Change proposed in funding for migrant education

Persistent flaws and possible fraud undermine migrant education funding, the Bush administration believes.

So now, the Education Department wants to change how school districts get their federal aid. The move could alarm some teachers, but also could help school districts in states such as California, Texas and Florida, home to more than half of all migrant students.

"A problem was identified," said Alex Goniprow, a supervisory specialist in the federal Office of Migrant Education, "and the states and us have moved very aggressively to face up to it."
On Friday, the Education Department proposed potentially far-ranging migrant education revisions.

Some jobs would no longer count as migrant farm work. Some states would lose money because of student eligibility errors. Other states could gain money. Educators would do more double-checking. All the revisions are supposed to improve the distribution of some $386 million a year in migrant education funds.

From McClatchy Newspapers.

Too many babies are teeny couch potatoes

Study finds 90 percent of kids under age 2 watch TV and DVDs

About 90 percent of U.S. children under age 2 and as many as 40 percent of infants under three months are regular watchers of television, DVDs and videos, researchers said on Monday.
They said the number of young kids watching TV is much greater than expected.

“We don’t know from the study whether it is good or bad. What we know is that it is big,” said Frederick Zimmerman of the University of Washington, whose research appears in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

This from MSNBC. Photo by Trinette Reed / PictureArts.

Doctors checking babies for mental disorders

Autism, attention deficit disorder diagnosed, treated earlier and earlier

Within days of their birth, healthy babies will look you in the eye. By 4 months, they will delight in others. And by 9 months, they will exchange smiles.
Jacob Day did none of those things.

"We used to say it was like it burned his eyes to look at you," said his mother, Tamie Day of Antelope, Calif. "It was like a physically painful thing for him. It wasn't just that he wasn't looking at us; he was purposefully looking away."

Day, who has a psychology degree, suspected her son might have autism. She enrolled him in a study, published in April, that found that babies like Jacob are indeed at high risk for autism if they do not respond to their names by 12 months of age.

At 18 months, he was formally diagnosed with autism, about a year earlier than usual. Before he turned 2, Jacob began daily intensive behavior treatment designed to help him lead a more normal life.

He is part of a growing field in psychiatry called infant mental health. Doctors and scientists are increasingly looking for early signs in babies of autism, attention deficit disorder and other mental problems that just a generation ago, scarcely anyone thought could appear in children so young.

This from MSNBC.

Will education make the grade by 2017?

Rapidly changing world sends schools searching for ways to keep pace

Economists, technology experts and health care leaders predict that the pace of change in our everyday lives, already too fast for many, will only accelerate. Within a decade, they say, educators will face a major challenge preparing the people responsible for keeping it all running.

If it’s not already a cyberworld, it’s getting closer. By 2017, the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies projects, advances in miniaturization and wireless communication mean technology will be almost invisible, but it will be pervasive, threaded throughout bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchens, living rooms and workplaces.

Schools are searching for novel ways to keep up. Quite likely, shifting demographics will mean many children won’t be going to school at all. They’ll be learning at home, instead, at a cyberschool.

This from MSNBC.

JCPS adding resource centers

Four new sites bring total to 95

They help students with everything from clothing and tutoring to counseling, parenting classes and health care.

Educators say Family Resource and Youth Services centers -- created statewide as a part of Kentucky's 1990 education reform -- provide crucial help for students struggling with problems beyond school walls that impair their learning.

Now, Jefferson County Public Schools is adding four centers that will bring the total to 95 serving 131 schools. The new sites will be at Tully Elementary, Butler and Eastern high schools and the Jaeger preschool program.

This from the Courier-Journal.

Harvard approves biggest curriculum change in 30 years

Harvard University on Tuesday approved its biggest curriculum overhaul in three decades, putting new emphasis on sensitive religious and cultural issues, the sciences and overcoming U.S. "parochialism."

The curriculum change, proposed on February 8 after three years of faculty debate, is intended to counter criticism the oldest U.S. institute of higher learning was focused too narrowly on academic topics instead of real-life issues.

This from CNN.

Resume lies a major concern for employers

MSNBC reports:

As dean of admissions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Marilee Jones was responsible for ensuring that applicants represented their academic backgrounds honestly. So it was more than a shock when the 55-year-old resigned Thursday, admitting that she had misled school officials over a 28-year period into believing that she held three degrees from New York institutions. In fact, she had never received even an undergraduate degree from any school.

While Jones's case is extreme, it points to a major concern for any corporation or institution that hires employees: embellishments and outright lies on résumés. Sue Murphy, association manager of the Human Resources Association, says... "We used to try to have the applicant provide two or three business references. But now … employers are being much more aggressive about checking applicants' backgrounds, and if they can afford it they are even hiring third parties to do background checks."

One of those third parties, ADP Screening and Selection Services, said it conducted 5.8 million background checks in 2006, a 20 percent increase from 2005. Out of nearly 500,000 reference verifications ADP did last year, 41 percent came back with some sort of discrepancy between the employment, education or credentials information provided by the applicant and what the source reported...

But if an employer doesn't catch the falsehoods, how does an employee live with such a big lie..?

...Psychologist Paul Ekman from the University of California Medical School in San Francisco (who has not spoken with Jones, and only knows of her situation from media reports) speculates that Jones's case is likely related to self-esteem...

Ekman says many people are tempted to exaggerate their credentials for the same reason a kid exaggerates his father's strength, but that most people resist. "They either know from past experience that they could never get away with it—perhaps because they are bad liars, they don't like taking risks—some people are risk takers so it attracts them to lying, or they are religiously observant," Ekman says...

But while Ekman says everyone tells little white lies, which don't have any serious repercussions, the potential damages caused by hiring a poorly qualified employee are serious for companies. In fact, citing an example where a man lied on an application for a job as a bridge engineer (his dishonesty was discovered before any bridges were built), Murphy says there is serious liability for employers. "We live in a much more litigious society, so employers are trying to protect themselves against liability," Murphy says. "In today's hiring process it is very rare that employers are not going above and beyond trying to verify people's backgrounds."

...With such diligence, it's much riskier for today's job hunters to lie than it was 30 years ago when Jones filled out her first application at MIT, Murphy says. "When she moved up, she may not have had the degrees but she had the work experience to be good at her job, so were we cheated?" Ekman asks. "The real issue here is what does she represent to young people. Clearly she's not a good role model on how to get ahead in the world, so at least you could say she is a good lesson."

Scottsdale Teachers union leader glad ex-superintendent is someone else's problem

Eric Kurland has a dozen words of advice for the teachers, students and parents of Kentucky:

"This too shall pass. Hang on. Do the right thing for kids."

Kurland, president of the Scottsdale Teachers Association, doesn't spend a lot of time thinking about the Bluegrass State. But news from there last week hit close to home...

...Belatedly, Scottsdale's impression of Erwin reached the Kentucky board. Kurland told the Louisville newspaper: "She was like a cancer. She took the life out of our district."

Now she'll be in charge of education for all of Kentucky, a big jump from her current suburban Chicago district, which has half as many schools and students as Scottsdale."Nothing surprises me anymore," Kurland told me. "She must have improved greatly. She's an impressive woman to pull it off."

