Seattle Schools Community Forum

KIRO ran the second part of their series last night.   This part was around the part of the district audit used by their team that dealt with use of district vehicles and gasoline.  I was interviewed and make a statement about being disappointed that the oversight isn't better.  This part is as sobering as the first one.  (I know that there are a variety of opinions on this series but that the district staff doesn't disagree with many of their findings is telling.) Here is their written version of the story (but it is truncated so not verbatim).  The audit link is embedded in their written version along with a graph about employee overtime. I still believe we have the potential to be a truly great district if we could get operations in hand.  (I hope the new financial superintendent gets this in hand.)  It is vital to get operations under control because (1) that allows real focus on teaching and learning and that's where the district should...

I just wanted to note one thing from this thread about the recent Management Letter from the SAO to the district.  It covered quite a few items like a mysterious $50K salary increase to the Native American program director (now gone) and raises for all the upper management in HR (still no explanation).  There was also an issue about a couple of schools that appear to have allowed events at their school but did not charge for use of the building and, in one case, tried to make it appear like it was a school function.  This may have been to build goodwill in the community and/or make some money for the school.  (When a building is rented, the money goes to the district, not the school.)  It is unclear in either case whether the school actually got any funds but it is clear the district DID lose money. The main culprit seemed to be Cleveland STEM which allowed a couple of basketball tournaments to be at the school as well as a basketball league being allowed t...

The district had what is called an "exit conference" yesterday from a regularly scheduled state audit.  Two items of note turned up. For the FOURTH year, the district claimed more students than they could justify for the federal grant for Native American students.  According to the Times, they received about $6k more than they should.  The district has returned nearly $330k over the last 3 years to the feds. Not good and really, truly - there is no excuse.  (I'm sure the district had one but I'm glad I was not there to hear it.)  And people wonder why the Native American parents are mistrustful of the district.  And, the district was questioned in the spending of federal grant money for preventing high school students from dropping out to the tune of about $490k.  The district got the grant in 2010 for about $12M over five years and apparently the questioned spending was not part of what was in the district's original application.  Fro...

From district communications: Seattle Public Schools on Monday announced the hiring of Andrew Medina as the district’s Director of the newly created Office of Internal Audit. Medina comes to SPS from the Port of Seattle, where he served as senior internal auditor. Prior to joining the Port he served as Internal Auditor for the Las Vegas-based Clark County School District, the nation’s fifth-largest school district. “Andrew Medina is an accomplished internal auditor who will provide critical oversight of Seattle Public Schools financial controls,” said Seattle School Board Director Sherry Carr, chair of the board’s Audit and Finance Committee. “The hiring of Mr. Medina, who will report directly to the School Board, signals our commitment to establishing an independent Office of Internal Audit. The intent is to promote integrity, openness and transparency regarding district internal controls and compliance, and follows the same business model being used by the City of Se...

This Accountability Audit Report by the State Auditor was better than the one in February if you are only looking at money.  But yes, money was once again lost and while the amounts are smaller than in February, it still damning and painful.

Despite school being over, a couple of key meetings this week: Monday Curriculum and Instruction Policy Committee from 4-6 p.m.  Some key items on the agenda: Highly Capable grant Wallace grant (this is the arts grant that the district won jointly with the City that was mentioned at the Superintendent/Mayor Town Hall last week) adjustments to school report Walk to Math Disciplinary Appeal Council Interventions Report Attendance Policy The APP Meeting at 7 p.m. at Lincoln auditorium .  Lincoln is at 4400 Interlake Ave North.  We have discussed this quite a lot but key questions include: If the district does move APP students from Lowell, what grade levels would it include? How long would the move to Lincoln be (probably just a year if SBOC is to move in school year 2012-2013)? What will happen to APP in school year 2012-2013?   What is the plan for the ENTIRE Advanced Learning Program?  Will there be ALOs available in schools without Spec...

I was only able to hit two of the four Board committee meetings last week (and not the work session either but Charlie covered that one).  I went the the Audit portion of the Audit and Finance Committee meeting on Tuesday.  This was a good meeting and especially so because of the arrival of the A&F's two new volunteer public advisors (looking for one but got two and that's even better).

