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
Don't miss the comment section. I take my lumps from the fans. One guy tells me I am old and will die. This is invigorating stuff. lee
Dear Anonymous: You make a good point. I am dug in when I think I am right. And I usually think I am right. Every leader has to have that quality, or he or she is not a leader.
I am angry with Susan. She fooled me; that makes me mad, mad at myself for being a dope. I am a sap when it comes to being too easy to convince that you are a good person. Then I am furious when I find you fooled. me.
What revolts me is that Susan has not only been passive on the podium but that she pissed away all that money when there are children in the county who can’t afford the supply fees so can’t participate in the class projects. She must know about things like that, yet she spent $50,000 to go pick up those gimcrack cracker-jack awards the education bureaucracy manufactures by the truck load to hand out to each other to disguise the fact that its minions are the underperformers of the academic world but have captured its administrative apparatus and are lording it over the smarty pants in college who headed straight for teaching. I think I am mad at her now for her bad values, her plain old lack of brains, and her willingness to fall in line with Elia because she has a forceful personality behind closed doors and can overwhelm these weak board members.
I suspected Schmidt from the start but didn’t recall until his second or third communication that he had run before. But I thought it was good that Susan had an opponent since she needed rousting. When I became aware that he was the guy whose wife also had run against April or Susan in the past, the scales fell from my eyes in medias res. But Susan still needs an opponent to this day. Otherwise she will never do anything on the board. And even an opponent may not prize her from her torpor.
In addition, there’s the breakdown in our chain of humanity when we label a person a fiend for running against someone in a political race even if it’s for negative reasons. When is running in a political race anything but for the reason Darwin locates in The Descent of Man: to win the admiration of other people? He says in The Emotions of Men and Animals that the desire for admiration is the number-one motivater of the human psyche—both in humans and our cousins down the phylogenetic tree. All people who run for public office lust for approval and admiration. Schmidt lusts for the approval of Elia primarily. And he lusts for positioning himself to augment his retirement loot. That's what the double dippers Lamb and Edgecombe have done. This is all part of the Dark Side of the human psyche. And seemingly benign people who run for the school board have it as well as does every single soul on the planet.
I can’t hate Schmidt because he desperately wants a school-board throne. So does Susan, and I am not sure her motive is any more elevated than his. It’s what they do with the position that concerns me. And I don’t think Susan has done diddly. And besides, her open display of cowardice repels me. I hate gutlessness wherever I encounter it. That is what Susan and April have displayed on the board. Whatever other word you find for their behavior does not obviate its being gutlessness. The other board members have long ago surrendered their souls to Elia. But I thought Susan and April would not. Dumb me.
And, yes, I have a soft spot in my heart for the Hitlers of the world. I claim that right. I was a psychiatric nurse for a while learned to be fond of some of the worst patients on the ward---ones that would cut your face to ribbons if only they could get out of their strait jackets (which we euphemized to “camisoles”). Hitler was good to his dog, Blondie, a big old dumb German shepherd. And his slipping her a cyanide pill before he put the gun to his head was an act of love. Nobody is totally bad or totally good. I myself am about 51-49 percent divided. And my creative ideas emerge from the 49 percent side of my psyche. I don’t know if you have noticed, but crazy is always more interesting than sane.
Now that we have slogged through my psyche, let’s turn to yours. Maybe you can solve for me the mystery of why the teachers of the Hillsborough County school system are so terrified of Elia and her Wizard-of-Oz terror apparatus of the Home-ec Kipley's Professional Standards Cell Block that they cower behind anonymity and are afraid to turn up at the school board meetings or stand in the middle of the street and blast Elia and her minions to hell and back. Why are they afraid to use free speech as their Teflon armor? This is America. I shut Tom Gonzalez up from threatening me with an extortion law suit to close down my comments by filing an ethics charge against him with the Florida Bar. I didn’t win, of course in the ordinary sense, but I forced him to answer the charges, an exercise which ruffled his massive, misplaced self-confidence. I have the case online for general review. I sent it to the county law guys. Le Gonzalez has shut up on his threat of extortion law suits against me, and I feel some satisfaction in having paid him back a little bit for his telling poor Erwin that he had Whistleblower protection and then pushing him out in the clearing to be run crazy by Lennard, Davis, and Hamilton and the complicity of the entire school apparatus, including the board members, and his ending up a babbling bundle of nerves before he finally smartened up and went to an attorney who cleaned the school board and administration’s clock and got him a settlement so that he could flee the hell of the ROSSAC inferno to Georgia.