By the end of her four years in Scottsdale, Erwin was not a popular woman. In a Scottsdale Republic online poll after she resigned, 12 percent said she had made the district better, while 70 percent said she alienated people and drove away quality employees.

This from the Arizona Republic.

Scottsdale Buyout Not Confirmed, considered rumor

On Saturday, I highlighted a comment found on Blogizona, a Scottsdale blog run by the Arizona Republic. The commenter asserted that Barbara Erwin's contract was bought out by the Scottsdale board of education. A Kentucky School News and Commentary reader asserted the same claim on May 12th.

We do find evidence that Erwin was sued by the school board president around this time, but we have been unable to confirm any such buyout.

Readers who can provide evidence to the contrary should make it known. Otherwise, Kentucky School News and Commentary will file this one in the rumor category.

Two GOP candidates for governor in slugfest over school prayer

In the contest for conservative voters, Gov. Ernie Fletcher and his chief opponent in the GOP primary election are in a bitter argument over who is the biggest supporter of prayer in public schools.

Fletcher had aired a television ad last week that said Republican challenger Anne Northup, a former congresswoman from Louisville, had voted against school prayer.

"Nothing could be further from the truth," Northup said in recorded telephone calls to Republicans across the state. "I have voted time after time in support of prayer in our schools, and as governor I look forward to protecting this right. As a matter of fact, I have consistently argued that taking God out of our schools has undermined our children's faith."

Northup, who served in Congress for 10 years before losing the seat to a Democrat last year, voted against a 1998 resolution that called for a constitutional amendment that would have allowed voluntary school prayer.

At a campaign stop in Liberty on Monday, Northup said she voted against the resolution because it would have allowed teachers to lead the prayers, which meant adults of one religion could have been in a position to lead children of another religion in prayer.

"Christian families do not want teacher-led prayer in their classrooms," Northup said.

This from the Courier-Journal.

Teachers Who Cheat

Pressure for higher test scores bringing out the worst

in some teachers. Some help students during standards test

-- or fix answers later.

Schools admitted outright cheating in about two-thirds of the cases. And while the number reporting problems represents a small fraction of the state's 9,468 public schools, some experts think the practice of cooking the test results is more widespread.

That's because the California Department of Education relies on schools to come forward voluntarily, and to investigate themselves when a potential problem is flagged.

"The vast majority of educators are ethical and play by the rules. (But) when identification of potential cheating hinges largely on self-reports, it is almost certainly underreported," said Greg Cizek, who teaches testing at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and is the author of "Cheating on Tests: How to Do It, Detect It, and Prevent It."

This from the San Francisco Chronicle.

U. of Texas Fires Officer Over Tie to Loan Company

The New York Times reports:

The University of Texas fired the director of financial aid at its Austin campus for improper conduct yesterday, reporting that he had more ties to a student loan company than had been known and had begun recommending the lender to students a few months after he bought stock in its parent company.

The university announced the dismissal of the director, Lawrence W. Burt, who had been on paid leave since last month, as it released a 33-page report — with an additional 100 pages of internal e-mail messages, letters and analyses from the Austin financial aid office — that provided the most detailed public documentation yet of how lenders sought favor inside a university.

The report described a university financial aid office that was oblivious to conflicts of interest and kept meticulous track of “lender treats” like ice cream, happy hours and birthday cakes that apparently were considered in deciding whether to put loan companies on lists of lenders recommended to students. The report called the compilation of such lists “flawed” and done at the sole discretion of Dr. Burt, who was placed on leave after it was disclosed he held stock in Education Lending Group while making decisions about Student Loan Xpress, one of its affiliates.

Two employees suspended over fake attack on students during trip

They used to tell ghost stories around the campfire,

but to scare the kids this year,

school officials convinced children

that an armed attacker was in the area.

The principal, herself a graduate of Virginia Tech, was not amused.

This from CNN:
MURFREESBORO, Tennessee (AP) -- Two school employees who staged a fake gun attack on a group of students during a field trip have been suspended, school officials said Monday.
During the last night of a weeklong trip to a state park, staff members convinced 69 sixth-grade students from Scales Elementary School that there was a gunman on the loose.

The students were told to lie on the floor or hide underneath tables and stay quiet. After the lights went out, some of the children began to cry. A teacher, disguised in a hooded sweat shirt, pulled on locked doors.

Teacher Quentin Masters and assistant principal Don Bartch were suspended for unprofessional conduct and neglect of duty because of the staged attack, schools director Marilyn Mathis said Monday.

VIDEO: (Watch student recount incident, mother react )

Some parents said they were upset by the staff's poor judgment in light of the April 16 shootings at Virginia Tech that left 33 people dead, including the gunman.

Bartch, who was present, has said the scenario was intended as a learning experience and lasted only five minutes.

Error #6: Indiana certification officials unable to explain Erwin teaching license mystery

Dr. Ray Graves, Assistant Director for Licensing with the Indiana Department of Education's Professional Standards Division confirmed information today that leaves in doubt whether Barbara Erwin's first year of teaching was consistent with state regulations.

On May 10, Kentucky School News and Commentary raised the issue of Erwin's teaching certificate and has been attempting to explain yet another (Error #6) descrepancy since.

Erwin's resume states:
"Teacher, Lafayette School Corporation, Lafayette, IN, Enrollment 8,000, 1971-73"

But when Vince Bertram, assistant superintendent with the Lafayette Indiana schools, researched employment records, he found that Erwin "taught for 22 weeks during the 1971-1972 school year." Bertram added, "Her resignation was effective on May 31, 1974. She was employed on a provisional teaching license."

But how did she get a license?

Indiana University registrars confirmed that she did not receive her Bachelor's degree until May 14, 1972.

Dr Graves informed Kentucky School News and Commentary that, "Indiana licensing rules in 1971 and since, have required that the minimum degree requirement for a teaching license is the Bachelor's degree, awarded from a regionally-accredited university or college."

Asked to explain how Erwin might have taught for 22 weeks in advance of receiving her degree, Graves responded, "I do not have an explanation for this information."

Kentucky School News and Commentary has written to Dr. (Dec 31, 1987,confirmed by IU) Erwin for an explanation. I'll let you know what she says.

Erwin Resume Error #5 confirmed by H-L

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."
~
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.
~
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.

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?

Changing the face of Georgetown

First Tee Scholars Program just

start of diversity efforts

It was a last-minute favor.

After the scheduled speaker suffered a heart attack, Georgetown College President William H. Crouch Jr. was asked to step in at The First Tee's 2001 annual meeting in Florida.

Crouch said he didn't know anything about The First Tee, which uses golf to teach life and leadership skills to school-age children of all backgrounds.

"I was just helping a friend out," he said.

But he found himself unexpectedly moved by the event's articulate high school student speaker, Steven Outlaw of East Chicago, Ind. When it was his turn to speak, Crouch put aside his prepared remarks and offered Outlaw a scholarship.

He then offered a second scholarship to another First Tee student -- and pledged to find other colleges and universities to do the same.

Six years later, The First Tee Scholars Program has spread to 28 colleges around the country -- including the Kentucky Community and Technical College System -- and has helped 122 students.

And it has helped Georgetown -- a historically white Christian college with Baptist ties -- move closer to its goal of becoming more racially diverse.

