A steady salary is an invitation to mediocrity

Brossoit:$202,758, Byrd:$136,251, Kahan:$136,251, Limon:$136,251, Carter:$130,671, Venable:$130,671, Miller:$125,080, Wysocki:$108,840, Nelson:$106,440, Harding:$104,312, Peters:$104,312, Katims:$103,514, Beglau:$101,114, Burkhardt:$101,114, Drew:$101,114, Lloyd:$101,114, Madison:$101,114, McMahan:$101,114, Osborne:$101,114.
Total: $2,233,149

A field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.

If it is important for our teens to pass the WASL, then why are we testing them at 7:30 a.m.?

Haven't studies documented that teens are not fully alert prior to 9:00 a.m.? Why then are the kids at Edmonds-Woodway WASL testing from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. all week? I'm sure there is a good reason for testing at 7:30 a.m. Early morning testing is probably required due to overcrowding of the school, a desire to save money, sports schedules, or the personal convenience of an individual staff member (we need the kids finished by 9:30 a.m. so that so and so can get on with thus and such).

Still, what an incredible waste of public resources!

All the time, money and effort devoted to the WASL, and we ask the teens to perform with one hand tied behind their backs. If our teens don't pass the WASL, we won't even know if it was because they don't know the material, or because they were asleep when they took the test.

Maybe for the Math WASL in April we can look at a different testing schedule. Do you want to be tested on your Math skills at 7:30 a.m.?

Lora Petso

Fun Factoid: The District decided to rent tables for $5,000 to accommodate the WASL tests. At the last minute, "someone" decided to cancel the rental arrangement only to discover there would be a $2,500 cancellation fee.

Where have I heard that before?

Imagine a district manager that is so paranoid about the independent thought and opinions of others that she flies in a team of "bug-sniffers" from Arizona to sweep her office for any sort of listening devices. To assist these investigators, the manager sends a certain specialist to accompany them during the course of their inspection. Imagine the conversation that might have been had between the specialist and the visitors.

Imagine what a certain specialist might discover in watching the detection techniques of these contractors or the questions that may have been asked during their lengthy evaluation process. Imagine if one of the "bug-sniffers" actively informed a certain specialist as to methods that could be used to eavesdrop without being detected. Imagine if these "bug-sniffers" mentioned where equipment might be obtained to make the art of eavesdropping more successful and detection virtually impossible. Imagine the many advances that have been made in the realm of professional snooping.

Imagine if the employee that had all of this information in his head was the same person that tracked all of the keys in the ESC. Imagine if this employee was able to freely enter and exit the ESC without detection. Imagine the information that might be heard or recorded by someone equipped in such a manner.

Now, imagine if everything you just imagined wasn't imaginary?

Diminishing public education by consensus.

I don't know that you want to get some people started on what is being done to American schools at the moment.

Many of us see this as a large fight between people who know what they are doing and another group who THINKS they know what they are doing.

On the one hand we have the Gardner multiple-intelligences group which argues for multiple approaches to learning (and teaching) with a varitety of learning experiences available (expensive) and on the other hand, you have those in political power who say that we need to choose ONE way to do things and have backed up their viewpoint with NCLB, defining "success" and "failure" in a very narrow and unrealistic manner, adding a wad of money that is going to private industry for teaching "scientificly proven" methods (which means that schools have to buy a whole slug of new books) with money also going to testing companies (who, oddly enough, are subsidiaries of the publishing companies) to test the "learning" that is going on (cheap).

Educational tasks in the classroom are being pared to the lowest common denominator: all teachers at the same grade and subject area are to teach the same lesson. "Rigorous" curriculum is being eliminated because "consensus" has to be reached, and who wants to work hard? I was even told by one administrator that the goal of these reforms is to have a 3 ring binder in each classroom that will outline each day's lesson so simply that "anybody could come in and teach." "Anybody?" Do we want to turn our children over to "anybody?"

There are schools that are "in trouble" certainly, but the school is not the CAUSE of the trouble, but only a reflection of it and is the last hope to avoid it. The problems that walk through the school house door are generally not the fault of the school; when a school is "failing" it is merely reflecting the "failure" of the segment of society that it is serving. It is not the fault of the teacher that Jane's mother has to work three jobs to pay the rent and get food on the table, doesn't speak English very well, and is not be able to help Jane with her homework or take her to the zoo or a museum or a folklife festival or some other enriching experience. It is not the school's fault that Jack has to spend the weekends away from his house and can't get his homework done because his parents are selling drugs there Friday through Sunday. In an affluent suburban school, if Jimmie has been given everything that his heart has desired and he doesn't see the point of doing any school work and would rather disrupt the class in order to get the attention he is not getting at home, that is not the fault of the school, either.

We take in whatever problems walk through our doors. Yes, learning sometimes suffers while we are dealing with those problems, but if we had public support and resources appropriate to the task, we could be doing better.

