| Commentary |
| A CLOSER LOOK AT KATY ISD TECHNOLOGY VENDOR C INNOVATION, INC. HAS THE DISTRICT BEEN ZANGLED? By Peyton Wolcott - May 3, 2006 - 5:00 a.m. Several concerned friends around the state, including Katy ISD taxpayers, sent me copies last week of an April 27 press release announcing Katy ISD's purchase of yet more software, this time "ZANGLE" from an outfit called C Innovation, Inc. |
| Lenny Schad, Katy ISD Deputy Sup't-Technology, addresses Leadership Katy ISD last year |
| What do we know about ZANGLE? According to this same April 27, 2006 press release at www.cinnovations.net "ZANGLE currently manages data on approximately two million students in 200 school districts across the country." No matter the formula C Innovation is using to do their billing, this represents what we in Texas would call a chunka change. Not much is available on C Innovation's website other than their contact information in a Claremont, California office building roughly an hour east of downtown Los Angeles. Where for example other companies might list a plethora of employee contacts, all C Innovation offers is the name of their chief operating officer Bill Naughtin, and that's in the April 27 press release. |
| Downtown Claremont, Calif. 'The Village' shopping area near Claremont Colleges-- and blocks from ZANGLE's corporate HQ's. |
| What we now know about C Innovation, Inc. It's a Delaware-based corporation, not surprising given that state's business-friendly climate; in fact, this is precisely one of the issues our legislators are currently discussing in Austin, how to force tax dollars from Texas' many businesses such as computer giant Dell organized under the so-called Delaware Sub. What's more unusual is that C Innovation's official Delaware-stated corporate address turns out to be a single-family residence on a suburban street near a golf course in Salt Lake City belonging to a Mr. Smith. (Really.) Further, C Innovation's agent for service of process is Shelly Jay Shafron, an attorney in Encino, California, whom his secretary said was "very busy" and could not talk. According to the Delaware Department of State, C Innovation, Inc. has not filled out the back of their annual report listing their officers, which should be noted is not required, and another factor contributing to Delaware's business-friendly image. C Innovation's registered agent, the Corporation Trust Company, only has a forwarding address on file which they would not release. |
| C Innovation, Inc. and ZANGLE--all over the U.S. map |
| C Innovation, Inc. appears to not be registered with either the California Secretary of State or with Utah's Department of Commerce, a spokesman for which notes, "They should be registered with us; we are not a policing agency so they cannot be forced to register with us although it is required." Further, C Innovation similarly appears to not be registered with the Texas Secretary of State; as with Utah, "If they're doing business here in Texas, they should be registered here in Texas with the Secretary of State." A Texas dba search under "C Innovation, Inc." and "Zangle" also proved similarly fruitless. A spokesman for the California Secretary of State had the same message, adding that their state attorney general would do the enforcing for non-reporting. I'm using the term "appears to be" very carefully because it appears to be that this company does not invite much if any scrutiny, as with the example of my attempted interview with their chief operating officer Bill Naughtin. |
| Katy ISD where "A-Plus is our middle name" |
| "There's things about private companies that is really no one's business and we don't share those things," he said, adding, "I have no reason to share things for no purpose." When asked how C Innovation came to sell its product to Katy ISD, Naughtin said he had "no idea." When the subject of Education Research & Development Institute conferences came up--Katy ISD supe Leonard Merrell is an ERDI consultant--Naughtin responded that while his company had been an ERDI vendor for "many years," he had never met Merrell at any ERDI conferences, which he felt had not "done anything for our business" and therefore stopped going, pointing out that he'd prefer to focus on providing services to their customers. "We're very honest, open caring people, but very suspicious of people who want quotes from us like newspapers who use those quotes oftentimes for the negative." Which perhaps explains C Innovation's lack of Internet presence, surprising for a corporation doing multi-million dollar business with public school districts. Because I could not agree to Mr. Naughtin's request that his name and comments not appear in print, we rang off. |
| The Great Texas Sultanate of Bidness Approval Following up on Naughtin's reference to being on the state bidding list, I contacted the Texas Building & Procurement Commission because while I've heard reference to this list often in the past, informally called the vendor list or the approved vendor list, I realized I didn't really know what it means to be on such list. According to a TBPC official, the formal name for this list is the "Centralized Master Bidder List," and rather than being a sacred imprimatur as some companies have indicated, as though they've been anointed by the Great Texas Sultanate of Bidness Approval, the CMBL is actually a business portal designed to consolidate Texas government agencies' vendor base. To get on the CMBL there are no secret handshakes and the only anointing occurs after you've filled out a form and sent in your $70. Zap, you're now on the vendor list. |
| Mr. Larry Anderson The last visible-thus-far piece of this puzzle is Larry Anderson, whom Mr. Naughtin confirmed is "an owner" of C Innovation, Inc. While Mr. Anderson may or may not be the president or officer of C Innovation, Inc., Mr. Anderson's owner/operator status is so stated on his bio on a proposal published for one of his other companies, Medical Discoveries, Inc., "a publicly traded development stage biopharmaceutical company" established on November 20, 1991. |
| Among the information supplied to the Securities and Exchange Commission is that "Larry Anderson has a wide range of investment banking, sales and entrepreneurial experience...Mr. Anderson is an entrepreneur with numerous start-ups and turn-arounds to his credit. Within the last 5 years he has owned and operated or currently owns and operates, among other companies, C Innovation Inc, a 36-employee K-12 educational software company located in Claremont, California; Success Finance, a small contract financing company based in Utah; Complete Nursing Services a 28-employee terminally ill child care company in the State of Washington; All Home Care, a 65-employee aged home care company in California; and Future Now Enterprises, LLC in Utah. The combined yearly payroll of his businesses is over $6 million. Anderson currently lives in Salt Lake City, Utah." |
| For-profit terminally ill child care company It should be noted that "Complete Nursing Services" (see 2005 Yellow Pages ad at left), the for-profit terminally ill child care company in Spokane, appears to no longer be in business as the phone numbers listed are no longer working numbers and I have been unable to find newer telephone numbers despite a rigorous search. I have pursued every lead possible in order to find their new address but have turned up nothing thus far. |