Write me an essay on why school people won’t come out of their holes and fight Elia et al in the open. If they can quote the Bill of Rights and Milton's Areopagitica, there is no excuse for this reticence to plow into Elia and her palace guard. Besides, teachers outnumber her. You are ninety percent smarter than she. You are probably 99 percent better looking too since she looks like a bag of dirty clothes on the way to the laundermat.
And don’t ever fool yourself that I won’t triumph over Elia. Just give me a little more time. I believe I will live to see a decent superintendent head the school system. And, yes, Susan will still be on the board and still be a coward. lee
From: Anonymous [mailto:noreply-comment@blogger.com] Sent: Monday, August 04, 2008 9:00 AM To: tdecesar@tampabay.rr.com Subject: [Lee Drury De Cesare's Casting-Room Couch] New comment on Comment Worth Considering from Valdes's Opponent.
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Comment Worth Considering from Valdes's Opponent":
Lee,
I have noted something interesting as of late and want to share it with you.
Your coverage of Schmidt started with enthusiasm and high hope. You clearly percieved him as a change agent.
As people started to weigh in with concerns you stuck by your guns challenging people to bring you the proof of Mr. Schmidts perfidy.
Mr. Schmidt himself delivered this proof in the Valdes/Schmidt debate.
Your disappointment was clear, but you continue to push Mr. Schmidt. Apparently you will not change for the very selfish reason that you want to punish Susan for daring not to do things your way.
Lastly people have started to weigh in with some very valid and well thought out arguments and you defiantly stand by Mr. Schmidt.
Lee, if you cannot accept and admit your mistakes. If you cannot change your mind. If you cannot separate your emotions and personal feelings from your work how are you any better than the Abu-Ghraib administration that you struggle against?
One of the greatest injustices that you have railed against is Elias close minded arrogance. Her inability to consider external perspectives and change.
You are exhibiting these same behavioral traits. I am beginning to wonder if the real issue between you and Elia is that you are too much alike. After all, the most difficult person to live with is yourself.
You admit no mistake, you defiantly refuse to consider a change in your position, and you punish those who dare not to grovel at your feet (i.e. Susan and April). Sounds like the very injustices that drive you to fight against the Elia administration.
One of the greastest dangers in war is that we must remain ever vigilant to not become that which we struggle against.
Publish this comment.
Reject this comment.
Moderate comments for this blog.
Posted by Anonymous to Lee Drury De Cesare's Casting-Room Couch at 5:59 AM
Steve Gorham has sent back his candidate query below. I think everybody will like the answers.
I have appended the pile of abuse that I have taken for not condemning Mr. Shultz or whatever his name is. He is not Beelzebub, and his wife is not Vampira--although I recall her now that someone said she ran against Susan or April and must opine that hers is not the face that launched a thousand ships and burnt the topless towers of Ilium.
I claim the right to say a kind word about Hitler if I want to if the mood strikes me. Eva Braun kicked Blondie, Hitler's dog, when Hitler wasn't looking, but Hitler was kind to Blondie. And gave her a cyanide pill before he shot his brains out. That was thoughtful. I claim the right to find that slipping poor Blondie a cyanide pill so that she would die with her master an ok thing to do in a bunker right before you put a gun to your head.
There will be unfeeling louts who will defy me, but they won't change my mind.
These thugs who are beating up on an elderly, feeble, shy granny of ten should be ashamed of themselves.
Steve gorham's answers to the candidate query:
Would you oppose nepotism-buddy hirings like that just announced of Linda Kipley’s husband who has no experience in the field?
I would oppose any hiring practice that is not above board. We need to ensure that we are hiring the most qualified person in every instance. I am not a proponent of nepotism or “buddy” hiring.
If you oppose violating the equal-opportunity hirings of buddies, relatives, and hangers-on that goes on routinely in this school system, what would you do to stop it?
As stated above I would oppose any hiring practice that is not above board. We need to ensure that we are hiring the most qualified person in every instance. I am not a proponent of nepotism or “buddy” hiring. I would demand that hiring policies are in place and followed to prevent this from happening. I would aggressively investigate any accusation and if substantiated ensure appropriate discipline is administered.
In the name of open government, would you insist that the hirings recommended on the consent agenda administration appear with the job’s description and the applications of the candidates online?
I would consider this but would need to look at the hiring process in detail before making a decision.
