P E Y T O N W O L C O T T |
| h o w w e t a k e b a c k o u r c h i l d r e n ' s e d u c a t i o n -- o n e p e r s o n , o n e q u e s t i o n , o n e s c h o o l a t a t i m e . Copyright 1999-2006 Peyton Wolcott |
| Modern Minutemen: Nancy Gadbois & Pat Yezak |
| Open records pioneers in Bremond ISD whose searches help bring their former supe, Kenneth Johnson, to justice--and prison--June 26, 2006; Nancy's blog: http://www.nancysblog.com |
| Here's the page with the 24 drop-the-ballers: http://www.peytonwolcott.com/BremondJohnsonPlea.html Still more here: http://www.peytonwolcott.com/BremondJohnsonSentenced.html |
| Will Fitzhugh |
| Nancy Gadbois (left) and Pat Yezak |
| NOTE: Although Nancy and Pat are referred to as "The Bremond moms," their husbands (Maurice Yezak and Robert Gadboise) have been an integral part of the process from the beginning. Both Pat Yezak and Robert Gadbois handily won their board races in 2004. And both couples have called for a Congressional hearing. |
| Commentary: What's a Mere $800,000? Wednesday, June 28, 2006 Michael F. Shaughnessy Eastern New Mexico University Portales , New Mexico I have been following the news and Peyton Wolcott's web site and there apparently is some concern about some missing money. I am going to be giving my age away here, but this reminds me of one of the old sitcoms-with Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. Many years ago, they had their own weekly television show and one week, apparently, the IRS made some type of mistake and sent Lou Costello an extra million dollars as a tax refund. Naturally (and those of you who saw the show remember this) his eyes widened, he began to shiver and shake , and his hand went to his hat and he began to bang his hat on his head, only to be interrupted by his pal, Bud Abbott who grabbed him by the lapels of his coat after seeing the size of the check. Change scene to the Offices of the Internal Revenue Service. Boss to employer: Hey, did you ever catch that error? Employee: No, but I'm working on it…Don't worry about it. It's only a million dollars. Not to worry. Change scene back to Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. What to do about this check? Must have been a mistake. Are you crazy? The IRS doesn't make mistakes!! Who's on First?? Change scene back to some small town in Texas . No more money for books? Supplies ? Desks? Pencils? Paper? Rulers ? Must be some mistake!! Change scene to home of average taxpayer. “Well, honey, I'm home ! We got our refund check. We are forty dollars richer. I guess we can put more in the plate at church this week. Or maybe send one of the poor kids in the parish to summer camp. Forty dollars will just about do it. I would really like to see one of the kids get to go to the camp where there is a lake and trees and grass. Change to Bremond ISD. This is apparently, allegedly the place where there is this missing money. Well, there could have been a “clerical oversight” or as Eddie Haskell used to say “ Well, it was an inadvertent oversight”. Maybe “ generally accepted accounting principles? “ And Peyton Wolcott has been following this story as we have here at www.educationnews.org For Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, the issue of a million dollars made for a real funny television. show and a lot of laughs. For the children of Bremond Independent School District , there is no laughter in that town. For the taxpayers of Bremond, I send my sympathies and hope that justice will be done. |
| Pat & Maurice Yezak In their own words We would like for people to know that we are disappointed that more people were not prosecuted. Dr. Johnson did not go alone on the trips to the World Series and Cancun, the fishing trip off the coast of California, to Las Vegas multiple times, dog races in LaMarque, and the Horseshoe in Bosier. He did not go alone. They know who they are and we know who they are. To these people we say, "Your beloved Dr. J. took the plea for you." |
| Nancy Gadbois In her own words It is very difficult to put into words what we have experienced over the last three years in our search for the truth of how our tax dollars have been spent in the past and how they are being spent now. Our first open records request was for a copy of the school district’s audit. Once we received the audit, it only made us question our finances more. People in the community began to catch wind of what we were asking for and would call and give us information about something they had seen or heard about. There had been rumors of trips and Dr. Johnson’s sons being on the payroll floating around for years. It turns out the rumors were true. Some of the things we asked for included: The school district audit – which showed the District’ s deposits unsecured by more than $3.2 million and lack of sound budgeting practices. A request for Coach’s salaries, stipends and memberships paid for by the district – this did not produce the same information as received from the Texas