Peyton Wolcott - Commentary

Conservative commentary - "Team of Eight"

P E Y T O N W O L C O T T

Who's in charge of our school boards and their
meetings when it's a 'Team of Eight'?
By Peyton Wolcott
Updated Friday, February 15, 2008 - 6:31 p.m.

Two, four, six, eight,
who do we n-o-t
appreciate?
THE TEAM OF EIGHT!
By Peyton Wolcott - June 16, 2006
Updated May 4, 2008
Comes an interesting comment
from a friend who is--brave
soul--also a school board member.
The new supe they've just hired has
asked to be included on the dais
with the rest of the board, front and
center with the president. "Anything
wrong with this," my friend asks.

My response: "Lots. So very many
lots. Come, let us reason together
and while we're at it, let us count the
lots of ways."

Here's what happened when I
asked Lake Travis ISD (TX)
who hired a team of lawyers
to forward their receipt for 24
matchy-matchy shirts
By Peyton Wolcott-September. 13, 2006/11 pm

Supe Dennis Hill (center), is clearly
on first, and in control of the
Llano ISD school board meeting--and one of a total of
only three microphones heallocates to the
board for their meetings, leaving the remaining two
mics to be shared among seven trustees.

Ann Arbor, Michigan

EMAIL FROM ANN
ARBOR'S PR GAL RE
JUNE 16, 2006
REPORT ON AAPS

The name says it all
The meetings we are talking about
are called "school board meetings."
They are not called "school
superintendent meetings." A good
clue is there should be an odd
number of folks up there on the
dais--five, seven, nine, eleven.

Point 1: If the elected trustees'
employee, the superintendent,
wants to hold his or her own
"school superintendent meeting,"
he/she can put himself up in the
dais at that meeting with anyone he
wants.

Point 2: Unless and until the
school district's superintendent is
elected by taxpayers, he/she needs
to sit off to the side at school board
meetings, anywhere else but the
dais, and let the elected trustees
run their own school board
meetings. Too many times when
the supe sits on the dais, he/she
winds up running the meeting as
with this photo of Llano ISD supe
Dennis Hill at above right.

The supe needs to be at school
board meetings but in attendance,
waiting in the wings, as the
trustees' chief employee, available
to answer trustees' questions.

Lake Travis ISD's trustees
leaving board room for private meeting room
during July 2006 executive session

In addition to legitimate questions as
to the necessity for LTISD's hiring
edu-law powerhouse Walsh
Anderson to forward a single-page
receipt for them, several questions
have also arisen in the course of
looking into this purchase; hope to be
able to post a full report by Friday.

In the meantime, here are the
particulars on the shirts:

Lake Travis ISD paid a Waco vendor
$649.94 for 27 "Executive Men's
Shirts" for the trustees and supe
which no residents who regularly
attend board meetings are able to
recall ever having seen worn at board
meetings.

Once upon a time the Ann
Arbor, Michigan school board
practiced the Team of Eight
with their supe George
Fornero (right front).

Remember this photo above
posted here on June 16, 2006?
On July 14 Liz Margolis, Ann
Arbor's PR gal, emailed:
Dear Mr. [sic] Wolcott, As I am
sure you are aware there are
always two sides to every issue.
The "terrific citizen-driven site" you
mention is maintain [sic] by a
small group of individuals who
live very close to the new high
school site and who
unsuccessfully attempted, in the
courts, to stop construction on
what turned out to be a false
claim of an endangered species
of salamander found on the site.
They have since become
self-appointed watchdogs with
dwindling support in the
community. This district has
faced many challenges in
building the new high school.
After a 20 year debate, the bond
passed in 2004 by the highest
percentage in the history of the
district and after delays, mostly
caused by outside forces, we are
well on track to open the school
in Fall 2008. I am not asking you
to retract or take down any of the
information CRS shared with you
but to just ask you to remember
many have questioned the
motives of this group in their
drive to derail projects this highly
respected school district is
involved in.
Sincerely,
Liz Nowland-Margolis Director,
Communications Ann Arbor
Public Schools
2555 S. State Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
734.994.2236
margolis@aaps.k12.mi.us

No response from La Joya ISD's
'Power Couple' re 'power to the
people' questions
By Peyton Wolcott
Sep. 7, 2006/11 am

ANY SUGGESTIONS FROM
INTERNETLAND?
Last week I faxed and emailed both
Antonio and Rita--but no response yet.
Ideas, anyone, anyone? Why do we
need to hear from them? See below.

Superintendent creep
This past decade has witnessed a
general and insidious movement
towards the supe/trustee "team"
concept, insidious because most
trustees do not understand to what
they're acquiescing, as with my
friend's question. We Americans
are a decidedly egalitarian lot and
readily embrace the concept of
teamwork. Supes have recognized
this innate goodness and have, I
believe, over-eagerly taken
advantage.