There is a woman applicant in thepool for the above job handed to Mr. Kipley whose national origin is Egyptian and who uses a walker. She has an accounting degree and years of experience in accounting with a major company.
All applicants should be reviewed and selected based on their qualifications and experience relevant to the knowledge, skills, and abilities for the job they are competing for.
Are you ready to defend against an EEOC charge and an Americans with Disabilities charge if select an unqualified relative of an administrator and not a qualified woman By hiring Ms. Kipley’s husband who has no degree and no accounting experience?
All applicants should be reviewed and selected based on their qualifications and experience relevant to the knowledge, skills, and abilities for the job they are competing for.
Would you insist that administrative jobs get advertising and not go automatically to the superintendent’s buddies?
I believe all job openings should be comprehensively advertised.
Would you insist that administrative jobs have degrees in relevant fields?
I believe that having a degree in a relevant field is definitely a plus but it should not be the only criterion that is looked at when evaluating a potential candidate. Experience and portable skill sets should also weigh in on the decision.
Would you consider an early-childhood terminal degree as adequate for chief-facilities officer?
I believe that having a degree in a relevant field is definitely a plus but it should not be the only criterion that is looked at when evaluating a potential candidate. Experience and portable skill sets should also weigh in on the decision.
Would you think getting the Chief Government Relations officer should go to a kindergarten –degreed young woman whose chief credential was that she was protégée of an elderly male administrator concupiscent for the quietetide of retirement?
All applicants should be reviewed and selected based on their qualifications and experience relevant to the knowledge, skills, and abilities for the job they are competing for.
Would you think one of the three administrators Jack Davis who mistreated Doug Erwin before Mr. Erwin won his court case against the school board for harassing him as whistle-blower should get the head of technology department when he has not one credit in technology but an early-childhood degree?
All applicants should be reviewed and selected based on their qualifications and experience relevant to the knowledge, skills, and abilities for the job they are competing for.
Would you visit the schools and schedule meetings with teachers at intervals? If so, how often?
Absolutely, I would also schedule meetings with support staff. I understand that it is a team effort to educate our children and everyone plays a vital part. A school member should give attention to all of the hardworking professionals in our district who dedicate their careers to our children.
Would you revisit the superintendent’s bloated salary and bring it in line with the teachers’ salaries so that the superintendent makes no more than four times the lowest teacher’s salary?
I would first compare her compensation level to that of her peers in other like size district before addressing her base salary. These results will provide us with the empirical evidence to make adjustments as required. I believe we should look at restructuring her bonus structure, life insurance, and retirement clauses in her contract immediately.
The Professional Standards office has a reputation of sadism in punishment, of telling untruths, and of cooking up cases against teachers who criticize the administration. Would you have an overhaul of that office with a committee that has teachers and citizens on it?
I would not tolerate any department in our school district operating in this manner and would actively investigate any information indicating such behavior. In the spirit of sunshine and community involvement I would support having a committee of teachers, support staff, and citizens oversee such an investigation.
11. Attorney Tom Gonzalez promised a citizen and a media specialist that he would produce a pamphlet for teachers who must go to Professional Standards outlining their rights and obligations in that situation. He has not done so. Would you insist that he fulfill that promise?
I would insist that any member of our district who promises something fulfill that promise.
12. Would you have programs to minister to gifted students such as those in Oregon for foreign-language study sponsored by the federal government in such languages as Arabic and Chinese—the two growing populations that will increasingly demand our country’s political and economic attention?
I support expanding our language offerings to not only gifted students but to all our students. We live in a global economy and when our children leave our halls they should have the skills necessary to compete in a global world.
13. Have you read the files of the Doug Erwin case (available in Public Affairs Office)?
No, but time permitting I will try to read up on it.
14. Did you live in Hillsborough County when the Erwin case was tried? Who do you think was the most guilty for the circumstances that Erwin observed in the schools: theft, rigging bids, accepting below-standards buildings that leaked, buckled, and suffered ubiquitous water damage and ac breakdowns in two years of ac’s that should have lasted twenty years?
I believe that I was serving in the military during this timeframe. As a school board member I will not tolerate any of the above stated behavior. I will ensure that all credible accusations are investigated and guilty parties disciplined appropriately.
15. Would you agree for the taxpayers to pay negligent contractors first-class prices for 3rd-class work and materials?
No. We need to ensure that we are getting the highest quality work for the best price. Our children’s safety is dependent upon competent contractors and as a board member I will fight to ensure that we pay the best price possible for first-class work and materials.
