Tuesday, August 11, 2009

SHOWTIME!

Council-of-Trent-School-Board Mafia Listens to Steve Kemp's Riposte as the Worm Turns

Red Alert! Lee said, "Bart, if you have time, point out that the sheriff dismissed Steve's case days after Smiley filed it...."

Goader Comments: Wrong! The sheriff dismissed my case the same day [Judas] Smiley reported it. [In fact], The Sheriff's office dismissed the charge within a couple of hours after its report.
Goader

Today at five p.m. in the foul crooks-at-work chamber of the School Board, Goader, who spent over a year in suspension for a charge the sheriff dismissed the same day La Ross sent Judas Supervisor Smiley to file it at the sheriff's office, addresses the board and the public on the gross disparity of the Professional Standards' treatment of his sheriff-dismissed case compared to the case of the psychosexually perverse foot fondling administrator at King High School. lee

Monday, August 10, 2009

Rally Round the Flag; Lock and Load



8/10/2009

Chairperson Kurdell:

I have signed up for the 8/11 meeting to comment on two items in the agenda listed for citizen comment besides the general citizen comment at the end.


You have evolved a suppression of my right to free speech by first filibustering to drown out my comments on the board's unfair hiring practices when I was at the mike--the hiring, for example, of Linda Kipley's husband to an accounting position for which he had no experience and only a high school degree compared to three candidates who had bachelor's accounting degrees and experience.


You then amped up your resistance to my free speech by interrupting me constantly about whether my comments were confined to the subject.


Finally, you and Steve Hegarty, Community Affairs, teamed up for Steve to confiscate my sign-ups to speak and for this sycophantic twerp to come tell me in the audience that "they" had decided that I didn't know what I was talking about" and "made no sense."


Where in the Constitution does it say a citizen must "make sense" when she approaches elected officials for redress of grievances?


This attack on me is a version of your attack on Mr. Erwin by spreading the rumor he was crazy when he tried to get Dr. Lennard and the board to do something about the crime on campus. In my case, you imply I am in throes of Alzheimer's because I am old. In the Erwin case, the group of administrators and board members who were profiting from the crooked doings labeled Mr. Erwin crazy because they didn't want the payoffs to them to stop. In my case you want to continue your crooked hiring to secure power within the crooked system you and others have crafted over the years.


If you pull any deals with that forlorn twerp Hegarty as your message boy at the 8/11 board meeting to suppress my free-speech rights, I will summon the help of the ACLU, the Attorney General, and the Governor to begin with. Then I move up, into, and across the highways and byways of the school authority apparatus to make your un-American activities widely known.


I would be a bad citizen if I did not oppose a school board bent on retaining its years of unquestioned corruption of power if I allowed you to trash the First Amendment to keep a citizen from criticizing your thuggish leadership. I will resist your attack on American democracy as a good citizen should. We can't keep democracy as our form of government if we let corrupt small-bore pols lurking on school boards destroy it without our protests. I will fight for our way of life.



Lee Drury De Cesare

15216 Gulf Boulevard 802

Madeira Beach, FL 333708

tdecesar@tampabay.rr.com

leedrurydecesarescasting-roomcouch.blogspot.com

c: ACLU, Tampa


Sunday, August 09, 2009

I Bet This Riles Up the Blogaroos


Ms. Creamcheese is our original blogger celebrity. One could call La
Creamcheese the ur-blogger for the schools' teachers. She blogged first.

I don't quite understand if this is SCreamcheese's sentiments or if she is alluding to someone else's opinion. I am already having comments piling up. They will eventually appear at the bottom of the page.

Freedom of speech, remember, is the right to disagree.

lee


Suzie Creamcheese has left a new comment on your post "A Call for Vox to Mount Up and Ride His Very Own B...":

It may be hard to "google" those words because they have been "interpreted".

http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/politicalwhore/2009/03/02/are-we-over-the-octuplets-saga-or-just-beginning/

"I’d certainly never deny anyone else the right to use fertilization.

Or would I?

When people suggest that income levels or the fact that the couple already has children or maybe even marital status should be taken into account when determining a candidate for IVF - it sounds reasonable to me. I’ve said before that IN THEORY not only should poor people not breed, but neither should people who are ill (mentally or physically), developmentally delayed, or have a host of other problems that would prevent them from being responsible parents.

Of course, I’d prefer these were choices such people made and not anything legislated, but doctors should play a part in the process. They should be concerned with helping reasonable people bring children into this world, but also should help protect the world by turning some patients away."

Publish this comment.

