The following post is LONG and goes back to events of several months ago only because definitive information verifying the "rumors" has been unavailable until recently. I believed that it was important enough to wait until the proper documents were available and reviewed before putting information into the public domain. Sadly, what was "rumored" was fully supported by actual documents recently received.
The BOTTOM LINE:
Former Superintendent Klaus and Former BOE President Olson collaborated and created a document in the summer of 2007 that was intended to allow Dr. Klaus to collect his early retirement stipend while he was still working as a Principal. This document was backdated to Feb. 5, 2007 to agree with the dates on his legitimate contract. The document was inserted into Dr. Klaus' personnel file and then was used by him to try to increase his compensation. During the Fall of 2007 the current BOE members became aware of this attempt to falsify Board action and manipulate Dr. Klaus' compensation. It appears that NO DISCIPLINARY action was taken as Dr. Klaus is clearly still employed by the ECASD in a position of trust and high remuneration as a Principal. No legal action appears to have been taken against former BOE President Olson who created, backdated and signed a document that falsified action of elected officials.
Accountability has flown the coop. Transparency is a pipe dream. Honesty is not part of the Core Values of the ECASD.
Just when we thought that Former Superintendent Bill Klaus and Former BOE President Carol Olson had done enough damage to our district and that they had "moved on", I heard rumors from community members in November 2007 (yup, 5 months ago) that they were doing some really naughty things! When I first heard this story I was absolutely flabbergasted as it sounded truly beyond belief. Again, even though my harshest criticism of our former leadership would include words like "incompetent" and "arrogant" I have NEVER believed that Klaus or Olson were downright greedy, unethical and, guilty of illegal acts. I was wrong.
Anyway, the short version of the story I heard in November was the following:
1. That former Supt. Klaus was expecting some form of "stipend" ($2,000/month) that he had in his position as Supt. to be continued in his position as a Principal which he started in July 2007.
2. That in July he spoke with former BOE Pres., Carol Olson, who apparently agreed that he was entitled to this compensation.
3. That in July 2007, after her tenure with the BOE was fully completed she signed and backdated some documents that would allow this stipend payment to continue.
Since this "news" seemed to be well circulated in the public I contacted Dr. Leary, Mr. VandeWater and Mr. Kling who would know about any such agreements or payments. I asked them to please "clarify this and put to rest this rumor as being NOT TRUE so we can get staff and citizens back to the business of focusing on the business of our district and with students." The silence was deafening. No response at all.
A few days later I received a phone call at my home with an ECASD "caller ID". I no longer have school age children at home so this was a little unusual. I answered the phone and the caller said: " Maria, this is Bill Klaus. I just got a phone call from a local attorney offering to defend me in a lawsuit against you." I asked him why he would sue me and he said that the attorney had just read him an e-mail from me. Hmmm....
The BOE was informed of this event on the day it happened (Dec. 3, 2007). On Dec. 6th I wrote another e-mail to follow-up with Dr. Leary, Mr. VandeWater and Mr. Kling that contained the following:
How does an e-mail from a citizen asking about serious legal and ethical questions regarding a current ECASD employee and the former Pres. of the BOE result in a not-so-thinly-veiled threat of legal action against the person asking the question?
In our telephone conversation Dr. Klaus did confirm that a document regarding his compensation was prepared in July/Aug. 2007 and signed by Former BOE Pres. Carol Olson (a timeframe when she had absolutely no legal authority for such action). He further stated that the date she signed on the document was Feb. 2007 which was a time that she was Pres. of the ECASD BOE.
Clearly, the actions of Dr. Klaus and Ms. Olson will be viewed by the public as an abuse of their former leadership positions in the ECASD. Any further erosion of public trust in the ECASD would be terribly destructive. However the response by the current leadership of the ECASD and the BOE has the potential to demonstrate to our community an absolute commitment to the expectation of honesty, fairness and transparency. (I ask you to consider the theoretical response of the leadership of the ECASD Administration and BOE to discovering that a teacher attempted to manipulate/increase their compensation in actions similar to those of Dr. Klaus and Ms. Olson.)
I think that it is clear that the seriousness of this has elevated and deserves a response. I respectfully ask the following:
1. Who else received a copy of the e-mail I sent to you?
2. Were any other ECASD employees involved in this incident?
3. Since these actions are now the subject of growing public discussion and dismay, what is the response to our community by the ECASD leadership and BOE?
I can assure you that I am completely committed to looking to the future of our district. Because of that, I think that it is crucial that leadership errors from the past be dealt with in a timely, fair and transparent manner.
Both Dr. Leary and Mr. VandeWater lateralled the ball to Mr. Kling who never responded at all.
