Dr Walter R Clemens On School Board Issues, May, 2015

Greetings Dr. Clemons,

 

Let me start off by welcoming you to Gloucester County. Granted it is a bit late for such a gesture, but due to circumstances that manifest well before your arrival; many of us have become mistrustful of anything or anyone associated with our school administration and School Board. My intent is not to ridicule, but rather to share insight from another perspective. Since your arrival here; I have heard you remind everyone numerous times that you have no control over that which happened in Gloucester before your were hired. I agree with you 100%, however replaying that statement does little to mitigate the problem of mistrust. During the May 5^th Board of Supervisors meeting you said the BOS needs to trust you and the School Board. I absolutely believe the BOS should be able to trust the Superintendent of our school system and the School Board. More importantly the people and citizens of Gloucester County should be able to have trust in our school system. Unfortunately, and due to circumstances that predate your arrival here, we do not have the pleasure of such trust at this time. You have likely received a large helping of stories about what occurred in the past and my story is way too large and detailed to get into here. Therefore, I will only offer a few suggestions that may help you get the bridge of cooperation built.

 

During the last two budget processes, the County has taken great steps towards enhancing transparency. Among other things the BOS required just about every entity requesting money to appear before them to justify their requests. We asked that the budget work sessions be televised and they were. On the other hand; when you folks do your budget, it is all done in secrecy. There are limited documents associated with the school budget, but most importantly, none of us know or understand where any of the money is going or what we are getting for it. Mr. Bazzani’s question pertaining to floating teachers is a good example of something that should be vetted in public during the school system budget process. Conducting the people and citizens business this way will provide clarity and enhance our faith and trust.

 

Another way to help restore trust would be for all school administration and School Board email communications to occur utilizing only school system email accounts. Attempts in the past to obtain school system email information under FOIA from School Board members’ and school system employees’ private email accounts have had negative results. We all have a constitutional right to know what is going on in our school system and local government. Likewise, our elected officials and employees have a responsibility to ensure accountability of government communications/documents and to ensure our unfettered access to such information authorized by FOIA.

 

I have submitted numerous FOIA requests to the school system and have been charged considerable fees for information. In fact I was informed that it would cost me in excess of $800 to obtain activities funds accounting information. I could not afford that one. I have also requested considerable information from the County and have been charged very little if any. In the eyes of the people and citizens; the excessive fees charged by the school system are viewed as retaliation and as a deterrent mechanism. Facilitating and welcoming other insight on what is going on in the school system would certainly help to establish trust.

 

The ineffective and community splitting relationship between the School Board and BOS continues to cast a negative shadow over Gloucester County as a whole. Some people say it is the BOS fault while others say fault lies with the School Board and school administration. The finger pointing and blaming should stop immediately and be replaced with consolidated and focused efforts to ensure the academic success of Gloucester’s children above all else. Such cannot be accomplished by merely throwing money at it, causing negative media attention and splitting the community. It will take everyone working together without distracters like power struggles, politics and secrecy being included in the equation. Potentials for consolidating services with the County and other potential cost saving measures should be thoroughly investigated and vetted. Committees that include members of the community could be formed to gather and format various types of data the two Boards will need in order to make informed decisions.

 

To sum it all up; the number one thing we all want is transparency. We want to see and hear discussions on where all of the money is utilized. We want to hear and see. It appears most of the BOS does too.

 

Thank you for your efforts since becoming a member of the Gloucester Community. I firmly believe after observing you over the past several months that with your expertise, our school district can achieve many great things. That is if the County, school system and community start working transparently together.

 

Respectfully,

Kenneth E. Hogge, Sr.

And the response?

Dear Mr. Hogge:

Thanks for the email and welcome. I greatly appreciate it. Also, thanks for the suggestions. I look forward to continuously working with the School Board, Board of Supervisors and the entire community in building relationships that foster trust and collaboration. That is why we started the process this year on developing a Comprehensive Plan that sought community input. I definitely want the community to be aware of what direction the school division is taking, what it needs and how we can work together to accomplish those goals. It will be an ongoing process and I welcome your participation. As far as the budget is concerned, I believe we have expressed our needs appropriately to the Board of Supervisors regarding our current request as this information has been previously shared (since my arrival) that dates back to September of 2014. I also know that the School Board had discussion with the BOS about the operating costs of reinstituting two middle schools before my arrival. In addition, I have also had conversations with the BOS about our needs and why we need the items requested. However, with that being said, we will be looking at revamping and refining our process next year for greater clarity. Specifically, our final budgets (2014-15 final is online on our homepage/2015-16 will be forthcoming later this spring) are much more detailed than what is initially shared with the BOS as they see the line items by categories without detailed explanation. This is the way that it has been done by GCPS over a number of years and I did not change that process this year. Next year we will provide a detailed version at the beginning instead of afterwards as we all want the process to be as transparent as possible. Please know that we will make every effort to be good stewards of all money that is appropriated to us. In closing, thanks so much for your time and have a great weekend!