What makes this easier is that
unfortunately many trustees
generally have no clue what their
powers are and, rather than taking
it upon themselves to learn what
they can and cannot do, are for the
most part content to ask their
superintendent, which is the cart
leading the horse. Or, they attend
governance training sessions
he/she recommends, which are
likely most often hosted by state
school boards associations or
similar, with the trainings
themselves in many cases led by
former superintendents. "I'm just
sick," a friend told me after her first
such training. "The guy who led my
trainings is a former superinten-
dent from [name of town deleted]
and he kept telling me what I
couldn't do. Of course he'd say
that. They all stick together."

Team of Eight
Here in Texas the "Team of Eight"
has been promoted by the Texas
Ass'n of School Boards, which
appears to be staffed mostly by
retired superintendents, and the
Texas Ass'n of School Administra-
tors, which I think of as the supe's
union. Folks in Austin call it "The
Lodge." It's to superintendents'
advantage to be considered an
integral "team" member rather than
an employee. In one fell swoop
such a move both boosts their
image and power and at the same
time limits their accountability.

In the best of all possible worlds a
good supe is a glorified business
manager.

La Joya ISD's Antonio Uresti, husband
of new LJISD board VP Rita Marie
Garza- Uresti (above left); Antonio was
recently promoted to LJISD ass't supe;
residents have raised ques- tions re
his certification history. There are also
questions regarding Rita's (above
right) SBEC certification status in light
of her employment by the Texas
Education Agency as a No Child Left
Behind Consultant; wouldn't a current
"Principal" certficate be a handy
resource in that line of work rather an
an expired one?

INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO
KNOW: Neither La Joya ISD's
newest ass't supe Antonio Uresti nor
his wife, La Joya ISD's newest board
vice president Rita Garza-Uresti, have
responded to queries regarding their
State Board for Educator Certification
status; according to Antonio's LJISD
bio, he's entering at least his ninth year
of being a principal--but a check with
SBEC shows he only received his
SBEC principal's certificate on April 5,
2005. How can that be? And how can
the state of Texas employ his wife as
an NCLB consultant when her SBEC
principal's certificate has expired?

My same-day response:
Liz, thank you for contacting me.
Is this the reference to which you
are referring, the one on this
page? >>snip>> Could you
please send specifics regarding
your statements? I am always
eager to learn the truth. The
highlighted portions below (in
red) would be a useful place to
start. From what I can see,
construction costs are
considerably over budget, the
school's opening behind
schedule, and George Fornero
has moved on to another job in
another district in another state
(Deerfield-Highland Park High
School District 133 in Highland
Park, Ill.). By the way, would you
be open to a few questions
regarding your job as AAPS
director of communications? I
also have a few questions
regarding your new superinten-
dent, Todd Roberts. Thank you
again, and wishing you all the
best. Peyton Wolcott

Elevating supes to the same
status as elected trustees boosts
them way beyond their pay grade.
Taxpayers often have little or no
say in the hiring of a superinten-
dent whereas taxpayers can vote
their elected trustees in or out.

Further, there is and should be a
natural tension between school
boards and their
superintendents. After all, he/she
is the point man for spending the
money and should be the place
where the buck stops. The team
concept is meant to erase that
tension because as a "team"
member the supe becomes one
with his bosses the trustees and
thus accountability is lost.

From local bloggers:

EARN MY VOTE, 08/10/06: So ... has
La Joya elected wolves in sheeps
[sic] clothing? Well, better the devil
you know than the devil you don't.
Guess who was awarded the
position of Assistant Superintendent
for Human Resources & Student
Services ... none other than Antonio
Uresti, husband of La Joya ISD
Board Vice-President Rita Marie
Garza-Uresti. La Joya ... we may
have a problem.

AMONG THE 94 COMMENTS
THIS POSTING ABOVE
GENERATED:

No response from Margolis as of
July 30, so sent this follow-up:

Liz, you contacted me two and a
half weeks ago (July 14, 2006)
with some general statements
to which I responded that same
afternoon by asking for
specifics so that I might better
understand your statements. It
does not appear I have yet
received a response from you. In
the event there might be some
confusion, perhaps the following
will help:
1. You mention "a small group of
individuals who live very close to
the new high school site." To
whom are you referring? What
are the names of these
individuals?
2. You refer to "self-appointed
watchdogs with dwindling
support in the community." How
are you quantifying such
"dwindling support"? Is this your
perception or is this based on
factual data and if so what
factual data? What are the names
of the "self-appointed
watchdogs" to whom you refer?
And--I'm being very serious
here--what do you mean by
"community"? Are you referring
to the Ann Arbor Public Schools
community and/or those who
support it? Or the greater Ann
Arbor community comprised of all
Ann Arbor citizens which
community may include
individuals who do not
necessarily support Ann Arbor
Public Schools?
3. You mention "delays, mostly
caused by outside forces." Could
you please detail these?
4. You state that "many have
questioned the motives of this
group." Who are the "many" and
which is the "group" to whom
you refer?
Finally, I also asked whether you
would be open to questions
regarding your position at Ann
Arbor Public Schools.
In the event that you did not
receive my July 14 response, I
am resending it (below).
Looking forward to hearing from
you.