As they prepare to graduate tomorrow, Outlaw and classmate Chris Hawkins, both African Americans, say First Tee and Georgetown have changed their lives.

This from Nancy Rodriguez at the Courier-Journal.

Spellings Pulls A Gonzales

Alexander Russo's blog commentary from This Week in Education was recently picked up by the Huffington Post. Here's his take on Spelling's Capitol Hill performance last week.

The only thing saving Education Secretary Margaret Spellings

from drifting into Alberto Gonzales territory

right now is, well, Alberto Gonzales.

If it weren't for the fact that everyone's attention is focused on him, more folks would notice that Spellings has been up to some very Gonzales-like things over at the Department of Education. (You can watch a video of the testimony here.)

In response to the growing litany of reports and investigations surrounding misdeeds in the multi-billion-dollar student lending industry, Spellings has, somewhat unbelievably, claimed that she lacked the authority to take on the lenders and universities who were manipulating the system for financial gain.

In response to the scandal surrounding an early literacy program called Reading First, which independent reports have found full of conflicts of interest and unwise if not illegal implementation, Spellings argues that she wasn't Secretary then and that everyone involved - former Secretary Rod Paige, former Assistant Secretary Gene Hickock, and others - has left.

True, Spellings wasn't Secretary back then when Reading First was headed off the rails. But it's not like she wasn't there. Before becoming the EdSec, Spellings was head of the Domestic Policy Council, which oversees education from the White House.

And yet, Spellings claims clean hands.

"It would have been impossible for me to have been intimately involved with oversight of all those programs," she said last week in Los Angeles about her responsibilities at the DPC. It's a response that comes awfully close to Gonzales infuriating claims to have not been involved in the Attorney General firings, and to not remember key events.

The Gonzales-Spellings similarities don't end there.

Like Gonzales, Spellings is continually vexed by a former employee who contradicts her account of events. For Gonzales, it's Kyle Sampson. For Spellings, it's Chris Doherty, the former head of the Reading First program, who was summarily dismissed when things started to heat up.

Doherty claims that the White House was intimately involved in every step of the implementation of the program, which allegedly violated federal statutes by excluding certain reading programs from being used. ("Four Officials Profited From Publishers, Report Finds," The Washington Post)

But none of this has led to the type of bipartisan piling-on that Gonzales has endured, nor the calls for her resignation...

For her part, Spellings has done her best to address the allegations against her management of these programs, and to divert attention when she can't. She announced the departure of one top student lending official on Tuesday, just before she was scheduled to testify. ("Federal Student Loan Official Is Resigning", The New York Times) She encouraged the House passage of a student lending "sunshine" law the day before she was to appear, which took much of the steam out of the Thursday proceedings. ("House Passes Ban on Gifts From Student Lenders", The New York Times)

This editorial from the New York Times underscores the point:

“It’s not our fault.” That’s what Education Secretary Margaret Spellings seemed to say while testifying before Congress last week about her department’s failure to halt the payoffs, kickbacks and general looting of the public treasury by a lending company that collected nearly $300 million in undeserved subsidies. But that doesn’t track with the federal Higher Education Act, which clearly authorizes the secretary to disqualify from federal programs lenders who employ payoffs, kickbacks and unethical practices like those that have been found to be commonplace in the college lending business.

Comment on Kentucky, Friday 11 May 2007

Check out the opening ten minute video segment from Friday's edition of Comment on Kentucky. Here's a partial transcript:

Long time journalist and host of the KET program, Al Smith, said: "I was told, by a good source, that when they went into that meeting...Wednesday morning that there were seven votes against hiring Dr.Barbara Erwin from the St Charles, Illinois school district, which is about half the size of the Lexington district....but then, when they came out four hours later they hired her. What happened?

Ronnie Ellis, a reporter for the CNHI News Service, responded: "She went in for about two hours with them behind closed doors. Our information...was that her ratification might be in trouble. She had been called on inconsistencies in her resume - whether she had twice been named Superintendent of the Year in Texas. She brought with her plaques and rings indicating that she had, and apparently persuaded them that her resume was correct. While outside, even while she was in there, another controversy rose about her resume, and still another one has come up today. But, when they convened in public again, they had 10 votes to hire, and none against. Doug Hubbard, the 11th member of the board had said he would oppose it, but he was out of town and couldn't vote. He did participate by conference call in the discussion...Governor Fletcher came down later for a recpetion at which she again said that her resume was correct. He welcomed her to the state and said that he was sure she had gotten a good flavor of the Kentucky press.

Yes, and Kentucky has gotten a good flavor of Erwin's competence.

Tom Loftus, Frankfort Bureau chief for the Courier-Journal: "Well Ron, when does she start exactly and is there any chance that some of those problems, or some of the opponents she has raising concerns at least, can delay or stop that?"

Ronnie Ellis: I don't know about delay at this point. She has signed a contract..She will begin July 16th at $220,00 a year for four years, but there's a 90-day termination clause for either party. There continue to be questions about her resume and there are indications that even a couple of board members who voted to hire her Wednesday have buyer's remorse. I'm not sure this is over."

Al Smith: "What was the fourth discrepancy that showed up today, Friday?

Ronnie Ellis: I think it's Dick Innes of the Bluegrass Policy Institute in Bowling Green, a conservative think-tank, divulged that her resume indicated that for ten years she was on the executive committee of the American Association of School Administrators. She was, indeed on that committee, but only for three years. Mark Hebert of WHAS called and got a hold of their PR agent who confirmed those years and those numbers, so her resume in incorrect. Went on to say that she had been active in those disputed years, but had not been a member of the executive committee as her resume contends.

Kentucky School News and Commnetary contributed to this effort as well.

Al Smith: "Of course, Tom mentioned that point about the press. The Courier-Journal, the Herald-Leader, the Ashland Independent, the Frankfort State Journal; all said she was the wrong person. I wrote an...editorial column...emphasizing the attractiveness of having a little pause where people could look a little futher, discuss the issue, maybe get through the election...That was my argument...but none of it seemed to have any effect on the board. You know, the discrepancies keep being
mentioned...but the thing that has puzzled me is the temperament question. In every district, there...are these dismayng reports about a temperament that is difficult working with people. You've got to have powers of persuasion to deal with 665,000 school children in this state and their teachers, and parents, and the staffs. It's a big job calling for a lot of ability to get along with folks.

Ronnie Ellis: A couple of reporters who cover this story and I have spoken, and our reactions were all the same. When we talked with her we found her very engaging, very forthcoming - initially - and I think that's what happened with the board. But in Scottsdale, the teacher's association said she ruled by intimidation, there were some layoffs, or resignations, and several million dollars in a buyout for some of those staff, I think. I read the letter that accompanied her resume today...and she talks about some of her greatest strengths being people skills, communications...

Al Smith: The first person I called in Texas said she was an absolute disaster in the Allen school district, that they had the highest turnover rate of any school district in the state, and it fell from 26% to 14% after she left.

Ronnie Ellis: In fairness, her supporters on the board will say that everywhere she's been she's significantly increased student achievement and you know that's wha they're all worried about. We're supposed to get to proficiency for all students in Kentucky by 2014, and the current projection is that we're only...at about 37%. So they're looking for somebody who will come in there and shake things up.

