The biggest lie has always been to keep quiet; and the best life-enhancer is to provoke, unsettle, rile – in short, to make people face the truth.
Gore Vidal
When you teach children to avoid dangling modifiers, don't think they understand you the first time. You keep repeating and repeating and repeating until it sinks in. lee
Ms. Brown:
This continues our conversation from yesterday.
I have had six grandchildren in the Sarasota County school system; three are graduates. Three remain with you.
I don't think it's good for the morals of my grandchildren to see a school principal and board attorney try to trap a teacher into a Catch-22 situation so that they will have an excuse to fire her and then temporize on a judge's opinion that the schools were wrong to fire her in the first place.
This behavior is cruel and vindictive. It is not what I want my grandchildren to believe that the school authorities who tell them to be good and ethical people can use as role models. Two are in high school. They are old enough to discern what is going on. This is upsetting to a grandmother.
I look to you to lead the board in seeing that ethics do not go by the board in this situation. I want my grandchildren to grow up to be good Americans and honest, ethical people. The behavior of the lawyer and principal--and I assume the superintendent--has not been an exemplary role model for them. Please don't sit silent on the board and think you can't speak out because you will be unpopular. Think where we would be today if the Minute Men had let that excuse deter them when King George was oppressing our country. We would still be paying for the upkeep of a parasitic queen and family to this day if the patriots had not acted, popular or not.
lee drury de cesare 15316 Gulf Blvd. 802 Madeira Beach, FL 33708
Response to the Sarasota School Board Member who wrote to me. lee
The Sarasota Herald Tribune has an article called "Judge Rules that a Manatee Teacher Shouldn't Have Been Fired." I post it below. I wrote the board to complain about the teacher's mistreatment and to ask for public information about the hiring of Dr. Hamilton as the schools' lobbiest without advertising the job.I am glad I did not give a lecture on English because the spell checker betrayed me and spelled "know" as "no." Spell checkers won't catch homophones. I hope to remember that fact some day. lee
Judge rules teacher should have kept job
Teacher Mary Cropsey lost her job after a dispute with the school district over policy.
Published: Saturday, May 2, 2009 at 1:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Friday, May 1, 2009 at 11:29 p.m.
MANATEE COUNTY - Teacher Mary Cropsey's problems at Mills Elementary started the day she filed a formal complaint about the school's morning prayer meetings.
The next day she got a letter from Principal Mike Rio asking her to attend a meeting to discuss a "violation of FCAT procedures."
On the advice of her attorney, Cropsey skipped that meeting, and ultimately got fired for it.
Now, a judge has ruled that the Manatee County School Board should not have fired her, and that Cropsey deserves back pay under her contract. The District Court of Appeal ruling filed Friday could also bolster a civil lawsuit Cropsey filed against the school district.
"When I walked out of that courtroom, I knew that I was going to win this one," Cropsey said. "The school district's position just doesn't make any sense."
The ruling highlights concerns over a Manatee school district policy that prohibits teachers under investigation from bringing private attorneys to meetings. The district adopted the rule several years ago as part of a policy intended to crack down on teachers accused of misconduct.
At least one other teacher has challenged his termination under the policy, and two other state boards have said the rule violates fair labor practices.
Friday's decision comes almost three years after Cropsey started as a third-grade teacher at Mills in the 2006-2007 school year.
Almost immediately she started having problems. Cropsey said that Principal Mike Rio and other school employees treated her like an outcast. She suspected that was because she is older and did not participate in the prayer meetings.
Cropsey was working on a one-year contract, and in February 2007 Rio informed her that he was not going to renew it.
A month later Cropsey went to the school district and lodged a discrimination complaint against Rio. The next day she received the notice about the meeting to discuss FCAT violations.
The letter did not detail the specific allegations -- which later turned out to be test cheating, a misdemeanor crime -- or state that Cropsey was under a formal investigation.
It stated she could bring representation, but did not elaborate that the district policy would only allow her to bring a union officer, not a private attorney.
Cropsey was suspicious when she received the letter and contacted an attorney, who advised her not to attend, fearing she might incriminate herself.
Her lawyer, Charles Britt, also called School Board attorney John Bowen to let him know he had advised Cropsey not to come. Bowen asked him to put that in writing, but did not tell him that Cropsey could lose her job for not attending.
Several months later the Manatee County School Board found that there was no evidence Cropsey cheated on the FCAT. But it fired her anyway for not cooperating with the district's investigation.
It is not clear how widespread the implications of the ruling could be, but Bowen said it could impact public employers across Florida.
"They have basically said that an employee can, at the advice of an attorney, disobey what their employer tells them to do, which is a novel concept," Bowen said.