16. Would you have fired Dr. Lennard, Mr. Davis, and Dr. Hamilton for their concerted retaliation against Mr. Erwin for repeatedly bringing these problems to their attention but which they ignored and, instead, plotted to make him quit is job?
I am not familiar with the situation nor was I around at the time that this occurred. Therefore I cannot in clear conscience cast judgment. However I will never tolerate retaliation against any employee of this district.
17. Would you have the courage to be the only board member to oppose something you think is wrong and speak up to say why you think it is wrong?
Absolutely, I am a man who stands by his convictions.
I am willing to believe that Schmidt is not on the up and up. But who is?
I supported both April and Susan when they ran for office. They were going to clean up ROSSAC. Instead, they have fallen in with the go-along-to-get-along creed that all board members seem to succumb to. They walk through the door to ROSSAC and morph into androids.
Susan is too gutless to utter a murmur on the podium; ditto April. April asked for the no-bid contracts to be open for bids. Kurdell and Olson jumped onto her for being "disloyal to the staff," and that quelled her enthusiasm for reform. She has been silent since. She can't take even a little cuffing around and get back up to fight.
I suggested that April have a blog. She opened one, and at first left some messages that got some protests from teachers and requests for further discussions. This stopped April's putting anything on the blog that educated the teachers or opened up controversial issues for discussion. I note she now puts a monthly message praising some teacher for winning an award or some such piffle.
I asked them both to put a teacher-student spot on the board agenda to welcome the most important part of the education community to feel free to come comment. They neither bothered to answer my request. So much for their concern for teachers and students. April distinguished herself by suggesting that there be a workshop on Spring after Ms. Elia had signed the contract for it. If she had been solicitous of teachers' having input into the adoption of a program that they will have to implement and that will give Ms. Elia another venue for "bonus" money, she would not have let Elia's purchase of the Spring slide by on the agenda and make the idiotic suggestion for a teacher workshop after Elia had already bought it with no teacher input and apparently no board input either.
I know Schmidt would be R2D2 for Ms. Elia. But I can't see much more activity for the good of the schools than he would do from April and Susan. They are too scared to do anything but sit on the dais and approve the agenda without bringing up one thing for discussion. How is that different from what Schmidt would do?
The Tribune held its nose and endorsed Susan against Schmidt. I don't see how it could have done anything else. The bottom of the barrel of the political class in the Bay Area runs for the school board. And the behavior of those who get elected to the board is egregiously bad.
Susan does nothing significant for the schools that I can detect. If a person has no courage, he or she is not likely to acquire any. I am afraid that describes Susan. I see nothing to prevent Susan from becoming another Carol Kurdell--mired on the board year after year and not doing diddly to improve the schools.
Mr. Schmidt's performance on the board is not likely to be any worse than Susan's. I am sure you are right about his pumping up his pension. But Susan's gouging the travel budget was no more admirable--especially in a county in which thousands of poor children can't participate in class programs because they can't afford to buy supplies. I don't see Susan's doing anything that benefits the schools to any significant degree. I would be happy to be wrong but fear that I am right. lee
From: Anonymous [mailto:noreply-comment@blogger.com]
Sent:Sunday, August 03, 2008 6:20 PM To:tdecesar@tampabay.rr.com Subject: [Lee Drury De Cesare's Casting-Room Couch] New comment on Comment Worth Considering from Valdes's Opponent.
Dave Schmidt is so disengenuous. He is obviously a plant by the administration.
In the LoWV debate he accuses Valdes of a conflict of interest then stupidly discloses himself as the real scoundrel.
Per the Tribune endorsement printed on 02 Aug 2008 Dave stated that everything at the school district was running ok and he didn't see the need for much change.
I fear that Schmidt has pulled the wool over your eyes Ms. De Cesare.
As for April. She gave Susan $100 and has NOT endorsed Ms. Valdes. Additionally Mrs. Griffin is not one of seven persons who GIVES Ms. Valdes her job. As a board member Mr. Schmidt WOULD be one of seven persons directly responsible for giving Mr. Elias spouse her job... and don't tell me that Mr. Elias contribution doesn't impact his feelings towards Elia.
Another interesting consideration is this: Mr. Schmidt's wife Janice Torgerson (aka Ms. Administration Hag) ran against Susan in 2004, then Mr. Schmidt ran against April in 2006 and now Dave is running against Susan Valdes. Why does this couple want so badly to infiltrate this board?