High School Coaches Association (THSCA). A request sent to the THSCA for memberships listed under Bremond ISD – Dr. Johnson’s two sons, Jason Johnson and James Johnson Jr., were both listed as lifetime members. Their paperwork listed them as active coaches at Bremond ISD, which they were not. A request for 2003-2004 Revenue sources and 2003- 2004 budget – The board approved a budget for almost $1,000,000.00 more than what the projected revenues would be. A request for several payroll summaries and a list of actual expenditures listed by code – We received a copy of the general ledger, which showed the superintendents salary to be more than his contract, and the payroll summary showed paychecks to Dr. Johnson’s sons who did not work for the district. A request for purchase orders, contracts, etc. for Brushmasters – Reviewing the checks and invoices sent to us the firm was paid in amounts that exceeded the statutory minimums requiring specific bidding procedures. The authorities to my knowledge never reviewed this. We were told the owner was the uncle of one of the coaches at our school. Subsequent requests showed board of trustees doing business with the district with no affidavits on file, the school board minutes showing Kenneth Swick voting for the depository agreement when he was a representative of both the depository and the school district, discrepancies with Dr. Johnson’s employee contracts, large amount of checks written for cash and other questionable expenses, and credit card statements showing lavish trips, jewelry, alcohol and other questionable purchases. We did approach several board members and asked them to step in and ask questions. We reminded them they could access information more easily than we could. When we asked for the credit card statements, Dr. Johnson told us they had been stolen. We reported this to the local sheriff who in turn called in the Texas Rangers. We met with Ranger Huggins at Sheriff Yezak’s office and at this time he told us it would be best if we stopped our open records requests for the time being. He said he had subpoena power and would subpoena the records he needed to investigate. We interviewed with the State Auditor, Harold Burns, and gave him copies of our information we had received through open records requests. Once the credit card statements surfaced, the school board had no choice but to call for a special audit. The special audit confirmed our findings but appears to investigate no further than the credit card statements available at the time, a few of the checks written for cash and Dr. Johnson’s salary being paid through JR3 with no contract on file. Before the special audit conducted by Hudson, Anderson & Associates, which happened to be the same auditing firm that had audited our school district for the previous eight to ten years, I was approached by two teachers in the school gym and told I had “nothing but lies and rumors.” One of the teachers also informed me I was allowed to volunteer at the school because she “backed” me. Considering her husband was President of the school board at the time, I guess she felt she had the right to make that statement. A few days later and the day before Dr. Johnson resigned, he sent a letter to me stating my volunteer services were no longer required at the school at the request of a few teachers. You must keep in mind this is a Pre-K through 12 school so this letter had a powerful impact on me. I have been a volunteer in my children’ s schools and in youth ministry for over ten years. Over the past three years we have had to endure name calling, finger pointing, a school board meeting called to specifically ridicule us for asking questions in which they pointed to my husband and friend in the audience and said we were pathetic and should be ashamed of ourselves. We’ve had trash thrown in our yards during the night, our campaign signs destroyed and thrown in Pat’s driveway, and driving to church on Sunday morning and noticing foul language written on the back of my car. The day after Dr. Johnson’s resignation he was seen by a witness leaving the school in the early morning hours. He and another district employee were each driving a truck loaded with black bags in the back. What these bags contained and where they were going is anyone’s guess. As far as we know, this witness has not been questioned. There are many witnesses who have come to us and shared information that we have passed along believing someone would follow up on these leads. We were told documents were being shredded at the school but no one stepped in. Sandra Nolan, who was also indicted, was allowed to continue to work at the school until March 2004. Once the new business manager came to work, he had to rebuild our district’ s financial records because all the previous records had been destroyed. It was very difficult to get the TEA to listen to our complaints. Each of the local, state and federal agencies we went to appeared to want to help but always seem to pass