As of Wednesday Rudy's officially out of a job, last night Connie was formally censured by her Detroit board following revelation of her negative job review, and folks in Dallas have begun -- often colorfully -- calling for Mike Hinojosa's ouster. While such steps as censure and firing may be well and good if that's what the populace in each city wants, until school board ethics are tightened in Miami, Detroit and Dallas, all three cities are going to continue to see iterations of too-familiar problems. |
| For example, Alberto Carvalho, the member of Rudy's cabinet who's already been offered his boss's job, appears to come with baggage; Carvalho claims 10+ pages of emails last year allegedly between him and a former Miami Herald reporter now at The Boston Globe have been doctored and are part of a smear campaign against him. How important a role is the Web playing? The Herald's cutline today reads, "Internet postings claiming that Alberto Carvalho, 44, and former Miami Herald education reporter Tania deLuzuriaga, 27, right, had an improper relationship continue to circulate on Friday." |
| Hinojosa might or might not leave Dallas, but so long as DISD trustees such as Jack Lowe are in place who are doing business with the school district, Dallas will continue to have more "oops" situations like the one yesterday afternoon in which Mike's announce- ment about his district's $64 million deficit did not include the words, "I have failed you. I did not perform my fiduciary duty of care as your chief executive in charge of this district's $1.7 billion annual flow-through of funds." A predictable number of other people's heads will roll, likely none of them Mike's. Only when trustees get serious about a tough ethics policy for themselves -- no money stream of any kind from the district -- will DISD's trustees begin to truly hold their superintendent accountable. As University of Texas ethics expert Konstantin Constans told them in August, "disclosure is not enough." |
| Lovejoy HS Int'l Baccalaureate - history of the Americas http://schools.clayton.k12.ga.us/006 /IntBaccalaureate/Courses/Individu alsSociety/HistoryofAmericas/tabid/ 5347/Default.aspx MLK page celebrating our European heritage http://schools.clayton.k12.ga.us/006 /CulturalDiversity/European/tabid/4 977/Default.aspx Partners in Education http://schools.clayton.k12.ga.us/006 /AboutLHS/PartnersInEducation/tab id/4956/Default.aspx |
| While America was complacent, almost behind our backs and with no fanfare, our public school districts have in most counties in America become the largest single budget and the largest single employer. Manufacturing and factories' move offshore has only made this worse. Big pots of money attract two kinds of people: The first are folks who want some of the money; we call these people "vendors." The second are "governmental entities" and officeholders; we know these people as "mayors" and now, in Georgia, "governors." |
| CLAYTON COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS (GA) Why America needs tighter public school ethics By Peyton Wolcott Wednesday, September 3, 2008 - 5:45 a.m. |
Developing . . . . |
| Administrators, a group boasting the unfortunate acronym, "ALAS"). Hector's having been the named honoree in January at a Texas Association of Latino Administra- tors and Superintendents ("TALAS") reception at the Austin Hilton during the Texas Ass'n of School Administrators ("TASA") MidWinter Conference apparently didn't contribute either to his job success or guarantee longevity in Arlington. |
| the district's online check register. Oops. But then, Ofelia's a 2005 Broad graduate. According to Schumacher, Herald "columnist Miriam Marquez was unfair when she blamed Crew for sloppiness because of an unjustified $10,000 moving expense by a school attorney. The executive in charge of a $5.5 billion budget should not be checking |
| National figure and Education Research & Development Institute ("ERDI") consultant Hector Montenegro, hired earlier this year as Arlington ISD superintendent in |
| Carvalho's job offer arises from a split 5-3 board vote; traditionally board relations go not up but downhill from there. The dissenters have asked their colleagues to open up the application process and also to wait until November when Larry Feldman is sworn in. Multiple phone calls to involved parties remain unreturned. All that aside, Miami still has a board chair who's been willing both to let a district vendor remodel his house and his wife accept a plum M-DCPS job from his superintendent. |
| Alberto Carvalho (L) Tania deLuzuriaga (PHOTOS-/Miami Herald) |
GA: Hmm. State supe
Kathy Cox can answer
questions on a game show
-- but not about tech vendor
Computer Consulting
Services Corp. Hmmm.