Only looking out for their own family
members. What about the people that
helped them with the campaigning
and actually spent endless hours in
the hot sun and brought in voters
because they believed that things
would be different. Let me just say that
so many of their followers are so
disappointed in them and their
decisions..... Shame on you Rita and
Team USA. Can you say "nepotism"?

Yvonne Katz
(PHOTO/Dallas Morning News)

A textbook example
A great example of why the
supe/board/team concept doesn't
work is what occurred two years
ago in Spring Branch ISD, a
school district in Houston's comfy
Memorial Drive area.

When Yvonne Katz was SBISD's
supe, the board operated under
the "Team of Eight" concept. The
problem was, Yvonne didn't.

We all know how qualified this moron
ISNT. Of all people to put in HR.

What is even worse: The fact that this
guy has a conviction for burglary and
assault. He was arrested and
charged numerous times on this act.
Then he took it a step further when he
was arrested for possession of
cocaine. What a great person La Joya
ISD now has as an assistant to the
top tier of the district.

I truly believe that it is time for TEA
and/or SBEC to get involved and
investigate what is really going on in
this district.

In addition to the generous
$250,000 per annum her trustees
were paying their fellow team
member, turns out Katz was also
pocketing $500 a hit as a
consultant for Energy Education,
Inc. as a consultant.

Where is the South Texas Paper in
all this? A man steals from La Joya for
years by lying about certification,
heads one of only 2 schools who got
unacceptable ratings, gets busted with
cocaine, and has a history of
burglarizing homes; and now, [interim
supe] Dr. Benavidez promotes him
and the Board approves it? Does this
Board have any shame? There are 7
members & 2 are calling the shots!

According to Scott Parks of the
Dallas Morning News,
"Superintendents, particularly
those in big districts, have
become wily in the ways of
business. Sometimes, too wily.
[In 2005] we were shocked to
learn that Yvonne Katz,
superintendent in Spring Branch
ISD in Houston, was earning fees
as a "marketing consultant" for a
company that sells energy
conservation services to school
districts. After she arrived in
Spring Branch, she recommended
the company, Energy Education
Inc., for a lucrative contract in her
district. Even worse, she didn't tell
school trustees about her
financial relationship with the
company before they approved the
contract. They learned the facts
only after I reported the story in
this newspaper."

NOT MAKIN' THIS UP
By Peyton Wolcott - Aug. 27, 2006
UPDATED Aug. 27, 2006

Recent carryings-on by the La Joya
ISD school board (Texas) (above)
present a good case for citizens
extracting a signed pledge from their
trustee candidates similar to the one
we did in Llano ISD in May 2004--
before the election. Afterwards it's too
late. The nicest, most responsible
folks get themselves elected to the
local school board and all kinds of
unusual things can happen, witness
this excerpt from a local paper:

STATUS AS OF
AUG. 26, 2006:
NO RESPONSE FROM MARGOLIS
OR ANN ARBOR PS

ANN ARBOR PUBLIC
SCHOOLS EXPERIMENTS
WITH THE TEAM OF EIGHT:
A CAUTIONARY TALE
By Peyton Wolcott - June 16, 2006

Energy Education, Inc. endorsers
Voyager and then-Richards ISD
supe Jim Nelson (top) and then-
AASA exec. dir. Paul Houston

