It was a clear, 50 degree night in downtown Lexington on October 21st when, at 8:30 PM, Fayette County Public Schools Human Resources Director Melodee Parker drove her red 2005 Toyota Solara into two parked cars and one brick wall in the parking lot at Short and Market Streets. According to Lexington-Fayette County police records she admitted to being on her phone at the time. She was also arrested for operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol, her first such offense, and cited for failure to maintain required insurance.Parker, whose job requires her to deal with errant FCPS employees, now finds herself on the wrong side of the conference table. Her boss, Fayette County schools Superintendent Tom Shelton, will now be required by law to report the arrest to the Kentucky Educational Professional Standards Board.
According to police records, Parker, a resident of Versailles, said she had left from Crossgate Gallery on Main Street and was going to The Trust restaurant and bar, having already consumed three glasses of wine by the time of the crash. She was not in traffic but lost control of her car as she was turning into the parking lot. There were no injuries sustained by Parker or anyone else.
Prior to her arrest, Parker contacted Attorney James Springate, and she failed a standard set of field sobriety tests administered by the arresting officer. Parker was unable to complete the One-leg Stand test, missed two criteria in the Walk and Turn test, Mixed up L and Q when reciting the alphabet, repeated 38 when counting backwards from 59 to 34 and failed the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus test. The officer administered an intoxilyzer test and Parker blew a .123, exceeding the .08 limit set by law. Parker chose to undergo an independent blood test which was completed at 10 PM at Samaritan Hospital. Results of the test are not known to KSN&C. She was released on a $550 cash bond and was arraigned on October 24th.
In Kentucky, any driver with a blood-alcohol concentration above .08 percent is measured “per se intoxicated” under the law. Under this statute, this verification is all that is necessary for a driver to be convicted of Driving Under the Influence (DUI). Alcohol education and prevention programs can be required for DUI offenders in Kentucky and are often recommended instead of serving a sentence of incarceration or paying fines. Parker had previously been referred by the court to Traffic School in December 2007.
KSN&C invited Parker to comment on the situation, including the results of the independent blood test, but received no response. Superintendent Tom Shelton told KSN&C that the district would respond to the incident. "This is a personnel issue and I cannot be more specific other than to say we are responding according to district policy and the law," Shelton said. It is standard practice in Fayette County to require employees with DUI's to undergo counseling through the Employee Assistance Program.
According to EPSB's legal department, they will wait for the courts to render a final judgment before responding. At that point, the matter will go before the board, which will consider the totality of the situation before rendering a decision on her certificate. The likely result for a first-time DUI offender blowing a .123 is a public reprimand and counseling, which would be reflected in the EPSB minutes.
The general purpose of DUI counseling is to provide information to offenders regarding the impact of alcohol use on individual behavior and driving skills, and to further explore the personal ramifications of their own substance use and abuse.
According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, every minute, one person is injured from an alcohol-related crash; drunk driving costs each adult in this country almost $500 per year; one in three people will be involved in an alcohol-related crash in their lifetime; in a typical year, 10,839 people will die in drunk-driving crashes - one every 50 minutes; and an average drunk driver has driven drunk 80 times before his or her first arrest.
According to the Kentucky Transportation Center's analysis of traffic crash data (2005-2009), the total number of alcohol-related crashes in 2009 decreased by 5 percent compared to the previous five-year average. However, alcohol-related collisions still account for a disproportionate amount of the fatalities. Alcohol-related crashes in Kentucky were a mere 4.1 percent of the total collisions in 2009, but they accounted for 26 percent of the fatalities.
24 comments:
Thank you for printing this. Will Jim Warren be printing this in the Herald-Leader?
Stu's finest!
I wonder if they did a background check on her before she was employed? I think she started with the District about 2007.
I am disgusted the Herald Leader continues to cover up the misdeeds of those in Central Office. Everyone at my school know about this incident, but we don't understand why the public does not. This woman is clearly not fit to judge other Fayette County Employees.
SHAME. SHAME. SHAME.
Had this been a teacher, it would have been a front page story. I have no faith in Fayette County Public schools or the "free press." Do you, Richard?
The plain and simple truth is this. And I think the blog administrator knows this as do sveral former ranking officials in FCPS. The H-L was told by some members of the business community (when Stu assumed the reigns of power) that the newspaper had a tradition of running off superinendents.
