Erwin's academic prowess? Was the Kentucky Board of Education given the straight scoop?

Mark Hebert, of WHAS TV in Louisville, has been looking at the material Ray & Associates gave to the Kentucky Board of Education in support of their selection of Barbara Erwin as Kentucky's new Education Commissioner.

He tells me it gives glowing accounts of Erwin's work in her past three school districts, refers to "her strong interpersonal skills," and says that in every district she has improved test scores.

Fine. They should present the PRO side of her experience.

But did they also present the CON?

Was the board of education warned about the possible downside to an Erwin selection?

Did board members undertake efforts toward due dilligence on their own?

I have not seen this material yet, but requested it over the long weekend. I'll let you know what I find out.
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Much has already been discovered that puts Ray & Associate's glowing accounts of her supposedly strong interpersonal skills into serious doubt. Perhaps even more disturbing than her resume padding is her legacy of division and strife wherever she has been. The general temperament question has been - and continues to be a problem.

The latest round of her embattled career will take place in closed session tonight in St Charles, where District 303 board members will discuss on-going problems with Erwin's contract amendment number 2, the state's attorney's investigation, and "imminent litigation."

It's the kind of strife that seemed to follow her from Allen, Texas; to Scottsdale, Arizona; to St Charles, Illinois; and now to Kentucky. It makes me wonder, does strife follow her - or does she lead it?

The test score improvement claim is more difficult to establish. There are a few reasons for this.

• First, we have a superintendent who hits and runs. Not being in a place for long has a tendency to reduce the impact of any one person.
• Second, in Texas and Illinois (at least), the state changed (many say downgraded) the assessment program in the middle of her tenure. (Texas in the late 90s and Illinois last year.) This had the effect of raising nearly every school's scores. A rising tide lifts all boats. But if Erwin is indeed some kind of academic miracle worker, we ought to be able to find evidence of student achievement that surpasses her peers. To what degree did her accomplishments outstrip gains made simultaneously by all other district?
• Third, her school districts (at a glance) appear to have all been upscale suburban districts that had low percentages of low income students and relatively little diversity. She seems to have thrown a lot of money at problems and contributed a good bit to attorneys fees.

Louisville queries gubernatorial candidates on Education, Retirement...

On the Mark reported the release of questionaire results that Greater Louisville Inc. sent to all of the candidates for governor. GLI says it, "serves as the “voice of business” in advocating policies and investments that contribute to a higher quality of life and level of prosperity for our community and Kentucky."

It's aimed at Louisvillians, but most is of interest statewide. For example:

QUESTION 2
At GLI, we believe that increasing educational attainment of our citizens is critical to the future of the Commonwealth. More education equals more success, higher salaries and better jobs. What will you do to support improving the educational attainment of our citizens – from
kindergarten through higher ed?

QUESTION 7
What will you do to solve the current funding crisis of the state employee and teacher pension systems? In the long term, how will you continue to fund the state employee and teacher health care benefits within the context of the Commonwealth’s overall fiscal health?

Another MUST READ from Hebert: The inside story on the Erwin selection process and politics

Another MUST READ from Mark Hebert at WHAS on the Erwin selection process was posted this evening at On the Mark.

After 4 1/2 hours behind closed doors, the state board of education today hired Barbara Erwin as Kentucky's new Education Commissioner. The vote in public was unanimous though there was clearly a split in the board when they began meetings this morning...

The story is that the state board liked Erwin's toughness, smarts and reputation for innovation then shook off, ignored, or felt comfortable with numerous problems in Erwin's past to go ahead and hire her.

They apparently grilled her for most of three hours behind closed doors, presumably delving into the reasons she had problems with the past three local school boards she worked for, was accused of almost killing two previous districts and had a "typo" on the resume she submitted for the Kentucky job.

And during today's board meeting, news surfaced from blogger and former school principal Richard Day, of another potential problem with Erwin's resume. She'd written that she'd given presentations at a statewide school conference in Illinois in 2004 and 2006. Day confirmed with conference officials that she hadn't been a presenter in 2006.

When asked about it after today's vote, board members said they were unaware of the new questions about Erwin's resume and she said her school district had given presentations, which she signed off on, at each of those conferences.