Bowen said the district can appeal the judge's decision to the state Supreme Court or ask for a rehearing in the second district. He said he needs to review the ruling before making a recommendation to the board.
Cropsey said she is ready to keep fighting if the district chooses to appeal.
"They're not going to wear me down," Cropsey said.
Cropsey said she had an extremely difficult time finding a job after the district accused her of FCAT cheating. Eventually, she found a job at a charter high school in Manatee County.
"Once you accuse someone of cheating on the FCAT, pretty much the only thing worse is accusing someone of molesting a child," Cropsey said.
Ms. De Cesare,
Your request has been forwarded to our information office. However, I do not believe that we give out our teacher's address and phone numbers. At least, I hope we don't give them out to everyone who requests them for the sake of our teacher's safety. I am surprised by your allegations the district hired Mixon and Assoc after Dr. Hamilton went to work for them. I have only been on the board for 2-1/2 years and am not aware of that history. Where did you get this information? I am also puzzled as to why you want the specific information you requested. Perhaps if you shared that with me, I might be able to answer your concerns.
Shirley Brown, Member Dist 4 Sarasota County School Board
Board Member Brown:
I know that in HillsboroughCounty the schools' Public Affairs office does give out the address of a former employee. I have gotten addresses from the Public Affairs office. I don't think the Sunshine Law manual says that addresses are privileged.
This ismy way of contacting a teacher in trouble like Ms. Cropsy to let her know that she has my concern and support.I was the union president at the college at which I taught for 28 years as Professor of English before retiring.What union members used to complain about was when there was any whiff of trouble about them that they became pariahs.
Unfortunately, that is the way it is.People at schools are so afraid to say anything that they think will rile the administration that they even avoid other teachers who run athwart the administration through no fault of their own. So these people feel deserted.
I agree with most of the people whose comments I attached who wrote to the paper. Our country was founded on freedom of religion, so I believe Ms. Cropsy has the right of not attending or approving of the morning prayer session.I think she has the right to complain about it.We would be a dictatorship if we didn't have the First Amendment. So Ms. Cropsy has the right to criticize a public institution's promoting religion. It sounds to me as if the Rio school is advocating religion in a public building supported by all taxpayers.Prayers belong in churches and homes.Schools should be neutral ground on that subject coincident with our country's history. I hope as a public official serving the community you see Constitutional rights as the bottom line and that as an elected official, you will protect them. Mr. Rio sounds exactly like the know-nothing K12 bureaucrat that I complained about to the Secretary of Education.
I tried to get a copy of the message I sent you to your attorney, but his has bounced back. Perhaps you would be kind enough to forward a copy to the board secretary and ask her to forward it to the attorney and the superintendent and anybody else who you think should have it. I think it should be posted school wide.It concerns an issue that touches all the employees and the student body as well. I don't think the attorney's behavior has been coincident with the best practices of attorneys.He could have told the principal that Ms. Cropsy's lawyer had advised her not to attend the meeting and revealed to her attorney that she would be fired if she didn't.It looks like Mr. Rio wants to fire Ms. Cropsy because the schools lost against her in court, and he wants to get back at her.That does not signal the best leadership from a principal. I call his behavior administrative misconduct and apply the same assessment to the school lawyer's.
I also question the logic of not letting a person bring in counsel for such meetings as that set up by Mr. Rio for Ms. Cropsy.I don't know how the union has let the Board get away with that deprivation of members' rights.It's not ethical and probably unconstitutional.
The person under the threat of firing needs a lawyer in such crises of employment. It's dumb to go into a meeting without an attorney when you suspect you are being set up.
Your board business of being Dr. Hamilton's lobbying client was on Dr. Hamilton's own company's lobbying Web page marked 1/5; then your schools appeared as the client of Mixon on 1/6.Check with your superintendent. He or she should know. My inference is that he made a recommendation of hiring Dr. Hamilton in both cases.
My suspicion is that Dr. Hamilton got both jobs without their being advertised.I don't see how we are ever going to see equal opportunity in hiring at the administrative level in Florida if the K12 bureaucrats pass around the jobs to each other in a closed situation.That is un-American; it also violates the equal-opportunity laws. Federal contracts have equal-opportunity riders on them.I shall ask for a compliance review on those contracts if your school district didn't advertise the jobs.
I don't see why the board allows the expense of a lobbyist in this economic situation.Schools are laying off vital personnel and yet keeping these lobbyists on the payroll.That does not make financial and ethical sense. I believe that your school has federal contracts.I hope you check up on that situation in your schools and bring it up forboard discussion. An elected body should not be supporting unfair hiring practices that shut all but the in-crowd from applying for jobs.
Thank you for your concern for this issue.I hope you keep on it.And I also hope you will get the message to Teacher Cropsy that a former teacher in HillsboroughCounty supports her and knows she is having a hard time with everybody's seeming to be piling on her or ignoring her.
