P E Y T O N W O L C O T T |
| 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 . Copyright 1999-2006 Peyton Wolcott |
| SIGNS OF GOOD King George III left-- so will corruption in our public schools |
| Commentary |
| NEW - EDGEWOOD ISD |
| NEW - ALL ELSE |
| NEW Reader Question Q: We've found a candi- date we think will do a good job--any questions we should be asking? A: Yes. "Will you sign a pledge to not do business..." More here |
| COMPARE & CONTRAST: WHY DID A NEWSPAPER REPORT EDGEWOOD'S BUDGET AS $85.7 MILLION WHEN $190+ MILLION IS COMING INTO THE DISTRICT'S COFFERS? By Peyton Wolcott-Sept. 21, 2006/5:30 p |
| IS COLLEGE NECESSARY? By Peyton Wolcott Sept. 26, 2006 Not for cooking star and entrepreneur Paula Deen |
| Paula Deen |
| Want to subscribe to my news- letter? Send your request here, with "SUBSCRIBE" in the subject line. |
| When I read on Sept. 11 in the San Antonio Express-News that Edgewood ISD's budget was $85.7 million, some questions were answered but more were raised. If EISD's budget was only |
| (above right) who in addition to living a rich and full life has overcome obstacles that would have debilitated the average person. In fact, losing both parents and having two babies by age 23 did debilitate Deen. "I began to have the symptoms of agoraphobia," she says. Then she and her childhood-sweetheart husband lost their home and business. So she spent virtually all of the next 20 years inside her home. And cooked, and eventually stared down the void and the darkness and emerged to start a modest catering business with her teenaged sons and $200. She is now a full-blown cooking star on the Food Network in addition to running two successful Savannah restaurants, The Lady & Sons and Uncle Bubba's Oyster House and writing several cookbooks. A product of the Dougherty County School System in Albany, Georgia, after graduating from Albany High School in 1965, Deen never |
| #1 - There is justice |
| This mug shot of former Bremond ISD supe Kenny Johnson is proof our justice system can work. By Peyton Wolcott/Aug. 14, 2006 |
| Glenn County, CA Supe Joni Samples UPDATES |
| $85.7 mil why were there numbers as high as $190 mil on Edgewood's Texas Education Agency budget page? According to TEA's Division of Financial Audits' Rita Chase, the $85.7 mil represents "the general, child nutrition and debt service funds only. Although the other funds (federal and other special revenue funds) are part of the operation of the school and have a budget they are not required to be formally adopted by the board (these funds are not included in the $85.7 M). This does not mean the board and superintendent are not responsible for them. The funds may come from many sources, state, federal, local or other sources....The board and the superintendent are responsible for these funds and oversee their expenditures." Waiting to hear from SAEN why they only reported the O&M amount. More coming. |
| PPHOTO/Courtesy of Robertson County Sheriff Gerald Yezak |
| Yes, it took three years, but Bremond moms Nancy Gadbois and Pat Yezak persisted. John- son's pre-trial here and Johnson's sentencing here. More on the Bremond moms here |
| #2 - Online Checks |
| Local school boards are bringing the idea of districts' open checkbooks back to the Texas Lege. |
| COPY & PASTE URL: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/cgi/sas/broker?_ service=marykay&_program=adhoc.addispat ch.sas&endyear=05&major=fi&minor=a&form at=w&selsumm=id&linespg=60&charsln=120 &grouping=%26grouping.&key=015905 |
| I wish supes could under- stand that one of the drivers behind public records sear- ches is to find out how our local tax dollars are being spent. Right now, supes control our district's check- books and parents have little or no real input. Would you rather spend $3,000 on your supe's trip to a luxury hotel out of state for what amounts to a free vacation-- or for books for your child's library? Posting all checks online will introduce transpar- ency and accountability to what is now a very closed process. I am happy to report that I have news from at least one school district that this is on their agenda, and hope to post more within the week. |
| QUESTIONS: EDGEWOOD MOTOR VEHICLES By Peyton Wolcott - Sept. 16, 2006 -9 am |