Shortly after this my father died and I was out of town and busy with family and the Holidays and I did not do any additional follow up until January 2008. At this point I was aware that the LT and others were asking for copies of documents related to Dr. Klaus' compensation but they were all being stonewalled by the ECASD Administration and BOE leadership (Pres. O'Brien to be precise). Multiple Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests were filed with the district with no response or additional delays. Attorneys here in Eau Claire as well as Madison were consulted and the taxpayers of EC will be paying for all this needless legal wrangling and avoidance of just telling the truth.
Here is another instance of where Conflict of Interest is harmful to good decision-making: Pres. O'Brien's employer, the Weld Riley law firm, is also the legal counsel for the ECASD. When a legal sticky wicket like this shows up the complications of obtaining an INDEPENDENT legal opinion about possible unethical/illegal activity involving persons who have worked for years together (Klaus, Olson and the Weld, Riley attorneys) is completely compromised.
FINALLY on the Friday afternoon before Spring Break word was that the documents were available to review at the ECASD Main Office. I have no doubt that all of this delay was due to Mr. O'Brien's desire to avoid having to actually make a few tough decisions during his tenure as President of the BOE that might involve some legal unpleasantness with Mr. Klaus and Ms. Olson, his former BOE buddy. I have repeatedly indicated that one of the past leadership failings of the BOE has been the inappropriate chumminess with ECASD Administration that has left them without the proper independence in decision-making.
Anyway, we have the documents. I am too much a technological lame brain to be able to post them on the blog. I am consulting some technological whiz kids who might be able to get them posted here so the rest of you can see the sad truth. For now we just need to keep hoping that we will keep making progress in other ways and the lousy leadership of the past will not insert themselves into the present anymore!
Showing posts with label Transparency. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Transparency. Show all posts
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Transparency 101
The following information is copied off of this website: http://www.illinoisloop.org/candor.html and provides excellent guidelines for what our community should expect from our public institutions like the ECASD. This was helpfully submitted by Karen Peikert commenting that she would be happy to have just 1/4th of this information available on the ECASD website. I agree!
Maria
Candor: Complete Information for the Community Checklist of Public Information
Government school districts are public bodies whose inner workings should be visible to all residents, taxpayers and education consumers. Two powerful tools are available for residents who want to learn about their school districts, namely, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and the Open Meetings Act.
The Illinois Loop believes that this is only a start. To be truly operating in full candor, a school district should not be waiting for citizen petitions. The following important information should be available up-front, on the district's website as well as readily available for public inspection on-site:
Operations
Board Policies: The collected "board policies" of the school district, including administrative procedures, should be readily available in print and online. In some states this is required by state law.
Curriculum
Detailed curriculum standards.
Syllabus for each course
Identification of specific textbooks and other major curriculum and instructional materials, by grade and subject
A list of textbooks and instructional materials used in the district, revised annually by administrators under the Superintendent's direction.
Anyone may inspect any textbook or instructional material in person, with reasonable rules established for dates and times of access.
Statement of commitment to intellectual diversity
Statement of commitment to balance in treatment of controversial issues
Assessment
Results on state tests
All group and summary tabulations of any standardized tests taken that go beyond the required state tests (e.g., Iowa Test of Basic Skills)
Percent distribution of teacher-assigned letter grades
Budget and Spending
Detailed budget (not merely the very brief outline that is required by the state)
The district check register, showing all payments
Prohibition on business with campaign contributors (pay-for-play).
Staffing
Complete CV for key administrators, including the superintendent and assistant superintendents, curriculum directors, and school principals. These are the people who run your children's school. You should be able to read information on who they are.
Contracts with key administrators
Salaries and bonuses of key administrators
Negotiated union contracts
Teacher salary schedule
District's Master Schedule
Breakout of degrees earned by teachers, categorized by degree subject and awarding departments.
Degrees awarded by ed schools should be reported separately from degrees awarded by other college departments.
Ed school Ed.D. degrees should be reported separately from Ph.D.'s.
Identification of hired or retained professional consultants, facilitators, and contractors, including names and web site addresses.
Meetings
School Board meetings
Notice and agenda of upcoming board meetings
Complete copies of "board packets" (documents provided to board members at each meeting)
Minutes must be taken in sufficient detail to understand each issue in question, the nature of stated positions, and resolution
Minutes should be taken by someone other than a school administrator or other board employee
Committees:
If a committee or task force was created by and is responsible to a primarily public body (e.g., a school district), then it itself is also considered a public body and is thus subject to the Open Meetings Act.
