Saturday, October 27, 2007

Shoot first. Ask (silly) questions later.

Friday was a monumental day in District administration and the implementation of management strategies. I have received word that the hard drive I had used for a few years has been sent off to the forensic team (at considerable cost, no doubt) for a complete data dump and evaluation.

Since the District is unable to convincingly demonstrate a legitimate reason for constructively terminating me, they have resorted to digging through a hard drive in an attempt to justify an administrative move already made. The ubiquitous "Shoot first. Ask questions later" mantra. Hilarious. In this case, they are hopeful the silly questions will yield something to bolster their preposterous assertions.

What the District is actually doing is defining a threshold - across which no other District employee can pass. Once they establish a standard, anyone and everyone will be picked off at will. The District may claim that I wrote one too many emails to my friends and family. How many is too many? They may claim that ten visits to Criag's List in a year may be too many. How many is too many? They may claim that 30 minutes a year on the Herald's website is too long. How many minutes constitutes "too long"? I would be very interested to know.

Once this new standard is defined, we can then comfortably apply it to everyone. Any member of the public could make a public records request for this sort of information and then demand equitable treatment. So, for those of you that remain on the District's payroll - be advised. Anyone tagged by the District for termination will be shot on sight. They can start looking afterwards for a reason.

9 comments:

ESD15.org said...

Phew, what a relief that I can't be fired twice.

Anonymous said...

This sad, so sad. To picture these high paid, supposedly professional administrators, diligently picking the fly poop out of the pepper in order to justify their mistakes is a sad picture indeed. Is this serving the Public Trust, or just plain self-serving. If it's turds they're looking for, a mirror is all they need.

Anonymous said...

Their efforts to discredit you are backfiring. I have to say though, Marla does the work of three men: Larry, Moe and Curly!

Anonymous said...

Now, if they find porn on your computer all you would need to say is that someone else used your password (probaly a subordinate) and downloaded the images. Of course you would also need to have a spouse who works in Human Resources. Oh well, that only works for middle managers and above anyway.

Anonymous said...

Mark, You are a real journalist; I enjoy your entries, which are well written. As for the
District packing your ESD hard drive off to a specialist, is absurd! I worked in the District for 28 years; used my PC on my break, or lunch, when not going out of the building, for ocassional personal e-mails or to look up information on the
Internet. I never used a District Computer while "on the clock" , but know many folks who did and still do. I would receive jokes from employees, most of them, non-exempt, who were "on the clock", and
are still practicing this behavior to this day. I believe in this world of modern-day technology, that most folks may use a business
PC for personal use on ocassion, however, in the Edmonds
School District, it is "who you know and not "what you know", when it comes to question a District employee.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like Duncan Fobes skipped the lectures on "a priori" in law school. What ever is learned from your computer files is well after the fact and was not the basis of firing you. What ever they find is irrelevant. They targeted you because you whistle blew.

Anonymous said...

To 10261010
Thank You for your post. This issue needs attention in the worst way. This kind of behavior cannot continue in public instruction. To allow continued employment after what was found on that computer has put thousands of children in a higher at risk pool. He should not have been allowed to set foot on Edmonds school district property again.

Anonymous said...

These actions and the letter you received are blindingly similar to Marla's method of intimidation to make people who disagree with her or question her behavior to go away. Only now she's hired a lawyer and outside party to do it. What a waste of time and money! I guess then we can ask for all records of communication between Nick and certain employees that are non business related? Does anyone remember what happened with the Mukilteo superintendent and an employee? Better check your contract, Nick!

Anonymous said...

These actions and the letter you received are blindingly similar to Marla's method of intimidation to make people who disagree with her go away. Only now she's hired a lawyer and outside party to do it. What a waste of time and money! I guess then we can ask for all records of communication between Nick and certain employees that are non business related? Does anyone remember what happened with the Mukilteo superintendent and an employee? Better check your contract, Nick!