| CALIF. SUPE, 11 AIDES: $244,000 IN ONE YEAR ON DISTRICT CREDIT CARDS By Peyton Wolcott - Sept. 21, 2006/6:30 pm |
| Everybody said for years that it was a troubled tree, rotten to the core. Yes, it still looked like a tree, and there were some branches with green leaves on them, but last week most of it fell off in a big windy rainstorm. We all know public schools in our country have grown big and corrupt and aren't teaching our kids. Lookin' for that big rainstorm. |
| What's this burned-out truck doing sitting in Edgewood ISD's bus lot? Why does Edgewood appear to have not one but two large trucks? Why does truck #47, the burned out one, appear to have had the Edgewood ISD logo painted out (below) on its driver door? |
| FROM $6 BILLION BUDGET & $112,000 SALARY TO 12 CENTS PER HOUR--WHO'S NEXT? By Peyton Wolcott - Sept. 13, 2006/11 pm |
| And why does truck #47 appear to have no vehicle registration plates or tags on the rear of the (below) as required by state law? Do front tags count with the DMV? |
| Tim Crews (PHOTO/AP) |
| Former GA ed-head Linda Schrenko (left) on way to court for pre-trial hearing in Nov. 2004; entered prison 9/11 for 8 years. More here (PHOTO-Spink/AJC) |
| Sacramento Valley Mirror publisher/editor Tim Crews (left) is publishing a series of reports on business practices by Glenn County's Office of Education, including supe Joni Samples, who has traveled to London and Mexico gratis her taxpayers. |
| #3 - Modern Minutemen |
| American's hope is our children--and parents willing to stand up for what's right. Here's a salute to America's "Modern Minutemen." By Peyton Wolcott - July 4, 2006 |
| More vehicular compliance questions are on their way, along with photos. |
| WHY DID LAKE TRAVIS ISD HIRE A TEAM OF LAWYERS TO FORWARD A RECEIPT FOR 24 SHIRTS? By Peyton Wolcott - Sept. 13, 2006/11 Pm |
| WHAT AND HOW MUCH SIDE BUSINESS AND CONSULTING |
| Excerpt from Joni's email to Joni while at Puerto Vallarta's El Famoso Instituto de Espanol, in English: "I don’t want to go to the pool. I’m not into pools. I like looking at the beach, but I’m not into sitting on the beach with all the sand. I went to walk through the stores and watch the people. I like that." More here |
| SHOULD SUPES BE ALLOWED?B By Peyton Wolcott - Sept. 14, 2006 |
| Our first Minutemen were ordinary people like you and me, the Bremond moms, and the Olsen family of Bain- bridge Island, Washington. Jim, a Coast Guard captain, was greeted at their daugh- ter's middle school last year by armed police officers and presented with a "No Tres- pass" letter by the district--all because he'd questioned the district's revisionistic history of WWII, rewritten by the district in favor of the Japan- ese. His wife, historian Mary Dombrowski, has produced a series of documentaries detailing Japanese espion- age and military-related movements in their area. |
| Edgewood's supe owned day care while supe at Edgewood Although according to the Secretary of State's office Edgewood ISD supe Richard Bocanegra is still shown as one of the owners, along with two other Bocanegras, of Stepping Stone Creations, LLC, the owner of La Casita Learning Center (above), San Juana Alardin, the new owner of the day care on San Antonio's Loop 410, says she bought it this past May. |
| Remember when I went to the LTISD board meeting last summer and was disappointed to not get to see the Team of Eight (7 elected trustees plus their non-elected supe) in their custom matchy-matchy (thank you, Sister Parish) shirts? That I felt a bit bait-and-switched after seeing these red and black shirts on the district's website then when I got to the board meeting they were wearing their street clothes? Being a curious soul, I wondered what this matchy-matchy finery was costing the district's taxpayers. The receipt has arrived--disappointingly accompanied by a letter on Walsh, Anderson, Brown, Schulze & Aldridge, P.C. letterhead. More here |
| Joni Samples (above); Canto del Sol pool |
