Peyton Wolcott - Commentary Archives

P E Y T O N W O L C O T T

Conservative commentary - Archives

Nov. 1- 30, 2007
3 major TX districts post check registers in 1 week
82 districts, 6 states, $34.6 billion; role played by San Antonio
Express-News
Texas SBOE says "NO" to McGraw-Hill's Everyday Math; pix from Nov.
SBOE
Texas Auditor clears education commissioner Scott of IG charges
Andre Hornsby's mistried mistrial
Questions for supes: Hector Montenegro (Ysleta ISD to Arlington ISD);
Dana Marable
(Marble Falls ISD to Longview ISD to Temple ISD)
Montrose, MI bookkeeper Dana Bacon to prison: $1.2 million
Marble City, OK supe Larry Couch: $500,000, not $100,000?

Oct. 16-31, 2007
"Arresting" news: What would you do?
Portland (ME) board birth-control decision
Ohio ass't elementary principal's toddler/car/school lot
Andre Hornsby's Maryland trial
Robert Scott appointed Texas education commissioner

Sept. 1-Oct.15, 2007
Please see links at right

Aug. 28-30, 2007 Best practices: Check
registers

August 7/24, 2007 (Marble City, OK)

August 1, 2007

July 11, 2007

June 1, 2007 - June 30, 2007

Apr. 16, 2007 - May 31, 2007

Mar. 14 - Apr. 15, 2007

Feb. 22 - Mar. 13, 2007

Jan. 16 - Feb. 22, 2007

Nov. 20 - Dec. 20, 2006

Sept. 26 - Nov. 11, 2006

Aug. 13 - Sept. 26, 2006

June 8 - Aug. 3, 2006

May 13 - June 8, 2006

April 21 - May 3, 2006

April 4 - 19, 2006

Feb. 5 - Mar. 27, 2006

NOTE: Friends, there are older archives; will post them
sometime in the future. For now, best way to look for
something on my site is to use Google's search engine,
with my name in quotes followed by your subject; more at
far left in grey box.

How we take back our children's education:
one person, one question, one school at a time.

FAIR USE NOTICE:
This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to
advance understanding of education issues vital to a republic. We believe this constitutes a "fair use" of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright
Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C., Chapter 1, Section 107 which states: the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any
other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright," the material on
this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond "fair use" you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

ATTENTION EDUCATORS AND ADMINISTRATORS:
Every attempt possible has been made to verify all sources and information. In the event you feel an error has been made, please contact us immediately. Thank you.

POP QUIZ:

How easy is it
to make
contact with
your supe?

Is his/her email
address on
your district's
website?
If not, why not?

After all, you're
paying for the
website--and
his/her email.

Although many commentaries have
mentioned education lobbyists by name or
client, this series focuses on one of
America's largest lobbying firms; Akin
Gump Strauss Hauer Feld LLP has been
active in Texas and has had a national
impact, one example being Austin partner
Sandy Kress, credited as being the
architect of the No Child Left Behind Act. It's
our schoolchildren who are affected by Akin
Gump's lobbying and our tax dollars which
are ultimately footing the bills. I have
contacted Sandy Kress on multiple
occasions and have also attempted to
contact Akin Gump so that they might refute
anything factually incorrect in any of these
commentaries; to date, no refutation of the
facts presented in these commentaries
has been received.

A kin Gump (Sandy Kress et al)
Areva / Libya / Rice

Akin Gump (Sandy Kress et al)
Pearson Lobbying

Akin Gump Washington, DC
Lobbying

Akin Gump (Sandy Kress et al)
T exas L obbying

Related:

Good Question

Texas Monthly (p. 27, August
2007)
Questions regarding the editorial choices
behind this and other TM commentaries,
including covers this year featuring Vice
President Dick Cheney (January 2007) and
our U.S. astronauts (July 2007).

TAS/MUS Scrapbook (golfing
superintendents)
When Texas public school administrators
decided to hold a conference at a resort to
play golf with vendors on Friday of our
state's accountability (TAKS) testing week,
members of their staffs from across the
state -- thank you all, you know who you are
-- who thought this was neither a good use
of taxpayer dollars nor their bosses' time
contacted me privately. This is how I came
to travel to a resort in Boerne, in the Texas
Hill Country near San Antonio, on Friday,
April 20, 2007 with my camera to take
pictures on a golf course. Note the pix of
the signs; these show that the golf-cart
twosomes, one supe/one vendor, were
pre-arranged and not accidental or "Oops."