As long as we are fighting over how to slice up a 12" pie, we're still only going to be slicing up a 12" pie and not solving the underlaying problems.

Contributed by Richard Reuther

Predicting the inevitable departure of incompetence.

On August 23, 2007, the blog drafted a letter of resignation for Dr. Bruce Williams. Of course, he resigned on September 11, 2007, just 13 working days later. For a board member, since they only have public board meetings every two weeks, it was essentially the next working day.

I have been asked to draft a letter of resignation for Marla Miller. While the outcome is inevitable, the District needs to retain her as an employee in order for the pending investigations to move forward unabated. If she leaves before the Auditor has an opportunity to expose their findings, the conclusions drawn by their evaluation may not have the positive effect of changing the manner in which the District does business. Marla is just a symptom of a much bigger problem - an absence of adequate checks and balances.

District management should not be goaded into thinking that Marla's departure will solve all of their competency issues. She has spent the last several years surrounding herself with marginally-qualified support staff and individuals that couldn't survive in their positions without her. If she leaves before a comprehensive evaluation, these deputies could linger and possibly rationalize filling the resulting void. That would be the last thing this community needs. Retaining a legion of Marla-loyalists would only result in her eventual return, perhaps in a more destructive capacity.

Every public agency that has the capacity and authority to audit the District should have the opportunity to do so. It should be done without a premature thinning of the herd. Those found responsible for gifting public funds and blatantly favoring vendors, friends and property developers should be made to resign in a public way. No one should tolerate guilty parties slipping out the back door under cover of darkness or the ruse of a medical condition.

For this reason, the blog will not draft a letter of resignation at this time. The State Auditor has had numerous opportunities to expose the innumerable scams and scandals, but to date has chosen the carrot instead of the stick. I have been encouraged by other agencies to let the process work - if it can - and then wait for others to arrive if the State Auditor falls short.

While we wait, the blog will continue to expose, investigate and root out any form of corruption it encounters.

When your ship is sinking, throw documents overboard.

With regard to the piano "scam", the auditors were looking into it as part of the "citizens concerns" investigation over the last couple of weeks they were at the ESC. Their requests for original documents on this went unfulfilled due to these originals no longer existing in any of the last 4 years of files.

The former administrative assistant to Ms Miller spent a good deal of her time prior to her surprising early retirement shredding reams of paperwork. Ms Miller insisted that she had made copies of everything relating to this piano purchase and had provided them in a packet for the auditors. This information was not included in the file the auditors were given however, no matter how much Ms Miller insists it was.

I believe we are left to conclude that these original documents providing proof as to who authorized the double payment of pianos to the "tune" of thousands of dollars (there was even an attempt to pay for them a 3rd time that was successfully halted in defiance of the insistence by Manny Juzon that the purchase go through) have mysteriously disappeared, probably during the mass shredding of what can now only be referred to as evidence.

Again, if you're not guilty of anything then important documents should not go "missing". If you are not guilty of anything why do you lie about providing information to auditors and why do you continue to act so nervously?

Editor: Thank you to another anonymous contributor.

Clerical error may mislead recipients

Call me silly, but I noticed a subtle clerical error in the stationery used by Facilities Operations. Their letterhead refers to their department as "Facilities AND Operations".

There shouldn't be an "AND" between "Facilities" and "Operations". There are a lot of other "operations" that take place in the District that have nothing to do with this department.

Could someone alert the Print Shop, or is there a major merge under way?

Just trying to help.

Mark Zandberg
Executive Director of Blog Content AND Development

High school math not adding up in college

At Edmonds Community College, new students take a placement test for math. Of about 1,100 high school graduates who enrolled for 2006-07, only 48 percent tested into college level math and the rest had to take pre-college math to catch up.

Statewide, 46 percent of high school graduates who enter two-year colleges right out of high school need to take pre-college math.The transition to college math can be rocky for several reasons, said Pat Averbeck, Edmonds Community College math instructor.

"The catch is that some of our math is geared traditionally toward the science/math/engineering track," he said.

In contrast, high school students throughout the state are taught reform or "inquiry-based" math, which relies on student exploration and real life context rather than direct instruction and drill.

The issue isn't confined to community colleges. Many freshmen can't do basic math, said an open letter recently signed by 60 University of Washington math, science and engineering professors. The letter, released Thursday, Feb. 28, said that professors are seeing more and more students who can't solve math problems at even a middle school level.

The professors in the letter blame the way math is taught in the state, specifically the "inquiry" approach.

To address the transition between high school and college math locally, officials and teachers from the Edmonds School District and Edmonds Community College, including Averbeck, have been working together.

They've created a course that adds inquiry methods to a traditional college course. The class is supposed to act as a bridge for district high school students about to enter college and for Edmonds Community College freshmen who placed into pre-college math. The course will be piloted at the college this spring and at three district high schools next year: Edmonds-Woodway, Meadowdale and Lynnwood.