The La Joya school board’s three
newest members campaigned last
spring against what they called a long
tradition of cronyism and corruption in
the school district. But since Rita
Garza-Uresti, J.A. “Fito” Salinas and
Johnn Valente Alaniz took office in mid-
May, the seven-member board has
installed several people with close
family and political ties to board
members. The new assistant
superintendent for human resources
is Anthony Uresti, Garza-Uresti’s
husband and a Palmview city
councilman....Garza-Uresti, a No Child
Left Behind program consultant for the
Texas Education Agency, has placed a
firm emphasis on raising academic
standards. At a board meeting in late
July, she grilled principals of several
schools flagged by the state as low-
performing....But a week later, no one
on the board questioned Schunior
Middle School Principal Antonio Uresti,
Garza-Uresti’s husband, when
Schunior was the only school in the
district to receive an “academically
unacceptable” rating from the TEA.
Instead, the board promoted him to
his new post as assistant
superintendent for Human Resources
and Student Services.
Garza-Uresti, Salinas and Alaniz
complained of unholy alliances
between current and former board
members, district staffers and former
Superintendent Filomena Leo and her
husband, La Joya Mayor Billy Leo.
Rio Grande Valley...blogs have been
buzzing with talk of the district’s recent
hirings and firings.... “Truth in La Joya
Politics” explicitly blasts the new
majority on the school board and
defends Filomena Leo and her allies.
The blogs include various digs,
including several about Antonio Uresti’
s 1987 arrest on burglary charges, for
which he was given deferred
probation. A judge later ordered the
case’s court records expunged. Few
people seem willing to publicly criticize
the board or attach their names to the
invectives they hurl. Carmen Ramirez,
a close friend of the Leos and the
former school board president, has
her own legal problems. She has
said she would like to comment but
her lawyer has barred her from doing
so until after her trial on charges of
stealing thousands of dollars from the
La Joya Water Supply Corporation.
--Kaitlin Bell, The McAllen Monitor

Noted
“There’s a new sheriff in town,” Garza-
Uresti said. (Ibid.)

So much for Katz's participation in
the "Team of Eight." At the same
time her seven trustees, unpaid
volunteers all, were acting as team
members, Katz their employee
was looking out for Katz.

But Katz didn't stop with Katz. "In
addition, a close subordinate she
brought into the district, former
facilities and transportation
associate superintendent Michael
C. Maloney, has been indicted for
alleged mishandling of at least
$627,000 in school construction
and consulting contracts," writes
Rhea R. Borja in Education Week.
(More on Maloney in grey box at
bottom.)

In 2004, voters passed a
$205 million bond issue,
which included a new high
school with a $69 million budget
and a Fall 2007 completion date.
"It was never the case, as was
pitched by the Superintendent
and his consultants, that a new
high school would help the
imminent financial crisis. As far
back as 2003 and up through
the bond vote, the administration
was keeping its own Business
Services Director out of
discussions about paying for the
operation of the new high
school. District employees and
teachers said the district
couldn't afford it. Still, the
Superintendent, consultants and
even one Board trustee
concocted arguments to rush to
build a facility they couldn't pay to
run." (SOURCE--Citizens for
Responsible Schools)

NPR commentator Juan Williams at
TASA/TASB convention (Oct. 2005, Dallas)

Small world follow up
Last fall at the TASB/TASA annual
convention in Dallas, after NPR
commentator Juan WIlliams'
keynote address during the
second general session, as I was
heading towards the exit I noticed
several "Teams of Eight" in the
crowd, each team wearing
matching shirts and so snapped a
quick shot of the blue-shirted team
closest to me.

CRS asks: "Why are Board
members making excuses ('we
didn't want to micromanage') for
their inability to hold the
administration accountable?
Why is Dr. Fornero leaving town,
after telling his Board and the
community that he would stick
around till 2008?" In addition to
not being on top of construction,
"Superintendent Fornero blamed
principals and teachers for the
district's achievement gap."
(CRS)

The district started
building the new high
school and the school board
experienced difficulties getting
accurate progress reports from
their fellow team member
Fornero. In late January 2006,
"two days after the board called
for an audit so they could finally
get to the bottom of their district's
construction fiasco, Fornero
announced his departure for
greener pastures," (Ibid.) a new
job near Chicago at Deerfield-
Highland Park High School
District 113 of Lake County, Ill.
Fornero said that he would
remain at the helm at Ann Arbor
until July 1. (Supe Ann Riebock’
s resignation is effective June 30
over at District 113.) Less than
two weeks later the new cost
estimate for the high school was
$84 million and Fornero
announced it would open a year
late. (SOURCE--Ann Arbor News)

SBISD's Team of Eight at TASB/TASA
convention last October in Dallas; note the
PBK gimmes--canvas totes.

Given the foregoing,
are you as curious
as I am about LJISD
board vice presi-
dent Rita Marie
Garza-Uresti's
career as an NCLB
consultant for the
Texas Education
Agency?

Garza-Uresti

One of their members noticed me,
then volunteered for her group to
pose; the nice lady was Mary
Grace Landrum (center, below
left), a new board member, and
the group was Spring Branch
ISD's Team of Eight, the seven
elected trustees with their new
supe, Duncan Klussmann. Sure
enough, if you go to the SBISD
Board of Trustees Home Page
you'll see under the heading
"District Leaders - Board of
Trustees" not seven bright shining
smiling faces but eight--the seven
elected trustees and their
employee, the superintendent.
His name and photo are even
featured first, ahead of the seven
trustees. Perhaps they're hoping
the Team of Eight will turn out
differently this time.

