

| Conservative commentary - Board Governance: Ethics, Team of Eight & Single-Member Districts |
| P E Y T O N W O L C O T T |

| Who's in charge of our school boards & 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 of things wrong. Come, let us reason together and while we're at it, let us count the lots of things." |
| 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 |

| 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 super- intendent meetings." A good clue is what it should look like; there should be an odd number of folks up there on the dais--five, seven, nine. 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; the only folks on the dais should be the school board. Too often when the supe sits on the dais, he/she winds up running the meeting as with this photo of Texas supe Dennis Hill (center below in white shirt). |
| 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. Here are the particulars on the LTISD "Team of Eight" 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 (BELOW) 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 superintendent 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, the superintendent 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, while the elected school 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-Richardson ISD supe Jim Nelson (R) and then- AASA exec. dir. Paul Houston (L) |
| 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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| 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: No matter how friendly the relationships, there is an inherent 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. Team members don't hold fellow team members accountability in the same way they would an employee. |


| Too often, our superintendents as in these examples sit on the school board's dais -- many times in the middle -- and run the agenda, apparently forgetting that they're 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) supe Dennis Hill in center of board dais controls meetings by controlling one of only three microphones he allocates to the board, leaving the remaining two mics to be shared among seven trustees. He who runs the mic runs the meeting. |
| 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. |
| 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 and 2008-09. |
| 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? |
| Lake Travis ISD "Team of Eight" Seven elected trustees with supe Rocky Kirk at right rear, standing |

| Capistrano, California supe Arnold Woodrow "Woody" Carter addressing the CUSD school board in March 2009 just before they voted unanimously to fire him as superintendent; in March 2010 a judge tossed Woody's $5.5 million wrongful termination suit. (PHOTO--Paul Bersebach/Orange County Register) |
| Llano ISD school board meeting (2002-03) |
| The "Team of Eight" is seven elected board members plus their employee, the superintendent. Supes' lobbyists arranged for this new board governance model to be written into most states' education codes a decade or two ago to give more power to the supes. One quick thing you can do: Ask your superintendent when he/she was elected to the board as you were under the impression the dais was reserved for elected trustees. |
| Of course, the workshop was planned. The idea of a “mediator” originated with Mr. Carter. One can assume that he believed such a mediator was necessary to actually talk to the Trustees. Why would that be? Could it be that he has spent so much time in the past year trying to undermine the Board that he has developed a sense of alienation? Why would an experienced $325,000 per year executve need a mediator to talk with his Board of Directors? Dr. Harry Weinberg, retired Superintendent of the San Diego County schools does not hold himself out to be a mediator. His usual role is to make motivational speeches to teachers and staff. His “national recognition” is questionable. |
| The position of Superintendent is not a public “office”. In fact, it is a position of public employment. Mr. Carter is seeking to claim the respect one might owe to an elected officer, such as a Mayor, Governor or President.... [Mr. Carter's] statement seeks to undermine the authority of the Board. As such, it is insubordinate. If Mr. Carter cannot subject himself to evaluation by the Board that hired him and defend his actions, then he should resign. He cannot claim that the job is too stressful because some member of the Board (or the public) disagrees with his decisions. |
| This whole statement needs to considered carefully. First, the Board is not a part of Mr. Carter’s “team”. They employ him to run CUSD according to their policies. If he starts making or changing district policy without their consent, he has exceed his authority. Mr. Carter has the opportunity to create a helpful and constructive team — of subordinates — among his staff. Sadly, most of his senior staff are unchanged from the days when [prior supe, now indicted] Jim Fleming improperly ruled over his Board. Mr. Carter suggests that he lost support in June. That might coincide with the moment that he sought the political support of [the teachers union] to oppose the last recall election. |
| CASE STUDY: CAPISTRANO USD, CALIFORNIA |


