The sound we created really did sound like church bells. |
| These are just a few of the places this site's readers call home. Except for sharing with you that both the Pentagon and--inexplicably-- all known branches of the military have been to my website, I will continue holding visitors' identities confidential. That said, have listed some general |
| Curious about who reads www.PeytonWolcott.com? So was I, until two nifty new tools--reader logs and IP address lookups--came my way recently. Here's some general information: Departments of education at the state, federal and regional levels have come calling, as have every kind of education entity possible, including universities, from all over the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. Local school districts in North America. American politicians and their staffs, at all levels. Every major American newspaper. (Guys, please remember to attribute.) Publishers. Vendors. Consultants, financial houses. Plus lots of folks who because I don't speak their language are a mystery to me. For whatever reason Google and other search engine spiders appear to have recently found this website. Thank you, all. |
| While women have traditionally taken to the streets banging pots and pans in political protest, as with these two examples below left from Oaxaca and Venezuela, in my family we do this once a year, at midnight on New Year's Eve, not to protest but to ring in the new year. No cacerolazeros we, our pot banging is a custom borrowed from my sister-in-law who got it from an elderly German neighbor. Our neighbors here on a quiet street in the Hill Country have been nice about the noise; it's the only time all year they hear me raise a ruckus outside. While I admire the spirit and grit of these Latin American women (below left)--thanks to Hugo Chavez pot-banging |
| 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 |
| LTISD loses its 3rd Court SLAPP appeal--but what does it mean? By Peyton Wolcott Tuesday, December 4, 2007 - 10:00 a.m. |
| P E Y T O N W O L C O T T |
How we take back our children's education: one person, one question, one school at a time. |
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| Copyright 1999-2007 Peyton Wolcott |
| Conservative Commentary - Archive: Dec. 10, 2007 - Jan. 6, 2008 |
| Bremond ISD |
| Practical steps in your own schools: How to Organize 95 Questions How to ask for public records |
| EDU-LOBBYING Pearson TX $1.423 billion Akin Gump/Areva/Libya/Rice DC Lobbying TX Lobbying TX Monthly TX EduMissioner Donna Garner |
| As of 01.04.08, 11% of all Texas school districts have voluntarily posted their check registers online; over 2/3 of all local TX school district dollars are posted on their websites. How to ask your local school district Flyer History 1st Anniversary San Antonio Triple Crown COPYRIGHT NOTICE: When borrowing / copying / citing from this roster please remember to attribute the source: www.PeytonWolcott.com |
| CALIFORNIA Capistrano USD - here Clovis USD - here ILLINOIS Carpentersville SD 300* Elgin U-46* Huntley CUSD 158* Naperville CUSD KANSAS USD 507 (Satanta) MICHIGAN Montrose CS - here MINNESOTA Milaca SD - ISD 192 St. Cloud ISD MISSISSIPPI Ocean Springs SD* here NEVADA Clark County SD**** S. DAKOTA Mitchell School District* TEXAS** (120) Allen ISD Alvarado ISD Anthony ISD Arlington ISD Athens ISD Aubrey ISD Avery ISD Bellville ISD Big Spring ISD Blackwell CISD Borger ISD Bremond ISD Bryan ISD* Caddo Mills ISD Canton ISD Cedar Hill ISD Center Point ISD Chester ISD China Spring ISD here Coldspring-Oakhurst CISD Colmesneil ISD Comal ISD Conroe ISD* Corpus Christi ISD* Cross Roads ISD Cypress-Fairbanks ISD* Dallas ISD Deer Park ISD* Denison ISD East Bernard ISD Ector Co. ISD Electra ISD Franklin ISD Friendswood ISD Galena Park ISD Galveston ISD Grandfalls-Royalty ISD Greenville ISD Gunter ISD Haskell CISD Hempstead ISD Highland ISD Holliday ISD Houston ISD* Howe ISD Hunt ISD Iola ISD Iraan-Sheffield ISD Katy ISD Kaufman ISD Keller ISD* Kerrvile ISD Lackland ISD Lago Vista ISD* Leander ISD Leonard ISD Livingston ISD Little Elm IS Little Cypress-Maur. CISD Llano ISD - here Lorena ISD Lovejoy ISD Lufkin ISD Mabank ISD Madisonville CISD Malakoff ISD Marble Falls ISD - here Marion ISD Meadow ISD McKinney ISD Medina ISD Medina Valley ISD* Miami ISD Mount Vernon ISD Natalia ISD Nazareth ISD Nederland ISD New Caney ISD Nordheim ISD North East ISD North Forest ISD Northside ISD No. Zulch ISD* Ore City ISD Palestine ISD Pasadena ISD Pearland ISD Port Neches-Groves ISD Pflugerville ISD Quinlan ISD Reagan County ISD Richardson ISD Robert Lee ISD Roby CISD Rosebud-Lott ISD Round Rock ISD * Royse City ISD San Angelo ISD San Antonio ISD Schertz-Cibolo-U.City ISD* Seminole ISD Somerset ISD* South Texas ISD Southwest ISD* Spring Branch ISD * Stanton ISD Sundown ISD Teague ISD Texas City ISD Timpson ISD Tomball ISD Trent ISD Valentine ISD Van Alstyne ISD Wharton ISD Wilson ISD Wimberley ISD Winona ISD Ysleta ISD UTAH Davis School District* WISCONSIN Sun Prairie SD |
COMMITTED El Paso ISD (TX) Harlandale ISD (TX) Miami-Dade CPS (FL) Midway ISD (TX) (Jan.08) Murchison ISD (TX) Southside ISD (TX) Temple ISD (TX) STATE DOE ONLINE Texas Education Agency MIDDLE EDU-LAYER St. Clair County RESA (MI) HONORABLE MENTION *** Michigan Intermediate School Districts WHERE PARENTS, TAXPAYERS, TRUSTEES ARE ASKING: Cedar Rapids PS (IA) ChippewaVall.SD(MI) Cleburne ISD (TX) Eanes ISD (TX) Lake Travis ISD (TX) Lancaster ISD (TX) LA USD (CA) New York CPS (NY) Omaha PS (NB) Rochester CS (MI) Santa Cruz CPS (AZ) Water Valley ISD (TX) Updated 01.04.08 * No check numbers. ** Source for all Texas numbers: TEA PEIMS (most recently reported actuals, 2005-06) *** For online numbers including budgets, salaries, lobbying, PR, legal, autos, more **** Purchase orders . (Source for names of Texas districts: Houston Chronicle (6), San Antonio Express-News (6) ) |
STILL DEVELOPING . . . . o Joe Wise resigns in Florida . . . o Track shoes lose to PR in Pasadena USD . . . o Beth-meth principal John Acerra's boss Joe Lewis . . . o Surprise! Administrators continue to be surprised when their employees steal . . . |
| Heads up to grassroots school reform activists: Be smart, be effective By Peyton Wolcott Updated 12.02.07 |
| Most parents and taxpayers are rational beings whose lives work because we operate in them rationally. When we experience a precipitating incident which warrants our dealing with our local school districts, most of us generally approach them armed with facts and the same rational thinking that enables us to pay for our houses and cars and the property taxes that fund our local schools. Generally this is our first mistake. If we compound our mistake by also being angry, we might as well go stand in front of the administration building and shake a big bag filled with rattlesnakes; no good acting surprised when the rattlesnakes react by hissing and trying to bite us. Watching pushback from schools, especially here in Texas, escalate over the past few years (more at right) leaves me troubled; I believe based on my own experiences and observation of others' that many of the difficulties parents and taxpayers are experiencing can be avoided by changing our approach. |
| Heads-up to citizen journalists, bloggers The Internet is a tremendous gift. We've seen changes here in Texas public education in the past five years which I do not believe would have been possible without the Internet. Many parents and taxpayers are finding themselves pressed into service as citizen journalists who have no formal journalism background. Most often, it is these well-intentioned folks who appear to be getting into the most trouble. We've seen here in Texas in the past two years alone one SLAPP suit filed and another on the way, plus an amicus curiae by a third district. Worse, we've had onerous anti-sunshine legislation encumbered on all of us as a result during this past Lege. Citizen journalism 101: |
| How to change rattlesnakes into teddy bears It starts with changing our mindset. After trying rational thinking, facts and figures, reports and studies with our local administrators, all to no avail -- including a memorable detainment by three armed public school district police officers for taking photos in an administration building during summer with no schoolchildren present -- I realized a new way of doing things was necessary. Because of my experiences over the years as a volunteer organizing other volunteers for charity fund raisers, it was a natural next step for me to organize friends into a group. |
| 5. Who are you? Put your photo and your goals on your home page along with an easily accessible email address. One site I looked at recently posted email addresses for all of the school district's trustees and top administrators -- then made visitors to the site fill out an obnoxious form in order to send an email to the site. What's good for the goose is good for the gander. A group in another state prides itself on its integrity -- yet operates completely anonymously whereas the people the group attacks (constantly) have all been willing at some point to come forward with their names and contact information. 6. Mind your manners. Attribute everything, and properly. 7. Curb your anger. Anger's a funny emotion. It permeates everything we do, renders our best-intentioned work useless, and leaves us worn out. If your administration's done something truly outrageous, sleep on it before posting an angry response. Remember: In order to accomplish anything you're going to have to organize however small a group which means being positive enough in your approach and outlook that people will be drawn to you and your cause. Negativity repels. Positive enthusiasm is a magnet. 8. No community comments. Several reasons. You may run hot for a while but when things start winding down and your local administrators see (0) comments again and again they will assume you have no community support. Also, a lot of anonymous venting can occur. Let your local newspaper handle this -- they can afford lawyers -- or talk to each other in the parking lot of your local barbeque joint or over the produce section at the grocery store. Venting is a form of gossip, and may or may not support your goal. Anything that takes away from your goal is a distraction and to be avoided. 9. Be nice. People will like you more and you'll sleep better at night. 10. Be friendly. Treat your administrators and/or board members and/or any other opposition as you'd like to be treated. I didn't make this up; it's called "The Golden Rule." |
| Rattlesnake (L), Teddy bear (PHOTO--Steiff) |
| Back then there was a real feeling of community participation about the erection of the new school; without the townspeople's pitching in and helping out there was no school; today, we are charged property taxes on our houses to pay for our schools, and most often have little or no control over how our tax dollars are spent. We all love that feeling of being part of something larger than ourselves, some greater good. In order to accomplish anything, you're going to have to have broad-based community support, and this only occurs with positive goals and campaigns. asdf Your good name The name of your group is more important than you can imagine. I do not recommend including any of the following in your name: Watchdogs, Concerned (as in "Concerned Citizens of Clearwater"), Watch (as in "We're watching you and we're never going to be happy with anything you do"). "Accountability" and "responsible" are also good ones to avoid. Same for "taxes" and "taxpayers." Better to choose an innocuous name that your district can't slam you on for being negative, something like "Friends of Clearwater Schools." Your district will learn what you're about soon enough. Here's something that I had a very hard time accepting: While a few people will give you a thumbs-up for your negative campaigns, most people want to associate with something they perceive as being positive and will run from anything they perceive as being negative. Handling your anger There is a general consensus among reporters, politicians, attorneys and business and community leaders with whom I speak off the record that so many folks who become involved in their local schools are just plain angry; for this reason, the establishment discounts what the angry folks have to say -- no matter how justified their comments. Here's one example: Last spring when I visited legislators' offices to lobby against two pieces of anti- sunshine legislation (SB 889, which failed, and HB 2564, which is now law) resulting, legislators testified, directly from too many public records requests filed by parents in suburban Austin school districts (Lake Travis ISD and Eanes ISD) it was interesting to watch legislative staffers respond to telephone calls from parents and taxpayers railing against this bill. I wish those callers could have seen the staffers holding the phone away from their ears and making faces while at the same time responding in a soothing tone to the callers. It's important to not confuse face or phone time with achieving results |
| How we view our public schools: Then vs. now Remember the scene from the musical, "Oklahoma!" in which Curley gives up his horse and his saddle -- everything he owns -- in order to buy Miss Laurey's box dinner? "It's for the new schoolhouse," says the auctioneer, Auntie Eller. Like the new school Auntie Eller was helping raise funds for a century ago in northeastern Oklahoma's rural Claremore, when our small towns were first established in the American wilderness one of the first things to be built was the schoolhouse, a simple one-room building on par with the farmhouses and cabins families built for themselves -- all a far cry from today's Taj Majal high schools with their natatoriums and indoor practice fields. |
| Pick a goal, any goal Find a goal you and your small group can agree on, and distill it into one sentence. This is useful because when reporters come calling you'll already have your sound byte ready. Your goal should be important to you and your group and your community and one you can easily and quickly accomplish in a short period--two or three months and no more than six. If you're not sure where to begin -- the list is so long -- or can't agree among yourselves, a good first goal might be to ask your school district to post its check register online if it hasn't already. (How to here) It's an easy, quick goal. Think of yourselves more as guerrillas than Rotary. No fixed meetings every Tuesday, no announcing how many members you have or who they are, no lists of members, no lapel pins. Instead of meeting at meetings, communicate via email and phone. When you accomplish your goal, your community will sit up and take note, favorably. Then disband and take a breather for a while until you figure out what you want to accomplish next. Your next goal will likely mean different participants because not everyone will be interested in participating in everything. One more thing about goals Many times we want to start big and large, at the state or national level. Better to start small, start simple, start local. Prove that your idea can work locally and others will pick up on it, copy it. This is how ideas spread. |
| Oklahoma movie poster |
