New at Noon at the Times - Report to the Board
Seattle School Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson and Don Kennedy, the district's chief financial and operations officer, should have done more to ensure that the manager of the district's small-business program wasn't misusing district money, according to the attorney hired to determine who should be held accountable.
This is what the report from the lawyer, Patty Eakes, who the Board hired to investigate the current scandal according to the Times.
She does conclude that MGJ and Kennedy had limited knowledge of the program.
(First, when did she interview the Super? On the phone? Second, every single program is supposed to be in their knowledge base.)
She says:
no evidence that anyone expressed their concerns to MGJ about the program beyond an unfavorable review of the program (somewhat a hilarious statement because really who would go to her? I can't think of anyone who might feel comfortable going to her with the attitude she projects).
MGJ trusted Kennedy to oversee the program and, in turn, he delegated that to Fred Stephens
She says that chain of command led to Kennedy to "missing" the warning signs.
there were no personal services contracts as "hush money" to silence communities about school closures and lack of minority companies working on district projects.
No, I don't think there was hush money but I would allege that Potter was spreading the money around certain communities in order to create relationships that would carry over to his new venture. The circumstances around the payments leads me to wonder if it was a "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" mentality being created.
This is what the report from the lawyer, Patty Eakes, who the Board hired to investigate the current scandal according to the Times.
She does conclude that MGJ and Kennedy had limited knowledge of the program.
(First, when did she interview the Super? On the phone? Second, every single program is supposed to be in their knowledge base.)
She says:
no evidence that anyone expressed their concerns to MGJ about the program beyond an unfavorable review of the program (somewhat a hilarious statement because really who would go to her? I can't think of anyone who might feel comfortable going to her with the attitude she projects).
MGJ trusted Kennedy to oversee the program and, in turn, he delegated that to Fred Stephens
She says that chain of command led to Kennedy to "missing" the warning signs.
there were no personal services contracts as "hush money" to silence communities about school closures and lack of minority companies working on district projects.
No, I don't think there was hush money but I would allege that Potter was spreading the money around certain communities in order to create relationships that would carry over to his new venture. The circumstances around the payments leads me to wonder if it was a "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" mentality being created.
Comments
(the memory eraser doo-dad that Tommy Lee Jones uses so people don't know they've seen aliens)
FLASH!!
I don't care if she though this level of management was beneath her, the fact that she hired Kennedy and he was responsible for financial oversight puts the blame with her. This whole thing smacks of the cronyism that led to the award of the MAP contract.
The board should demand that she fire Kennedy and then they should ask that she resign. The whole legal department should be fired and Ikeda should be prosecuted along with English.
The board was so busy praising MGJ and Kennedy 3 years ago that they never looked behind the thin varnish the district staff was putting on reports. All budget work should be halted until a new CFOO can do a thorough house cleaning. Imagine how much pet money could be returned to the classrooms.
And the audit before that, and the audit before that, and the audit before that, and the audit before that......you get my point.
Here is a question. When did they commission the investigation. If those five voted to extend her contract knowing that there was a fraud investigation underway, it is such a damning indictment of their judgment.