Respectfully,
Lee Drury De Cesare-
----Original Message-----
From: Shirley Brown [mailto:shirley_brown@sarasota.k12.fl.us]
Sent:Friday, May 08, 20094:45 PM To: lee
Subject: Re: Pubic-information request via Sarasota School Board Attorney John Bowen
Ms. De Cesare,
Your request has been forwarded to our information office. However, I do not believe that we give out our teacher's address and phone numbers. At least, I hope we don't give them out to everyone who requests them for the sake of our teacher's safety. I am surprised by your allegations the district hired Mixon and Assoc after Dr. Hamilton went to work for them. I have only been on the board for 2-1/2 years and am not aware of that history. Where did you get this information? I am also puzzled as to why you want the specific information you requested. Perhaps if you shared that with me, I might be able to answer your concerns.
Shirley Brown, Member Dist 4
SarasotaCountySchool Board
lee writes:
Mr. Bowen, Attorney for Sarasota School Board:
Please forward this request for public information to the Public Affairs office or whoever is in charge of sending out public information to citizens from the SarasotaCountySchool Board:
I would like to have the address and telephone number of Ms. Mary Cropsy, third-grade teacher.
I request as well the address of the Sarasota Teachers' Union.
I request also these data if, be my information correct, Sarasota County has hired Dr. James Hamilton, first, as its lobbyist (he listed the position for Sarasota County schools on his Web page) and then the change to Mixon Associates when Dr. Hamilton went to work at that firm as a consultant. That would involve two positions that the board board has granted Dr. Hamilton. I would like to have this public information for both jobs:
1. The venues in which the board advertised these separate jobs and the dates the ads ran;
2. A copy of the applications of all the people who applied for the job in addition to Dr. Hamilton;
3. The salary of the first job of lobbyist awarded to Dr. Hamilton in his own lobbying firm; the monthly fee or other system of payment to Mixon and Associates for the lobbying consulting now done by Sarasota School Board with Dr. Hamilton as employee consultant to Mixon's firm and whether the understanding of Sarasota county with Mixon is that Dr. Hamilton will continue to handle its lobbying needs;
4. The school-board notes for the occasions on which it discussed and decided the award of the lobbying jobs to Dr. Hamilton and Mixon and Associates ;
5. A copy of all the Federal grants that SarasotaCounty schools now has;
6. A copy of the Sarasota schools' policy on equal-employment opportunity.
Please forward this request for public information to the Public Affairs office or whoever is in charge of sending out public information to citizens from the Sarasota County School Board:
I would like to have the address and telephone number of Ms. Mary Cropsy, third-grade teacher.
I request as well the address of the Sarasota Teachers' Union.
I request also these data if, be my information correct, Sarasota County has hired Dr. James Hamilton, first, as its lobbyist (he listed the position for Sarasota County schools on his Web page) and then the change to Mixon Associates when Dr. Hamilton went to work at that firm as a consultant. That would involve two positions that the board board has granted Dr. Hamilton. I would like to have this public information for both jobs:
1. The venues in which the board advertised these separate jobs and the dates the ads ran;
2. A copy of the applications of all the people who applied for the job in addition to Dr. Hamilton;
3. The salary of the first job of lobbyist awarded to Dr. Hamilton in his own lobbying firm; the monthly fee or other system of payment to Mixon and Associates for the lobbying consulting now done by Sarasota School Board with Dr. Hamilton as employee consultant to Mixon's firm and whether the understanding of Sarasota county with Mixon is that Dr. Hamilton will continue to handle its lobbying needs;
4. The school-board notes for the occasions on which it discussed and decided the award of the lobbying jobs to Dr. Hamilton and Mixon and Associates ;
5. A copy of all the Federal grants that Sarasota County schools now has;
6. A copy of the Sarasota schools' policy on equal-employment opportunity.
Thank you.
Respectfully,
(Ms.) Lee Drury De Cesare
15316 Gulf Boulevard 802
Madeira Beach, FL 33708
tdecesar@tampabay.rr.com
leedrurydecesarescasting-roomcouch.blogspot.com
Judge rules teacher should have kept job Teacher Mary Cropsey lost her job after a dispute with the school district over policy.
By Tiffany Lankes
Published: Saturday, May 2, 2009 at 1:00 a.m. Last Modified: Friday, May 1, 2009 at 11:29 p.m.
MANATEE COUNTY - Teacher Mary Cropsey's problems at Mills Elementary started the day she filed a formal complaint about the school's morning prayer meetings.
The next day she got a letter from Principal Mike Rio asking her to attend a meeting to discuss a "violation of FCAT procedures."
