Recent newspaper reports indicate that Bruce Williams moved just 10 blocks from his director district and yet, he felt compelled to honor board policies. Board policy 1245 did not leave any room for interpretation and so Bruce resigned. It was an honorable move and preserved the integrity of board policies - if only for a moment.
Then there is Pat Shields. There is no debating the fact that he is the director of Powerful Partners. There is no debating the fact that Powerful Partners uses space in the ESC. There is no debating the fact that they have never paid rent when they signed a use agreement with the District agreeing to do so. So why the special treatment?
Okay, it was a rhetorical question. Pat Shields is a board member and believes he is entitled to take greater liberties with tax dollars than the rest of us. A vote cast for Pat Shields apparently was interpreted as permission to freeload. Will members of his family start moving in to the ESC? Will the ESC's custodian have to start washing the Shields family car? Will Pat Shields start having his personal mail delivered to the ESC? Maybe the Board will bring back laundry service so Pat Shields can have his shirts cleaned, pressed and delivered through inter-departmental mail.
Do we really need these kinds of people guiding the District? Do we need this sort of influence on the Board? Are we educating children or preparing them for a life on welfare and public assistance? If they follow the Board's leadership, they will no doubt be developing a taste for government cheese.
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12 comments:
I have followed this blog for some time, and agree with much of the information presented on its primary pages. But of those who comment so often and pointedly, I wonder do you have the courage to speak your mind in a school board meeting? Do you have the fortitude to take this information to the media? Do you have the simple grit to stand up anywhere but in the anonymity of a comment section?
Please, this I would like to see (assuming there is honesty and validity in the information you provide).
Jeanette,
If you've read this blog from the very beginning, you'd know the author does not hide his identity from anyone. He has posted his name, documents detailing his work at Edmonds School District, and his reasons for creating this weblog.
I believe that as members of the community we all have the necessary tools to attend board meetings and ask questions.
If you have attended meetings you would know that there is a time at the end for anyone to make comments that aren't on the agenda that the board sets . The board does not have to even acknoledge the speakers.
The truth here is that this blog has already convinced one board member to resign. Perhaps the other two should follow his lead.
Of course, whatever you have to say cannot involve a specific person, a legal matter or go longer than three minutes.
Mark Zandberg
mark@esd15.org
I believe the general public is discouraged to go to Board meetings as they have their own AGENDA and any one who wishes to speak, have only three minutes; how does one get their concern spoken with 3 minutes? I worked in an elementary school for 28 years and encouraged parents to go to Board meetings with their concerns; most returned to my office and said their visit to Board meeting was a waste of time; they did not feel the Board gave a "hoot" about their concern(s), nor did anyone make them feel welcome.
Jeanette, I work for the district, I've seen what happens to staff that speak their minds openly. I need my job, do you need yours? It's not a matter of courage for me, it's a matter of survival. Better to wonder why the taxpayers in this district don't speak up (I'm not one of them), after all, they're the ones getting robbed!
I am so sad for our district but if I knew all this I would not have moved into this district. Maybe our student counts are below thr projections because people are getting the word. Edmonds school district used to be the district where people wanted their kids to go to school but the counts tell us differently. Why would you assume that more kids would be in school this year when everything around us is saying families are moving out of this area because housing, taxes are too high. I am just so disappointed in the Edmonds School District Board they have allowed Marla to run the district for too long and she is taking all of it down the drain.
Jeanette,
Wow! wow! wow? Just who do you think you are sister. Stand up at a school board meeting. We stand up to our so called leaders & get day's off for it, so don't say we don't try! I think the media is informed already. I would like you to write agian please.
I believe that the media, (Newspapers, KOMO TV),will learn about the issues spoken on this Blog, in short order! I believe the issues at hand, mostly in the Budget area, need to be addressed, and not just "talked about", however, this blog has brought many legitimate issues to light and I intend to take this one step further by, hopefully, getting the media involved. I am a tax payer in the Edmonds School District; the decisons made on the spending of my tax dollars is disgusting and disturbing. Why do we need a Superintendent when we have MARLA MILLER! The District could save thousands by just placing her on "the throne" and elimninate the Supt's job!
I don't know Jeanette or if she works for the school district, but if she did, she would realize the repercussions of an employee speaking his or her mind, especially in a public forum like a board meeting.
The board will start listening and will instruct the superintendent to clean things up only if citizens speak out about the fraud and waste. Talk to your neighbors, talk at the board meetings, vote out the incumbents, vote down more requests for money, vote down the simple majority bill.
FYI the news media has been approached; but due to the length of time to receive documents under FOIA, the fact checkers are having a time of it.
By the way, isn’t your name nearly identical to that of a character in a popular teen novel; just like mine?
I paid a visit to the Everett Herald Newspaper today, plus made contact with several TV stations, media, regarding the ESD Weblog. Some were interested, others listened and will get back to me. The issues at hand on this web-site are serious, of great concern, and very complicated. My hope and concern is that the comments, statements made, on issues at hand, will be brought to the weblog with knowledge, & use of well written vocabulary. This is not a "tacky" chat room; so I urge "viewers" to use
tact and courtesy when expressing one's opinion, which is valuable to readers.
In order to survive in the animal world, you have three choices: fight, flight or camouflage. Once you see someone braver than you chopped to pieces when they stood up to object to the behaviors of those in power, you really only have two choices: flight or camo. A lot of teachers have left the district because of the poor "climate" in several buildings. More's the loss to the students. The rest are hiding because they need the income more than they need the pain of the struggle or the resettlement to another town or perhaps even state.
Really, being a dictator is easy; just publicly eliminate a few opponents and everyone else will more or less go along or they will flee into exile (some will actually flock to your side and curry favor in order to not be the next victim). Running a democracy is much harder: you actually have to listen to others, evaluate different ideas, acknowledge people who disagree with you, make informed decisions, etc. It's very hard work.
This venue affords an opportunity to work around the camo. It might sound a lot like sour grapes but when an administrative decision to "constructively terminate" an employee (for merely pointing out that the emperor has no clothes) results in a $1 million financial loss to that employee, that is something to be taken into account. And when lack of investigation and issuing of lies accompanies the termination, then you need a new bunch of people to run the operation. Democracy must replace dictatorship.
That's our official foreign policy, isn't it?
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