Also, veteran teacher Donna
Garner has questions regarding the
role of politics and money in Gov. Perry's
choice of our next education
commissioner; she also has questions
about:
o Sandy Kress and his TEKS stand in
1997
o John Stevens (late of Texas Business
and Education Coalition)
o Shirley Neeley's TEA Inspector General
report.

Commentary archives by date

May 1 - 13, 2009 - TX Lege $390 million for pre-K, Alaska
baby-porn educator Fred Deussing out of prison early; PA supe
Robert P. Walsh gets 1 year in prison for stealing $90,000; Yonkers
schools (NY) accountability; Ysleta ISD audit finds former supe
Hector Montenegro took 221 trips in 4 years; Monroe (FL) supe
Randy Acevedo & his wife's arrest (aove) for district credit card
abuse; Midland ISD supe Syl Perez and $90,000 earmarked pork
by U.S. Rep. Mike Conaway for fuzzy math -- plus the teacher/
student/sex cases.

Apr. 1 - 30, 2009 - Liberty (MO) former supe Scott Taveau (R)
arrested in Florida; questions for Midland ISD supe Syl Perez & ass't supe
Ed Zachary re fuzzy math earmarked pork from Congressman Mike
Conaway; Ysleta ISD (TX) audit finds former supe Hector Montenegro
violated state law; 4 of 6 Washoe (NV) supe finalists bow out; trustee Cheryl
Oprisko asks all the right accountability questions in Portage Township
Schools (IN); Craig Lazzeretti presses Broad supe Deborah Sims for answers
in elementary school music teacher arrest for child porn case; Dallas ISD
auction of seized P-Card items.

Mar. 1 - 31, 2009 - Ask questions! Supe exit packages
worthy of kings and queens. Cage fighting at Dallas high school -
under then-supe Mike Moses? Supe golf extravaganza weekends.
Capistrano USD fires supe Woody Carter for cause. Ohio: 800
candidates for 1 janitor job. Katy ISD supe Alton Frailey's two
declared homesteads.

Feb. 1 - 28, 2009- Dallas mayor Tom Leppert goes to
DC; RINO Bo Pilgrim; ProAct Search executive Nancy Noeske
places Meria Castarphen in Austin ISD (TX) -- her second job for
Meria; HEB grocer Charles Butt's "Raise Your Hand" campaign
hires Texas lobbyists;

Jan. 1 - 31, 2009
Charles (HEB) Butt's "Raise Your Hand." Geithner-itis.
AASA supe of the year finalists. Sully Sullenberger.
Check register rosters update.

Dec. 1 - 31, 2008
National HQ for school district online check registers update:
401 U.S. school districts with online check registers!
in 27 states! 294 of the districts are in Texas!
Also: Chicago PS under new US DOE secretary
Arne Duncan's watch -- money scandals,
proposed gay high school, no CPS check register online.

Nov. 1 - 30, 2008
Dallas ISD

Oct. 1 - 31, 2008
Ending corruption in public education job one for new president (after keeping our nation strong
and secure). 'The use of public funds for personal gain violates the public’
s trust and undermines our democracy.' -- U.S. Attorney Alice H.
Martin   Unfolding in Alabama: computer scheme for poor children, its organizer (John
Katopodis, Ed.D., a former city councilman, county commissioner and occasional distributor of
computers to poor kids via a city program connected to public schools), and a combined
FBI/IRS investigation makes a vivid and instructive case. It shows us clearly where U.S.
public education has lost its way along with its mission and soul to the point where our country
is imperiled. ALSO: Dallas ISD (TX): Mike Hinojosa's $148 million misspend, firing teachers
rather than edu-vendors; report on financial exigency. Greedy NY edu-pension abusers.
California publisher Tim Crews wins FOIA award. Another ERDI supe (Annette Griffin) in the
news -- for DUI. Kansas principal Don Atkinson goes to jail. Eanes ISD (TX) check register
online. Supes' private lives: New Miami (FL) supe Alberto Carvalho and the emails with the
Miami Herald education reporter. "Team of Eight" failures.

