Education

I witnessed the Toledo Public School Board of Education meeting tonight and it was a barrel of laughs, around the "horseshoe" many concerns by myself and other spectators and maybe violations of the sunshine laws, by the board members. But then what do you expect, that was how Three for Children was born, Larry Sykes (he's baacck), Deborah Barnett and Steve Steel.

This interview happened last month and caused a controversy when Shepard Smith said he would burn down the Detroit Public Schools if he was a parent there. Watch the whole segment and you will see where Shepard Smith's outrage is justified, yet this situation occurs here in Toledo. There are still some schools which are failures and continue to be so, yet we have administration and board members who never want to hold these schools accountable. And you know TPS does not want to do anything about problems, the Dan Burns situation indicates they have no clue problems exists and contrary to board members and administration officials wanting to put this behind their back saying things are fixed, they are not and won't be without creating a new proactive system to identify and deal with problems as they come up whether it is academic performance or employees stealing money. Urban schools suffer from a serious case of accountability. If TPS wanted to prove they are going to be proactive in dealing with problems, quickly addressing problem schools is a great place to start because at least they are well documented and known. Our community cannot wait one week more for schools to continually fail.
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I thought this is worth mentioning, especially here in Toledo.
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ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Public school teachers took less time off when principals had more flexibility to dismiss them without completing elaborate documentation or attending a hearing, one of two new University of Michigan studies shows.

Two papers authored by Brian Jacob, a professor at the U-M Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, examined a policy change in the Chicago Public School system in which principals were given complete autonomy to dismiss probationary teachers.

Today Robert Vasquez apologized to the people who had been tarnished by the secret investigations, in attempt to push the the atrocities under the rug and move on. He stated, "On behalf of the board, I want the taxpayers of this community to know that we have been reviewing the auditor's reports, and we find these actions to be completely unacceptable," Mr. Vasquez said.

1. Jon Stainbrook is violating a court agreement and refusing to sell Lincoln Day tickets to some Republicans he does not like (as heard on WSPD).
2. TPS has a 30 million dollar deficit. TPS has no fiscal controls, basically when the pot is dry they come back with a levy. They could care less about money, note 650k+ was stolen under everyone's nose, no one batted an eye. Get used to it until there are some real board members on the TPS board. It is nothing but a playpen for everyone currently on there.

Plain Dealer editorial:

Cleveland schools CEO Eugene Sanders may not yet realize it, but the cloak-and- dagger tactics of Daniel Burns, the district's former chief operating officer, are casting grave doubts on Sanders' ability to manage his promised turnaround of Cleveland's failing schools.

The stakes are too high to let that happen -- which is why Sanders needs to be as open as possible about why top school officials spent money that should have been used to educate kids to spy on school critics instead.

Toledo Free Press has the latest breaking news.....I think there are more involved. Blade also now has a story on the auditor findings.
Latest:
Foley signed checks and Sanders provided tips. Is this an example of a district out of control? This is the behavior that is bred when there is a lack of accountability by the local media and by the board. Larry Sykes is oddly quiet about this whole thing.
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You can pick up and read the story in El Tiempo.
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El Tiempo Article Kevin Milliken

Former TPS Administrator Ordered Probes of Private Citizens Investigations Occurred at Taxpayer Expense

The former business manager at Toledo Public Schools hired a private investigation firm at taxpayer expense to look into the backgrounds of five people who were private citizens at the time, including three people who would eventually be elected to the TPS board of education.

Toledo, Ohio – Former Board Member Darlene Fisher along with Francis Dumbuya and Steven Flagg will hold a press conference on January 13, 2010 to discuss the invasion of their privacy through the illegal and immoral investigations conducted by the Toledo Public Schools.

The press and public are cordially invited to attend.

What: Press Conference

When: 1 PM, January 13, 2010

Where: Kent Branch Library, auditorium

3101 Collingwood Boulevard

Lawmaker Proposes Solution to New Costly Mandates

Columbus – State Representative Randy Gardner (R-Bowling Green) today offered sponsor testimony for House Bill 366, a legislative measure that would permit schools to be exempt from the costly all-day kindergarten and other unfunded mandates included in the state’s biennial budget.

Pick up this week's El Tiempo for the story.
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El Tiempo Article Kevin Milliken

This is another one of those questions, did he really just start doing this in Cleveland? I don't think so, but because no one watches for this locally, we probably will not know.
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From the Plain Dealer
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland school board Vice Chairwoman Louise Dempsey apologized Friday to the community, saying she's sorry that the district hired private investigators to keep tabs on employees.

"What happened was unconscionable. The board does not condone this practice at all," Dempsey said. "We will never condone this behavior."

Remember this theft happened while Larry Sykes and Eugene Sanders stood up with their financial oversight committees and said everything is good, trust us. TPS continued to say trust us, then Dan Burns gets caught in Cleveland. TPS scrambled saying we have no clue how much he took from us. Well now we trust you never will look after our money even when you tell us to trust us. For many years, board members including Larry Sykes said that the rest of the State looks up to us. Well I don't know how may districts had 700k stolen from them right under their noses.

Why did it take so long to expose Steve Riddle as a person of unsavory character? There were numerous signs, warnings and charges filed against him and staff members at Leverette who were preying on not only the children but women also.

It has been disclosed on 11News that Steve Riddle has resigned as principal of Leverette Middle School. Now maybe, depending on who they put in as principal, this school will have leadership that is pro children. Out with the child predators, in with the child educators giving the students safe passage to a successful life.

It took awhile to eliminate this principal, how many children were damaged in the process?

The Cleveland Plain Dealer published the latest on the Burns saga. Again, one has to wonder if this was the first time he did it-I would put money on no. Dr. Sanders is of course denying knowledge.
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Former Cleveland schools Chief Operating Officer Daniel Burns had a private firm conduct undercover investigations of three high-ranking district administrators, probes that cost tens of thousands of dollars but failed to find anything suspicious, Chief Executive Officer Eugene Sanders says.

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/12/cleveland_schools_ex-official_1....

Steve Riddle, principal of Leverette Middle School was suspended with pay on Tuesday December 15, 2009 pending an investigation, the nature of which is unknown.
Http://abclocal.go.com/wtgv/story?section=news/local&id=7179590

Another local name name is now involved in the Burns scandal, Steve Cotner who performed background investigations. In Cleveland he performed 20k of services which were not rendered. One has to wonder if he was related to another Sander's employee Craig Cotner who was one time district academic officer.

You’re invited
Libbey Humanities 3rd Annual
Make It and Take It
Who: Future Cowboys & Cowgirls
When: Saturday, Dec. 12, 2009 from 10:00 a.m.-1:00p.m.
Where: Libbey High School Cafeteria
Free Admission & Free Lunch
Arts and Crafts, Dance & Musical Performances, Cookie
Decorating, Homemade Popcorn Balls, Reading room, Science
Experiments and much more!
Ho! Ho! Ho! Santa Claus is coming too!
Bring a canned good donation to receive a holiday surprise from
Humanities (all canned goods will be used to supply holiday
baskets for those in need)
Write a letter to be delivered to Santa!