| 1. You can be angry and upset -- however righteously so -- OR you can be effective. You can't be both. 2. Using a carrot is more effective than using a stick. Think about it. Would you rather have someone come after you with a carrot or with a stick? Don't you become defensive when somebody shakes a big stick at you? 3. Our school districts -- including administrators, board members and those profiting from friendly relations with them -- may say they want more parental involvement. For some of them this is true. For too many others, what they mean by parental involvement is "Come write checks and say nice things about us and don't question anything we say or do." 4. Our school districts may say they want to improve; here again, some really do want to hear from us; for many others, they don't really welcome your helpful suggestions even when you know you're right and they're wrong. As my wise school board trustee friend told me years ago: "When you criticize them, you're calling their baby ' ugly.' " Your administrators and trustees and their minions will take your factual comments and questions personally and attack you personally in response. 5. Our public schools are essentially socialist models. Their engine and currency is the realm of emotions and people skills. 6. The world of public education is a world of feelings. Think about how often you've sat through a superintendent's budget presentation to his/her board and/or the community and at the end the supe says, "I feel good about this budget." For many of us who live in the rational world we're not much interested in our supe's feelings about the budget. We want to know that based on his expertise with budgets (too often, too little) he has presented a budget which will make ends meet. When you talk with educators, talk about your feelings about a topic rather than your thoughts about a topic. 7. In any endeavor, it's always a good idea to consider your opponent. Really look at them. If the product your company produces is packaged ice, you're not going to head north to Alaska to sell it. No matter how nice you are, they're not going to be interested up there. Along these lines, keep in mind that most school districts today are well-oiled (with your tax dollars) PR machines. The average parent wading in to engage with them armed with facts lubricated by some degree of righteous indignation stands little or no chance of winning. It is like watching lambs marching into the slaughterhouse. Further, public schools are generally the largest budgets in our counties; for this reason they have access to resources such as money and legal help. IMPORTANT: Because your schools can dominate any playing field available to them, you must pick and choose a different playing field. Emotions win over facts every time. No matter how well prepared your spreadsheet is -- you Spreadsheet Dads know who you are -- if you do not have some compelling facts to present to your community, facts which will grip their imaginations and hearts, your spreadsheet will accomplish little. 8. No matter how powerful you may be in your world, your work arena, school is a different arena. You're playing on someone else's turf and it behooves you to pay attention to how they play the game. Your rules don't work in their arena. The sooner and better you can master their rules including their jargon the sooner you can be effective. 9. The broader your base, the broader your focus, the more you want to serve rather than get (get something for yourself and/or your family -- or get even) the more likely you are to succeed in your goal of helping your district. 10. Let go of the idea you're a victim or that you've been wronged. Both will hinder your efforts. So long as you speak the language of woundology (thank you, Carolyn Myss), your community and the press will largely discount what you have to say. We are a nation of sturdy pioneers who overcome our difficulties. |
| Austin, Texas courtroom, Sept. 2006 Lake Travis ISD SLAPP suit; plaintiff's attorneys (L) and defense (R). |
"Walk softly and carry a big stick." -- Teddy Roosevelt "Trust but verify." -- Ronald Reagan |
| Five years ago a situation occurred in Marble Falls ISD (an hour northwest of Austin) involving fourth-grade boys who allegedly had |
| Dana Marable |
| oral sex in an elementary classroom while the teacher was in the room. The resulting notoriety was such that CNN came to town. Troubling as the incident itself was, local citizens, including at least one parent of an abused boy, questioned the manner and timing of then-superintendent Dana Marable's (later of Longview ISD and now interim at Temple ISD where she has succeeded Beto Gonzalez who is now assistant supe in Brownsville ISD) reporting of the abuse to authorities. According to the Austin American- Statesman on March 26, 2002: |
| "A child in the class told the teacher about the sex acts March 7, two days before spring break. The boys were suspended March 8. When they returned from spring break March 18, they were placed in alternative education. Police said they learned about the incident March 18. School officials said they notified authorities March 8, in compliance with a Texas law requiring that abuse incidents be reported within 48 hours." |
| Unfortunately, district officials were unable to produce documentation substantiating the district's claims that the reporting first occurred March 8, 2002; at the end of the day, the only official record available is the Marble Falls Police Department's verification that the incident was first reported to them on March 18. Interestingly, Marable participated the following year in a seminar at the TASB/TASA convention in Dallas |
| 43rd Annual TASB/TASA Convention Dallas - September 19–22, 2003 48 Hours or Jail: The Child Abuse Reporting Statute C154 Presenters: Holly B. Wardell, attorney, Schwartz & Eichelbaum, P.C.; and Dana Marable, superintendent, Longview ISD - If you think you understand your state reporting requirements, think again. Pulling examples straight from the headlines, this session explores the statutory definitions of “abuse” and "neglect” and reveals just how far-reaching the obligation to report is and the implications for educators who fail to report. Be prepared when the media comes around asking for an interview! (SBEC #4) |
| Dana Marable (far left) sitting on trustees' dais at Sept. 2006 Longview ISD school board meeting at which she resigned (PHOTO--KLTV) |
| "Police are investigating allegations that five fourth-grade boys performed oral sex on one another during class at least twice at Marble Falls Elementary School. School officials confirm that the incidents took place and that they are treating the acts as lewd behavior. The boys were suspended for a day, have been put in alternative classes for 10 days and will receive counseling, said Superintendent Dana Marable. 'It was a dare,' Marable said. However, at least one mother, who asked not to be identified to protect her son's identity, said the acts were done under threat. 'My boy didn't want to, and the other boys threatened him if he didn't,' she said." (SOURCE--Janet Jacobs, Jonathan Osborne/AustinAmerican-Statesman) |
| Side issues within the community were how often the incidents had actually occurred, and how and when the district's chief administrator--Marable--had reported the incident to authorities. |
| 11.12.07 NOTE: Questions regarding the foregoing issues, plus others, were sent to Dana Marable for her response, which she has today indicated is forthcoming. |
| Some basic things to think about: |
| Continuing to ask questions, still looking / waiting for answers By Peyton Wolcott Updated Fri., Nov. 16, 2007 - 10:00 a.m. |
| Texas State Board of Education just says "NO!" to Everyday Math By Peyton Wolcott Monday, November 16, 2007 - 2:03 a.m. |
| Here's Donna Garner's bulletin distributed that night: |
| The Texas State Board of Education voted today not to place Everyday Math (Grade 3) on the conforming list or the non-conforming list. Then the SBOE voted to reject the book completely. This means that school districts in Texas cannot buy Everyday Math with a penny of state funding. Many math teachers at the secondary level blame Everyday Math for the fact that so many of their students do not know their four math functions [addition, subtraction, multiplication and division] to the automaticity [per TEA, "fluent processing of information that requires little effort or attention"] level; and these teachers believe it is Everyday Math which has led to widespread failure among math students at the secondary level, thus contributing to increasing numbers of dropouts. I am very proud of the Texas State Board of Education members who had the courage today to begin the process of taking our public schools back from the brink. |
| $19.95* |
| $8.50* |
| $52.12* |
| No need to de-mystify Singapore Math |
| * Prices as of 11.19.07 / Amazon |
| When his newspaper's Mexico City bureau chief, Philip True, was killed, Rivard led a highly visible challenge to the Mexican judicial system. He personally was instrumental in finding True's remains and has relentlessly sought to bring his killers to justice. |
| Robert Rivard, editor San Antonio Express-News |
| It's pretty safe to say Bob Rivard and I will never be political allies; in addition to the SAEN having taken a fiercely anti-Iraq war stance, it also refers to "illegal immigrants" as "immigrants." However, he is also fiercely loyal to the causes he adopts -- and to his employees, two qualities to which we all can relate. An excerpt from his 2002 Cabot Prize bio: |
| In 2004 the Jalisco state supreme court returned a final verdict of guilt and ordered the two Huichol brothers-in-law who killed True to serve 20-year prison terms. Both men fled before Mexican authorities could detain them, having been released from custody earlier by a Mexican judge under questionable circumstances. (Ibid,) |
| Rivard's coverage of True's murder led to his writing a book, "Trail of Feathers." Here's an update regarding the outcome of his pursuit of justice: |
| Rivard also played a pivotal role in bringing New York Times reporter Jayson Blair's plagiarism to light: |
| In April 2003, it was Rivard's email to the New York Times that provoked an investigation into plagiarism charges by a reporter named Jayson Blair. Blair had lifted reporting and writing from San Antonio Express-News reporter Macarena Hernandez's published work and presented it as his own. The subsequent investigation led to what became known as the Jayson Blair debacle, with Blair and the Times' executive editor and managing editor tendering their resignations. (SOURCE--RobertRiva rd.com) |
| Hats off to Bob Rivard and his SAEN staff (more at left) for the pivotal role they played in San Antonio school districts posting their check registers online, and for setting such a great example for their fellows in the newspaper business to emulate. |
| HATS OFF: Bob Rivard, The San Antonio Express-News By Peyton Wolcott Tue., Nov. 27, 2007-10 a |
| ASKING QUESTIONS: Why hasn't Ysleta ISD posted check register--8 months after Hector Montegro said he would? And will there be dancing in Arlington ISD's streets? By Peyton Wolcott Friday, November 30, 2007 - 10:00 a.m. |
| Andre Hornsby's mistried mistrial By Peyton Wolcott Friday, November 30, 2007 - 10:27 a.m. |
| Although I'm not a lawyer, and don't pretend to be, even I can reason that if you're going to prominently feature someone in an FBI sting tape in Andre Horns- by's trial on corruption charges, it behooves you to produce that same someone in that same trial. |
| ONLINE CHECK REGISTERS +++ 4 new TX districts Nov. 12-16, 2007! +++ Northside ISD - John Folks, superintendent Students: 78,154 Annual: $ 1,039,950,123 Per student $ 13,306 North East ISD - Richard Middleton, superintendent Students: 59,556 Annual: $ 806,762,147 Per student $ 13,546 San Antonio ISD - Robert Duron, superintendent Students: 56,371 Annual $ 557,143,973 Per student $ 9,884 Gunter ISD - Rick Cohagan superintendent Students: 861 Annual $ 23,440,928 Per student $ 27,225 (As of 11.28.07) |
| Vendor Cynthia Joffrion (L) with Andre Hornsby in FBI sting tape |
| QUESTIONS WE HOPE SOMEBODY'S ASKING: (1) Where is Cynthia Joffrion? (2) Why was Cynthia MIA during Hornsby's trial? (3) What's the background on the "business associate" relationship between Hornsby and Joffrion? Here's information from Texas Comptroller Susan Combs: |
| Especially when that someone-- Cynthia Joffrion--has a business history with Hornsby. Joffrion worked with Hornsby in Houston ISD (under Rod Paige's leader- ship) and later in Yonkers, where "there were suggestions of financial improprieties...but no criminal charges were filed." (SOURCE--Arlo Wagner/Washington Times) From the Washington Post, yesterday: |
| Skeptical jurors...questioned why FBI informant Cynthia Joffrion, a longtime business associate seen giving Hornsby money in the videotape, was not called to testify, jury members said. (SOURCE--Ruben Castaneda, Rosalind S.Helderman/Washington Post) |
| ERATE MANAGERS L L C CEO HORACE CLIFF JOFFRION III 9831 MOORBERRY LN HOUSTON, TX 77080-6401 Status: IN GOOD STANDING NOT FOR DISSOLU- TION OR WITHDRAWAL through May 15, 2008 Registered Agent: HORACE CLIFF JOFFRION III 9831 MOORBERRY LN HOUSTON, TX 77080 Registered Agent Resignation Date: State of Incorporation: TX; File Number: 0800279537; Charter/COA Date: December 15, 2003; harter/COA Type: Charter; Taxpayer Number: 17607476458 |
| The audit also called into question Hornsby's dealings with a Texas technology firm hired by Prince George's to help it obtain E-rate funding. The audit found that, in the months after Hornsby arrived in Prince George's in 2003, the county obtained bids from five other firms to do the E-rate work. As system staff were reviewing the five bids in November 2003, Hornsby intervened and let it be known he wasn't satisfied with the bids, according to the audit. Shortly afterward, the county received a sixth bid, from a Texas consulting firm, E-Rate Managers, that had been created that same month by Horace Joffrion, the husband of Cynthia Joffrion, who worked for Hornsby in Texas and Yonkers, N.Y. (SOURCE--Alec MacGillis/Baltimore Sun) |
| More about Joffrion in the $100,000 Huron Consulting audit commissioned in 2005 by the Prince George's school board: |
| In another example of print doing and getting it right, Jean Marbella puts Hornsby's mistrial in context in today's Baltimore Sun, asks more great questions, link here: |
| Ysleta ISD employees |
| Ysleta ISD supe Hector Montenegro (below right, at TASB convention) said in a March 14, 2007 email that he was in the processing of posting YISD's check register online; to date, it's still not online. Perhaps he's been too busy leading his employees in dances around Ysleta ISD (pictured above in a YISD video he's toured the country with); wondering if preparing this video is why YISD has such a large PR staff (below). |
| Wondering also why Hector has not responded to emails and telephone calls asking about YISD's check register--and his plans to continue posting Arlington ISD's check register online once he assumes the top spot there. Finally, will there be dancing in Arlington ISD? If so, I'll haul out my cotillion gown. |
| UPDATE: NOT-OK MARBLE CITY, OK Are supes getting away with too much? By Peyton Wolcott Friday, November 30, 2007 - 10:08 a.m. |
| Marble City, OK board meeting (PHOTO--Monica Keen/Sequoyan County Times) |
| On the heels of Andre Hornsby's "amazing" mistrial in Maryland (at left) comes fresh news from Oklahoma, where the state auditor has confirmed what appeared to be $100,000 in losses (from a one-school district) are now closer to $500,000. From supe Couch: |
| "If the Marble City School Board of Education is willing to accept Larry Couch's outright resignation without any conditions or stipulations, accept an immediate $100,000 lump sum payment and request the district attorney to place Mr. Couch on a deferred sentence without further monetary obligation or penalty, ...Mr. Couch would be willing to immediately tender his resignation and pay restitution in the amount of $100,000." |
| San Antonio's Triple Crown here |
| BREAKING NEWS -- FIRST MEDIA COVERAGE HERE Lake Travis ISD's--and Bracewell attorney/TASA lobbyist David Thompson's--SLAPP appeal rejected By Peyton Wolcott Saturday, December 1, 2007 - 4:06 a.m. |