Tuesday Audit and Finance Committee Mtg , 4-6 p.m.   This meeting will focus on Audit issues.  There are several debriefings like IA meetings with the City, discussion with Don McAdams (a district consultant), salary benchmarks and internal audit manager posting.  Wednesday Executive Committee Mtg , 8 am-10am.   Quite a packed agenda .   Materials adoptions for LA, Social Studies and music instruction, academic calendars, consulting services for TIF, ethics agreement with the City and partnering with the City, community engagement, and a raft of discussion items like superintendent evaluation, CFO/COO search process, protocol for following up on public testimony (really?) and much more.  There's also some sort of amendment to a contract at Denny/Sealth to rebuild the previously torn out tennis courts/softball field.  (You remember this one - it's a rebuild of something we paid for under BTA II.)  Looks like more money. It's a...

 This is a rather lengthy interview with KIRO-TV (more than 25 minutes) but it is pure Dr. Goodloe-Johnson.  Softened up just a bit and since it wasn't about education, not as formulaic, but it certainly was her.   I found it interesting as it was somewhat self-serving and had some real "hmmm" moments. She said she first learned there was an issue in June 2010 (going on the $35K check that had been put into Silas Potter's business account).  She also said "we" asked for the audit.   Look, they had the Sutor Report months before.  They had the first audit in July 2010.  Again, where is anyone's radar?  Also, other people, including me, asked the Auditor to cover this issue so it was not just the district/Board. She said, twice, that the audit said she was not responsible for what happened or involved.   But, she then said as Superintendent, she was responsible.   Oddly, she said that the people involved "were there...

Do not read this if you are drinking something as you might do a spit take. Not one word about the Superintendent (not sure if that is good or bad). From the Alliance's website: Seattle – February 23, 2011 – The Board of Directors of the Alliance for Education has released the following statement concerning today’s Washington State Auditor’s report: “The findings released today by the State Auditor’s Office are deeply disturbing. The alleged actions of a small group of mid-level school district employees and their associates represent an egregious breach of public trust. As an independent non-profit supporting all students in Seattle Public Schools, we take seriously our role as a steward of private dollars augmenting the District’s resources. We are reviewing the District’s response to the investigative report and are evaluating the set of corrective actions management has indicated it has taken or will take to addr...

I recommend KING-5 tv for coverage of the financial crisis. I was on KIRO-tv briefly but KING 5 has a very good story with a timeline including the fact that the Superintendent minimized the Sutor report to the Board. If the Board had realized how strongly that report had been worded, they might have investigated sooner. (That said, couldn't one of them, out of curiosity, checked it out?) Steve Sundquist said: "It obviously was a missed opportunity for the Superintendent to share with us the full gravity of the situation," said Sundquist. I have to say the number of comments after all these new stories slamming the Board is really interesting. It seems like many people feel they should be accountable as well. One woman on KIRO-tv said the Superintendent isn't God and can't be everywhere at once. I just wish that before people either condemn OR defend people that they get the full story. It's easy to say that she can't know every single thing that...

Please send an e-mail as soon as you can with what you think the Board should be doing. I can tell you what I think but really, you have to decide what you think is best and LET THEM KNOW. They are going to make a decision this weekend and probably announce on Monday (unless MGJ's lawyer ties them up in knots). I believe the Superintendent and Don Kennedy should be let go for cause. I believe that Phil Brockman is the most honorable and believable person to be interim Superintendent. I believe the Board should careful examine the role of legal counsel, Ron English, in this episode and whether he did do, as an officer of the court, all he should have done.

