[Seattle-editorial] Fwd: 6 of 7 Board Members Blindly Support Supt. Olchefske

[Sheri Herndon]

feature idea.

i think sally or brita would be up for helping make a feature or 
contributing more information and comments.
sheri

>Delivered-To: sheri at speakeasy.org
>Delivered-To: sheri at indymedia.org
>Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 12:40:01 -0800
>From: Sally Soriano <sally.pfft at worldnet.att.net>
>X-Accept-Language: en,pdf
>To: sally at peopleforfairtrade.org
>Subject: 6 of 7 Board Members Blindly Support Supt. Olchefske
>
>Last night, as expected, six of seven Seattle School Board members voted
>to rate Superintendent Joseph Olschefske's job performance as "very
>good". They voted to keep his salary at $175,000 with an added $3,000
>for the health club of his choice. Director Mary Bass dissented.
>
>After the announcement of the $33 million deficit, 80 of the 90 district
>staff voted No Confidence in Olchefske. So did the board of the Seattle
>Education Association which represents over 5,700 teachers and staff.
>Thousands of parents, teachers, students and other citizens have signed
>No Confidence petitions. Olchefske runs the district like a corporation
>from the top down and refuses to listen to teachers, parents, students
>and community members. Rather than going to the state auditor,
>Olschefske and his six board supporters are on the verge of hiring their
>“business friends” to audit and review the recent financial disaster.
>
>The Seattle Schools are being handed over to big business interests.
>These six members of the board who continue to uncritically approve what
>Olchefske proposes, must be stopped. At the meeting last night, as in
>prior meetings, parents and other community members spoke very
>eloquently and urged the board to find another superintendent (see
>Address to the Seattle School Board by parent Theresa Cardamore below).
>The public obviously supports recruiting a new superintendent who will
>put teachers and students first.
>
>Contacting the School Board--
>Leave messages for the entire Board at: (206) 252-0040. Or contact Board
>members individually:
>Voted FOR the draft “very good” recommendation:
>Barbara Peterson  bpeterson at seattleschools.org  (206) 366-2652
>Steve Brown  sbrown at seattleschools.org  (206) 985-3723
>Nancy Waldman, nwaldman at seattleschools.org  (206) 729-3340
>Dick Lilly  dililly at seattleschools.org  (206) 297-4533
>Barbara Schaad-Lamphere  bschaadl at seattleschools.org  (206) 933-5327
>Jan Kumasaka  jkumasaka at seattleschools.org  (206) 760-4747
>Emails of the six members above who voted FOR the draft "very good”
>recommendation:
>dbpeterson at seattleschools.org, sbrown at seattleschools.org,
>nwaldman at seattleschools.org,
>dililly at seattleschools.org, bschaadl at seattleschools.org,
>jkumasaka at seattleschools.org
>
>Voted AGAINST the draft “very good” recommendation:
>Mary Bass  mabass at seattleschools.org  (206) 720-3303
>------------
>Address to the Seattle School Board last night (11/20) by parent Theresa
>Cardamore:
>
>I was greatly disappointed, although in no way surprised, to hear that
>the School Board had drafted a "very good" evaluation of Joseph
>Olchefske's job performance as Superintendent.
>
>I am sure that you are aware of the ground swell of public sentiment
>regarding Joseph's inability to properly function as superintendent of
>the Seattle Public Schools. Thousands of parents, teachers, students and
>other citizens have signed petitions or voted that they have No
>Confidence in him. The board of the Seattle Education Association,
>representing over 5,700 teachers and other employees, have voted No
>Confidence.
>
>What are you thinking? You give him credit for lowering drop out rates.
>Wasn't that in response to a state mandate? You give him credit for
>higher test scores. We all know how the numbers can be skewed to reflect
>what we want them to show. How about that relationship to the public
>piece? So far, only the corporate sponsors are standing by him. Is that
>what this is all about? Maintaining ties to Don Nielson and the Alliance
>for Education for reasons of your own?
>
>I have had the occasion this year to spend many hours researching in the
>Archives and the School Board Office. I have scanned most of the minutes
>from School Board meetings held from 1968-present. I learned about the
>climate of the Board when six members decided, in their grief at John
>Stanford's death, to hire Joseph Olschefske. He did not compete for the
>job of superintendent, or acting superintendent or even of Chief
>Financial Officer or Chief Operating Officer. He was appointed to those
>posts. When he first came aboard, the District was experiencing over $40
>million in budget reductions. Those cuts provided a clean slate for the
>future. For the subsequent six years, state audits have shown problems
>with District finances. Each year, Joseph has assured the School Board,
>and all of us, that he would fix everything! At last, a promise that was
>kept. He fixed it good.
>
>Joseph Olchefske makes $175,000 per year. That's over $14,500 per month.
>He gets up to $200 per month additionally to pay for the health club of
>his choice. And much, much more!
>
>Joseph will not be the one who has to approach a valued staff member to
>tell them that the funding for their job has evaporated under his watch.
>He will not have to watch student's struggle without the support of
>Career counselors. But he'll continue to show up and collect his
>paycheck.
>
>The School Board is under pressure to fire Olchefske or ask for his
>resignation. His contract allows for termination at any time. A
>severance of $175,000 would have to be paid only if there was no
>verifiable "cause".
>
>Keeping Joseph in place at this time hinders the ability of any audit to
>go forward without his influence. The faith of the voting citizens of
>Seattle is broken. Future levies are in jeopardy. The audit must be
>squeaky clean and free from all connection with Joseph Olchefske and the
>Alliance for Education. An illustration of this point is Joseph's
>agreement with Seattle Northwest Securities (owned or managed by close
>friend Maud Duadon) to assess the value of Seattle Public Schools
>properties. Where was the selection process for that agreement?
>
>Hiring a new Superintendent may seem a daunting task. But with the
>concerted effort of a qualified selection team, it is extremely doable.
>There are state organizations of school administration experts who could
>be called upon to help. Perhaps a former Superintendent or two would be
>an asset to such a group. And, of course, direct input from the parents,
>students and staffs of the individual schools.
>
>As far as I am concerned, resignation by or termination of Olchefske
>would constitute an acceptable outcome.
>
>Theresa Cardamore
>Parent, Alternative School #1
>7014 20th Ave. NW, 98117
>(206) 784-5232  tc4peace at cs.com