Sincerely,
Walter R. Clemons, Ph.D.
Division Superintendent

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From About One Year Ago, Gloucester School Board - What Has Changed?

Gloucester County, Virginia’s Board of Supervisors seems to be headed in a more sensible direction than it has been for many years.  If this governing body continues to make decisions on the side of what makes sense things will become better for Gloucester as a whole. However, there is one significant area where the governing body has little or no ability to apply sensibility or even successfully encourage it at this point.  That area is the Gloucester County public education system. 

 

The School Board is also a governing body whose primary function is to oversee the application and function of an effective public education system.  Many sensible thinkers believe the fateful aspects of Gloucester’s public education system stem primarily from the fact that Dr. Howard Benjamin (Ben) Kiser was hired and allowed to manipulate the School Board into a tool to facilitate his own aspirations, desires and gains.

 

The Kiser’s, record in Gloucester includes; ignoring negative disciplinary trends within the school system; failing to ensure the effective administration of mathematics at Gloucester’s only public high school; creating an atmosphere of un-trust and low morale among Gloucester’s teaching staff; turning Gloucester’s public school system and School Board into political tools; creating animosity and dysfunction between the Board of Supervisors and the School Board; disregarding input from the Gloucester Community after a tornado partially destroyed Page Middle School; allowing the unnecessary and unwarranted demolition of needed and usable infrastructure; excessive and disproportionate spending; creating biased and non-transparent citizen committees; sending Freedom of Information Act and Records Retention Act protected information to more than one of his private email accounts and failing to provide such emails in response to FOIA requests; 

manipulating Commonwealth of Virginia and Gloucester County Professional Service procurement procedures; placing his personal gain and ambitions above administering a quality public education program; failing to examine and correct significantly flawed accountability procedures intended to protect approximately 1.4 million dollars annually in school activities funds; and the list goes on and on. 

 

Now the rest of the Commonwealth of Virginia will have the opportunity to witness the workings of a Virginia K-12 public education administration failure as The Kiser now becomes Director of the Virginia Association of School Superintendents.  This non-governmental position will enhance his ability to distort the sensible mind sets of public school Superintendents in every district throughout the Commonwealth. Well done Dr. Howard Benjamin (Ben) Kiser.  Well done.  As a member of the sensible thinking Gloucester Community I thank you for the excessive debt, the unfocused School Board, the disruptive school environments, the inadequate teaching at Gloucester High School and all of the other many wonderful knife in the back gifts you are leaving Gloucester County as you continue your journey to self gratification utopia.

 

Kenneth E. Hogge, Sr

Our Notes:  We were asked to review an article posted last year and ask everyone the simple question, what has changed?

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What The Gloucester Mathews Gazette Journal Didn't Tell You, July 10th, 2014

New Superintendent Lays Out "Plan of Entry" is the title of the one article in the paper pictured above.  We are not going to reprint the article by any means.  If you have already read the article, then there is no sense is rehashing it.  If you have not read the article, then you can always go to the newspaper's website.

  What we have a problem with here and everywhere else we have looked including the Gloucester School Board website is who the stakeholders are claimed to be and mainly, who is left out.  And what is the most disturbing is exactly who has been left out.  No reason to delay who has been left out, it's the taxpayers.  The taxpayers, those of us who pay for the entire system are not even considered stakeholders in education.  But don't take our word for it, look at the plan for yourself.  Exactly how do the folks at the local newspaper manage to miss the obvious right in front of them and not ask the questions as to why the taxpayers are not considered stakeholders?

Gloucester, VA School Board Sup Plan of Entry July 2014 from Chuck Thompson

Now one has to ask, does the local school board think that little of the taxpayers?  It would appear to be since they are wasting your tax dollars as fast as they possibly can.  We continue to see the waste each week.