On the advice of her attorney, Cropsey skipped that meeting, and ultimately got fired for it.
Now, a judge has ruled that the Manatee County School Board should not have fired her, and that Cropsey deserves back pay under her contract. The District Court of Appeal ruling filed Friday could also bolster a civil lawsuit Cropsey filed against the school district.
"When I walked out of that courtroom, I knew that I was going to win this one," Cropsey said. "The school district's position just doesn't make any sense."
The ruling highlights concerns over a Manatee school district policy that prohibits teachers under investigation from bringing private attorneys to meetings. The district adopted the rule several years ago as part of a policy intended to crack down on teachers accused of misconduct.
At least one other teacher has challenged his termination under the policy, and two other state boards have said the rule violates fair labor practices.
Friday's decision comes almost three years after Cropsey started as a third-grade teacher at Mills in the 2006-2007 school year.
Almost immediately she started having problems. Cropsey said that Principal Mike Rio and other school employees treated her like an outcast. She suspected that was because she is older and did not participate in the prayer meetings.
Cropsey was working on a one-year contract, and in February 2007 Rio informed her that he was not going to renew it.
A month later Cropsey went to the school district and lodged a discrimination complaint against Rio. The next day she received the notice about the meeting to discuss FCAT violations.
The letter did not detail the specific allegations -- which later turned out to be test cheating, a misdemeanor crime -- or state that Cropsey was under a formal investigation.
It stated she could bring representation, but did not elaborate that the district policy would only allow her to bring a union officer, not a private attorney.
Cropsey was suspicious when she received the letter and contacted an attorney, who advised her not to attend, fearing she might incriminate herself.
Her lawyer, Charles Britt, also called School Board attorney John Bowen to let him know he had advised Cropsey not to come. Bowen asked him to put that in writing, but did not tell him that Cropsey could lose her job for not attending.
Several months later the Manatee County School Board found that there was no evidence Cropsey cheated on the FCAT. But it fired her anyway for not cooperating with the district's investigation.
It is not clear how widespread the implications of the ruling could be, but Bowen said it could impact public employers across Florida.
"They have basically said that an employee can, at the advice of an attorney, disobey what their employer tells them to do, which is a novel concept," Bowen said.
Bowen said the district can appeal the judge's decision to the state Supreme Court or ask for a rehearing in the second district. He said he needs to review the ruling before making a recommendation to the board.
Cropsey said she is ready to keep fighting if the district chooses to appeal.
"They're not going to wear me down," Cropsey said.
Cropsey said she had an extremely difficult time finding a job after the district accused her of FCAT cheating. Eventually, she found a job at a charter high school in Manatee County.
"Once you accuse someone of cheating on the FCAT, pretty much the only thing worse is accusing someone of molesting a child," Cropsey said.
comments from Sarasota readers:
Post a comment | View all comments on this topic.
1. mark says... May 2, 2009 5:13:32 am
-- "They have basically said that an employee can, at the advice of an attorney, disobey what their (sic) employer tells them to do, which is a novel concept," Bowen said. --
No, Attorney Bowen, the novel concept is a public employer prohibiting an employee from utilizing private counsel at a disciplinary meeting. And the novel concept is a public employer retaliating against an employee for choosing not to participate in a flag prayer. And the novel concept is a public employer falsifying a claim against an employee. Those are all novel concepts, Mr. Bowen. The ironic aspect of the case is that the school board has ready access to an attorney, yet desires to deny the same for its employees. What a bunch of mind-boggling hypocrisy!
When Mary is awarded her judgment, perhaps the school board members themselves -- and Mr. Bowen himself, who is likely being handsomely paid -- should pay the judgment out of their own personal pockets, instead of the pockets of the taxpayers.
Report this post 2. jmsbeauchamp says... May 2, 2009 5:37:23 am
A reminder, should we need one, as to why so many people home school their kids.
Report this post 3. lgs85 says... May 2, 2009 6:07:14 am
Well said, Mark! This whole thing started when Ms. Cropsey refused to be bullied by Mike Rio into attending a prayer around the flagpole. After that she was harrassed then accused of cheating by changing one student's (the child of one of the clerical staff -what a coincidence!) answer on the FCAT. First of all, ask any teacher the extent of protocols the schools go through to ensure the integrity of the test when it is turned in...furthermore, why would a teacher risk their entire professional career to change one test score?
The school board DID NOT find her guilty of any wrong-doing in regards to the FCAT. They fired her because she wanted to bring an attorney with her to meet with Rio. Keep in mind, she is allowed to have representation but she wanted to use her lawyer instead of the one supplied by the Union.
I have had experience with Rio...I am not an employee but a parent whose child attended the Manatee County Schools when Rio was the Principal at Palmetto Elementary. I wouldn't want to be in the same room with him alone. He is a nasty, vindictive man if you dare to cross him or diagree with him.