| FIRST ON THE NET: READ OPINION HERE |
| J. David Thompson III represents public school districts, junior colleges and other educational entities in the Gulf Coast area and across Texas. Mr. Thompson has extensive experience in school finance matters, legislation, board/superintendent relations, contracts, conflicts of interest, nepotism, student residency and attendance, competitive bidding, school board policy development and employment matters. He regularly assists school boards in searches for superintendents. Mr. Thompson serves as legislative counsel for the Fast Growth Schools Coalition, Houston Independent School District, and other school districts and educational organizations. He has been involved in most legislative activities affecting public education in the past 20 years. On behalf of the Texas Association of School Boards Legal Assistance Fund, Mr. Thompson represented 263 school districts in Edgewood ISD v. Meno (Edgewood IV), challenging the constitutionality of the Texas public school finance system. Mr. Thompson currently represents the plaintiffs in West Orange-Cove v. Neeley, challenging the constitutionality of the Texas public school system. |
| Bracewell bio: Thompson |
| With the dismissal of LTISD's Third Court appeal this past Thursday, LTISD trustees and taxpayers must be asking themselves and each other exactly what did Dave Thompson and LTISD supe Rocky Kirk lead them into in July 2006, and why -- and how much did it all cost. |
| Dave Thompson (L) leaving July 2006 LTISD board room (below) for closed meeting with trustees (above, leaving boardroom) which resulted in LTISD's decision to sue parents David & Melissa Lovelace; their attorneys, Jennifer Riggs, Bill Aleshire, in court (R). |
| Full opinion - LTISD's SLAPP suit here |
| NO. 03-06-00742-CV ------------------------------ Appellant, Lake Travis Independent School District // Cross-Appellants, David Lovelace and Melissa Lovelace v. Appellees, David Lovelace and Melissa Lovelace // Cross-Appellee, Lake Travis Independent School District --------------------------------- FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF TRAVIS COUNTY, 126TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT NO. D-1-GN-06-003726, HONORABLE SUZANNE COVINGTON, JUDGE PRESIDING ---------------------------------- O P I N I O N Lake Travis Independent School District ("District") appeals an order dismissing for lack of jurisdiction its suit against David and Melissa Lovelace alleging common-law claims for public nuisance and abuse of governmental process. The District sought (1) temporary and permanent injunctions against the Lovelaces to prevent them from submitting requests for public information under the Texas Public Information Act ("PIA") (1) or, in the alternative, a court-ordered procedure applicable to all requests submitted by the Lovelaces modifying the form that their requests would take under the PIA; (2) declarations that the Lovelaces had abused and misused the PIA, that all future requests by the Lovelaces for information pursuant to the PIA shall be governed by a modified, court-ordered process, and that the District would not be in violation of the PIA by complying with the modified process; and (3) actual monetary damages, attorney's fees, and costs. The trial court ruled that the District's suit was barred by section 552.324 of the PIA, and the District appeals. See Tex. Gov't Code Ann. § 552.324 (West 2004). The Lovelaces bring a cross-appeal from the trial court's order denying them attorney's fees. For the reasons that follow, we affirm. |
| From Thursday's opinion: |
| UPDATE: Absent facts, theories abound re why Cynthia "Cindy" Joffrion may have been missing from Hornsby's trial By Peyton Wolcott Saturday, December 1, 2007 - 8:55 a.m. |
| From folks whom I believe are some of our country's finest and most seasoned minds in re all things educational come two questions: (1) Did Cynthia Joffrion barter her participation in the FBI sting for immunity and/or a plea; and (2) Are the feds holding her back pending their deep investiga- tions into Dallas and Houston ISDs?. Theories only, but they keep coming from all quarters; in the absence of any explanation from Hornsby's prosecutors, this is all we have to explain why Joffrion would be featured so prominently in the FBI sting tape then not produced at trial. |
| "Apple Computer (AAPL), coming off a massive $708 million second-quarter loss and talk of a possible takeover, is hoping its educational market will give it a third-quarter boost....'If someone buys the company and starts changing the current structure and time- line for the new operating system, Rhapsody, then we'll be concerned,' said Cindy Joffrion, a network specialist for the South Central Houston Independent School District. 'We don't care who heads up the company, unless they start to change things.' The district, which recently bought nearly 1,000 Power Macs, said it is looking at buying more for the beginning of next year. But the school's superintendent recently met with an Apple representative in Texas and received assurances on the company's financial condition. Joffrion said that the next purchase will be PC-compatible Macintoshes, a hedge against the company going under. (SOURCE--CNETNews.com) |
| Interesting background here on the computer business in 1997, including the Joffrion-Hornsby link: |
| o Dana Marable responds to questions in Temple o Patterns in Argyle ISD/supe Ceyanes responds o Ysleta ISD check register online o Parents, public records & TASA, Rocky Kirk o Rod Paige / North Forest ISD o SBOE: "NO" to McGraw-Hill's Everyday Math |
| o IN: Principal's non-DUI: above the law? o MO: Anthony Amato: Trouble in Kansas City? o S. Dakota school board member arrested for theft attends board meeting, votes o Ala-spending-bama administrators |
| National |
| Texas |
| BACKGROUND This case began when the District filed suit against the Lovelaces on September 29, 2006, alleging that the Lovelaces had made repeated requests for information under the PIA "in an effort to harass, beseige and attack the District." Specifically, the District alleged that as of October 24, 2006, the date of its first amended petition, the Lovelaces had made approximately 2,274 requests for information, requiring District representatives to copy over 120,000 pages and seek 551 open records determinations from the office of the Attorney General. The District argued that the Lovelaces' misuse of the PIA amounts to a public nuisance, interfering with the public right of the taxpayers of the District to an unencumbered public education for their children, and constitutes an abuse of the governmental process of the District and the State of Texas. In characterizing the Lovelaces' behavior as a public nuisance, the District emphasized the disruptive and harassing methods the Lovelaces have employed in requesting information, and not the specific information requested, as the source of its complaint. It noted that on many occasions the Lovelaces have made dozens, even hundreds of requests at a time, placing a crippling burden on its office and personnel resources and redirecting staff time and attention away from the District's core educational role. In addition to their sheer volume, the District claims that many of the Lovelaces' requests have been duplicative or have sought information that the District had already produced to the Lovelaces or that the Lovelaces had previously been informed did not exist. On one occasion, the Lovelaces withdrew a group of 162 separate requests for information, but not until after the District had already spent a great deal of time and effort responding to them. The District also cited the Lovelaces' refusal to comply with its attempts to enact more efficient procedures for dealing with the Lovelaces' bulk requests and recounted the Lovelaces' lack of cooperation with the District's public information officer whenever the District sought clarification regarding their requests. In addition, the District alleged that the Lovelaces have misused the District's internal complaint procedure and filed a number of unfounded complaints against District employees under the District's internal complaint system, as well as with the State Board for Educator Certification ("SBEC"). (2) The District estimated that responding to all of the Lovelaces' requests and complaints submitted between August 2005 and September 2006 amounted to $700,000 in direct and indirect costs, funds that otherwise would have gone toward educating its students. The Lovelaces answered and filed a plea to the jurisdiction and special exceptions, claiming that the District failed to state a cause of action within the jurisdiction of the court and that section 552.324 of the PIA prevented the District from filing this lawsuit. They also sought attorney's fees under rule 13 of the rules of civil procedure and sections 9.012 or 10.004 of the civil practice and remedies code, arguing that the District's suit was groundless, frivolous, brought in bad faith or for the purpose of harassment, and brought for the improper purpose of obtaining an excuse to refuse to comply with the PIA. In its response to the Lovelaces' plea to the jurisdiction, the District reasserted its right to file a common-law public nuisance claim and argued that the PIA did not abrogate its right to bring common-law causes of action. The court granted the Lovelaces' plea to the jurisdiction, determining that section 552.324 of the PIA deprived the court of subject-matter jurisdiction to entertain the District's suit and that the District would not be able to replead to bring its suit within the jurisdiction of the court. The court also denied the Lovelaces' request for attorney's fees. Both parties appealed. On appeal, the District argues (1) the PIA does not prohibit its suit for common-law causes of action by the express terms of the statute; (2) the PIA did not abrogate the District's common-law rights; and (3) the trial court erred by not allowing the District the opportunity to amend its pleadings. In a single issue on cross-appeal, the Lovelaces argue that the trial court erred by denying their request for attorney's fees under rule 13 of the rules of civil procedure or sections 9.012 or 10.004 of the civil practice and remedies code. (3) |
| Edgewood ISD 08.02.06 |
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| Just because you can doesn't mean you should. |
| However righteous or correct your cause, too often parents and taxpayers don't stop to consider the resources of their opposition. Our local school districts are well-oiled and well-funded, all with our tax dollars, PR machines. Our superintendents and administrators attend education conferences and trainings and seminars where they are coached in how to deal with disapproving parents and taxpayers. Our local schools also have apparently unlimited access to lawyers, whom they have demonstrated time and again that they will use all legal assistance available. Are you willing to take out a loan to pay your legal bills? |
STANDARDS OF REVIEW Plea to the jurisdiction The existence of subject-matter jurisdiction is a question of law; thus, we review de novo the trial court's ruling on a plea to the jurisdiction. City of New Braunfels v. Allen, 132 S.W.3d 157, 161 (Tex. App.--Austin 2004, no pet.). When a plea to the jurisdiction challenges the pleadings, we determine if the pleader has alleged facts that affirmatively demonstrate the court's jurisdiction to hear the cause. Texas Dep't of Parks & Wildlife v. Miranda, 133 S.W.3d 217, 226 (Tex. 2004). We construe the pleadings liberally in favor of the plaintiffs and look to the pleader's intent. Id. If necessary, we may review the entire record to determine if the trial court had jurisdiction. Bland Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Blue, 34 S.W.3d 547, 554-55 (Tex. 2000). If the District's petition fails to allege jurisdictional facts, then its claims are subject to dismissal if it is impossible to amend its pleadings to confer jurisdiction. See Bonham v. Texas Dep't of Criminal Justice, 101 S.W.3d 153, 156 (Tex. App.--Austin 2003, no pet.). Sanctions We review a trial court's award or denial of sanctions on appeal for an abuse of discretion. Low v. Henry, 221 S.W.3d 609, 614 (Tex. 2007). In matters committed to a district court's discretion, the test is whether the ruling was unreasonable or arbitrary or whether the court acted without reference to any guiding rules or principles. Herrera v. Seton Nw. Hosp., 212 S.W.3d 452, 462 (Tex. App.--Austin 2006, no pet.). In deciding whether the denial of sanctions constitutes an abuse of discretion, we examine the entire record, including the findings of fact and conclusions of law, reviewing the conflicting evidence in the light most favorable to the trial court's ruling and drawing all reasonable inferences in favor of the court's judgment. In re C.Z.B., 151 S.W.3d 627, 636 (Tex. App.--San Antonio 2004, no pet.). |
| What's your motive? Are you taking action because you're offended that the district is violating rules and/or someone there is stealing? Are you motivated by the principle of the thing or do you want to achieve results and make real changes in your district? |
| Here are the facts as I understand them: 1. Lake Travis ISD residents David and Melissa Lovelace (below) for whatever reason(s) began asking questions of LTISD via the Texas Public Information Act; according to court records, they have filed nearly 2300 TPIA requests since 2005. |
| 5. On October 26, 2006 126th District Court (Austin) Judge Suzanne Covington threw out LTISD's lawsuit against the Lovelaces, advising Thompson that he should take up the matter with the state legislature. |
| Melissa and David Lovelace at July 2006 LTISD board meeting; inset, Rocky Kirk |
| jeans. (NOTE: I have not filed a TPIA request at LTISD to verify this.) 4. Bracewell & Giuliani partner J. David Thompson III (below) of Houston, who is also professional paid lobbyist for the powerful Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA), came to the rescue, in suit and tie, at LTISD's July 2006 board meeting (photos below) where he apparently recommended to the board during their behind-closed-doors meeting that LTISD sue the Lovelace's. To his credit, I have been unable to find any photos of Dave posing amid petunias in starched jeans. |
| 2. LTISD superintendent Rocky Kirk, apparently a starched jeans kind of guy who can be talked into posing with periwinkles by a photographer for a publicity still (right, inset) was reportedly unhappy about so many public records requests from the Lovelaces, who do not appear to be starched jeans kinds of folks. 3. I have been unable to find any signs of Rocky's having wel- comed the Lovelace's into his office and offering either to answer their questions in a friendly way or to help starch their |
| DaveThompson Robin Hood trial, Austin, Sept. 2004, his bill for which Texas taxpayers were forced to pay |
| School district check registers are now online in 135 districts, 11 states! with $39 billion in annual transparency! ----------------------- 1ST & ONLY ROSTER OF ONLINE SCHOOL CHECK REGISTERS |
| Jason Ray |
| This is not a high school drill team; adults all, these are members of the Lake Travis ISD "Team o'Eight": 7 elected trustees & their employee, supe Rocky Kirk (far right). |
| 8. Unfortunately for Texas parents and taxpayers, LTISD and Eanes (which filed an amicus curiae in LTISD's suit) ISD's lobbied successfully enough this past spring during the Legislature that while we were able to defeat the Draconian Senate version of their anti-sunshine legislation, SB 889, we were not able to defeat Rep. Kelly Hancock's (left) HB 2564. The result: All Texas parents and taxpayers filing public records requests now have to have considerable starch in their britches in order to be able to pay the newer much stiffer TPIA costs. (Public schools with no |