Garza-Uresti's SBEC expired?
Especially given that her State Board
for Educator Certification certificate
appears to have expired? Have
emailed Garza-Uresti today to verify
that this link below is her SBEC page;
hard to imagine that SBEC's Rita Marie
Garza is not the same person as Rita
Marie Garza- Uresti, especially given
than SBEC has no listings for Rita
Marie Garza-Uresti, but all things are
possible. Will post her response if
and when received.

Community comments
"In the middle of the disaster
and chaos, created primarily by
the Superintendent and his
teams, Dr. Fornero announced
in late January, 2006, that he is
leaving the district. Very
convenient. He leaves the
community, the district, and the
Board to deal with his mess and
the red ink.
Traffic problems, school
attendance boundaries, inability
to fund the operations and
maintenance of the new school
will all need to be dealt with, but
not by Dr. Fornero. Remember
that when interviewing to get the
job in Ann Arbor, he said that he
wanted to stay with the Ann
Arbor Public Schools until
retirement." (Ibid)

Antonio's SBEC status also
confusing
According to SBEC Antonio Uresti only
just received his principal's certificate
on April 2, 2005. But how can that be?
Antonio's bio on La Joya ISD's
website indicates he's been a
principal for at least 8 years, not 1;
sent a query to Antonio yesterday re:
Science teacher 6th-8th
taught 4 years. Middle
school assistant princi-
pal 6 years. Elementary
school principal 4 years.
Associate High School
Principal 4 years. Cur-
rently principal of
Schunior M.S.

So this was a good lesson learned
well by those open to learning
lessons.

The challenge this leaves for
Spring Branch ISD is that the
policies referenced in the contract
assume someone of the high
caliber of Duncan Klussmann will
continue at SBISD's helm.

For example, while this language
is encouraging, it only specifies a
"fee" without mentioning goods
and services, receipt of either of
which can be lucrative. According
to this wording, it appears the
district's superintendent could
theoretically receive a free trip from,
for example, an outfit like Plato
Learning, Inc. without reporting it
so long as he or she did not
receive a fee.

Leapfrogging over
the schoolhouse
This possible scenario includes a
recent real-life example, a series of
overseas trips subsidized by
vendor Plato Learning in conjunc-
tion with the National Association
of Black School Educators, headed
at the time by Andre J. Hornsby,
whose retrial for fraud while
serving as a Maryland superinten-
dent is set for June 10, 2008.

New Ann
Arbor supe
Todd Roberts
(left) hails from
Birmingham
Public Schools,
which does not
appear to practice
the Team of Eight
as their board
page features only

YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO COPY
AND PASTE THIS URL--MY SOFTWARE
WON'T ALLOW ME TO LINK THIS ONE:
https://secure.sbec.state.tx.us/SBECONLINE/v
irtcertdisplay.asp?spid=317082&mode=C

New Ann
Arbor supe
Todd Roberts

EVERMAN'S TEAM OF EIGHT:
FOLLOW-UP RE WHEN THE GOING
GOT TOUGH, GUESS WHO
RESIGNED?
By Peyton Wolcott - Aug. 26, 2006 - 5 pm

seven happy smiling faces and
makes no mention of their supe;
Roberts currently serves as BPS
deputy supe for educational
services.
Roberts starting under
a cloud
"Several members of a 29-person
citizens committee who were to
help with the interviews
questioned whether school board
member Randy Friedman had
been campaigning for months for
Todd Roberts, an Ann Arbor
resident who is deputy
superintendent for educational
services for Birmingham schools.
The committee members said
they had heard that Friedman
began a personal campaign early
this year, long before the official
search opened. They said
Friedman was introducing
Roberts around the district as the
next superintendent. If that's the
case, they asked, why bother
involving the public committee?"
(SOURCE--David Jesse/Ann Arbor
News)

Friends, I must admit to being
mystified by Everman ISD's board
president Boyd Andress's resignation
over the flap caused by EHS principal
Kathy Culbertson's alleged remarks of
a racist nature over the school's louds-
peaker (more below). My mystification
arises from the fact that EISD supe Jeri
Pfeifer (2nd to right, front row above) is
the Team of Eight board member
actually in charge of hiring and super-
vising employees, not Andress. So I
have today faxed and emailed Jeri;
will post her response, if and when.

Ending on a positive note
Fornero's name has disappeared
from Ann Arbor's pages
completely along with the group
photo of the Team of Eight at top;
the only images at present on
their school board's webpage are
different individual photographs of
seven, not eight, bright smiling
faces.