A "Transitions Math Project" grant from the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, or OSPI, and the Gates foundation has funded two years of work on the topic.

The course is called "Transition College Math" at the high schools and Math 95 at the college. It can be described as Algebra 2 with more real-world applications and other inquiry-based teaching methods.

"A lot of kids get lost in Algebra 2 because it's heavily involved with the symbolic manipulation of algebraic symbols," said Ken Limon, assistant superintendent for the Edmonds School District. "This course makes relevancy a huge part of the curriculum, so people see real life examples of how that formula would help you answer something in real life. People feel the content is rich with the formulaic (part) and it's a good balance." The goal is to take the grade level expectations and the learning standards of K-12 and push them into the college so they have a similar set of standards, Limon said.

"Our goal is to help college math teachers understand those standards and use them in their classes so there won't be as much a need for a bridge," he said.

The Edmonds School District has been looking at the issue for several years. Five years ago, officials looked at the number of students not making it to college-level math.

At the time, about 60 percent of Edmonds district students who graduated and went to Edmonds Community College placed into pre-college math when they got there. The numbers are reduced now, Limon said. Three years ago, district officials did a study to find out why so many students were placing so low. They found that students who took at least up to Algebra 2 and who had good grades in their math classes did better on the college placement tests, Limon said. "Math is kind of like a foreign language," Limon said, referring to students who don't take math their senior year. "If you're out of practice for a whole year, it's pretty hard to take a college assessment."

Averbeck said there are many reasons that the transition between high school and college math can be rocky. The material is taught more quickly, students are expected to work more independently and some work full-time, he said.

The current pre-college math course at the college is Math 90, which uses traditional teaching methods.

"My students are saying: 'Why do I need to know this? I'm a drama major, I'm a lit major,'" Averbeck said. "I can't give them an answer – they'll never use it in their real life and won't use it in classes later on."

More traditional math instruction should be aimed at math and science majors, he said.

Editorial: See the original article.

Better Late than Never?

On May’s ticket is 6 million dollars for what I would characterize as safety and health and emergency preparedness related upgrades. There are a few little known facts about the projects that I believe taxpayers should know. They are:

Districtwide Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Electronic access, improve door lockdown capability and intrusion alarm system upgrades.
The need for new door locks was identified as early as 2001. As for the alarm systems, I submitted a system-needs report to my supervisor just as I departed in January 2005. That’s a 8-9 year wait on the locks and probable 4-5 year wait on the alarm systems from the time of the discovery of need. (Given the delay from receiving the money, going to bid, and putting it on the summer schedule).

Districtwide Energy Efficiency
Computerized monitoring and Control.
The HVAC control systems are already computerized. I know this as I performed indoor air assessments as part of my job. The need for an upgrade probably lies in the fact that the former boiler mechanic (since retired) did not like all the new technology on the systems and ripped out tens of thousands of dollars in computerized controls on each system; leaving the electronics technician to reprogram and rewire the controls making them only accessible through the maintenance department. This is the 1.25 million dollar legacy of poor management of the former maintenance director (since retired); he reported to Marla Miller.

Systems Upgrades and Asset Protection
Roofing upgrades.
Hallelujah! There were so many leaks in so many schools, that the roofer could not keep up. In addition for structural damage and possible impacts on indoor air, there were issues with leaks into mechanical rooms that could damage the equipment.

Classroom carpet replacement.
This was discussed as a solution to many indoor air quality complaints as early as 2001 and a list made in 2004. Another significant wait of 6-7 years.

Regulatory requirements.
I had a lengthy list in 2000 after my first audit of the schools. I was told to be realistic as to what could be done. Larger structural changes I was told would be incorporated as schools were replaced. So flammable storage cabinets were purchased, TVs were strapped down, and prohibited chemicals in science labs were disposed. The safety showers, ventilation hoods, and eyewashes I identified were still not installed when I left in 2005 but have since been. I have an idea what is left to do and am relieved after years of waiting, the District is finally addressing these issues.

In the Tech Levy’s flyer, School Board member Gary Noble is quoted, "We continue to manage our assets wisely." I guess wise in this instance means the purchase of land for the new administration support center was a higher priority than long identified safety, health and emergency response issues; so much so that overspending by 2.5 million on a sub standard piece of property was warranted. Somehow I am unable to follow this logic; but then again, I might be biased.

Claire Olsovsky, MA MS
Former Loss Control Safety Specialist, 2000-2005

Sixty thousand page views and climbing.

Considering the topic of discussion, we have quite a profound amount of traffic. We are not running a campaign for the democratic nomination or handling consumer complaints for Ford. We are just a small blog advocating for the appropriate use of public funds in a shrinking school district.

There are currently 270 posts. Sixty thousand translates into 222 page views per entry. Which means that each entry was viewed, on average, 222 times. Of course, we started off a little slow back in June and July of 2007 and the page views were substantially lower. Gradually, over time, the page views have been climbing.