| 'Complete Nursing Services' Yellow Pages ad - Spokane, Wash. |
| 'Not your ordinary Iowa cornfed beef sales job' My last attempt to contact Mr. Anderson was the only telephone number I have been able to locate for him, the one appearing on a letter apparently written by him which was posted on "Recruiter-Rater." Although I have called several times in the past four days, no one picks up and the recording is the same. "Thank you for answering my ad." It is a cheerful young woman named Terry who tells callers that she is western regional vice president of an unnamed 20-year old multi-million dollar finance company with the backing of three major banks. "This opportunity is not your ordinary Iowa cornfed beef sales job," she tells callers, and she is looking for two to three determined assertive salespeople who must know how to dress for success and are gregarious, charming, impulsive and "a bit dramatic." The candidates will be interfacing with doctors, lawyers and dentists. But as Terry does not mention either the name of her multi-million dollar finance company or Mr. Anderson, I ring off. The first time I left my phone number but as she has not returned my call perhaps she picked up on the fact that I'm pretty committed to wearing my Birkenstocks just about everywhere and therefore would probably not pass muster when interfacing with doctors, lawyers and dentists even in an Iowa cornfield. Endquote While discussing the question in general of public school districts using taxpayer dollars to do business with closely held private corporations with a friend in another state tonight, he asked if one of the corporations we were talking about had a performance bond. Yes, I told him, they do. It's Katy ISD's open checkbook. |
| C INNOVATION COO BILL NAUGHTIN'S STATEMENT FROM PRESS RELEASE “KISD is an innovative school district that is committed to integrating technology to provide a greater educational experience and achieve the new levels of accountability demanded by state, local and federal government,” says Bill Naughtin, COO at C-Innovation. “The transition from its legacy system to ZANGLE will support these objectives, especially in helping parents, teachers and administrators access complete information about students anytime, anywhere—all in an accurate, secure and real-time environment.” (SOURCE--Press Release, C Innovation, Inc., April 27, 2006) |
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| HOW SAFE ARE YOUR CHILDREN'S RECORDS AT YOUR LOCAL SCHOOL? THINK AGAIN AFTER VIEWING THE PHOTOS AT RIGHT By Peyton Wolcott - May 3, 2006 - 4:51 a.m. One of these days when I have nothing else to do I'm going to sit down and add up for myself how many different factoids are being collected annually on each one of our Texas schoolchildren by the Texas Education Agency through its Public Education Information Management System database. The numbers I've been given range from 250 to 267 to almost 300. PEIMS started out as a good idea. Who among us would disagree with accountability? But like many ideas that start out good and end otherwise, it's grown so complicated that school districts now must employ PEIMS personnel whose jobs it is to to collect and send the data in to the State. And now we have a new generation of invasive technology in the form of Zangle, which similarly sounds like a great idea; among other scenarios, if Mom and Dad go to Tahiti for a week they're only a laptop away from checking on Junior's grades back home in Katy ISD. |
| Think some more again If an Asian hacker could last week obtain 200,000 records including names and Social Security numbers from the University of Texas McCombs School of Businessdatabase--with as sophisticated a system of firewalls and other protects as any education facility in Texas--how secure can our children's information be at our local school districts, none of which possess anywhere as sophisticated a degree of security? As luck would have it last week I dropped by a local school district's technology building to speak to the head guy. I took my small digital with me more from habit than purpose. The door was unlocked and there was no one in the office so to occupy the time while waiting I took photos for between four and five minutes (see at right) until two employees returned to the building together. Not only were all manner of expensive bits of computer gear lying around available to whomever reached for them but also were several monitors on and humming in tune with the overhead fluroescents. A set of keys apparently belonging to the wife of the tech guy were sitting out on a desk. It did not occur to me until researching the above story that the district was vulnerable. I could have been an intruder of any age with mischief in mind and could have easily planted a bug or hacked into their programs. While this is the same district that the Texas School Performance Review said three years ago needed to improve its technology security, this district is also on its third head tech guy in three years and seems not yet to have learned the importance of securing its technology. I'm publishing these to make the point that it could have been anybody in those offices. And to make the point that however wonderful ZANGLE and other information-gathering softwares may appear, there is a down side, and it's a down side parents should be thinking long and hard about. ====================== MORE ABOUT THE UT-McCOMBS HACKING INCIDENT AUSTIN – Whoever hacked into the computer system at the University of Texas at Austin's business school obtained the names and Social Security numbers of 106,000 people, including all faculty and staff, most students and about half the alumni, a UT official said Monday. Dan Updegrove, the university's vice president for information technology, said there have been no reports of identity theft, but he urged anyone who feared it had happened to register a fraud alert with a major credit agency. He said the university's help desk is getting about 150 calls an hour, mostly from alumni, after announcing Sunday that nearly 200,000 electronic records at the McCombs School of Business had been illegally accessed. (SOURCE--042506, Jim Vertuno/Associated Press) |
| PHOTOS FROM SMALL TEXAS SCHOOL DISTRICT UNNAMED TO PROTECT THE DISTRICT'S STUDENTS. |
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| CREW'S HAND-PICKED DARLING CONDUCTS PHONY MIAMI TEACHER CREDENTIALS INVESTIGATION By Peyton Wolcott - May 1, 2006 - 2:12 a.m. As the Ghostbusters song goes, when you're in trouble, "Who you gonna call?" It's a question Miami-Dade County Public Schools supe Rudy Crew might well have been asking himself as the MOTET investigation continues at a crawl. |
| Improperly trained kids driving cars--new Miami menace? (ART/Vince Crain) |