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Posted by Suzie Creamcheese to Lee Drury De Cesare's Casting-Room Couch at 11:27 AM


THIS FROM VOX CLEARS UP THE MATTER OF ORIGINATION OF THE QUOTE. LEE

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "A Call for Vox to Mount Up and Ride His Very Own B...":

ask wayne garcia. It's in creative loafing. A group of disabled people with children called to raise hell about it and were treated very rudely by kate's 'editor'.. certainly it's in the online copy. It's definitely in the paper copy. I READ IT. She scribbled it there under wayne's byline.

Lee, I only wanted you to publish the comment in the comments. LOL. Where it says publish or email?
I'll give some consideration to opening a blog. You can also reference other bloggers for kate's infamy of encouraging plastic surgery. sticks of fire for one.

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Posted by Anonymous to Lee Drury De Cesare's Casting-Room Couch at 5:13 PM

A Call for Vox to Mount Up and Ride His Very Own Blog



See, Vox, you already have one reader, and I am a second. You know about things that I don't. So you owe it to your public to mount a blog "Vox Populi" to spread the word.

I tried the phrase the reader inquired about in the search engines. No luck. lee

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Urgent Message from Vox Populi: Faites Attention!":

Vox, can you or Lee please provide a link to the "only the rich and undisabled should have children" quote? I'm having trouble finding it.

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Posted by Anonymous to Lee Drury De Cesare's Casting-Room Couch at 5:35 AM

Dear Ms. Obama:

Frank Rich's column in the NYT this Sunday "Is Obama Punking Us?" deeply disturbed me.

How could the president cut a deal with those wicked drug companies to limit their losses in a new health-care plan? Are these people in the industrial giant world more powerful than the president?

Why does a person run for president if he is not going to serve the people but the industrial robber barons?

lee drury de cesare
15316 Gulf Boulevard 802
Madeira Beach, FL 33708

Friday, August 07, 2009

Still Plugging Away at Extracting the Kemp Case from Linda Cobbe of the Public Information Office

Ms. Elia's Dog

Linda,


In the Kemp file that you sent me, a list of documents appears on a page entitled "investigation."


The first document is Hilllsborough Sheriff's Police Report Number 08-400025; the second document listed is a two-page written document by ESE supervisor Ron Smiley.


Then the teacher Mufero document is listed in the third place. It's there.


The Report 08-40025 is missing from the packet as is the two-page written product of Ron Smiley.

Could you supply me with those, please?

ldd


Urgent Message from Vox Populi: Faites Attention!


Vox, I am putting this frontpage as you requested.

I tell you what: you know a lot of things I don't. Your survey powers are greater than mine. You need to start your own blog, then just lock and load and fire at will. I will read you faithfully and pick up on anything that pertains to the schools to pursue.

I feel now that I am fighting on all fronts of the schools. They are my specialty because I was a college professor during most of my work life. I know the education racket inside out.

But you are a polymath of evil. You tell me about things going on in the Bay Area that I don't know diddly about. Start up your blog on Blogspot. Call it Vox Populi. That is an inspired name. I will read it every day and be your most devoted fan.

You don't have a paying job, do you? I don't see how you can and keep up with all the events you have in your duffle bag.

I will send this to Goader. He is on a learning curve in the racket of civil rights. Let's cut him a little slack. He is my Great White Hope to take over the monitoring of the school system. Then I can retire to going to opera productions around the globe and needlepointing more rugs and pillows for my grandchildren as all proper grannies do.

But never forget that you have a supporter of you and your nascent blog in me. Buddies, to the end, Granny and Vox: the litigious duo of age and beauty.

Fight on, Vox. The fight for a better world is what we should commit our lives to.

Once more into the breach.

With love, admiration, and undying support,

Granny Lee




Vox Populi has left a new comment on your post "Pressing the case on the Goader Crucifixion Reco...":

lee is goader KIDDING??? HE is over at katherine durkin robinson's blog making nice with a woman who can't keep her clothes on .. raises her children to hate and also wrote point blank in creative loafing that ONLY RICH UNDISABLED PEOPLE should have children. Go read it right there in black and white. Not only that but she used to pull some pretense about sticking up for teachers and standing up to maryEllen elia only I notice she never got called on the carpet. EVER. hmmm. She's a trash blogger and she has talked of students' personal lives on her blog and been called out for it. By REAL bloggers. I would think that goader might take heed that it's very possible that backstabbers and faux FEMINISTS such as kate are very much part of the problem of the setups and backstabbings at the schools. NO ONE who claims to be a feminist constantly takes their clothes off on their blog and degrades women while stating in CREATIVE LOAFING that ONLY THE RICH SHOULD HAVE CHILDREN. Goader, don't let the fake tits and the fake smile and umm the fake GUTS fool you ....
I"m kinda disgusted. Kate's husband and she make a FINE LIVING FROM WAR so it's a conflict of interest for her to promote don't ask don't tell. PLEASE PUBLISH THIS rather than replying through email.