Kathy Cox can answer
questions on a game show
-- but not about tech vendor
Computer Consulting
Services Corp. Hmmm.
| THE WINDS OF CHANGE 'Greed, excess and corruption' Was this a description* of Wall Street--or our public schools? By Peyton Wolcott - Wed., Sept. 17, 2008 / 3:07 a.m. - Updated Tues, Sept. 23, 2008 / 3:07 a.m. |
| Bye-bye, Balinese Room, another casualty of Hurricane Ike. |
Here's GISD supe Lynne
Cleveland pitching in to
help sweep water from the
first floor of Ball High
School, the water the
aftermath of Hurricane Ike.
Here's hoping other super-
intendents faced with
similar challenges also
understand the value of
symbolic meaningful action
in a time of crisis; the
leadership this conveys is
worth more to residents
and students than any
number of fluffy PR pieces.
"One picture is worth a
thousand words." (PHOTO--
Jennifer Reynolds/Galveston News)
Cleveland pitching in to
help sweep water from the
first floor of Ball High
School, the water the
aftermath of Hurricane Ike.
Here's hoping other super-
intendents faced with
similar challenges also
understand the value of
symbolic meaningful action
in a time of crisis; the
leadership this conveys is
worth more to residents
and students than any
number of fluffy PR pieces.
"One picture is worth a
thousand words." (PHOTO--
Jennifer Reynolds/Galveston News)
| HURRICANE IKE CLEANUP |
| Hats off to Lynne Cleveland Galveston ISD (TX) Leadership in Action |
| Huge CEO buyouts, surprise deficits, lax oversight and self- indulgent lifestyles are equally common among the leadership in our public schools as at Lehman, Merrill and AIG. Wall Street and our public schools are institutions sharing one more important quality: We thought both would go on forever in their current form. If our politicians at the state and national level are serious about improving the education of all of our schoolchildren, and if our public schools are to remain strong and free and locally run, they must start by doing something about the greed, excess and corruption robbing our children of their future and taxpayers of disposable income. Just as the businesses that support the families who pay the taxes that run the schools have had to become lean in order to survive, our schools need to drop their mo' money mantra** and instead learn to better manage the resources they already have. Here's my short list for school superintendents: |
IA: State Auditor recom-
mends stronger inter-
nal controls for Sigourney
CSD! Supe Todd Abraham-
son (top) presented fictitious
bank reports to board; last
March wanted 500-seat fine
arts auditorium; gym not
good enough. Board prez is
Rick Danowsky.
mends stronger inter-
nal controls for Sigourney
CSD! Supe Todd Abraham-
son (top) presented fictitious
bank reports to board; last
March wanted 500-seat fine
arts auditorium; gym not
good enough. Board prez is
Rick Danowsky.
| 1. End discretionary spending. Set an example for your staff; let them know you mean business about running a tighter ship: No trips, no conferences, no meals, no credit cards. If you want to learn more about something, use Google. Do a webinar. Read a newsletter. No golf games with vendors, ever. No chauffeurs, no rental cars. Stay home, do your work and keep your nose clean. 2. Reduce administrative costs. Go through your administrative staff roster and cut every other job, starting with getting rid of all PR and marketing. No advisors, no consultants. Learn how to really read a budget. Put your check register and all wire transfers online. 3. Ethics. No nepotism. Let your wife and kids earn a living in a field other than education. No board members' spouses working in the district. Conduct all discussions with vendors and potential vendors in the open; invite your public to watch and ask questions. Throw away your contract and work year by year. Move your chair off the dais at board meetings. You're not a team member with your elected trustees. You're not equal to them. They're your boss. 4. No construction. If you're the rare district truly experiencing sufficient growth to justify building new schools, splinter off that population and let them start their own new school district or charter school. They might be able to take over an abandoned church or office building for much less than the Taj Mahal you had in mind. 5. Back-to-basics curriculum. Math table (1st grade: add, 2nd grade: subtract, 3rd grade multiply, 4th grade divide) daily drill. You made sure your own kids learned the basics at home or with tutors; why shouldn't all children have that same opportunity? Ditto for phonics. Classical literature. History, not social studies. No more block scheduling. Daily P.E. for all. Emphasize individual effort and accomplishment. 6. Attitude. You're a public servant, not a Third World dictator. Practice humility and gratitude. Remember when your employees laugh at your jokes or tell you you're cool or vendors marvel at your every utterance that they're all sucking up to you. Remember why you got into education to begin with. Sell your house in the gated community and buy one in the middle of a real subdivision like your average parents and taxpayers can afford. Let yourself be driven not by the latest platitude you picked up at the latest education conference but by the same wonderful noble desire to educate kids that got you into this field. |