Sources in Chicago tell me that Erwin's student achievement numbers (like all Illinois district's numbers) benefitted from changes in the Illinois state testing structure. But I haven't had time to look into that. Yet.

Al Smith: But there's 90-days where they can change their minds, where they can get out of it?

Ronnie Ellis: Either party.

Al Smith: Either party.

Ronnie Ellis: I think the board has to have cause on that.

~
These, and other comments in the press have led me to think there was some kind of a 90-day window for reconsideration; with or without cause...after which there might be some kind of buy-out required.

For expert help in thinking about these questions, I wrote to the Kentucky Law Review blog.

Coincidentally, I was contacted by Kentucky School News and Commentary reader and former state board member, David Tachau. Tachau who is an attorney with Tachau, Maddox, Hovious & Dickens PLC., in Louisville, and was involved in drafting a portion of the previous contract for former Commissioner Gene Wilhoit. He suggested to me that a 90-day window might be the wrong way to think about Erwin's contract, and by looking at an early draft, thinks the language used on Gene Wilhoit's contract may have been:

7. EMPLOYMENT AND TERMINATION. The Commissioner’s employment with the Board shall be at-will and may be terminated as follows:

a. Voluntary Termination. The Commissioner may terminate his employment in his discretion upon written notice to the Chairperson of the Board, ninety (90) days in advance of termination if possible. If this occurs, the Commissioner shall be entitled to his salary and applicable benefits, including transportation, through the date of termination, although no additional benefits shall accrue after delivery of notice.

b. Termination without Cause. The Board may terminate the Commissioner’s employment at any time in the sole discretion of the majority of the entire Board, by providing a minimum of ninety (90) days’ prior written notice to the Commissioner.

c. Termination For Cause. The Board may terminate the Commissioner’s employment at any time upon written notice to him following a determination in the sole discretion of a majority of the entire Board that there is “Cause,” as defined below, for such termination. If this occurs, the Commissioner shall be entitled to the Commissioner’s salary and applicable benefits, including transportation, through the date of termination, less any amount due by reason of any misuse of funds or
embezzlement, which shall be due and owing to the Commonwealth immediately.

For purposes of this Agreement, the term “Cause” shall mean the Commissioner is convicted of, or pleads no contest to, any crime, whether a felony or misdemeanor, involving misuse of funds or moral turpitude; or a determination is made by a majority of the entire Board, after giving the Commissioner notice and an opportunity to be heard, in closed or executive session to the extent permitted by law, that in carrying out his duties the Commissioner has engaged in serious neglect of duty or willful misconduct, resulting in material harm to Department or to the elementary and secondary education system of the Commonwealth.

But neither Tachau or I have read Erwin's actual contract to see if it conforms to the language of Wilhoit's. For that, I have written KDE legal counsel, and current interim commissioner, Kevin Nolan requesting details and clarification on Erwin's contract.

Responding to my request for on the Kentucky Law Review blog, Ken Henry offered a the following comment: "The Commissioner serves at the pleasure of the Kentucky Board of Education. What the implications are vis-a-vis Ms. Erwin's contract will depend on the terms of the contract itself. I am of the opinion that Kentucky Constitution Sec. 184-186 prohibits buy outs of public school leaders' contracts, and I believe this would also apply to Erwin. I do know, however, that many school districts have been quite creative when executing a buy out of a superintendent's contract, e.g., "special consultant to the Board."

I hope to have this issue clarified in the near future.

Erwin in St Charles: As the district turns ...

The folks in WestChiTown are still chatting about Barbara Erwin's move to Kentucky and a pesky little problem with her contract in St Charles. Kane County Chronicle news editor Dan Campana wondered, "Did the St. Charles school board, circa April 2005, skip the legal formality of open session and approve a five-year contract for soon-to-be departing Superintendent Barbara Erwin?" There is no record of a public vote and one out-going board member claims the contract is therefore illegal.

Erwin's troubles in Kentucky have not escaped their attention, and neither have the comments made to Kentucky reporters by St Charles school leaders. Apparently, honest talk has been hard to come by for a school board and superintendent that has been deeply divided.

"Is it frustrating to anyone else that three leaders in a prominent school district only feel compelled to engage in seemingly honest conversation and in veiled trash-talk knowing it will appear across state lines?

Only in the St. Charles school district can a change of the guard – be it the board or the superintendent – bring with it a stranger level of dysfunction.

Going back to Erwin’s new, soon-to-be abandoned, contract, maybe it really is an odd string of coincidences, or maybe something illegal did happen. Chances are very
little will ever come of it.Don’t let that overshadow the greater issue.

If the people...in D-303 can’t trust your school board to tell you when and why your superintendent is being rewarded with a new contract, what does that mean for the more basic issues? You know, like educating the children.

And this from the St Charles Republican.

Richmond columnist calls Erwin's typos "a lie."

Yesterday, Richmond columnist Don McNay tossed in his two-cents worth on Barbara Erwin's resume problems in his article, Unbridled Typos."

"...[Dr.] Erwin may need a remedial course in typing. She also might need a course in semantics. In my high school grammar classes, we used different words than Ms. Erwin for incorrect information. One popular definition was “a lie.” Other definitions were “a falsehood” or “a misrepresentation.” “Typo” never made the list..."

"...If Ms. Erwin can teach me how to pad my resume and blow it off as a “typo,” she might be worth the money Kentucky is paying her..."

"...I am distraught that Kentucky would hire an education commissioner whose knowledge of typing and semantics are so weak. For $220,000 a year, they bought to be able to get a better candidate.

When a government entity makes a bad hiring decision, I don’t get angry at the person being hired; I get angry at the people doing the hiring."

And "Former Scottsdale Leader Lies to Get Job" from Scottsdale Insider blog. "Barbara Erwin is looking for a job and a pesky thing like the truth isn't going to stop her."

Was Erwin's contract Bought Out in Scottsdale?

Well, they're talking retrospectively and frankly, about Barbara Erwin in Scottsdale, Arizona; looking back on her tenure there as Superintendent from 2000-2004.

Robert Leger is the Editorial Page Editor for the Scottsdale Republic. His article, "Barbara Erwin will always have Scottsdale," is posted on Blogizona, where he reported Erwin's Kentucky problems to the folks in Arizona. Following his article are a handful of thoughtful questions and comments.

But Leger started off asking a question of his own: "I came to Scottsdale well after Erwin had departed," he wrote, "but I've not heard one good word about her. Did anyone in Kentucky do a reference check?"

Bodo7643 asked a very penetrating question. "How could the Kentuckians have missed the fact that our School Board bought out Erwin's contract; -- they were that eager to be rid of her!"

What? How indeed? If that's true it's a "What did the school board know and when did they know it?" kind of question.

Dodie1499 said, "As a newspaper editor, familiar with "typos" I am sure you are amused at what Erwin considers a "typo.""

Then Dodie decries, "the "stone-walling" that some in our community and on our school board have participated in when contacted by those in the education community in Kentucky. Not wanting to get involved is such a cheesey way to get out of addressing matters truthfully even if it is uncomfortable."

Was important information withheld from the Kentucky Board of Education?