| impetus or restraint to organize their files for ready access by the public get to deter- mine the time they say it takes to produce said files from wherever they feel like keeping them.) (Suddenly superintendents' same-year expense reports in another building not the administration's seven-story former petroleum company where-the-superintendent-occupies-a-suite world headquarters will cost a lot more to look at. Oops.) |
| 9. Where was the press? HB 2564 was a big yawn for our friends in print, TV and radio as Hancock wisely offered them an opt-out, the wording of which the Texas Daily Newspaper Association's Ken Whalen approved. (We know this thanks to a TPIA request.) It's called the newspaper business, not the newspaper hobby. |
| 7. On Nov. 3, 2006 LTISD announced it had hired Thompson's associate, Susan Bohn, as the district's in-house counsel; her annual salary has jumped, according to David Lovelace's website, from $92,000 to $125,000. (Rocky's making $200,000+.) |
| FACTOID: Bracewell also lobbies for Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez' CITGO. |
| 6. According to Texas Ethics Commission records Thompson also works for Lake Travis ISD as a paid lobbyist. |
| Rep. Kelly Hancock voting for another representative during 80th Regular session this past spring (SOURCE--KEYE) |
| Dave Thompson lobbying on behalf of another client (Houston ISD) at 80th (R) Lege hearing re another bill; Chris Gilbert (below). |
| 10. David Lovelace lost his run for a seat on the LTISD school board in May 2007. (NOTE: We can never overestimate the importance of winning the PR battle when we deal with our public schools. More here.) |
| STATEMENT FROM JASON RAY, DEC. 3, 2007: "The Lovelaces were pleased to see that the Court of Appeals agreed with them and affirmed the decision of the Travis County District Court. The Lovelace’s victory is a win for all citizens who seek information about the affairs of government and the official acts of public officials and employees. By holding that Lake Travis was prohibited from suing the Lovelaces, the court protected all future requestors from incurring the financial and emotional costs that follow meritless lawsuits like this one. Hopefully, Lake Travis can now get on with their job of educating our children, and stop wasting taxpayer money with harassing lawsuits against Texas citizens who only seek open and transparent government." |
| In its opinion (excerpts below) the appeals court ruled against the Love- lace's request for sanctions, meaning they have to pay their own legal bills. |
| 13. Ironically, HB 2564 which sought to limit the Lovelaces' public records pursuits by stiffly increasing labor charges does not appear to have impacted or limited the Lovelaces in any way as David Lovelace has owned a radio license since 1995 (more here) and is able to take advantage of the media opt-out clause. Put another way, while because of the Lovelaces (again, cited as the chief cause of HB 2564) every parent and taxpayer in Texas now seeking to view their district's records must pay stiff labor charges, the Lovelaces themselves do not have to pay such charges. Opponents of the bill said it used a mallet to swat flies; unfortunately for all of us affected by it, the mallet hits hard. |
| 14. What's changed in Lake Travis ISD? Rocky Kirk's still got his job, despite costing his district huge legal bills, and the board's still in place, still wearing their taxpayer-paid starched matching shirts. Things are looking pretty stiff and starchy from where I sit. While I will continue to fiercely defend all parents' and taxpayers' right to view their districts' public records, I also advocate that requestors filing numerous (more than, say, a dozen) requests successfully engage the majority of their community in their struggle. 15. As of today, at least 10% of all Texas public school districts have voluntarily posted their check registers online; while this in no way solves all transparency issues, it is a big first step. Here's hoping LTISD superintendent Rocky |
| 1. No adjectives. They tend to be inflammatory. 2. Ask questions rather than make accusations. 3. Be very sure of your facts before publishing -- have a paper record in hand. Wishing doesn't make it so. 4. Give your opponents an opportunity to respond. Note in your blog that your phone calls to the district were not returned, etc. Ask the person about whom you're writing if they disagree with any facts you're publishing and if so and can they please provide a paper record or some such supporting their factual disagreement. |
| Houston Chronicle reporter R.G. RATCLIFFE, re HB 2564: "The bill is intended to shut down people who flood government agencies with open records requests, sometimes for good, sometimes for nothing more than to jam up the system." (NOTE: R.G.'s wife Debbie Ratclife is director of TEA's communications division.) |
| Kirk will tiptoe out of those fetching periwinkles and risk wrinkling his starched jeans (or khakis, below right) long enough to find time to post LTISD's check register online. |
| Marble City, OK's Larry Couch loses superintendent license By Peyton Wolcott Tuesday, December 4, 2007 - 8:19 a.m. |
| Oklahoma's SBOE voted unanimously last Thursday to revoke Marble City supe Larry Couch's license; his attorney announced yesterday that Couch will appeal the revocation. (SOURCE--Donna Hales/ Muskogee Phoenix) |
| Larry Couch |
| You may recall that Couch has continued to pull a paycheck from his one-school district despite earlier embezzlement charges of $100,000 now having grown to approximately $500,000, accor- ding to the OK state auditor. The three-member Marble City school board is attempting to determine whether Couch's employment contract with them is still valid. |
| How did Indiana supe Tracy Caddell allow this on his watch? By Peyton Wolcott Tues., Dec. 4, 2007-9 am |
| Geyman agrees to plea deal Justin Helfrich - Madison Courier Staff Writer 11/30/2007 3:00:00 PM Federal charges were filed against Ann Center Geyman accusing her of using mail fraud to take $24,489 from the Madison Regatta during one of the years she was the treasurer and $76,000 from J.D. Byrider car dealership in Madison while she worked there as an accountant. She also for the first time was criminally charged with embezzling $1.1 million from the Switzerland County School Corp. In a plea agreement released Thursday, Geyman agreed to plead guilty to all of these charges and also to filing false federal income tax returns for the 2003 through 2005 tax years, Timothy M. Morrison, acting U.S. attorney for the southern district of Indiana, announced. As part of the plea agreement, the federal prosecutor agreed to seek a maximum sentence of 57 months in federal prison. In the federal prison system, at least 85 percent of a sentence must be served. Without the plea agreement, she could have been sentenced to 23 years in federal prison and be fined $1 million if she had been tried and convicted on all the charges. The plea agreement states that Geyman must forfeit her home at 1829 Telegraph Hill Road and a 2003 Chevy Trailblazer. |
| More questions... |
| Tracy Caddell |
| Now Rod Paige wants to help North Forest ISD? By Peyton Wolcott Wednesday, December 5, 2007 - 10:36 a.m. |
| Rod Paige |
| North Forest ISD in the Houston suburbs has long experienced leadership challenges; as one example, how many other school districts have had six superinten- dents in the past seven years? |
| John, have two questions I'm hoping you can help me with this morning. Here is the gist of what folks in the Houston area and elsewhere in Texas have asked recently: (1) What is the dollar amount of Rod Paige's TRS retirement check and his USDOE retirement income? (2) If Rod wants to help North Forest, why doesn't he do so as an unpaid volunteer or for $1 per year? |
| Cinthia Spurling |
| Solid leadership is as important to a district's success in all areas as are parental involvement and other key factors. Generally, where I find districts failing in one area there are notable failures in other areas also. Some recent examples in NFISD: 1. NFISD police officer Cinthia Spurling was indicted in April on charges of impersonating a police officer; she was "indicted on two counts of impersonating a police officer and one count of giving a false statement to obtain credit. Investigators said she provided false financial informa- tion on a car loan application." (SOURCE--Click2Houston) 2. TEA sent a financial overseer to NFISD in March, and last month appointed Barbara Wilson, who retired as nearby Hitchcock ISD's superintendent a year ago, as conservator/monitor after the district "failed to provide an adequate accounting system of the $23 million in FEMA funds it received after tropical storm Allison." (SOURCE--KHOU TV) 3. Patty Pinkley, who teaches technology applications, did not receive any working computers until March. (SOURCE--Houston Chronicle) 4. Charges of TAKS cheating emerged this past year: |
| "Does Forest Brook High School have a TAKS cheating problem? It depends whom you believe. But new evidence points to yes. Despite highly suspicious test scores, a February report by the Texas Education Agency declared the Houston school cheating-free – largely because school officials, when asked, said they were unaware of any wrongdoing on their campus. But last month, a Dallas Morning News statistical analysis found that Forest Brook had one of the worst cheating problems in Texas. Looking at two years of scores, the analysis found more than 350 TAKS answer sheets had answer patterns that were suspiciously similar – in some cases identical – to those of at least one classmate. Now, newly released test scores give further support to the idea. This spring, the state required outside monitors to oversee TAKS testing at Forest Brook. They watched over every stage of the testing process in an attempt to prevent any potential misdeeds. The result? Under outside scrutiny, the school’s scores collapsed." (SOURCE--Josh Benton--July 21, 2007/Dallas Morning News) |
| And now comes former Houston ISD supe and former USDOE edu-secretary Rod Paige offering to help--in exchange for fees and costs for his corporation, Chartwell Education Group LLC-- prompting questions from folks in the Houston area and across |
| Texas. I have today emailed these to Rod and John Grimaldi, his PR guy at Chart- well; will be posting their response(s) as soon as possible if and when received: |
| NFISD spending: $16,301* per student Money's not the issue in NFISD-- as it rarely if ever is anywhere else, either. It's how those dollars are spent that is the issue. NFISD parents and taxpayers can take heart: the district was among the first 10% in Texas to voluntarily post its check register online. And hats off to North Forest's Lakewood Elementary for not being afraid last year to call its Christmas tree just that on its website rather than a "holiday tree" or some other nonsense: |
| * SOURCE: TEA - PEIMS (2005-06 actual financial data reports). |
| QUESTION #2: What repercussions if any are there for administrators regarding the reporting of sexual abuse of students on a public school campus? |
| Lake Travis' supe speaks: what is he really saying? By Peyton Wolcott Updated Mon., Dec. 10, 2007-12:07 a.m. |
| LTISD supe Rocky Kirk (below) has left the periwinkles behind long enough to send the following SLAPP update to his community via a press release from the district's new PR guy: |
| ALABAMA Why did former AL supe-of-the-year Harold Dodge allow his Mobile adminis- trators to ask for party money--from district vendors? By Peyton Wolcott, Sat., Dec., 2007 - Noon |
| My first inkling that our public schools were eating steak on the taxpayers' dime was a viewing of public spending records from the tenure of then-Marble Falls ISD |
| supe Dana Marable (more, below right). A trustee had mentioned at a school board meeting something to the effect that Dana had been really nice to feed the trustees steak |
| while attending training sessions at her ranch; imagine my surprise to later see the grocery store receipt for those same steaks. My immediate reaction was to wonder why they needed to eat steak--and to ask whether they couldn't have all brought a can of tuna fish from home and made a communal salad instead. |
| Dana Marable |
| Now from Mobile, Alabama comes news that administrators solicited money for parties from their district's vendors: |
| To pay for food, entertainment and door prizes at various events, Mobile County school system representatives solicited and received thousands of dollars in donations from companies doing business with the system. That included $1,100 worth of Wal-Mart gift certificates for attendees at one teacher workshop, a $4,350 catered lunch at the same workshop, and a disc jockey at another event, according to records obtained by the Press-Register. Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson Jr. said last week that he is investigating the fundraising but declined to provide details. "A public entity cannot do that," said Hugh Evans, general counsel for the Alabama Ethics Commission, after being told last week about the school system solicitations. Evans said that while he could not comment on the Mobile County case specifically, "if they were to contact me about it, I would strenuously encourage them to stop that. The bottom line is that you cannot solicit anything of value from anyone who does business with you." In May, Mobile County school officials stopped the solicitations under instructions of the system's chief financial officer, Dinish Simpson. In fact, the system has returned $5,600 in checks to various businesses since school officials began reviewing the practice. (SOURCE--Rena Havner/ Mobile Press-Register |
| PENNSYLVANIA Supe Joe Lewis and Beth-meth principal John Acerra: a joint legacy By Peyton Wolcott Saturday, December 8, 2007 - 1 pm |
| Outcome Dodge's contract has not been renewed; Ingram is now Fairfield Couty supe in South Carolina; and Annie Crandle, their former ass't supe in Mobile, is the subject of a complaint which has been forwarded from the state ethics commission to the Mobile County DA. (Ibid.) Although at one point Crandle was reportedly working with Ingram at FCS, Crandle's name does not currently appear on the FCS employee roster. |
| o How many $1,050 Apple laptops are missing from Bethlehem schools--100, or just 75? We have no way of knowing as Lewis has declined to disclose details until January. o Bethlehem teacher/girls basket- ball coach Peter DiGirolamo, charged with "aggravated assault, simple assault, reckless endangerment, terroristic threats and harassment" of his former girlfriend, is free on $25,000 bail and on unpaid administrative leave from the district. (SOURCE--Steve Esack/Allentown Morning Call) o Last October, Lewis faced "a possible reprimand from the board over accusations that he secretly authorized payment of a $60,670 lawyers' bill" related to for the Acerra investigation without board approval. (Ibid.) o Things were going so well for Lewis prior to Acerra's arrest that "the school board in September 2006 awarded Lewis a five-year contract extension worth at least $1 million, even though the district's tests scores required under the federal No Child Left Behind Act continued to slide during his tenure, which began in 2002...At a committee meeting in August, Lewis outlined his five goals for 2007 and asked for board input.... [In response, trustees] Loretta Leeson, Judith Dexter and Director Michele Cann handed out their own [more quantifiable] set of goals and Lewis got defensive." (Ibid.) o Lewis has "blasted state legis- lators, saying they lacked the poli- cal courage and 'intestinal forti- tude' to increase state income and sales taxes." (SOURCE--Keystone Politics) Kill the messenger Wondering if this approach has been successful for Joe Lewis: |