I feel like today I have to live on the Seattle Times' website. Here's yet another story about the Board and what they are considering. Appearing before the Times' editorial board today, the Board said this: Seattle School Board President Steve Sundquist said Friday the board is considering firing Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson or buying out her contract in light of a report's findings that she didn't do more to stop misuse of public money in a district contracting program. He didn't answer questions about any negotiations with the Superintendent except that she has a lawyer. He said, "All options are on the table." Boy, I hope not. It will stink to high heaven to have to give her any money to leave (although I'll bet it's in her contract). Hey, and DeBell calls what's happening downtown "a culture problem." Let's go to the Moss-Adams report, shall we? If you don't change the culture of a bureaucracy, you ...

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...

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 trus...

Update: Checked with the Superintendent's office: she's on vacation. The Times has another story this morning with the words " financial abuse " in the headline. It follows with: Disclosures about the school-district program have put Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson's job at risk in what has become the most serious public corruption investigation in years. The release of the documents — the most comprehensive look yet at the allegations — comes as prosecutors conduct a secret criminal investigation of the financial dealings and the School Board considers whether to force out Goodloe-Johnson, sources familiar with the matter have told The Seattle Times. State Auditor Brian Sonntag on Thursday called it one of the most egregious cases he has seen in 18 years on the job. The Board: The School Board will meet in executive session Tuesday to discuss the audit, as well as a report from its own investigation, done by a private attorney, into what Goodloe...

Below is an e-mail from David Boardman of the Times. (I had not written to him; he sent this on his own.) My take on this issue of whether the Times held this story back - I think it's possible. I say that because of the issues that Charlie has raised, namely, that embedded in the Times' story of the internal auditor's resignation were many possible questions about Silas Potter. That they were trying to get their facts right is good and admirable but it certainly took them a longer time than I might of thought given their resources. I'm a just one person, a citizen journalist so it is harder for me to press people I call for information. (However, that doesn't stop me from calling. Hey, I just left Fred Stephens a message to give me a ring. I won't hold my breath but it never hurts to ask.) Here is my take on the issue of a conspiracy at the Times to cover the district and in particular, Dr. Goodloe-Johnson. Do I think the Times and the Alliance and Sta...

Those over 45 will recognize the question. We have a number of people to ask about: the superintendent, the COO, Director of Facilities, the Board, and the Seattle Times. The answers are pretty sad. It turns out that just about all of them knew a whole lot and they knew it a long time ago. The Superintendent knew about the program, she knew what it cost, and she knew what it did. She is on the record praising it, which means that she reviewed it. She gave Mr. Potter an endorsement for his spin-off non-profit. She was fully informed. It is very likely that she will claim to have known nothing about it. It won't be credible, but even if it were, that would even more damning. The program was identified as a problem in the 2009 budget. Didn't she claim that she follows up closely on these audit exceptions? Is she telling us that she didn't know where the District was spending a million dollars a year? In a capital budget that didn't have money for needed repairs in scho...

More updates from the Seattle Times including: The program's former manager, Silas Potter Jr., was stripped of his ability to award small construction contracts in response to the warnings in January of that year. But the district allowed him to continue to award personal-service contracts and approve payments to small businesses that included minority- and women-owned companies, according to a recently completed state audit. Despite a reprimand and directives to improve his performance, Potter continued to flaunt rules with little oversight, the audit found. Evidence has emerged that some district employees informed superiors about irregularities with the program but were brushed aside, said a source familiar with the matter. Other employees had concerns but did not raise them because of "fears of reprisal," according to the state audit. "We found that many District employees were unaware of the District's whistle-blower and anti-retaliation polic...

More info on the crisis. This from the Seattle PI online : "We're not passing judgment on vendors," said Mindy Chambers, a spokeswoman for the state Auditor's Office. "These are places where the district didn't have systems in place to look at what people are being billed for. Whether people were correctly charging for their time or overcharging, will be up to the district to sort out." Good reporting over at The Stranger Slog. Reporter Riya Bhattacharjee asked the Auditor's office for a list of vendors who received money from SPS for little work. It's a troubling list. From Riya's piece: 1. The district paid Port of Seattle's former director of social responsibility Elaine Ko, community activist and business leader Eddie Rye (know for spurring King County into changing its logo from a crown to the image of Martin Luther King Jr.), former state legislator Velma Veloria, and former state chair of the Washington State Democrati...