As such, the newspaper was told to tread lightly on negative press about Fayette County Public School leadership. The rationale was that the school controversy might dissuade businessed and well-educated individuals from locating here. This policy has resulted in either the ignoring of facts or placing the facts on a page of the newspaper few will find. This is not Jim Warren's decision, but rather that of the newspaper's executive staff. This practice has so far continued under the new president at the H-L.
I was impressed by the viewer who wrote, many months ago, that this policy is consistent with how the H-L handled the Civil Rights Movement in Lexington. As all of us know, under racist H-L. editor Fred Wachs, facts about the Black freedom struggle in Lexington were simply were not reported.
Then, several years ago, the H-L apologized for its silence. The story even made NPR!
I suspect the H-L will never apologize for these omissions that include charges oF a superintendent's extramarital relationship infidelity, the hiring of a token gay administrator who terrorized other gay employees and made racist statements about minorities, or the treatment of African American employees including a former teacher of the year who was fired by the superintendent for conduct unbceoming a teacher and exonerated by the Kentucky Supreme Court.
Clearly, this blog seems to be the only legitimate source for what goes on (negative and positive) in the school system.
Thanks for the comments y'all.
As for the H-L, I don't know how they make their decisions about when to publish information regarding DUIs.
I'm sure the district did a background check, as would be done for any employee, but I have no reason to believe they would have found anything disqualifying. Traffic school? Not hardly.
This story goes to professional judgment regarding a matter of potential public endangerment...so I ran it. Had the perpetrator been a teacher, I might not have. But I'm also certain that some number of teachers have gotten DUI's and been through EAP process, without ending up on the front page - unless it resulted in harm to someone.
Truthfully, I have great faith in both the Herald-Leader and the Fayette Co Public schools. Neither organization is perfect. Who among us is? Both perform vital public services. I have relied on both and appreciate the work both do.
Thanks again...and thanks to those of you who have shared offline.
Withholding the truth from the public is wrong. You cannot have it both ways, Richard.
November 6, 2011 9:46 AM: I would have to admit that I believe there is some deliberation at H-L about what to stories print and what not to print. And while I don't know exactly how it happened, I suspect there has been some bias toward "supporting" certain superintendents and not others.
I've been struggling myself with issues related to past racism lately. I'm finishing up an article on M A Cassidy, probably today if all goes well. My research will reveal that he made some overtly racist comments in a letter to his favorite uncle in the 1890s. The struggle is to find a way to properly characterize his beliefs and actions without imposing contemporary understandings upon a time period when they did not exist. It would have been truly remarkable (and he would never have been elected superintendent) if he held modern notions of social justice and equality in a state and at a time when the vast majority of the white public held similar views. Despite this, my research will also show that Cassidy embraced the task of improving education for African Americans and joined with J H Johnson (1st President of K State…back when it was the State Normal School) to improve the quality of black teachers and bring the curriculum up to the white standard. So was he a racist? Or was he a hero who made the black schools better? I suspect he was a bit of both. I have no information on Wachs, but suspect he too was a product of his times.
Do unsubstantiated rumors of marital infidelity ever make it into print? I can’t remember any examples, unless it is part of a larger story somehow. I was working on something else when the Ernst story broke, and it got by me. But I think Channel 27 covered it and the paper, in my opinion, should have. The fact that it didn’t, is evidence in favor of your argument.
Thanks for your kind comments. I’m reluctant to pat myself on the back, however, because there is so much I can’t cover that the paper can. For example, I knew that Tom Shelton’s attorneys were pressuring him to back off his investigation of the Transportation Department, but couldn’t get to it before H-L did. But maybe KSN&C fills a void.
November 6, 2011 8:15 PM: I take your point. I do try to look at issues from both sides, and even argue both sides. And I can be a bit contrarian at times. I know this may frustrate some readers who are angry, perhaps with cause, about certain events within the district. And, I promise you, if I were still in the district I’d likely feel the same way about some of the issues teachers have had to deal with. But I’m not - and so I try to maintain an emotional objectivity and let the readers decide. I may not get to every story, but I’m not inclined to cover up an important story because it goes against the popular narrative that everything is wonderful. Ultimately, I believe we get a better school system when our leaders are challenged....and supported.
The Herald Leader lost it's schoolr reporter when Stu Silberman hired the #1 gal, Lisa Deffindall away soon after he came here. I thought he figured if I can't win or beat the H-L I'll hire away their gal and put her on my side. He even told her to come on over and help us make changes instead of just writing about them. Then he paid her 86,000 a year to do it. No wonder the H-L doesn't get any real news on the schools any more.