You're a very intelligent person, so think about it. Mr. Schmidt is currently making more as a fulltime administrator than he would as a board member. As a board member he would have to quit his "day job" with the district... so he would loose that income. Why would anyone want to move to a job with a lower salary unless they know there is another payoff to be had?
Let me put it together for you. Alot of money is moving around at HCPS for those willing to sell their soul. Add to that a much more advantageous rate of contribution into the board member's retirement account(s) and you have your answer: Mr. Schmidt is just another Lamb or Edgecomb who is out to use the system to beef up his bank account.
Additionally he is clearly of low intelligence. Even if he were in this for the right reasons (Which I am confident that he is not) I don't think he has the intellect to keep himself from being co-opted by the administration.
Mrs. Decesare: I accepted Mr Elia's campaign contribution to counter the campaign contribution from April Griffin to Valdes, as well as Griffin's open endorsement of Valdes. Mr. Elia said he respects my real-time ability to advance student achievement and tightly manage educational finances.
I am not running against his wife, I am running against Valdes. My entire campaign has centered around advancing student achievement, particularly at our Title 1 schools. When elected, I will rail against the superintendent for not properly supporting the district's two "F" schools, or the three others that are threatened to be closed by the state.
I also know that our teachers should never have to spend their own money supporting their classrooms buying supplies. This happens all the time, particularly in Title 1 schools. When elected, I will pound the table and hound the superintendent to better support our instructional staff.
Point is, Mrs. Decesare, my current work with the district is unblemished by ethical issues or those related to fiscal mismanagement. I've managed $17 million in federal grant funds and understand the need for return on investment of our tax-payer dollars. I won't need $50,000 for on-the-job training.
Dave Schmidt
-----Original Message-----
From: lee de cesare To: dls649@aol.com
Sent: Tue, 2 Sep 2008 10:19 am
Subject: letter
0A
Mr. Schmidt: I received your letter in which you say that you answered my query about your response to the email I posted on my blog from the man who said your relationship with the administration would make y ou an acolyte of Elia if you got elected. I did not get an answer to that comment.
People are concerned that you are a plant by the administration especially since Ms. Elia’s husband made a donation to your campaign.
What people want to know is how you would be objective in your decisions on the board being an administrator yourself and given your implicit ties with the administration and given that Mr. Elia’s donation to your campaign confirms those ties. Her husband would not donate to your campaign, logic says, if she thought you were going to oppose her.
lee
It's time to go back to school! Get the latest trends and gadgets that make the grade on AOL Shopping.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
I have got an email from Steve Gorham (running against Kurdell) and the fellow running against Susan, but my computer is on the fritz, and I can't mount them. I also have a couple of comments on the HHS 50th reunion but am having the same trouble. My grandson is building me a new computer. Thank God. My present one is ten years old. Stay patient. All will be well. lee
50th Reunion at Hillsborough High
Superintendent Elia discovered that she couldn’t get the positive press she lusts afterbased on the baleful job she does of running the schools.So she has seized on the tactic of demanding press space from the Tribune to counter any criticism of the schools or bad management she has been guilty of once the complicit board turned down superior candidates and lowered the credentials to match her absent doctorate and deficient management temperament. The board thought the inside candidate no matter how deficient would give them less trouble in maintaining their incumbency.
La Elia aims to bully the Tribune editorial board into giving her good press by printing her own praise and negating any realistic information that comes from the state about the local schools.
The leadership of the Tribune must have better sense and steadier nerves than to let Elia appropriate its paper.The Tribune does not belong to Ms. Elia.It belongs to Media General. I am a shareholder and will complain to the parent company if the Tribune buckles to this bullying that cows the captive teachers and students to enforce Ms. Elia’s will. If the teachers resist, Mr. Elia and Ms. Kipley of the Professional Standards Abu Ghraib concoct a case against anyone who complains to kick the resister out of his or her job.
Ms. Elia not only abuses the teachers and students as she has done since she got the job but now has mounted a campaign to bully the Tribune editorialists as well for reporting any school news that comes from the state or the negligent manner that characterizes Elia’s leadership of the schools with the complicity of a rubberstamp board.
I have marked the superintendent’s or her ghost writer’s five comma errors in red. She needs a referral to one of the schools’ 9th-grade English classes.