| Although a review of Richard Boca- negra's November 16, 2004 contract--the one provided last month by Edgewood ISD in response to a request for the most recent one--does not address whether or not Bocanegra during his tenure as Edgewood's superintendent should or should not be able to operate any other business or do side consulting, several questions arise, chief of which include: 1. During the period Bocanegra owned La Casita, his district was slipping into the Texas academic accountability cellar, "Academically Unacceptable." Did the former impact the latter? 2. Should any Texas public school superintendents be allowed to operate side businesses while they're also running school districts? 3. Did Edgewood's board know? If so, how much were they told? FOLLOW UP: Bocanegra has not responded to requests for comments. |
| More about Jim (above at their daughter's middle school) and Mary here and the other fifteen individuals honored in this year's "Salute to Our Modern Minutemen" here |
| The Lessons of 9/11 Continue |
| #4 - Caring citizens |
| There is a growing cadre of past and present school district employees coming forward with vital informa- tion regarding the operations of their district. By Peyton Wolcott-Aug. 24, 2006 |
| I feel a personal connection to 9/11--as I believe we all should. Not that any of us needs a reason other than militant Muslim fundamentalist jihadists crashed our planes with living human beings on board into buildings filled with more living human beings, and a field in Pennsylvania, because they oppose our freedoms and our ideals. As it happens, I was due to leave Burbank the morning of the first 9/11 and was in Manhattan for the second two. This photo above is from our kids' 19th- floor apartment three years ago today. |
| These are the good folks who have grown sick watching excesses at their districts, examples of waste and fraud for the benefit of senior administrators and some board members, at the expense of students and tax- payers. To all of you from all over the U.S. who are sending so much vital information regarding the goings-on within your school districts, this is my big public thank you. Sample comments: "I can no longer remain silent." "People deserve to know what's really going on here." I couldn't do this work without you and your contributions, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. |
| SAN DIEGO REPORTER JOHN MATTES UPDATE By Peyton Wolcott - Sep. 14, 2006/9 am Assad “Sam” Suleiman and Rosa Barraza, the couple caught on camera beating Mattes with fists and a water bottle, pleaded not guilty to charges of assault and battery Tuesday. |
| Should our children's social studies lessons now while our country's under attack be about Sheryl Crow (right) and Beyonce |
| or something more solid like the history of Muslim aggression against Western civilization for the past 1200 years? Which would be the more useful and life-preserving? More here |
| EDGEWOOD COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE FOR THIS "NON -HISPANIC" By Peyton Wolcott Sept. 7, 2006/11 am |
| DOES DALLAS ISD SUPE HINOJOSA STILL DESERVE A STANDING OVATION? By Peyton Wolcott - Sept. 9, 2006/11:53 pm |
| San Diego's John Mattes |
| Have you seen these images yet of San Diego reporter John Mattes' ordeal earlier this week with two interviewees? Although his investigation dealt with real estate rather than public school fraud, Mattes' violent reaction from Sam and Rita Suleiman took me back to August 3 in Edgewood. Quick: What country is this? After Rosa assaulted John with a water bottle, as she was leaving to go to her car to get "the gun," she asked Mattes which he preferred, Tijuana or Ensen- ada, indicating (expletives deleted) that she would do violence to him there. |
| #5 - Parents organizing |
| When I started volunteering 6 1/2 years ago, there were very few grassroots parent groups with websites. If you Google "grassroots parent group" today you get 9.5 million hits. |
| During a reception last October in Dallas (above), part of the annual TASA/ TASB convention, an entire room filled with Texas administrators got to their feet to applaud Dallas ISD supe Michael Hinojosa during a celebration of the Mexican American School Boards Ass'n "Triple Crown" which also included Houston ISD's Abe Saavedra and San Antonio ISD's then-supe Ruben Olivarez. But at the same moment Hinojosa was being loudly celebrated by a roomful of partygoers at the Hyatt, Dallas taxpayers were being robbed, most notably (allegedly) to the tune of $78,000 by Marsha Ollison, a DISD secretary working within a hop and a skip of Hinojosa's executive suite. |
| HEADS UP ! |
| Team of Eight |