| The fall-out from Beth- lehem, PA elementary principal John Acerra's arrest last February for using and dealing meth from his office at school (he's now serv- ing 2-4 years in prison) continues. Although superintendent Joseph Lewis still has his job (his contract renewed in March on a 4-3 vote), he's lost control of his board. Other issues: |
| John Acerra (top); Joseph Lewis |
| In a phone interview [with a reporter], Lewis declined to talk about Acerra's record as an administrator. "That is none of your business," he said. "You can dig all you want. I'm a little tired of how The Morning Call is besmirching this district." Then he hung up. (Esack/AMC) |
| On November 29, 2007, Texas’ Third Court of Appeals issued its ruling regarding the suit brought by Lake Travis Independent School District against David and Melissa Lovelace, declining to intervene on the District’s behalf. LTISD was seeking relief from the Court for what District officials are calling abuse of the Texas Public Information Act. Through the lawsuit, the District sought to prove that the Lovelaces harassed, besieged, and attacked the District by abusing the TPIA, consequently creating a detriment to District taxpayers as well as compromising the District’s ability to operate effectively and efficiently on behalf of its 5,500 students. The Court’s decision redirects the District to the Texas Legislature, stating that “…the appropriate remedy for abuses related to the PIA must be provided by the legislature within the statutory framework.” In September 2006, the month that the District filed suit, the District had responded to approximately 2,274 PIA requests, producing over 120,000 pages of documents. Between August 2005 and September 2006, the District estimated that it had incurred approximately $700,000 in direct and indirect costs responding to all of the Lovelaces’ requests and complaints. To date, the District has received approximately 1,100 more TPIA requests from the Lovelaces, for a total of over 3,300 TPIA requests. During the 79th Legislative Session, which ended in May 2007, the District was instrumental in helping revise the TPIA to mitigate the effects of abuse of the statute. LTISD worked with legislative representatives to revise the TPIA due to a sustained pattern of abuse of the TPIA. LTISD General Counsel Susan Bohn stated that there is still work to do in the Legislature to ensure that the kind of abuse experienced by the District is balanced with citizens’ right to information. “I am grateful for the work of legislators during the last ses- sion, and, in time, I hope that the Legislature will find a way to strike a proper and reasonable balance that protects the very important need for open government with the great harm that can be done when a person or persons so abuse that right that it significantly impacts the operational and financial integrity of a governmental entity,” said Bohn. |
| "Still work to do" Might this mean Rocky's putting LTISD's check register online? Can we perchance take this as encouragement that Rocky's 701 code PEIMS expenses including receipts will be online soon? Is this sort of voluntary accounta- bility what Rocky means? |
| CALIFORNIA Where were Murrieta Valley supe Stan Scheer and principal Renate Jefferson when their cafeteria worker embezzled $260,000? By Peyton Wolcott Sunday, December 9, 2007 - 12:16 a.m. |
| Stan Scheer (L); Renate Jefferson |
| budget for food services within the school district. 'This is really quite a large operation,' " [district spokesman Karen] Parris said. In the position of kitchen lead at the high school, Ignacio oversaw 17 employees and was responsible for ordering food, the sales and preparation of food, and turning in daily cash receipts, Parris said." (SOURCE--John Hill/North County Times) |
| Karen Parris "said there are several processes in place to prevent thefts of food service money and that Ignacio 'was very familiar with all of them.' Murrieta police Detective Sgt. Jim Ganley said part of Ignacio's job was to |
| QUESTION: Who's job was it to doublecheck that the cash bags were sealed and locked? Who was supposed to oversee Ignacio? |
| Murrieta High School pool (above right) |
| take care of the money bags containing cash that were turned in each day. 'The bags were supposed to all be sealed and locked, but many were not,' Ganley said. 'She noticed that, didn't report it and took advantage of it.' "According to the investigation, Ignacio removed cash from the bags and changed the dollar amount on paperwork with each bag so it didn't appear anything had been stolen, Ganley said. "From April 2006 through last month, Ignacio was able to take an estimated $260,000 cash, the sergeant said. Detectives believe Ignacio sent large portions of the money to relatives in the Philippines, used a substantial amount to gamble at area Indian casinos and paid some minor bills with the cash." (Ibid.) |
| TEXAS - TEA / Chris Comer Was this employee 'fired over evolution'-- or for 'misconduct, insubordination' issues? By Peyton Wolcott Updated Monday, December 17, 2007 - 11:17 a.m. |
| From California, a stunningly frank admission from a district PR gal regarding Wilhelmina De Guzman Ignacio's taking over a quarter of a million dollars from the district's food service operation, of which she was kitchen lead. "Although the estimated $260,000 loss is a substantial amount, it has not affected the large $5.2 million annual |
| Me? I'm following the money. When the New York Times mentions "particular ramifications for the multibillion-dollar textbook industry," we all need take heed. |
| A namely clearing up of things Our most basic public identifier is our name; the Chris Comer we've been reading about in the news lately appears to go by a variety of monikers in things educational: |
| "Terminated for a series of unauthorized presentations at professional meetings and other reported transgressions" is how the New York Times reported TEA science director Chris Comer's recent departure from the Agency. Liberal educators and their friends in the press, print mostly, have instead chosen to frame Comer as a victim of preaching Darwin's theory of evolution, a martyr to the religious right's theory of intelligent design, thereby more or less morphing a personnel issue into the first salvo in the upcoming February Texas SBOE biology textbook adoption wars. |
| Chris Comer speaking at 2005 TCES conference (PHOTO--TCES) |
| Radio archive - TX Ed. Comm. Robert Scott re online checks |
| o Chris Comer (TEA) o Christina Amanda Comer (State Board of Educator Certification certificate) o Chris Castillo-Comer (TEA) o Chris Castillo Comer (TEA, no hyphen - 4/26/06 TSELA conference PowerPoint) |
| Another money trail I'm also asking to view public records at TEA regarding its policies governing employee attendance at conferences and symposiums, such as the ones in the photographs on this page, and seminars, including rules and guidance to TEA employees regarding honorariums, fees and side consulting. I have also asked to view monies under Chris Comer's direct control, 2003 to present, including departmental budget(s) and her expenses for travel and meals. Oh, and her calendar. |
| It appears that Chris didn't like TEA's rules, including those regarding teaching 3.a. of the TEKS, but that's how it goes when you work for someone else, especially as an at-will employee. Here's hoping other TEA employees with misconduct and insubordination issues similar to the ones the NYT references are taking note. |
______________
| on 29 Nov 2007 at 9:37 pm 9.carlsonjok said … They did cite a few other “reasons” in the story, but it doesn’t seem at this point as if any of them rise up to a fireable offence. Which is what Comer meant when she said “None of the other reasons they gave are, in and of themselves, firing offenses.” And, certainly, that is true. Individual incidents that lead up to disciplinary actions rarely are firing offenses….in and of themselves. It is a pattern of such behavior that lead to termination. I have been a people manager in both union and professional environments, and I come at this with what is probably a different perspective than y’all. And I see enough in the article, and the disciplinary action memo, to give me pause before making Comer a cause celeb. If we take the article as true, then there is a pattern of acting contrary to her supervisor’s direction. A pattern that she does not deny. Furthermore, the part of the Statesman article addressing her comments about the acting commissioner are problematic. She states, on one hand, that she doesn’t remember making the statement and, on the other hand, she was misconstrued. You can’t have it both ways. If your position is that you don’t remember making a statement, then you cannot dispute that someone’s interpretation is not what you meant. Additionally, the answer to her question “is that so horrible?” is yes, it was. In any organization, you just do not make public statements undermining your superiors and expect nothing to happen. Now, I will gladly concede that perhaps this was all a pretext by anti-evolutionists to silence a pro-science voice ahead the curriculum review. But, as a professional manager, I am stating that the statement of record are not as clear cut as you might like them to be. If I was Comer, I wouldn’t feel real good about my chances in arbitration if her superiors at TEA can document the allegations laid out in the letter. And, as a manager, I am willing to bet they can. |
| In researching this I found the following on the Austringer blog; while the other entries appear to be uniformly along the lines of the Darwin v. ID debate, this one addresses the personnel issues: |
| Rather than risk a false assumption, I have also sought clarification from TEA including SBEC regarding Chris Comer's identity. |
| Something significant happened Friday when the SBOE took a good, hard look at McGraw-Hill's Everyday Math product (below). |
| Congratulations and a big pat on the back to Hector Montenegro and Ysleta ISD for posting YISD's check register online! By Peyton Wolcott Tuesday, December 11, 2007 - 2:53 a.m. |
| Ysleta ISD training video |
| Darwin v. ID -- or employee insubordination? |
| 'In 2003, Comer was put on disciplinary probation for one year after she accepted travel reimburse- ment from grants that she was responsible for administering . . . . In separate reviews, she was chastised for spending too much time at conferences.' |
| Hats off to Laura Heinaurer and the Austin American-Statesman for following the money trail; quote above right appeared on page 5B of Metro yesterday. |
| Like we keep saying, let's keep following the money By Peyton Wolcott Updated Thur., Dec. 13, 2007-12:03 am |
| If there's one thing we can say to be true in re public education, it's that when something comes up that seems confusing or cloudy or murky, generally the quickest way to find out what's really going on is to simply follow the money. It's good to see that in addition to Harvey Kronberg's work this week, our friends at the Austin American- Statesman have also followed the money. |
| NOTE: We are not asking school districts to post salary or HIPAA-related dollars. |
| Just how scientific are the academics signing the pro-Comer petition? By Peyton Wolcott Thur., Dec. 13, 2007-12:06 a.m. |
| Daniel Bolnick |
| It's a bit alarming that so many academics have waded into the Chris Comer fray, signing a petition to TEA without appearing to have first gotten the facts. I do not pretend to be a scientist, but from what I recall that's one of the first steps in the scientific method, getting the facts, such as what the law says TEA can and cannot do. Biologists' footnote But first, has anyone noticed the first footnote in the Dec. 10, 2007 petitionary letter? A reader has just brought this to my attention: |
| (3) Scientific processes. The student uses critical thinking and scientific problem solving to make informed decisions. The student is expected to: (A) analyze, review, and critique scientific explanations, including hypotheses and theories, as to their strengths and weaknesses using scientific evidence and information; |
| Among the questions I'm asking at TEA: |
| NOTE: I am querying Daniel via email, asking among other things about that first footnote. And, oh, also asking whether he's read, Charles Mackay's "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds," especially the chapter, "Tulipomania." Speaking of which, also asking his position on global warming. |
| Which conferences has Chris Comer attended since 2003? How were Chris Comer's expenses for conferences paid, and by whom, and what were the details including receipts? What are TEA's guidelines regarding employees re honorariums, fees, gratuities, gifts, etc. from vendors? |
| SBEC UPDATE: TEA has confirmedthat Comer's SBEC certificate is still under the name "Christina Amanda Comer," not "Chris Castillo -Comer" as her name appears on various docu- ments including a TCES PowerPoint presentation. Said a spokes- man, "We do expect an educator to also notify SBEC of a name change or any other changes to their file in an expedient manner." Oops. |
| Interesting that this group of petitioners would take care to include such a proviso as the one above but apparently not expect such due diligence from TEA employees. Now, then. Wouldn't any gathering of facts start with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) governing all things TEA? They state: |
| "The opinions expressed in this letter are not necessarily those of our Universities, but rather our own professional opinions as Ph.D. biologists." |
| Hats off to Harvey Kronberg for this new "Quorum Report" headline: |
| "Comer out on a history of problems, not evolution" |
| Harvey also deserves credit for some real |
| investigative journalism, reminding us about Comer's former business partner, Joan Drennan-Taylor (below left, in white jacket and bracelet handcuffs, in court in 2005). |
| 2005 PHOTO CAPTION: District 9 trustee James Rindfuss speaks to Joan Drennan-Taylor on behalf of victims after District 144 Judge Mark R. Luitjen sentenced her to eight years at the Bexar County Courthouse. (PHOTO--Shelia Renee Chancellor/The Ranger) |
| been managing at the agency. An internal audit by TEA noted that Alamo Community College paid Comer on a grant she managed, a kind of double-dipping that is prohibited by the agency. Comer insisted the payments were for travel expenses, although she could not provide receipts. “You stated that you had not seen the Consultant Service forms, and that the forms had been signed on your behalf by an ACCD employee,” Smisko wrote of the payment. “You also stated that you were not aware that the travel expenses had been paid from the grants that you were responsible for administering. You indicated the ACCD Director had given you the impression that the expenses were paid by the Foundation, rather than ACCD. However, the payment vouchers clearly state Alamo Community College District, and the voucher stubs specify a code for the source of the funds.” Smisko goes on to say that if Comer had accepted money through ACCD from the grant and subcontract as a consultant, it would be a violation of government code.... If this acceptance of outside pay had been willful – and not just a paperwork mistake – it would have been a violation of law. This would have been especially problematic to the agency because these funds, ultimately, were tied to grants that flowed through a math and science education program at Alamo Com- munity College run by Joan Drennan- Taylor. TEA grant money flowed to this program to host conferences. Drennan-Taylor was Comer’s former supervisor and one of three references on Comer’s original application to the agency. She was a co-host on TEA-funded conferences with Comer. She also was eventually convicted, in 2005, of embezzling almost $1 million from the college district. Drennan-Taylor was sentenced to eight years in prison. TEA likely had suspicions about just how much Comer benefited financially from her relationship to Drennan-Taylor, but they never tied down those suspi- cions with facts or documentation. As it says in the letter of reprimand about grant payments, “Some of the documents necessary to a complete investigation of these matters are currently unavailable due to the grand jury investigation involving the ACCD and the San Antonio Education Foundation. For this reason, the Internal Audit investi- gation has not been concluded, and it will continue when additional records are released,” Smisko wrote. |