I got the message below from the Pumpkin left by Hiss in the ROSSAC parking lot. How these revelations disillusion me about the possibility of the goodness of human kind. Mr. Shultz spoke so highly of his superior ethics. Now we see the sordid plot emerging from the shadows.
Susan and her travel addiction begin to look better.
Apparently Elia's husband donated to Dave Schmidt's campaign. I bet Elia is having him run to oust Susan, since Susan gave her a bad review. I bet she finds someone to run against April when April is up for reelection. This is like the gestapo....silencing any criticism or dissenting voices. It is scary.
I wrote the board back in spring telling them to see a movie that dealt with people selfishly watching out for their own hides during the nazi regime and told them to not act like that. They probably don't see a parallel, but I do. If Elia could get away with it dissenting voices would be gassed and she would laugh about it.
tju Lee's Austere Dressing Table, Which is Coincident with Her Sober Character
Woe betide. Mr. Schmidt, Susan Valdes's opponent, has not answered my email to respond to the pseudonymous Mr. Woodard's rebuke for my suggesting that Susan's travel budget and flaccid performance on the board merited a look at Mr. Schmidt, who is a school administrator.
This behavior rings a bell with me. I think Schmidt ran last time against Valdes and didn't answer my more pressing questions. Communication shut down is not a good sign from a candidate.
Of course, Susan refused to recognize or answer Casting-room Couch's candidate questionnaire or to answer my request for her to sponsor a teacher-student slot on the board. So did April Griffin.
So it looks like we are stuck with Susan and her travel budget excesses.
Incumbents are almost impossible to unseat because they have name identification. People know so little about the school board that if they know a candidate's name, they punch that in the voting booth. This circumstance makes the job of us saboteurs of the school board incumbent potted plants our main activity until we can evict them from their seats. People have to know how bad the board is before they will vote them out. Fulfilling that need is our quest.
Susan did have the grace to apologize to me when Chair Falliera kicked me out of a meeting on an ad hoc Robert's Rule that she made up to pay me back for exposing her engaging in pursuing Marc Hart, head of Professional Standards, until she trapped him into adultery, caused his divorce, the suffering of his two young children, and then dumped him and cooperated with his firing by personnelfactotem Mr. Valdes's obedience to the zeigheil from Elia under the cooked-up charge of alcoholism since, if they fired Hart for adultery on the job, they would have had to name a companion adulterer, and they wanted to avoid that contretemps so that all the board members, who knew the Falliera adultery story--as did the entire school system--could appoint this homewrecker adultery femme fatale La Belle Dame Sans Merci as the board chair without an outraged outcry from parents who would not want such a character guarding their children's wellbeing while they were in school.
So lock and load and rev up for the unpleasant but vital job that is our quest. lee
Each Government contractor with 50 or more employees and $50,000 or more in government contracts is required to develop a written affirmative action program (AAP) for each of its establishments.
A written affirmative action program helps the contractor identify and analyze potential problems in the participation and utilization of women and minorities in the contractor's workforce.
Linda, I want to see a copy of the schools’ affirmative action plan that its government grants requires.Lee
Cc:'ds649@aol.com'; Lee Druryde Cesar (Lee_decesare@yahoo.com.); 'ehblake1@verizon.net'; 'goader@es-kay.net'; 'heavenfluf@tampabay.rr.com'; 'mschutz2@tampabay.rr.com'; 'pthomas5@tampabay.rr.com'; 'pwidlak@verizon.net'; 'srhopkins@hotmail.com'; 'thetwig@juno.com'; 'trtampa@aol.com'; 'vaughan88@verizon.net'; 'montolino@aol.com'; ''FredBurns'@gmail.com'; 'mwade1012@gmail.com'
Subject:RE: Your Knee-Jerk Support of Dave Schmidt
Mr. Schmidt: comment on this email, please. Ldd
Mr. Woodard:
I don’t know how much more of a patsy Schmidt could be for the administration than Susan and April are. They went in promising miracles and are too scared to say boo to Ms. Elia or the other board members. Just because Schmidt is an administrator doesn’t make it impossible for him to rear up and become independent on the board. I am willing to see what he can do.Susan has had two years and had done nothing. Absolutely nothing. She won’t even speak and ask questions of the administration on the podium so that the public can know what is going on.
Susan’s most outstanding gesture has been her $50,000 travel budget. That’s unforgivable when there are poor children in the district without money to buy supplies for school projects. I’m ready to see if a former administrator has better sense.