Notice and agenda of upcoming committee meetings
Names and email addresses of participants, including board members, district employees, and local citizens
Identification of leader or facilitator(s)
Detailed minutes of meetings
All documents distributed at meetings
Teacher workshops and in-service programs
Full descriptions of content, facilitators, speakers
Dates and time alloted
All materials distributed
Budget information on related expenditures, outside speakers and suppliers
Video or audio tape should be available for viewing by board members (at least!) as well as by parents and citizens
Communications
E-mail addresses for all board members. This may be an address for each member individually, or a "group adress" such that a single mailing goes to all board members. Unfortunately, some districts have been known to go to great lengths to shelter their board members from hearing public comments!
Public surveys: If any public surveys are conducted or commissioned by the district, the complete results, rather than carefully excerpted tidbits, should be available in print and onlie.
Student-Specific Information for Parents (password protected)
A general description of what is happening in each class: current unit or topic
Current long-term assignments, plus goal and description of any major project
Student status: grades, homework completion
Movement To Open Disclosure
Not a PR pro? How To Successfully Talk To Your Local District About Putting Its Checks Online by Peyton Wolcott. "Generally we start out assuming our dealings with our school districts will be a rational exercise. Most of us are volunteers and in addition to our taxes give generously to our children's schools. Then when we spend a lot of time there, we notice things. Years ago I myself felt sure that if I showed my local supe and board where money was being wasted in some areas and not adequately safeguarded in others that they would welcome this information with open arms and changes would be made on the spot. Hah! Imagine my surprise when they reacted as though to a personal attack when I was just trying to help. ... This is why I have come to the conclusion after years in the grassroot trenches that the best and most effective single step we can take to help our districts reign in costs and improve our vendor-driven curriculums in order to better educate our kids is to persuade our schools to post their check registers online."
National School District Honor Roll by Peyton Wolcott. "Alarmed at declining standards and fueled by rumors of corruption, parents and citizens have begun filing public records requests to view [school district] checks and receipts and have been generally rebuffed in this undertaking by administrators ... The quickest and fastest way to slice through this Gordion knot is for public school districts to start posting their check registers online. To encourage this, I have instituted the National School District Honor Roll ... Any district that will undertake to do this gets their name on the roll on my website. It's hard to imagine any superintendent in our great republic being able to come up with a decent reason for not wanting their district's financial operations to be perceived by their parents and taxpayers as being completely clean and transparent, sooner rather than later."
Full Disclosure Is Bad News For The Public School's Big Spenders, Family Taxpayer Network, January 24, 2007. It's that time again when school districts around the state cry poor and go begging to the taxpayers for more money. Well, it's not quite begging anymore. Nowadays they actually threaten the taxpayers. If they don't belly up to the bar, the 'it's for the kids' sentiment becomes 'do what we want or we'll punish the kids.' Years ago, school districts would argue that higher taxes and higher spending would bring about better schools. Today, their only argument is a more honest one: if overburdened taxpayers don't give them even more money they'll make the schools worse. Special programs -- art, music, and of course athletic programs -- are all on the chopping block if the citizens don't do what the bureaucrats and school board lemmings tell them to do. ...
"There is a movement around the country to force government bodies to submit to full disclosure, and some governments -- even school districts -- have agreed to post their check registers online. Have these 'under-funded' school districts provided evidence of wise spending? Have they posted all the details of all the employee contracts -- including those of administrators -- on the web? More people are becoming aware of the fact that many school boards prefer to keep some of the perks and some of the details of the benefit packages away from the public eye, since the scale of their generosity with money earmarked for educating kids would rouse ire on the part of the taxpayers."
Also see:
Open Meetings Act
Freedom of Information Act
Maria
Candor: Complete Information for the Community Checklist of Public Information
Government school districts are public bodies whose inner workings should be visible to all residents, taxpayers and education consumers. Two powerful tools are available for residents who want to learn about their school districts, namely, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and the Open Meetings Act.
The Illinois Loop believes that this is only a start. To be truly operating in full candor, a school district should not be waiting for citizen petitions. The following important information should be available up-front, on the district's website as well as readily available for public inspection on-site:
Operations
Board Policies: The collected "board policies" of the school district, including administrative procedures, should be readily available in print and online. In some states this is required by state law.
Curriculum
Detailed curriculum standards.
Syllabus for each course
Identification of specific textbooks and other major curriculum and instructional materials, by grade and subject
A list of textbooks and instructional materials used in the district, revised annually by administrators under the Superintendent's direction.
Anyone may inspect any textbook or instructional material in person, with reasonable rules established for dates and times of access.
Statement of commitment to intellectual diversity
Statement of commitment to balance in treatment of controversial issues
Assessment
Results on state tests
All group and summary tabulations of any standardized tests taken that go beyond the required state tests (e.g., Iowa Test of Basic Skills)
Percent distribution of teacher-assigned letter grades
Budget and Spending
Detailed budget (not merely the very brief outline that is required by the state)
The district check register, showing all payments
Prohibition on business with campaign contributors (pay-for-play).