| Just two years ago 158-year old Lehman Brothers was named one of the best places in the U.S. to work; this past weekend employees took their belongings out in banker boxes before the Chapter 11 filing was announced. (Bottom left) Rudy Crew, named AASA supe of the year in January, is already out of a job in Miami. |
| Merrill Lynch & AIG both disappearing; can Detroit schools and Connie Calloway survive her $408 million deficit and board censure? |
| AIG vendor (R) at bar cart with Cy-Fair supe David Anthony (Me) at Tapatio Springs Resort on Friday of TAKS testing week (Social Studies day) at April 2007 TAS/MUS spring conference. |
| FL: What is it about new Miami supe Alberto Carvalho (L) & women? Al seems downright unlucky. Last week it was former Miami Herald edu-reporterTania deLuzuriaga(C) and their intimateappearing emails. Now it's the speed with which M-DCPS board prez Perla Hantman(R) pushed through Al's nomination & hiring. The Herald's looking at this issue closely -- item SP-1 to ratify Al's contract was yanked from agenda. |
| * Senator John McCain. ** Thank you, Roddy Stinson. |
Tuesday September 30, 2008 Is your school district's check register online yet? |
| nation & 49 states |
| Texas |
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____________
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ARLENE ACKERMAN insisted on a $375,000
be friendly clause in her San Francisco USD
employment contract, then insisted on her
trustees' paying it to her -- after footing her
$45,000 (for one year) Diners Club tab -- as
part of her exit. Deeply tied to Eli Broad,
Arlene has landed in Philadelphia.
be friendly clause in her San Francisco USD
employment contract, then insisted on her
trustees' paying it to her -- after footing her
$45,000 (for one year) Diners Club tab -- as
part of her exit. Deeply tied to Eli Broad,
Arlene has landed in Philadelphia.
b e s t
p r a c t i c e s
p r a c t i c e s
s c h o o l n e w s
q u i c k l i n k s
q u i c k l i n k s
| DALLAS ISD (TX ) Oh, no! Oh, no! Hinojosa's got to go! By Peyton Wolcott - Tuesday, September 23, 2008 / 8:29 am - Updated Tuesday, September 23, 2008 - 7:30 pm |
| Or should we say, "Oops"? In fact, what exactly would be the polite response to Dallas ISD's most recent disclosure that the $64 million "shortfall" announced last week may actually be $84 million? Whatever we call it, Dallas ISD supe Mike Hinojosa's exit even as early as today would not come a moment too soon. And on his way out the door he should take board president Jack Lowe with him. |
| Dallas ISD's 'Oopsey Twins'? Jack Lowe (L), Mike Hinojosa |
| While individually these two may be the best and swellest guys ever to travel the "Road to Broad," together it appears they have been a disaster for Dallas. Sometimes synergy can be brilliant. Sometimes it is counterproductive. How can we believe anything Mike and Jack tell us or the Chamber of Commerce (Dallas Morning News video)? How can Dallas teachers teach this week knowing 750 to 950 jobs are on the line? How can Dallas kids be learning in this kind of environment? Do any Dallas business leaders actually live in Dallas ISD? One core problem with Dallas ISD may be that the Dallas business community's leadership -- those good-hearted folks likely to be performing due diligence in the background over both Mike and Jack -- are most probably doing so in the capacity of watching what Margaret Thatcher used to call "OTM" ( "Other People's Money" ) because they themselves live not in Dallas ISD but in Dallas' well-heeled suburban districts such as Highland Park ISD or as far away as Southlake-Carroll in the Fort Worth suburbs. First it was the $78 million in unsupervised procurement cards, then an announcement a big audit was going to solve everything but we found out it was not a forensic audit, then nepotism issues in Mike's cabinet came to light, then the disastrous new grading policy was announced, and now this. Just how many "oops" should one public school superintendent and board president be allowed? Remember the Bobbsey Twins? Might Dallas ISD 's top two leaders best now be called the "Oopsey Twins"? |
| TASB/TASA's this week- end in Dallas. Given Dallas ISD's current state of financial exigency -- they're as much as $148 million in the hole and may have to fire 750 teachers -- will DISD administrators party on as usual -- or can we expect more circumspect behaviors? |
____________
| Mike, as most of us understand it, you've been telling us this past week that you overspent by at first $64 million then $84 million and now we're hearing the total two-year hit may be closer to $148 million, all because you didn't understand DISD's financials. You have my sympathy because I'm not a numbers person, either. |
| Dear Mike: Here's my plan for saving Dallas ISD $64 or $84 or $148 million (or whatever you current deficit number is) without cutting a single teacher By Peyton Wolcott - Thur., Sept. 25, 2008 - 3:42 a.m. - Updated Sun., Sept. 28, 2008 - 1 a.m. |
Instruction
Instructional & Media Svcs.
