This morning the Herald-Leader reported confirmation of yet another mistake on Barbara Erwin's resume - one that appears to trouble state board of education chair Keith Travis...not at all.
Error #5
Erwin's résumé says she served from 2000 to the present on the board of directors for the Scottsdale, Ariz., Chamber of Commerce - "but she left that district four years ago and is not currently on the board," a spokeswoman with the agency told the Herald-Leader.
The Herald Leader also independently confirms errors #3 & #4, previously reported here.
Error #4
Erwin's résumé also lists her membership on the executive board of the American Association of School Administrators from 1991-2000. She was actually a member of the AASA executive committee from 1999 to 2002.
Error #3
Erwin also claims to be a member of Kappa Delta Phi, a fraternity. The similarly named Kappa Delta Pi, an educational honorary society, does list a Barbara Erwin as a member.
H-L reports: "School board chairman Keith Travis said the board spent several hours with Erwin reviewing every detail on her résumé before the vote. "Once we did that, she got my vote of confidence," he said. "Barbara Erwin is the person that will provide us with the leadership to move forward."
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And to review...
Error #2
Erwin claimed that she was a presenter at the 2006 Triple I conference in Chicago, but conference officials said otherwise. Under questioning Erwin justified her claim saying that she had to" sign off" on, and introduce those in the district who actually made the presentations.
Error #1
Erwin claimed that she received the Texas Association of School Administrators Superintendent of the Year award, despite the fact that the organization does not give the award.
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A growing number of education advocates not only see a problem with the untrustworthiness of Erwin's claims, and the exaggerations, but also by the pattern of behavior it exposes. Erwin discounts the mistakes. But if these errors are innocent, why is it that none of the "mistakes" make Erwin look worse on paper; rather, they appear to be embellishments
designed to make her look better. Isn't a reasonable person forced to - at least consider - the obvious.
There is little doubt that the board of education was placed in the present circumstance by their search firm. And remember, at the time the board was in executive session with Erwin, only the first error had surfaced - one for which Erwin offered a plausible explanation. I regret that my message to Lisa Gross, confirming Error #2, arrived too late for the board to consider before voting to ratify Erwin's contract. The rest of the information, apparently not provided by the search firm, has surfaced since that time. It would have clearly been best if the board had had all of the information before them when they voted. It's too late for that.
But it's not too late to fix the problem.
Let's hope the board chair, and other board members - while putting on a supportive public face - are actually very concerned, and are even now considering their options for the best way to proceed from here.
Let's hope, because I feel very certain that questions about Erwin's character are a long way from being over.
Let's hope.
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