Sunday, February 03, 2008

Wake up Edmonds School District!

Can you see what is happening here? Marla's impact on the District is a cancer, and that cancer has many feeders that go out and attach themselves to parts of the body. The district has many body parts as does the human body. Human Resource is a major part of the body. Human Resource affects the entire district, like the heart affects the function of the human body. So imagine this cancer spreading and the smell of death that follows.

You talk about the Payroll manager hiring her sister at the rate of $18.50 an hour, when subs normally come in at $10.50 an hour. Laura Barney's thinking is, I am a manager. I can do whatever, because I carry this title. She is a Marla Miller plant. Laura was promised this job, not having any experience. She has admitted that Marla has always taken care of her and so, she does not have to worry. Manny Juzon is another plant. He has no experience, but can sure, with a proven track record screw up a department. His thoughts are, who is going to touch me? I am protected by Marla Miller.

There are other plants of Marla's, like Cynthia Nelson (Cynthia got her husband a job in the district). Has anyone checked to see how many of your tax dollars support computers, printers, cameras and many other devices in the homes of technology folks? Are they paying taxes on these items for having them in their homes at the district expense? They will all say, they are working from home and need these items, but I know as many others in the district, that their families are using these devices and you have paid for them. Corruption breeds corruption.

The pornography that we keep hearing about, I have to wonder why (and may I say I am tried of hearing about. Let's put this thing to rest)? This should have been a no brainer (the folks in HR have no brains). Everyone involved with that situation should have been FIRED. The problem would be over and things would be back to normal. When you have your HR folks involved in partying, and as it was described to some of us, as their weekend DRUNKEN bashes, bunko parties and being able to discuss situations about people in the district (confidential information), it is hard for the HR department to do their jobs, when they have put themselves in compromising situations. It becomes a thing of, if you touch me, I will tell on you.

Porn is wrong, and it should not matter who you are. There are others in the district who have been involved in porn and fired immediately. They were not allowed to hang around and keep working. Edmonds School District #15, can you see why the folks in the warehouse are so upset? They have every reason to be mad, as you would be if falsely accused. Just because they work in the warehouse, does not mean they have no moral values. It speaks loudly that they have very high values and resent the district sending a message otherwise. This would not have taken place if you had qualified folks running the Human Resource Department.

We can fix some of these things by voting NO, in the next school election. Send a message loud and clear we want a change, and until that happens there will be no more money coming. Do not let them tell you, your children will suffer. Washington State will not allow that to happen. The Edmonds School District will try to scare you into thinking your children will suffer. Remember, Marla Miller loves to bully people. This is how she operates. Her life is built on being able to intimate. I say it is time to call her bluff. Get out into your communities and tell your neighbors and friends to VOTE NO in the next school election. It is time for the wind of change to blow. We can make a difference. We can save our School District.

Editorial: Thank you to another contributor. It warrants mentioning that the District has not yet provided the requested documentation that may, or may not, illuminate the salary issue with a clerical sub that also happens to be related to the Payroll Manager.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Many of my friends and neighbors are very interested in what is happening in the district. I am always getting questions asked because I am a district employee. In the last 4 years the district has changed and the change all started with the warehouse and porn. It was not dealth with correctly or fairly to both the district staff and the tax payers. In my neighborhood we will be voting NO to anything that ask for more money for th district. When the district proves to us that they are good stewards of tax payers monies we will think about changing our vote. Marla needs to go she is the cancer and bully in this district! to the writer of this article - GOOD job! you said it all!

Anonymous said...

The manager at the warehouse with Porn on his computer is married to someone in the HR Dept, you forgot to mention this. Thats why he got to keep his job! He also threatened a technology worker when they found Porn on his computer. He still goes to Elem schools in the district.
Is this a good message to send to our kids.
I'm glad my son is done with school in this district.
I will vote NO.

Anonymous said...

I agree. There was an opportunity that warehouse employees brought to the attention of management when Stuart Lane retired.
It was to continue operations without another manager. The suggestion was to give the incumbent clerk Clay Belleman a bump in pay, and eliminate a sixty thousand dollar position. An attempt to save taxpayers money. Warehouse operations had run without a hitch for over a year while Stuart Lane was taking a leave. Clay Belleman and the warehouse crew did an fine job in Stuarts absence. Clay in particular picked up the supervisor duties while maintaining his current position. Clay was also overlooked to fill the new supervisor position. This was a double whammie for the warehouse. Clay, beyond the shadow of a doubt, was more qualified than the current supervisor. In fact, Clay might be considered overqualified, while the new supervisor had no qualifications. However he did have a girlfriend in Human resources, that is now his wife. Clays big mistake was not dating girls in HR. Shame on Clay huh? Furthermore, three and a half years later and here is what has taken place at the warehouse....
1. Supervisor caught with hundreds of pornographic images on his computer, under his profile. Investigation to wiggle off the hook at taxpayers expense. Just do a public disclosure if you have any doubts.
2. Fifteen thousnad dollars of therapy with a counselor because of all the dissension caused by the new supervisor. Do a public discloser if you don't trust that tidbit.
3. Reputation of the warehouse now ranks among the lowest of any department in the district.
4. For the first year and a half of employment, he did not submit paperwork for his leaves of absensce. A public disclosure would also reveal a distict wide cover up.
Now you're all up to speed. Thank You for reading.