The 270 posts also translates to roughly one entry per day. We try to keep our site fresh and active. No web trickery with the background color changing each time someone loads the site. No kid art shuffling across the page. Just the facts. Which is a lot more than you will ever get from the District.

Of course, 60,000 page views couldn't have been possible without the support and contributions from our readers. Thank you.

Mark Zandberg
Executive Director of Blog Content Development

Editorial: The WHO estimates that 60,000 people die from sun exposure every year. $60,000 is also what the District pays a budget analyst with a Master's degree in Public Administration, which is the same salary they pay for clerical support in Planning & Property Management.

How much of human life is lost in waiting.

Dear Mr. Zandberg,

I am the project manager for Evergreen Solutions’ part of the Yellow Book Audit of the ten largest school districts in Washington State. We at Evergreen are under contract to Cotton & Co., a CPA firm from Alexandria, VA. Cotton & Co. is under contract to the State Auditor’s Office in Washington State for this work.

At the present time, Cotton & Company and Evergreen Solutions are preparing a draft report for submission to the State Auditor’s Office, covering all ten districts. The SAO, after its review, will then conduct individual reviews of the applicable draft findings with each school district. A Final Report covering all ten districts will be prepared once all of this work has been accomplished. It is my understanding that only after a Final Report has been officially approved by the SAO for publication, it will become available to the general public. I know that no one is permitted to release any information, in whole or in part, until such time.

Tom Martineau, R.A., NCARB, LEED AP
Senior Manager
Evergreen Solutions LLC
2852 Remington Green Circle
Suite 101
Tallahassee FL 32308
850.383.0111 office
850.339.1292 mobile
www.ConsultEvergreen.com

Dissecting Fraud.

In a recent article about embezzlements, the author stated that “embezzlers are driven by insatiable greed.” Webster’s defines insatiable as “incapable of being satisfied; quenchless.” Perhaps there are some fraud perpetrators driven by such wild-eyed greed. Most fraud perpetrators, however, are motivated by other, less-crazed factors.

The Typical White-Collar Criminal
Studies have shown that fraud perpetrators come from all walks of life, have wide ranges of educational and socio-economic backgrounds and, on the surface, look like all of us. Most fraud perpetrators are simply ordinary people who (a) find themselves faced with unbearable financial pressure and (b) perceive the opportunity to relieve that pressure without getting caught. Professor Steve Albrecht of Brigham Young University theorizes that, because of the everyman nature of the typical fraud perpetrator, most frauds are characterized by a “fraud triangle.” The three legs of the fraud triangle are motive, opportunity (or perceived opportunity), and rationalization. This third leg is what allows ordinary people to justify what they are doing without having to admit their dishonesty to themselves. Frequently used rationalizations include “I’m only taking what they really owe me;” “Management is a bunch of creeps, so I’m just giving them what they deserve;” “Everyone does it;” and the old stand-by, “I’m not stealing, I’m borrowing the money, and I’ll pay it back.” (A 62-year-old bookkeeper was recently found to have embezzled more than $1.4 million dollars. Despite her $38,000 per year income, she steadfastly insisted that she always planned to pay the money back. Using her full salary, it would have taken her 37 years to pay back the stolen money—not counting any interest on that debt, of course.)

So, Why Aren’t More Frauds Prevented?
Every auditor knows that most frauds can be prevented. Using Dr. Albrecht’s fraud triangle, the solution is seemingly simple. The one leg of the triangle that organizations can exert almost complete control over is opportunity. Take away the perpetrator’s opportunity and no matter how great the financial pressure (or even the insatiable greed), and the fraud won’t happen in your organization. So, as Ross Perot would say, “It’s just that simple.”
The problem is that the only way to remove opportunity is by installing and enforcing a strong system of internal control. There are three barriers to getting many organizations—especially small organizations—to focus on and devote necessary resources to strong control systems.

“It can’t happen here.”
Good managers are usually optimists. They don’t dwell on what might go wrong. If they focus at all on the risk of fraud, they usually conclude that it happens elsewhere, to other people. Unfortunately, the strongest believers in sound systems of internal control (besides auditors, of course) are often managers who learned their lessons the hard way—by being victimized.

“We only hire people we can trust.”
Many managers believe that the best guarantee against fraud is to hire trustworthy people. Certainly, it is wise to hire people you think you can trust. (If you doubt that, just consider the alternative). The problem is that it is impossible to assess with even partial accuracy any individual’s innermost thoughts, ethics, personal values, motives, and pressures. Further, even the most trustworthy individual’s circumstances may change to the degree that financial pressures become unbearable. Few things are more tragic and organizationally demoralizing than the discovery that someone in whom everyone had placed their trust has violated that trust. Several years ago, Ellen Cook was found to have embezzled $1.2 million dollars from the Episcopal Church’s national office. That organization has still not fully recovered from the resulting upheavals, guilt, accusations, trauma, and recriminations caused by that betrayal of trust.