I was wondering when someone else would put this together. Does the H-L not have anyone to report the news on the schools or does FC have some one with experience on how to cover up the news?
COVER UP! COVER UP! COVER UP!
Several of Stu's right hand people from FCPS, many of whom he put in their big positions as he blew up the size of central office, meet him downtown for drinks regularly. Maybe she was headed there to report to the big bully about who she tried to get rid of by hook or crook that week. Maybe another transportation employee complained about being harassed.
Passive resistance. It's the only option for us in Fayette County Public Schools. When Stu came, I continued to fulfill my duties as an employee at Central Office, but I stopped giving to the United Way and I refused to give to the Fayette County Foundation as part of a payroll deduction program. When my boss told me Stu wanted more from his "employees" I began, along with others, boycotting the Christmas party. I almost decided against joining my daughter's PTSA, but I realized the PTSA was not part of teh problem.
When people as me about Melodee Parker --and they do-- I just smile and say I have heard nothing. But I do less for the school system that continues to betray the trust of the public. Fayette County Schools no longer inspires me. It is a broken piece of equiment with a top heavy Central Office bent on protecting its own. We were told to be supportive of Melodee --that she has personal issues. But would I have been supported had I received a DUI? Doubtful.
It's pathetic that she gets paid $116,000+ to have the power to hire and fire 6,000 or so employees of FCPS. Terrible example she is setting in her position. Taxpayers should be outraged. This needs to be in the paper and on the local news.
Ms. Parker, your report card is in. You get an F in leadership.
I wonder if our new superintendent checks out this blog. Comments are made on this blog that would not be posted else where do to identity.
The email you are about to read is fiction. Any attempt to make it appear as if there is a cover-up is not intentional. Names have not been changed to protect the guilty.
Dear Tom,
I wanted to break from my duties over at Pritchard. There are a couple of pending lawsuits from my administration, but they won't receive major coverage in the Herald Leader. Don't sweat it. Brenda Allen is over in Frankfort, and I'm hoping she will stay there.
As for Melodee, take it in stride. So far, we have been able to keep most of our problems from the public eye. The good news is that the only people talking about it are on Richard Day's blog. Unless she gets another DUI, this should blow over.
Keep up the good work, and remember to carry on in my footsteps. Keep saying "It's about kids" and you'll have them eating out of your hand. With Atlanta off the list, you may indeed qualify as Superintendent of teh Year.
Best wishes,
Stu
Way to go Stu! Finally you tell the truth, you have been covering up stories. WOW!!
Mr. Shelton
Please dont carry on in his footsteps. If you work for FCPS or have chidren you know it is about Kids and you want what is best for them you dont need any caring person to eat out your hands.
Treat all your employees with respect and you will recieve respect from in entire community. That in itself is the biggest and best PR you will ever need.
So, I can assume Stu is talking about it since he is on Richards blog.
Cocer Up! Cover Up! Cover Up!
And now Dr. Tom Shelton asks his employees to give to the United Way, citing a source that says 50% of FCPS students live in poverty!
Dr. Tom Shelton is a very intuitive man who will do just fine at FCPS if he will dance to his own tune. He will make his own direction and bring fairness, honesty and integrity back to the ranks at Central Office.
Then he needs to remeove Melodee from her position.....
The superintendent of Laurel County was caught DUI after an accident a couple of weeks after Melodee's. It was all over the press and he had to resign. I never once heard or read anything about Melodee except on here.
What I find disturbing is that Melodee recently denied my request for an appeal to sub in Fayette County bc 22 years ago, when I was 18, I had a pocket knife in my back pocket and got picked up for a weapons charge. Since 1990 I have not been in trouble with the law at all (except a few tickets). The HR Director, who is in charge of all of the school personnel, could have killed the very children she is supposed to protect. Yet, Mr. Shelton says that I cannot sub in the county bc this is on my record from over two decades ago. Never mind that since then I was in the Army, received two Bachelor's degrees, a Master's degree and worked with student for over 15 years...ten of those as a minister in a local church. This is a clear example of hypocrisy at work...an example of applying the same "rules" differently for different people. The public needs to know about this administration.
Business as usual in Fayette County Public Schools. It's a shame Melodee is still on the job.
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