Jim McAllister says, "If I remember correctly, Erwin also applied at Shawnee Mission, Kansas a few years ago and was turned down. They must have checked her a bit closer. "

Scottsdale's third choice?...hired...fired?...remembered.

(Thanks to Richard Innes at the Bluegrass Institute for the tip.)

Reminds me of...

The Texas Two--step

Care to dance?

Ronnie Ellis of the CNHI News Service posted a story yesterday which, at once, clarifies and muddies the issues surrounding one of Barbara Erwin's four resume indescretions.

What’s being discussed are three lines from her resume; a central part of her application for the position of commissioner of education.

"AASA 1999 National Superientendent of the Year"
"TASA 1998 Texas Superintendent of the Year"
"TASB 1997 Texas Superintendent of the Year"

Three lines.

Three Awards.

Three different years.

As Ellis reports, Erwin has offered different explanations for her claim that she was Texas SOY in 1998, "depending on her audience." She originally told reporters the error was a "typo" and that it should have been written to say she was nominated by TASA for the AASA award.

Then she said that it must have occurred as various unnamed persons typed and re-typed her resume "over several years" and she never caught the mistake.

But in executive session, she presented hardware for the board to examine persuading them that items on her resume "check out."

When reporters asked her to explain why she didn't tell them she had plaques and rings in the first place she said it was because she didn't have the resume in front of her. Then she shifted her position and said the typo she was referring to was in the spelling "Superientendent" on one of the listed awards. See above.

Huh? Not the 1998 date?

Dr. Johnny Veselda, Executive Director of the Texas Association of School Administrators told Ellis, "I believe it is reasonable for her to say she was twice named Superintendent of the Year." He made this comment despite the fact that his organization presents no such award. He explained the date confusion as a matter of timing - that she was considered for the 1999 nomination during 1998.

So that's the news on resume Error #1. Clear as mud. TASA doesn't give such an award - but maybe they do - or at least it's reasonable for us to think of it that way - whatever the year.

Ellis goes on to discuss her explanation for resume error #2. The lines in question here are:

"Triple I Conference
Presentations on School Improvement, AP, Superintendent Search Process
Chicago, Illinois, 2004 & 2006 Conferences"

What do these lines say to you?

Well, to Barbara Erwin they seem to say, 'If I signed off on it, I did it.' When the Illinois Association of School Boards officials could not verify that she presented anything during the 2006 conference, Erwin seemed to argue that it was sufficient that she might introduce the real presenters, and that she had to "sign off on" their participation. When these individuals returned to the district and made their report to the St Charles Board of Education, there was no representation that she presented anything. That would have been an audacious thing to say in front of folks who knew better. The difference between the professional activity necessary to present at a conference (and therefore deserving of credit) - and the professional activity needed to introduce the real presenters is - everything.

For some, Error #3 is a throw away item. She confuses her membership in the education honorary Kappa Delta Pi (unconfirmed), with and undergraduate mens fraternity. But others who value high academic standards for students express frustration with Erwin's obvious carelessness with the preparation and review of her resume - a document that should command extreme care. These critics decry her apparent lack of technical writing/editing skills as a major flaw.

But let's not become confused. The real issue is about her character as demonstrated through ethical practice. (For you school administrators: the problems lie in ISSLC Standard Five.) There is, indeed, a bothersome pattern here.

Error #4 is Erwin's claim that she served on the AASA Executive Board from 1991 to 2001, a ten-year period, when in fact she only served three years on what the AASA calls their executive committee.

Again, a bothersome pattern. Everythng is presented in a style that is just a bit grander than reality. Sounds great; we want it to be true, but it doesn't quite test out.


I was touched by a comment made to me by a St Charles resident the other day. After viewing Trevor Frye's terrific photo from the Herald-Leader, this sympathetic person, who has seen Erwin in action, was taken aback, saying the stress on Erwin's face was visible; the tight lipped smile; the resolve; brassing it out; grace under pressure…

When she's not hacking off the folks she works with, you've gotta know that Barbara Erwin has personality and skills.

But that's not the concern here. Kentucky's schools do a whole lot of good for a whole lot of people, but the board of education was not created to be a benevolent society nor a guarantor of employment for the charming. The example set by our leader, in this crucial position, must be above reproach. We cannot hope to raise the expectations for our teachers and students while simultaneously lowering them for our commissioner; their leader. We can not hope to convince our legislators to make the necessary investments in our schools if the message is undermined by questions about the messenger.

Typos?
Poor secretarial help?
Exaggerations?
Sign offs?
The twistifycations?

Whatever happened to "no excuses?"

Employers Crack Down On Candidates Who Lie

The Wall Street Journal's Career Journal reports:

Carl Norcross of Boulder, Colo., a corporate recruiter for high-tech companies, interviewed a sales-rep candidate who said he had a bachelor's degree.

On checking, Mr. Norcross discovered that the man had left college after three years. "My wife typed my resume," the candidate explained. "She thought I had a degree, and I didn't have the heart to tell her I didn't." But he didn't get the job. "A person who lied on his resume is going to lie on sales reports," Mr. Norcross says.

But many job applicants don't seem to get the message about the risks of lying. Numerous surveys by search firms show that job applicants continue to falsify or embellish their credentials. "They lie most frequently about education and employment, particularly about duties and dates of employment," says Lisa Gallagher, vice president of operations at background-checking firm HireRight Inc., Irvine, Calif...

...After discovering repeated falsehoods, CEO Jude Werra started checking credentials even before interviewing candidates. "In the old days, you assumed you could rely on what was represented and checked references at the end of the process when you and the client had already invested several hours," he says. The firm tracks education because it's easy to check. "It's hard to evaluate other representations," he says. For example, it's hard to argue with "I was responsible for the growth of my former employer."

Misrepresentations can be sly. "Someone told me he was on the Harvard football team," reports Richard Taylor, CEO of Stamford, Conn.-based executive-search firm Taylor-Rodgers & Associates LLC. "He actually attended summer courses, never graduated and was never on the team." Mr. Taylor has also been told of fictitious ranks in the armed forces and attainment of Eagle Scout status.

...Falsehoods often are discovered after employees are hired. "I've seen division presidents get fired because they falsely represented that they had a college degree," says Mr. Taylor. "If five years later the company is sold, the new people may do a check and find it out. They don't want someone with a character issue. Then, too, they'll have their own people and be looking for reasons to get rid of the old ones. Lying is just not an option. It will catch up with you."

Erwin Resume Error #4 - Confirmed

The number of Erwin resume errors, typos and exaggerations continue to mount. Given the increasing number of mistakes, it is hard to conclude that her selection received the vetting a conscientious adult would give ... their child's babysitter.

Today's discovery involves this line on her resume:

"AASA Executive Board Member 1991-2001"

This claim is a 70% exaggeration of her real service. American Association of School Administrators official, Kathi Levin, said that Erwin was on the Executive Committee, as it is really called, from 1 July 1999 to 30 June 2002, a period of only three years - not ten years as Erwin claimed. This information was independently confirmed by the Bluegrass Institute and Kentucky School News and Commentary.

