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 1999-2009 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.
6 SIMPLE SUGGESTIONS FOR SCHOOL
SUPERINTENDENTS

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.
More "Best Practices"
here.
Looking for older commentaries?

Click here, see if you can find what you're
looking for; if not, try Googling whatever it
is in quotes along with my name in quotes,
as this example:
"embezzlement" "school" "peyton wolcott"  
As of June 1, 2009, there were 290 reports
to choose from for this one category.
Thank you for reading,
and thank you for your interest in our
schools and our schoolchildren.
Texas Hill Country - Mesquite and Wildflowers
Boerne
It's getting late; do you know
where your district's laptops are?
While it's certainly true that
we can learn from our mistakes,
it's also true that smart people
learn from others' mistakes.

Bethlehem school leaders Joseph
Lewis (superintendent) and Craig
Haytmanek (board prez) might now
wish they'd kept closer tabs on their
district's technology when it was entrusted to their oversight, given Pennsylvania Auditor
The administration of outgoing
Bethlehem Area School District
Superintendent Joseph Lewis failed
to secure laptops worth more than
$11.5 million, waited two years to contact
police after at least 80 of them disappeared and
then purposely deleted inventory records, state
Auditor General Jack Wagner says.  

In a special audit released Wednesday,
Wagner also criticized Lewis and
former board President Craig T.
Haytmanek over a related matter
involving disgraced former Principal
John Acerra.  

Wagner said Lewis and Haytmanek ''delayed and
disguised the final payment'' of a $52,726
legal bill for an internal probe of
Acerra [who] was arrested in 2007 during a
police drug sting in his office at Nitschmann
Middle School, where most of the computers
went missing in 2005.   

''Bethlehem Area School District's failure to
exercise reasonable control and oversight over
the district's computer inventory and over an
internal investigation undermines the confidence
of residents and taxpayers in the district's ability
and willingness to conduct its business affairs
properly,'' Wagner said in a news release.  ''The
repeated lack of oversight adds to the overall
picture of weak management in the daily
operations of the district, and must be corrected
for the sake of taxpayers.''
Former Bethlehem principal John Acerra
escorted to court in 2007 where he was sentenced
to 2-4 years in prison for selling crystal meth from
school office. (PHOTO--Bill Adams/ExpressTimes)
FALLOUT:  Perhaps Craig Haytmanek
was busy with his otolaryngology practice;
at least he still has folks' ears, noses and
throats to fall back on at St. Luke's
Hospital.  Joe Lewis has not been so lucky;
not only was he "forced out" of his
Bethlehem superintendency (technically
he's still supe of record until his personal  
time runs out in January) but also his new
Moravian College gig has apparently fallen
through.  And this past week there was the
formal rebuke from the Bethlehem school
board to add to his resume, plus Wagner's
audit of Lewis's risky high-fee derivatives
bond payment scheme is pending.    
Lessons learned -- but whose?
General Jack Wagner's findings released earlier
this month:
H O M E          TECHNOLOGY
Conservative Commentary - Taxpayer-Funded Laptops
By Peyton Wolcott
Friday, October 30, 2009 / 12:25 a.m.
Below, standing-room only crowd at March 2007 Bethlehem school board meeting following the arrest of
Nitschmann Middle School principal John Acerra.
From top:  Joseph Lewis early in his tenure
as Bethlehem Area School District
superintendent (PHOTO--Emily Robson/
Morning Call);  Former Bethlehem Area
School District principal John Acerra with
police escort (PHOTO--Ken White/Express-Times)
Principal Charged With Dealing Meth
Arrest Made At Pa. Middle School After
Police Found Meth On Man's Desk
By Sean Alfano
Feb. 28, 2007

A middle school principal
was charged with dealing
crystal methamphetamine
after police found the drug
in his school office.

John Acerra, 50, of
Allentown, was arrested
Tuesday in his office at
Nitschmann Middle School in Bethlehem, where police
said they found meth on his desk.

Police said they began investigating Acerra in early
February after an informant told them that the principal
was using and distributing the drug.

There was no indication that Acerra sold
the drug to students, but Acerra did
allegedly sell the drug from his school
office after hours and on weekends, said
Dennis Mihalopoulos, an agent with the
Drug Enforcement Administration.

On Thursday, police watched Acerra sell a small amount
of meth to a customer in a store parking lot, according to
court documents. Police stopped the buyer, who told
officers he had been to Acerra's home 10 to 15 times
over the past three months, officials said.

Police then arranged for an informant to buy $200 worth
of meth from Acerra on Saturday in the parking lot of an
Allentown drug store, according to court documents.

On Tuesday, police set up another $200 deal with Acerra
and the informant, who wore a listening device as he
began conducting the transaction inside the principal's
office, authorities said. Acerra did not have enough meth
to sell to the informant, and he and the informant
arranged to meet later that night to complete the buy,
Mihalopoulos said Wednesday.

After the informant left the building, police entered
Acerra's office and found him sitting at his desk with a
bag of meth next to a glass tube with meth residue and
burn marks on it. Also on the desk was the marked
money the informant used to purchase the drug, court
documents said.

Acerra has an unlisted phone number and it wasn't clear
if he had an attorney. He was arraigned on felony drug
charges and sent to Lehigh County Prison, with bail set
at $200,000.

Bethlehem Area School District Superintendent Joseph
Lewis did not immediately return a phone call from The
Associated Press on Wednesday. District officials were
planning to hold a news conference Wednesday
afternoon.