Congratulations, Ms. Cropsey!
Report this post 4. digibella says... May 2, 2009 7:21:12 am
Well said Mark. Congratulations to Ms. Cropsey! Too bad the taxpayers have to foot the legal bills to defend such indefensible acts and policies.
Report this post 5. 25andawakeup says... May 2, 2009 7:23:28 am
not really sure what you meant by that...
why do people home-school their kids?
Report this post 6. don says... May 2, 2009 8:06:41 am
The attorney advised her to skip the meeting to avoid "incriminating" herself...that is what we need - anytime an employee (especially) on a one-year contract doesn't want to do something - check with an attorney and then "skip the meeting" - she knew that she going to be found out. She needed to avoid admitting to whatever she did.
How stupid, "she was an outcast because she was older" - has you seen most of the teachers in Manatee county? Ummm, you are young compared to many. That is lame...I don't get along well with others and nobody likes me - it must be because I am old?
I agree that if you don't want to go to a prayer meeting don't go...ummmm, they didn't fire you for that....
You are probably divorced (couldn't get along with you husband), your kids don't like you (if you even have any) and you hate any type of authority figure...especially if it is a male.
You learned these behaviors from your divorce attorney. If you don't like something - get an attorney to prevent you from "incriminating" yourself.
Good luck with that lawsuit...
Report this post 7. joebloe says... May 2, 2009 9:35:36 am
The article is wrong in saying a single judge made the ruling. In fact, it was a 3-judge panel, which ruled unanimously. Also, the article doesn't say how much back pay was awarded, and it appears to be only for the remainder of the 1-year (2006-7) contract. The actual decision is at: Link.
Report this post 8. pathalinecampbell says... May 2, 2009 9:42:53 am
Congratulations Mary!
Report this post 9. pathalinecampbell says... May 2, 2009 9:59:14 am
Mary, again congrats! Your case has helped a lot of teachers who may face these "Meetings" and individuals who have NO legal Authority to have people they accuse of POSSIBLE crimes waive their rights to plead the 5th. It is my opinion the School Board should leave matters of this kind to the "Legal Authorities" it would save a lot of time and cost for everyone. From what I gather or understand, the School Board may request the presences of an employee in these MEETINGS, but can't force them to "Self-Incriminate"; they can't make you speak. This is just my opinion regarding the article... The school board can't make people address matters they can possibly twist when the teacher doesn't have an attorney present. That would be a complete "set-up". The investigation unit comes off as if they are trying to be the Law and this is where they failed in this case. Again, this is just my opinion regarding this article.... Teachers...know your rights when you go to a "Meeting" they want to call an "Investigation".
The firm of board attorney, Tom Gonzalez, has held the job for 37 years, apparently on a handshake.I have suggested several times at the speaker podium that the board fire him and advertise the job so that some new legal blood can be brought in when other area firms have a chance to apply for the job.
My perception of Tom Gonzalez is that he is hip-deep in all the skullduggery of the administration.He was a pivotal person, I believe, in the crucifixion of Mr. Sam Erwin.
Mr. Erwin believed former board member Bricklemeyer was an honest board member and went to her for help.She took him to Tom Gonzalez; they milked him for information and then threw him back out in the ROSSAC badlands so that Dr. Lennard and his thugs could continue the torture of Mr. Erwin.
When the investigator hired by Gonzalez told Erwin that it looked like the investigation was aimed at framing him, Gonzalez cut short the investigation and dismissed the investigator.
Le Gonzalez defends no-bid contracts with great fervor because his firm has had one for 37 years with the board.He also denies that the equal opportunity laws apply to the administration for the same reason I suggest.
Tom Gonzalez's firm, which specializes is ripping off workers for higher-ups I infer, was defense for the board in the Erwin Whistleblower case. Gonzalez did the Erwin deposition.Another lawyer from the firm handled the court-room part of the case. He didn't know his ass from his elbow in handling a jury.He told the jury people sitting for the Erwin case that they had no right to find in Mr. Erwin's favor because they had found that one of the charges, that the administration had violated his contract, was false; hence they had to find that all the charges were false.
That went over like a lead balloon with the jury, of course. It found on the other issues for Mr. Erwin and awarded him $165,000.I heard from a person close to the trial that when the Gonzalez firm complained about the size of the award to the judge, that the judge told Tom etal that if the prosecution had a more competent lawyer, the award would have been even bigger.
I don't think the Gonzalez firm does well before a jury.Most jurors are not the swells and higher ups that the Gonzalez firm is legal servants to.Most juries are ordinary people.I think they feel the condescension directed at them from the Gonzalez gang in court. They talk to them as if they were the hired help.