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Posted by Vox Populi to Lee Drury De Cesare's Casting-Room Couch at 10:29 AM

Thursday, August 06, 2009

When in Doubt, Pull Up to Your Computer and Pour It All Out




Office of the General Counsel
Department of Children and Families
1317 Winewood Blvd
Building 2, Room 204
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0700

8/4/2009


Dear Counselor:


I don't know the chain of command in the child-protection agency, but I found your name on the Web as the attorney for the child-protection district of Hillsborough County, and since your title sounds authoritative, I shall write you to see if you can intervene on the side of children's safety in Hillsborough County.



I enclose a letter to Sheriff Gee, Hillsborough County, regarding a strange assistant principal at King High School who called boys in his office, had them take off their shoes and socks behind closed doors, and popped their toes. I don't know if the child-protection investigators that work out of the Sheriff's office are part of the orthodox child-protection state apparatus or not. But in this toe-cracking case, I submit that they have done their job ill and betrayed the children's safety.



A teacher called me about two months ago and cited the situation saying one of the mothers of these boys was very upset and asked me what to do. I said to get in touch with the Secretary of Education, that the board and administration were not interested in the safety of children despite their political slogans but in presenting a picture to the public of how wonderful the board and administration run the schools, evidence to the contrary.


A few days ago the enclosed article appeared in the SPTimes. A similar one appeared in the Tribune.


The thing that astonished and upset me was the investigating agencies' response to this outrageous case of foot fetishism in the public schools pursued by a member of the administration for over two and a half years without the administration- oversight people's discovering it. All investigative efforts pooh-pooh the toe-cracking's significance, saying it did not rise to the level of assault.


Perhaps it doesn't, although I think making male students take off their shoes and socks in his office so that he could manipulate their feet for what I infer to be the supervisor's psychosexual gratification is assault in my book. It is certainly assault on the boys' psyches.


One of my grandsons called the behavior "sicko." And sicko it probably is: this behavior suggests pediatric pedophilia, yet not only the sheriff's department but also the attorney general's office misread the situation either from ignorance or pretended ignorance by saying it didn't rise to the level of assault, studiously avoiding mental assault. They kicked it over to the School Board for resolution.


Not a chance of concern about safety of the children from the School Board or administration.


The School Board of Hillsborough County and the Professional Standards Office have a history of using that office to cow teachers into silence about the way the higher-ups misrun the schools. The administration blows small gestures up or invents wrongdoing by teachers whole cloth to keep them subdued. They want the teachers and their students to provide the tax money for them to manipulate power and act like Lords of the Universe and to just tote that barge and lift that bale and shut up.



The administration and board caterwaul about student safety all the time on the political podium, but they let a case like this pass as innocuous fun behavior on the part of an administrator. Their main interest is to maintain the ignorance of the public on how they misrun the schools, use the Professional Standards office that is run by a home-ec- degreed woman to coerce teachers with the fear of losing their jobs, and insure that only laundered information gets fed the public by the Public Affairs Laundromat about the way the schools neglect the safety of children as this toe-cracker case well illustrates.


I think the blasé attitude toward this unhealthy administrative behavior constitutes discrimination against boys. Boys have to maintain stoic toughness when girls get to cry and complain. If boys complain, they get the label of sissies. That's probably why these boys put up with this toe-cracking invasion of their privacy and the integrity of their bodies for two and a half years while the on-site administrators such as the principal turned a blind eye. If girls were lured to behind closed doors to take off their shoes and socks so that what my grandson calls a "sicko" could manipulate their toes, I suggest that there would have been a different response to this unseemly behavior of an administrator who has been forgiven and allowed to go forward with the flowering of this pedophilia activity until it ends in lord knows what.


I have a grandson in the Hillsborough County school system, Counselor. For his sake and for the sake of the other boys in the school system in regard to whom the School Board that preaches child safety in prepared political statements on the board dais but does nothing when a perilous case of administrative behavior comes before them, that you discover a way to help these boys. I urge you to find an avenue to get this administrator referred to a psychiatrist for an evaluation of this psychosexual fetish so that the board can be forced to present these data to the public in order that the public can ascertain the degree to which the School Board exercises vigilance and protects the county's children's safety.


