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I've been accused of being "anti" traditional public school. I am not. I am FOR "alternative" education - as in I am for CHOICE in education - what each child needs to succeed - and though whatever, however, medium. I personally don't like religious schools - 'cause I don't support religion in any way; I don't like most "private" schools 'cause I dislike the fact that $$$ can buy a select group a 'better educational experience".
I support traditional public schools. I support magnet schools, year-round schools, alternative schools, specialty schools, on-line schools, charter public schools, and homeschooling.
That said, I am often accused of "attacking" traditional public schools. It may seem that way, because I'm trying to counter-act the attacks and misinformation being spread about charter public schools.
I have always said "bad schools" (and their admin, principals, teachers, school board members, superintendents, janitors, coaches, et al infinate . . .) should be investigated, closed, prosecuted. Good programs shoud be encouraged and supported.
I see so much about the "bad" of charter schools on here and written in such a way as to intimate that only "charter public schools" commit sins. I cannot let that go unnoticed, so in response, I have to put out the information that indicates that rot exists in the people of any and every system - and those PEOPLE should be eliminated, not the system.
Charter public schools can be good or bad. The huge difference that I see is in the accountabiity area I keep hearing being bandied about. Charters that are not successful, charters that are "bad" - get shut down PDQ. And, in all fairness, the state laws that are written greatly impact how charters are written, run, financed, and supported. Bad laws make bad policy.
So - I am NOT just "traditional public school bashing" - but am most desperately trying to illlustrate that "charter public schools" do NOT have the market cornered on corruption, ill-management, fraud, favoritism, embezzlement, discrimination, etc...
don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. . .
a few very hasty and cursory glances at some traditional public school scandals during 2009/2010. (and yeah, some of the below "may" be charters themselves, I tried to screen but something may have slipped by.)
Criminal background checks flag up to 50 of state's teachers: Reprimands, dismissals may follow revelation By Kirsten Stewart The Salt Lake Tribune Updated: 10/21/2009 06:46:52 AM MDT
A bumper crop of 30 to 50 public school teachers has come under scrutiny for criminal violations severe enough to merit possible reprimand or dismissal. . . . Public safety officials unearthed nearly 7,000 arrests, criminal charges or convictions. But a single employee could account for a dozen or more of those, said agency spokesman Jeff Nigbur. Seven of Utah's largest districts, however, are sorting through nearly 1,000 referrals. As a result, at least nine employees have been fired. Among them:
» A Nebo School District employee charged with exposing himself more than a decade ago, and again in 2007.
» A Canyons District school aide with eight years of tenure charged with an open container violation and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
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Criminal charges for guidance counselor who altered transcripts
July 2, 1:00 AMNorth Jersey Crime Examiner
A Fort Lee High School guidance counselor is charged with tampering with transcripts to help students get into selective colleges. . . Meller already had been suspended, along with Principal Jay Berman, after the alterations were discovered.
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TOP STORY 2009: A Culture of Corruption
By Dave Janoski Projects Editor)
Published: December 27, 2009
s 2009 unfolded, the kids-for-cash scandal dominated the front pages and Luzerne County's "culture of corruption" was laid bare as a parade of county government and public school officials was marched into federal court on bribery and other charges
The ongoing federal pay-to-play investigation has led to charges against three public school officials:
* Wilkes-Barre School Board member Brian Dunn, 45, was charged in April with accepting or soliciting tens of thousands of dollars in return for his influence over hiring and contract decisions. Dunn's preliminary hearing, postponed three times due to scheduling conflicts involving his attorney, is now set for Sept. 17. Dunn, who is free on bail, remains a member of the school board, but has not attended meetings since his arrest.
* Former Wilkes-Barre Area School Board President James P. Height, 52, resigned from the board and pleaded guilty in May to accepting $2,000 from an unnamed school district contractor. Height, who is free on bail, faces a likely sentence of 18 to 24 months under the terms of his plea agreement. His sentencing has yet to be scheduled.
* Former Pittston Area Superintendent Ross Scarantino, 63, pleaded guilty in May to accepting $5,000 in exchange for his influence in awarding school district contracts. Scarantino, who is free on bail, would likely face 18 to 24 months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines, but the sentence could be reduced depending on his cooperation with prosecutors. His sentencing has yet to be scheduled.