So I have encouraged a woman administratively mauled when she was a teacher to blow past the negotiations and go to a jury in her case against the schools.People can see what really happened when a case is laid out before them, and they will find for this abused teacher is my belief.
Meanwhile, I want to get from Gonzalez the contract situation that his firm has with the board and the contract the lawyer from the firm had when he defended the board in the Erwin case.If you read the ethics language in the excerpt below from the Ethics Commission, you will infer why I want this information. He will do. Then we will see some labyrinthine twists and turns of the language to extract himself and his firm from responsibilty. But, hey, language is my specialty. I am the linguistics kid. Bring it on is what I say.
Keep in mind that the board did not fire one person for the crimes on school grounds. They looked the other way, or jumped on Erwin, as Candy Olson did, telling him that the would have to prove his accusations. She didn't want to know the truth and did not investigate the crimes herself or preside over an investigation. Like Dr. Lennard and the rest of the thugs who tortured Mr. Erwin, La Olson just wanted him to shut up. lee
http://www.blogger.com/posts.g?blogID=5338509888038553180 I filed ethics charges against Gonzalez in the past. I didn't win officially. Lawyers seldom rule against another member of the legal priesthood.
But overall, I won. Gonzalez was in a panic about being charged with ethics violations. He's not used to being on the other side of an accusation. He must have spent two weeks' billable hours crafting his responses to the bar's ethics commission. He denied, denied, denied in the most convoluted, lawyeresque language possible.
The second time I got to comment, I just tore loose and said whatever came into my head. I even criticized Tom's grammar as well as his ethics (he got a bachelor's in English) and had the best old time. I have one rule in my extra-home activities in my golden years: If it's not fun, I won't do it. But another ethics charge against Mr. Gonzalez would be fun. I am eager to see how he wiggles out of this situation. lee
Web Page on Government Ethics:
A local government attorney whose contract with the unit of local government does not include provisions that authorize or mandate the use of the law firm of the local government attorney to complete legal services for the unit of local government shall not recommend or otherwise refer legal work to that attorney's law firm to be completed for the unit of local government.
Ms. Cobbe: The above I extracted from the Web site on ethics for government employees.
I believe a member of Tom Gonzalez's firm litigated the courtroom part of the Whistleblower case that Mr. Erwin filed against the school board.
May I have as public information the 1. contract that this Gonzalez-firm courtroom lawyer had with the school board when the Gonzales-firm lawyer participated in this case, in which I believe Mr. Gonzalez did the deposition with Mr. Erwin? May I have 2. a copy of the current contract that Mr. Gonzalez and/or his firm has with the School Board?
I still await from you a 1. copy of the grievance procedure that employees can use if they believe the board and administration treat them unfairly and 2. the answer to my question of whether the script cataloguing past grievance procedures is public information that a citizen can review.
I ask also that you check with Professional Standards and Ms. Elia to see when I can expect from Ms. Kipley an answer to my inquiry about the three special-education administrators--Mr. Smiley, the principal, and the administrator-- involved in charging Mr. Steve Kemp with child abuse at the Sheriff's office in the Steve Kemp Professional-Standards case. Thank you.
In your message posted below, I believe you hide behind the economic situation in your school-wide message below for two reasons: 1.Everybody is scared about his or her job, so this email about money stirs people's dread of losing their job and makes them acquiesce to your dictatorship; 2. If you talk about money, you don't have to talk about the other issues that affect employees, especially teachers.
These include (a) the use of the Professional Standards office along with a back-up, behind-the-scenes psychological torture committee headed by LuccoBrazzi Valdez to charge teachers with manufactured infractions against professional standards or to use a trifle to hang a firing threat on teachers to scarify their psyches.
You make decisions in chambers and don't bring the proposals and an opendiscussion of them to board meetings to keep the public and most of the school personnel outside ROSSACignorant of the information that is basis for the board's ratifying decisions as they slavishly follow your lead.These affect the whole school family: teachers, students, and staff; they also affect state taxpayers that foot the bill for behind-closed-doors, out-of-the-sunshine decisions that roll by on the Consent hidden-Agenda conveyor belt with the board members' simply pushing a button that keeps the rationales secret from the public and the rest of the school family. This is not open government.It is closed, dictator-style government based on a pas-de-deux between you and the rubber-stamp board's mocking of open government.
A recent example of defiance of open government is the failure to post principal candidates on the Board's Web page as well as your choice for principal so that people can come to the board meeting and comment on the appointments you make in secret with no rationale but that it is your will. La Gaceta discussed this last-named denial of open government by you and the board in the May 1 column of "As We Heard It." There is no reason except the desire to hold on to the power that secret proceedings bestow on you to deprive the public of the principal candidates' names, their qualifications, and your choice among the candidates. Your failure to share this information online shows that you do not believe the public deserves open government with the right to comment and that you have the right of absolute power over this information and can direct its consequences.