...Concerned board member, Doug Hubbard, told Hebert late today that his fellow board members "obviously looked past her credibility problems."

...On the political side...all of the current state school board members have been appointed or reappointed by Governor Fletcher...who apparently kept his hands off the...search and selection process. On the other hand, the lousy job by the search firm (Ray and Associates) and the fumbling by his board could reflect badly on Fletcher if he's reelected and Erwin is overly scrutinized to the point that she's driven from the job. And make no mistake, Erwin's hire is the work of board chairman Keith Travis who championed her despite the revelations....

Kentucky Board of Education Embarrased - MUST READ

See today's post on Mark Hebert's blog, On the Mark at WHAS in Louisville.

Apparently a lot of folks are mystified by the process the state board followed in the selection of the new commish.

First, on April 7, Mark Hebert reported the state board met in executive session, narrowing its commissioner search down to three individuals but refused to release the names. Hebert was told the board only planned to release the name of one finalist, the person the school board planned to hire. He was later told the board might release the names of the three finalists AFTER the board interviews them in a few weeks.

State board chairman Keith Travis told the Herald-Leader "When we started the search process the entire board agreed on an entire process to go through” because they wanted to get a large number of qualified applicants while ensuring their confidentiality. In the past, three finalists had always been announced to allow a period of time for public input BEFORE finalizing the selection, but that is not required by state law.

Much to his credit, Governor Fletcher urged the board to name their 3 finalists publicly so that state lawmakers could offer their opinions on replacing former Commissioner Gene Wilhoit, who resigned in November. "Public awareness of this important selection promotes dialogue and disclosure that otherwise would be lost, two critical components in assuring the selection of the best candidate," the governor said.

The next day the board did announce their 3 finalists - claiming, unconvincingly, that they planned to do so all along.

I posted numerous news clippings about Barbara Erwin from Scottsdale and St. Charles (and material on the other two finalists) the next day. (Search this blog for "Barbara Erwin", or to see all postings on the subject search "Kentucky Education Commissioner.")

But I also shared that information with the state board, before they met!

So when state board chairman Keith Travis indicated he was unaware of a possible down-side to Erwin's selection, I got suspicious.

To make sure the information was received, I wrote to Lisa Gross, who is in charge of communications for KDE.

I asked, "Did your office assure that all comments received from the public, before the state board met to select the new commissioner, actually made it into the hands of the members?"

Lisa assured me that she, personally, opened every message, "copied the content and pasted it verbatim" into a document. She then "summarized the comments by breaking them out into themes...which they all read and discussed."

The sum of all information shows cause for concern in areas related to openness with the press and an overall tendency toward disharmony and combativeness.

Let's give her the benefit of the doubt. Maybe she was on the "right side" of every issue. But how can we tell if she won't talk about it?

So what does it mean now that the state board of education met again, selected their one finalist, and chose to defer final action until May 9th or 10th?

Is this a period of public discussion - so that the board may confirm, or change its mind - depending on the public input or new information brought to light?

Or is the decision made - and the state just needs a couple of weeks to work out the details - in which case, we can all just stay quiet, because it's a done deal?

And, did Governor Fletcher just get publicly disrespected by the state board - after agreeing to more openness, they clearly circumvented the governor's intent by quickly returning to their original plan to name one finalist? (Late yesterday, I wrote and asked that question of the governor's press secretary, but haven't heard back yet.)

Evidence suggests that Fletcher did convince the state board to release the names of three finalists - then as quickly as possible, the state board apparently returned to its original plan, and named one finalist.

On the other hand, if the chairman Travis is to be taken at his word, then we must conclude the possibility that the committee may have "outsourced" their responsibilities.

See also today's Courier-Journal.

"All those who thought the process for choosing our new Jefferson County school superintendent was flawed should take a look at what happened in the selection of a new Kentucky education commissioner.

The Kentucky Board of Education conducted its search the supposed right way: picking three finalists whose names were made public so that their careers could be open to public scrutiny. But when Barbara Erwin, who was about to retire early as the superintendent of a 15,000-student school district in suburban Chicago, emerged as the apparent choice, only then did it surface that she had left behind a poisonous residue in an earlier tenure as superintendent in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Despite the perfect process, state board chairman Keith Travis said he didn't know anything about that history."