EVERMAN ISD'S TEAM OF
EIGHT
Peyton Wolcott - Aug. 25, 2006

With the Team of Eight concept, as the
eight smiling happy elected Everman
ISD board members above with their
employee, supe Jeri Pfeifer (second
from right, front row), my understanding
was that it's all for one and one for all.

How does a person without an advanced
degree get a job in the educational
bureaucracy when the position requires a
graduate degree? The Houston Chronicle tells
us the secret: The person claims to have a
degree from a College that doesn't exist:
A former Spring Branch Independent School
District administrator has pleaded guilty after
being accused of a misdemeanor for lying on
his résumé.

Harris County Judge James Anderson
sentenced Maloney to a year of probation with
deferred adjudication, community service and
a $750 fine. Anderson also ordered Maloney
to write a letter of apology to Spring Branch
ISD.
Mike Maloney's plea last week comes more
than five months after he resigned from his
position with the school district, where he had
worked since 2002 as the associate
superintendent for facilities.

In his 2002 district application, Maloney had
said he had a bachelor's degree and a
master's degree from Cal Southern
University, court records show. No such
school exists.
This guy lies on an employment application for
service in public schools thereby committing a
criminal act. He gets the job, and draws an
annual salary of probably more than
$125,000. He works for three years before
being discovered and forced to face criminal
charges.
+++++++++++++++++++
Maloney only got caught when his
subordinates became concerned at his
obvious lack of expertise in supervising the
letting of contracts.
And all this clown man gets is a $750 fine, a
misdemeanor rap on his record, and is
required to write a letter of apology? No jail
time? No restitution?

Talk about a slap on the wrist.
Maybe Mike Maloney, liar and convicted
felon crook is also "friends" with Harris
County Judge James Anderson.

Apparently, Maloney was hired because he
is "friends" with Ex-superintendent Yvonne
Katz, who herself was forced to resign her
$250,000 per year job last August amid
charges of improper conduct involving an
energy savings firm. In fact, her shenanigans
resulted in the passage of a new state statute
to address the corruption problem.
Superintendent Yvonne Katz "brought"
Maloney with her when she moved from
Beaverton, Oregon, in 2002.

It looks like Beaverton Oregon, sent it's (sic)
problems "down to Texas." They're probably
still doing handstands and high-fiving each
other. (The Education Wonks, April 1, 2005)

If you'd like to learn more about the
new Ann Arbor high school, this is a
terrific citizen-driven site:
www.proposedhighschool.org

So what happened when the happy
Everman Team of Eight met a big test
this past week? After Everman HS
principal Kathy Culbertson allegedly
blamed black students for the schools'
poor TAKS scores on the school's
loudspeaker, irate parents came out in
droves, including student Allison
Coleman (below) who with her mom

expressed
unhappiness with
the principal for
another reason:
Culbertson had
required the girls
to raise their
hands over their

Everman HS student
(PHOTO/KHOU-TV)

heads to make sure that belly buttons
were covered. Coleman (above)
demonstrates her coverage problem
for the TV camera.

Far be it from anyone to suggest that a
teenage girl wear an oversized T-shirt
offering generous and sure coverage.
Let's not even go there. Let's go back to
the racism issue.

Everman HS principal Kathy
Culbertson (PHOTO/WFAA)

Who resigned over the furor resulting
from Culbertson's alleged words?
EHS principal Kathy Culbertson herself?
No.
Well, then, maybe it was the Team
of Eight's (and Culbertson's)
superintendent, Jerri Pfeifer? Well, no.
The person who resigned was
Everman ISD's board president, Boyd
Andress.

"In submitting his resignation, board
President Boyd Andress said he
personally accepted responsibility for
any offense taken." (SOURCE--WFAA-TV)

So, how much bullet did supe Pfeifer
bite? This statement was as far as she
appears to have gone to date: "I have
every conviction--every conviction--that
there was no intent to hurt anybody or to
embarrass anybody, or cause anyone to
feel uncomfortable." (Ibid.)

R-A-C-E the issue
Oh, I forgot. Public schools are not
about teaching and learning. They're
about feelings.

By the way, anyone want to guess the
name of the street Everman HS is on?

(Drum roll) Race Street. Yes, R-A-C-E.

Everman HS
1000 S. Race Street
Everman, Texas 76140
Phone 817-568-3550

How we take back our children's education:
one person, one question, one school at a time.

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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?

QUERY
THE SUPE
& THE PR GUY

TO:
KATHY COX-GEORGIA
SUP'T OF SCHOOLS &
CEO-GEORGIA DOE
CC:
DANA TOFIG-
GEORGIA DOE
PUBLIC INFO. OFCR.
DATE: JAN. 22, 2006

Can you please send me
the annual dollar
amount for each school
year (the five annual fiscal
cycles 2000-2005) that the
Georgia Public Schools
DOE has spent with
vendor Computer
Consulting Services
Corp., described as a
consultant to Georgia's
DOE.