| You remember MOTET: MDCPS high school coach William McCoggle organized a phony credentials scheme via Move On Toward Education and Training whereby as many as 1000 teachers paid their money and got their instant drivers ed and other credentials from six colleges and universities--without the benefit of any tedious actual coursework. Of course, nobody really thinks McCoggle dreamed this up on his own, let alone orchestrated it. But he was the district's fall guy who pleaded guilty last November and was duly sentenced, ordered to pay as much as $100,000 restitution and sent to prison for two years instead of ten as part of his plea deal. Other than McCoggle's incarceration, the only noticeable fallout has been that last month six MDCPS teachers were fired and 26 allowed to resign. Oh, and "last fall, Ohio's Otterbein College, which has about 3,000 students, revoked nearly 10,000 credits given to 657 teachers." (SOURCE--Associated Press) |
| If you're Rudy Crew, this means you've still got a big mess on your hands--hundreds of uncertified drivers ed teachers who with the apparent blessing and encouragement of MDCPS administrators-- such as American High School principal Louis Algaze who directed whistleblower Bennett Packman to MOTET--have unleashed potentially thousands of young drivers onto Miami roads without the benefit of certified teachers, ramping up a case of widespread credentials fraud to another level, making it now a public safety issue. Miami motorists have to ask themselves how prepared they are to meet young drivers on the road who were taught to drive by folks whose only provable driving skill is their ability to navigate their own automobile in and out of the MDCPS parking lot. |
| Rudy Crew, MDCPS supe--and new ERDI participant |
| Darling to the rescue before Who you gonna call? If you're Rudy Crew, you're going to call someone who you can count on, someone who bailed you out of that other big mess just a year ago, the bar brawl where your two sons beat up on a single guy in a singular display of courage and bravery. If you're Rudy Crew, you're gonna call your hand-picked MDCPS chief of police Gerald Darling who graciously volunteered to write a letter of reference for young Russell and Ryan. |
| MDCPS administrators allowed MOTET to flourish for years for reasons of their own. Thus far, Miami-Dade's official investigation appears to have been limited to making a few phone calls and sending a letter or two. Here's one example: "Phillips did not return a call nor, according to [MDCPS chief public information officer Joseph] Garcia, did the school respond to a request for information." (SOURCE--Matthew I. Pinzur/Miami-Herald) At this pace, does anyone really think Darling's official investigation will lead to or uncover anything substantial? And who are Miami-Dade parents and taxpayers gonna call when they wake up and realize the full scope of this scandal--and the district's apathy in investigating it? My open offer to Rudy Crew: Because your prior requests for information have not been successful at Phillips and the other institutions of higher education involved in MOTET, I will be happy to walk you through filing public records requests. These institutions can turn down your requests in letters and ignore your phone calls--but they can't ignore your formal public records requests. Step-by-step directions here www.peytonwolcott.com/Howtofileapublicrecordsrequest.html |
| Russell (left) & Ryan Crew (PHOTO/Miami-Dade Corrections & Rehabilitation Dep't) |
| OPEN LETTER TO MDCPS SUPE RUDY CREW, MDCPS POLICE CHIEF GERALD DARLING, MDCPS CHIEF PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER JOSEPH GARCIA, AND MDCPS PRINCIPAL LOUIS ALGAZE |
| American HS principal Louis Algaze |
| appropriate certification is held by the teacher to be assigned or scheduled. Verification of certification held by a teacher or verification of certification in process shall be requested by the principal when necessary from the Office of Human Resources." Further, Section 2.E. ("Certification") states, "1. All teachers shall be appropriately certified. In the event that it is necessary to hire a teacher out of field, the principal shall obtain verification from Human Resources that no qualified applicants are available for the position. Human Resources and the principal shall notify the teacher that he/she is required in order to remain at the school to earn a minimum of six college credits per year towards certification in the appropriate field." Unless I am missing something here, it appears that the full responsibility for making sure teachers are certified to teach their subjects falls to the principal, in this case, Louis Algaze. Yet from my own investigation it appears that Louis has met none of these certification steps or requirements, either in the case of Bennett Packman or with any of your other American High School teachers you directed to MOTET. If I am incorrect and you have done so, could you please send me a paper record indicating such? I will publish the paper records you send showing that you followed the above-stated contract guidelines. |
| HOW MOTET WORKED: "By signing up and paying the fee for the class, absolutely no coursework, instruction time, tests, or homework was involved. The teachers would simply receive a transcript claiming that they were awarded credit for a class that they really didn’t take. And the transcript would easily satisfy the requirements of the school districts, especially since the credit was awarded from real colleges even though the actual coursework would be provided by a third party." (SOURCE--Daniel Muniz/www.nationalsummary.com) |
| TIME WARP HITS KATY ISD! THE CASE OF THE MORPHING MONTHS! By Peyton Wolcott - April 29, 2006/3:20 a.m. An otherwise very wise Hopi elder I know tells me that aliens have visited Hopiland in their spacecraft, and we're not talking illegal immigrants. Next time I speak with my friend I'm going to ask him about a curious time warp that has apparently occurred in Katy ISD just west of Houston, Texas, get his take on what's going on there. |
| Official UFO spacecraft behind the month-morphing incident in Katyland |
| How this phenomenon was uncovered Mid-afternoon yesterday four paper records--Katy ISD trustee Robert Ray Shaw's applications for his seat on the Katy ISD school board--crossed my desk. The more I have examined these applications the more perplexed I grow. It boils down to this: Other than the phenomenon of months and years morphing I simply have no other explanation for the fact that on February 21, 1997, when Mr. Shaw first applied for his position on the Katy ISD school board, he stated that he had lived in Texas for 21 years and 5 months, yet on that same exact date three years later, on his application for his second term, he stated that he had lived in Texas 23 years and 8 months. Using my very rudimentary math skills, using the dates he originally provided, on Feb. 21, 2000 he would have lived in Texas for 24 years and 5 months. Where are the missing nine months? If you've seen them, could you please tell them to return to their rightful place in the scheme of things? |
| Special advance TAKS prep! Check your math skills against Katy ISD trustee Robert Ray Shaw's! |