Curriculum/Staff Development
Instructional Leadership
School Leadership
Guidance Counseling
Social Work Services
Health Services
Transportation
Food
Cocurricular
General Administration
Plant Maintenance/Operations
Security/Monitoring
Data Processing Services
Instructional & Media Svcs.
Curriculum/Staff Development
Instructional Leadership
School Leadership
Guidance Counseling
Social Work Services
Health Services
Transportation
Food
Cocurricular
General Administration
Plant Maintenance/Operations
Security/Monitoring
Data Processing Services
| However, you did sign on to run Dallas ISD so you're going to have to dig yourself out of this hole. The good news is that TEA has several pages filled with easily comprehensible numbers as part of their PEIMS data collecting system. Even I can understand them. As Dallas ISD's superintendent one page in particular would likely be of special interest to you, Dallas ISD's 2006-2007 actual financials.* Bottom line, $1,708,816,170 flowed through your fingers during 2006-07, or about $10,760 per student. |
| Cost to remove Dallas ISD superintendent Mike Hinojosa from the school board dais at school board meetings: Priceless. All he has to do is move his chair to the audience and let the nine elected school board members run their own meeting. It's called a "school board meeting," not a "school superintendent meeting." What's occurred in Dallas ISD during the past three years is proof yet again of the failure of the "Team" concept. (PHOTO--D Magazine) |
| These measures I propose may seem extreme and a bit ridiculous. In fact, they very well may be. But they are no more extreme and ridiculous than having to fire 750 teachers as the result of your $64 or $84 or $148 million "oops." Time to start a meaningful dialogue with your community, Mike. Your board's decision not to approve your teacher layoffs at yesterday's workshop should indicate to you that the time to start the dialogue is now. |
| DALLAS ISD 2006-07 TOTAL PER STUDENT NEW SAVINGS |
| $794,651,062 20,227,879 41,646,131 23,668,571 80,092,755 53,791,105 2,254,085 15,745,747 18,430,137 63,928,900 10,311,558 36,307,915 153,948,158 16,753,799 16,434,569 |
| $5,004 127 262 149 504 339 14 99 116 403 65 229 969 105 103 |
| Total Operating Expenses $1,348,192,371 $ 8,489 |
$1,000,000 0 1,000,000 11,250,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 5,000,000 |
$19,227,879 41,646,131 22,668,571 68,642,755 43,791,105 9,311,558 31,307,915 |
| What, we've saved 3 times what we needed to? Wow! And it wasn't that hard. Whether you return the extra funds to your taxpayers or put it aside for a rainy day is up to you, Mike. To be in a self-declared state of financial exigency means you've fallen on hard times financially. Hard times call for stringent measures. To get the above changes started on the right note I suggest that you work this next year for $1. Pay for your own car and cell this next year. Dallas ISD has been very generous to you, and if it's really about the kids, given the financial setbacks your district has been through during your leadership, the dollar a year salary seems fair. No travel or meals or conferences or seminars or trainings for anyone at Dallas ISD including you. No credit cards. This "Road to Broad" has come to an end. Regarding the school leadership reduction, each school gets one principal (225 schools x 1 principal each @ $50,000 salary) for this next year, no clerical staff. The principals can come in on Saturdays and get caught up on their paperwork. District literature states that DISD had 19,000 volunteers during the 2006-07 school year. Surely these folks would like to contribute meaningfully this next year and would welcome the opportunity to help their principals take up the slack. You're going to have to shutter all 14 district athletic facilities for this next year. Kids can get exercise cleaning up their schools' lawns including weeding; they can also do jumping jacks and group walking. |
| Mike, I don't know how to break this to you, but a lot of that $1.7 billion you spent outside the classroom. When I say, "a lot," I really mean a lot. Because you're in the business of teaching kids, and teachers are the ones who teach, not administrators, doesn't it make more sense to reduce administrators rather than to fire teachers? Here's how you can do this while keeping every one of your teachers: |
| TOTAL SAVINGS $236,595,914 |
| * If you're in Texas, you can find your school district (including Dallas ISD) on the handy drop-down alpha sort here. Or, here's the entire URL for Dallas ISD to copy and paste: www.tea.state.tx.us/cgi/sas/broker?_service=marykay&_program=sfadhoc.actual_report_2007.sas&_service=appser v&_debug=0&who_box=&who_list=057905 |
| By the way, you can dismantle the entire Dallas ISD PR department. Also, no self-promoting videos. No DISD employees including you journeying anywhere for any reason. None of you are in a position to tell anyone anything. Stay home and learn to do your jobs better. When you have no more dropouts, at that time you can go, with my blessing. |
| Houston ISD supe Abe Saavedra at the podium celebrating what the Mexican American School Boards Association called their "Triple Crown": Abe in Houston, Rubén Olivárez in San Antonio, and Mike Hinojosa in Dallas. (TASB/TASA - Dallas, October 2005) |
MI: Questions abuzzing: Will
Detroil Public Schools file for
bankruptcy? Can they?
