Always Lob the Ball into the Other Court

We must never forget that we live in a democracy and have free-speech rights.

doretha.edgecomb@sdhc.k12.fl.us; candy.olson@sdhc.k12.fl.us; jennifer.falliero@sdhc.k12.fl; jack.lamb@sdhc.k12.fl.us; carol.kurdell@sdhc.k12.fl.us; april.griffin@sdhc.k12.fl.us; susan.valdes@sdhc.k12.fl.us; Dan.Valdez@sdhc.k12.fl.us; Lewis.Brinson@sdhc.k12.fl.us; Gretchen.Saunders@sdhc.k12.fl.us; Wynne.Tye@sdhc.k12.fl.us; Cathy.Valdes@sdhc.k12.fl.us; Connie/Milito@sdhc.k12.fl.us; David.Steele@sdhc.k12.fl.us; Gwen.Luney@sdhc.k12.fl.us; maryellon.elia@sdhc.k12.fl; Stephen.Hegarty@sdhc.k12.fl.us; Linda Cobbe; motolino@aol.com;marilynbrown@tampatrib.com; letitiastein@sptimes.com; Angie Manteiga (amanteiga@lagacetanewspaper.com); patrickmanteiga@lagacetanewspaper.com

Public Information Request

Ms. Elia, Mr. Gonzalez, Board Members, Board Attorney, and administrative staff: I want to supply the lack of administration-board open government in the attempt to fire Mr. Steven Kemp, so I ask for the data cited in comments following.

The board and administration put everything on the consent calendar—including Mr. Kemp’s prospective firing for what may well be a trumped-up charge, and the data whiz by unexamined, a situation that does not let citizens know what is going on in the schools.

Ms. Elia and Ms. Falliero have both expressed strong opinions about the schools’ not getting the positive publicity the two desire. I am suspicious that Mr. Kemp’s having a blog has a good deal to this charge’s being laid to him because he analyzes the superintendent’s and board’s conduct on the blog and not always in a laudatory manner.

I request as public information that all people with names on this email’s send slots above make available to Ms. Linda Cobbe of the Public Affairs Office any emails that mention the Kemp case. She can then send them to me. I will put them on my blog leedrurydecesarescasting-room couch.blogspot to lend a modicum of public transparency to the Professional Standards office’s procedure in prosecuting charges against teachers.

Everybody knows that Hillsborough County teachers fear the Professional Standards office’s real purpose, which is to keep files on teachers so as to make them fearful of making complaints about the negative way they are treated by the superintendent, administration, and board. These complaints would dilute the power of the board and the administration to run roughshod over teachers, expecially the behavior of the superintendent.

Mr. Gonzalez promised me three times that he would author a pamphlet for people entering the Professional Standards’ gauntlet but weezeled out of the multiple pledges, saying he worked for the board, not Ms. De Cesare. Indeed he does not work for me. I would fire him pronto because he is not a gentleman and not an ornament to the legal profession. I have asked the board to fire him several times since he got his job on a no-bid contract and that the board give the other area lawyers a chance to replace him.

The way I got involved in the board and superintendent’s behavior toward teachers was Ms. Elia’s and Ms. Kipley’s clumsy attempt to mount a false case against my friend media specialist Bart Birdsall. Since then, when I see another teacher summoned to Professional Standards, I utter a qui vive and home in on the process.

Please send any emails regarding this Kemp case to Ms. Cobbe so that she can pass them on to me in the Sunshine Law’s public’s-right-to-know dispensation.

Lee Drury De Cesare
15316 Gulf Boulevard 802
Madeira Beach, FL 33708
727 398 4142
Tdecesar@tampabay.rr.com
Leedrurydecesarescasting-roomcouch.blogspot