Thank you.

Respectfully,


Lee Drury De Cesare

15316 Gulf Boulevard 802

Madeira Beach, FL 33708

c: Governor Crist


Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Public Information: Thank God for the Legislator Who Passed This Law

Hillsborough Council of Trent Board
Hillsborough
Council-of-Trent Board Convenes to Investigate the Professional-Standards Violations of Teachers Real or Manufactured


Ms. Cobbe: I would like the last two end-of-case letters sent by Ms. Kipley to administrators whom she investigated.

I also request the number of teachers and number of
administrators against whom Ms. Kipley has investigated charges in the past two years.

Thank you for this public information. Lee
Drury De Cesare

Pressing the case on the Goader Crucifixion Records


Ms. Cobbe:

I await your tally of the number of Professional Standards cases for which Mr. Gonzalez has written the terminal letter instead of Ms. Kipley.

What is taking Mr. Gonzalez so long to get this letter written? This editorial sloth confirms my repeated recommendation that the board fire him.

I have had experience with Mr. Gonzalez's footdragging on promised documents. He promised both me and Bart Birdsall that he would write a handout to go to teachers who landed in the Professional Standards juggernaut for teachers to cite the measures they could take to protect themselves.

Two years later, I and Birdsall await that letter.

I suggest that the board and administration overrates Mr. Gonzalez's legal talents. He's a C student at best. I am a teacher: I know all the hallmarks of a C student. Mr. Gonzalez exhibits all of them. And his eating chips and drinking soft drinks on the podium during meetings show that he hasn't any idea of attorney protocol to make the board look like a serious body. I may have to turn him in for this on-the-job gaucherie to the Ethics Commission of the Florida Bar, to which he is no ornament.

Give me an estimated time of completion for Mr. Gonzalez's substitute summary statement outlining the Steve Kemp put-up case. I predict it will be full of holes that I will delight in pointing out.

The board and Ms. Elia should have bethought themselves before allowing this false case against Kemp to go forward and to keep him on suspension for a year. Nothing shows more clearly that the board and administration are in over their heads in the management department.

Bottom Line: Pray yield me a due date that I can expect Tom Gonzalez's summary of the Kemp crucifixion will be forthcoming. I am sure that the governor, the governor's task force on child abuse, the attorney general just foaming at the mouth for an election issue such as this, and the head of the Child Protection Services statewide will read Mr. Gonzalez's lucubrations on the Kemp case with great interest. I will.

lee drury de cesare



Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Public Information Negotiation Is an Art

The Administration Council of Trent Hems and Haws About Public Information

Anybody who sets out to get public information should dig in for the long haul. lee


Perhaps a non-standard policy with no definite procedure is the custom in this administration. Exceptions require citation if they are part of a valid policy. Otherwise it is not a policy. A policy is a definite course of action.
Please tell me how many times lawyers instead of Ms. Kipley have crafted these end statements? ldd

-----Original Message----- From: Linda Cobbe [mailto:lcobbe@sdhc.us] Sent: Tuesday, August 04, 2009 5:35 PM To: lee Cc: goader@eskay.com; FOY333@aol.com; 'Bart Birdsall'; Ken.Otero@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; Stephen.Hegarty@sdhc.k12.fl.us; CANDY.OLSON@SDHC.K12.FL.US; CAROL.KURDELL@sdhc.k12.fl.us; JACK.LAMB@sdhc.k12.fl.us; MARYELLEN.ELIA@sdhc.k12.fl.us; SUSAN.VALDES@sdhc.k12.fl.us; APRIL.GRIFFIN@sdhc.k12.fl.us; DORETHA.Edgecomb@sdhc.k12.fl.us; JENNIFER.FALIERO@sdhc.k12.fl.us; Patrickmanteiga@lagacetanewspaper.com; genesiudut@lagacetanewspaper.com; Connie.mileto@SDHC.K12.FL.US; Gwen.Luney@sdhc.k12.fl.us; larry.mason@sdhc.k12.fl.us; phildra.Swaqger@sdhc.k12.fl.us; alice.loeb@sdhc.k12.fl.us; renalia.dubose@sdhc.k12.fl.us; davidschmidt@sdhc.k12.fl.us; jeffrey.bandry@sdhc.k12.fl.us; steve.vanoer@sdhc.k12.fl.us; Stephanie.tamargo@sdhc.k12.fl.us; steven.eichhorn@sdhc.k12.fl.us; michael.smith@sdhc.k12.fl.us; don.johnson@sdhc.k12.fl.us; mike.phillips@sdhc.k12.fl.us; chuck.fleming@sdhc.k12.fl.us; nancy.lind@sdhc.k12.fl.us; henry.washington@sdhc.k12.fl.us; jeaneen.down@sdhc.k12.fl.us; henry.ballard@sdhc.k12.fl.us; edward.mcdowell@sdhc.k12.fl.us; Karine.johns@sdhc.k12.fl.us; donna.leonard@hcsd.k12.fl.us; richard.parrish@sdhc.k12.fl.us; Sue.hindman@sdhc.k12.fl.us; steven.eichhorn@sdhc.k12.fl.us; goader@es-kay.net; 'William Birdsall'