September 1 - 30, 2008
3 big urban districts, 3 big deficits, 3 superintendents in trouble: Detroit ($408 million), Miami
($84 million), Dallas ($64-84-148 million) Aftermath:
Rudy Crew (Miami) -- named AASA superintendent of the year in February 2008 -- was
ousted by his board on Sept. 10, 2008.
The State of Michigan is about to take over Detroit PS, which at 88,000 students fell short of
100,000 for their "first class" status.
Dallas ISD supe Mike Hinojosa first told his community he had overspent by $64 million, then
he said it was $84 million, then it was $148 million for the past two years. Texas education
commissioner Robert Scott has threatened DISD with the appointment of a conservator.

August 1 - 31, 2008
Miami-Dade County Public Schools (FL): Rudy Crew hangs on to job by one vote then late
in the month Evelyn Greer, one of his five votes, loses her board seat; 62 arrested in drug
bust, some M-DCPS employees. Katy ISD (TX) fires tech vendor Xpediant--previously under
fire for not being in synch with Texas Comptroller, then has another tech vendor not in
compliance with Texas Comptroller. Former Jefferson ES principal Don Atkinson pleads guilty
in Great Bend. San Francisco USD ass't principal Gerald Courtney arrested on charges of
pimping and running brothels. Berne-Knox-Westerlo High School (NY) principal Mary Petrilli
allegedly wielded a 12-inch kitchen in a domestic dispute. Best practices: Father Greg Boyle,
Los Angeles (CA); Beeville ISD (TX).
ERDI consultants: Update.

July 5 - 31, 2008
Miami-Dade County Public Schools (FL): AASA superintendent of the year (2008) Rudy
Crew and M-DCPS; Miami "evacuees" go to Memphis: Kriner Cash & PD chief Gerald
Darling; Renier Diaz de la Portilla's 10,000-plus signatures on "Rudy Recall" petition; M-DCPS
board attorney JulieAnn Rico suspended with pay for accepting $15,000 cash moving
allowance for her move to Miami from her house in Palm Beach -- then doesn't sell.
ALSO: Ruben Bohuchot and Frankie Wong found guilty in Dallas ISD (TX) "Yachtgate"
technology trial; Hector Montenegro leaves Arlington ISD (TX) superintendency with no cash
buyout thanks to HB 189; former Prince George's County (MD) supe Andre Hornsby found
guilty in retrial.
ALSO: Audit finds then-supe Nicholas Brown's Stanhope Borough School District (NJ)
misspent $900,000.

July 4, 2008
United States Declaration of Independence & Constitution

May 22, 2008 - July 3 , 2008
DC Examiner editorial re check registers
"What was Alton Frailey [Katy ISD/TX] thinking?"
Supe John Gratto/Sag Harbor, NY
Mesquite (TX) championship coach Steve Halpin's "gambling addiction" - district's self-
investigation
Pennsylvania's public education leadership & Ridley School District's $573,792.71 loss..."
Oops"
Is Hillsborough, FL supe Mary Ellen Elia unlucky -- or should she be fired? Hats off to Bill
O'Reilly,            with a question
Detroit Public Schools (MI): Way to go, Marie! And has Detroit's Jan. 2007 Sherry
Washington
Gallery investigation gone AWOL?
Oregon: Former Stanford football star Irv Nikolai, worked as La Grande, Oregon's interim
school
superintendent until his arrest May 2 by Hillsboro police, FBI agents and Union County
deputies at his office on four charges of first-degree sex abuse

February 26 - May 21, 2008
Voyager/ProQuest
Voluntary ethics pledges for school board candidates
Florida - Hillsborough supe Mary Ellen Elia & 5 teachers' sexual misconduct with students
Kansas - Great Bend Schools 428
Colorado - Colorado Springs School District #11
Maryland - Montgomery County Public Schools / supe Jerry Weast / principal Mo Carrasco
Texas - Dallas ISD school board ethics
Texas - Mildred ISD

February 15 - March 25, 2008
Florida - Miami-Dade County Public Schools

February 15-25, 2008
Florida - Miami-Dade County Public Schools

February 1-15, 2008
Public school legal vendor Linebarger Goggan's marketing practices
Robin Hood in Texas: "poor district" Edgewood ISD's employee fitness center
5-time dipping school att'y (Copiague, NY)
New Orleans' $15,000,000-loss of school buses to Katrina: Who was responsible?
TASA MidWinter - more here also
Arlene Ackerman: Questions for Philadelphia, including Voyager
Broad Foundation in Oklahoma City
Texas SBOE's 2 RINO's: Former chair Tincy Miller of Dallas and Weatherford ISD's Pat
Hardy
have been voting solidly with the liberal Democratic education establishment