| Unlikely as it might seem, the interruption in the time/space continuum continues on Mr. Shaw's next application on February 13, 2003, when he stated that he had on that date lived in Texas for 27 years and 3 months, yet according to his original statement his time in Texas would have been 27 years and 5 months. The same thing also appears to have applied to his statements regarding his length of time in Katy ISD, all separate entries (see grey box above left). When is an engineer not an engineer? Some of my friends are in the arts and with them I expect dodgy dates. But Mr. Shaw states on his Katy ISD board member bio that he is employed as "a mechanical engineer." We all know engineers are the most precise souls around, right up there with CPA's and attorneys. These are the folks who make their living by being exact. |
| On Feb. 21, 1997, he says he had Lived in Texas . . . . . 21 years, 5 months Lived in Katy ISD . . .20 years, 11 months On February 21, 2000, he says he had Lived in Texas . . . . .23 years, 8 months Lived in Katy ISD . . 24 years, 2 months On Feb. 18, 2003, he says he had . . . Lived in Texas . . . . .27 years, 3 months Lived in Katy ISD . . 26 years, 8 months On March 3, 2006, he says he had . . . Lived in Texas . . . . 30 years, 4 months Lived in Katy ISD . . 29 years, 9 months |
| Your totals here: ____ years, ___ months ____ years, ___ months ____ years, ___ months ____ years, ___ months ____ years, ___ months ____ years, ___ months |
| 50% or fewer correct answers wins you a chance to allocate $13 million to unbid tech vendors! |
| Residency dates stated by Katy ISD trustee Robert Ray Shaw (in his hand on board application documents) |
| On his 1997, 2000 and 2003 board member application Mr. Shaw states that he is a "mechanical engineer," although by his 2006 application he is just "engineer." Curious about the distinction, I contacted the Texas Board of Professional Engineers to find out which title applies to our good Mr. Shaw--he was not in when I tried him at his office--but the TBPE says he is neither. According to a TBPE spokesman, "Robert Ray Shaw is currently not a licensed professional engineer in the state of Texas." It should be noted that in 2003 the state legislature made some changes to the Texas Engineering Practices Act to loosen up who could call themselves "engineer" in order to accommodate the new breed of engineers working in the software field, but the same TBPE spokesman said none of the changes appear to apply to our Mr. Shaw. Two-year associate degree in drafting & design Thinking there might be a clue in Mr. Shaw's education background as his Katy ISD board bio states that he is a graduate of "Oklahoma State University," when I contacted the OSU registrar's office yesterday afternoon the only degree they have on record for for Robert Ray Shaw is a two-year degree, a "Technical Institute Associate Degree in Drafting and Design" granted in 1968. The registrar's office looked but they couldn't find a four-year degree awarded to a Robert Ray Shaw. According to an OSU spokesman, the university "offered different types of courses, like a vo-tech system at the college level, back in the sixties." |
| What's good for the gander is not good for the goose Perhaps not so unrelated as you might think, earlier this month Katy ISD's school board voted unanimously to non- renew second-grade teacher Jennifer Silva's contract for allegedly putting scotch tape on some of her students' mouths. According to Silva, “KISD informed me of the proposed termination before the actual investigation of the incident was even completed, and without ever meeting with me personally to resolve the matter in any way other than termination.” (SOURCE--Helen Eriksen/Houston Chronicle) Katy ISD's attorney, Bill Helfand of Chamberlain, Hrdlicka, White, Williams & Martin, "accused Silva of improvising discipline techniques. He said she should have stuck to approved disciplinary guidelines." According to a citizen who attended the meeting who prefers to remain anonymous, Helfand stated that Silva "lied by omission" in her reporting of what occurred. (Ibid.) And that was a unanimous board vote, you say? |
| I'm going to take a little breather from looking at more board members' applications. Uncovering any more time warping might cause little men in white coats to cart me away to their spacecraft, drop me off somewhere over Hopiland--or Katyland, a place where months morph and different standards seem to apply for goose and gander, peons and the high and mighty. |
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| ETHICS AT THE TOP: DOES WHERE SUPES AND PRINCIPALS LIVE MATTER? By Peyton Wolcott - April 27, 2006 When gossip was circulating at fever pitch a few years ago around Strongsville, Ohio about the affair between cute high school football captain Steve Bradigan and vivacious special ed teacher Christine Scarlett, Strongsville supe James Gray could truthfully claim he |
| Akron resident James Gray (left); Strongs- ville's Christine Scarlett, Steve Bradigan |
| didn't know. How could he? At the end of the school day Gray didn't get into his car and head over to McDonald's or Arby's or the local bowling league or church elders meeting where he would have heard the scuttlebutt. Instead, he headed for his home in Akron an hour away, an entirely different community with its own unique and pressing needs. |
| 'An arrogance of immunity ' Then there's New York's Brooklyn Technical High School, one of the system's two showcase schools, where standards had slipped since Lee McCaskill took over as principal, exhibiting "a pattern of uneven, sometimes bizarre behavior and decision-making ...that had turned what was once one of America’ s great secondary schools into a hellish learning and teaching environment," says Jim Callaghan of The New York Teacher. "McCaskill, who once addressed a gathering of 120 students as 'dumb a**es,' told an English teacher that he saw no value in teaching Macbeth to high school students, and he canceled one of the most successful Shakespeare programs in the city." |
| Says Betsy Combier of ParentAdvocates.org, "There's an arrogance of immunity--the administrators here in New York just don't care. Teacher turnover was rampant and no one was happy, but nothing was done about McCaskill until somebody found out he wasn't living in the district or even New York State. He was living in New Jersey." McCaskill resigned in early February, and deputy chancellor Carmen Farina, McCaskill's immediate boss and mentor, announced her resignation yesterday afternoon. |
| Leonard Merrell living larger than Katy ISD in Spring Creek Ranch When Katy ISD in suburban Houston first advertised for a new superintendent in 1995, one of the conditions of employment was "Must reside in district." The “Announcement of Vacancy” brochure says so. It was prepared by superintendent search specialist Bob Thompson of Lamar University in Beaumont who was very clear on this point in his recruiting for the district. |
| Katy ISD supe Leonard Merrell's 10-acre equine estate in Waller ISD |