Levin said that her service on the executive committee was completely separate from her selection as the Texas nominee in the 1999 Superintendent of the Year process - and that other executive committee members had been selected for the same honor at other times. She saw no conflict.

The good news is yesterday's error, #3, was probably a real typo - so it only shows more evidence of careless disregard for accuracy, not necessarily mal-intent.

She claimed to be a member of Kappa Delta Phi fraternity, when she probably meant Kappa Delta Pi, the education honorary.

Folks, it's time to call upon our state board to exercise their contractual right to dismiss Erwin for cause while we are still within the 90-day period.

~

Photo by Trevor Frey

Federal Student Loan Official Is Resigning

Under criticism that it has been lax in policing the $85 billion student loan industry, the Education Department announced yesterday that the chief official responsible for overseeing the loan program, Theresa S. Shaw, was stepping down.

This from the New York Times.

"As head of Federal Student Aid, Terri has been a tireless advocate for students and families," said Secretary Spellings. "Her leadership and depth of experience will be sorely missed. She made performance and results a top priority, establishing performance standards, metrics and reporting at every level. FSA now delivers more aid to more students at a lower operating cost with greater accuracy than at any point in its history."

Froim Spelling's press release.

Parents and District Settle Dispute on Teacher’s Religious Remarks

The Kearny Board of Education in New Jersey and the parents of Matthew LaClair, a 17-year-old junior at Kearny High School, settled their dispute on Tuesday night about a teacher who proselytized in class.

The settlement will include training for teachers and students about the separation of church and state and a public statement by the board praising Matthew for bringing the matter to its attention.

Matthew recorded his history teacher, David Paszkiewicz, making comments in class in September, including remarks that only Christians had a place in heaven, that the Big Bang and evolution theories were not scientific and that dinosaurs were on Noah’s Ark. After the tapes became public, Matthew received a death threat and was shunned and bullied by some of his classmates, he has said.

This from the New York Times.

Spellings Rejects Criticism on Student Loan Scandal

With scandal rattling the $85 billion student loan industry, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings argued at a House hearing on Thursday that she lacked legal authority to clamp down on many abuses.

Ms. Spellings faced pointed questioning at the hearing from Congressional Democrats, who accused her department of mismanagement and complacency.

In about three hours of testimony before the House education committee, Ms. Spellings portrayed her department’s oversight of federal lending programs as vigorous, but said that the world of private lending, which has become increasingly important as college costs have outstripped federal loan programs, was mostly beyond her regulatory authority.

She told the panel that the entire student loan system needed overhaul, saying, “The system is redundant, it’s byzantine and it’s broken.”

Several Democrats, led by Representative George Miller, questioned her aggressively, asserting that she had regulatory power and moral influence that she had neglected to wield to stop loan companies from paying universities or giving gifts, trips, stock and consulting payments to the university financial aid officers who guide students toward loans.

This from the New York Times.

Groundbreaking set for Saturday

Fayette County Public Schools officials and students, along with representatives from the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government will break ground on a brand new community school in downtown Lexington on Saturday, May 12.

Groundbreaking for William Wells Brown Elementary School, which will replace Johnson Elementary and the now-closed Russell Elementary, will begin at 10 a.m. at the construction site located at 555 East Fifth Street (near the corner of Sixth Street and Shropshire Avenue).

The new $15 million community school is being built jointly by the school district and the city. The community school will not only offer a world class education for children during the school day, but will offer educational and recreation activities for residents of all ages after school and on weekends.

The school will open its doors to students in the fall of 2008.

The school was named for William Wells Brown, who was born in Lexington 1814 and was the first African-American to publish a novel, a play, a travel book, a book-length historical account of the Civil War, a military study of his people, and a study of African American sociology.

At the age of 20, he escaped from slavery and took the name of a Quaker who assisted him along the Underground Railroad. He immediately began to educate himself to read and write and in 1844 he began his career as a dynamic spokesman in the abolitionist movement.

Distinguishing himself as an unusually articulate playwright, novelist, essayist, and historian, Brown was a practicing physician, who advocated prison reform, temperance and equal rights for women. He published more than a dozen books and pamphlets including travel books, novels, a drama, histories and lectures.

Bad week in education

This from the Courier-Journal:

The progress made as a result of KERA has been hard-won. It would be a shame if that were jeopardized by the slipshod appointment of a new state education commissioner. But "slipshod" seems like the best word to describe the selection process that was tolerated by a state board full of Fletcher appointees.

These board members had to find some of candidate Barbara Erwin's controversial background by reading it in newspapers, not in reports from the search firm it hired.

In order to vote, unanimously, to appoint her, the board had to ignore errors in her résumé that have been described as (take your choice) typos, misunderstandings or trivialities. The members had to assume she could handle a statewide position, because she's never proven herself in that kind of job. They also had to believe all the conflict she left behind in other places was someone else's doing, not hers.

Why, given a flawed process for filling one of the most important jobs in state government, was Gov. Fletcher in Bowling Green this week at a board reception, welcoming his appointees' choice and behaving as if this is the way he likes for important decisions to be made? One observer said the gathering amounted to a "pep rally," with Ernie Fletcher helping to lead the cheers. Another said it was just an ordinary political appearance -- unexceptional for a candidate in a hotly contested race.

School News from Around Kentucky

• In Fayette County: Six Week "Read for the Roses" Event Culminates; Nine Fayette seniors are among 2,500 winners of National Merit Scholarships; Runyon named new principal at Morton Middle School.
• Open Doors to Federal Courts program involves Pike County students in mock trial.
• Lewis County JROTC cadets participate in Organization Day.
• Scott County Board OKs contracts for two school renovations, $4.35 million.
• AC units going in at Boyd County Middle School in time for cool graduation.
• Two candidates remain for Grant County school superintendent.
• Corbin News Journal says Corbin drug policy overly broad, unnecessary.
• Garrard County Board of Education approves $7.8 million facilities plan.
• LaRue County Middle School teachers team up, add 6th graders for fall.
• SMART Boards have impact in Ft. Thomas.
• Harrison County cuts ribbon on new quarter-million computer lab.
• Wilmore considers Jessamine Co request to share in SRO cost.
• Alignment changes for the newly merged Mercer County school system described.
• Engineers and professors to improve services for G/T students in Campbell County.
• Henry County to approve contract for another day care, this one at Eastern.
• Harrison County High School student gets 10 days for threatening assistant principal.
• Court ruling brings new cash to Kenton County. Parents of teen killed on field trip settle lawsuit with Kenton school district.
• Glasgow Independent School District Superintendent to retire.
• Higher wages in Harlan County may now be costing some jobs.
• Budget problems, 300 non-renewal letters, Pike County employees ask Board to tap contingency.
• Elizabethtown Independent Schools could retool its grading scale.
• Hopkinsville Middle School principal, assistant removed, lack of improvement cited.
• Nelson County Board of Education considers new drug testing policy.
• Former teacher admits her guilt in student sex case in Tompkinsville.
• Plea deal keeps former Newport teacher out of prison.
• UK breaks $1 billion goal. Actress Ashley Judd receives bachelor's degree from UK.
• Ex Bengal Dinkel's wife to face rape charge on accusation of sex with 15-year-old Covington Catholic boy in her home.
• St. Thomas School's 6th & 7th graders plant flower beds in city.
• 10-year-old Evansville, IN student brings loaded handgun to school.
• 70 Henry County High students, drive their tractors as memorial to FFA sponsor's wife.
• Jefferson County students to get free library cards.

