| tppf's pie chart |
| First, the good news The national grassroots movement has taken off! Using this website as a national headquarters of sorts gave birth to a movement that has taken off beyond anyone's wildest dreams, including mine. We're well past $50 billion in annual transparency; the challenge at this point is obtaining actual financials for dollars spent for non-Texas district, an ongoing project of mine. For example, I've been waiting for the Florida DOE to come up with "total expenditures/all funds" numbers for their districts for over a year now. The ripple effect Also encouraging is that we've been able to watch the ripple effect. Here in Texas, when one school district comes online in a county, the others follow suit. What seems to be at play is human nature, a fear by superintendents and trustees that if checks are put online the villagers will attack the admin. building in the dead of night with pitchforks and lanterns. Then that first brave district in an area steps forward and when neighboring districts observe that nothing terrible happens, this frees them up to do the same thing. One of the most remarkable examples of the ripple effect has been what I call the San Antonio Triple Crown, where three major districts came online the same week last year. In fact, it's all good news When I started compiling my rosters -- literally from scratch, with the names of two Texas districts -- on October 1, 2006, the entire national roster took up perhaps three square inches of screen space. There are so many districts now that I've had to spread them across three pages. With so many organizations suddenly having discovered public school transparency in the form of online check registers this past year -- and welcome aboard to you all -- because many of them are not in direct heart-to-heart contact with school districts there's already a wealth of misinformation being published and circulated. In some cases it's sloppy research, but in most the organizations appear to be circulating the same old information from state to state, forgetting that because this is a true grassroots movement the data is fluid, not static. GOOD NEWS #1 TEXAS DISTRICTS ARE NOT REQUIRED BY LAW to post their check registers online if they don't make the 65% spending goal by 2008-09; they may do so as an option (see code below in greybar) if they want to receive 3 extra points on the Schools FIRST scoring |
| Edgewood (continued from above) I had come alone to visit the district, and was surrounded by cops with real bullets in their guns, all because even though I'd telephoned, faxed and emailed ahead of time to let both the superintendent and the PR guy know I was coming the supe apparently hadn't liked my taking pictures of his misleading signage on the front door and main foyer wall showing his district had a "Recognized" (second-highest) rating from our state DOE -- when in fact the district had not been "Recognized" for several years and indeed the state commissioner had just announced two days earlier that |
| Announcing the 2009 TPPFSY Award |
| Happy New Year, America! Lots of good news to report : Over half our states have at least one school district with its check register online -- what a way to ring in 2009! By Peyton Wolcott Tuesday, December 30, 2008 / 6:04 a.m. |
Like, for example, Connie and
Joan could have instead tried
to find and personally inventory
that still-missing $1.6 million
of original art purchased by her
predecessors Ken Burnley and
William Coleman from the
Sherry Washington Gallery?
The same art her DPS board's
been asking about since
January?
Perhaps had they "just said
no" to a ritzy edu-conference
invite and instead stayed home
and worked, the DPS board
would have been happier with
Connie and Joan and they'd
both still have a job.
After Teresa Gueyser, the DPS
board attorney, was hastily
appointed as Connie's
temporary successor, it was
learned that Teresa has had
some legal issues of her own.
May God bless Detroit.
Joan could have instead tried
to find and personally inventory
that still-missing $1.6 million
of original art purchased by her
predecessors Ken Burnley and
William Coleman from the
Sherry Washington Gallery?
The same art her DPS board's
been asking about since
January?
Perhaps had they "just said
no" to a ritzy edu-conference
invite and instead stayed home
and worked, the DPS board
would have been happier with
Connie and Joan and they'd
both still have a job.
After Teresa Gueyser, the DPS
board attorney, was hastily
appointed as Connie's
temporary successor, it was
learned that Teresa has had
some legal issues of her own.
May God bless Detroit.
| Veteran educator Donna Garner: "Nothing will ever replace direct systematic instruction from a well-qualified teacher to a student. Test prep and glitzy curricula do not bring about long-term learning." |
| The ink's not even written yet on his capo de capos Rod Blagojevich's letter of resignation, yet Chicago Public Schools supe Arne Duncan is expected to be named later today by his long-time pickup basketball companion, president-elect Barack Obama, as the new secretary of education. While my favorite option would be to get rid of No Child Left Behind and all other fed dollars then dissolve the entire US DOE, that's likely not an option for Arne. Here's hoping he will at least institute tighter internal controls over fraud and waste than he was able to manage in Chi-Land under Boss Daley (see my Dec. 10 commentary below). Given that as head of Chicagoland schools Arne Duncan was only two degrees removed from Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, and Rod's about to be out of a job, will Arne appoint Rod as his Undersecretary of Education, to come to DC and fix things more way better there, too? Q: Is it oxymoronic or merely overly optimistic, idealistic and hopeful to expect some- one from Chicago to get rid of US public ed corruption? Q: Will Arne try to bring his Chi-Land Schools pay-for- grades and gay high school schemes to all of America? |
Allen's followed up on
DMN reporter Lori
Stahl's news last spring
that Dallas ISD leaders
including board prez
Jack Lowe are getting
millions in contracts
from the district. Turns
out TD Industries, one
of Jack's businesses
(he also chairs Zales)
is billing taxpayers
for what appears at first
glance to be the public
schools' equivalent of
those high-priced
hammers and toilet
seats we're always
hearing about at the
Defense Department. In
one specific example,
TDI billed DISD $9,912
for a fire alarm installa-
tion at a Samuel HS
portable (above) that
likely should have cost
at most "$3,000." "The
Silent Knight model
5700 fire alarm panel
retails for $755.98,"
reports Allen. More at
his website:
www.Dallas.org
Question: Are such
transactions indicative
of business people tied
to public schools being
public servants -- or
self-serving?