Internal Control is Boring
Let’s face it. We all know that a discussion about internal control is one of the least interesting things auditors do, and probably the most uninteresting thing managers ever hear. (Would you have read this article if its title had been “Dissecting Internal Control Breakdowns”?) Internal control weaknesses are so commonplace and predictable that auditors keep a supply of standard findings on their computers to insert effortlessly into their reports. Managers know that the exit conference is all but over as soon as the auditors mention internal control findings.

A Case Study that Explains the Most Important Reason for Strong Controls
Ask any auditor or manager why internal control is important. Most will tell you that internal control is needed in order to prevent errors, irregularities, and fraud. There is, however, a much more important reason. Consider the following case study.

Recently, an audit of a small not-for-profit organization revealed that the organization had disbursed more than $177,000 to a vendor for supplies and services not provided. An investigation was initiated. Long before the investigation was completed, the following occurred:

*The executive director (who had recommended using the vendor and who had approved all of the bogus payments) was asked to resign. She never held another position of trust in any organization.
*The chief financial officer (who had signed the vendor contract and who maintained total control over the accounting function) resigned before being asked to resign. Under a cloud of suspicion, he retired soon thereafter and never sought another position of responsibility.
*The board chairman and all of the directors were forced to resign by the organization’s largest donor for failing to carry out their fiduciary responsibilities properly. None of them was ever asked to serve on another board.
*The CPA firm that discovered the improper payments was sued by the not-for-profit. (Although the firm found the improper payments in its most recent audit, it had failed to find similar improper payments in prior years.) The firm’s reputation was damaged, its liability insurance premium was tripled, the partner-in-charge of the audit was asked to resign, and many of the firm’s employees sought employment elsewhere.
*The vendor lost its four largest customers and declared bankruptcy not long afterwards.

Following a lengthy (and expensive) investigation, it was discovered that the vendor had had significant turnover in its bookkeeping department. One of the bookkeepers had programmed the accounting software to replicate invoice information, automatically including the invoice amount. Subsequent bookkeepers didn’t understand that they only needed to change invoice amounts to generate new invoices; they entered completely new invoices each month, and the automatically replicated invoices also got printed and mailed. The not-for-profit had poor controls surrounding invoice approvals. The executive director approved the invoices assuming that the CFO had ascertained that they were proper. The overworked CFO never bothered to routinely assure that all of the invoices were for goods and services received. The board had infrequent meetings and only focused on program performance. The CPA firm viewed the audit engagement as low risk. (The firm steadfastly maintained that none of the improper payments were material under the audit approach they used.) The vendor’s owner focused all of his attention on customer service and ignored accounting details as long as cash flow was positive.

In retrospect, as far as anyone could ever determine, everyone involved was impeccably honest. Nevertheless, all involved were subjected to suspicions of dishonesty—and their reputations and careers were ruined—simply because the lack of controls placed them all in positions where they could have been involved with the improper payments. They had opportunity.

Lessons Learned
We will have greater success convincing managers that controls are important if we explain that the most important reason they should establish and enforce strong control systems is to protect honest employees from unwarranted suspicion of wrongdoing. Most competent managers sincerely care about their employees. If we can get them to see and understand this most important reason for strong controls, they may give controls the attention they deserve. Furthermore, if employees can be made to understand the risky positions they are in if their organizations do not protect them by having sound controls in place, they will insist that the organizations take corrective action.

Dave Cotton is managing partner of Cotton & Company LLP in Alexandria, Virginia, a member of the VSCPA Litigation Services Committee, and author of Fraud in Governmental and Not-for-Profit Audits—the Auditor’s Responsibilities Under SAS 82, an AICPA continuing professional education course.

Patience and fortitude conquer all things.

A brief update for our blog readers.

First, I realize that the porn issue is important to cover. It demonstrates irrefutable proof that preferential treatment is being given to those working in the inner circle. I found it mildly entertaining that the District's law firm wanted to prove that I violated some internet use rules while I was a district employee, while all the while they protect a porn enthusiast using district connectivity, district hardware and district time to download inappropriate images. While it is important, the blog has a lot of other topics to cover and I cannot spend time filtering out every comment that makes mention of this issue.

Second, patience is the word of the day. The blog is starting to get the cart out ahead of the horse. We have made some real progress in exposing topics of concern and now we have to let the official process catch up. The State Auditor's report will be out between March and May. Once we see their conclusions in writing, we will know what path to take. There are a number of other entities waiting for the Auditor to draw a few conclusions before initiating further investigations.

The blog will continue to root out corruption wherever it hides. In the meantime, please spread the word to your friends, family and co-workers. I don't have $7,000 laying around to spend on a newsletter for parents. I just have this little website and a modest network of loyal readers that care about the District. If you can share this website with others, perhaps they will also challenge its contents, demand the highest level of credibility, and openly discuss strategies to improve our beloved school district.