Anonymous said...

What about the warehouse drivers that brought the vacation & sick leave abuse at the warehouse to the attention of the district, just ask Barbra Lloyd supervisor of foodservice or Debby Carter head of HR, personal freind of the warehouse supervisor. Nothing was done because there was a problem in payroll, just ask Laura Barney.

Anonymous said...

Therapy. Yes.

When I contacted Far West for assistance, the counselor listened about 15 minutes to what I had to say and said, "Yeah, we see a lot of that with teachers. You guys are generally trusting and loving people and you don't know what to do when slammed around by a poor supervisor."

The dollars and cents cost to taxpayers for poor supervisors is tremendous: lost days of work, lowered productivity due to poor morale, short term and long term leaves needed to recover mentally and physically, physical ailments brought on by stress, retraining cost when people just give up and leave. The list goes on and on.

That a human-focused industry such as schools does such a poor job supervising their workers is nothing short of criminal. We are in the business of building lives and character of our students; how can that happen under these circumstances?

Anonymous said...

I began working for the Edmonds School District in the late 70's. At that time there was NO Supervisor in the Warehouse; the men all worked well together and got the job done. At one point Lloyd was the head Warehouse employee who oversaw the daily operations of the Warehouse. Then Stuart Lane was hired as Supervisor when technology became a necessary tool for operating the Warehouse; Stuart did an excellent job; the men all continued to serve the District buildings, employee needs, with a positive attitude and promptness. When Stuart announced his retirement plans, the job was posted and to my knowledge, one of the warehousemen applied for the open position, but when he heard of the back-handed propaganda, withdrew his application. This Warehouseman knew the job inside and out and would have been the perfect candidate for the position, but instead an HR employee decided that her then finace, should be the successful candidate for the position, and he was hired. Tracy, PORN KING's wife, came from the Everett School District as a Secretary, and to my best guess, has the same title at the Edmonds School District. How does one have such influence? As the old saying goes, "it is not WHAT you know, it is WHO you know". His conduct was reason for dismissal, but the situation was "swept under the rug". Before his hiring, the Warehouse was a well respected department and the service the men provided was invaluable to all they served. Kudos to the employees who still drive the big trucks, delivering inter-school mail, equipment, moving furniture and anything else asked of them, while the Supervisor continues to do an unsatisfactory job, and has caused the Warehouse to have bad name. What a shame.

Anonymous said...

At one point and time, Cynthia Nelson submitted her resignation to the Edmonds School District, but was lured back with more money!! Go figure. I wonder what her salary is today?

Anonymous said...

Lets not put this in the "Also ran" catagory.
Why is the district letting Liz Westermark slip away? This is the class act of a person who has been maintaining what I believe to be a four hour position, and also assumed the duties of Tracy Penney.
That would be another eight hour position. 1.5 FTE, right DC? How does this garbage fly? I have heard nothing but wonderful comments about the work of Liz. My personal experience with her was very positive. Could Debbie Jakala send home a few thousand letters addressing this horrible practice? All I can say is Good luck to Liz in her future endeavors. Thank You for being twice the person you have been filling in for. Shame ON the person you filled in for. And shame on the district for allowing this person to continue to dissapoint everyone around her. The person on leave did a poor job, (when she showed up). I'm sorry Liz that you have been treated so poorly. Will somebody step in and turn this thing around?????????

Anonymous said...

It has been mentioned before but the warehouse supervisor who has been caught with this huge cache of downloaded pornography on his computer did not come by the job honestly. His application was inserted into the screening process after the job opening had closed and was therefore not eligible. He got the job anyway. A number of former employees who were caught with pornography on their computers were fired immediately. There has to be a zero tolerance policy for this in the District, but I wonder if this also opens up lawsuits for wrongful dismissal for all the other incidents? This would certainly help put the pressure on to off-load this individual.

Anonymous said...

Hey Barb, What about this warehouse manager that you supervise? I also know that he is on a performance plan, due to (This should come as a complete shock), his lack of skills as a manager. Yeah this is a big surprise. What we have here is another Jerry Saulter situation. They fragment their crews, take credit for everyhting, then spend more time setting up employees to fail, as part of their schemes. I know how they feel up there. To my knowledge these problems did not exist when Stuart Lane was the manager. Stuart was one heck of a guy, and treated his employees, and peers with respect. Chuck does not even make eye contact with his peers. Let alone be pleasant. How come the warehouse needs two managers anyway. Has anyone looked into that? Silly question, right?

Anonymous said...

It is amazing to me to see that the poor management and poor decisions are so widespread throughout all departments of the District. We all see our own little world, but never see what's going on next door. Stupidity in the classroom buildings I have seen (apologies to Yoda), but I didn't know that warehouse, custodial, etc. were also straining under incompetent management.