DMN reporter Lori
Stahl's news last spring
that Dallas ISD leaders
including board prez
Jack Lowe are getting
millions in contracts
from the district. Turns
out TD Industries, one
of Jack's businesses
(he also chairs Zales)
is billing taxpayers
for what appears at first
glance to be the public
schools' equivalent of
those high-priced
hammers and toilet
seats we're always
hearing about at the
Defense Department. In
one specific example,
TDI billed DISD $9,912
for a fire alarm installa-
tion at a Samuel HS
portable (above) that
likely should have cost
at most "$3,000." "The
Silent Knight model
5700 fire alarm panel
retails for $755.98,"
reports Allen. More at
his website:
www.Dallas.org
Question: Are such
transactions indicative
of business people tied
to public schools being
public servants -- or
self-serving?
| I care a lot about our district and am proud of several of our accomplishments during the 2 years I was on the Board.....I happily spent hundreds of hours working on the bond committee and...I am pleased that we improved somewhat the transparency of district operations. I hope you will continue to work toward providing a high quality education, creating a positive environment for our students and employees, and doing these using as few tax dollars as possible. In departing, I offer some comments and advice. Accept or reject as you see fit.... To the Board. Beware. I believe you are moving in a dangerous direction. When a majority of Board members believe their role is simply to approve what the admini- stration presents, there is a problem. When the Board unknowingly approves an incommplete budget and the administration resists fixing it, there are problems. When I, as a member of the public, will have faster and easier access to district information than I do as a Board member, there is a problem. When Board members want to spend the $250k saved after the two refunding bonds passed instead of reducing the $1.7 million deficit, there is a problem. When Board members think it is better for TEA to take over the District than it is to make the difficult financial choices to keep the District solvent, there is a problem. See the pattern? Diligence is needed, not complacency. This said, I do wish you all health, peace, and the courage to do what you know is right. |
| The nation's 1st & only daily conservative public education commentary - Dispelling Fear - Offering Solutions |
| 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. |
| FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of education issues vital to a republic. We believe this constitutes a "fair use" of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C., Chapter 1, Section 107 which states: the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright," the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond "fair use" you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. |
| ATTENTION EDUCATORS AND ADMINISTRATORS: Every attempt possible has been made to verify all sources and information. In the event you feel an error has been made, please contact us immediately. Thank you. |
| Copyright 1999-2008 Peyton Wolcott |
"Walk softly and carry a big stick." -- Teddy Roosevelt "Trust but verify." -- Ronald Reagan |
| Just because you can doesn't mean you should. |
| H o w w e t a k e b a c k o u r c h i l d r e n ' s e d u c a t i o n: o n e p e r s o n , o n e q u e s t i o n , o n e s c h o o l a t a t i m e. |
| School News Links Commentaries Reviews: 2007 2006 |
| Edu-Monopoly Education,Inc Fin.Exigency ERDI Technology TX supe travel/meals Credit cards Edu-Conferences TASA MidWinter Vendor golf 1 2 3 |
| Check Registers US TX Ask your district FlyerAsk questions Set goals/organize Bd ethicsPledges Are you an angry victim/watchdog? Activist Alert PR |
n e w c o m m e n t a r i e s
| ERDI supe Alton Frailey (Katy ISD / Texas) versus public freedoms |
| First They Came First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out -- because I was not a communist; Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out -- because I was not a socialist; Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out -- because I was not a trade unionist; Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out --because I was not a Jew; Then they came for me -- and there was no one left to speak out for me. -- Pastor Martin Niemoeller |
| Gloria from Luling on sidewalk outside Walsh Anderson party at Austin's Iron Cactus with unnamed man who was shy about revealing his name (TASA Mid Winter, 2007 ) |
| Key to accountability: voluntary ethics pledges (school boards & candidates) Education News & Human Events |
| Soghra Najafpour (L) was sentenced to death at age 13 for the first time in Iran; she's now 31 -- more here. Did principal Robin E. Lowe (L) mention Soghra during her 'Islam 101' day May 22 at Friendswood JH? Will she mention Soghra at her new gig running Houston ISD's Pershing MS? Wouldn't that be a step towards "raising [her students'] awareness of the culture" -- of the true culture -- in Iran? That perhaps Robin's invited speakers from CAIR might have forgotten to mention? Oops? 12.21.08 UPDATE: No response yet from Robin to telephone and email queries. |
IRAN: Execution
Danger Alert
Danger Alert
| The American Superintendent (Leonard Merrell) as Allan Ramsay's King George III (Mixed-media collage by Peyton Wolcott, Copyright 2008) |
Wolcott
Peyton
| November 2008 commentaries here |
| Hats off to Jim Van Overschelde Wimberley ISD (TX) Trustees doing the right thing |