January 2008
National School District Honor Roll: 145 districts, 13 states, $45 billion
Miami, Florida CPS posts its check register online
Oklahoma City Public Schools: Supe John Q. Porter ($326,530 payoff), board president Cliff
Hudson quit; issues re Porter's former employer Montgomery County Public Schools
(Maryland), Wireless Generation, Broad Foundation
TASA MidWinter Conference
Gordian Knot/lightbulb moment
Capistrano USD recall
Philadelphia (PA) - Questions for Arlene Ackerman re Voyager, contract buyout stand
Voyager
Texas ISDs: Argyle, Cleburne

LOOKING FOR
SOMETHING?

Friends, until I'm able
to post more detail
here regarding all of
this site's 300+ pages,
the best way to find
something is to use
Google.

For example, if you
want to know more
about the Texas
Association of
Suburban/Mid-Urban
Schools' golf
tournaments where
superintendents play
golf with vendors at
resorts on school
days, you can Google
"TAS/MUS" and "golf"
-- and my name also in
quotes. Last time I
checked there were
almost 100 reports.

As another example, a
recent search for
"online school district
check registers" turned
up 2.5 million Google
reports (ten times
more than just six
months ago), with my
site the first four
entries.

Here's another way
you can use this site:
Say you're a trustee in
a school district and
you're thinking about
hiring a superintendent
from another district.
You could search
MSN.com for that
superintendent's name
and mine with each in
quotes, like this: "John
Doe" and "Peyton
Wolcott."

Hope this helps. If
not, please email me
and I'll do what I can;
there's a form on this
link because the more
information you can
give me up front the
better and quicker I
can help -- if it's
something I can help
with.

Peyton

HOME

Friday, April 18, 2008
TAS/MUS Spring Conference
Horseshoe Bay, Texas

Your local school board meeting is one of the purest forms of local politics --
and an opportunity to view what is often your county's largest taxpayer-funded budget in action.

Peyton
Wolcott

School News Quick Links

June - July 2009

Apr. - May 2009

Feb. - Mar. 2009

Dec. 2008 - Jan. 2009

Oct. - Nov. 2008
Sandy Kress' fellow lobbyist-lawyers exit
Akin's Austin office en masse;
Clatskanie, Oregon's woes. New York
pensioners such as retired supe John
George taking advantage of taxpayers.
Connie Calloway's chauffeurs quit in
Detroit rather than carry her purse. Scary
in Detroit: Modern Brownshirts standing
outside voting place on November 4, one
wielding a nightstick.

Summer - Sept. 2008
AASA superintendent of the year for 2008
Rudy Crew exits Miami-Dade County
Public Schools in Florida; Gary, Indiana
schools gets rid of its credit cards.

It wasn't Darwin: TEA's Chris Comer's
employee subordination issues.

Andre Hornsby's trial.

Then-Detroit supe Connie Calloway,
whose 2 chauffeurs refused to honor her
Order of the Purse

Dec. 1, 2007 - Jan. 6, 2008
2007 Year in Review
National School District Honor Roll: 135 districts, 11 states, $39 billion
Texas SBOE rejects McGraw-Hill's Everyday Math; former TEA science
executive Chris Comer makes national news;
Questions: Washington, DC: When will Michelle Rhee and Adrian Fenty
put their schools' checks online? Kansas City supe Anthony Amato; OK
supe Larry Couch: $100,000 missing now $500,000, cert revoked by OK
SBOE; TX Dana Marable: questions follow from Marble Falls ISD to
Longview ISD to Temple ISD; Rod Paige wants to help North Forest ISD --
why not do it pro bono?
Other news: Teacher arrested - Argyle ISD (TX); trustee arrested - Mitchell
SD (SD); NSDHR addition - Ysleta ISD (TX); SLAPP - Lake Travis ISD
(TX), partying admin. in Mobile (AL); business mgr. embezzles $1.1 mil (IN);
Andre Hornsby's mistried mistrial (MD); cafeteria worker embezzles
$260,000 (CA); supe Joe Lewis and Beth-Meth principal fallout (PA).