Subject: Re: summary file on Steve Kemp missing

from Cobbe:
I don't think the timeframe is the reason. If an employee under investigation hires an attorney, the attorneys communicate on their clients' behalf. Just because a policy mentions no exceptions doesn't mean there are no exceptions. Linda E. Cobbe External Communications Manager Hillsborough County

Public Schools
901 E. Kennedy Blvd. Tampa, FL 33602 813-272-4602 (O) 813-493-6964 (C) 813-272-4510 (F) Our mission is to provide an education that enables each student to excel as a successful and responsible citizen.

lee writes:
I am glad to hear that those five files represented your belated delivery of the files requested on the other cases. I had asked for those files so long ago that I did not recall the request. I am glad to know that citizens' requests for public information stay active in your office until you fulfill them.



I look forward to the attorney's product that replaces Kipley's usual summary letter on the Kemp case,


lee writes:
Can you answer this question, please? Since the Professional Standards protocol you sent me said that Ms. Kipley drafts the final summary letter and mentions no exceptions, why is the board attorney, Mr. Gonzalez, doing the job in this case? Was Mr. Kemp's case in any way unorthodox so as to require legal language? An explanation from either you or him would be most welcome. An additional question: How many Professional Standards close-out files has the attorney written in the past two years instead of Ms, Kipley, and where in the administrative protocols may I read the rationale for this departure? Lee De Cesare



-----Original Message-----
From: Linda Cobbe [mailto:lcobbe@sdhc.us]
Sent: Tuesday, August 04, 2009 1:09 PM

To: lee
Subject: Re: summary file on Steve Kemp missing



The five files on other employees are not part of the Kemp file. You asked for the last five disciplinary outcomes; that's what those are. They are not connected to the Kemp case in any way, except that they were mailed to you in the same envelope.



Our attorney is preparing the final letter for Steve Kemp. I will send it to you when I get it.



Linda E. Cobbe

External Communications Manager

Hillsborough County Public Schools

901 E. Kennedy Blvd.

Tampa, FL 33602

813-272-4602 (O)

813-493-6964 (C)

813-272-4510 (F)



Our mission is to provide an education that enables each student to excel as a successful and responsible citizen.




lee writes:

Ms. Cobbe: The file Professional Standards files you sent me for Steve Kemp's investigation for child abuse does not substitute for the summary record by Ms. Kipley that the rules you sent me about a Professional Standards investigations dictate must be part of the Kemp file.







An example of such cumulative file appears below. Oddly enough, Ms. Kipley's file on Mr. Kemp contains five such files referring to other teachers who have been investigated by Professional Standards, but no such file on Mr. Kemp. He is due one.







May I have the analagous Kemp summary letter from the Kemp file, please, to complete the file I paid for?



Thank you.







Lee Drury De Cesare



~



Hillsborough County PUBLIC SCHOOLS ~Uzg~n



Superintendent of Schools MaryEllen Elia



School Board



Carol W. Kurdell, Chair Susan L. Valdes, Vice Chair Doretha W. Edgecomb Jennifer Faliero



April Griffin



Jack R. Lamb, Ed.D. Candy Olson



Deputy Superintendents Kenneth R. Otero Daniel J. Valdez



General Manager of Professional Standards Linda A. Kipley



Gregg Wicktor



126 Silver Falis Drive Apollo Beach, FL 33572



On March 4, 2009, you met with me to discuss an investigation conducted by Dr. John Hilderbrand, Director of Accountability and Assessment. The investigation was conducted regarding a testing violation that was reported to the office of Professional Standards by Clyde Trathowen, Principal of Spoto High School.



Dr. Hilderbrand's investigation revealed that you provided your Integrated Science students at Spoto High School a semester exam worksheet that you admitted you constructed from the District semester exam. Specifically, you reproduced 60 of the 93 questions that were to be given on the exam.