STATUS:
No response
rec'd from
Sup't Gray as of
Mar. 27, 2006

QUERY
THE SUPE
(& CC THE BOARD)

DATE FIRST SENT:
FEB. 14, 2006

RE-SENT 03/26/06

Dear Strongsville
Superintendent
James Gray:

I'm hoping you can
clear something up for
me for my book and
website regarding your
standards for
administrative
practices in
Strongsville as there
have been not one but
two situations this past
year warranting
scrutiny....

Regarding special ed
teacher Christine
Scarlett's offering a
date with herself as a
grades incentive

1.    What rules/
guidelines do you now
have in place to
assure that nothing
like this happens
again? Would these
be administrative
changes or has your
board set specific
policies in place for
you to follow in future?

2.    Rumors of an affair
between Scarlett and
Bradigan persisted for
several months. You
have stated that you
have no idea such an
affair was going on.
Do you feel the fact
that you are
commuting from your
home in Akron (if this
has changed, please
let me know) has
adversely impacted
your ability to monitor
what's going on with
your employees in the
Strongsville
community in an
important and
sensitive area such as
this? Has your board
since made a
condition of your
employment that you
move to Strongsville
and become an
integral part of their
community?

Regarding the sex
education booklet
placed last fall in
young children's
lockers

4.    What guidelines
did you follow from
your established
board's policies for
such?

5.    There appears to
be a growing number
of parents who want to
be consulted before
such materials are
given to their students.
As one mom put it,
"What's wrong with so
many people in the
educational fields that
they don't even think
twice about providing
children with
inappropriate
materials and not even
consider the parents
wishes....Their tactics
mirror those used in
Communist China and
Cuba where children
are considered not
children of parents, but
wards of the State."
While this is clearly the
statement of an upset
parent, it does raise an
interesting issue
regarding public
school administrators
in the U.S. Do you
consider the students
in your schools yours
to educate as you
deem best or the
offspring of parents to
be consulted before
disseminating such
materials?

Regarding trainings
and conferences

6.    Of which
education-related
associations are you
and Strongsville City
Schools a member?
What are these
organizations'
guidelines for
disseminating such
materials?

7.    In which
education-related
conferences have
your and your staff
participated this past
year? Where were
they and what were
the costs for each?
Have you attended any
other seminars,
workshops or the like
offering guidance in
this area, and what
were those costs?

It may well be that
there are perfectly
reasonable
explanations for your
approving the placing
sex-education
pamphlets in young
students' lockers
without notifying
parents first, and it may
also well be that there
is a perfectly
reasonable
explanation for your
allowing a teacher to
offer a date at the Dairy
Queen with herself to a
young student; if so, I
am eager to learn such
reason or reasons.
==================
She said the booklet,
which also provides
information on the need for
parental consent for
abortion and a Web
address for the
Lesbian/Gay Community
Service Center of Greater
Cleveland, is
inappropriate for
11-year-olds. I believe
some sex education needs
to be given, but when
subjects are discussed or
material is given to kids of
this nature, a notice
should be sent home to
the parent and they should
be allowed to opt out of
the program if they wish,
Fleming said. School
Superintendent James
Gray said he gave an OK
for the pocket-sized
directories, which were
provided to the district by
United Way Services in
conjunction with the
county health department
and county commissioners,
to be given to students at
the high school, middle
schools and to sixth
graders. Gray said he
received two calls from
parents who took
exception to the booklet's
content. I understand that
and probably, in
retrospect, I should have
considered sending a
letter along with it as far
as an explanation, he
said, adding, this is a
developing situation. I
don't know what we are
going to do at this point.
Colleen Grady, a city
resident and a member of
the state school board,
said she got calls from four
parents concerned about
their children getting the
directory. Grady, who is
also a former city school
board member, said she
has not personally seen
the publication, but they
(parents) read me sections
over the telephone. She
said the state board of
education may wish to
make a legislative
recommendation to the
Ohio general assembly,
and the board could also
consider discussion about
adoption of a model policy
for the distribution of such
materials. Gray said there
will be continued
discussion, in the district's
curriculum and pupil
services departments on
whether to curtail
distribution of materials
which are considered to
be sensitive, particularly
for the younger kids.

