State Auditor's Findings on MLK Sale

The State Auditor's office released their report on the sale of the MLK Elementary building in the the Madison Valley.

Short answer: ugly, ugly, corrupt process, but no actual laws were broken.

Comments

Anonymous said…
How odd! No laws or policies were broken but the report sure doesn't leave a reader feeling good about our government agencies (Olympia, City of Seattle, Seattle School District).

What the hell is the legislature doing meddling with who gets MLK? Also, it just doesn't seem right that the process started and stopped several times allowing interested parties to change or improve their responses.

The use of "special consideration" sure smells fishy!

The Auditors report never really addresses question #6!

A friend of Seattle
10/24/11, 9:59 AM
dan dempsey said…
What is really clear in reading this report is the way that certain legislators voted to toss more state dollars in a highly budget restricted environment toward the sale of MLK school in the eventual AME purchase.

This is quite a tale of manipulation after manipulation to bring about what clearly a few folks wanted to occur.

I am getting really leery of manipulations in Olympia.

OSPI Math guru Greta Bornemann testified for 11 minutes right before the "Discovering Math" hs adoption approval. Yet neglected to mention the texts had been found mathematically unsound. Failed to mention NMAP report released 14 months earlier.

OSPI certification issues all conditional certificates requested for TFA corps members. OSPI states all met the requirements of WAC 181-79A-231, when this was not the case, as there was no careful review of all options for closing achievement gaps.

OLIGARCHY rolls on and on and on. How much longer will voters sleep comfortably?

==========
Hey Friend of Seattle,

Love those words -- "special consideration"

In TFA it was "circumstances warrant"

Will "Double King's X and cross my toes" be next?
10/24/11, 10:07 AM
Anonymous said…
From the report......"We cannot go Bush, at least not now. Also, 4 years, 6 years, what's the diff?"

"The lobbyist responded that the City can allow anything it wants, espeically if Legistlators, the Mayor, City Council and the District all worked together."

Who are these people? Who is this lobbyist? Is the District still using him/her? Can we expose them?

A friend of Seattle
10/24/11, 10:08 AM
mirmac1 said…
Didn't I hear Peter Maier say at a recent forum that we've had a "great lobbyist" in Olympia? Figures.
10/24/11, 11:00 AM
Anonymous said…
Who is Clifford Traisman?

-just wondering
10/24/11, 11:22 AM
dan dempsey said…
Mirmac1,

Peter may be right about that great lobbyist in Olympia ... if pushing all things school reform is the objective it is going great in Oly.

MW reported that the following were involved in the Olympia fund raising for the MLK purchased by AME:

Legislators who got involved were Senator Adam Kline, Rep. Frank Chopp, Rep. Sharon Tomiko-Santos, and Rep. Eric Pettigrew.

House Ed Chair Tamiko-Santos would not allow Rep. Klippert's bill to delay the CCSS to get a hearing in Feb 2011.

Rep. Pettigrew was the author of the dump seniority use performance from student indicators and evaluatipns to determine who goes out in a RIF action. -- Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe pointed out that there were no valid measures at this time to do what Pettigrew's legislation proposed. The legislation did not pass. Sen Rodney Tom introduced similar legislation in the Senate. ... Look for more similar BS coming next session .... from the BIG MONEY school reform crowd.

Note the CCSS report was submitted 30 days late by Randy Dorn... =>


RCW 28A.655.071 states:
(2) By January 1, 2011, the superintendent of public instruction shall submit to the education committees of the house of representatives and the senate:

(a) A detailed comparison of the provisionally adopted standards and the state essential academic learning requirements as of June 10, 2010, including the comparative level of rigor and specificity of the standards and the implications of any identified differences; and

(b) An estimated timeline and costs to the state and to school districts to implement the provisionally adopted standards, including providing necessary training, realignment of curriculum, adjustment of state assessments, and other actions.
10/24/11, 3:14 PM
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