When questioned as to why you provided your students with the exact exam questions on their study guide sheet, you stated that your students were behind, and you did not think it was fair to test them on content you had not covered in class. Due to your poor decision-making, the District was forced to construct a new Integrated Science exam, and delete the one you compromised.



It is a teacher's responsibility to pace the instruction of the subject content to make sure that those areas as outlined in the curriculum are reviewed with the students through the normal course of your instructional delivery. Your failure to provide your students the necessary content exposure to be proficient on the semester exam has deprived them of knowledge that is critical to their overall success as high school students.



As a result of your actions, you are required to meet with Mr. Trathowen or his designee, to review testing protocol for semester exams, MAP exams, FCAT, and any other State or District tests that you may be required to facilitate in your capacity as a classroom teacher. This meeting should take place before any District or State test is given for the 2009-2010 school year. Be aware that if this incident was not reflected in your annual evaluation completed for the 2008-09 school year, it will be reflected in your 2009-2010 evaluation.



You are hereby reprimanded for your unprofessional behavior, and any future incidents will result in a recommendation to dismiss you from employment. This letter will be placed into your personnel file on or after July 24, 2009. Florida Statute gives you the right to respond and any response you choose to make will be attached upon my receipt of it.



. Sincerely, ~



~ .



Linda A. Kipley



General Manager of Professional Standards



CERTIFIED MAIURETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED C: Daniel J. Valdez, Deputy Superintendent ~



Clyde Trathowen, Principal, Spoto High School /



Phil Carr, Assistant Principal for Curriculum, Spoto High School / Rachel Frierson, CTA representative .;



Department of Testing and Accountability /



Personnel file J



Instructional Services Center. 2920 North 40th Street. Tampa, Florida 33605 Office: 813-840-7128. FAX: 813-840-7186



School District Information: 813-272-4000. Web Site: www.sdhc.k12.f1.us


Perhaps a non-standard policy with no definite procedure is the custom in this administration. Exceptions require citation if they are part of a valid policy. Otherwise it is not a policy. A policy is a definite course of action.

Please tell me how many times lawyers instead of Ms. Kipley have crafted these end statements? ldd

-----Original Message-----
From: Linda Cobbe [mailto:lcobbe@sdhc.us]
Sent: Tuesday, August 04, 2009 5:35 PM
To: lee
Cc: goader@eskay.com; FOY333@aol.com; 'Bart Birdsall'; Ken.Otero@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; Stephen.Hegarty@sdhc.k12.fl.us; CANDY.OLSON@SDHC.K12.FL.US; CAROL.KURDELL@sdhc.k12.fl.us; JACK.LAMB@sdhc.k12.fl.us; MARYELLEN.ELIA@sdhc.k12.fl.us; SUSAN.VALDES@sdhc.k12.fl.us; APRIL.GRIFFIN@sdhc.k12.fl.us; DORETHA.Edgecomb@sdhc.k12.fl.us; JENNIFER.FALIERO@sdhc.k12.fl.us; Patrickmanteiga@lagacetanewspaper.com; genesiudut@lagacetanewspaper.com; Connie.mileto@SDHC.K12.FL.US; Gwen.Luney@sdhc.k12.fl.us; larry.mason@sdhc.k12.fl.us; phildra.Swaqger@sdhc.k12.fl.us; alice.loeb@sdhc.k12.fl.us; renalia.dubose@sdhc.k12.fl.us; davidschmidt@sdhc.k12.fl.us; jeffrey.bandry@sdhc.k12.fl.us; steve.vanoer@sdhc.k12.fl.us; Stephanie.tamargo@sdhc.k12.fl.us; steven.eichhorn@sdhc.k12.fl.us; michael.smith@sdhc.k12.fl.us; don.johnson@sdhc.k12.fl.us; mike.phillips@sdhc.k12.fl.us; chuck.fleming@sdhc.k12.fl.us; nancy.lind@sdhc.k12.fl.us; henry.washington@sdhc.k12.fl.us; jeaneen.down@sdhc.k12.fl.us; henry.ballard@sdhc.k12.fl.us; edward.mcdowell@sdhc.k12.fl.us; Karine.johns@sdhc.k12.fl.us; donna.leonard@hcsd.k12.fl.us; richard.parrish@sdhc.k12.fl.us; Sue.hindman@sdhc.k12.fl.us; steven.eichhorn@sdhc.k12.fl.us; goader@es-kay.net; 'William Birdsall'
Subject: Re: summary file on Steve Kemp missing

I don't think the timeframe is the reason. If an employee under investigation hires an attorney, the attorneys communicate on their clients' behalf. Just because a policy mentions no exceptions doesn't mean there are no exceptions.

