The residents of the Edmonds School District deserve to know why Board Policies 6810 and 1260 are being revised.Board Policy 6810 currently states that,
"No person shall be employed by the district who is the spouse or dependent child of any member of the Board of Directors or of the superintendent."
Board Policy 1260 currently states that,
"No member of the Board, or any spouse or dependent relative of such member, shall receive or accept any compensation or reward for services rendered to the District."
Gary Noble is married to Kay Noble, a teacher at Lynnwood High School. Such a relationship eliminates any sense of objectivity in making critical decisions, like building a brand new Lynnwood High School in Bothell.
Despite Susan Paine's claim of "seven or eight months", the Edmonds School District was officially notified of Gary Noble violating board policies on September 26, 2007. Well before the election in November of 2007.
The Edmonds School District's legal counsel responded to my concerns on October 4, 2007, essentially offering nothing more than a smoke screen as a delay tactic to allow Gary Noble to successfully be re-elected.
Marla Miller made a claim during the last board meeting that these changes were merely "housecleaning" and were the result of a recommendation from the State Auditor. However, I lodged the complaint with the State Auditor after the District ignored my concerns. The State Auditor and Attorney General weighed in after reading the current board policies and agreed with my position.
Unfortunately, Gary Noble was ineligible to seek re-election and committed election fraud when he filed as a candidate. Gary Noble swore to uphold board policies and conveniently disregarded the very policy that rendered him ineligible.
The Board Action scheduled for next session proves beyond any reasonable doubt, that the Board was fully aware of Gary Noble's ineligibility and now seeks to conceal this obvious miscarriage of our electoral process. Unfortunately, the other candidate in the last election, never had a chance to mount a meaningful opposition when the Board was blatantly working to protect Gary Noble's status as a member of the school board.
Gary Noble might be a nice person and he might be a respectable member of our community, but it doesn't change the fact that at the time of the election in November of 2007, Gary Noble was ineligible. If he started an election campaign under the newly-revised policies, he would be in compliance, but unfortunately, the last election was undermined by fraud.
Gary Noble should do the honorable thing and immediately resign his position and allow the community to start the process of rebuilding what was once a respectable school board. Refusal to do the honorable thing will force this community to take the necessary steps to remove Gary Noble from office - and it won't be a recall election because Gary Noble was never legitimately re-elected in November of 2007.
14 comments:
Didn't we all know that the rules change for upper management.
Mark refresh us with what has happend in the past, pianos, porn and paying to much for land. I know theres more.
Hiring friends for jobs.
Thats HR folks.
I think everyone should write Gary Noble a letter and send it to him in the US mail. That way you can remain anonymous if you need to.
Also, in the letter, just stick to the facts. Don't write anything that will cause Gary to call the police!!
You could just mail this entry to him. Of course, it doesn't matter what the public tells him because he doesn't care about the public.
You could also save the price of a stamp and just click on the envelope icon under the entry.
I would suggest that if you are afraid to reveal your identity, just use the name John Doe. The message is more important than the messenger.
Gary Noble
nobleg@edmonds.wednet.edu
Nick Brossoit
brossoitn@edmonds.wednet.edu
These people need to be accountable.
Gary, you need to be a man and step down or your wife step down. How can we run a district with so much Bullsh#%.
Nick, why are you still here?
I think you're here to build things.
Ok, but you can't run the district worth a DAM and thats saying it nice.
This actually is not election fraud. Only the state can set the criteria for elected offices and local entities cannot broaden or restrict these criteria. For instance, a city council could not pass a policy allowing residents of neighboring communities to run for city council to broaden the slate of qualified candidates, as this could be used to allow a “friend” of the council who lives in a neighboring community to run. Similarly, a city council could not pass a policy requiring council members to be property owners to allow higher quality decisions on issues, as this could also be used to disqualify a council member they did not like who happened to live in an apartment.
Mr. Noble has always met the state requirements for this elective office. Sloppy policy writing with regard to state requirements? Yes. Election fraud? Not even close.
Whether Gary Noble committed election fraud will be for a jury to decide.
Board policies were very clear and even if the school district moves to adopt these revisions, it doesn't change the fact that other, eligible candidates were denied an opportunity to contest the last election under fair circumstances.
I suggest you read the current policies when you've had something other than a cheese sandwich for lunch.
... and why would the Attorney General AND the State Auditor recommend the more stringent policies be followed or revised?
I'd say my legal argument is more than already made.
Not to mention that "legal" may not be right, morally correct or honest, which I think most of us want in our elected leaders. Look at the current situation with the housing market; most of the bad things that were done there were done "legally." Got any WaMu stock? What's it worth today?
The public is tired of officials hiding behind parsed explanations of their actions. Public officials should have integrity and FOLLOW THE RULES. Officials who get caught red-handed NOT following the rules should apologize to the public and resign from office immediately. Don't lie and try to blame someone else or "unclear" laws for your transgressions; take responsibility for your own actions.
It will be very interesting to see what Mr. Noble's vote will be on changing the policy next week. Will he abstain since he is directly impacted by the vote? :-)
This could be a problem in his re-election attempts.
My money is on a continuation of conflicted interests. Listen for the Bobbleheads to sing "Aye" in harmonious unison.
I bet Gary Noble is absent for the vote on changing the rules. Then he can honestly say, "I would have voted against it, but I was in never-never land."
Is that Michael Jackson's ranch? I tend to forget.
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