Would it solve anything in a
district where supe Connie
Calloway (L) is still reportedly
chauffeured around in a Town
Car? Where Connie still
hasn't found the $1.6 million
in art purchased from Sherry
Washington by predecessors
Ken Burnley and William
Coleman? Did DPS make
their crucial 100,000 student
head count yesterday? Did
the gimmicks -- free digital
cameras, ice cream, who
knows what else -- work?
Detroil Public Schools file for
bankruptcy? Can they?
Would it solve anything in a
district where supe Connie
Calloway (L) is still reportedly
chauffeured around in a Town
Car? Where Connie still
hasn't found the $1.6 million
in art purchased from Sherry
Washington by predecessors
Ken Burnley and William
Coleman? Did DPS make
their crucial 100,000 student
head count yesterday? Did
the gimmicks -- free digital
cameras, ice cream, who
knows what else -- work?
| DALLAS ISD ALERT: The last time I saw this many negative blog entries on a newspaper site against a sitting supe was earlier this month when AASA supe of the year Rudy Crew was on his way out in Miami. It's no longer enough just to say you care. For a superintendent to survive he must have the broad-based community support & approval that come from being a competent public servant, not a CEO, king, despot or dictator. Judging from the number of boos DISD's Mike Hinojosa got at Thursday's board workshop, the question about his exit is likely the price & date, not the if.(09.27.08) |
| **DETROIT FALLS BELOW 100K** |
Has anybody figured out
what's going on with
Sandy Kress and Akin
Gump's Austin office?
what's going on with
Sandy Kress and Akin
Gump's Austin office?
| The dissolution of nearly the entire government and regulatory prac- tice at Akin Gump's Austin office--two partners in the practice remain, Sandy Kress and Jody Richardson -- is consistent with the firm's growing focus on its national and interna- tional practice, says Joel Jankowsky, chair- man of Akin Gump's policy department in the Washington, D.C., office. Austin was the firm's only office that had a local and state government practice, he says. All the firm's other offices engage consul- tants to provide those services. At one time, the firm's strategy included having offices in state capitals, particu- larly New York, Florida, Texas and California. "But we really haven't executed on it. ... We thought we would be consistent [in Austin] and do it on a consult- ing basis rather than in- house," Jankowsky says. "We thought we were going to have offices in lots of state capitals, and that was then and now is now. It's just a further adjustment to the marketplace." "It's a blow [for Akin Gump] from a local reputation standpoint," says Stacy Humphries, a principal at Texas- based MS Legal Search Team. "The firm is well- regarded in the Austin market, and I think this causes people to ask [questions such as] how long can the firm survive in Austin without having a government practice?" . . . . Having "autonomy was very attractive," says Senterfitt, who with Bond and McDaniel brought their clients from Akin Gump. They include Citigroup, Liberty Mutual, AFLAC, Blue Cross of Texas and the American Physicians Service Group. Senterfitt expects to add quickly to the practice group. |
In August, again per
the Austin Business
Journal, "Akin Gump
lawyers jump to
Greenberg"
the Austin Business
Journal, "Akin Gump
lawyers jump to
Greenberg"
For a glimpse of what
the edu-marriage
between business and
government looks like,
link here to a transcript
of Pearson's 2003 No
Child Left Behind report;
Sandy Kress, credited
with being NCLB's
architect, is a 2008
registered lobbyist for
Pearson, Early Care &
Education Consortium,
Edvance Research,
Inc., and the Governor's
Business Council. (Ibid.)
the edu-marriage
between business and
government looks like,
link here to a transcript
of Pearson's 2003 No
Child Left Behind report;
Sandy Kress, credited
with being NCLB's
architect, is a 2008
registered lobbyist for
Pearson, Early Care &
Education Consortium,
Edvance Research,
Inc., and the Governor's
Business Council. (Ibid.)