Linda E. Cobbe
External Communications Manager
Hillsborough County Public Schools
901 E. Kennedy Blvd.
Tampa, FL 33602
813-272-4602 (O)
813-493-6964 (C)
813-272-4510 (F)

Our mission is to provide an education that enables each student to excel as a successful and responsible citizen.


"lee" writes:
I am glad to hear that those five files represented your belated delivery of the files requested on the other cases. I had asked for those files so long ago that I did not recall the request. I am glad to know that citizens' requests for public information stay active in your office until you fulfill them.



I look forward to the attorney's product that replaces Kipley's usual summary letter on the Kemp case,



Can you answer this question, please? Since the Professional Standards protocol you sent me said that Ms. Kipley drafts the final summary letter and mentions no exceptions, why is the board attorney, Mr. Gonzalez, doing the job in this case? Was Mr. Kemp's case in any way unorthodox so as to require legal language? An explanation from either you or him would be most welcome. An additional question: How many Professional

Standards close-out files has the attorney written in the past two years instead of Ms, Kipley, and where in the administrative protocols may I read the rationale for this departure? Lee De Cesare



-----Original Message-----
From: Linda Cobbe [mailto:lcobbe@sdhc.us]
Sent: Tuesday, August 04, 2009 1:09 PM
To: lee
Subject: Re: summary file on Steve Kemp missing



The five files on other employees are not part of the Kemp file. You asked for the last five disciplinary outcomes; that's what those are. They are not connected to the Kemp case in any way, except that they were mailed to you in the same envelope.



Our attorney is preparing the final letter for Steve Kemp. I will send it to you when I get it.



Linda E. Cobbe

External Communications Manager

Hillsborough County Public Schools

901 E. Kennedy Blvd.

Tampa, FL 33602

813-272-4602 (O)

813-493-6964 (C)

813-272-4510 (F)



Our mission is to provide an education that enables each student to excel as a successful and responsible citizen.




"lee" writes:

Ms. Cobbe: The file Professional Standards file you sent me for Steve Kemp's investigation for child abuse does not contain the summary record by Ms. Kipley that the rules you sent me about a Professional Standards investigations dictate must be part of the file.







An example of such cumulative file appears below. Oddly enough, Ms. Kipley's file on Mr. Kemp contains five such files referring to other teachers who have been investigated by Professional Standards, but no such file on Mr. Kemp. He is due one.







May I have the analagous Kemp summary letter from the Kemp file, please, to complete the file I paid for?



Thank you.







Lee Drury De Cesare



~



Hillsborough County PUBLIC SCHOOLS ~Uzg~n



Superintendent of Schools MaryEllen Elia



School Board



Carol W. Kurdell, Chair Susan L. Valdes, Vice Chair Doretha W. Edgecomb Jennifer Faliero



April Griffin



Jack R. Lamb, Ed.D. Candy Olson



Deputy Superintendents Kenneth R. Otero Daniel J. Valdez



General Manager of Professional Standards Linda A. Kipley



Gregg Wicktor



126 Silver Falis Drive Apollo Beach, FL 33572



On March 4, 2009, you met with me to discuss an investigation conducted by Dr. John Hilderbrand, Director of Accountability and Assessment. The investigation was conducted regarding a testing violation that was reported to the office of Professional Standards by Clyde Trathowen, Principal of Spoto High School.



Dr. Hilderbrand's investigation revealed that you provided your Integrated Science students at Spoto High School a semester exam worksheet that you admitted you constructed from the District semester exam. Specifically, you reproduced 60 of the 93 questions that were to be given on the exam.



When questioned as to why you provided your students with the exact exam questions on their study guide sheet, you stated that your students were behind, and you did not think it was fair to test them on content you had not covered in class. Due to your poor decision-making, the District was forced to construct a new Integrated Science exam, and delete the one you compromised.



It is a teacher's responsibility to pace the instruction of the subject content to make sure that those areas as outlined in the curriculum are reviewed with the students through the normal course of your instructional delivery. Your failure to provide your students the necessary content exposure to be proficient on the semester exam has deprived them of knowledge that is critical to their overall success as high school students.



As a result of your actions, you are required to meet with Mr. Trathowen or his designee, to review testing protocol for semester exams, MAP exams, FCAT, and any other State or District tests that you may be required to facilitate in your capacity as a classroom teacher. This meeting should take place before any District or State test is given for the 2009-2010 school year. Be aware that if this incident was not reflected in your annual evaluation completed for the 2008-09 school year, it will be reflected in your 2009-2010 evaluation.



