Potter Scandal Grows in scope
From today's Seattle Times: $1.3M more might be misspent in Seattle schools scandal
The hits just keep coming.
The hits just keep coming.
Tuesday Open Thread
The speaker list is up for the Board meeting tomorrow; not as packed as I thought with just four people on the waitlist. The majority of the speakers are speaking on high school boundaries (with several wanting to talk about Ballard High). There are only three of us speaking about the Green Dot resolution asking the City to not grant the zoning departures that Green Dot has requested. It's me, long-time watchdog, Chris Jackins, and the head of the Washington State Charter Schools Association, Patrick D'Amelio. (I knew Mr. D'Amelio when he headed the Alliance for Education and Big Brothers and Big Sisters; he's a stand-up guy.)
Comments
It is clear that no one was watching Potter and he knew it. This is shoddy stuff.
That Accounting missed lack of price quotations from more than one vendor, a unsigned contract, purchase orders generated after vendors submitted invoices, lack of detail in invoices, etc. is disturbing. All of this got by them?
And, or course, where was the Internal Auditor?
As well, Fred Stephens was AWOL and frankly, probably should have been given a leave of absence after his son was murdered.
It's a sad thing all the way around for a district that has had severe management issues.
In the meantime, you have some school board members with the help of ST editors working hard to abrogate Board authority and oversight power even to the point of undermining fellow board members who are trying to do right. You have a brand new Super who is trying to stay alive in this perfect storm. He will swim to those who has the means to throw him a life jacket.
-still has LTM
EdVoter
As for charters, I can point out that the Board, when this got figured out, fired the Superintendent (for all intents and purposes) and the voters then voted out the two key Board members who did not do their jobs well.
That's accountability at the highest level. If you think you would have this kind of ability for accountability at a charter level, think again.
(Yes, there are lower-level people who got hand-slaps but Potter and Co. are likely to go to prison for this.)
People on this board probably realize that the District still needs its levy to pass, but things like this make it a really hard sell to the general public, especially those who don't have kids in school.
"Everyone that worked for the Districts Maintenance Dept. at the time of these shenanigans knew that this was going on. Some might have questioned why they were taking over jobs that were historically only the Maintenance jobs, but when they did the race card was pulled. It was better just to shut up and hope you still had a job. It was a period of lots of new schools being built without anyone being able to question anything. Sure hopes the culture changes but I doubt it will."
Everyone that worked for the Districts Maintenance Dept. at the time of these shenanigans knew that this was going on. Some might have questioned why they were taking over jobs that were historically only the Maintenance jobs, but when they did the race card was pulled. It was better just to shut up and hope you still had a job. It was a period of lots of new schools being built without anyone being able to question anything. Sure hopes the culture changes but I doubt it will."
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Sign your post
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/article_285e4131-4960-5bac-bd92-0cfd8561596e.html
CT
There is an article for you on the PI site.
- Mike H
Charters are supposed to be hotbeds of innovation, very accountable and show results. Nope, nope and nope.
Stories are not data and basically, that's what you have with charters. Some good stories,some bad stories and a lot of the same in the middle. Why are we upending our system (and using precious ed dollars) for this?
Better oversight would have made for a better initiative but the people you should be telling that to are the Yes people.
And to think that she left with her pot of gold. Not too bad since she landed fairly well in poor Detroit.
There are some issues about Detroit that could put her in good stead by those in power. An initiative on the ballot there is for corporate takeover of the city. No more superfluous elected mayor or city council. Perfect for our ex-supe.
See Democracy Now, http://www.democracynow.org/seo/2012/9/18/michigan_a_key_battleground_for_labor. "Michigan voters will be asked in November to decide the future of a controversial state law that allows the governor to appoint an unelected emergency manager or corporation to take over financially distressed towns and cities and effectively fire elected officials. The law, which is now on hold, empowers unelected managers or corporations to take over cities and effectively fire elected officials."
Also see an introduction to Detroitopia, http://www.democracynow.org/seo/2012/9/18/detropia_new_film_takes_intimate_look. Just ripe for the pickins by our venture philanthropists. Having G-J there is no accident.
Dora
The three degrees of separation were from her to Mr. Kennedy, from Mr. Kennedy to Mr. Stephens, and from Mr. Stephens to Mr. Potter.
School principals were also three levels of administration from Dr. Goodloe-Johnson. From her to Dr. Enfield, from Dr. Enfield to the Executive Directors of Schools, and from the Executive Directors to the principals.
Could you imagine Dr. Goodloe-Johnson saying that she could not be expected to know what a school principal was doing or be in any way responsible for supervising them? I don't think so.
As much as anything else, it was this rejection of her responsibility that soured the Board on her. Director Carr specifically cited this abdication of responsibility as one of her reasons for dismissing the superintendent.
I'm Not Kidding