| 1. End discretionary spending. Set an example for your staff; let them know you mean business about running a tighter ship: No trips, no conferences, no meals, no credit cards. If you want to learn more about something, use Google. Do a webinar. Read a newsletter. No golf games with vendors, ever. No chauffeurs, no rental cars. Stay home, do your work and keep your nose clean. 2. Reduce administrative costs. Go through your administrative staff roster and cut every other job, starting with getting rid of all PR and marketing. No advisors, no consultants. Learn how to really read a budget. Put your check register and all wire transfers online. 3. Ethics. No nepotism. Let your wife and kids earn a living in a field other than education. No board members' spouses working in the district. Conduct all discussions with vendors and potential vendors in the open; invite your public to watch and ask questions. Throw away your contract and work year by year. Move your chair off the dais at board meetings. You're not a team member with your elected trustees. You're not equal to them. They're your boss. 4. No construction. If you're the rare district truly experiencing sufficient growth to justify building new schools, splinter off that population and let them start their own new school district or charter school. They might be able to take over an abandoned church or office building for much less than the Taj Mahal you had in mind. 5. Back-to-basics curriculum. Math table (1st grade: add, 2nd grade: subtract, 3rd grade multiply, 4th grade divide) daily drill. You made sure your own kids learned the basics at home or with tutors; why shouldn't all children have that same opportunity? Ditto for phonics. Classical literature. History, not social studies. No more block scheduling. Daily P.E. for all. Emphasize individual effort and accomplishment. 6. Attitude. You're a public servant, not a Third World dictator. Practice humility and gratitude. Remember when your employees laugh at your jokes or tell you you're cool or vendors marvel at your every utterance that they're all sucking up to you. Remember why you got into education to begin with. Sell your house in the gated community and buy one in the middle of a real subdivision like your average parents and taxpayers can afford. Let yourself be driven not by the latest platitude you picked up at the latest education conference but by the same wonderful noble desire to educate kids that got you into this field. |
| nation & 49 states |
| Texas |
b e s t
p r a c t i c e s
p r a c t i c e s
s c h o o l n e w s
q u i c k l i n k s
q u i c k l i n k s
| More "Best Practices" here. |
| U.S. FEDERAL TAXPAYER DOLLARS TO DISD 2000-2007 2000-2001 $ 121,951,145 2001-2002 $ 137,745,786 2002-2003 $ 169,103,740 2003-2004 $ 188,618,903 2004-2005 $ 188,838,330 2005-2006 $ 215,068,567 2006-2007 $ 217,970,686 TOTAL $1,239,297,157 |
| TEXAS TAXPAYER DOLLARS TO DISD 2000-2007 2000-2001 $ 204,116,731 2001-2002 $ 180,097,229 2002-2003 $ 254,465,426 2003-2004 $ 199,905,502 2004-2005 $ 199,940,243 2005-2006 $ 198,907,113 2006-2007 $ 305,839,277 TOTAL $1,543,271,521 |
| Wednesday, December 31, 2008 |
Texas and U.S. taxpayers have sent
almost $3 billion
to Dallas ISD since 2000
almost $3 billion
to Dallas ISD since 2000
| BOHUCHOT: 11 YEARS --STARTING JAN. 20, 2009 |
FRANKIE WONG:
10 YEARS -- STARTING
JAN. 20, 2009
10 YEARS -- STARTING
JAN. 20, 2009
The big question: With
family and money ties to
Asia, will Frankie Wong
(R) show up to begin
his sentence? Scott
Parks' DMN report here
family and money ties to
Asia, will Frankie Wong
(R) show up to begin
his sentence? Scott
Parks' DMN report here
| One clue as to the seduc- tive nature of power is that once you get some, it's hard to voluntarily give it up. President George Washington gave our fledg- ling nation a great gift by walking away from the presidency after only two terms -- at a time when many in America would have happily allowed him to be regent-for-life. He had the greater good in mind and heart, and for his gift we can all be grateful -- and look to his example. Wimberley ISD trustee Jim Van Overschelde has done something commendable along those same lines by resigning from the WISD school board earlier this week after receiving a promotion at the Texas Education Agency. In an articulate and thoughtful letter of resignation, Jim makes some suggestions to his fellow trustees of which it would be wise for all school board members everywhere take heed. From Jim's letter: |
| Jim Van Overschelde |
Way to go, Jim!
| DALLAS ISD Trustees vote to extend their term limits to 4 years: Why? Why now? Who benefits? By Peyton Wolcott Fri., Nov. 21, 2008 / 6:49 a.m. |
If business and civic
leaders are really
running the show in DISD --
as they are in most of
America's 15,000 school
districts
-- who in Dallas benefits the
most from extending the status
quo an extra year as occurred
at last night's DISD board
meeting?
Which lucrative vendor
contracts -- including
technology and cons-
truction -- are thereby shored
up an extra year? Which
relationships already
developed remain safely in
play and place for one more
budget cycle?
In a school district where
supe Mike Hinojosa got to per-
sonally touch as many as 1.7
billion actual dollars during the
most recently reported
PEIMS accounting period
(2006-07), who has the most
to gain from the decisions he
and his board make?
Many years ago I learned that
any time something
mystifying occurs in public
education and the pat answer
offered by the schools sounds
hollow, one rule always
applies:
leaders are really
running the show in DISD --
as they are in most of
America's 15,000 school
districts
-- who in Dallas benefits the
most from extending the status
quo an extra year as occurred
at last night's DISD board
meeting?