| TWO, FOUR, SIX, EIGHT, WHO DO WE NOT APPRECIATE? THE TEAM OF EIGHT! By Peyton Wolcott - June 16, 2006 |
| I never give them hell. I just tell the truth and they think it's hell. ~ Harry S. Truman |
| #6 - The Internet |
| The world is now flat It really is true. The Internet has empowered parent and taxpayer efforts in our schools in a way neither our flat-footed districts nor the MSM know how to cope with yet. Here's one example: On a Google search, my coverage earlier this year of the Christine Scarlett/Steve Bradigan "Win a Date With Me at DQ" contest in Strongs- ville, Ohio comes in ahead of ABC News. |
| EDGEWOOD NOT MAKING SENSE--BUT WHY START NOW? By Peyton Wolcott - Sept. 7, 2006/8 am |
| According to my Aug. 3 police report, the reason Edgewood ISD sent three police officers to detain me for 45 minutes was because I had to "get permission from the districts [sic] PR department." Further, Mario Rios, Edgewood's PR guy, told me while I was being detained that I needed to go through him for everything from then on. And so I have. From that day forward, Mario's been cc'd on all of my faxes and correspondence, including public records request. And I've copied EISD supe Richard M. Bocanegra because according to the Texas Education Code he's EISD's official "Custodian of Records." But last night comes an email from Irma Paine--remember Irma? She's the gal who accompanied former EISD supe Luis Gonzalez on a school district trip and stayed in a Four Seasons hotel, apparently promoted to EISD's HR department now. Irma tells me the supe says I'm not to send any correspondence to Bocanegra or Rios. Huh? Make up your minds, folks. Especially when you're going to send armed police officers to detain citizens based on following your "policies." |
| Comes an interesting question from a friend who is--brave soul--also a school board member. The new supe they've just hired has asked to be included on the dais with the rest of the board, front and center with the president. "Anything wrong with this," my friend asks. Answer: "Plenty. Let's start with the examples of Spring Branch ISD trustees (above) and their former supe Yvonne Katz, and also Ann Arbor Public Schools and their recent supe George Fornero. More here |
| Hinojosa (above left) with Real Estate Council PAC chair William Mundinger |
| $20 million on DISD P-Cards During Hinojosa's watch Dallas ISD employees were being allowed to run up charges--at an amount the Dallas Morning News estimates at $20 million last year--on the district's procurement credit cards, or "P-Cards," many of which had no approval and no receipts. So, what do you think? Does Dallas ISD supe Michael Hinojosa still deserve a standing ovation? Is it enough that secretary Ollison has been arrested and the administrator in charge of P-Cards suspended? Why didn't Michael Hinojosa as part of his fiduciary duty of care look into P-Cards when he took the helm of DISD 18 months ago? Why has it taken months of Dallas Morning News stories and an investigation by the FBI to move him to action? Are Hinojosa's fixes enough? Or are they too little, too late? |
| Edu-reporting alert! |
| WHY IS BERNARD PARKS SILENCING S. CALIF.'S BEST EDU-REPORTING? By Peyton Wolcott - 081306 |
| "Without any warning or notice the office of Los Angeles city councilman Bernard Parks, chairman of the powerful council budget committee, notified the management of city-run Los Angeles City View Channel 35 that his long time sponsorship of the Full Disclosure public affairs program was terminated," says Leslie Dutton, Full Disclosure producer and host. "The letter of termination states 'Its recent airing of several episodes contentious content has sparked numerous inquires from public-access television producers Citywide critiquing the integrity of the station and, in-turn the City' and did not elaborate what the offensive content was." |
| EISD PUBLIC INFORMATION ACT REQUESTS: STATUS By Peyton Wolcott - Aug. 30, 2006/5 am |
| TEA EDU-MISSIONER ABOUT TO SHOOT THE MESSENGER? By Peyton Wolcott - Sept. 7, 2006/11 am This is so classic. Caveon, the testing analyzers Texas edu-missioner Shirley Neeley hired to find TAKS cheaters, found some. So now Joshua Benton of the Dallas Morning News reports that Shirl's going to fire them. Shoot the messenger? Think about the warning this sends to whomever she hires next. Imaginary conversation at Caveon's replacement, Cave-In, here. |