| Back then, Katy ISD was and still is a developer's dream--miles and miles of prairie ripe for miles and miles of new homes as part of Houston's westward expansion. Local property taxes, which is how public schools are primarily funded in Texas, were $1.67 per $100 valuation then, and the board settled on candidate Leonard E. Merrell to become Katy ISD's new superintendent. Just because you can doesn't mean you should Fast forward to 2006, and while Merrell is still supe at Katy ISD, three things have changed. The district now charges the max property tax rate allowed by the state of Texas ($2.00 per $100 valuation), Leonard Merrell no longer lives in the district where he works, and it's no longer in his contract that he's required to live in the district. The Merrells purchased a 10-acre tract in nearby Hockley and built what is by all accounts their dream house, according to those who have been there, with their taxes going not to Katy ISD from which he draws a hefty annual salary ($250,000) but Waller ISD--where the tax rate is a much lower $1.78 per $100. According to Katy ISD insiders, his new home is likely worth anywhere from $650,000 to $800,000. Assuming the lower estimated valuation, annual property taxes on this house in Katy ISD would run $13,000 versus only $11,700 at the lower Waller ISD tax rate. Spread over the life of a 30-year mortgage, Merrell has saved himself $39,000 by moving out of district. But where did he move to? |
| Merrell's new subdivision Spring Creek Ranch features such amenities as a "beautiful stone gated entry, private road, twin lakes, nature trails and deed restrictions to protect your property." It's an equine community in which, according to the developer, "every resident enjoys free access to the community's full-size covered horse riding arena. Centrally located in the heart of the property, the arena has been architecturally designed to create a cool riding environment any time of the year." 'It just doesn't look good' "In business, government and society there are rules of compliance that are required. There are also ethical rules over and above that which may be just as important to the community. This situation with the superintendent you mention seems to fall into that latter category," commented award-winning ethics professor Diane Swanson, von Waaden Business Administration Professor, Chair of the Ethics Initiative at Kansas State University, when interviewed earlier this week. "It just doesn't look good. It's not best face forward." |
| Spring Creek Ranch in Waller ISD; Leonard Merrell (inset) |
| "Most people would agree that where they live and where they pay their taxes, that's the community of priority to them, and that's the community they're going to pay more attention to. So the ideal thing is for superintendents to live in the community where they work so their vested interests are more closely aligned," says Swanson. "In the private sector where we talk about stock options for executives, the point is to try to align the executives' interests with those of the shareholders. This is a very similar concern in that the board would want to see the interests of the superintendent as carefully aligned with the interests of the education community as possible. Besides, it looks bad." The fallout In Strongsville, Ohio the fallout's big especially for both families because Christine Scarlett and Steve Bradigan are now duking it out in court over custody of their toddler son. As Steve's mom says of Scarlett, "She will be my grandson's mother all of his life." The Bradigans have filed a lawsuit and signed for Oprah and Scarlett is selling furniture weekends. In New York, in a display of stunning irony just weeks after forcing McCaskill out for living out of district and sending his child to New York public schools without paying, the DOE announced a 30-day amnesty for teachers and principals who were living out of district and sending their children to New York public schools without paying, offering them the opportunity to fess up and cough up. And in Waller ISD in Hockley, Texas, Katy ISD supe Leonard Merrell "has places to explore, and places to linger" in his new subdivision with the lower taxes than he's charging the taxpayers paying his salary. "From our tree-lined home sites, to the gentle rolling of the land to our twin lakes, the natural beauty of the land at Spring Creek Ranch is evident and breathtaking," reads the Spring Creek Ranch brochure. This must be a real inspiration to Katy ISD taxpayers, knowing their supe has places to explore and places to linger, including that air-conditioned horse corral. |
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| TEXAS SBOE UPDATE By Peyton Wolcott - April 27, 2006 Remember our story connecting SBOE member Mary Helen Berlanga and the Texas Successful Schools Study we reported was authored by her husband--and that she had placed it along with bilingual education on the SBOE agenda for yesterday, presumably to spark a discussion regarding bilingual education? Berlanga no-showed at the SBOE meeting. Pity. Her agenda item discussing bilingual ed and her husband's study was first up. |
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| SUPERINTENDENTS: THE ROCK STARS OF K-12 PUBLIC EDUCATION By Peyton Wolcott - April 25, 2006 This is a small point to make but it explains much. |
| There's a John Lennon quote I wish I could find but I can't so we'll have to make do with a paraphrase. Basically it goes like this. An interviewer is questioning Lennon about his excesses and Lennon looks at him and says, "I've had my future completely assured since I was 24. Not many people have that opportunity. They'll never be in a position to have the things presented to them that are presented to me." |
| Mick Jagger (left) and Bruce Springsteen |
| By the time a supe reaches supedom, his/her future is completely assured. They've got a cushy TRS retirement to look forward to but of course no supe ever really retires--not so long as there are consulting opportunities along with double-dipping employment with the local regional service center or state edu-agency or some such other to be had. The second part of Lennon's quote regards opportunity. The average taxpayer has no clue as to either the range or number of opportunities presented to supes at every turn, opportunities involving money and things shall we say pleasant. To turn down 100% of the opportunities presented would require someone with the constitution of a saint coupled with the resolution of rhinoceros--and there ain't no such animal. All day long supes are assailed by offers, and the bigger the district the bigger the offers. It's too much for any one person. This Springsteen lyric seems apropos given that many supes come from relatively modest backgrounds: |
| Poor man wanna be rich, Rich man wanna be king, And a king ain't satisfied Till he rules everything (SOURCE--"Badlands" by Bruce Springsteen) |
| The big pot of money must disappear from our K-12 American public schools. When that happens superintendents can either become real rock stars--or do something truly productive like teach in a classroom. Badlands are no place to educate our kids. |
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| MYSTERY! INTRIGUE! MONEY! ALL AT THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION! By Peyton Wolcott - April 24, 2006 When we do our sleuthing at high levels we have to be very careful. Let me see if I'm following this correctly. 1. Mary Helen Berlanga is secretary of the Texas State Board of Education, of which she's been a member since 1982. A bio features the information that she "has been honored by the Texas Association for Bilingual Education." (SOURCE--John Metz/Corpus Christi Caller-Times) |