Staffing
Complete CV for key administrators, including the superintendent and assistant superintendents, curriculum directors, and school principals. These are the people who run your children's school. You should be able to read information on who they are.
Contracts with key administrators
Salaries and bonuses of key administrators
Negotiated union contracts
Teacher salary schedule
District's Master Schedule
Breakout of degrees earned by teachers, categorized by degree subject and awarding departments.
Degrees awarded by ed schools should be reported separately from degrees awarded by other college departments.
Ed school Ed.D. degrees should be reported separately from Ph.D.'s.
Identification of hired or retained professional consultants, facilitators, and contractors, including names and web site addresses.
Meetings
School Board meetings
Notice and agenda of upcoming board meetings
Complete copies of "board packets" (documents provided to board members at each meeting)
Minutes must be taken in sufficient detail to understand each issue in question, the nature of stated positions, and resolution
Minutes should be taken by someone other than a school administrator or other board employee
Committees:
If a committee or task force was created by and is responsible to a primarily public body (e.g., a school district), then it itself is also considered a public body and is thus subject to the Open Meetings Act.
Notice and agenda of upcoming committee meetings
Names and email addresses of participants, including board members, district employees, and local citizens
Identification of leader or facilitator(s)
Detailed minutes of meetings
All documents distributed at meetings
Teacher workshops and in-service programs
Full descriptions of content, facilitators, speakers
Dates and time alloted
All materials distributed
Budget information on related expenditures, outside speakers and suppliers
Video or audio tape should be available for viewing by board members (at least!) as well as by parents and citizens
Communications
E-mail addresses for all board members. This may be an address for each member individually, or a "group adress" such that a single mailing goes to all board members. Unfortunately, some districts have been known to go to great lengths to shelter their board members from hearing public comments!
Public surveys: If any public surveys are conducted or commissioned by the district, the complete results, rather than carefully excerpted tidbits, should be available in print and onlie.
Student-Specific Information for Parents (password protected)
A general description of what is happening in each class: current unit or topic
Current long-term assignments, plus goal and description of any major project
Student status: grades, homework completion
Movement To Open Disclosure
Not a PR pro? How To Successfully Talk To Your Local District About Putting Its Checks Online by Peyton Wolcott. "Generally we start out assuming our dealings with our school districts will be a rational exercise. Most of us are volunteers and in addition to our taxes give generously to our children's schools. Then when we spend a lot of time there, we notice things. Years ago I myself felt sure that if I showed my local supe and board where money was being wasted in some areas and not adequately safeguarded in others that they would welcome this information with open arms and changes would be made on the spot. Hah! Imagine my surprise when they reacted as though to a personal attack when I was just trying to help. ... This is why I have come to the conclusion after years in the grassroot trenches that the best and most effective single step we can take to help our districts reign in costs and improve our vendor-driven curriculums in order to better educate our kids is to persuade our schools to post their check registers online."
National School District Honor Roll by Peyton Wolcott. "Alarmed at declining standards and fueled by rumors of corruption, parents and citizens have begun filing public records requests to view [school district] checks and receipts and have been generally rebuffed in this undertaking by administrators ... The quickest and fastest way to slice through this Gordion knot is for public school districts to start posting their check registers online. To encourage this, I have instituted the National School District Honor Roll ... Any district that will undertake to do this gets their name on the roll on my website. It's hard to imagine any superintendent in our great republic being able to come up with a decent reason for not wanting their district's financial operations to be perceived by their parents and taxpayers as being completely clean and transparent, sooner rather than later."
Full Disclosure Is Bad News For The Public School's Big Spenders, Family Taxpayer Network, January 24, 2007. It's that time again when school districts around the state cry poor and go begging to the taxpayers for more money. Well, it's not quite begging anymore. Nowadays they actually threaten the taxpayers. If they don't belly up to the bar, the 'it's for the kids' sentiment becomes 'do what we want or we'll punish the kids.' Years ago, school districts would argue that higher taxes and higher spending would bring about better schools. Today, their only argument is a more honest one: if overburdened taxpayers don't give them even more money they'll make the schools worse. Special programs -- art, music, and of course athletic programs -- are all on the chopping block if the citizens don't do what the bureaucrats and school board lemmings tell them to do. ...
"There is a movement around the country to force government bodies to submit to full disclosure, and some governments -- even school districts -- have agreed to post their check registers online. Have these 'under-funded' school districts provided evidence of wise spending? Have they posted all the details of all the employee contracts -- including those of administrators -- on the web? More people are becoming aware of the fact that many school boards prefer to keep some of the perks and some of the details of the benefit packages away from the public eye, since the scale of their generosity with money earmarked for educating kids would rouse ire on the part of the taxpayers."
Also see:
Open Meetings Act
Freedom of Information Act
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