The Erwin Story Trickles Out

Mr. Erwin called Ms. Bricklemeyer. He had the mistaken assumption that she was ethical and would help him uncover the criminal behavior in the school system under Lennard. She took him to Tom Gonzalez, the legal Iago of the board.

I thought at first that Gonzalez would be an honorable officer of the court, but I have learned to think differently after watching him for two years. I have filed one ethics complaint against him with the bar association and can go there again if necessary. I did not get him rebuked by the bar, but I did manage to discomfit him considerably. And I had a good time correcting his grammar in my missives to the bar.

I have recommended to the board several times in public forum to fire Le Gonzalez. He got his job on a no-bid contract, and his firm has held on to the slot for 37 years by tailoring its opinions to the prejudice and the ignorance of the board and administration in my considered opinion.

Gonzalez promised me three times to write a pamphlet to give to teachers entering Professional Affairs with the witch Linda Kipley information to protect themselves. He did not do it, and he since maintained that he works for the board and will not do it. The board members, of course, not caring diddly about the teachers' mauling Professional Standards has not had Gonzalez produce the pamphlet since they don't want anything to come out in the open that makes them look as bad as they are. I asked the board to have Gonzalez produce the promised pamphlet, of course. They pretended they didn't hear me.

In the case of Professional Affairs, Mr. Gonzalez covers up for the board's studied ignorance of the vile conduct by Kipley in Professional Affairs; he as well claims that Hillsborough County's Professional Affairs enterprise is a model for the state. Be that true, the rest of the state's professional affairs offices must be worse than the Gestopo operations of the Third Reich.

Gonzalez, like the rest of the board and administrative parasite dead wood, is bent on milking the tax payers for as much money as possible by running things like a county version of a mafia enterprise.

Poor Mr. Erwin took several years to become convinced of this reality of his malignant situation. He was a romantic soul, imbued with the belief in the holiness of education and assuming the people associated with it at all levels were of his views. The ROSSAC crowd does not find schools romantic; they find them profitable and productive of power for them to wield.

We enter in medias res during his education over several years to show his progress toward the epiphany that the administration and board were out to dump him without his pension. Whistleblowers are not a comfortable fit for Mafia management.

FROM:

SCHOOL DISTRICT OF HILLSBOROUGH COUNfY

October 30, 2000

Mr. Tom Gonzalez

. General Director of Operations

I have come forward under the Whistle Blowers Act as per our discussion with Mrs.

Bricklemyer. This is my effort to assist in determining if there has been theft or mismanagement of Hillsborough District resources. Upon the insistence of my wife, Idid hire an attorney to review the documents that we have prepared. I have cancelled future appointments with my attorney and consulting attorneys. I can't afford them and it is my desire to work with the school system.

I do not want to drag this process out. The stress has created a serious health threat to me. I have received professional counseling and am under constant doctor's care taking prescription medication. Nothing bas worked to eliminate life threatening high blood pressure that I had not experienced before. I am also suffering financially.

My wife and son have been through many tough times in their lives. Nothing has had a more negative impact on their lives than what they see me going through at this time. Their health and happiness are being compromised. Many of my friends and colleagues are also suffering from stress as a result of their concern for my health and me.

It has been suggested to me many times that I should wear a bullet proof vest and never travel alone. I was offered such a vest by our Hillsborough District Security Department and I refused to wear it. I never had great fear until recently. I was given information that leads me to believe that bodily harm could come to my family and IDC.

As I have said before, I will be happy to take a lie detector test on any of the information that I have supplied. All I would ask is that any person whose name I've used be willing to do the same.

More wisdom from the Couch's readers:

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Thank you, Jesus, for helping me fix my scanner so...":

It is plain and simple. Those board members (Kurdell, Lamb, and Olson) who were on the board when Erwin was crucified were just trying to cover their own asses. They don't care a whit about improving the system. They take a reactive stance instead of a proactive stance to problems. Being proactive means changing things. They want to keep the status quo and stay on good terms with district people. People do not make waves. People avoid confrontation, because confrontation means they have to expend energy to do something about a problem and have to risk aggravating people. The three of them should definitely retire. They have failed, absolutely failed the taxpayers by going along with the abuse of the Erwin crucifixion. By doing that they told us, "We don't care about abuse of taxpayer dollars! We don't want to get in trouble, so we want to just sweep this all under the rug and attack the guy who brought this to our attention." Everyone in the county should be asking them to step down. They are old and complete and utter failures in that role, so it is time for them to step down and let people who care about children and the school system step in and take over.