Pittston Area School Board member Joseph J. Oliveri, who has agreed to plead guilty to accepting a $1,500 bribe from a school district contractor, will have a plea hearing on Aug. 25 in U.S. District Court in Scranton.
Oliveri, who submitted his resignation from the school board over the weekend, faces a maximum of 10 years in prison, but will likely serve between one and two years under the terms of his plea agreement.
Oliveri, 51, of Hughestown, is the fourth public school official charged in a federal pay-to-play investigation. He has also submitted his resignation to Luzerne County, which employed him as a sheriff's deputy for about 15 years.
Five public education institutions have been the focus of the federal pay-to-play investigation. A federal grand jury has subpoenaed records from the Pittston Area, Wilkes-Barre Area and Wyoming Valley West school districts as well as Luzerne County Community College. FBI agents also sought records from the Wilkes-Barre Area Career and Technical Center. The other school officials charged in the case are from Wilkes-Barre Area.
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Who Keeps Tabs On Oklahoma Public School Spending?
Posted: Mar 05, 2010 1:02 PM CST
TULSA, OK -- As a spending scandal rocks a Green Country school district, some parents are asking what they could have done to prevent it. So, who should be keeping tabs on your school's finances? With the suspension of the Skiatook school superintendent, the community remains up in arms over the waste of taxpayer dollars.
Slammed with a school spending scandal, some Skiatook citizens want to take action. Some are asking what should have been done to prevent half a million dollars worth of waste.
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No resolution on violence at South Philly
by Helen Gym on Feb 24 2010
It’s hard to look at the findings of the District’s independent investigation into the December 3 violence at South Philadelphia High School without significant shock and outrage. After all, this was an incident in which more than two dozen Asian immigrant students were assaulted throughout the day in multiple attacks, which sent 13 youth to the hospital at a school with a history of violence overall and against Asian immigrant students in particular.
A Frightening Analysis
The report confirms in detail widespread violence on Dec. 3, violence that began first thing in the morning and was well known to school administration.
at no point does the report question the actions of school officials. Officials escorted students to the lunchroom, ignoring the students' expressed fears of going there and where they were subsequently attacked. The officials escorted them outside where large crowds had gathered, again ignoring students' expressed fears of leaving the school -- and despite the fact that school officials “had the sense that the crowds on Broad Street were not only larger than normal, but were not dispersing quickly."
It doesn’t question why the principal would send home a letter to families the next day making no mention of the repeated in-school assaults and instead characterizing the violence as simply: “As you may have heard in the news, an incident occurred at dismissal, outside of South Philadelphia High School on Thursday, December 3, 2009.”
Nor does it ask why District officials continued to mischaracterize the events of the day in public statements; Regional Superintendent Michael Silverman referred to the December 3rd violence as a “blip” and School Safety Chief James Golden said there was only a “minor incident” with no injuries.
。。。Instead, the report essentially absolves the District and school leadership of any responsibility. In fact, the report seems to imply that if we were to revisit that day on Dec. 3, the administration of SPHS could have made the exact same choices.
When pressed on why his findings didn’t address school responsibility, Judge James Giles said he didn’t believe in “Monday-morning quarter-backing.” Let's be clear: This was an incident which garnered national and international expressions of concern, where more than a dozen students were sent to the emergency room, and which sparked a boycott by more than 50 Asian students who feared for their safety after more than a year of relentless harassment.
//////In riveting testimony earlier this week at the School Reform Commission, the grandmother of one of the Asian student victims wept as she described the calculated efforts of school personnel who had scapegoated and unjustly forced out her grandson following a brutal assault upon him Dec. 2.
/////Adult staff also engaged in racial namecalling, the complaint said. Principal Brown herself, who started at the school in September, "has displayed discriminatory attitudes towards Asian students," the complaint said, because she called the ESOL program "that dynasty." After the attacks, she referred to the boycott and persistent efforts to address the incident as "the Asian agenda." Brown also said that attacks on Asian students on their way home were not the school's responsibility, despite District policy.
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Dec 9, 2009
Alini Brito And Cindy Mauro, Teachers, Caught Naked In Brooklyn's James Madison High School Classroom (VI
In the second sex scandal in as many days, Allison Mussachio, a third teacher at James Madison High School, is reportedly under investigation for having an affair with a student.