May 14 - 31, 2009 -
Former Liberty supe Scott
Taveau (R) pleads not guilty
after being extradited back
home to Missouri from his
home in Florida. PA supe
Ross Scarantino pleads guilty
to accepting a $5,000 bribe
from a contractor. Former MI
supe Kenneth C. Watson
arrested in Florida. Two sets
of Mr. & Mrs. PTO arrested.

May 25, 2009 - Memorial Day - Given Mr.
Obama's admission on C-SPAN that "we are out of
money," what is your plan for turning this around?
Here's mine.

May 17 - 31, 2009 - May 18-23, 2009
Are you seeking transparency? A laptop in every Texas schoolchild's
pot? Ben Chavis at American Indian charter in Oakland, CA.
Embezzlements: Computers stolen & resold in Cumberland (RI) and
$120K PTA at ABC USD (CA). Hawaii HS bans student
electronics. How can school board trainings be improved?
Preferential pedophile updates: Edgar Friedrichs, Fred/Frederick
Deussing. Two Mr. & Mrs. PTO embezzlements. Pittston (PA) supe
Ross Scarantino and two trustees charged with accepting bribes.

May 31, 2009 - Donna Garner page: Laptop bill
before Gov. Perry for veto. "Raise Your Hand for a Hand
Out."

June 1-12, 2009 - NY's Ken Mitchell for
"AASA Superintendent of the Year" - a true hero.
Randy and Monique Acevedo of Key West
(Monroe County PS), Florida arrest/credit card
updates. Trial continued 7th time for former Capo
USD (CA) supe James Fleming.

June 13 - 30, 2009 -
Dallas ISD & Detroit Public
Schools (Kwame, Mike Moses,
Ruben Bohuchot, more), Monique
& Randy Acevedo (Monroe
County PS/Key West) Florda.
Orangetown's (NY) Ken Mitchell
for AASA supe of the year for
courage.

Edu-lobbyists

Feb.-May 2009

June - Sept. 2009

Oct. - Dec.. 2009

July 1 - 2, 2009

July 3 - 5, 2009

July 6 - 31, 2009

August 1 - 31, 2009
Justice in pursuit of Key West (Monroe
County PS) supe Randy Acevedo and his
wife/employee, Monique. (More about
Key West public schools here.)

September 23 - 30, 2009
Does America need instead of our 15,000
local districts only 70 -- the size of Chicago?
That's what some are pushing for.

September 1 - 22, 2009
Why nationalization of our schools
(consolidation and national standards) is a
bad idea.

September 23-30, 2009

October 1 - 31, 2009
State audit cites $80,000 in missing laptops, other
post-John (meth principal) Acerra problems in
Bethlehem, PA; middle school drama teacher
Dave Surridge arrested in NC (student sex),
held on $2 million bail; Broward County, Florida
trustee Beverly Gallagher can try to run in that
red jacket but she can't hide from the feds who
arrested her. Also: Lotsa Hueys arrested in
Arkansas over missing athletic event gate
receipts.

November 1 - 30, 2009
Ten reasons -- ranging from $400 to $82
million -- for asking your superintendent what
your district's procedures are for handling
your money and keeping it safe from fraud,
embezzlement and senseless preventable
loss. Also, was that Newsweek cover of
Sarah Palin fair journalism by editor Jon
Meacham? And should a retired pension-
collecting supe (far right) be charging $600
per day plus another $8,000 for doing
on-the-job searches? Another retired supe,
M. Joseph Brady, is working for free, an
hour away. When does "give back" start?

J an. 1 - 15, 2010 - Race to the
Top -- or Bottom? Lou Gerstner laid out
the feds' plan for nationalizing our schools
in Dec. 2008 Wall Street Journal op-ed.

Jan. 16 - 31, 2010 - Bill
Gates' role in Race to the Top -- on the
ground in Texas at a behind-closed door
data-exchanging meeting between
Gates-funded representatives and school
employees

Dec. 1 - 31, 2009 - Madalyn
Murray O'Hair: One woman's impact
on our nation - for better or for worse.
How are our schools remembering Pearl
Harbor Day (Dec. 7)?

Feb. 1 - 28, 2010 - Foundations
such as Bill & Melinda Gates and Eli
Broad (that's him at right with US DE
secretary Arne Duncan sharing a
quiet moment at Eli's inaugural party
last year for Mr. Obama) have
invaded U.S. public schools; liberals
such as Mr. Broad and the Gates
have used their money to change
public school policy and sidestep the
U.S. legislative process.