Which lucrative vendor
contracts -- including
technology and cons-
truction -- are thereby shored
up an extra year? Which
relationships already
developed remain safely in
play and place for one more
budget cycle?
In a school district where
supe Mike Hinojosa got to per-
sonally touch as many as 1.7
billion actual dollars during the
most recently reported
PEIMS accounting period
(2006-07), who has the most
to gain from the decisions he
and his board make?
Many years ago I learned that
any time something
mystifying occurs in public
education and the pat answer
offered by the schools sounds
hollow, one rule always
applies:
| FOLLOW THE MONEY. |
DALLAS ISD SHOCKER
DMN: DISD account-
ing system 'fatally
flawed' 'for years'
(but starting when?
and under whom?)
QUESTION #1: Is the "lid
really off" now? Q #2: Who's
benefited financially from
DISD's accounting system
having no accountability?
Q #3: What specific steps did
former DISD supe Mike
Moses take to fix things--no,
let me restate and clarify that
--to rectify the situation?
--Updated 11.24.08/8:04a.m.
DMN: DISD account-
ing system 'fatally
flawed' 'for years'
(but starting when?
and under whom?)
QUESTION #1: Is the "lid
really off" now? Q #2: Who's
benefited financially from
DISD's accounting system
having no accountability?
Q #3: What specific steps did
former DISD supe Mike
Moses take to fix things--no,
let me restate and clarify that
--to rectify the situation?
--Updated 11.24.08/8:04a.m.
Is is possible to keep the spirit of "Thanks -
Giving" going through December?
By Peyton Wolcott
Monday, December 1, 2008 / 11:53 a.m.
Giving" going through December?
By Peyton Wolcott
Monday, December 1, 2008 / 11:53 a.m.
We just celebrated the best Thanksgiving
possible, joining 2,000 area families who each
picked up two young airmen at a local base and
took their pair to lunch.
This morning while downloading the photos we
took on Thursday several things went through my
mind. You know, download, think:
One, it really is better to give than to receive. Gee,
you'd think I'd have figured this out by now. Much
as I love the rituals of Thanksgiving -- waking up
early to put the turkey in the oven, start-
ing the potatoes, listening to Aaron Copeland's
"Appalachian Spring" on the classical station -- the
possible, joining 2,000 area families who each
picked up two young airmen at a local base and
took their pair to lunch.
This morning while downloading the photos we
took on Thursday several things went through my
mind. You know, download, think:
One, it really is better to give than to receive. Gee,
you'd think I'd have figured this out by now. Much
as I love the rituals of Thanksgiving -- waking up
early to put the turkey in the oven, start-
ing the potatoes, listening to Aaron Copeland's
"Appalachian Spring" on the classical station -- the
| Young Air Guardsmen strolling San Antonio RiverWalk Thanksgiving Day 2008 |
only thing that could have made a hotel buffet on Thursday with two young airmen from
the Midwest better would have been to have had our whole family there--and theirs. (We
would have fed them at our home but the airmen have to stay within a few miles of the
base.) Rituals are just that: rituals. We gave our cellphones to our young airmen to call
home and one talked for quite a long time. Afterwards he explained without needing to,
"There were 20 people in the room." All 20 must have all slept a bit easier that night for
having had their first contact with him since his reaching San Antonio a few weeks earlier.
Two, they say character is what you do when no one's looking. The Spungen family of
Waukegan, Illinois has done something remarkable; after selling their family's ball
bearing company, they gave $6.6 million to 230 employees as bonuses. But this is a
family with a history of giving; when their children had their bar and bat mitzvahs, rather
than a five- or six-figure blowout as has become the norm for kids' coming-of-age parties,
this family instead hosted a kind of bowling-for-dollars event (with the money given to
charity) for the son and a shopping spree (for needy families) for the daughter.
Synchronicity: This morning when I called Waukegan to verify some of the foregoing, while
I was waiting on the phone, rather than elevator music I heard something familiar: 10cc's
"The Things We Do For Love." Indeed.
Three, I've had a half-dozen or so conversations with friends over the past few weeks in
which either they'd lost most of their life savings in the market crash and/or they were
worried about the breadwinner's keeping his/her job.
Four, in light of one, two and three above, isn't this a good time for families to skip the
usual gift-giving and give instead to those in need? And for our public school superin-
tendents to end their extravagant ways, like pay their own $165 greens fees out of their
six-figure salaries if they want to play golf on school days with vendors at resorts? Bigger
picture, what about ending the cronyism that thrusts wasteful ill-proven curriculums on
our kids? Isn't it time our 3rd graders were drilled again in the times tables? So that our
public schools can be strong and free and locally run? Why I bring this up: former IBM/
AmEx CEO Louis Gerstner is pushing for nationalized schools -- again. Gee, isn't that
what Hitler tried, that Nazi thing that didn't end so well for Germany or any of the rest of us?
the Midwest better would have been to have had our whole family there--and theirs. (We
would have fed them at our home but the airmen have to stay within a few miles of the
base.) Rituals are just that: rituals. We gave our cellphones to our young airmen to call
home and one talked for quite a long time. Afterwards he explained without needing to,
"There were 20 people in the room." All 20 must have all slept a bit easier that night for
having had their first contact with him since his reaching San Antonio a few weeks earlier.