Erwin Resume Error Number 3...but who's counting?

When Barbara Erwin's first "typo" made news, the Bluegrass Report had this to say:

"A "typo"?

Seriously?

A typo is when you list your award as 1998 when it was really 1997. Here, she's offering herself as "two-time superintendent of the year." That's not a typo.

Most people I know treat their professional resume with extreme seriousness. Not only do you not want to embellish (or flat-out lie) about your experience, but you also don't want factual errors because sloppy work on the most vital initial presentation of yourself -- your resume -- often speaks volumes about your thoroughness and attention to detail, putting aside full-blown character issues if your mistakes are not simply innocent typos...Something is definitely not right, and we all need to be paying close attention."

Today, boys and girls, we have our third...and I strongly suspect, only real example of a "typo" yet.

Erwin's resume reads, "Kappa Delta Phi Member."

Kappa Delta Phi is "The premiere national fraternity in the northeast with over 105 years of Brotherhood, Loyalty, Service and Tradition." ...and they can always use another house mother. Now she could mean Kappa Delta Phi Sorority, but it wasn't incorporated until 1977. Seems unlikely.

On the other hand, Kappa Delta Pi is "The International Honor Society in Education," and is therefore more likely correct.

But the third error, and I'm betting not the last, is disquieting. It goes to competence, at least. Yesterday she told the board of education and the press that her résumé is not in error. Today, more evidence that that is not quite true. Tomorrow? Stay tuned.

Erwin wins District Spelling Bee! Not really, but she did "sign off on" it.

"Despite some concerns about her résumé and her track record, Barbara Erwin got a unanimous vote from the Kentucky Board of Education yesterday to become the state's new education commissioner."

But as the board was in closed session a fresh concern surfaced.

When asked by the Herald-Leader to explain a second resume indescretion, Erwin said her résumé is not in error. She said that... in 2006, she had to "sign off on" her district's participation at the conference. Her résumé says that she made presentations on "school improvement, AP, superintendent search process."

Signed off on?!

By this reconning...Erwin probably has a few band awards and football championships under her belt as well. Didn't she win the district Spelling Bee one year?

State Board of Education chair Keith Travis said the board had done "due diligence" in reviewing all questions about Erwin's resume and background.

But that is still unconfirmed.

Travis said he preferred not to discuss details of the board's four hour conversation with Erwin.

I feel certain that's true.

Travis said Erwin will receive a four-year contract with a base salary of $220,000 a year, and she will start work July 16.

Some readers of Kentucky School News and Commentary had speculated, in advance, that this date is significant because, when she announced her retirement in the fall, Erwin may have miscalculated the number of days she needs to remain in Illinois before she becomes vested in their retirement system. While I must doubt this unconfirmed report, I was warned in advance by one source close to District 303 leadership that she would surely ask the Kentucky Board of Education for a start date later than July 1. My source suggested Erwin might proffer some excuse to the Ky board for why she couldn't start by July 1...some family thing perhaps...but that's pure unadulterated specualtion and readers shouldn't believe it! However, the Ky board of education (that reportedly wanted the new commissioner to start on July 1) knows whatever she said during yesterday's closed session, and if she was forthcoming with the board, that's good enough for me.

Meanwhile in WestChiTown...

There is a fuss in the Daily Herald over Erwin's 2005 contract amendment that apparently relates to an "85 sick days" issue that would go toward her retirement calculations. "Grampywatches" wrote on the Daily Herald website yesterday that her contract "...allowed for a credit of 85 sick days at the beginning of each school year until July 1, 2008" but there's some question about the year the contract specifies that credit to begin.

The problem is that “There is no record of any legal vote by the board on amendment two of the superintendent’s contract,” outgoing District 303 school board President Bobbie Raehl said, “And yet three people including the superintendent, the board secretary, and a past board president all signed the amendment without authorization from the board to do so.”

This issue might appear too vague and distant to even think about if it weren't for a 16 January 2004 piece in the Arizona Republic. The author, reviewed Erwin's history and argued she had "no concept of a 28-year commitment to a community and its students." As Erwin noted in the American Association of School Administrators' newsletter, "I can't live long enough to vest in every state." How's that for commitment to your community? the Arizona Republic asks.

Travis told the Herald-Leader that either side can get out of the contract with 90 days notice, but the board would have to show cause to discontinue the contract.

Let's think about the due diligence question for a minute:

I think Bob Sexton, executive director for the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, got it right when he told the Herald-Leader, "Clearly the search firm has let the board down... They put (the board) in a very bad spot. There will be people that are negative and positive (about candidates). But it's the search firm's job to sort that out and find out the truth."

The real problems began with a Courier-Journal reader posting a concern over Erwin's resume claims on the C-J website. I set about the business of verifying Erwin's claims...and thought I had...only to find (thanks to info from Richard Innes of the Bluegrass Policy blog) myself in error. The claim could not be verified and I wrote a retraction.

Erwin explained the error telling C-J, "There must have been a typo from two different sets of resumes...I have had several people type my resume, and that has to be what the issue is."

Without going into the issue of who these typists might have been, and on whose time they were working - there is another problem. The Resume looks like this:

AASA 1999 National Superintendent of the Year Nominee
TASA 1998 Texas Superintendent of the Year
TASB 1997 Texas Superintendent of the Year
(emphasis added)

Now let's think about how one makes a typo. If I substitute an 8 for a 7 - that's a typo. But in this case, we'd have to believe that a whole line of text was a typo...that's 42 keystrokes by my count! Some typo - even for the lowest level school clerk.

Now she claims credit for things she has only signed off on.

At some point, a reasonable person has to suspect a pattern of behavior.

What are the chances we can verify other items from her resume? (It's a little late to assume Ray & Associates has already confirmed these items.)

Here's one:

B.S... In retrospect, maybe this should have been our first clue, but I digress...

"B. S. Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, 1972, Special Education"
OK, but how does that square with this...
"Teacher, Lafayette School Corporation, Lafayette, IN, Enrollment 8,000, 1971-73"

Just how did that work? She starts teaching in 1971, but didn't receive her degree from IU until 1972? I suppose she might have taught (particularly in special ed) with an emergency certificate of some kind. But if she did, how did she complete her degree at IU? Was she in two places at once? Somebody ought to ask. Please tell me she didn't count her student teaching!

What are the chances that one will check out? I give it 50-50, at best.

How about this one?:

"AASA Executive Board Member 1991-2001"
That's the same year (1991) she was a rookie superintendent in Tipton, Indiana. If she made the AASA executive board in her first year as a superintendent, that's quite impressive!

What are the chances that tid bit will confirm? I say 90-10 against.

And, if she was on the AASA Executive Board, wouldn't that have been during her 1999 consideration for AASA's Superintendent of the Year, which has been confirmed by AASA.

The good news... I hear Ray & Associates hasn't been paid yet.
~
Photo by Trevor Frey

A message to some folks in Chicagoland

Did you see this in the Courier Journal?

