Jake on Francene on Felner on Schroeder ...OMG!

I can't (but will have to ) wait to listen to this.

Shout Out to Jake at Page One

A big thanks to Jacob Payne for being the fly in the ointment of Robert Felner, and unfortunately by extension, U of L President James Ramsey.

For the first time the Courier-Journal and other news sources are reporting that the alleged fraud ranges in the millions of dollars. Jake reported that months ago.

But it's hard to know what standards of verification bloggers use, especially when reporting unattributed matters where folks don't want to be quoted on the record - a major and necessary hang up for the mainstream media - which explains why C-J was so slow to report the extent of the fraud.

So we had to wait for the official processes to tick away before knowing whether Page One's reporting could be trusted. In the end, clearly, it could be trusted.

I'm not sure that explains why C-J was so slow to pick up the story to begin with. Was it homegrown protectionism? Was it a lack of news-gathering resources? Something else?

It was unfortunate that Ramsey and Provost Shirley Willihnganz were so protective of such a renown jackass as Felner. They clearly paid too much attention to the man behind the curtain. There's a big lesson in there somewhere.

Better would have been a strong response from Ramsey that upheld the best ethical principles at U of L and assured his commitment to discover and correct whatever nefarious individuals may have done to tarnish the reputation of this fine institution. Instead he chose a type of blind loyalty that allowed him to gaze fixedly at U S News and World Report rankings while ignoring all of the smoke - until there was a fully-stoked blaze.

It is obvious from internal emails that university leadership was caught totally off guard by the incident. They were slow on the uptake and chose to go totally defensive in their public relations responses - a move Ramsey later regretted and apologized for. Many U of L faculty were dismissed as malcontents and some called for Ramsey's head.

It seems clear from the public comments that the U of L trustees have accepted Ramsey's explanations and seem to want to go forward with him at the helm. I am told by some who know and respect him, that he is much more capable than this sorry episode would lead one to believe. Ramsey did respond belatedly with a series of efforts to relook the obvious problems uncovered by the whole affair.

It's now up to the citizens (and I suppose, the Governor) to decide if the trustee's handling of this mess was OK with them.

It is not clear that accountability, beyond what lies in "Dr Feloner's" future, will extend to any of his lieutenants - or to what degree the trustees may have formally "evaluated" the situation.

One would hope new Dean Blake Hesselton has his dustpan out for a little house cleaning. I guess we'll have to wait for that as well.

But here we have yet another situation where "the press" (including citizen journalists like Jake) is threatened and painted as the bad guy for reporting "unattributed lies" that turn out to be the truth.

Good job, Jake.

Also a big thanks to Adam Walser at WHAS (and Mark Hebert for catching the definitive Ramsey quote) and the Courier-Journal. You can't ignore that big megaphone the mainstream media wields, and after a slow start both outlets did a fine job of elevating the story to its proper place as the lead story and on the front page.

Battlelines Drawn in the Ville: U of L goes after Page One

Page One Kentucky's

Publication of "incorrect information"

about Donor's Degree Program Cited

The sabre rattling that began last week has escalated as the University of Louisville fired a shot across the bow of "the messenger" of bad tidings. Page One has responded on its pages with invitations and promises to defend itself.

This U of L press release from...you guessed it - Page One:

Sept. 26, 2008 Contact: John Drees
502-553-9793
John.drees@louisville.edu

UofL outraged at release of student records
Information on Internet blog is incorrect, possibly illegal

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The University of Louisville has learned that a local internet blog has printed incorrect information about a degree program and a student’s academic career.

The university expressed its concern at the release of the records, which may violate the Federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

"The University takes seriously its obligation to protect our students’ records and privacy," said University Provost Shirley Willihnganz. "We are outraged that anyone would violate that trust."

The program in question, the Bachelor of Science in Workforce Leadership, is offered through the university’s College of Education and Human Development. It is designed to allow mid- to advanced-career level working professionals to receive academic credit for their workplace learning experiences. In addition, students complete a program of core competencies with a concentration in workplace performance, career and technical education or executive development.

Two hundred thirty eight students currently participate in the program.

The degree program was created in response to a request from the Council on Postsecondary Education and has been praised by Greater Louisville Inc. and Kentuckiana Works as a model program that will help the commonwealth reach its 2020 goal of doubling the number of college graduates.

"This program clearly benefits the community, which has asked us to develop programs that will help in workforce development. And it benefits hundreds of individuals who wish to further their education," Willihnganz said.

