Friday, May 18, 2012

Did Marcus Dobbs Get a Sweetheart Deal from Silberman?

When KSN&C posts reports from sources, while we don't reveal their names, we do know who they are and that, in fact, they are in a position to know the information they share. So the information we are sharing today comes with a warning - I do not know the source(s) other than they claim to be white women in the FCPS Transportation Department. Treat it as a rumor.

The reason I'm running (a greatly reduced version of) the information they provided is that some of it has been verified through other sources. The precise data mentioned however has not been confirmed.

An individual with the colorful handle, "Pissed Mary" (mademployee@hotmail.com) claims that a number of white female members of the FCPS Transportation Division are upset because of an 11th hour appointment that Stu Silberman made just prior to his departure.

Mary says:
When Stu decided to retire, a couple of weeks before he left, everyone was shocked when he used his power to “appoint” Marcus Dobbs to a position of Assistant Director simply because he was a minority and he had to supposedly meet minority quotas.  John Kiser even seemed surprised at this move. He is sooo unqualified, he had not earned this position, and was given a big boost in pay, just like all the other positions that he held in transportation before. He is nothing more than a routing supervisor with big bucks!!!  How do you justify that to us~  Board Members, Mary Browning, and Stu?
Apparently the shell of this allegation is true. Marcus Dobbs was a member of the committee that brought Silberman to Fayette County and served as some kind of courier/helper for Stu during his convalescence following a bad spill from his bicycle a few years back. Dobb's appointment to a position that didn't exist may have surprised Director John Kiser, but it shocked the heck out of the district's only female Router, Kim Webb, who upon learning that she had no opportunity to compete for the newly created position, got up from her desk and made a beeline to Mary Browning's office to complain. Obviously, nothing came of her complaint. Stu was Mary's boss. But we hear that every chance she gets to make Dobbs look bad, she takes.

Dobbs serves as Assistant Director, but he does not supervise the Routers - making him more of an Assistant to the Director, rather than an Assistant Director. Yet, in his position Dobbs draws a big salary.

If Silberman ever operated under a racial quota, I am not aware of it. Still, he may have felt pressure to show some effort toward the advancement of African Americans late in his tenure. KSN&C, for one, was questioning why employment levels among African American teachers and Administrators lagged during his administration.

Was the appointment of Dobbs a sweetheart deal?
Let’s be more specific. Every year the Lexington Herald Leader publishes the yearly salaries for the FCPS employees. Check it out at: WWW.Kentucky.com – then News-then salary/databases and then type in the small search engine at the top of the page (Fayette county public school salaries), then type in the employee name and scroll down and you will find the same information I am telling you.  Everything I am about to unload are pure facts, so hold on to your seat.

How many white women  routing supervisors ever made $64,954.00 per year?
Answer: NONE~ they weren’t friends of Stu Silbermans!

You can even go to the: FCPS board meeting minutes at www.fcps.net  for the past five years to find out how Marcus Dobbs salary has increased at the tax payers’ expense. Check in the April or May budget minutes.  Well, wait, I’ll just tell you and save you the time.

·         2006/2007  White woman routing supervisor made $29,127.60
·         2007/2008  Marcus Dobbs $59,033.
·         2008/2009  Marcus Dobbs $61,933
·         2009/2010  Marcus Dobbs $64,954
·         2010/2011  Marcus Dobbs $77,847
 -         2011/2012  Marcus Dobbs $85,613
KSN&C sources say that is it Dobb's job to do Kiser's dirty work, so that he can keep his hands clean.

Mary goes on to suggest that:
  • Dobbs only supervises 3 people in routing.  
  • His job of providing customer service is a joke.
  • We have a white woman manager of Liberty Road bus garage with 15 years experience, makes 52k, and supervises 250 employees
  • We have a white man at the Miles Point bus garage, and has 3 years experience, supervises 150 employees and makes 48k a year.
  • Many, many employees are watching to see what happens with John Kiser.
  • Marcus has stated that his appointment as Director of Transportation is “in the bag.”
  • Marcus does a good job as a routing supervisor, but …. Does he deserve almost (100K) for being a minority and Stu’s friend?  Hell No! 
Apparently the Board is considering issues related to salary next week and folks in Transportation are paying attention. 