| If Edgewood ISD is not telling the truth on their own front door (below) how do we know we can trust and believe them about anything else? TPIA report here |
| The average parent or taxpayer entering the front door of Edgewood ISD (above) would naturally think to themselves, "Hey, hey, hey! My child's going to school in a TEA 'Recognized' district." But this is far from true. On Aug. 1, the Texas edu-missioner announced that Edgewood had dropped to dead bottom: 'Academically Unacceptable.' Hey. |
| Texas parents and taxpayers deserve to know what's going on in Edgewood ISD because Edgewood has sued all of us five times now for what they perceive as our excess property tax dollars--but no one appears to have looked very closely at how Edgewood has spent those dollars once they received them. Have Edgewood's trustees and admini- strators been wise stewards of other people's money? No wonder Edgewood supe Richard M. Bocanegra sent three armed police officers in an apparent attempt to try to stop me from taking photos like this one on August 3. More here |
| Emmy-award winning producer Leslie Dutton (above, questioning a demolition company employee at the site of LAUSD's money pit high school, Belmont, now approaching the half-billion-dollar mark) has brought us via her Full Disclosure Network the best and most complete news regarding Belmont, along with news about Capistrano USD's trustee recall drive; yes, they can recall trustees in California although it helps if the registrar plays fair and knows the rules. |
| Texas edu-missioner Shirley Neeley: Checking for gravy stains or getting rid of Caveon? (PHOTO/S.Bushart) |
| WHERE'S SAM? By Peyton Wolcott - Aug. 26, 2006/11 pm |
| LA JOYA ISD NON-SHOCKER By Peyton Wolcott - Sept. 7, 2006/8:30 am |
| Anybody know where Edgewood ISD police officer Sam Talamantoz is? Has he gone AWOL? He prepared my police report regarding the detainment incident (three armed EISD police officers detained me on Aug. 3, 2006 for apparently taking photographs in the main administration building without first getting permission from EISD PR guy Mario Rios) but I've not yet received a report signed by Sam. What gives? Who really prepared it? Why hasn't Sam been available this month to sign it? Is he too busy out detaining other grandmothers with cameras? |
| Dutton with Emmy |
| Garza-Uresti hasn't responded to queries re expired SBEC certificate |
| Why hasn't Antonio Uresti answered questions about past, SBEC? |
| Could it be that LA Unified doesn't like having their dirtiest laundry aired so effectively? Could it be true that LAUSD supe Roy Romer has Parks' ear? Dangerous waters for city council member Parks to navigate, especially given the city council's vote yesterday to back Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's plan to take over LAUSD. By the way, is there anyone who thinks Villaraigosa's takeover is about anything but the big pot o'money that LAUSD represents? |
| If I'd not taken this photograph above of Edgewood's front door (at top), how else would anyone outside of Edgewood know that the district is apparently trying to pass itself off as a TEA "Recognized" school district when it's anything but? Or that Texas edu- missioner Shirley Neeley had announced on Aug. 1 that Edgewood has slipped to the bottom-most rung of the accountability ladder, "Academically Unacceptable"? |
| ANY SUGGESTIONS FROM INTERNETLAND? I've faxed and emailed both Antonio and Rita and no response. Ideas, anyone, anyone? More here. |
| POWER TO THE PEOPLE By Peyton Wolcott - Sep. 1, 2006/1:26 am |
| People in La Joya ISD are upset about their new power couple (below); she's the new La Joya ISD board vice president who works for TEA as an NCLB consultant and he's just been pro- moted from principal of a failing school to the district's ass't supe. Thanks to the Internet the world really is flat now, and the good people of La Joya ISD have started blogging all kinds of news (grey boxes) in hopes the world will notice-- and that TEA and SBEC will investigate. |
| Here's another "Recognized" sign. |
| CURRENT BUDGETS LA USD $ 8 billion City of LA $ 20 billion |