the buck when it came to following through. The TEA said they did not have the manpower, the sheriff did not have the manpower to investigate, the District Attorney had a conflict of interest and the special prosecutor only “needed $100,000 to prosecute” and stated “Robertson County doesn’t have the money to pay to investigate this further”. What kind of message are we sending? I am tired of school board members being accused of micromanaging when they ask for accountability. I am tired of parents, who demand accountability of their school board trustees and school administrators, being labeled as troublemakers. This happened in our school district because somewhere along the way the board of trustees forgot they were just that “trustees” and a superintendent forgot he was a public servant. I know this is not an isolated case. I want people to see I survived the ordeal of the last three years. I am extremely disappointed with an organization that would allow teachers and administrators to lash out at parents, who ask questions, or worse, take it out on their children. Anyone who participates in this kind of behavior should be ashamed of themselves. Sending me a letter stating I could not volunteer at the school hurt my children emotionally. I understand that doing the right thing is hard and there were plenty of times I wanted to turn back the clock and not be that person. Dr. Johnson was sentenced to five years in prison on Monday, June 26, 2006. I stood at the back and listened with mixed emotions. We had been told repeatedly to prepare ourselves for him to receive only probation. My friend, Pat, and I and two people from the local newspaper were the only people from Bremond at the courthouse. You begin to think no one really cares. I do care that Dr. Johnson will at least serve 18 months of prison time. I hope this sends a message to all those public servants out there or anyone else who thinks it is okay to misuse public funds. I have every intention of continuing my fight for our access to public information. This incident in our school district is proof open records need to remain as such and our access to them should not be hindered. I will continue to speak out against those who refuse to do their jobs as board members. I will speak out against those who reprimand board members or citizens who seek accountability. These problems affect all of us. If you are not willing to do the right thing yourself, please support those who are willing to do so. My message to all of our public servants and elected officials is this, “If you have nothing to hide, then you should have no problem letting me see our ‘public’ information.” |
| Bremond ISD |
How we take back our children's education: one person, one question, one school at a time. |
AASA - American Association of School Administrators ASA - Association of School Administrators CSD - Consolidated School District DOE - Department of Education ES - Elementary School HS - High School ISD - Independent School District JHS - Junior High School MS - Middle School MSM - Mainstream media NSBA - National School Boards Association NSPRA - National School Public Relations Association PS - Public School(s) SBEC - State Board for Educator Certification SD - School District Sup't - Superintendent TAKS - Texas Assessment of Knowledge & Skills TASA - Texas Association of School Administrators TASB - Texas Association of School Boards TASBO - Texas Association of School Business Officials TEA - Texas Education Agency TEKS - Texas Essential Knowledge & Skills USD - UnifiedUnited School District |
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| QUOTES |
Separatists in India's north-eastern state of Manipur have shot six male teachers in the leg for allegedly helping students cheat in exams. Two women teachers were beaten with sticks for the same offence, the rebels of the Kanglei Yana Kan Lup group said. The teachers were abducted from their homes after an exam on Thursday. The rebels said the teachers took up to 5,000 rupees ($110) for helping students cheat and warned of further punishment if the cheating continued. The Kanglei Yana Kan Lup (KYKL) is one of many separatist groups fighting Indian administration in Manipur. It said it abducted the eight teachers from their homes in and around the state capital, Imphal, because of reports they had taken bribes. --By Subir Bhaumik - BBC |
| 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 1999-2006 Peyton Wolcott |
| POP QUIZ: How do you yourself know for a fact that your state or local supe is actually using the funds entrusted to them for the correct purposes? |
David v. Goliath: How America's Moms & Dads are taking on Education, Inc. PEYTON WOLCOTT |
The question is not how to measure excellence at public schools and education agencies. The question is how to measure competence. -- Dianna Pharr |
| CONTACT: Peyton Wolcott P.O. Box 9068 Horseshoe Bay, TX 78657 peyton@peytonwolcott.com |
| F o c u s i n g o n accountability f i r s t |