Thank you for your continued support.

Mark Zandberg
Executive Director of Blog Content Development
Now available at:
http://www.esd15.org/ (blog)
http://www.esd15.net/ (google-driven chat site)
http://www.esd15.com/ (blog-inspired clothing and merchandise)

McMurray-Phillips interview is nothing to advertise.

You may have noticed we are attempting to communicate with you more frequently with the news, events, and celebrations that occur across our District every day, without inundating your email inbox. The below content reflects that effort, and is a compilation of several items – including a well-deserved recognition of our Food Services Department for an outstanding federal audit.

Your comments, suggestions, and ideas on ways we can further improve and provide you with timely and accurate information are always welcome and can be emailed to either Jennifer or me in Community Relations.

Sincerely,
Debbie Jakala
Jennifer Aaby

Edmonds School District Board Members ON AIR Channel 21/26
Ann McMurray and Susan Phillips interviewed by DJ Wilson for “Civic Engagement” on educational access channel

Tune in to channel 26 in Edmonds or channel 21 elsewhere in the district to see Board Members Ann McMurray and Susan Phillips interviewed on a variety of topics, including the make-up and duties of the school board, educational issues such as the WASL and No Child Left Behind, graduation requirements, diversity in our schools and communities, and current events such as local caucuses.

The schedule for the program:
Sundays at 12 and 11 a.m. and 7 and 11 p.m.
Mondays at 2:30 and 7:30 a.m. and 7 and 11 p.m.
Tuesdays at 6 and 11:30 a.m. and 4:30 and 9:30 p.m.
Wednesdays at 12:30 and 8 a.m. and 1:30 and 10 p.m.
Thursdays at 3:30 and 11 a.m. and 4:30 and 9:30 p.m.
Fridays at 12 a.m. and 1:30 and 10 p.m.
Saturdays at 7:30 a.m. and 3 and 9:30 p.m.

The program in its entirety is also available as a free download to iTunes at www.edcc.edu/trc/itunesu.

I couldn't watch the entire program in one sitting. It is far too painful to see how our school district is portrayed.

McMurray sounds like she has a brick of molten cheese shoved up her nose, she gestures like a retired orchestral conductor and her most inspirational "book, play or film" is Little Nemo. Her use of "um", "well", "ya know" and "like" reveals just how much time she must spend with pre-teen children.

At least Phillips volunteers "every one day a week" as a lunch buddy for two fourth grade girls. They play games. How sweet.

Could the state auditors be reading the blog?

Last 10 Visitors
Time (EST) IP Address
03:18:15 PM edmonds.wednet.edu (168.99.166.2)
03:17:07 PM edmonds.wednet.edu (168.99.166.2)
03:16:12 PM edmonds.wednet.edu (168.99.166.2)
03:15:07 PM edmonds.wednet.edu (168.99.166.2)
03:10:12 PM edmonds.wednet.edu (168.99.166.2)
03:09:10 PM edmonds.wednet.edu (168.99.166.2)
03:07:01 PM edmonds.wednet.edu (168.99.166.2)
03:06:17 PM edmonds.wednet.edu (168.99.166.2)
03:04:02 PM edmonds.wednet.edu (168.99.166.2)
03:03:12 PM edmonds.wednet.edu (168.99.166.2)

Last 10 Referring Websites
Time (EST) Site Address
03:18:15 PM http://esd15.blogspot.com/search/label/Pat%20Shields
03:17:07 PM http://esd15.blogspot.com/search/label/Pat%20Shields
03:16:12 PM http://esd15.blogspot.com/search/label/Pat%20Shields
03:15:07 PM http://esd15.blogspot.com/
03:10:12 PM http://esd15.blogspot.com/search/label/Pat%20Shields
03:09:10 PM http://esd15.blogspot.com/search/label/Pat%20Shields
03:07:01 PM http://esd15.blogspot.com/search/label/Pat%20Shields
03:06:17 PM http://esd15.blogspot.com/
03:04:02 PM http://esd15.blogspot.com/search/label/Pat%20Shields
03:03:12 PM http://esd15.blogspot.com/search/label/Pat%20Shields

It would appear as though someone is doing a lot of reading. Could it be the audit team?

For the times, they are a-changin?

From: Mark Zandberg [mailto:mark@esd15.org]
Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 8:04 AM
To: Christina Siderius
Subject: Edmonds School District

Christina,

Lynn Thompson had mentioned that you have taken over her reporting area, which includes the Edmonds School District. I am not sure if you are already aware of what has been going on in the District. There is the official position and then a series of stories we are investigating on the blog at www.esd15.org.

The blog is primarily focused upon the facilities side of the organization, which through questionable practices, has reduced the financial stamina of the District and weakened organizational priorities which ultimately impact the education of children.