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Richard this comment does not have anthing to do with the transportation issues but I cant seem to get answer or help any where else. As a Fayette Co employee for 18 years 11 of them in a clerical positon. About 1 1/2 years ago I wanted to transfer schools but was told that I would need to pass a book keepers and excel test first. I have asked HR and the answer I get is to get better qualified people in these position. How can passing 2 test that have absolutely nothing to do with the job make you a more qualified person than a person with 11 years of job experience and excellent evaluations. We have Melodee Parker and Stu to thank for this. I know there are alot of issue in transportation but there are alot of other unfair issues going on in the district that needs attention and investigation. What happened to being grandfathered in?

Anonymous said...

You guys have it all wrong. Silberman had nothing to do with any of this. Mr. Dobbs "spouse" is joined at the hip with our very own mayor.

Anonymous said...

I agree with the 1st comment why is this all about transportation. Transfers and promotions happen all the time in the district, schools included and no one seems to care. It must be who you know, instead of what you know about the job or your experience. Years of on job experience used to matter.

Anonymous said...

I would surmise that Dobbs wasn't the only one who got an 11th hour boost in salary from Silberman at the taxpayer's expense. Has anyone looked at Lisa Deffendall's salary over time?

Anonymous said...

I am sure someone, usually the moderator, will still tell us (Central Office employees) that Mr. Silberman ---no earned doctorate, no scholarly publication, no quotable pronouncements on public eduation---was an effective administrator, and that all "good administrators" have their detractors.

Anonymous said...

dont ask how much this guy make in a year .ask who wants you to know this and why. this person knows things are about to get very bad for them soon if kiser gets the boot. the end of the darkness known as kiser and kim and steve is almost over and them can feel the heat. nice for the cat to know how the mice fell for a change . GOD bless you Richard day for doing what you do shinning the light on this rats nest known as transportation .

Anonymous said...

As an employee of transportation I can tell you that Marcus Dobbs is very qualified for any job in transportation The routing department has never worked as well as it does now He can do anything that is asked of him and I know he can run the bus garage if the need arises He is that good
sounds like we have jealousy going on in the department

Anonymous said...

If we need to talk about how much
taxpayer money is wasted Ther are 8
year round driver trainer supervisors they get to work overtime everyday in the summer they have to hire people to train so these supervisors can take a vacation one of the trainers can't train due to no CDL the bus drivers and monitors get no OT no vacations just the summer off without pay the trainers should be on summer contracts so they would not get vacations and would be able to train drivers

Anonymous said...

marcus dobbs earned his job by getting his degree and doing a good job at everything he does
ask john kiser how he can justify hiring kim webb for dt, routing supervisor, and now manager with
only a high school diploma we in
transportation know why she must have something really bad on him

Anonymous said...

In today's society, it is not what you know, but who you know.
In today's society, it is ok to lie, cheat, steal and bribe your way to get what you want.
Unfortunately, it's still a man's world; women don't have a chance at bettering themselves. So until there is real equality amongst the sexes, women will always be considered second class citizens.
Ladies, isn't it about time to get ruthless and take what belongs to us?

Truly Annoyed said...

Marcus Dobbs is probably the most qualified in the department. If I am not mistaken, he began his career with the department at the same time as Kim Webb. He was a driver, driver trainer, worked as a dispatcher for an amount of time before working in routing and becoming the Associate Director. Not to mention his time served on a number of FCPS committees. Oh and let's not forget he's educated as well. So, I think Mary' s argument of inexperience can be thrown out the window. Since she wants to bring up pay let's shed some light on the managers who also received nice raises and transitions from hourly to salaried workers. I think it's time for proud Mary to stop rolling and to have a seat and sit down. It's better to be thought a fool than to have it confirmed.

Anonymous said...

I work for FCPS transportation and I still can not seem to understand why people who apparently are working for the kids have such childish issues. I have worked with Mr. Dobbs on many issues and I have actaully found him to be more helpful and professional than anyone I have yet to deal with in that department or many of the schools for that matter. Mr. Dobbs has not one but two masters degrees, is a state certified instructor and is one of only a few in the whole state and the only one in FCPS to be able to actually test someone to drive a bus. He was hired before either of the managers of the two garages and has more actual "transportation" experience than Mr. Kiser does. So I ask...What is the problem. Is it because he has more respect from adminstration?? Well he does. Is it he has more experience and education than the director or the managers?? Well he does. The salary chart is online. We all go grade by grade level by level. He got his masters and Rank 1 for a reason. To better himself. We all have that option and are encouraged to do so and it does not matter if you are a male or female. The salary chart flows the same.

Anonymous said...

Wow, go figure a person with significant experience and initiative to successfully advance his education as well as serve his supervisor well gets promoted and a raise within the organization. How unAmerican.