Is it true that Sandy's
the last standing
governmental affairs
lobbyist/lawyer in
Akin's Austin office?
According to the Austin
Business Journal
(09.26.08), "Longtime
lobbyist and lawyer Jody
Richardson, who was
on vacation when her
colleagues in the
government affairs
practice at Akin Gump...
jumped ship to start
Greenberg Traurig’s
Austin office, has joined
Brown McCarroll LLP.
Last month’s departure
of Demetrius McDaniel,
Barry Senterfitt, Thomas
Bond and Patricia Fuller
McCandless signaled
the dissolution of nearly
the entire government
and regulatory practice
at Akin Gump — minus
Richardson and
education policy
expert Sandy Kress."
the last standing
governmental affairs
lobbyist/lawyer in
Akin's Austin office?
According to the Austin
Business Journal
(09.26.08), "Longtime
lobbyist and lawyer Jody
Richardson, who was
on vacation when her
colleagues in the
government affairs
practice at Akin Gump...
jumped ship to start
Greenberg Traurig’s
Austin office, has joined
Brown McCarroll LLP.
Last month’s departure
of Demetrius McDaniel,
Barry Senterfitt, Thomas
Bond and Patricia Fuller
McCandless signaled
the dissolution of nearly
the entire government
and regulatory practice
at Akin Gump — minus
Richardson and
education policy
expert Sandy Kress."
| National figure and Education Research & Development Institute ("ERDI") consultant Hector Montenegro, hired earlier this year as Arlington ISD superintendent in |
_________
KS: Former Great Bend princi-
pal Don Atkinson (R) "who
admitted to stealing from his
school did not appear in
court Thursday as scheduled
[at his] pre-sentencing hearing
[which] has been postponed
until October 10th. He pleaded
guilty last month to six counts
of theft by deception for steal-
ing more than $40,000 from
the PTA and Student Council
at Jefferson Elementary. He
could be sentenced to a maxi-
mum of five years in prison."
(SOURCE--KSNC.com) Don and
his wife Patti (L), a long-time
reading specialist at another
GB school, sold their Great
Bend home this past spring at
the end of the school year and
moved away, apparently to
Colorado, where their daugh-
ter Kaci Guthrie (below right)
works as a librarian at Chey-
enne Mountain Middle School.
pal Don Atkinson (R) "who
admitted to stealing from his
school did not appear in
court Thursday as scheduled
[at his] pre-sentencing hearing
[which] has been postponed
until October 10th. He pleaded
guilty last month to six counts
of theft by deception for steal-
ing more than $40,000 from
the PTA and Student Council
at Jefferson Elementary. He
could be sentenced to a maxi-
mum of five years in prison."
(SOURCE--KSNC.com) Don and
his wife Patti (L), a long-time
reading specialist at another
GB school, sold their Great
Bend home this past spring at
the end of the school year and
moved away, apparently to
Colorado, where their daugh-
ter Kaci Guthrie (below right)
works as a librarian at Chey-
enne Mountain Middle School.
Do you know where Don
and Patti Atkinson are?
and Patti Atkinson are?