"The Kentucky Board of Education unanimously appointed Barbara Erwin as the new state education commissioner even as another possible error was found on her resume. The agreed on a four-year $220,000-base contract. Her first day will be July 16."

OMG !!!!!

You were right!

[name redacted] connects the dots.

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....

Board of Education votes to hire Erwin as 4th Commish, apparently without knowledge of second resume problem

KDE Communications Director Lisa Gross says she "was unable to share" the newest allegations of resume problems before the board went into closed session.

KSBA reported that the board went into closed session at 9:30 EST - twenty-four minutes before she received confirmation of yet another resume problem.

Contrary to assertions made in her application, Erwin was not a presenter at the 2006 Triple I Conference according to an Illinois Association of School Boards official - and supported by Board minutes from District 303, and individuals close to district leadership in St. Charles who refused to be identified.

So...here's the news...

KSBA reports:

The Kentucky Board of Education has voted to hire Illinois superintendent Dr. Barbara Erwin to become the state's commissioner of education.

The vote came shortly after 1:30 p.m. CT following a five-hour closed door session with the board members and Erwin.

The vote was unanimous with the exception of absent member Doug Hubbard, who was out of state. Hubbard had called for Erwin to withdraw after news media outlets reported criticisms of the candidate related to some of her previous superintendencies and noted an error in her resume.

The state board had on its planned agenda an early morning vote on a contract, followed by an introduction of the new commissioner. However, the meeting opened shortly after 8:30 a.m. CT with an amendment to that agenda, followed immediately by the start of the closed session.

And this from the Herald-Leader...and Erwin's resume....and from the Courier-Journal.

Courier-Journal independently confirms the story: Possible second error on Ky. school chief candidate's resume

UPDATED: 1:38 PM

A second possible error has been found on the resume of the top candidate for state education commissioner, as the Kentucky Board of Education meets today on whether to give her to the job.

This from the Courier-Journal.

State board in lengthy executive session with commissioner candidate

Lisa Gross, Kentucky Department of Education Communications Director confirmed that she had received my message and that the state boarrd of education was still in executive session as of 1PM EST.

The Kentucky School Boards Association reports they are, "in an extended, unplanned executive session to discuss the selection of the state's next commissioner of education."

At its two-day retreat in Bowling Green, the state board opened today's session by amending its agenda and immediately going into closed session at 8:30 a.m. CT.

Joining the members of the state board was Illinois superintendent Barbara Erwin, who had previously been identified by the state board as the leading candidate to replace Gene Wilhoit as the chief executive of the state Department of Education.

Since her public identification at the top of three finalists, Erwin has come under criticism for her leadership style in superintendencies in two other states and for an error on her resume.

The state board's search process also has come into question following the disclosure of those issues by news media outlets, rather than the search firm hired by the state.

An update on the meeting will be posted on the KSBA Web site as soon as action has been taken.

Confirmed: Erwin was NOT a presenter at the 2006 Triple I Conference

Breaking News !

I just received confirmation from Judy Williams, Administrative Assistant, at the Illinois Association of School Boards that Barbara Erwin was NOT a presenter at the 2006 Triple I Conference.

Ms. Williams called this morning after reviewing IASB records and said, "We checked and she's not listed" as a presenter.

This information comes just minutes before the state board of education is set to meet in Bowling Green. The only item on their weekend retreat agenda - the confirmation of Barbara Erwin as Kentucky's new Education Commissioner.

Late yesterday, a confidential source close to district leadership in St Charles contacted me and sent me pages from the 2006 Triple I (ISAB * IASA * IASBO) Joint Annual Conference where Barbara Erwin claims to have made three presentations. As the IASB now confirms, contrary to assertions made in her application for Kentucky Commissioner of Education, Erwin was not a presenter at that conference.

According to the Triple I conference report, Erwin's name does not appear in the program as a presenter.

Erwin's application claims: "Triple I Conference - Presentations on School Improvement, AP, Superintendent Search Process, Chicago, Illinois, 2004 & 2006 Conferences." But on page 120: There is an alphabetical list of all presenters with last names starting with the letter E, but no Barbara Erwin.

On page 78: There is panel discussion where two prinicpals and one teacher from Dist 303 presented, but not Barbara Erwin.

On page 88: There is a panel titled "Getting Reform:...": where Dist 303 administrators and teachers presented, but no Barbara Erwin.

A reader of Kentucky School News and Commentary posted the following comment this morning, "Board minutes from IL District 303 (Nov 27, 2006) only note the following in the superintendendent's report:

District 303 made two presentations at the statewide education conference in Chicago this month. In the first presentation, St. Charles East Principal Bob Miller, Assistant Principal, Shawn Harms, and AP Physics teacher, John Connell discussed how East raised the bar to ensure that more students take Advanced Placement classes. In the second presentation, Dr. Melanie Raczkiewicz, Chief Academic Officer, Melissa Dockum, Wredling Middle School Principal, and Donna Dowd, instructional support coach, discussed our District’s “Smart Goals, Smart Schools” systematized approach to school improvement. Both presentations were very well attended."

How does Barbara Erwin explain this? Is this be another typo? Or, are we seeing a pattern of behavior here?

Full steam ahead: Agenda, Kentucky Board of Education Annual Retreat

The Kentucky Board of Education will hold its annual retreat on Wednesday and Thursday, May 9 and 10, at the Holiday Inn University Plaza in Bowling Green.

On Wednesday, the retreat will begin at 9 a.m. CDT with consideration of a motion to ratify the employment contract for the commissioner of education. The leading candidate for the position is Barbara Erwin, Ed.D., whose most recent position was superintendent of Community Unit District 303 in St. Charles, Illinois.

Another difficult confirmation on Erwin's resume

Unconfirmed report

A confidential source close to district leadership in St Charles contacted me and sent me pages from the 2006 Triple I (ISAB * IASA * IASBO) Joint Annual Conference where Barbara Erwin claims to have made three presentations. The source says that, contrary to assertions made in her application for Kentucky Commissioner of Education, Erwin was not a presenter at that conference, but was in attendance (as was the source).

According to these pages, Erwin's name does not appear in the program as a presenter.

Erwin's application claims: "Triple I Conference - Presentations on School Improvement, AP, Superintendent Search Process, Chicago, Illinois, 2004 & 2006 Conferences."

On page 120: There is an alphabetical list of all presenters with last names starting with the letter E, but no Barbara Erwin.

On page 78: There is panel discussion where two prinicpals and one teacher from Dist 303 presented, but not Barbara Erwin.

On page 88: There is a panel titled "Getting Reform:...": where Dist 303 administrators and teachers presented, but no Barbara Erwin.

I have written and phoned the Illinois Association of School Boards to authenticate these pages from the program and to verify that Barbara Erwin was, in fact, a presenter in 2006? - Or not. And, if she was a presenter, did she make the three presentations listed above?

If confirmed, will this be another typo?

Stay tuned.

NOTE: It will not be my habit to publish unconfirmed reports. However, the cover on the pages I received match those on the ISAB website in terms of graphics and content and appear authentic. The state board meets in the morning and action is eminent on this critical issue for Kentucky. Still, I'd feel better with confirmation from the source. For that reason this information should be, for the moment, viewed skeptically.