Links to Everything You Might Want to Read

The School Board page has links to the following:

SAO report (16 pages)

School Board President/General Counsel response

Independent Investigation Report (this is from the lawyer, Patty Eakes - I haven't read it yet)

Exhibits to Independent Investigation Report (197 pages of exhibits - haven't read yet)

Steve Sundquist's Response to the lawyer's Independent Investigation Report

From Steve's response:
In my view, this report demonstrates multiple failures of management oversight and accountability. Systemic failures allowed these absolutely unacceptable activities to persist, and that is not tolerable.

Every day in classrooms across Seattle, teachers and principals are helping students understand what it means to be ethical citizens and to take responsibility for themselves and their actions. The Board will not tolerate unethical conduct, nor will we tolerate a lack of accountability.

It is our responsibility as a Board to carefully consider the hard facts that were laid out in the Auditor’s report as well as the sweeping review of management’s role offered by this independent investigation. Now we need to take decisive action and make meaningful changes to rebuild the public’s confidence and ensure this never happens again.
I give them the weekend to make a decision.

This should be one lively School Board meeting next week. Any bets on if the Superintendent magically has a conference to be at?

Comments

Anonymous said…
EVERYONE - Read the Eakes doc!

Ikeda gets a lot of bad press along w/ Potter and Stephens.

And the superintendent puts blame on Kennedy for not doing his job.

New headline on SeaTimes says MGJ has a lawyer and the board is considering firing her. (Not that we shouldn't also fire them this fall.)

Central admin is blowing up like the cheesy end of a blockbuster movie.

-skeptical-

It is gratifying and horrifying all at once.
peonypower said…
If the board does not fire MGJ or ask her to resign I think all of SPS community should stage a rally and demand she step down. This is just one in a long list of abuses by the superintendent. Either she is incompetent or evil and either choice demands that she go.
Megan Mc said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
MAPsucks said…
Steve Sundquist, better not look behind you.

http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?NC_MGJ&1

(cut & paste in browser)
Maureen said…
Thank you for staying on top of all of this Melissa! This blog is definitely the Go To Place for anything to do with Seattle Education!
Trapped inside said…
Eakes report reads like hogwash.

No one still here knew anything and blame all falls on people who are gone.

Exactly what entities hire such investigators for. Throw blame elsewhere.

Does anyoone remember that Nderu worked directly for DON KENNEDY and met with him at least one half day each week.

Guess they just talked about the weather, huh?
MAPsucks said…
Here's Ikeda acting as MGJ's personal attorney and covering her ass with the SAO

http://www.scribd.com/doc/49558061/NWEA-SAO-Assertions
Thanks MAPSucks, I hadn't seen that.

His recollection is that she disclosed her relationship before the NWEA vote? Really and that's what he bases his work on.
Rufus X said…
Blast from the past:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003664904_supe13m0.html

"Darlene Flynn said: 'She has this ability to teach you into what you need to know to be a constructive part of the change.' "

When I read the Times' March '09 profile (where she's quoted as saying "What you need to know about me is that I don't lose sleep"), I wondered when the countdown to implosion by hubris would hit zero.
Rufus X said…
Crap, bad link. Oops & sorry.

THIS blast from the past:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003664904_supe13m0.html
Rufus X said…
OK apparently I'm doing this wrong since the link that shows up in the post is not the one I'm copying and pasting. Apologies.
Bird said…
From the Eakes report:

Although CFOO Kennedy approved thehiring of employees into the RSBDP program during a hiring freeze and approved the RSBDP budget, he could not recall any specifics relating to these decisions. He was unaware that the employees hired were unqualified or that SPS paid an outside contractor to train the employees

I suppose this is meant to be exonerating, but it seems to be damning. I guess in responding to the query he had to choose between looking like a crook and looking like he was utterly incompetent for his job.
Charlie Mas said…
I read the Eakes report.

Mr. Potter was unquestionably dirty.

Mr. Stephens was also dirty and so was Mr. Ikeda.

Mr. Nderu was either dirty or incompetent or both.

Mr. Kennedy is revealed as so completely incompetent that he needs to be fired simply for being unfit to serve. Budgets were bottom up by departments making requests and seeking approval. There was no effort to keep to those budgets. He regarded a $800,000 annual program as too small to merit his attention. He delegated everything.

Mr. English is on very thin ice. He is possibly dirty if only for tolerating those who are. He is possibly incompetent for not knowing what needs to be delegated up.

The Superintendent should be offered the opportunity to resign as a great show of accountability. If she doesn't accept that offer, then she should be dismissed for cause. Either way, she doesn't get any severence. No way we're buying out her contract. She was also negligent in her management, overly dependent on delegating, and derlict in her duty to inform the Board.

The Board doesn't he have to resign for their failure to fulfill their duties. It will be sufficient if they just have the good taste not to run for re-election.
Anonymous said…
Has anyone seen Maria? Is she having another "emergency" surgery? Our of town convention? Why is she so silent?

-SLP
Anonymous said…
If her lawyers are talking with the district, it's in her interest to stay quiet and continue to allow Sundquist to pompously spout things to the press that give her a better footing for buyout negotiations.
- Just Saying...
Also inside... said…
@Trapped inside: "Does anyoone remember that Nderu worked directly for DON KENNEDY and met with him at least one half day each week."

I don't believe that for one second. When did Nderu have time for that? He was always walking around holding a binder looking like he was busy. When did he meet with Kennedy??
Parent said…
I wondered if the Sutor Report (which shows how far back the executives knew about this!) was online. It's in the Exhibits, on the School Board page, starting with Exhibit F. Exhibit M is the Daily Journal of Commerce article, which is pretty damning. Did anyone on the school board read that article at the time?
Trapped inside said…
Also Inside:

Thursday mornings. Till last fall.

And good luck trying to prove it.

We will know the truth about JFK before that.
Anonymous said…
There is a great link on the Seattle Times website to the supporting documents for the state auditor work. See Audit Documents. Intersting reading starting on page 38.

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