| More from Harvey regarding Comer's background with Drennan-Taylor, this from Comer's TEA personnel file: |
| In 2003, Comer receives her most serious reprimand, from then-Associate Commissioner Ann Smisko. In most cases, the progression of discipline for an employee is a letter of counseling and then a letter of reprimand and then termination. In the June memo, agency officials have chosen a serious letter of reprimand to warn [Comer] about accepting payments from the grants that she has |
| Link to Quorum Report here. |
| SOUTH DAKOTA School board member arrested: employee theft By Peyton Wolcott Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - 6:21 a.m. |
| Difficult as it may be to discharge erring employees, public school superintendents--and the communities they serve--run into a brick wall of sorts when school board members are arrested. |
| Logo (L) for Eric Christensen's former employer; below left, Bright Beginnings Day Care; Christensen at school board meeting (R) (PHOTO--Daily Republic) |
| Joe Graves |
| Such is the place Mitchell School District superintendent Joe Graves finds himself in currently--or, more |
| accurately put, between a rock and a hard place, the rock being South Dakota law, and the hard place being community outrage that their elected trustee might be allowed to continue to vote |
| on school board matters. Reports Perry Groten of Keloland TV: |
| Court papers say Christensen had been stealing from Dakota Ag Innovations from January 2004 to September of this year. The superintendent says the allegations could be a black eye for the school board. Graves said, "There will be people who say what's good for the goose is good for the gander in terms of school discipline. People are going to have to understand there are different levels here and that this person's position is responsible ultimately to the voters." Because Christensen is an elected official, it's his call whether to resign from office. The school board can dismiss him only if there's a con- viction. "If anything is to happen it is up to Mr. Christensen and of course the board is not at this point asking for anything like that, it's really quite up in the air and needs to go through the legal processes." |
| The brightest spot in all this is that Mitchell's check register is online, the first school district to do so in South Dakota. I have spoken by telephone with Joe Graves and will be posting his comments later tonight. Hats off, Joe! |
| o On July 16, 2007, purchase $239.99 worth of supplies from the Quill Corp., ranging from printer cartridges to antiseptic soap refills, all of which was shipped to Bright Beginnings. o On March 17, 2006, purchase a $359.98 office printer, which was shipped to Bright Beginnings. o On Dec. 5, 2006, purchase a laserjet fax/copier, ink cartridges and several DVD movies, the total for which came to $663.52, and all of which was shipped to Bright Beginnings. o Pay for the Web sites ericchristensen.com and brightbeginnings.com. Also, he is accused of using Dakota Ag Innovations money to pay off a bill with The Daily Republic for $630, which matches the amount Christensen said he owed for advertising during his successful school board campaign, according to the campaign finance report he filed with the Mitchell School District. All told, the total amount that Christensen is accused of improperly spending comes to $2,344. (SOURCE-- Sarah Dittmer/Mitchell Daily Republic) |
| No, this is not a real Haeckel's Embryos Award--there's no such thing; it's former TEA Science director Chris Comer with her Texas Council of Elementary Science award (inset): here's the TCES caption: "REBECCA SPARKS AWARDEE FOR SCIENCE LEADERSHIP-- Chris Castillo-Comer, Director of Science, Texas Education Agency. Chris was formerly with the Urban Systemic Initiative in San Antonio. She taught in the San Antonio ISD as a middle school science teacher prior to assuming the position of Director of Science for the TEA. Chris has been a strong supporter of elementary science teachers. She is also a great friend to TCES, giving freely of her time to address our group at CAST and at our annual Science Leadership Symposiums. Our membership benefits from the information she shares each time she addresses our group." |
| After surrounding themselves with hand-picked "yes" men/women, superintendents often seem genuinely perplexed when community opposition surfaces for any reason. Chris B. comments in the Capistrano Dispatch, "Nearly anyone can tear something down, and it takes a real leader to influence a community to come together to build." Chris B. is right. Too often when we bring legitimate questions and complaints to our public schools we do not at the same time present a clear solution, making it easy for supes and our community to see and hear "attack." What's our positive vision for our schools? Our end game? Mine's simple: Better education for less money. |
| "What do you people want?" |
| Austin - Oct. 26, 2006 |
| Hats off to Chris Comer! By Peyton Wolcott - Updated Monday, December 17, 2007 - 10:36 a..m. |
| Washington, D.C. |
| You've got to hand it to TEA's former science director. For now at least, Chris Comer appears to have success- fully moved the attention of the nation's press away from the real issues behind her recent resigna- tion from the Texas Edu- cation Agency (years of misconduct and insubor- dination charges) and onto something else entirely: Darwin's theory of evolution versus intelli- gent design. (ERRATA: Earlier, I misreported that ID is another name for creationism; it isn't.) In fairness to Chris, maybe moving the issue into the political arena wasn't all that difficult; after all, when is the last time you can recall our friends in print defending a conservative point of view? Having informally canvassed a number of friends this week, we've all come up dry. |
| For the Texas Freedom Network and the liberal press (i.e., the "Sisterhood") to create a national controversy which is meant to tear down the influence of pro-family conservatives, the first thing the Sisterhood has to find is a "victim." That person has been found -- Chris Comer, the Texas Education Agency's science curriculum director whom the Sisterhood deliberately represents as a noble and courageous evolutionist who was unjustly fired by the mean old TEA managers . . . . In the coming weeks, I foresee more information will surface, showing that Comer was a TEA staffer who demonstrated a pattern of insubordination, unethical behavior, and perhaps even illegal activities. When and if that information surfaces, undoubtedly it will be relegated to the back pages of the newspapers. In an effort to try to counter some of the controversy and misinformation over the evolution vs. creationism hype in Texas, let me state the facts: The Texas Administrative Code in conjunction with the Texas Education Code require public school teachers to teach students the pros and cons of scientific hypotheses and theories. o put it another way, this means that teachers are to teach their students to analyze, review, and critique the naturalistic strengths and weaknesses of naturalistic hypotheses and theories. That's it. No more, no less. Done. El Fin. No controversy. Finished. The Texas State Board of Education, the Texas Education Agency, Texas public school/P-12 teachers, and textbook publishers who provide textbooks for Texas public schools must follow the mandate which is prescribed in the Texas legal codes. Texas college and university professors need to do their homework, read the codes for themselves, and quit listening to the hype . . . . Texas P-12 public schools must live by the codes. |
| As I've mentioned before, I'm following the money. In addition to the questions I've already asked (scroll down), here are some new areas to look into regarding Chris Comer's participation in the following Texas science education groups, associations, councils and other organizations. (Who knew we needed so many?) |
| Meanwhile, our friend Donna Garner has another take on the Comer controversy. The following is from her essay "How To Create a National Controversy: Evolution vs. Creationism," which published last week: |
| NSTA - National Science Teachers Association; STAT - Science Teachers Association of Texas; CESI - Council of Elementary Science International; TMEA - Texas Marine Educators Association Also: Excellence in Science, Technology and Mathematics Education Week; National Center for Science Education; National Science Education Leadership Association; NSTA Building a Presence for Science; Science Benchmarks- Region IV; Science Teacher's Association of Texas; Science TEKS Toolkit; Texas Citizens for Science; and, Texas Science Center. |
| And here's another Texas science-related group to look into: The Texas Science Hall of Fame, which was founded "by the Alamo Community College District's Center for Leadership Science, Mathematics and Technology" with the purpose of honoring "Texan scientists who have impacted the world and inspire others to do the same." Said Joan Drennan-Taylor, former Hall of Fame project director, in 2001, "We are a society that worships role models, and we want young children to look to the world of academia." (SOURCE--Cari Hammerstrom/The Daily Texan) Speaking of role models, you recall Drennan-Taylor, Chris Comer's former business partner (more below), now in prison for embezzling from her employer, the Alamo Community College District. Here's another interesting tie between the two: At "The Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills and You" TEA Science Update at the Texas Rural Systemic Initiative's Critical Issues Conference on Dec. 4, 2001, a PowerPoint presentation by "Chris Castillo-Comer, Director of Science, Division of Curriculum and Professional Development," her PowerPoint's "Who To Contact" list includes, under the Comprehensive Assessment Training in Science (CATS) Project, "Joan Drennan- Taylor" at her then-Alamo Community College District email address, dtaylor@accd.edu. |
| Joan Drennan-Taylor (second from left) at Texas Science Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony 1.21.02 at Texas Science Summit in San Antonio; Drennan-Taylor three years later in court (below in white) at sentencing before going to prison for embezzling. (PHOTO--Shelia Renee Chancellor/The Ranger) |
| Haeckel Embryos Award |
| 12.20.07 UPDATE: In response to my query, TEA has produced Chris Comer's personnel file and I will be posting my findings this next week. Although I have queried Chris via her TEA email, I realize she may no longer be able to access such; unfortunately, have been unable to find any other email address for her. --PW (PHOTO--Chris Comer at TCES conference/PHOTOCREDIT: TCES) |
| Divisive as something like this can be in a large district, its happening in a small town worsens the awkwardness. Eric's brother Jason continues to work at Dakota Ag as an account executive, and townspeople continue to bump into each other dropping off and picking up their kids at Bright Beginnings, the day-care business Eric owns with his wife Amy. Charges against Eric: |
| SOUTH DAKOTA Arrested school board member update By Peyton Wolcott Wednesday, December 19, 2007 - 8:19 a.m. Despite a recent arrest (two counts of grand theft: stealing from his former employer, Dakota Ag Innovations), Mitchell School District board member Eric Christensen attended last night's board meeting, which included votes by the board on district spending. Here's this morning's Daily Republic headline: |
| Board breezes through brief agenda; Christensen attends and declines comment on legal matters. |
| MISSOURI Time for KC's supe Anthony Amato to don his running shoes--again? By Peyton Wolcott Wednesday, December 19, 2007 - 11:08 a.m. |
| Like many, I am hoping Anthony Amato will bring new creativity and a new direction to the Kansas City School District. I have been impressed with his early efforts, particularly the plan to blend most middle schools into the elementary schools. A storm cloud has appeared, however, in the person of William F. Coleman III, the ousted Detroit superintendent who has been charged in Dallas with accepting bribes in return for arranging computer contracts. Amato hired Coleman two months ago as chief operations officer. He told The Star that he “knew absolutely nothing” about the pending problem in Texas when he hired Coleman (6/1, Local). Unfortunately, this has all the hallmarks of past administrations, where high-ranking officials with problematic backgrounds (even superintendents) were hired, ultimately to the detriment of the district. As Joe Robertson pointed out in his article, “A simple Internet search of news articles ... would have revealed that Coleman was a longtime friend and associate of a co-defendant in Dallas who was the subject of highly publicized allegations of fraud.” I’m afraid that Amato either had his head in the sand or simply failed to do any checking whatsoever on Coleman before hiring him. Doesn’t bode well, does it? (SOURCE--Kansas City Star/Letters) |
| Kansas City superintendent Anthony Amato (DRAWING--Willamette Weekly; PHOTO--AP) |
| Judging from his job history (below), it appears that Anthony Amato might be entering familiar time-to-update-the-resume- employment territory. The former ERDI consultant is now on the hot seat at his current post in Kansas City for alleged "unconscionable" references to two school board members: "A community based group is demanding administra- tive leave of the superintendent of the Kansas City, Mo., school district due to a complaint that he referred to two African American KCMSD board members as “bitches.” (SOURCE--Audrey McKinney/The KC Call) |
| Mobile supe Harold Dodge (L); former Mobile deputy supe Samantha Ingram (R) |
| New York - superintendent Community School District (2 years) Connecticut - superintendent, Hartford Public Schools (2 1/2 years) Hawaii - superintendent finalist, Hawaii Public Schools Oregon - superintendent finalist, Portland Public Schools (March 2002) Illinois - superintendent finalist, Elgin School District U-46 Louisiana - superintendent, New Orleans PS (Feb. 2003 - May 2005) Florida - superintendent finalist, Hillsborough County School District (Tampa) (May 2005) Missouri - superintendent, Kansas City Public Schools |
| A brief synopsis of Amato's hopscotch across the American public education landscape: |
| This has not been Amato's first brush with trouble in KC; this past summer he was on the hot seat for having hired former Detroit supe William F. Coleman. Jim Fitzpat- rick of KC wrote in June: |