You use the Professional Standards Office as a retaliation tool, not as a locus to investigate real defections from professional standards.You and your toady Linda Kipley , home-ec credentialed head Professional Standards, cook up charges against teachers.The purpose of these charges is to target certain teachers for retaliation for infractions against your sense of absolute power.A current example is the extended suspension from the classroom--a school semester soon--for Steve Kemp.He has a blog. Blogs are anathemas to the administration.
The board and administration hate blogs because they give raw information to the public unlaundered by the Public Affairs Laundromat spin machine. The taxpayers get stuck with paying for their own bamboozling because they subsidize the Public Affairs office.
This Kemp situation is another aspect of your hoarding real information about what is going on in the schools.
One of your creatures telephoned Kemp recently to cite a subject that you did not want discussed on his blog, showing that you do not believe teachers have First-Amendment rights. Your hubris shows that as long as you allow them to work in the schools, they must act as your servile creatures who abandon their civil rights as the price of employment.
Recently, there wasan unwonted board outbreak of brief and loud discussion of Kemp's case, in which you had falsely charged him with Child Abuse
-- a charge the Sheriff threw out.This verbal scuffle showed that Mr. Valdez had made little if any progress in investigating the case after almost a school semester had elapsed since its filing.This delay confirms the analysis that these cases are psychological torture ordeals aimed at breaking a teacher's will to stand up and be a human being in the face of the administration's goal of debasing him or her to non-personhood and depriving the poor wretch of expressing a shred of resistance to the bad leadership by you condoned by the elected board that shows a lamentable
willingness to bow down to your dictatorial reign and ignore its duty to citizens.
Past offenses against teachers with no discussion and with board omerta include 1. imposing a period of more work for teachers without informing them or allowing them to discuss this issue: 2. forcing grade-inflation practices on teachers apparently to widen the pool of students who allow you to claim more "bonus" money for work done by the teachers; and 3. buying the multi-million-dollar Spring program that has failed in other venues without discussing it with teachers that have to implement it. And apparently you did not even apprise the board about your purchase, although the board must have approved your impulse buying post hoc, gutless creatures that board members are.
And most significantly, refusing a settled place on the board agenda for teachers and students to comment. I have myself asked the board three times for this courtesy to teachers and students.The results were icy glares from around the dais.I even emailed Board Members Griffin and Valdes. asking them to work for a teacher-student slot on the board agenda.They both style themselves as teacher advocates.They didn't even answer my email. Some teacher advocates these two poseurs are.
The abuse of your power includes your creating a job with a fancy title and a salary of $140,000 a year for your buddy Dr. Hamilton--one of the thugs whom Dr. Lennard sicced onto Mr. Sam Erwin to discredit him, fire him, and deprive him of his pension--when Dr. Hamilton was due for retirement but needed an office and income while he cold-called candidates for his lobbying venture. Dr. Hamilton left after seven months, having filled his lobbying quota.You did away with the job, showing that it was not a job integral to the running of the schools but a job integral to Dr. Hamilton's rape of the tax kitty with your collusion.
You adhere to the practice of your assigning jobs without advertising them to whomever you wish, be it sycophant, buddy, or passing favorite in your patronage-jobs program.The board allows you free rein in this jobs racket.Not content with padding Dr. Hamilton's pockets with a cooked-up bridge job, you donated additionally to Dr. Hamilton with no advertising a lobbyist position for $65,000 a year which, I hear, you have now bumped up to $96,000 a year.
Those assignments and the raise got no exposure on the board stage in open discussion.They rolled into reality on the Consent Conveyor Belt. This vignette shows that you appropriate the power of creating jobs with no public need but rather for a buddy's financial convenience and that you don't have an open discussion of this outrage on the board podium, and the quiescent board does not demand one.
Such outrages roll by on the Consent Conveyor Belt, and the taxpayer picks up the tab.
One could go on.But the above are representative of your holding on to your out-of-the-sunshine power and making dictatorial decisions backed by a board that will have trouble explaining this anti-taxpayer collusion if the public gets a whiff at election time of the outrages against good government and against open government that your regime propagates with board collusion.
I flag the punctuation errors in your employment message below.It is not too much for taxpayers to expect basic literacy from a superintendent who makes $300,000 a year to run schools in which parents anticipate that their children will master the basic rules of punctuation that you flout in your email to teachers below.Your cited errors do not connect to abstruse concepts, Ms. Elia; they are the basic, beginning rules that children learn in the ninth grade.