 Vehicle number 273, Driver, D Miller, School Board, Department, Facilities Services, Reports to Dave Miller, July 21st, 2014 time, 7:21 AM.  Location spotted, Hardees Restaurant.  This is a very clear pattern of behavior for this driver.

The above vehicle we still can not get the number on but again, the vehicle belongs to the Public School system.  July 21st, at 8:33AM.

Vehicle number 284, Public Schools, July 21st, 2014.  Time, 9:17 AM.  Went inside McDonald's to have breakfast.  This was not even a drive through quick order.  This is Dave Miller the person in charge of Facilities Services.  No wonder his employees are all over the place.  They are only doing what their boss is doing but not as bad as he does.

  Maybe the Board of Supervisors should take away one hundred thousand dollars of funding per school board vehicle seen in local stores, restaurants and banks where the employees are using government vehicles for personal use, per incident.  We highly recommend the county seriously consider installing GPS tracking in all county vehicles.  This way, if a county employee is seen being someplace they do not belong, the county can actually shut down the vehicle on the employee.  This way the county also always knows where all the employees are and what they should be doing.

Now another area where this gets even worse in our view is with the new contract between the superintendent and the school board.  If you have not read that contract, maybe you should.  See section V on page 3.  The school board is allowing the new superintendent to use a government vehicle for personal use.  Never mind that this appears to be prohibited at the local level, state level and federal level as well.

Walter R. Clemons 3 Year Contract (7-1-2014-6-30-2017) Gloucester, VA from Chuck Thompson

We have filed a complaint with the IRS over the above contract as it appears to be very much in violation with IRS codes as well as Federal, State and local laws, codes and or ordinances.  Maybe we can stop this madness and send a message to the school board that we will not tolerate their complete disregard for the taxpayers and their continuous waste of our money.  We have also included the personal use of government vehicles in the complaint as this needs to end.

Gloucester, VA Public Schools 10 Years Ago, The Story Of The "Kiser"

Just recently the Gloucester Mathews Gazette Journal ran an historical piece on Gloucester Public schools and it features information about school Superintendent, Ben Kiser.

  The story reads a little something like this.  "10 Years Ago, Thursday, January 15th, 2004.  Gloucester County School Board heard Tuesday that several administrators will be hitting the road to search for candidates to fill personnel openings.  The "Kiser", Public School division superintendent stated he was dedicated to having only the best teachers in Gloucester classrooms.

  Here we are 10 years later, saddled in an extra 26 million plus dollars in direct interest bearing debt thanks in great part to the "Kiser" and we have a high school that is about to fail accreditation and the "Kiser" is retiring.  A failed mission, failed policies and failures to our youth and the community that made the serious mistake in investing in the guy from our viewpoint.  He has a great shot at being the next governor with that kind of track record.

Just a note to the "Kiser", thanks for nothing.

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Gloucester County School Board allows illegal use of government vehicles?

Open Letter to the Citizens of Gloucester County Virginia

“For the Common Good. “

The Virginia Constitution was written for us to limit the government intrusion into our lives.  Have you ever read the Constitution of the United States?  How about the Constitution of Virginia? How about the County Code?

"The Land of the Life Worth Living" for everyone in the county.

I read with great interest The Kiser’s email to Mr. Thompson.  How is it The Kiser's understanding of State Code, County Ordinance, and School Board Policy is so different than that of a reasonable person?  Does The Kiser believe the school system does not have to live to the same rules as the rest of us?  Is his education deficient?  The employee in question has been seen numerous days, after the start of the business day going to McD and 7-11.  Not a midday meal, but clock in the morning and then go out to eat.  How do I get a position like this?  If it's not a job but a position (paid not to work but to eat)!  Does the employee also have an expense account that he charges the meals as a government expense?  Maybe The Kiser can explain how it saves county money for employees to come to work and go out to eat breakfast while on the clock in a government vehicle?  Maybe the employee could eat before going to work like the rest of us have to do?  Maybe the employee using the vehicle to go out to eat rather than work is the reason the vehicle is high mileage?  It definitely save's personal time but not sure of government time?  Is the efficiency created by the planning Director of facilities to schedule around meal breaks?  Based on Mr. Thompson’s observations it is occasionally that the van is not seen stopping for food in the morning?