| The ethics and competency crisis in America's public school superintendency By Peyton Wolcott - Mon., Sept. 29, 2008 - 2:53 a.m. - Updated Mon., Sept. 29, 2008 - 7:30 a.m. |
| America is blessed with many fine public school superintendents. However, America is not blessed by the large numbers of superintendents who are not handling the monies entrusted to their schools wisely, whether it's oversight via fraud-resistant internal controls, superintendents with any kind of ties to their districts' vendors or potential vendors in a variety of increasingly creative linkages, or superintendents Another albatross around public schools' necks are superintendents who are failing to adequately monitor their districts' internal controls. Every day come reports that yet another trusted bookkeeper or administrator or PTA president has made off with funds sent by parents and taxpayers to the district for the education and betterment of children; invariably there's a statement in the newspaper and TV from the superintendent. Invariably the statements contain three common elements: (1) "I'm shocked" and (2) "I trusted him/her" and (3) "We've taken immediate action to improve our money handling so this never happens again." This last always prompts the question, "Why didn't you improve your internal controls beforehand?" Another albatross are those superintendents who have simply been unable to keep track of the money entrusted to them such that they have a firm grip on a balanced balance sheet; just this past month we've seen Connie Calloway in Detroit ($408 million), Mike Hinojosa in Dallas ($148 million) and Rudy Crew in Miami ($84 million). In medicine the first order of the Hippocratic Oath is to "Do no harm." It's time for the American Association of School Administrators and all state administrator organizations to begin self-policing and insist that their members learn how to be good financial stewards along with ending all ties and all revenue streams of any kinds to district vendors or potential vendors. Here's an excerpt from an article by Scott Parks with an idea for tightening ethics: |
| Ethics revamp needed By Scott Parks / Dallas Morning News 10:02 PM CDT on Sunday, June 5, 2005 Moonlighting school superintendents caught a break last week when the Texas Legislature let a break last week when the Texas Legislature let a sweeping public school reform bill die in committee. Tucked deep inside the 187-page proposal was a simple sentence: "A superintendent may not receive any financial benefit for personal services performed by the superintendent for any business entity that conducts business with or solicits business from the school district." This ethics reform died along with the bill. Believe it or not, state law doesn't prohibit a school superintendent from moonlighting for a company that does business in her or his district. Even worse, no law prohibits a superintendent from actively arranging for that company to get contracts in his school district. Therefore, it happens. I used to think of superintendents as rumpled educators only a step removed from the classroom. The truth is that public education is now a $500 billion industry. It's bigger than Wal-Mart, and much more sophisticated. Multinational corporations, huge law firms and politically connected lobbyists and consultants aren't shy about wielding power and money to win school district contracts even if it means buying influence with a superintendent. Superintendents, particularly those in big districts, have become wily in the ways of business. Sometimes, too wily. Last year, we were shocked to learn that Yvonne Katz, superintendent in Spring Branch ISD in Houston, was earning fees as a "marketing consultant" for a school company that sells energy conservation services to school districts. After she arrived in Spring Branch, she recommended the company, Energy Education Inc., for a lucrative contract in her district. Even worse, she didn't tell school trustees about her financial relationship with the company before they approved the contract. They learned the facts only after I reported the story in this newspaper. Fallout fell. Dr. Katz announced her retirement. And Shirley J. Neeley, state education commissioner and a former superintendent, proclaimed Dec. 6 as "Yvonne Katz Day" at the Texas Education Agency. Who knew Dr. Neeley had a sense of humor and irony. The Texas Association of School Administrators, the professional group that lobbies for superintendents in |
| Austin, didn't oppose the moonlighting prohibition because it probably wouldn't affect that many of its members. But no one really knows how many superintendents have smudged the line between their public and private lives. They aren't subject to any disclosure laws that might reveal their financial ties to school district vendors. [UPDATE: While with the passage last year of HB 189 superintendents may not accept honorariums from vendors it does not prohibit them from attending I'm sure most Texas superintendents are not self-dealers. But as a professional class, they've paid scant attention to their own ethics. Let's compare them with the International City/County Management Association, the professional group that represents city managers. The city managers have a model ethics program with teeth. Their code of ethics is specific, and the organization also runs an enforcement program that's slapped 45 members with public censure since 1990. The American Association of School Administrators, the national group for superintendents, has no ethics program for its general membership. It has a vague ethics code that, when it smiles, is all gums and no teeth. City managers and school superintendents are a lot alike. Both are chief executives, manage big budgets and report to elected officials. Here's an example of how they're not alike. The city manager group doesn't allow its members to endorse products and services, whether or not they get paid. The philosophy is just common sense. A public administrator must appear to be an objective steward of tax dollars and show no favoritism to one company over another. Product endorsements by school superinten- dents aren't rampant. But they aren't rare, either. Go to the Energy Education Inc. Web site)... Up pops testimonials from a host of superintendents, including Richardson ISD S Superintendent Jim Nelson. Yvonne Katz used to be among them. Maybe EEI's energy conservation program is great. I don't know. But I agree with the city managers association. Public administrators have no business endorsing commercial products. School administrators and their leaders need to examine their relationships with contrac- tors and impose some meaningful ethics regulations on themselves. It seems like the honorable thing to do. |