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Two Brooklyn Romance language teachers were allegedly caught practicing another type of romance in a school classroom.
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April 15, 2010
check out the new Frederick County Public Schools administration building. Even under construction, the school board's new crib has both gravitas and flair. The design is well-balanced -- blending sleek, modern lines with the red-brick history of downtown Frederick . . . Unfortunately, the financial aspects of the new central office, . . I suppose I could get over the amount of the annual lease payment: $1.2 million. But I can't seem to get past the fact that the payment will be drawn from the board's so-called reserve fund, a tidy little nest egg ($2 million) of unspent operating cash.
Unspent. I'm not sure how that happened -- or why that money was then "pocketed" by the Board of Education for the new building. In times like these, when so many vital programs and services -- and jobs -- are about to be cut throughout the school system, it seems like a scandal to hold $2 million in reserve. . . .
slashing, by more than half, the well-respected and highly successful CASS program (Community Agency School Services), which serves about 1,000 school kids each year who struggle with issues such as homelessness, hunger, and physical and mental health problems.
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Jul 22, 2009 6:22 pm US/Central
CPS Launches Probe Into Enrollment Practices: Targeted Schools Not Specified
Analysis of selective schools data shows poorer students have tougher time gaining admission Posted By Sarah Karp On Wednesday, March 3, 2010
The concern was that high-performing, well-off students would gain a disproportionate share of seats based on composite scores, and then get more seats through the tier process. Meanwhile, lower-performing, poorer students would only really be competitive for the 15 percent of seats reserved for their tier.
CPS officials declined to release detailed racial or socio-economic data on students who got offer letters from the nine selective enrollment high schools.
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Oct 14, 2009
For the most part, Iowans through the years have been spared the assorted public scandals (mostly involving sex and money) they frequently read about in other states. Iowa is not entirely scandal-free, mind you, but the people of this state largely have been justified in thinking of scandals as happening somewhere else.
However, as details of what appears to be a new scandal emerge in Iowa for the third time in the last couple of years, we fear the state's reputation for honesty and character may be fraying a little at the edges.
Following closely on the heels of the Central Iowa Employment and Training Consortium pay scandal and the continuing flap over the state's film tax credit program are disturbing stories reported in recent days about the Iowa Association of School Boards. Allegations have been made and questions raised about the IASB's spending practices, the salaries of some of its employees and possible conflicts of interest.
Why, you might ask, should this concern me? Because it involves your money and impacts your state's public schools.
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Maryland Criminal Charges - Grade-Changing Scandal at Churchill High Sparks Criminal Investigation March 6, 2010
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District Moves To Fire Middleton Teacher Over Graphic E-Mails
Teacher Placed On Unpaid Leave Updated: 5:23 pm PDT April 8, 2010
MIDDLETON, Wis. -- The Middleton-Cross Plains Area School District is moving to fire a teacher over accessing inappropriate content on district computers.
The Middleton-Cross Plains Area School District conducted an investigation on explicit e-mails on the district's computer servers, which led to a middle school teacher being put on unpaid leave
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Feb 2009
New criminal charges filed against the former Dothan High School principal allege he provided alcohol and cigarettes to a minor.
Dothan police investigators arrested Andrew Dwight Sewell, 41, and charged him with three misdemeanor counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
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Pace High School Principal
Students, teachers and local pastors are protesting over a court case involving a northern Florida school principal and an athletic director who are facing criminal charges and up to six months in jail over their offer of a mealtime prayer.
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A former employee of Randolph Career and Technical Center making major accusations against two prominent employees, the school's principal and bookkeeper. The principal is said to have used thousands of dollars of school money to make home improvements. The bookkeeper is accused of using tens of thousands of dollars to help pay off a mortgage.
The principal and bookkeeper are both suspended without pay.
The bookkeeper, Eugenia Holimon, is accused of using more than $29,000 to help pay her mortgage. Her son is said to have made more than $6,000 in unauthorized purchases at Sam's Club, all on the school's account.
The school's principal, Gwendolyn Miller, is accused of running a tab of more than $640 at the school's boutique shop.
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