You are hereby reprimanded for your unprofessional behavior, and any future incidents will result in a recommendation to dismiss you from employment. This letter will be placed into your personnel file on or after July 24, 2009. Florida Statute gives you the right to respond and any response you choose to make will be attached upon my receipt of it.



. Sincerely, ~



~ .



Linda A. Kipley



General Manager of Professional Standards



CERTIFIED MAIURETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED C: Daniel J. Valdez, Deputy Superintendent ~



Clyde Trathowen, Principal, Spoto High School /



Phil Carr, Assistant Principal for Curriculum, Spoto High School / Rachel Frierson, CTA representative .;



Department of Testing and Accountability /



Personnel file J



Instructional Services Center. 2920 North 40th Street. Tampa, Florida 33605 Office: 813-840-7128. FAX: 813-840-7186



School District Information: 813-272-4000. Web Site: www.sdhc.k12.f1.us


















Monday, August 03, 2009

Second Letter Ending a Professional Standards Investigation



Ms. Cobbe: The Professional Standards file you sent me for Steve Kemp's investigation for child abuse does not contain the summary record by Ms. Kipley that the rules you sent me that a Professional Standards investigation dictates must be part of the file.


An example of such a cumulative file appears below.


Oddly enough, Ms. Kipley's file on Mr. Kemp that you sent to me contains five such files citing the cases of other teachers who have been investigated by Professional Standards, but no such file on Mr. Kemp. He is due one.


May I have the analogous Kemp summary letter from the Kemp file, please, to complete the file I paid for?



Thank you.

Lee Drury De Cesare

~

Hillsborough County PUBLIC SCHOOLS ~Uzg~n

Superintendent of Schools MaryEllen Elia

School Board

Carol W. Kurdell, Chair Susan L. Valdes, Vice Chair Doretha W. Edgecomb Jennifer Faliero

April Griffin

Jack R. Lamb, Ed.D. Candy Olson

Deputy Superintendents Kenneth R. Otero Daniel J. Valdez

General Manager of Professional Standards Linda A. Kipley


Gregg Wicktor

126 Silver Falis Drive Apollo Beach, FL 33572


On March 4, 2009, you met with me to discuss an investigation conducted by Dr. John Hilderbrand, Director of Accountability and Assessment. The investigation was conducted regarding a testing violation that was reported to the office of Professional Standards by Clyde Trathowen, Principal of Spoto High School.


Dr. Hilderbrand's investigation revealed that you provided your Integrated Science students at Spoto High School a semester exam worksheet that you admitted you constructed from the District semester exam. Specifically, you reproduced 60 of the 93 questions that were to be given on the exam.


When questioned as to why you provided your students with the exact exam questions on their study guide sheet, you stated that your students were behind, and you did not think it was fair to test them on content you had not covered in class. Due to your poor decision-making, the District was forced to construct a new Integrated Science exam, and delete the one you compromised.


It is a teacher's responsibility to pace the instruction of the subject content to make sure that those areas as outlined in the curriculum are reviewed with the students through the normal course of your instructional delivery. Your failure to provide your students the necessary content exposure to be proficient on the semester exam has deprived them of knowledge that is critical to their overall success as high school students.


As a result of your actions, you are required to meet with Mr. Trathowen or his designee, to review testing protocol for semester exams, MAP exams, FCAT, and any other State or District tests that you may be required to facilitate in your capacity as a classroom teacher. This meeting should take place before any District or State test is given for the 2009-2010 school year. Be aware that if this incident was not reflected in your annual evaluation completed for the 2008-09 school year, it will be reflected in your 2009-2010 evaluation.


You are hereby reprimanded for your unprofessional behavior, and any future incidents will result in a recommendation to dismiss you from employment. This letter will be placed into your personnel file on or after July 24, 2009. Florida Statute gives you the right to respond and any response you choose to make will be attached upon my receipt of it.


. Sincerely, ~

~ .

Linda A. Kipley

General Manager of Professional Standards

CERTIFIED MAIURETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED C: Daniel J. Valdez, Deputy Superintendent ~

Clyde Trathowen, Principal, Spoto High School /

Phil Carr, Assistant Principal for Curriculum, Spoto High School / Rachel Frierson, CTA representative .;

Department of Testing and Accountability /

Personnel file J

Instructional Services Center. 2920 North 40th Street. Tampa, Florida 33605 Office: 813-840-7128. FAX: 813-840-7186

School District Information: 813-272-4000. Web Site: www.sdhc.k12.f1.us