| The superintendent of a school district may not receive any financial benefit for personal services performed by the superintendent for any business entity that conducts or solicits business with the district. Any financial benefit received by the superintendent for performing personal services for any other entity, including a school district, open-enrollment charter school, regional education service center, or public or private institution of higher education, must be approved by the board of trustees on a case-by-case basis in an open meeting. For purposes of this subsection, the receipt of reimbursement for a reasonable expense is not considered a financial benefit. |
Developing . . . |
| Looking for and not finding a sense of urgency or commitment at DISD; let's review this together, little dogies: |
Dallas ISD board prez
Jack Lowe (3rd from left);
supe Hinojosa to his right;
September 19, 2008
Dallas ISD board meeting
(PHOTO--D Magazine)
Jack Lowe (3rd from left);
supe Hinojosa to his right;
September 19, 2008
Dallas ISD board meeting
(PHOTO--D Magazine)
| o Dallas ISD superintendent Mike Hinojosa couldn't understand the financials his money people gave him he said; as recently as June he told The Dallas Morning News about the district's just-completed audit, “We’re fortunate that we didn’t have money missing." Oops. Such a big miss may explain why Dallas ISD now finds itself at least $148 million in the hole. It's not Mike's fault; can't be, it's written into his employment contract that nothing's ever his fault. Because somebody's head had to roll Mike's gotten rid of his chief financial guy, Eric Anderson -- better Eric's head than Mike's. You would think given the embarrassment to Dallas from the events unfolding this past month that Mike would have bought himself a good conservative hair shirt and spent the weekend sequestered at district headquarters at 3700 Ross in non-stop meetings with his remaining financial people getting a handle on what all those numbers mean. No. Mike was at the TASB convention, backup man for a cute 10-year old. o Dallas ISD board president Jack Lowe continues to smile and make apologetic statements along the lines of, "Gee, I shoulda asked more questions." His leadership appears to consist of rubber-stamping whatever Mike wants to do. Inherited wealth is a terrible mantle. Perhaps a hair shirt would help. |
| o Dallas ISD trustee Edwin Flores' (left) wife and children -- according to reports -- are living not in Dallas but hundreds of miles away in Mexico so that the kids can perfect their Spanish accents more perfectly at an elite private school than they can in Dallas ISD, which raises the question: To what is Edwin committed? If he really feels DISD schools are so inferior to schools in Mexico, why not resign from the DISD school board and move to Mexico? |
| Edwin Flores Troy (Washington U) |
| After all, there are big differences between the United States and Mexico. We're the independently minded folks who threw that tea party in Boston in 1773 and have managed ever since to rule ourselves just fine, thank you, without military dictatorships -- while Mexico's still operating under the Napoleonic Code and graft and corruption are the rule of the day. Here in America isn't it our way to roll up our sleeves and work hard with our neighbors to fix situations -- rather than flee to easier pastures in another country? Wouldn't it be way cooler for Edwin as an elected school official to keep his family here and all four work together like lots of other American families do to make their local schools great for all kids? |
| Bottom line: Texas Commissioner of Education Robert Scott was reported Friday by the Dallas Morning News as having told Mike Hinojosa last week to get his district's finances in order and quick, or he'd appoint a conservator. As Tawnell Hobbs wrote, "Mr. Scott said he wants to give the district time to close the budget hole but that ' there is a sense of urgency.' " You can and must pull yourselves out of this, Dallas. Or, as we say in Texas, Get along, little dogies. |
| While it's a good thing for neighbors to get along, the United States and Mexico have serious and profound core differences. As Robert Frost told us, good fences make good neighbors. |
| Isn't that the more egalitarian way, not so elitist? Phone calls and emails to Edwin have gone unanswered. Perhaps a hair shirt's in order, unless of course they're out of style at that exclusive private school in far-off Mexico. |
| DALLAS ISD (TX) Is anybody paying attention in Dallas? By Peyton Wolcott Monday, September 29, 2008 / 4:33 p.m. Updated Tuesday, September 30, 2008 / 9:19 a.m. |
| NEWS FLASH 09.30.08/3:02 pm: Dallas ISD can cut consultants before they cut teachers. While it is true that in the Texas Education Code the only RIF's mentioned as regards a declared state of financial exigency are for those educators holding SBEC certificates and nurses, DISD can examine their consulting contracts and exercise the contracts' 30-day opt-out clauses to send notice-of-intent letters. |