Acerra became Nitschmann's principal in 2000 with a
salary of $80,467 a year. Before that, he was the
school's director of instruction and curriculum.
CBS News report (Feb. 28, 2007)
Police arrested a middle school principal in
Bethlehem, Pa. Tuesday Feb. 28, 2007
when they found crystal methamphetamine
on his desk.  (AP (file))
John Acerra
Below, "Drug-Free School Zone" sign in
front of Nitschmann Middle School
BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA:  $11.5 MILLION IN LAPTOPS MISSING
NEWS REPORTS FROM ELSEWHERE IN AMERICA
WELDON —  Another
arrest has been made in
the case of computer thefts
at Weldon City Schools that
began in April 2008.

Weldon City Police Department’
s Lt. James Avens said this
morning Jamill Simmons, 18, of
the Weldon area, was
arrested Monday for three
counts of breaking and
entering, two counts of
larceny and one count injury to
real property. (Real property is
land, land improvements
resulting from human efforts
including buildings and
machinery).

Simmons charges stem from
various incidents beginning
April 24, 2008, with the
breaking and entering at
Weldon High School where 30-
laptops were taken along with
laserjet printers, two mobile
wireless laptop carts and
battery chargers, all totaling
more than $74,000.  

Avens said Simmons charges
also include a breaking and
entering on June 20, 2008,
when 14 laptops were taken
from Weldon Elementary
School.

Another incident included in
Simmons charges pertains to
the damage of a 50-inch
plasma television during a
breaking and entering where
officers responded but the
suspects got away on April 7,
of this year, at Weldon High
School.

As reported by the Daily
Herald and stated by Avens
last week, Raymond Mills, 19,
of Weldon, who was already
in jail for breaking and entering
at Swaggers Clothing Store in
Weldon, was served warrants
for multiple breaking and
entering and larceny charges
pertaining to missing
computers at Weldon City
Schools, in addition to robbery
with a dangerous weapon in
the Weldon Produce case.
Mills has a $100,000 bond total
for all his charges and has a
Sept. 9 court date.

If you have any information on
the thefts at Weldon City
Schools, you are urged to call
the Weldon Police Department
at 536-3136.
44 LAPTOPS (NC)
Another arrest in
missing school
computers
by Kris Smith, Roanoke Rapids
Daily Herald News Editor
Wed., Sep. 2, 2009
Jamill Simmons
www.rrdailyherald.com/articles
/2009/09/02/news/doc4a9ee4d
565848103909333.txt
64 LAPTOPS (AZ)
Since August 2009 64 Apple
and HP laptops have
disappeared from Tucson
High School (above) and
other area schools.  "With the
recent wave of laptop thefts
at TUSD, some computer-
based activities are being cut
short.  District administrators
say they are working on
getting surveillance cameras
to prevent future thefts, but
increased security presents
another problem and that is
funding."  (SOURCE--ABC)
1 LAPTOP (TN)
According to local police,
liquor, 8 porn videos, 2
cameras and a laptop were
stolen in October 2009 from
the Sullivan County Schools
warehouse; all items were
recovered at the home of
Larry J. Fleenor, Jr. who has
been arrested. (SOURCE--Times
News) (PHOTO--TriCities.com)
Sullivan County
Schools chief Jack
Barnes trying to do
some 'splainin' in
Tennessee
Are you buying Sullivan
schools' explanation,
America? www.timesnews.
net/article.php?id=9018018
21 LAPTOPS (IN)
"Two Arlington Community
High School students are
facing school disciplinary and
court proceedings after
Indianapolis Public Schools
Police caught them stealing 21
laptops from William A. Bell
School 60 [in October 2009].   
The two boys taken into
custody are students in
Arlington’s program for
overage/underperforming
students which works with
children who are behind two
or more grade levels.  The
boys are suspended pend-
ing expulsion proceedings and
have been referred to juvenile
court on charges of burglary,
trespassing and fleeing law
enforcement, IPS spokes-
woman Kim L. Hooper said."
(SOURCE--Indy.com)  

School 60 describes itself
as "a K-6 inquiry-based
teaching and learning
environment. Our school is
a science magnet that
focuses on thinking maps
and student driven
instruction. School 60
creates a well-rounded
student incorporating art,
music and physical
education into instruction."
Guess the two students didn't
take School 60's vision
statement closely enough to
their hearts:
William Bell School 60 --
Our Student Mission
Statement:

I am a School 60 Tiger.

I take pride in my home, my
school and my community.

Learning is my top priority.

I respect my parents, my
teachers and most of all
myself.

I am smart.  I am talented.
And I will achieve!
Even Hawaii not
immune from problem
of how to safeguard
taxpayer-funded
school laptops:
9 LAPTOPS (HI)
The Hawai’i Police Department
is investigating a burglary over
the weekend at Ka’ū High
School.

One or more individuals forced
entry into a classroom
sometime between 4:30 p.m.
Friday (October 16, 2009) and
7:30 a.m. Monday (October 19,
2009) and stole nine black
Lenovo laptop computers
valued at $4,491.

Police ask that anyone with
information about this case call
the Police Department’s non-
emergency line at 935-3311.
Tipsters who prefer to remain
anonymous may call Crime
Stoppers at 961-8300 in Hilo or
329-8181 in Kona. All Crime
Stoppers information is kept
confidential.
L to R:  Jack Wagner, Pennsylvania State Auditor General;
recent Bethlehem Area School District leadership, superinten-
dent  Joseph Lewis and former board prez Craig Haytmanek, MD.
PHOTO CREDITS:  top right, Joseph Lewis (Lehigh Valley Live) and Craig Haytmanek (The Morning Call)