Two, they say character is what you do when no one's looking. The Spungen family of
Waukegan, Illinois has done something remarkable; after selling their family's ball
bearing company, they gave $6.6 million to 230 employees as bonuses. But this is a
family with a history of giving; when their children had their bar and bat mitzvahs, rather
than a five- or six-figure blowout as has become the norm for kids' coming-of-age parties,
this family instead hosted a kind of bowling-for-dollars event (with the money given to
charity) for the son and a shopping spree (for needy families) for the daughter.
Synchronicity: This morning when I called Waukegan to verify some of the foregoing, while
I was waiting on the phone, rather than elevator music I heard something familiar: 10cc's
"The Things We Do For Love." Indeed.
Three, I've had a half-dozen or so conversations with friends over the past few weeks in
which either they'd lost most of their life savings in the market crash and/or they were
worried about the breadwinner's keeping his/her job.
Four, in light of one, two and three above, isn't this a good time for families to skip the
usual gift-giving and give instead to those in need? And for our public school superin-
tendents to end their extravagant ways, like pay their own $165 greens fees out of their
six-figure salaries if they want to play golf on school days with vendors at resorts? Bigger
picture, what about ending the cronyism that thrusts wasteful ill-proven curriculums on
our kids? Isn't it time our 3rd graders were drilled again in the times tables? So that our
public schools can be strong and free and locally run? Why I bring this up: former IBM/
AmEx CEO Louis Gerstner is pushing for nationalized schools -- again. Gee, isn't that
what Hitler tried, that Nazi thing that didn't end so well for Germany or any of the rest of us?
FAQ's ARCHIVES CONFUSED? FOLLOW THE MONEY SOLVE YOUR PROBLEM STATE & LOCAL GOVERNANCE VENDOR LOBBYING
Has Allen Gwinn
found Dallas ISD's
$9,912 hammer?
By Peyton Wolcott
Wed., Dec. 3, 2008 - 4:06 a.m.
found Dallas ISD's
$9,912 hammer?
By Peyton Wolcott
Wed., Dec. 3, 2008 - 4:06 a.m.
| Samuel HS (PHOTO-A.Gwinn) |
STANLY COUNTY SCHOOLS (NC)
High school principal, secretary
arrested for embezzlement
By Peyton Wolcott
Friday, December 5, 2008 / 6:40 a.m.
High school principal, secretary
arrested for embezzlement
By Peyton Wolcott
Friday, December 5, 2008 / 6:40 a.m.
Despite supe Samuel A.
'Sam' DePaul, III's (L) doctor-
ate in school administration, despite his
two decades as a member of the
American Association of School
Administrators, despite Sam's being
named last year as one of 7 finalists for
North Carolina "Superintendent of the
Year," despite his using a "collabora-
tive leadership" style -- despite all that, it
took an outside audit to discover that
Sam's high school principal, Joyce
Whitley Steele (M), and her secretary,
Yvette Misenheimer (R), had
embezzled an as-yet undisclosed sum
of money. Both women have been
arrested and both are out on bond;
Steele, age 69, has worked for Stanly
schools for almost 34 years. Perhaps
Steele and Misenheimer misunderstood
Sam's collaborative leadership approach
to mean, "Let's you and me collaborate
and get us some of that cash the supe's
not monitoring very closely." Perhaps it
wasn't that way at all. However, absent
a statement from Sam, we can only
wonder and speculate. Hopefully he'll
be able to depart that ivory tower soon
and communicate with his community,
put their rumors to rest. Hopefully also
he'll put his district's check register
online. QUESTION: When will AASA
and its state sisters start counseling
supes in fraud prevention and tighter
internal controls? What about our Ph.D.
and Ed.D. factories?
'Sam' DePaul, III's (L) doctor-
ate in school administration, despite his
two decades as a member of the
American Association of School
Administrators, despite Sam's being
named last year as one of 7 finalists for
North Carolina "Superintendent of the
Year," despite his using a "collabora-
tive leadership" style -- despite all that, it
took an outside audit to discover that
Sam's high school principal, Joyce
Whitley Steele (M), and her secretary,
Yvette Misenheimer (R), had
embezzled an as-yet undisclosed sum
of money. Both women have been
arrested and both are out on bond;
Steele, age 69, has worked for Stanly
schools for almost 34 years. Perhaps
Steele and Misenheimer misunderstood
Sam's collaborative leadership approach
to mean, "Let's you and me collaborate
and get us some of that cash the supe's
not monitoring very closely." Perhaps it
wasn't that way at all. However, absent
a statement from Sam, we can only
wonder and speculate. Hopefully he'll
be able to depart that ivory tower soon
and communicate with his community,
put their rumors to rest. Hopefully also
he'll put his district's check register
online. QUESTION: When will AASA
and its state sisters start counseling
supes in fraud prevention and tighter
internal controls? What about our Ph.D.
and Ed.D. factories?