| Mary Helen Berlanga |
| 2. An SBOE board member--inside sources tell me it was Berlanga--has posted as the first agenda item for this Wednesday, April 26, a "Discussion of Bilingual Education Issues." 3. If it was Berlanga who posted this item, it would not be surprising, given that Berlanga like most liberals (she's a Democrat) supports bilingual ed rather than immersion; here's her take back in 1998: "While some children who would have otherwise gone into bilingual education will succeed in school without it, a large number won't, Ms. Berlanga predicted. 'I feel sorry for the children who don't make it,' she said. 'They're dooming them for failure.'" (SOURCE--Associated Press) Doomed for failure? Sounds pretty anti-immersion--which is what immigrant parents want for their kids because they know it works--and hard-line to boot. 4. But we plow on. The purpose of Wednesday's agenda item is not to just discuss bilingual ed issues in general. Noooooo. According to the SBOE, "The item provides the Committee of the Whole the opportunity to discuss bilingual education issues in Texas, including the Texas Successful Schools Study." |
| David Berlanga; TAMU-CC |
| Mary Helen Berlanga |
| 8. So David Berlanga has not just recently stumbled into the field of bilingual ed; it in fact appears to be his area of expertise. How very fortunate for him to have a wife serving on the SBOE who can help funnel government and other grants his direction and otherwise help contribute to a climate of awareness favorable to bilingual ed, including introducing the topic at SBOE meetings such as the one this Wednesday, April 26. Wonder if the Mister will be in attendance. 9. Questions, duckies? Here's the Berlanga's contact info so you can ask them yourselves: Mary Helen Berlanga, 2727 Morgan Avenue, Corpus Christi, TX 78405, 361.881.1000, 361.881.1028 (FAX) - sboesupport@tea.state.tx.us Dr. David Berlanga, Associate Professor of Education - Early Childhood Development Center 237 (361) 825-3373 - Fax: (361) 825-5347 - davidb@falcon.tamucc.edu OR Dr. David Berlanga, Director Title VII Bil/ESL Teacher Training Grant Early Childhood Development Center 237, 6300 Ocean Drive Corpus Christi, TX 78412 OR Dr. David Berlanga, Title: Associate Professor, TAMU-Corpus Christi, Department: Education Faculty, Office Location: FC221, Office Phone: 825-3374 - Email: david.berlanga@tamucc.edu |
| OFFICIAL DISCLAIMER: If any of the foregoing is factually incorrect, the Berlanga's are invited to contact me with a paper record supporting their assertion. Until I stand corrected, the foregoing stands. |
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| HOW XPEDIANT SPENT SOME OF KATY ISD'S $13 MILLION By Peyton Wolcott - April 21, 2006 Although these pages on K-12 public school reform do not ordinarily feature photos of people's homes, this is not an ordinary story. These photos are here today because it would appear they have much to say about the state of public education in our country, particularly as regards how our schools spend our money. Our schools tell us they |
| Xpediant, LLC president Scott Wright's residence in Katy, Texas; this home backs up to Grayson Lake. |
| are "broke" and operating on "bare bones" budgets yet a single technology vendor in one Texas district experienced sufficient profits within its first three years of doing business that it could advance its president at least $480,000 towards the purchase of a new waterfront home, and its vice president $384,000 the next year. What we know We know that Katy ISD has paid its technology vendor Xpediant, LLC $13 million for unbid work. We also know that Xpediant, LLC has lent significant amounts of money to Xpediant's president, Scott Wright, and vice president, Jack Wayne Caskey, to purchase new homes during a period when, according to both the Texas Comptroller and Secretary of State, Xpediant was delinquent in paying its franchise taxes and had forfeited its corporate charter. As I reported last week, Xpediant, according to the Secretary of State's office, "has no entity status and no liability shield." Questions for Katy ISD parents and taxpayers Is Katy ISD paying Xpediant too much money for its services? Given that Xpediant's services to Katy ISD never went through an open bid process, this will be hard to answer. Another question Katy ISD parents and taxpayers must ask themselves has to do with the quality of leadership and oversight the district has been providing, both as to its administration and as to its elected board members. |
| Facts On August 27, 2004, Xpediant, LLC loaned Scott W. Wright and Sara N. Wright $480,000.00 to purchase a residence at 2003 Mariner Point Lane (above), Katy, Texas 77494, such amount to be paid off in full by October 1, 2034. Deed #2004107044. On August 8, 2005, Xpediant, LLC loaned Jack W. Caskey, Jr. and Leslie R. Caskey $384,000.00 to purchase a residence at 2018 Mariner Point Lane (left), Katy, Texas 77494, such amount to be paid off in full by October 1, 2035. Deed #2005102910. Review the deeds here |
| Waterfront view of the rear of Xpediant, LLC vice president Jack Caskey's residence in Grayson Lakes, Katy, Texas. |
| More facts Although Katy ISD initially released information indicating the problem period was only three months during 2001-02, according to George Scott and Jimmy Kilpatrick in today's EducationNews.org the Comptroller's office has released information which "includes documentation that Xpediant LLC was delinquent in filing tax reports for the 2002, 2003 and 2004 tax years. The 2005 franchise tax reports are not due in Texas until May but were a part of the company's official filing this week." Also from the Comptroller: o "Taxpayer [Xpediant, LLC] was delinquent for 2002 (initial) franchise tax on 10/29/02" o "Notice of delinquency was sent 1/10/03" o "Forfeiture of corporate privileges was effective 02/25/03" o "Notice of forfeiture of corporate privileges was sent 03/07/03" o "Taxpayer was delinquent for 2003 franchise tax on 05/16/03" o "Notice of delinquency was sent 08/01/03" o "Forfeiture of corporate privileges was effective 10/15/03" o "Notice of forfeiture of corporate privileges was sent 10/24/03" o "Corporate charter was forfeited on 02/13/04" o "Notice of forfeiture of corporate charter was sent (by CPA) on 02 /20/04" (SOURCE--EducationNews.org.) |
| Follow up I have today asked Katy ISD superintendent Leonard E. Merrell and Xpediant officers Scott Wright and Jack Wayne Caskey, with copies to Katy ISD board members, for their feedback regarding the foregoing. It is entirely possible that Fort Bend County has posted incorrect deeds or that some other fact is incorrect, and if so I am eager to learn what is true. I have also queried them as to how Katy resident AD Muller's purchase earlier this week of the name Xpediant LLC affects the relationship of Katy ISD and Messrs. Wright and Caskey and their 37 employees working at Katy ISD. I have also today queried Texas Education Commissioner Shirley Neeley and Associate Commissioner Robert Scott as to the oversight role if any the Texas Education Agency plays in assuring taxpayers that school districts are not overspending on unbid services such as technology vendors. For more information: EducationNews.org |