More information on the degree is available at: http://louisville.edu/education/degrees/exec-perform.html

Jake Payne responded today at Page One saying,

...If there was major concern, why didn’t John Drees return telephone calls? Why didn’t Shirley Willihnganz email us directly? We have worked with her in the past and have communicated via email.

We have reviewed the leaked information we published time and time again. We can find no super-private confidential information. There are no grades, no specifics. Just communication among University of Louisville employees discussing ways to fake a degree by doing all the portfolio work for a major donor.

This is called damage control and it’s ridiculous.

Payne had previously called for an legislative investigation of events surrounding former Dean Robert Felner, his shady dealings with federal grant money, and an apparent sweetheart deal that granted a doctorate to Superintendent John Deasy, and now, major donor Lewis "Sonny" Bass.

Trafficking in Hyperbole

Thank God, It's Friday!

Feel Free to Reach Out and Smack Someone.

A little firestorm broke out today over at Page One. It seems that Jake Payne has had quite enough of David Adams.

David Adams may pretend that the Bluegrass Institute is an honest think tank. But it’s obviously a right-wing agenda pusher that not only hates public education and stops at nothing to complain about it 24/7. [KY Progress]

This set off a a series of thrusts and parries reminscent of the battling attorneys I had been writing about earlier today. It went something like this:

David: Nuh uh. We don't hate public schools.
Jake: Yeah Huh. You're a hater who hangs out with Frank Simon.
David: Nuh uh. I've got kids in public school.
Jake: Yeah huh. BGI kills your credibility.
David: I may be a right-winger but KDE really sucks.

Or, words to that effect.....

Both blogs stoop to name-calling, which I try not to do, but I suppose I'm sympathetic with Jake's frustration.

Despite trying not to pay too close attention, every now and again, I get my fill of the outrage-of-the-day mentality and petty name-calling that goes on regularly at the Bluegrass Institute blog now. Everybody's a liar, or a fraud - and always an educrat. (By the way, what's the opposite of that? An ignocrat?

For example, Adam's big story of the day at Kentucky Progress was "Cutting through Big Ed's crap" A Richard Innes quote in a wrapper. Adams concludes:

As the Kentucky's mainstream media crumbles, independent researchers like Innes will take on an even more important role in holding government entities like Big Education accountable.

Perhaps so. But if it's wrapped up in an on-going screed about how awful everybody else is, I'm not sure many middle-of-the-road types are going to be able to hear it. Then, BGI's voice only gets further marginalized?

In a normal year, I'd be right in there with BGI fussing to improve assessment methods and results for our kids. I think the CATS concordance idea is little more than a bandaide put on a transition period with the hope no one will notice the 5-7 point bump schools get with the new and easier test. But the dialogic atmosphere is at Kentucky Progress, and now, BGI, is so toxic I'd just rather give KDE a pass and move on the other issues.

It wasn't always that way.

When Adams started blogging for the Bluegrass Institute I expressed my concerns to Innes. My thought was that the style of discourse on Kentucky Progress was inconsistent with what I understood them to stand for. Now I think it was my assessment of what they stood for that was wrong. I was less familiar with BGI overall and didn't make much of an effort to look into it. It wasn't really a concern of mine. I've worked with folks from all kinds of political perspectives for my whole career.

Innes and I managed to work together fairly well on a couple of issues (KIRIS, Barbara Erwin)despite being misaligned politically. We never thought we had to agree on everything to agree on the things we did.

The association probably cost me some credibility with educators in Kentucky.

A close colleague once asked me a question that I can't quite get out of my head. She said, "You've spent your whole life fighting for better schools in Kentucky. How can you stand being identified with the Bluegrass Institute on anything?"

I told her, "We only agree when we agree."

I'm not sure David and Jake are going to be able to hear each other. Jake sees the big picture. David sees individual claims. So today they just "yelled" at each other.

I suspect David isn't half as interested in understanding the implications of the data Innes produces, or the conclusions drawn, as he is in staying on message. I guess it's all about the influence.

Ramsey Tosses the Faculty a Bone

Willihnganz: "The heat on this one is on us."

Since U of L President James Ramsey knew there were legitimate concerns about former Dean Robert Felner, his dismisive comments to Mark Hebert calling faculty concerns "anonymous crap" was disengenuous...at least.

His justification - that Felner's behavior was somehow OK, if it produced results - is equally troubling.

In the quest for numbers, somebody seems to have forgotten that the best educators are in the people business.