| Are there enough degrees of separation between Arne and Blagojevich for Arne to be the next US DOE secretary? By Peyton Wolcott Wednesday, December 10, 2008 / 12:02 a.m. - Updated Wednesday, December 10, 2008 / 9:59 a.m. |
| When I first saw the headline yesterday morning that Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich had just been arrested along with his chief of staff, John F. Harris, on charges of among other things trying to sell Barack Obama's U.S. Senate seat, my first reaction was probably not that different from yours, "Oh. Illinois." You know, as in the 3 R's: prior governor George Ryan, former Congressman Dan Rostenkowski, and long-time Obama supporter Tony Rezko. As in, to quote Matt Drudge, |
| Arne Duncan (L) and Rod "Even My Hair's For Sale" Blagojevich (R) (GRAPHIC IMAGE--Peyton Wolcott) |
| What's Arne Duncan's track record on financial transparency? Given that getting rid of corruption in public education must be job one for the next US DOE secretary, and given that Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan has deep ties to Chi-Land (he's from there), and given also that he's a front runner for the post, a good question to ask is, "How transparent has Arne been during his tenure as supe of Chicago schools?" Meaning, how much has he opened up specific-dollar CPS actual financials to the public in the cheapest, easiest and fastest way possible, by putting checks online? No pie charts, no percentages, no aggregates, but real checks-to? When I went looking on Chicago Schools' website and couldn't find their checks, I called the CPS PR department and asked whether Arne had made any plans to put their check register online. After explaining to the fellow with whom I spoke what a check register was, he said he'd look into it and get back to me. Shouldn't be that hard; even though Florida's Miami-Dade County Public Schools has fewer students, if we can believe Chicago Public Schools accounting over Miami's M-DCPS spent a lot more money last year, $6.7 billion for all expenditures, all funds as opposed to the $4.6 bilion CPS will admit to. I sent the PR guy a helpful link to Miami's check register so Arne could see for himself. Oh, wait! Miami-Dade's check register is online because Marta Perez, an elected trustee, pushed for it last year -- but all seven Chicago Public Schools trustees are appointed by Mayor Daley. D'ya think they'd risk losing their appointments by pushing for financial transparency with a Chicago mayor who controls all of Chicago public ed? No response yet from CPS Perhaps that was the famous "I'll get back to you when Hell freezes over" time frame. Or, maybe what the CPS PR guy really meant was, "It's a long way to Tipperary which is |
| "Crook County." As in, "Chicago, Corruption Capital" and the "Chicago Machine." As in, apparently anything goes in Chi-Land and surrounds that's not nailed down. Graft, graft everywhere and not a drop to drink Chicago's suburbs have not been immune from graft and corruption. It was just over three years ago -- a year after Gov. Blagojevich appointed Thomas Ryan, then-supe of Community Consolidated School District 168 in Sauk Village (a half-hour south of Chicago) to a task force of school administrators to help shape Blagojevich's new Department of Education -- that investigators raided Ryan's home and hauled off a |
| Left: Thomas Ryan (center) in his garage. Right: Investigator carrying laundry basket filled with cash. (PHOTOS--Southtown Star) |
| laundry basket filled with cash, ten years of financial records, computers and a collapsible metal billy club. Ryan was eventually indicted, tried and sent to a minimal-security prison where, presumably without the asp, he served only a few years of his eight-year sentence. |
| SAUK VILLAGE SCHOOLS: Role played by investigative journalists A shout out to the Daily Southtown: The Illinois State Attorney only began looking into Sauk Village schools' finances after The Daily Southtown published stories by reporters Linda Lutton and Kati Phillip regarding questionable payments made to Thomas Ryan, his family and school district vendors. |
| And earlier this year it was reported that "former Hoover-Schrum Elementary District 157 administrator Rosemary Hendricks was paid as superintendent for the Calumet City school system and another suburban Cook County school district." Two months ago, the suburban Cook County district, Bellwood SD 88, accepted Hendricks' resignation and appointed an interim supe. (SOURCES--Joan Carreon/ Northwestern Indiana Times; David Pollard/Proviso Herald; and Proviso Insider Blogspot) |
| While a former Chicago Public School manager remained jailed on felony theft charges Tuesday, the high school that entrusted her with its finances is struggling to recover from a loss of nearly half a million dollars. Marilyn Jenkins-Evans, 47, was ordered held on $200,000 bail by Criminal Court Judge Thomas Hennelly, a day after she was arrested on allegations that she stole $457,000 from Simeon Career Academy High School, where she once worked as business manager. Investigators alleged that she wrote herself 319 checks, forged the former principal's signature and |
| Closer to home, Tracy Dell'Angela and Jeff Coen of the Chicago Tribune reported on something that occurred on Arne Duncan's watch as CEO at Chicago Public Schools: |
| Marilyn Jenkins-Evans 2006 mug shot |
| deposited them in her personal accounts over more than five years at the school. "How is this school going to recoup that money?" asked the interim principal of the South Side school, Leonard Kenebrew. "That's $90,000 a year for five years. That could have been novels. Or microscopes. Or training for the teachers. Or field trips for the students. It's so depressing." |
| where we hid the check register and when we get it cleaned up I'll get back to you." In any event, at press time there was still no response from Chi-Land Schools about Arne's intention (or not) to put their check register online. Here's hoping Mayor Daley will let Arne put CPS checks online whether or not Arne makes US DOE secretary; specific-dollar transparency in the form of online check registers is a terrific way for honest Illinois administrators and politicians to separate themselves from the Blagojevich / 3R's crowd. |
| LAWRENCE, INDIANA: How American public ed got off track By Peyton Wolcott Sun., Dec. 14, 2008 / 6:31 a.m. |
| (L to R) Michael Copper, James Joiner and Nikki Woodson |
| Although I'm still not sure why a chance notice that a middle school principal in Indiana had been arrested a second time for driving while intoxicated grabbed my attention -- out of the dozens of similar news stories I receive daily -- I'm glad it did because a closer look at the Metropolitan School District of Lawrence Township can show us much about where and how our public schools began failing our kids, even those in the heartland of America. When those lists that come out every year cite Indianapolis as being a great place to live, what they really mean are Indy's prosperous suburbs such as Lawrence to the northeast. Just as elsewhere across America parents wanting to raise their children in safer more rural settings fled city centers, so too in Indianapolis . . . . |
| Developing . . . . |
Arne 'I'm from Illinois 2'
Duncan named today as
US DOE secretary ?