| COMPARE & CONTRAST (Posted Sunday, April 23, 2006) KATY ISD SUPERINTENDENT LEONARD MERRELL'S EMAIL EXPLANATION VS. FACTS UNCOVERED BY EDUCATIONNEWS.ORG NOTE THE DATE ON KATY ISD SUP'T MERRELL'S EMAIL - NOTE ALSO MERRELL'S REFERENCE TO 3-MONTH GAP |
| Texas Comptroller's Documents Contradict Katy I.S.D.'s Version Of Technology Vendor's Tax Problems By GEORGE H. SCOTT JIMMY KILPATRICK Friday, April 21, 2006 EducationNews.org [EXCERPT] When confronted with news that one of its major vendors had state franchise tax filing problems in Texas, the Katy I.S.D. issued a release to the website saying that "there was a gap of three months for which taxes were not filed" during the 2001-02 period. The release was also sent to EducationNews.org. In fact, the Comptroller's office's release of information Thursday includes documentation that Xpediant LLC was delinquent in filing tax reports for the 2002, 2003 and 2004 tax years. The 2005 franchise tax reports are not due in Texas until May but were a part of the company's official filing this week, a state official said. The spokesman for the Comptroller's office provided the following summary of information regarding Xpediant LLC's tax status: "Taxpayer was delinquent for 2002 (initial) franchise tax on 10/29/02" "Notice of delinquency was sent 1/10/03" "Forfeiture of corporate privileges was effective 02/25/03" "Notice of forfeiture of corporate privileges was sent 03/07/03" "Taxpayer was delinquent for 2003 franchise tax on 05/16/03" "Notice of delinquency was sent 08/01/03" "Forfeiture of corporate privileges was effective 10/15/03" "Notice of forfeiture of corporate privileges was sent 10/24/03" "Corporate charter was forfeited on 02/13/04" "Notice of forfeiture of corporate charter was sent (by CPA) on02 /20/04" Katy I.S.D. offered no explanation of its earlier published release asserting that the vendor's tax problems with the State of Texas were limited to only a "gap of three months." Meanwhile, EducationNews.org has learned that Katy resident A.D. Muller sought and obtained the use of the name Xpediant LLC from the Texas Secretary of State's office on Tuesday, April 18 - the same day that an official of the District's vendor was filing reports with Comptroller's office seeking to resolve its tax problems with the State. The Secretary of State of Texas took official action to forfeit Expediant LLC's corporate status on February 13, 2004. Muller said that when he learned the school district vendor had forfeited its corporate status, he decided to pay the State's filing fee in order to be able to obtain use of the name Xpediant LLC. Muller said that he was provided the appropriate paper work by the Secretary of State's office confirming his transaction and assignment of the name on April 18. "I think the people of Katy I.S.D. will learn a lot about the poor caliber of management oversight provided by the Board of Trustees of this district because of the developments that have been brought to public light by the news media," Muller said. "Whatever process the school board implemented to hold its administrator's accountable for the way it conducts and monitors business was certainly inadequate in this situation." "I have a piece of paper provided to me by the Secretary of State of the Texas that says that I have been assigned the name Xpediant LLC ," Muller said. "We now know that Katy I.S.D. has done millions of dollars of business with a firm that officially lost its corporate privileges over three years ago and were notified by the State. There are some who might think that is actually a serious issue when evaluating the competence of Katy I.S.D." Muller was the original author of an open records submitted to Katy I.S.D. seeking a wide range of information on the school district's technology investments, Xpediant LLC, and the decision by the district to pursue a patent on a technology invention involving a curriculum management program. Xpediant LLC's contract with Katy I.S.D. was negotiated as a professional services contract which is exempt from the competitive bidding process according to state law in Texas. Moreover, the Katy I.S.D. provides office and secretarial service to 37 Xpediant LLC employees who occupy office space in the District as a term of the contract. (emphasis added) |
| Email from Leonard Merrell Received April 19, 2006 - 3:56 p.m. Dear Ms. Wolcott: Thank you for the opportunity to answer your questions about the tax status of Xpediant LLC. In 2002, Xpediant filed an initial franchise tax report and paid taxes for a period covering 17 months (2001-02). When the next regular report was filed, there was a gap of three months for which taxes were not filed. Mr. Wright and Mr. Caskey were unaware of this situation until late last Friday night when your e-mail arrived. Mr. Wright called the State Comptroller’s office immediately on Monday morning and was told that the company needed to file for the period in question. The contact at the Comptroller’s office told Mr. Wright that the company might have been informed of the omission by mail, but could not find a copy of the notification letter. The filing and payment were immediately sent via overnight delivery to the State Comptroller’s office. Mr. Wright has been assured that the Comptroller’s website will be updated as soon as possible to reflect an accurate updated account status. When Katy ISD selects vendors with whom to do business, it utilizes the Certified Master Bidders List and the Certified Information Systems Vendor List, which are maintained by the Texas Building and Procurement Commission. The TBPC is responsible for qualifying these vendors and verifying their credentials. Xpediant has been listed on both of these approved vendor lists since 2001. Katy ISD contracts with Xpediant as a professional service provider, in the same way that it contracts for legal, accounting, financial, demographic, architectural, engineering and other services. Professional service providers are subject to selection criteria other than bidding, most notably the ability of the contractor to provide the type of expertise that best meets the needs of the district for that service. Cost is most assuredly a consideration, but not the primary determinant in selecting professional service providers. Katy ISD has project-based contracts with Xpediant for number of technology-related operations of the district, including software development, networking, systems engineering and data management. Since neither Mr. Wright nor Mr. Caskey are employees of Katy ISD, they do not have employment contracts with the district. Xpediant pays for expenses such as travel and meals. Several Xpediant employees who are on 24-hour call for the district carry cell phones paid for by Katy ISD. The technology department is organized under a Deputy Superintendent for Technology Services who is a Katy ISD employee and who has direct management responsibility for both Xpediant and Katy ISD technology personnel. Any software developed by Xpediant under contract to Katy ISD will remain the property of the district and any future patents resulting from such software development will be held exclusively by the district. Both Xpediant and Katy ISD personnel who have been involved in software development, including the KMAC (Katy Management of Automated Curriculum) system, are required to sign non-disclosure agreements ensuring that any resulting product will remain under the sole control of the district. Leonard Merrell (emphasis added) |