| The truth about homework Kansas City’s new school superintendent recently told students they all would be getting homework every day. “Blame me,” he said. (8/29, Local, “School starts on upbeat note: Change is in the air as new Superintendent Anthony Amato visits eight schools”). Oh, I know that gave every current and former Kansas City School District teacher a big laugh! Hey, Mr. Expensive Know-It-All Supe: Have you ever heard the phrase about leading a horse to water? You can give kids all the homework you want. But, as a former district teacher, I can tell you they won’t do it. And what will you do if they don’t? What would a teacher do if the next day all 25 students fail to turn in their homework? (Yep, it happens.) Give an F to the whole class, right? And what percentage of their grade will this said homework be? What methods are in place to make sure all teachers give homework? Then how will you make sure that homework is graded and recorded even if most kids don’t do it? Welcome to reality! Brad Hansen Overland Park September 04, 2006 (SOURCE--Ibid.) |
| Wm. Coleman (PHOTO--Detroit Free Press) |
| Here's more from another local resident, this time regarding Anthony Amato's intended reforms: |
| 11. Fearlessly willing to spend their taxpayers' money, LTISD's board agreed to appeal Thompson's loss. Texas' Third Court of Appeals, for the record, is require to hear all comers. LTISD's appeal was presented not by Thompson but by a Bracewell subordinate partner, Chris Gilbert, who lost the appeal to the Lovelace's Jason Ray (statement below right) of Riggs & Aleshire. |
| Why D.C. is a good example--on so many levels, in so many ways--of why I recommend asking for receipts By Peyton Wolcott Updated Friday, December 21, 2007 - 8:29 a.m. |
| DC tax office--Harriette Walters "wearing her tax office employee badge and one many dresses purchased from Neiman Marcus." (PHOTO SOURCE/CAPTION-- Chris Pearson/WordPress) |
| After looking at more school districts in our great nation than anyone in their right mind could imagine for many years now, one thing has become obvious to me: If a district is troubled in one area, it's going to have problems in other areas also. To illustrate, In one district alone--within, let's be generous, call it four or five years--there was an incident involving fourth-grade boys having oral |
| sex in the classroom (with the teacher present), plus questions regarding the administration's reporting of the incident. In the same district, the superintendent declined to require a high school fund raising chair to produce detailed financials; the chair's family home was later lost to a bank. The |
| DC teachers' union Barbara Bullock (top); Gwendolyn Hemphill (SOURCE--UnionFacts.com) |
| administration denied rumored drug use at the high school. An elementary secretary was arrested and sent to jail after she couldn't account for thousands of dollars in book fair money. The superintendent put a high dollar ($426) price tag on a parent's request for information regarding the district's spend- ing on programs. Later, a state audit to no one's surprise recommended that the district institute tighter internal controls. By contrast, in a well-run district, where internal controls are in place and enforced, things work. There's a flow. And you're not likely to find many $35 valet parking receipts for the superinten- dents' latest stay at the latest education conference. |
| By the same token, in towns where there are problems with the schools all too often we've also seen other governmental problems surface. |
| Given Washington, D.C.'s scandals over the past few years with first their teachers' union and now their tax office, the best and kindest thing an alert citizen can do there is ask Adrian Fenty to open up the schools' books to dollar-by-dollar scrutiny. No pie charts, no general budget numbers. We're talking specifics, and we're talking receipts. And the best place to start would be to ask the mayor to post DC schools' check register online. |
| Adrian Fenty (PHOTO--Ceneta/AP) |
| Seeing a pattern here: Recom- mending argyle socks, sweaters, TAKS security for Argyle HS By Peyton Wolcott Updated Fri., Dec. 21, 2007 - 7:30 a.m. |
| Jeff Henry (L), Brian Lee Davidson (R) |
| For a small 3A district in northeast Texas Argyle High School has had its fair share of press exposure lately. First it was then-AHS principal Jeff Henry who was fired last year for allegedly allowing the release of TAKS test scores to "students who were working in the school office." (SOURCE--Sarah Chacko/Denton Record-Chronicle) Following Henry's departure, AHS assistant principal Jeff Butts was promoted to fill his shoes, then this past May a new supe was hired, Jason Ceyanes. At this fall's homecoming dance there were issues regarding student dress--boys wanted to be able to take their shirts off and girls wanted to be able to show their midriffs and cleavage--and they also wanted to be able to make simulated sex dance moves. You know, like they see in the movies. Committee meetings were held and it's been agreed that the boys have to keep their shirts on no matter how hot they get and girls can't show midriffs or cleavage. |
| Does this mean that suggestive moves are okay for teachers but not for students? Or, put another way: Yuck. |
| "Davidson sent a 16-year-old female student several text messages with sexual content in them and made sexual comments to her on the telephone. The victim reported that, while she was in class, Davidson called a substitute teacher and asked her to send the student to his classroom, according to the affidavit. 'Mr. Davidson touched her on the leg and kissed her on the ear and cheek. The victim said that he got behind her and grabbed her pigtails and pulled her toward him, acting out a sexual position,' the affidavit stated." (SOURCE--Amy Dodd Thompson/The Dallas Morning News) |
| Wish Jason had taken similar care with spelling out behavioral expectations for his teachers. AHS head tennis coach Brian Davidson was |
| Jason Ceyanes |
| arrested Monday; according to a police affidavit: |
| Per most recent 2005-06 TEA actuals, Argyle ISD has 1628 students, total receipts/all funds of $16,320,330 and spends $10,025/student. |
___
____
| Is Argyle ISD's accounta- bility only for students, not teachers & taxpayers? Have this morning sent the fol- lowing query to Jason Ceyanes: |
| Also, we note with disappoint- ment that Argyle ISD's check register does not appear to be posted online. So much for AISD administration's sense of accountability to the folks funding the district. Perhaps Jason's in the process. Hope springs eternal, and all things are possible. |
| You've been working at Argyle ISD since May. Has there been an occasion since you were hired where you assembled all of your teachers in one place and specifically said, "No inappropriate behavior with students, on or off campus"? And/or "Do not text message your students for any reason"? And/or "Do not touch your students in the classroom and only touch your students when absolutely necessary as part of your coaching responsibilities"? Regarding student dress and behavior at dances, you have my full support. My concern is that at so many of our schools administrators appear to be more closely monitoring student behavior than teacher behavior. |
| OPEN LETTER TO MAYOR FENTY, CHANCELLOR RHEE, CC: NATWAR GANDHI Wouldn't posting DC schools' check register online be the quickest way to restore the public's faith in your ability to administer your schools? By Peyton Wolcott - Sunday, December 23, 2007 - 9:00 a.m. |
| DC mayor Adrian Fenty (top) , DC deputy mayor/ public education Victor Reinoso, DC CFO Natwar Gandhi (PHOTOS--Ceneta/AP (T), Greg Whitesell/Examiner , Examinder.com |
| Dear Adrian, Michelle and Natwar: Please do the right thing for your schoolchildren, parents and taxpayers and put your schools' check register online. Northside ISD in San Antonio, Texas has a budget about the size of your schools, and NISD just last month put its check register online. Perhaps if you have questions regarding logistics you could contact their superintendent, John Folks. Thank you. -- Peyton |
| 4 people who can start restoring trust in DC schools by posting the DCPS checkbook online By Peyton Wolcott Wednesday, December 26, 2007 - 11:30 a.m. |
| DC schools chancellor Michelle Rhee (PHOTO--GregWhitesell/Examiner) |
| Faced with the same problems confronting most urban US districts, DC has tried the same unproven strategies again and again-- pouring more money into the |
| San Antonio's Northside ISD superintendent John Folks |
| to Michelle, Adrian, Victor and Natwar. A district the size of DC's size posting its |
| check register online would hardly be breaking new ground; Houston and Dallas ISD's have already done so, and San Antonio's Northside ISD went online last month. I have helpfully sent NISD's John Folks' email address to Michelle and crew should they have any questions as to logistics, community reaction and fallout. Encouragingly, through John's PR guy Pascual Gonzalez, NISD reports entirely positive results. |
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| INDIANA Anybody applauding the principal's post- supe's-holiday-party non-DUI ? By Peyton Wolcott Friday, December 28, 2007 - 4:15 a.m. |
| Fishers police officer's decision to take an intoxicated high school principal home instead of arresting him for drunken driving was the wrong one, Fishers Police Chief George Kehl said Thursday. "It doesn't make us look very good," said Kehl. He said an officer's discretion is a valuable tool but admitted he could not justify its use in the case involving Fishers High School Principal Scott Syverson. Syverson, who was stopped shortly after 1 a.m. Saturday while driving home from a Christmas party hosted by Hamilton Southeastern Schools Superintendent Concetta Raimondi, should have been arrested and taken to jail, Kehl said. Instead, the officer drove Syverson home. Kehl and Assistant Chief Mitch Thompson said the officer made a mistake in judgment, one that will be corrected with a revised policy. They said there was no directive from his superiors to be lenient. As a result, Kehl said, he is reviewing department policy on officers' use of discretionary authority, which in this instance allowed Syverson to avoid prosecution for operating a vehicle with a blood-alcohol content higher than 0.15, a Class A misdemeanor. Kehl said the breath test given to Syverson after he was stopped by officer Kevin Kobli showed his blood-alcohol content was 0.18.... The arrest occurred during a highly publicized period of drunken-driving enforcement, with extra officers volunteering to scour roadways for evidence of intoxication and arrest anyone who tested above the limit.....Raimondi said Thursday she was aware of the traffic stop, and she had notified School Board members. School Board member Diana Eaton said the superintendent told her Syverson was pulled over for swerving after he apparently bent down in his car to get something. She said Raimondi told her Syverson was not arrested, and she did not mention a breath test. (SOURCE--James A. Gillaspy/Indy Star) |
| (From left) Concetta Raimondi, Scott Syverson and George Kehl |
| Based on this morning's Indy Star reporting, it appears that Hamilton Southeastern Schools supe Con- cetta Raimondi served alcohol at her holiday party Friday night then allowed her guest and employee, high school principal Scott Syver- son, to drive home drunk, with .18 blood-alcohol content (.08 is con- sidered drunk). When Fishers police chief George Kehls' officers saw Syverson weaving, they drove him home rather than arresting him. Educators above the law? Parents and taxpayers and students have to be asking: Is Syverson above the law? And what is Raimondi's culpability for serving alcohol then allowing an employee guest to drive home drunk? Does it stop at "Oops"? |
| district with no discernible results--and now mayor Fenty has upped the ante by taking over the schools. The problem remains the same: A big pot of money ($1.3 billion annual budget, $2.3 billion refurbishment program) with little or no real oversight or accountability. Given the givens, the best and most effective move new chancellor Michelle Rhee can take, with encouragement from her mayor, her deputy mayor for public education, and her CFO, is to open up her district's books by voluntarily posting DC schools' check register online. While posting specific by-dollar spending will not be a cure-all, it will certainly be a great first step towards transparency and accountability, and one with terrific PR bene's for all four. To help get the ball rolling, I have today suggested this |
| Welcome to the National School District Honor Roll Est. 10.01.06 |
| U. S. R O S T E R |
| How to find your district's check registers: If there's no link on the home page, first try the district's business or finance page, or it may be listed under links or technology or community news. If the district is paying for TASB's BoardBook software, online check registers are a free feature, and can usually be found in the board packet for the most recent regular board meeting. |
| About www.PeytonWolcott.com I started this website as a means of sharing information no one else at the time would. Three or four years ago, stories about public schools were slim pickings indeed, most of them gussied up versions of schools' press releases. I work as a full-time volunteer to give parents and taxpayers the tools they need to make the changes which need to be made, and turn down kind offers of donations to this site in order to do this work free of ties and obligations. Making this information available in a user- friendly and attractive format is a continuing challenge, and I appreciate your patience. |
| 2007 in Review |
| Thank you, 2007 . . . and hello, 2008! By Peyton Wolcott Updated Friday, January 4, 2008 - 9:28 a.m. |
Developing . . . |
| A model for the nation: More about the San Antonio Triple Crown here _____ How 3 major school districts put their checks online . . . in 1 week! |
| New Texas Commissioner of Education Robert Scott (R) at Dec. 4, 2007 swearing in; Gov. Rick Perry (L) |
| Pot banging protesters in Venezuela (top) and Oaxaca (PHOTO CREDITS-- AP (top) and John Gibler) |
| protesting is now an offense punishable by three months in jail in Venezuela--it's not necessary for women in the U.S. to do this in order to right what we believe to be wrong in our culture. One, we live in a representational republic rather than a dictatorship or a corrupt republic. Two, unlike Latin America where the Napoleonic Code still rules and you have to prove your innocence--yes, Virginia, there are profound differences between the U.S. and our neighbors to the south--here we're innocent until proven guilty. |
| Three, we now have the gift of the Internet, for which I always say, "Thank God and Algore." So, here, then, is a fond and grateful look back at some of the education world's significant issues and occurrences in 2007 along with a glimpse at what likely lies ahead. |
| About the online school district check register project After many years in the grassroots school reform trenches and being involved in a number of FOIA-related issues with many districts in many states, I started the National School District Honor Roll here on my website on Oct. 1, 2006 as a means of encouraging school districts across America to voluntarily open up their books by putting their checkbooks online on their websites. By putting a name on this movement and compiling the national roster, I introduced PR to the notion of accountability. The roster at left has grown from this modest beginning in October 2006 to, as of this week, 134 districts in 11 states. Reluctantly, I have just recently posted a copyright notice over the school district check register roster; I think in all fairness to the newspaper reporters and think tank employees who have "borrowed" from my website without attribution this past year that they apparently assumed I'd gotten the roster full-blown from another source. For the record, there is no official source of any kind anywhere keeping track of which districts in which states have posted their check registers online. This roster at left is my work product; I started it 15 months ago with the names of 3-4 tiny Texas districts, in order to give form and function to what had been until that time a vague, occasionally suggested idea. Have added the names you now see one by one and will continue to do so. It has recently been brought to my attention that at least a couple of think tanks are giving themselves credit for the popularity of the online school district check register movement. When you Google "online school district check register" without quotes, there are 205,000 results -- with my site the first two listed. Please borrow as much information as you want and need from this site--and attribute your source, as I do. |