HOME

What is a "Team of Eight"? Seven elected school board members plus their employee, the superintendent.
     If your district has five trustees, you might have a "Team of Six." With nine elected trustees, a "Team of Ten."
WHY IT'S A BAD IDEA: There is an implied tension between elected trustees and a paid employee. Becoming part of an
artificially assembled team -- artificial because the responsibilities are different -- blurs the distinction between the two.
     Think about it - Part 1: You're not going to hold a fellow team member accountable in the same way you will an employee.
     Think about it - Part 2: Superintendents dreamed this up and brought it to their boards, not the other way around. Who
benefits most by such an arrangement? But you already guessed the answer: The superintendent.

TEAM OF EIGHT & OTHER GOVERNANCE ISSUES

One quick thing
you can do: Ask your
superintendent to
voluntarily move off the
dais. Nicely. If he/she
says "no," get someone
else to ask next week.

Too often, our superintendents as in these
examples (see arrows left and below) and sit in
the middle of the school board dais and run the
meetings, forgetting apparently that the meetings
are called "school board meetings" and not
"school superintendent meetings" for a reason.

For a superintendent to sit in the middle of a
school board meeting and run the microphone is
an improper usurpation of authority by hirelings,
a power grab.

Llano ISD (TX) board
2003-2004

School board photos on district websites are also revealing. For example, at Lake Travis
ISD's board page we see a group photo of not seven smiling faces, but eight -- superintendent Rocky Kirk having
apparently given himself a promotion -- and his elected trustees a demotion, by their according him equal rank --
to the Team of Eight.

Developing . . .

Texas' Lake Travis ISD's(L)
updated Team o'Eight page,
with supe Rocky Kirk at far
right; below, Maryland's
Montgomery County SBOE
with their supe Jerry Weast (C)

Michigan's Ann Arbor Public Schools supe Todd Roberts (far left, seated)
with his seven elected trustee bosses, 2007-08.

02.15.08 UPDATE:
AAARRRGGHH.
Ann Arbor has returned to the
Team of Eight concept. (See
above photo.)

MAY 2008 UPDATE:
Spring Branch ISD

Spring Branch's trustees and
superintendent Duncan
Klussmann took a big -- and, I
believe, important for the nation --
step towards transparency in
November 2006 when they
committed to voluntary post the
district's check register online.

At the time, SBISD was the largest
district in the nation to publicly*
undertake this, and the district's
move towards open government at
that place and time was an
encouragement to other districts in
Texas. For this I will also be
grateful to Duncan and his board.

Ideally, when negative situations
occur such as happened during
Yvonne Katz's era, alert boards
learn from their mistakes and,
rather than circling the wagons and
moving into a hunker-down mode,
correct them, out in the open.

When I called SBISD's business
office in June 2006 as a follow up,
associate SBISD superintendent
Margie Duffey located Duncan's
contract and read the language to
me over the phone on very short
notice. The "Consulting" section
stated as follows:

_______________
* We learned in February 2007 that
Dallas ISD -- unbeknownst to
anyone, including members of the
Dallas media who'd been regularly
attending Dallas ISD board
meetings -- had also posted its
check register online in November
2006. Also, Clovis USD in
California had posted its check
register online some years earlier
without telling anyone outside the
community. In fact, Clovis USD
appears to have been among the
first districts in the nation to move
towards this degree of
transparency, if not THE first.

"DURING THE TERM OF THIS
CONTRACT, THE SUPERINTENDENT
WILL NOT ENGAGE IN ANY
CONSULTING ACTIVITIES FOR A FEE,
OR IN ANY OUTSIDE EMPLOYMENT,
WITHOUT THE PRIOR CONSENT OF
THE BOARD. THE SUPT WILL COMPLY
WITH ALL DISTRICT POLICIES, RULES
& REGULATIONS REGARDING
CONFLICT OF INTEREST AND FRAUD
AS THEY EXIST OR MAY HEREAFTER
BE AMENDED OR ADOPTED DURING
THE TERM OF THIS CONTRACT."
Applicable policies include DBD (Legal) and
DBD (Local).

This example of Plato is especially
relevant as Plato is a vendor Yvonne
Katz signed up for during her tenure
as SBISD supe.

Brush up your Plato.

Then-Philadelphia schools "chief
academic officer Gregory E.
Thornton and administrator
Rosalind Chivis had approved a
$926,000 no-bid contract for Plato
Learning Inc. - five months after
the two took a 10-day excursion to
South Africa in June 2004 that
was subsidized by the
Minnesota-based
education-software distributor."
(SOURCE--The Philadelphia Inquirer)

Andre Hornsby (PHOTO: Washington Post)

Let's extrapolate this out a bit.
Here's more regarding one of the
trips:

Gregory Thornton

Who wants these problems for
their district?

The only way to solve this is
simple: No side consulting for
superintendents of any kind, and
no receipt of any goods or services
of any kind from anyone.

In the meantime, whatever
happened to Yvonne's employee
Maloney?