There was also a story on King 5 last week that touched lightly on one of the many topics the blog has been investigating.

I also wanted to let you know that a town hall meeting is planned for Brier Terrace Middle School this Saturday at 1:00 PM. This meeting will be an opportunity for our district community to formally request an objective investigation into the climate and conduct at the Edmonds School District.

Welcome to our neck of the woods.

Mark Zandberg
www.esd15.org

[Christina]
Hi Mark, thanks for the note. This is literally my sixth day working up here, so I'm in a bit of a whirlwind of new faces and issues at the moment... however, I'm interested in your blog and plan to set aside some time to give it a good look. Let me know how the Saturday meeting goes.

Christina Siderius
Seattle Times Reporter
p: 425-745-7813 e: csiderius@seattletimes.com
Continuous news at seattletimes.com

Things that make you say "Hmm":
1. Lynn Thompson had been receiving updates from the blog, but did nothing other than claim there were a few inaccuracies.
2. Marla Miller claimed Lynn Thompson as a friend, until she ran the story about spending $18,000 for senior year.
3. King 5 ran their story on February 11th and within days, Lynn Thompson had been relocated to another bureau.

Spinach, pet food, beef and board members.

There is an alternative to waiting for the next election cycle: RECALL. It is a provision allowed in a democratic society. It's sorta like impeaching a federal official, but it's a tool reserved for the PEOPLE to make mid-course corrections in their local elective officials.

Choose the two or three most vulnerable board members and begin a recall campaign to remove them from office. Local papers would HAVE to report the movement; it is news, after all. With the recall campaign in the minds of the public, there would be a better opportunity to raise these ethical, if not criminal, missteps and affect change.

Thank you for the suggestion.

RCW 29A.56.110
Initiating proceedings — Statement — Contents — Verification — Definitions.
Whenever any legal voter of the state or of any political subdivision thereof, either individually or on behalf of an organization, desires to demand the recall and discharge of any elective public officer of the state or of such political subdivision, as the case may be, under the provisions of sections 33 and 34 of Article 1 of the Constitution, the voter shall prepare a typewritten charge, reciting that such officer, naming him or her and giving the title of the office, has committed an act or acts of malfeasance, or an act or acts of misfeasance while in office, or has violated the oath of office, or has been guilty of any two or more of the acts specified in the Constitution as grounds for recall. The charge shall state the act or acts complained of in concise language, give a detailed description including the approximate date, location, and nature of each act complained of, be signed by the person or persons making the charge, give their respective post office addresses, and be verified under oath that the person or persons believe the charge or charges to be true and have knowledge of the alleged facts upon which the stated grounds for recall are based. For the purposes of this chapter:
(1) "Misfeasance" or "malfeasance" in office means any wrongful conduct that affects, interrupts, or interferes with the performance of official duty;
(a) Additionally, "misfeasance" in office means the performance of a duty in an improper manner; and
(b) Additionally, "malfeasance" in office means the commission of an unlawful act;
(2) "Violation of the oath of office" means the neglect or knowing failure by an elective public officer to perform faithfully a duty imposed by law.

RCW 29A.56.120
Petition — Where filed.
Any person making a charge shall file it with the elections officer whose duty it is to receive and file a declaration of candidacy for the office concerning the incumbent of which the recall is to be demanded. The officer with whom the charge is filed shall promptly (1) serve a copy of the charge upon the officer whose recall is demanded, and (2) certify and transmit the charge to the preparer of the ballot synopsis provided in RCW 29A.56.130. The manner of service shall be the same as for the commencement of a civil action in superior court.

RCW 29A.56.130
Ballot synopsis.
(1) Within fifteen days after receiving a charge, the officer specified below shall formulate a ballot synopsis of the charge of not more than two hundred words.
(a) Except as provided in (b) of this subsection, if the recall is demanded of an elected public officer whose political jurisdiction encompasses an area in more than one county, the attorney general shall be the preparer, except if the recall is demanded of the attorney general, the chief justice of the supreme court shall be the preparer.
(b) If the recall is demanded of an elected public officer whose political jurisdiction lies wholly in one county, or if the recall is demanded of an elected public officer of a district whose jurisdiction encompasses more than one county but whose declaration of candidacy is filed with a county auditor in one of the counties, the prosecuting attorney of that county shall be the preparer, except that if the prosecuting attorney is the officer whose recall is demanded, the attorney general shall be the preparer.
(2) The synopsis shall set forth the name of the person charged, the title of the office, and a concise statement of the elements of the charge. Upon completion of the ballot synopsis, the preparer shall certify and transmit the exact language of the ballot synopsis to the persons filing the charge and the officer subject to recall. The preparer shall additionally certify and transmit the charges and the ballot synopsis to the superior court of the county in which the officer subject to recall resides and shall petition the superior court to approve the synopsis and to determine the sufficiency of the charges.