By Peyton Wolcott
Tuesday, December 16, 2008 - 4:33 am
Duncan named today as
US DOE secretary ?
By Peyton Wolcott
Tuesday, December 16, 2008 - 4:33 am
| Arne Duncan (L), Rod Blagojevich |
Alabama's trying to
unravel this educator's
phony 'University of
Beverly Hills' doctorate
By Peyton Wolcott
Friday, December 19, 2008 / 12:56 a.m.
unravel this educator's
phony 'University of
Beverly Hills' doctorate
By Peyton Wolcott
Friday, December 19, 2008 / 12:56 a.m.
To better understand U.S.
public education watch almost
10 minutes of excruciatingly
slow video here.
public education watch almost
10 minutes of excruciatingly
slow video here.
| More good news from GCISD: Frank has volun- tarily posted the district's check register online . Way to go, Grape Creek! |
| Hats off to Frank Walter Grape Creek ISD (TX) Student art mural |
| At a time when some administrators are hiring vendors to paint patriotic or school spirit-inspired murals on their schools' walls, Grape Creek ISD superintendent Frank Walter has continued the time-honored tradition of allowing student-painted murals. |
| The mural above, by art teacher Jack Cavness' Grape Creek High School students, is part of a larger effort in nearby San Angelo to place more art in public places. More here from GCISD's home page: |
| Frank Walter |
| Everybody wins with disciplined and focused student-painted murals such as this. Kids have learned a skill with which they can make money for themselves in the future, and tax dollars are saved. Plus the world's a prettier place. Here's an aquatic-themed mural painted last year at an expressway by Jack's students at San Angelo ISD's Central High: |
| The seventh period art class of Mr. Jack Cavness created a mural for the GCHS Library and presented it to Mrs. Franklin Dec. 12th. It was produced in sections with all class members creating different parts of the artwork. This is quite an undertaking, because each piece has to match perfectly when it comes together. The eagle now soars on the west wall in the library. Come by and look at their great work. |
Was this a good idea?
Detroit supe & CFO
at Boca Raton resort?
By Peyton Wolcott
Sunday, December 21, 2008/3:07 pm
Detroit supe & CFO
at Boca Raton resort?
By Peyton Wolcott
Sunday, December 21, 2008/3:07 pm
Wouldn't a better -- and more
symbolically apropos -- use of
their time this past September,
just three months after DPS'
$408 million deficit was
announced, have been for
supe Connie Calloway and
her CFO Joan McCray to have
stayed home rather than going
to an edu-conference at a
posh Florida resort, especially
one featuring a gala and golf?
symbolically apropos -- use of
their time this past September,
just three months after DPS'
$408 million deficit was
announced, have been for
supe Connie Calloway and
her CFO Joan McCray to have
stayed home rather than going
to an edu-conference at a
posh Florida resort, especially
one featuring a gala and golf?
| L to R: Connie Calloway, Joan McCray, Sherry Washington |
| Friends, this is so very encouraging for the future of our great nation that public schools in 27 states have raced this far this fast towards transparency. |
WOW! School checks online in 27 states! 401 districts! 294 in Texas!
| ACCESS CHECK REGISTER ROSTERS HERE |
| To access this site including rosters you have |
| read and accepted Terms & Conditions here |
| brick wall, detainment by three armed school district police officers in San Antonio on August 3, 2006. I took the event seriously for serious reasons (more below at "Edgewood"). I quickly came to the conclusion that there had to be a better way than risking life and limb to bring transparency to our public schools. |
| Why a sense of urgency As our economy continues to tank because of and despite misguided efforts at unbridled socialism and subsequent attempted fixes, and as employment declines along with housing prices, public schools are going to have to voluntarily rein themselves in; this will be tough going with so many demands on tax dollars. (To help you understand the complexity of our vendor-driven public schools, I've prepared this special report.) It's important that all of our 15,000 U.S. school districts post their checks online as soon as possible so that we can start a meaningful dialogue about spending such that our schools remain solvent, strong and locally run. For all but the very largest districts, putting a check register online is a simple matter of taking checks that are already online, sorting out payroll and HIPAA, then PDF'ing whatever is left over and posting the PDF; this entire process usually takes at most a few minutes. Earlier expressed concerns about technology and additional requirements of staff time have all proven to be unfounded. (More here.) We must educate our kids better and for less money. Multi-million dollar deficits in dropout factories like Detroit and Dallas hurt everyone and only encourage those such as former IBM CEO Lou Gerstner to whom the Wall Street Journal recently gave page space for his advocacy of nationalization, towards which NCLB was a lope. |
| A tip of the Texan hat to our first honoree, the Texas Public Policy Foundation, for whom this award is named, for the greatest number of errors (100-plus, see below) in one check register roster! ----------- HOW TO PRONOUNCE THE NAME OF THIS AWARD: "TPPFSY" as in "TIPSY" as in, Gee, somebody must have been a bit TPPFSY to have made that many errors! ----------- Our little smilin' cowboy's already back out a-prowlin' the Internet prairie looking for more awardees! If you're compiling check register rosters for schools, and you've got 100 or more errors like TPPF, you could be next! Yippee ki-yay! |
| Why I advocate online check registers As a long-time filer of public records requests, I'd taken this line of inquiry about as far as I could when I ran into a |
| Edgewood ISD PR guy and 3 cops hurried away after it felt safe enough for me to pull out my cell. |