| QUESTION: Merrell says Xpediant employees Scott Wright and Wayne Caskey are not "employees" of Katy ISD -- but if this is true why are they assigned Katy ISD titles? Wright's Xpediant title is "president" and Caskey's Xpediant title is "vice president." From Katy ISD's Technology webpage: Executive Director, Technology Operations Scott Wright (Secretary Shawna Daniels) 281-396-2442 Director of Technical Services Wayne Caskey (Secretary Sarah Brint) 281-396-2286 |
| NOTE: Although the foregoing information including reference to a 3-month gap supplied by Katy ISD supe Leonard Merrell appears to have been disproven by EducationNews.org soon after Merrell's email was disseminated, no subsequent clarification has been received from Merrell or any other Katy ISD employees or board members. Any future clarifications will be posted. FURTHER NOTE: I have delayed posting superintendent Merrell's email until now in hopes the district would supply further clarification, but none has yet been received. |
How we take back our children's education: one person, one question, one school at a time. Copyright 2006 Peyton Wolcott |
| 5. Ah, the Texas Successful Schools Study. Let's see, might that be the August 2000 study funded by the Texas Education Agency? And the State Board of Education oversees public education in Texas including the Texas Education Agency? And Mary Helen Berlanga is listed on the Texas Successful Schools study as being a member of the SBOE when the study was conducted? Yep, there it is on page 3: "Mary Helen Berlanga - Corpus Christi - District 2." 6. You think page 3 is interesting? Wait until you get to page 4. David Berlanga--that's Mr. Mary Helen Berlanga to you--is listed as one of the five members of the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Research Team which authored the Texas Successful Schools Study. Is this how these things operate? Do you find it mysterious and intriguing--remember, I promised you both--that out of all of the many major institutions of higher learning the Texas Education Agency had to choose from it scooped up a smallish satellite campus for this study that until 1994--six years previous to the publish date of the study--was a two-year institution? I think you've figured out the money angle on your own. We delve further. 7. Remember Mrs. Berlanga's quote from 1998? No wonder she was happy to speak up so forcefully about bilingual ed that year--her husband won a $1.25 mil US DOE grant in October, 1998. Here's from the TAMU press release: "The grant was submitted by Dr. David Berlanga, associate professor of education at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and director of bilingual/English as a second language (ESL) education." |
| KATY ISD "COMPARE & CONTRAST" - 22 SCROLLS DOWN TIME MORPHING KATY ISD TRUSTEE ROBERT RAY SHAW 10 SCROLLS DOWN ROCK STAR SUPES - 16 scrolls down |
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| Copyright 1999-2006 Peyton Wolcott |
| POP QUIZ: How easy is it to make contact with your supe? Is his/her email address on your district's website? If not, why not? After all, you're paying for his/her email. |
David v. Goliath: How America's Moms & Dads are taking on Education, Inc. PEYTON WOLCOTT |
| F o c u s i n g o n a c c o u n t a b i l i t y f i r s t : T h i s i s 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 |
CONTACT:
Peyton Wolcott
P.O. Box 9068
Horseshoe Bay, TX 78657
peyton@peytonwolcott.com
Peyton Wolcott
P.O. Box 9068
Horseshoe Bay, TX 78657
peyton@peytonwolcott.com
Perseverance is a great element of success. If you only knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody. ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow |
| MY BOOK |
Curious as to what open records legislation looks like? Ours in Texas is remarkably straight- forward. Under the fundamental philosophy of the American constitutional form of representative government that adheres to the principle that government is the servant and not the master of the people, it is the policy of this state that each person is entitled, unless otherwise expressly provided by law, at all times to complete information about the affairs of government and the official acts of public officials and employees. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments they have created. The provisions of this chapter shall be liberally construed to implement this policy. --Texas Gov't Code 552 |
| Former Brooklynn Tech HS principal Lee McCaskill and his New Jersey residence |
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| According to Article 7 ("Hiring, Assigning, Transferring Instructional Personnel") of the UTD union contract in force at the time Louis Algaze hired Bennett Packman, Section 2.D. ("Teacher Certification") states "It is the expressed intent of the board and the union that teachers shall be assigned in the fields for which they are certified. Principals therefore have the responsibility to ensure that teachers who are hired for a school assignment are appropriately certified for such assignment. Furthermore, it is the responsibility of the principal in assigning or scheduling teachers to ensure that |
| The press release on C Innovation's website states: "One of Texas’ fastest growing district cites ability to quickly access information and improve delivery of educational services to it’s [sic] community." Other than the typo, nothing much to be worried about, right? "Katy Independent School District (KISD) announces that it has partnered with C Innovation and implemented ZANGLE, the company’s flagship student information management system. ZANGLE will help the school district to better manage data on approximately 42,000 students in 44 schools." Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce-- KISD has partnered with C Innovation? But what does this mean, a public school district having "partnered" with a private business? According to a Texas Education Agency official, "If they meant that the partnership was a contract, then Section 11.157, Education Code authorizes school districts to contract with a public or private entity to provide educational services for the district." Have queried Katy ISD officials as to the exact nature of this "partnership" and am awaiting their response. All this time I thought the purpose of public schools to educate our kids. |
| The chief COO Contacted at C Innovation's Claremont, California offices, Bill Naughtin said he is an employee of C Innovation who has been in the education technology field since 1968 and has a list "a thousand school districts long" of references but declined to name any of them. C Innovations is, he said, "extremely privately held--and we like it that way." When asked about the makeup of C Innovation, Inc., Mr. Naughtin said, "The district has all of that information," and that the company was on the "state bidding list." |
| Mary Helen Berlanga |