From Page One:

...In a mid-May email discussion earlier this year, Ramsey alluded to “issues” surrounding Felner in a message about a Board of Overseers meeting. Here’s what he said, “Given the issues with Robert right now it actually might be better to hold this until things are settled.” ...

...[There's an email] from Jim Ramsey to Alicia Sells, Associate Vice President for Government Relations, about sending a follow-up letter to the General Assembly (DAMAGE CONTROL!) outlining “positive things happening” while staying “away from any reference to Felner.” ...

Ramsey goes on to say that Mark Hebert and [C-J's] David Hawpe “won’t let it die.” No mention of the bloggers making his life a living hell.

Records indicate that despite being aware of issuses involving Felner, Ramsey did not see this public relations disaster coming.

Unknown to Ramsey, a blogger (Jacob Payne at Page One Kentucky) had received tips and damaging information through an open records request, published it, and fed it to the mainstream media.

The mainstream media took a while to follow up, but when they did the story came to the attention of the state. Suddenly, Ramsey was "caught off guard" and started learning details through the media that he didn't know himself. In one email he told Provost Shirley Willihnganz,

"those in the Univesity and those in the press - have much more insight and
information than we do."

Ramsey's remarks to Hebert precipitated a strong negative reaction from faculty, illustrated by an email from Staff Senate Chair and Staff Trustee, Brent Fryrear, who informed Ramsey that his comments "may not have played as intended," and that his comments seemed to confirm the fears of those faculty who were reluctant to report bad behavior "for fear of retribution."

Willihnganz's response was to acknowledge that "the heat on this one is on us," and direct that she and Ramsey see any open records releases "before they go out." "...it's pretty disconcerting to see things that WE haven't even been told on the front page of the paper,"she wrote.

This from C-J:

U of L president's letter acknowledges Felner problems

In a letter to University of Louisville alumni, donors and boards, President James Ramsey acknowledged the administration knew there were problems with former education dean Robert Felner’s leadership and management style.

“While we can’t talk about personnel actions, we did take steps to improve the situation,” Ramsey said in the letter dated last Friday. “Rightfully so, we have faculty who are hurt and disappointed by events of the recent years.” ...

...In his letter, Ramsey explained his decision to hire Felner to head the college, which was criticized in a 2001 report over its effectiveness, interaction with local teachers, and “indifference to its alumni’s employment issues.”

Felner’s “references were very good,” Ramsey said. When Felner was hired, “our mandate to him was to turn things around and do it quickly. He became a change agent — a role all of our new Deans have played.” He said the administration believed early concerns about Felner’s leadership “stemmed from the rapid change and heavy demands he had placed on his faculty.”

Ramsey twice noted that four formal grievances were made against Felner, but he said “none of those grievances moved forward as negative toward the Dean.” ...

Seeking "Just Solutions" to the Felner problem

Page One and WHAS have been focusing on U of L's response (or lack thereof) to Just Solutions, the group hired to help resolve internal issues between former chair Robert Felner and many on the CEHD faculty.

This from Jake:

It’s been the hot topic of the past few weeks: the Just Solutions report that the University of Louisville commissioned to help deal with faculty concerns at the College of Education and Human Development. We initially reported on the situation and published documents yielded from open records requests on July 14.

Earlier in the week we reported that UofL’s open records officer revealed no report was ever completed. Now we learn from WHAS11’s Adam Walser that not only was the report never completed and released, UofL never paid the $9,987.80 bill from Just Solutions. There’s no really clear reasoning for why UofL never paid the bill. It was sent three times but UofL says it was never received.

WHAS Video story from Adam Walser.

I won !!!! Thanks to Page One Kentucky

The guys over at PageOneKentucky had a little contest recently and my name was plucked from the hat.

Accordingly, I am to receive an autographed copy of Bryan Bush's soon-to-be-released book, Butcher Burbridge from Acclaim Press. Thanks to Jacob Payne and the folks at PageOne.

In recent years I have read a lot of Kentucky history, albeit, largely education history. I was always taken by John Ed Pierce's assertion that Kentucky, neutral during the Civil War, joined the losers after the loss. This curious circumstance was in reaction to the hardships borne during reconstruction in the state. I suspect this dumfounding notion may become clearer to me through Bush's work.

General Stephen Burbridge is associated with the despised "Order 59" which ordered the death of four Confederates for every Yankee killed in the state at the hands of southern guerillas. Bush recounts Burbridge's confiscation of property, and the suspension of Constitutional rights and habes corpus during his reign of terror over Kentucky.

I'm looking forward to the read.