This appears to be a profound and deeply engrained failure of management in most, if not all, departments. If the department heads can't or won't correct the problems, it is the job of the superintendent to correct them. If he can't or won't, it is up to the Board. If they can't or won't, we need to RECALL them and get a new Board who WILL take up their fiduciary obligation to us, as parents and taxpayers, and our children, grandchildren and/or neighborhood children.

If we don't DO SOMETHING then we only have ourselves to blame for not caring enough to stand up and make our demands known. Call the super's office. Call the Board. Tell them that you do not like what is going on in the District and that you want things to change for our STUDENTS' SAKE. THEY are the most important piece of the equation here, not some supervisor's ego.

As long as those in power don't hear from ALL of us, they will take the default position that all of these problems are being stirred up by "complainers" (a term used recently by one principal to dismiss stated concerns on a building "climate survey" which is supposed to be used to pinpoint areas of concern and improvement, not denegrate the participants).

Anonymous said...

Let me make perfectly clear that in my department I do stand up. And this department is totally incompetent. It should be pretty tough to figure out. The IQ of this department head is about two points above a tree. Please do the math on your own.

Anonymous said...

And Cynthia Nelson once supervised the warehouse. When Barb Lloyd was assigned the supervisor of warehouse she received no additional salary. Most supervisor don't make many decision on their own but are directed by HR or their boss and their you go Marla's name comes up again.

Tracy has found a job for every boyfriend she has had. And the job is always where she works! MMM!

Anonymous said...

Does any one know if Tracy Penney ever returned to work after taking leave of absence?

Anonymous said...

It certainly is interesting that the Warehouse used to be a Department that ran smoothly and was respected before the new, incompetent Supervisor, Chuckles, was put into place by Barbarella Lloyd. Doesn't one need previous skills of Supervising or Managing people? Nooo!! Apparently a bi-polar personality and a total lack of people skills are all that is required. No people skills, no innovation, no dedication; these are the attributes that the District prefers. Also, the frequent temper tantrums, snide comments and inhospitable behaviors towards fellow employees is a big plus! Derision and division, are the core values. It's no wonder the application was "slipped" under the door. Why didn't we just shred it, as it should have been. Should we do a public disclosure on this hiring? I think so.... Was this advertised as a position sitting in a chair in front of a computer eight, whoops, I mean six hours per day? By the way the two million dollar, or is it three now? phone system doesn't seem to work as good as the last one. Another good move on the District's part! Thanks Cynthia! Day 30, phones still not working properly! Aren't there better ways to spend taxpayer monies? Why don't we can the Administrators and hire individuals with Business acumen and integrity? No wonder good people like Liz part with the District. This brain drain will continue, until they are totally dumbed down! Can anybody relate to HAL in 2001, A Space Odyssey?
By the way, how do I get on the Tracey Penney leave plan? Debby Carter, could you please get back to us on this? I'm sure everyone would like this made available.

Anonymous said...

If the current supervisor of the Warehouse, Chuckles, AKA porno king was hired after the screening process, I believe a public disclosure on this hiring is required immediately. Or do us all a favor and resign, effective immediately.

ESD15.org said...

You can ask the District for such information, but they will only provide faint, illegible copies. I would also be willing to bet that if an application was "slipped under the door" the date stamp would have been adjusted accordingly.

I will make the request in the coming days and post whatever I receive.

Anonymous said...

Liz was the best thing that happened for the HR dept. When you asked for something or help she didn't spend time telling you about how much work she had to do nor did she have a desk full of files - no she made you feel like you were her only customer and was soooo helpful. I hope that Cathy will keep that kind of customer service in HR. It is time for a change and bring the Human back into HR. Whatever happen to the self-evaluation that took place in HR. I remember Nick say that it was going to be what would be used in every department. Did that mean put in the bottom file cabinet under your personal items never to been seen or heard from again. Or maybe it got piss on it! Guess that was Nick blowing wind again! Marla does not want any change in any dept. in the district because it might affect her and her little BS war room.

Anonymous said...

I second the resignation. Sorry to the people that are sick of this subject. You may attend the next HR stamping party for counselng. If that does no serice, I might suggest a ........ Wait, who is organizing these parties if Tina & Tracy are both out on medical leave, looking for employment elsewhere. Silly girls, "Flix are for chicks".

Anonymous said...

Is Tina from the Sub Desk, out on medical leave as well? My Oh my, they sure know how to get paid for doing nothing and get away with it, then will probably apply for disability, which of course, will be approved, and live happily ever after at tax payer's expense. I thought only "low-lifes" worked the system, but I may be mis- directed!!

Anonymous said...

Yes. While "medical reasons" may be enough to use as an excuse to get rid of you, try going to Unemployment to file a disability claim over your treatment which has created the "medical reasons"!! Forms and more forms, doctor's exams, denials, appeals, denials, months and months of time.

The Golden Rule: is this how you want others to treat you?

Anonymous said...

Have fun with your return to work, you two hard workers, you!