Why have a board meeting at all if the decisions have already been made? They are already closing out the public, so why make a pretense of involving the public with a board meeting? These board members are so criminal that they should simply meet in private and break the Sunshine laws (which they already do) and hold their meetings in secrecy. At least they would be more honest. As it stands now they are not only criminal but liars and frauds too.
Lawmakers are nearing the end of the extended legislative session COMMA FOR COMPOUND SENTENCE and we believe it will end on Friday, NO COMMA: RESTRICTIVE APPOSITIVE May 8. We’re doing our best to keep up with all the last-minute changes that could have an impact on our district. We are pleased to see that legislators appear to be committed to protecting school districts as much as possible.
Also, the state formally applied for a waiver to enable Florida to receive “stabilization” funds under the federal stimulus package. That’s an important step because state lawmakers are counting on that money to keep a balanced budget at this time of declining revenues. We need to keep in mind that the stabilization money is non-recurring,NO COMMA: COMPOUND VERB and will not be available after 2011.
We expect to know a lot more soon about how the budget will affect the state’s public schools. As news comes in from Tallahassee, I will let keep you informed.
Now, I would like to address some misconceptions regarding the steps we have taken to cut our budget here in HillsboroughCounty.
As I have indicated before, decisions have been made based on student/classroom needs and avoiding employee layoffs. It is true that some employee groups will have a shorter work year, and that will result in reduced annual pay. But let me point out that we have also taken similar measures in the past with other employee groups, NO COMMA: RESTRICTIVE ADJECTIVAL PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE such as assistant principals, nurses, and agricultural HYPHENATED COMPOUND ADJECTIVE FOR COMPOUND ADJECTIVE BEFORE A NOUN science teachers. While we would prefer not to take such steps, they are in keeping with our strategy of making budget cuts with minimal harm to the classroom, making decisions based on students’ needs, and preserving jobs.
Also, we have worked together with the teachers’ union to help out our impacted employees such as those who will see their year reduced from 253 days to 205 days. Those employees will have first claim to summer contracts needed to support students, NO COMMA: CUTS OFF A RESTRICTIVE PAST PARTICIPIAL PHRASE based on seniority. Together with our unions, we are looking out for our employees.
I have heard people say, as I’m sure you have, that my recommendations have not affected “downtown.” As a matter of fact, our administrative and support staff has been affected. We have eliminated administrative positions, cut budgets, frozen positions, and reorganized departments, reducing costs by more than $14-million. Many people are doing more than one job to support all district functions.
The question of whether to rehire retired teachers also has caused some confusion. We have never proposed that the district rehire retired teachers at “minimum wage.” Since most of the retired teachers are at or near the top of the pay scale, it is costly to allow them to come back from retirement at their current pay. This is what we have recently seen criticized in the media as “double dipping.” Many of the retired teachers are wonderful professionals whom I know well. I wish they had not decided to retire. And I know they now want to continue doing the work they love, NO COMMA: COMPOUND INFINITIVE and to continue receiving health benefits and a source of income.
Here’s what we are proposing. We would welcome the option of bringing teachers back at a beginning teacher salary. That would allow us to employ them and have the benefit of their experience with less of an impact on our budget. I believe many retired or soon-to-be-retired teachers would welcome that opportunity rather than remaining retired. However, this is an issue that must be negotiated and cannot be done without a change in our teacher contract. The district and Classroom Teachers Association are currently in discussions COMMA FOR COMPOUND SENTENCE but to date there has been no agreement. We are in a very deep and long recession in our country COMMA FOR COMPOUND SENTENCE and we are trying to balance the fiscal constraints that we are all facing.
It is also important for me to point out that I recognize that the issue of kindergarten paraprofessionals clearly will have an impact on our elementary schools. Though we would prefer not to have to take such steps, this"THIS" WHAT?VAGUE PRONOUN REFERENCE has been coming for some time. The requirements of the class size amendment have caused us to change the staffing in our kindergarten classrooms. We have had to lower class size and hire more teachers and we cannot afford to continue to employ all kindergarten paraprofessionals. We discussed this probability when the constitutional amendment was proposed and for the years since passage have talked about this eventual transition. Right now, we are facing the most stringent class HYPHENATED COMPOUND ADJECTIVE BEFORE A NOUN size requirements at the same time the budget has been drastically reduced. Despite the formula change, our plan still keeps some kindergarten support at each school.
Let me conclude by saying that it is my job and the job of the School Board to look after everyone’s interests. That includes students, parents, taxpayers, and all our employees. When the budget was healthier, the unions and the district made it a priority to raise salaries. We have increased teacher salaries over the last three years by 20 percent. Now, during more difficult financial times, we have made it a priority to save jobs. With the help of union leadership, our students and employees will continue to thrive, and we’ll get through this crisis in good shape.
