| 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. |
| Copyright 1999-2010 Peyton Wolcott |
| 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. Akin 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) Texas Lobbying 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 |

| 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. |


| 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. |


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



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. |








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