| 2. Online school district check registers-- an idea whose time is now I can't think of anything more fundamental to improving our schools than first being able to look at all of the |
| 4. Collapse of voucher efforts in Utah & Texas Although we've learned that throwing money at public education doesn't work, well-meaning and well-funded folks have been slow to learn that throwing money at public education reform doesn't work either. Utah has had $3 million of Patrick Byrne's money (Overstocks.com) and Texas $50 million-plus of Jim Leininger's (specialty hospital products) yet both states still lack vouchers. Utah and Texas are good examples of why change must start small, start local and start simple, and with lots of community support. The public school lobby is strong and entrenched and savvy, and to counter it takes a smarter effort than has yet been mounted. Despite Jim Leininger's having spent, God bless |
| 5. Conservative leadership in place at 3 key points in Texas With Rick Perry as governor, Don McLeroy as State Board of Education chair, and Robert Scott as commissioner of education, Texas is finally poised to start climbing out of the abyss into which we fell in the 90's. Probably the most significant single act the SBOE has undertaken was to veto McGraw-Hill's Everyday Math last November; this is the math program widely agreed by teachers to be among the fuzziest. Here's from veteran educator Nikonia Hayes' report, published in Education News: |
| to administrators, often they are advised by the district's attorneys when dealing with errant employees to write a nice letter of recommendation and send them to their next job rather than risk hundreds of thousands of dollars on lawsuits. It really is that simple. |
| working as they do behind the scenes, to have sufficiently diluted legislation such that by the time 2010 rolled around very few districts would have actually been required to post. Indeed, I make the joke that since prior edu- missioner Shirley Neeley invited supes to help rewrite the NCES formula Gov. Perry stipu- |
| Rick Perry, Shirley Neeley (PHOTO--Dallas Morning News) |
| many of our large districts have come on board, this means that over 2/3 of our local school district dollars are now online. |
| Leininger-funded pro-voucher rally at Texas Capitol - Feb. 2007 |
| him, a reported $50 million of his personal fortune educating poor San Antonio schoolchildren this past decade, the foundation he funded for many years missed opportunity after opportunity to tell the story of how voucher funds have changed those children's lives. It would have been so easy. We're not going to have a successful vouchers program anywhere until (1) that state's populace is sufficiently aware on a per-dollar basis exactly how their local districts are spending their money and educating their kids and (2) the Byrnes and the Leiningers of this world find a way to climb down from their lofty perches and mix it up with the commoners. |
| Having spent several days reviewing the 3rd grade curriculum of Everyday Math and writing a report on my review, and having retired in 2006 as an elementary principal after being a middle and high school math teacher, I can tell you the Board decision was a correct one....The curricula does not meet the TEKS expectations. Everyday Math's reputation has been highly bought and paid for with support from the National Science Foundation, starting in 1991 with $5.4 million dollars for its production and piloting, while our children have been used guinea pigs in the company's "research." As a middle and high school teacher, I received a lot of those students and it was shameful to see their deficiencies in basic math knowledge and skills.....According to Entrepreneur Magazine, the fastest growing franchise is for the "Mathnasium" tutoring business. A new office is opening about every five days. The outsourcing of tutoring sessions to third-world countries such as India via the Internet is now a multi-million dollar business....The final data that can be offered against Everyday Math and other reform programs, such as Investigations, is the fact that up to 70% of our college students are having to take remedial math courses. That problem starts at the elementary school level. That's why I became an elementary principal. |
| No need to "demystify" Singapore Math (R) |
| $19.95 |
| $8.50 |
Developing . . . |
| 1. Do you live in Beijing? Or Russia? Milano? How about Seoul or Chile or Cairo? Or the Caribbean? KL? Paris? Melbourne maybe? |
| information in the greybar at right. Nice, and interesting, to know who our neighbors at this screen are, and also encouraging that it's been so well received. Best of all, though, is the fact that parents and taxpayers now have better information including how to be successful in dealing with their schools--and are starting to use it. One of my favorite stories is the fellow who'd been a thorn in his local school's side for the past dozen years with not much to show for it; he agreed to adopt the approach suggested here and to his great surprise when he asked his supe to voluntarily post the district's check register online, the supe said "yes" on the spot; that district is one of the 134 on the roster at left. How great is that: Everybody wins, everybody's happy. |
| individual dollars at the local level. Because for any change to happen, it must start small, start local and start simple, getting our local schools' checks posted on their websites is the best and easiest place to start. Although some Texas districts might have been required to post their check registers online by 2010, based on past experiences with our powerful superintendents and their paid professional lobbyists, I have been concerned that they would have been able, |
| 1st Texas major superintendents to voluntarily post their districts' check registers online: Duncan Klussmann/Spring Branch ISD (top); Michael Hinojosa/Dallas ISD; Abe Saavedra/Houston ISD (at podium, 2005 Mexican-American School Boards Ass'n reception at TASB/TASA convention) |
| lated in RP 47 in 2005 which would have allowed any district failing to spend 65% in the classroom by 2010 to post their check registers online--and not until 2010--any |
| district not making the 65% mark would have to have pickup trucks leaving the district filled with either copper tubing or cash. Since starting this project 15 short months ago, we already have 134 districts in 11 states on the roster (left), with $38 billion in annual trans- parency.Here in Texas, because so |
| 3. More transparency: A first important step to ending "pass the trash," plus making supes' contracts and educators' salaries public Parents and taxpayers have long complained about the school district practice of "passing the trash." In fairness |
| Fred / Frederick Deussing (PHOTO--NBC) |
| Here in Texas, school superintendents' contracts are supposed to be made available to the public and to many districts' credits they are being posted on the districts' websites; here's Llano ISD's Dennis Hill's and here's Alamo Heights ISD's departing supe, Jerry Christian, In Illinois the Champion Foundation has published a database of that state's educators' salaries on its website. |
| The problem is just as bad when your child is not on the sending-school end but on the receiving-school end. "But the coach's personnel file is clean," your supe can say in all honesty. Last month the Sarasota Herald-Tribune recently expanded the ground-breaking statewide database it |
| Dennis Hill |
| posted on the Internet last March to a national database as the result of obtaining a list compiled by the National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification, a non-profit group made up of education officials and school districts in all 50 states; while the Herald Trib admits to flaws in the list due to reporting formulas varying from state to state--for instance, searches for both Mesa HS teacher/coach Gay Turley, arrested last month for sex with a student, and for longtime educator and foster parent Fred/Frederick of Alaska, arrested last January for possession of baby porn, all show "no reports"--it's still a big first start. |
| Former Mesa HS teacher / coach Gay Turley, arrested Dec. 2007 |
| As conservative radio host Lynn Woolley, author of Clear Moral Objectives, says, "It is the obligation of government, absent the issue of national security, to be forthright and transparent in all things--and particularly in the area of spending taxpayers' money. In no part of government is this more important than in our schools." More about Lynn's radio show here. |
| Lynn Woolley |
| 6. Is No Child Left Behind falling into a grave of its own making? |
| Former SBOE chair Tincy Miller (L) of Dallas watches Commission for College Ready Texas chair Sandy Kress's final report at Nov. 2007 SBOE meeting |
| 7. Some of the reasons why Robert Scott was the right candidate to be named Texas Commissioner of Education Come, let us quantify the ways: o Got rid of personal car and driver--again; this also was one of his first official acts during his 2003-04 stint as interim commissioner. o Got rid of education foundation. o State plane usage by the education commissioner has dropped dramatic- ally; where previous commissioners were |
| Robert Scott (L) conferring with Sandy Kress during Nov. 2006 SBOE meeting; during the same meeting Scott also made a point of thanking Kress for his work from the podium |
| reportedly the most frequent users of state planes, Scott has used a state plane only once this year, and then with Higher Ed 's Raymundo Paredes, to make a 10 a.m. meeting in Laredo when there were no commercial flights available. o Is holding TEA employees accountable for their actions: No more honorariums for speaking at conferences as TEA officials, etc. o TEA's website is already much more responsive to outside users; here's my favorite example, the alpha drop-down on the PEIMS 2006-07 actuals. Before, you had to know the 6-digit school code, which meant a side trip to the Comptroller's School District Watch List. o Reorganized TEA to make it more responsive, "so you can get straight answers from people," says Robert. No more overlaps between departments delivering conflicting advice. o Penultimate but certainly not least, posted TEA's check register online in February--despite opposition from administrators--making TEA the first and still only DOE in the nation to do so. And here's my favorite: o Held an informal one-day training for key TEA executives in Austin related to the reorg--and paid for it himself. Readers, this last is clearly a "best practice" and it has inspired me to start looking for stories from school superintendents who are paying for employee trainings and dinner meetings themselves--without seeking reimbursement from their districts or vendors, or anyone else. |
| Argyle ISD superintendent Jason Cayenes responds By Peyton Wolcott Friday, January 4, 2008 - 9:19 a.m. |
| Argyle ISD has placed Brian Davidson, the district's former head tennis coach on paid administrative leave following his arrest last month on charges of inappropriate behavior which included touching and text messaging a 16-year old female student. So many of these cases are occurring across our great nation I've started asking whether superintendents have actually spelled out in detail to teachers "don't kiss your students" and "don't text message your students anything beyond 'today's practice will not begin until 4 p.m.' " AISD superintendent Jason Ceyanes says that the district provided sexual harassment training, "including discussions about appropriate relationships with students," last August during the district's back-to-school in-service for all teachers. Further, Jason has said that he will confirm that Davidson actually attended this portion of the in-service when the district's offices reopen on Monday. In addition to his duties at Argyle High School, the 30-year old educator is listed on the Argyle Middle School roster as "TAKS/ MS Boys Athletics/Head Tennis." |
| What's surprising are the comments on "Teacher Trash," a popular blog, supporting Davidson and assuming that the student filed false charges. Here is one such: |
| To his great credit, Jason Ceyanes has responded promptly to both sets of questions I sent, and, equally to his credit, without invoking the Texas Public Information Act. Hats off to Jason. |
| She obviously went along with his actions for a long while, then became bored with him, then decided to end it by complaining to police. District Attorneys would ask that she be tried as an adult if she were accused of murder, because she is 16. Yet, we're supposed to believe she was a helpless victim, month after month. --"michaelcamioniii" |
| At this point, I'm especially curious regarding the degree of detail that the in-service included as to what is appropriate and what isn't, who prepared and presented the training, and whether Davidson did indeed attend the training. Will update when we hear back from Jason when the district's employees return from their long vacation next week. |
| However well-intentioned the ideas behind NCLB, any bill we conservatives have to co-sponsor with one of the Senate's most liberal of liberals can't be a good thing. Early on the states figured out how to game the system; additionally, the fellow widely credited as being NCLB's architect, Democrat Sandy Kress (left), lobbies for his client Pearson-- to whom Texas taxpayers have paid $1.423 billion since FY 1998--and other companies who have benefited from NCLB. So Senator Ted Kennedy's announcement that he will not sponsor the reauth- orization of NCLB comes as a relief to many con- conservatives. My personal point of view: The feds need to get out of the education business, and pronto. Let's keep education small and local, where parents have a real shot at real input into the process. |
| 8. Texas education standards finally being rewritten This is important, because as Texas goes, so goes the nation. We were saddled with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) by some well-meaning folks of whom it can most charitably be assumed they did not know what they were letting themselves--and us--in for. Think of it this way: When you are having, let's say--to keep this discussion Texan and civil--a dispute over your oil and gas lease, the wisest person to go to is a capable and experienced oil and gas attorney. Everybody knows this. It's the conventional smart thing to do, to find experts in that field. I think what happened here in Texas is that when it became clear in the 90's that public education was not working, the powers that be went to the presumed experts, which is a roundabout way of explaining how we have come to have a former Texas Association of School Boards professional lobbyist with no classroom experience running the US DOE. |
| NEW FEATURE +++ Friends, there are already 200+ pages on this website; in this spot you'll find a rotation of pages featured such as: Pledges for school board candidates |