Expand on your knowledge of Schmidt’s certain collusion with Elia etal. I say throw the dice. We know for sure that Susan won’t act on the public’s behalf. We haven’t yet seen what Schmidt will do. lee drurydecesare
From: Mr Woodard [mailto:sciprojguy@yahoo.com] Sent: Monday, July 28, 2008 8:20 PM To: tdecesar@tampabay.rr.com Subject: Your Knee-Jerk Support of Dave Schmidt
Dear Ms. DeCesar:
Putting Dave Schmidt on the Hillsborough School Board would do nothing but give your nemesis Mary Ellen Elia a reliable "yes" vote for whatever she wanted to do. How can you possibly think it's a good idea to elect a district administrator on an elected board whose primary actual function is to keep the district administration honest and occasionally tell it "NO!"? With Schmidt on the board, the chances of that happening would be less than they are now.
So you're disappointed in the actions of a politician. Join the rest of us in the real world, and congratulations for finally making it here. Susan Valdes and April Griffin do a very good job of clearing the very low bar set by the current board majority, and it would not become you to let your dudgeon
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. - John Kenneth Galbraith
Well, what has it done to put Susan on the board? I say give the putative collaborators a whack. They may have built up enough anger at the top people that they will be hell on wheels on the board. I am willing to try anything. Nothing gets these seven rubberstamps on the board to do anything. So what is the difference between a former administrator collaborator and a putative resistor who does not resist? If you know anything specific that condemns Mr. Schmidt, Woodard (don't tell me you are so gutless that this is a pseudonym), spit it out. lee drurydecesare
Folks: I had a little vacation in the hospital, but I have survived and am back on the front lines, now able to pull myself up to the CRT screen.
My husband has run around waiting on me hand and foot. This is a good reason to stay married for 51 years. You won't get stuck with nobody to hand you a crust of bread when you emerge from a hospital weak as a kitten. The poor old darling urged coddled eggs, toast, and tea on me until I rallied after not being able to eat for a week. It's a hard way to lose weight, but now I am glamorous if half dead. lee
I supported Susan with encouragement and financial backing. She has been a disappointment to me. She says not one thing on the podium to combat the many flaws in the management of the school system. She lets the consent agenda roll by without a murmur. She rubberstamps Elia’s unwise management often. The board seems to think there should not be open government, so its members sit like statues during the board meetings and don’t bring out issues that need public scrutiny. They appear to think that open government is bad manners. They seem indeed to lack a knowledge that in a democracy we have open government with the citizens listening to the elected officials’ views on the issues that come before the board.
Now in this travel outrage, I see that Susan is indeed capable of speaking up to defend herself in that fracas unlike her silence on the outrages against the teachers and students. Would that she had devoted that energy to correcting faults of the school system on the podium and in checking Ms. Elia’s excesses. I cannot imagine anyone succeeding in public office who hasn’t the sense to know that this bloated travel budget could be her end of public office.
People don’t understand the less obvious problems that attend Susan’s flaccid performance on the board. But they do understand blowing money on travel. I am going to look at the folder in the Public Affairs office that details the travels of the board members. But I have heard that Susan’s was chiefly for attending award ceremonies. I hope this is not true. The education bureaucracy makes itself ridiculous to anybody but the dummies inside of it by concocting all these ridiculous gimcrack awards to give each other. If Susan spent money going to these flim-flam affairs, she is not smart enough to serve on the board.
This one dumb thing Susan has done could be your centerpiece for wasting tax money in a depressed economy. I have never known a board member to insist on cutting out any expenses after promising on the stump to do so, and I have observed the board for two years.
Were I the candidate, I would get flyers into every voter’s hands that I could on the travel excesses. I would also visit the publisher of La Gaceta and make my case to him. I would stress that the Bay Area Anglo and Hispanic community will never come together if La Gaceta automatically endorses the Hispanic running and the Anglos endorse the Anglos running. The separation of the communities has been a fact of life in this area forever and needs to end.
I tried to get Susan to learn to blog and put up a blog in Spanish as well as English and to say a few words in Spanish at every meeting to remind Hispanics that they have a representative on the board. I thought she said yes, but she does not say anything in Spanish, and no blog has materialized. I wrote her and April Griffin, whom I also supported, to make a place for teachers on the board agenda. They didn’t even have the courtesy to answer. Such contempt for supporters is not wise political behavior. Neither has their conduct on the board been wise or fulfilling of their promises to see to the needs of the voters and schools. The minute they walked into ROSSAC, they became part of the gang. They have fallen into step with the administration, and one cannot distinguish them from the veteran collaborators on the board. That is not acceptable behavior to anybody who cares about the improvement of the schools. If anybody wants to know the malignant mindset of ROSSAC, he or she has only to plow through the boxes of files on the Erwin outrage. That mindset still obtains.