| Almost two months later a simplistic and naive idea -- which I recognized as such at the time -- occurred to me: Start a national roster of school districts with their check registers online for the purpose of jumpstarting a national grassroots movement. |
| There are 294 names of Texas school districts who are voluntarily posting their check registers on my roster. You can read their names and tally them up for yourself. However, according to the Texas Public Policy Foundation, there are only 160 districts posting. Even though they are pushing for greater transparency, TPPF has not been willing to post their roster all in one place. Instead, there is an awkward by-county drop-down. |
| Check Register and Aggregate Payroll Amount 109.1002(e)(2)(D) Title 19, TX Admin. Code Optional. Starting in calendar year 2008, this internet posting rule applies if a school district wishes to appeal the Schools FIRST performance based upon fiscal year 2007 expendi- ture data for the new indicator 13 related to the 65% rule. If a district wishes to appeal its performance under the new indicator 13, the check register for the fiscal year is to be posted within the 30-day review period following the release of preliminary ratings by TEA (this will occur on or about June 2008). |
| tabulation. Many districts for reasons of their own have decided they don't want or need or care about the 3 points. Fortunately, many others have posted because they understand that voluntary transparency puts them into the winners' column on many levels. GOOD NEWS #2 SCHOOL TRUSTEES AND ADMINISTRATORS RESPOND 100% FAVORABLY TO THE SMART AND FRIENDLY HEART-TO-HEART approach we have found works; details here. Many of the districts you see on my three rosters -- all the most complete in the nation -- have posted their check registers online because they've been approached in the friendly way described above. In sharp contrast, NOT A SINGLE DISTRICT among the 401 who are online thus far has posted because they've been attacked by angry constituents, pelted by email campaigns, diluged by petitions or had demands made that they do so in letters to the editor or guest editorials or blogs. Not one. Superintendent after superintendent has told me that they find such attacks off-putting. I don't blame them. When we feel we are being attacked, the most natural thing in the world is to go into hunker-down mode. It amazes me that folks who agree that the Golden Rule is a good thing forget to use it in their dealings with |
| GOOD NEWS #3 THE TPPFSY AWARD FOR 2009 Even with the Texas Public Policy Foundation's 100-plus errors on their Texas public school district accountability site, there's some good news in that, too: TPPF's numbers are all very low! Here's the breakdown: TPPF states that only 160 districts have posted their check |
| their local schools. In fact, much of the work I do consists of undoing previous attempts which proved to be at best unproductive and at worst counter-productive. As one dad told me last week, "I wish we'd found you three years ago." (His district's check register was online within a month after I began working with him.) |
| It's always useful when pressing for transparency to show hard stats, so here are mine: o There are 4.6 million students in Texas public schools; 3.4 million in online districts. o $22 billion is online from local districts (out of $46.5 billion total expenditures/all funds in actuals for 2006-07) & $19.4 billion from TEA (apples to apples data) with the result that out of $66.9 billion total possible (1031 districts and TEA), 62% is online. |
| registers online, when in fact almost twice that many have (294). Also, TPPF states that only 35% of students and spending are represented by districts with online check |
| registers, when in fact almost twice the number of students (64%) and spending (62%) are online. TPPF provides no visible roster -- you must scroll through all 254 Texas counties individually to view their data -- and only percentages, and few hard numbers other than the 160 -- the $50 billion they quote "for the public education system" does not define the categories included in that number -- plus there's the wildly out-of-date pie chart at right. Our cheerful cowboy friend, TPPFSY, got a big chuckle out of the orange slice being about half the size it should be. Because he's such a helpful little fellow, TPPFSY pulled his favorite pink marker out of his saddlebags and striped in some of the missing portion of TPPF's pie chart. |
| the district had sunk to "Academically Unacceptable," the fourth and lowest rating. This dismal showing seemed worth recording given that this was the lead district for a series of so-called equity lawsuits which had cost taxpayers billions of dollars. This kind of machismo show of muscle and intimidation had special meaning coming as it did from the same district who'd just been on the front page of the local paper a few months earlier for their police officers having chased a suspect off campus and followed him several blocks away where the suspect was shot in the ensuing scuffle. (This is legal, I learned, for armed school district police officers to chase anyone anywhere. The phrase is "in pursuit," and it should prompt all of us to wonder whether an appointed school district superintendent should be given free rein to mobilize his or her private force of armed police officers; there are many instances where supes have used their private police forces to intimidate parents.) |
| Misleading signage on the front door of Edgewood ISD's administration building. (PHOTO--Peyton Wolcott) |
| A few of the 100-plus errors and omissions (above) on Texas Public Policy Foundation's school district trans- parency website. Below, TPPF got all 6 districts in Hockley County wrong despite themselves providing links for all; the 5 circled TPPF says are not online actually are, and the 1 that TPPF says is online (the X) actually isn't. |