| So it is in this environ- ment that, whatever his motive, former Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard Parks, now a city councilman, has pulled the plug on Dutton's broadcasts on LA's News Channel 35. I have faxed councilman Parks; let's see what he has to say. Hopefully his pulling the plug on Full Disclosure was an easily corrected administrative error. |
| Edgewood ISD main bulletin board |
| La Joya ISD's school board, all seven of them; at least the supe's not in the picture--yet. |
| The only item posted on Edgewood's main bulletin board was--irony of ironies--a memo with instructions for filing public records requests (white sheet, lower right corner above). The memo doesn't say anything about cameras. More coming, including the status of my public information act requests, with responses, if any. |
| NOT MAKIN' THIS UP By Peyton Wolcott - Aug. 27, 2006/11:30 pm UPDATED Aug. 27, 2006/1:00 p.m. |
| Recent carryings-on by the La Joya ISD school board (Texas) (above) present a good case for citizens extracting a signed pledge from their trustee candidates similar to the one we did in Llano ISD in May 2004--before the election. Afterwards it's too late. The nicest, most responsible folks get themselves elected to the local school board and all kinds of unusual things can happen, witness this excerpt from a local paper near LaJoya: More here |
| STATUS: No response from Bernard Parks as of Sept. 11, 2006 |
| EDGEWOOD ISD UPDATE By Peyton Wolcott - Aug. 24, 2006 - 6 am |
| San Antonio's Edgewood ISD is one of the 20 poorest school districts in Texas and the lead in five historic lawsuits instigated for the purpose of obtaining more money from richer districts. But have "Robin Hood" and its twin "equity" worked? Texas Education Commissioner Shirley Neeley says no; on August 1, the Texas Education Agency rated Edgewood on the lowest rung possible, "Academically Unacceptable," for the 2005-06 school year. |
| EVERMAN'S TEAM OF EIGHT: UPDATE RE WHEN THE GOING GOT TOUGH, GUESS WHO RESIGNED? By Peyton Wolcott - Aug. 26, 2006 - 5 pm |
| EISD PD Saturday patrol--WHY? |
| Everman ISD Team of Eight |
| Who's on First? We've thrown piles and piles of taxpayer dollars from elsewhere in the state at Edgewood and under the leadership of EISD superintendent Richard M. Bocanegra, Edgewood has landed in the academic cellar. Why don't school boards follow the example set by the great American sport of baseball and throw a losing coach out? To follow the baseball analogy, the transcript of San Antonio Lightning editor RG Griffing with EISD's PR guy, Mario Rios, sounds like Abbott & Costello's classic "Who's on First" routine. More here |
| Friends, I must admit to being mystified by Everman ISD's board president Boyd Andress's resignation over the flap caused by EHS principal Kathy Culbertson's alleged remarks of a racist nature. My mystification arises from the fact that EISD supe Jeri Pfeifer (2nd to right, front row above) is the Team of Eight board member actually in charge of hiring and supervising employees, not Andress. So I have today faxed and emailed Jeri; will post her response, if and when. More here |
| This past month I've asked several accountability questions of Edgewood's current supe, Richard Bocanegra. To my dismay, I have received no responses from Richard [CORRECTION: On Aug. 2 Bocanegra sent an "initial response" with incomplete information and has yet to follow through] and the responses from his staff, save one, have been less than satisfactory. Further, even though the detainment incident--remember the one with the three armed EISD police officers, apparently because I was taking photographs at the administration building--occurred three weeks ago today, I still have not received a police report signed by either the report's preparer or its reviewer. Curious. |
| Parent-paid-for Edgewood Hurricanes youth sports meet above right and their playing field is in the middle, in the shadow of unused Edgewood Academy at left. The district's fitness center for adult employees lies on the other side of the playing field (see red arrow pointing to barrel vaulted roof). |
| EDGEWOOD ISD UPDATE: A DAY TRIP By Peyton Wolcott - Aug. 21, 2006-11pm |
| If you've ever wondered what eight minutes in the mind of a public school PR executive would be like, the transcript of San Antonio Lightning |