I will discuss this with the blog's legal counsel.

Good news is getting harder and harder to come by.

Please join me in congratulating our excellent food service staff, under the leadership of Director Barbara Lloyd, for an outstanding report from the just completed federal audit! The auditor said she has NEVER given such a clean audit report, and we can take great pride in knowing our students are receiving nutritious, safe, and efficient food service from highly qualified, professional staff. (I became a little nervous when she started talking about how they could have a great consulting business helping other districts get up to speed!)

Imagine such a gushing letter being written by the Superintendent about the financial audit of the District. First off, there cannot be a clean audit and no one will take pride in the findings. No one will be seeking advice from Business and Operations - unless they seek to abuse staff, give away millions, favor friends and relatives and avoid following board policy while staying in control of a district.

As a district, we have one area that requires corrective action – products available in ASB vending machines and student stores during meal periods were found to be out of compliance with federal regulations. Barb will be working with Ken and the appropriate secondary principals to develop an action plan to address those concerns.

Remove the offending vending machines and send them back to the distributor. Sort of like the removal of corrupt officials. Pack them up and send them to an organization that appreciates rotten teeth and guts.

It’s great to have good news to share, and to get to brag about the results of a lot of very hard work and close attention to detail on the part of Barb and her staff. Please join me in thanking them!

Yes, good news is getting harder and harder to come by.

Marla

Don't hold your breath for the Auditor's report.

My first experience with the State Auditor’s office occurred in the mid 1990’s when I taught continuing education classes at Lake Washington Technical College. Our secretary’s husband was a seasonal grounds worker for the campus. One night he mentioned to his wife that the grounds crew was sent over to the then college President’s residence to remove and install a new hot tub. The old hot tub was subsequently transported to the Director of Facilities’ home. Shocked at the implications, our secretary reported it to the State Auditor. When the investigator showed up, the members of the grounds crew lied to protect their boss, the head of grounds who was caught in the middle. There were no records to review. There was no action against the President or the Director of Facilities.

I tell this story because I do not see how the State Auditor, who is strictly looking into financial wrong-doing, can thoroughly investigate the Edmonds School District. Many of the issues at the District relate to competence and ethics which is not their purview. After all is said and done, their books may have the appearance of propriety (i.e. since they’ve have taken the opportunity to shred many key documents). The heart of the matter is how the leadership chooses to spend the dollars they have and how they conduct themselves.

Currently the state legislature is contemplating a bill to expand the types of crimes committed by teachers that would trigger decertification; including poor professional behavior. There is nothing in place created for check and balances on school Directors and Administrators who are the stewards of millions of dollars and are the examples for the rank and file.

I bring this up now because in April when the Auditors report will be published I know it will not be enough. For after he left Lake Washington Technical College, the Director of Facilities was accused of again of wrong doing at his new place of employment, the University of Washington Bothell Campus. Only this time he was caught and dismissed. The President retired without any consequence to his action. I urge that OSPI intervene and investigate. The students, parents, staff and taxpayers at Edmonds should not have to wait until the current leadership moves on to become a problem elsewhere in the system or retires. Education dollars are too precious to waste.

Claire Olsovsky

Help Wanted: Public Records Requisition Specialist

In the interest of saving the District some money, our board of directors at the blog has authorized the creation of one new position.

Position Summary:
Edmonds School District Weblog (ESD15.ORG) is one of the region's strongest and most dynamic blog sites committed to taxpayer advocacy and the elimination of corruption in school district administration. ESD15.org specializes in the acquisition, investigation and tracking of inappropriate use of public funds in the Edmonds School District. Our eight-month tradition of success is attributable to the bright, driven professionals at ESD15.org. Creative, responsible, customer-oriented people are drawn to ESD15.org's advocacy strength, our dynamic workplace (your computer) and the exceptional opportunities for personal and professional growth (we can meet for coffee and chat).

ESD15.org offers a no tangible salary, no training reimbursement, no education reimbursement, no certification bonuses, and no real comprehensive benefits package (aside from the satisfaction you may feel from helping expose poor choices by public officials and employees).

ESD15.org has an immediate opening for a Public Records Requisition Specialist located in Edmonds, Lynnwood, Mountlake Terrace, Brier, Woodway or unincorporated parts of Snohomish County.

The candidate shall have at least five minutes of acquisition support experience. The candidate will be responsible for making requests for public records from the Edmonds School District. ESD15.org prefers that the applicant have absolutely no connection to current district management. Preferably you should not be related to Marla Miller, Nick Brossoit, or any member of the Board of Directors.

The purpose of this position is to make requests for public records directly to the Edmonds School District and thereby avoid channeling requests through the District's legal team at increased expense to district taxpayers. The successful applicant should know how to send email, including blind copies of requests to ESD15.org management.

If you are interested, please email:
Mark Zandberg, mark@esd15.org
Executive Director of Blog Content Development