I used to write for La Gaceta. Patrick is a smart and fair-minded man—handsome, too, now that he has performed the feat of losing a 100 pounds. If I were running for office, I would not skip a chat with him. I believe he will listen to you. He always treats candidates with courtesy.
I will send Susan and April a copy of this email. I don’t talk about people behind their back. I usually write the criticism down and publish it in my blog.
Lee Drury De Cesare
From: lee decesare [tdecesar@tampabay.rr.com]
Sent: Tuesday, July 01, 2008 9:36 PM
Subject: Teachers' Political Forum
From:dls649@aol.com [mailto:dls649@aol.com] Sent: Sunday, July 27, 2008 8:00 PM To: tdecesar@tampabay.rr.com Subject: School Board, District 1
Mrs. Decesare:
Thank you for your emails, your thoughts, and your suggestions. I do value your opinions and do reflect on them.
Our school district will not move forward to fund and close the achievement gap for all students until all mismanagement, real or alleged, is brought into the Florida Sunshine. As well, positive and researched methods to advance student achievement will always need board and district staff consensus. My opponent is no longer capable of advancing any idea, good or bad. Her quote this week in the Tribune, “I no longer trust anyone within the district” has sealed her doom.
Your point about school board members not always willing to openly discuss pressing issues is well taken. Too many board members like to speak to issues that are expedient to their political ambitions, not to district success. Few within the district staff or on the board truly understand the concept of “shared decision-making” which brings together the experience and intellect of teachers and parents, as well as lower staff. When elected, I will insist this concept becomes reality and those from the community who want to address the board during a public meeting are actually heard…and those comments are actually considered.
You mentioned her Valdes' “bloated” travel. I have discovered something else of interest. On July 7, she accepted a $500 campaign contribution from Manhattan Hair Academy, a direct competitor to o ur district’s Adult Technical Centers such as Erwin or Tampa Bay Technical Adult Evening School, Chamberlain Adult Evening School, and Leto Adult Evening School. I find this an outrageous conflict of interest by a sitting Hillsborough District board member. I doubt the instructors and staffs at those schools will be happy that Valdes is supported by a private cosmetology school charging three times more for tuition that district schools.
Recently, I did have a conversation with Patrick Manteiga. He does look great and our conversation was quite cordial. He is smart and influential, yet I know he will never support my campaign. His wife and daughter have already financially supported my opponent, and I doubt his support for her will change.
One thing though: =2 0More and more Hispanic voters are telling me of their great disappointment with Ms. Valdes and=2 0her arrogant approach to holding office. I believe her support has quickly eroded.
Mrs. Decesare, one more thing. On August 15, I will be attending the Tiger Bay Forum, then flying to Connecticut for a family reunion and a party for my wife’s 70th birthday. I mean no disrespect to you or the hard work you put into creating the Teacher’s Forum at the Columbia that afternoon, bit I cannot attend. My family will always come before political ambitions. Again, so sorry.
Ask everything you want to know at the Teachers’ Political Forum!
We invited School Board members, candidates, and Superintendent Mary Ellen Elia .
Time: Friday, August 22, 2008 at 5pm
Place: The Columbia Restaurant; the King's Room
2117 East 7th Avenue Tampa, Florida 33605
Price: $18.50Cash bar, sangria, and tapas
Special Guests:
Tampa Tribune
CTA Officials
ROSSAC Personnel
School Board Members
School Board Candidates
Patrick ManteigaLa Gacetapublisher
Teachers: Let your voice be heard, Now is the time to solicit responses from those who set the professional and political climate of Hillsborough County’s Public Schools. Ask about issues concerning the teaching profession including, but not limited to:
·Three -hundred minutes
·6/7 Plan
·Text-book adoption
·Springboard curriculum
·Final exams’ grading scales
·AP -and-honors placement
·AP bonuses
·Hiring policies and practices
·as coincident with “We are an equal-employment-opportunity employer”
·
Let's take this first step and then have the fortitude to stick with things to the end and achieve our goals.
Don't miss the comment section. I take my lumps from the fans. One guy tells me I am old and will die. This is invigorating stuff. lee