Does this explain why the Gloucester School System is in the bad shape it is in?  Not able to meet Virginia Standards and losing accreditation?  The Kiser does not understand the requirements? Or he marches to his own rules?

Maybe The Kiser should be fired for failing to meet his oath of office and not allowed to retire this summer?  If the School Board is allowing this to continue maybe they need to be removed for failing to meet their oath of office?

Based on stories on Mr. Thompson’s Blog and this email the county will be a lot better off without The Kiser.  

Gloucester County Board of Supervisors: you are looking to reduce costs and scale back the budget.  I think you should take a look at the School Board Budget since they do not seem to care if employees use vehicles for personal use.

Bring back the rule of legal laws and responsible budgets and make this "The Land of the Life Worth Living" for everyone in the county.

I am not a lawyer and cannot give legal advice.  Our founding fathers used common sense and Christian scripture when establishing our founding documents. 

“For the Common Good. “

Sincerely,

Alexander James Jay

P.S"The good Education of Youth has been esteemed by wise Men in all Ages, as the surest Foundation of the Happiness both of private Families and of Common-wealths. Almost all Governments have therefore made it a principal Object of their Attention, to establish and endow with proper Revenues, such Seminaries of Learning, as might supply the succeeding Age with Men qualified to serve the Publick with Honour to themselves, and to their Country."

--Benjamin Franklin, Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pensilvania, 1749

"A Constitution is not the act of a Government, but of a people constituting a government, and a government without a constitution is a power without right."

–Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1791

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Gloucester School Board approves hirings, resignations, contract changes

The Gloucester County School Board approved Tuesday night a number of employment changes to include hirings, resignations and transfers.

Hirings:

--Mary Runnells, of Gloucester, as coordinator of special education, effective Aug. 19;

--Jennifer Holmes, of Hartfield, 1st grade at Abingdon Elementary, effective Aug. 19;

--Cathleen Jackson, of Parksley, Va., 1st grade at Abingdon Elementary, effective Aug. 19;

--Erin O'Brien, of Sterling, Va., 3rd grade at Abingdon Elementary, effective Aug. 19;

--Alison Wheeler, of Williamsburg, 4th grade at Abingdon Elementary, effective Aug. 19;

--Karrissa Harbour, of Hayes, 5th grade at Abingdon Elementary, effective Aug. 19;

--Hannah Kellogg, of Gloucester, 2nd Grade at Achilles Elementary, effective Aug. 19;

--Kimberly Markley, of Palmyra, Va., 3rd grade at Achilles Elementary, effective Aug. 19;

--Mairin Martin, of Fredericksburg, Va., 4th grade at Achilles Elementary, effective Aug. 19;

--Leigh A. Every, of Hayes, 2nd grade at Bethel Elementary, effective Aug. 19;

--Kelsey Stanton, of Williamsburg, English at Gloucester High, effective Aug. 19;

--Rosalinda Stanford, of Williamsburg, math at Gloucester High, effective Aug. 19;

--Matthew Rosendahl, of Urbanna, choral at Page Middle, effective Sept. 3;

--Teresa Lukasik, of Gloucester, special education at Peasley Middle, effective Aug. 19;

--Alanna Bragg, of Norfolk, 8th grade math at Page Middle, effective Aug. 19;

--Laura Yaeckel, of Saluda, paraprofessional I at Botetourt Elementary, effective Sept. 3.

Resignations:

--Renee Hamilton-Bains, library media specialist at Achilles Elementary, effective July 31 due to relocation;

--Ryan Gross, math at Gloucester High, effective July 9 due to personal reasons.

--Deena Covington, field hockey coach at Page Middle, effective June 24 due to personal reasons.

Contract changes effective the 2013-14 school year:

--Heidi Teagle, 2nd grade at Achilles Elementary to 5th grade at Botetourt Elementary;

--Diane Ericson, 2nd grade at Achilles Elementary to 5th grade at Botetourt Elementary;

--Michele Brake, paraprofessional II at Botetourt Elementary to 1st grade teacher at Botetourt Elementary;

--Megan Harris, 8th grade math at Page Middle to 7th grade math at Peasley Middle.

Story from http://www.dailypress.com/news/gloucester-county/gloucester-blog/dp-gloucester-school-board-approves-hirings-and-resignations-20130711,0,6395493.story