Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS) Insider

WSB TV Special Report

2007-05-22T18:13:00.000-05:00

Check out the latest special report done by WSB Channel 2. WSB has been working on this story for quite some time but ran into significant troubles working with GCPS administrators. Keep checking with WSB for the latest updates on this story.

WSB Special Report

First 2007 Update from TAG

2007-01-04T22:17:00.000-05:00

Message from the Teachers' Alliance of Gwinnett (TAG)

January 3, 2007

T.A.G. commenced operations January 1st. We began mailing out membership information/applications on December 29th and are halfway through our accumulated list of 102 addresses.
If you would like to request the packet, please send your mailing address via email to tagwhiterose@yahoo.com
or write care of...

Director
Teachers' Alliance of Gwinnett
P. O. Box 1126
Auburn, GA 30011
Teachers, parents, bus drivers, central office employees, small business owners, counselors, media specialists, assistant principals, college professors, community activists, etc. WE NEED AND WANT YOUR SUPPORT.
T.A.G. intends to become a force in returning professional, progressive and common sense leadership to our schools. We are a diverse coalition of concerned citizens utterly disgusted with the direction GCPS has taken in recent years. More importantly, we have many ideas to offer that can effectively fix several of the most severe problems. However, the school system prefers to pursue the status quo and pretend that all is well and that only a few "disgruntled" malcontents are kicking-up the dust. This couldn't be further from the truth.
What the current district leadership conveniently fails to understand or acknowledge is that the collective bunch of "malcontents" very likely consists of the majority of employees in GCPS - especially teachers. We can only guess about the respective numbers of parents and students upset with a leadership that doesn't care about their needs either (despite flowery rhetoric to the contrary).
There's no question that change is coming... only when and to what degree. T.A.G. suggests that the district leadership seriously considers opening an avenue for constructive dialogue rather than the usual tactics of disinformation, character assassination, threats, intimidation, and generally raising the war club.
While the leadership is seemingly preoccupied with which businesses and developers and with which politicians-who-own-businesses to favor with contracts backed by a billion dollars of SPLOST money, the real needs of students and teachers are NOT being met. There are serious concerns among the district's veteran teachers and instructional support staff as to whether students are, in fact, receiving a 'world class' education... or whether the focus has shifted from supporting students and teachers to top officials protecting and enhancing their jobs while consolidating power and control. It's also past time for the district leadership to explain why the present 'Total Quality Management' agenda being inflicted on many GCPS schools (but not yet all)is a better plan than a 'Site-based Management' strategy that allows teachers and parents to determine what's best for their neighborhood or local school.
This district is literally crying out for change. If you don't believe it, simply TALK TO TEACHERS and other school personnel. GCPS has descended into something akin to The Twilight Zone. Our kids deserve something better than the defective 'product' being manufactured by central office bureaucrats, without teacher in-put, under the guise of school improvement and increasing student achievement.
The school board refuses to perform their oversight duties properly. Their mysterious blindness and paralysis may also be connected to the SPLOST factor - too much money + too little accountability = irresponsible behavior.
Only a grassroots movement of concerned citizens will restore balance, order, and common sense to our school leadership. This is that opportunity. Please contact us today!

Happy Holidays

2006-12-23T16:49:00.000-05:00

We will be on break until after Jan 1. Hope everyone enjoys the time with their families.

Information from the Teachers' Alliance of Gwinnett (T.A.G.)

2006-12-19T17:25:00.000-05:00

Information from the Teachers' Alliance of Gwinnett (T.A.G.):

Dear Friends & Supporters,

Since we are receiving many requests for information about joining T.A.G. or lending support, and though our target date to "debut" as a viable organization to support Gwinnett's teachers and support personnel is this coming January, we have decided to release the following preliminary info.

Until such time as our projected T.A.G. website is up-and-running, you can correspond by writing to...

Teachers' Alliance of Gwinnett
P. O. Box 1126
Auburn, Georgia 30011

There are three membership options
and annual dues are $45 for all
member categories* =

I. Teachers ($45) -
Certified, Active [CT]
Retired [RT]
Substitute or Student [ST]
II. Support Staff ($45) - [SS]
III. Friend of TAG ($45) - [FT]

* Your name and membership information will be kept completely confidential.
You can write the P.O.B. for
a list of our goals/aims to serve Gwinnett's teachers.
Membership applications will be available shortly.
T.A.G.'s governing body consists of 17 positions (nine are officers & eight are advisory). The officers are dues-paying members. Advisory members are dues-optional.
We still have need for a few more officers and an advisor or two.
Positions are:

Officers - Exe. Director
Deputy Director
Community Affairs Rep.
High Sch. Membership Leader
Middle Sch. Mem. Leader
Elementary Mem. Leader
Sr. Field Investigator
Assist. Field Investigator
Webmaster

Advisors - Legal Counsel and
7 Honorary Consultants (GCPS Teacher, GCPS Support Staff, Retired Teacher, GCPS Parent Leader, Non-GCPS Teacher, Business Partner, College/Univ. Professor)

Our modest membership goal for Year One (2007-2008) is 300 dues-paying members & $10,000 in donations. Currently, we have NO BUDGET (!). We could also use certain other donated services and resources as will be requested later...
Ultimately, we strive to have at least three T.A.G. members in every GCPS school, one of whom will function as a TAG Section Leader [SL]; one as Assistant Section Leader [ASL]; and one as Deputy Section Leader [DSL]. These individuals will be responsible for recruiting new members from that school community and several other key duties.

Latest from the Society of the White Rose

2006-12-16T15:57:00.000-05:00

Statement from The Society of the White Rose & Teachers' Alliance of Gwinnett (TAG)

December 15, 2006

Dear Friends,

The TAG thanks that small band of community activists who have been fighting the forces of arrogance and corruption within G.C.P.S. We realize that you are badly outnumbered and outgunned at this point by the 'bullyboys'. Someday, the community at large in Gwinnett County will come to understand that you are owed a tremendous debt of gratitude for the efforts made, on behalf of our kids and public education, to expose the dishonorable and destructive agenda of J.Alvin Wilbanks & Associates.
Nothing that this cartel of profiteers and powerbrokers has control of is even remotely undertaken for the sake of students. They have proven this claim over and over again with their secret deals, cynical disregard for parent concerns, brutal and unprofessional treatment of teachers and staff, and their amateurish and laughable attempts to craft academic excellence - about which they know nothing and could really care less.

The T.A.G. believes that everyone employed by G.C.P.S. must cease being ruled by fear and must stand-up to the autocrats. Everyone must realize that in UNITY there is great STRENGTH. There are thousands and thousands of certified and classified employees working hard to provide top schools for Gwinnett's students. Massive resistance (even passive resistance where necessary) will completely paralyze the ability of the bullyboys to manipulate, intimidate and get their way.
Teachers... you are trained on how to deal with schoolyard bullies. They must be met with overwhelming force to convince them to stop. Then, we can proceed to work on "behavior modification" once the bullies have no other choice except to listen and comply.
The White Rose/TAG continues to organize and mobilize forces for what we hope to be a January 2007
'rollout'. This campaign to save our schools will require patience, persistence, leadership and discipline from all involved in winning back our schools. No individual or personal agendas must cloud the important task-at-hand.
We do not think that storming scheduled school board meetings will be effective as the oligarchy has learned masterfully how to manipulate these meetings and spin the truth to their advantage while creating the appearance that their opponents are bug-eyed radicals harboring unreasonable accusations and demands.
Instead, we believe that the bullyboys - given that they are shielded by political and business interests in the community that profit handsomely from SPLOSH money and influence peddling - can only be defeated through a determined effort by lots of school personnel, concerned parents, and community groups of activists uniting to pursue a disciplined strategy that includes:

1) taking legal action whenever feasible (GCPS almost always loses in court because they fail to respect and follow civil statutes and constitutional mandates)
2) supporting new citizen groups which organize to identify, encourage and fully support candidates with integrity to challenge the incumbent school board members when re-election time rolls around
3) enlisting outside sources of support, including leading professors in prestigious colleges of education in Georgia and beyond; legal aid groups; state and national teacher associations; etc.
4) raising funds and gathering other resources in order to support and sustain a viable organization that will bring fresh ideas and solutions to GCPS leadership in order to give them an opportunity to right previous wrongs and charter a new course for the schools.
The White Rose/TAG will need your help and continuing support to make this effort succeed. We will need members, donations, some materials, some specialized knowledge (such as more attorneys), and teacher-leaders in EVERY public school in Gwinnett.
Please spread the word and be ready to assist in some capacity if you really care about the direction of our schools. We teachers and allied support staff would prefer that Mr. Wilbanks opt to negotiate a solution to the serious problems created by his previous policies and practices... but we assume that he will not view doing so as in his best interest, nor do we think he will realize that it would be in the best interests of all concerned to compromise with a group of professional educators and their supporters - even though they lack the requisite and exclusive dining rights at the 1818 Club atop the Chamber of Commerce building on Sugarloaf Parkway that normally would attract the attention of the Gwinnett Superintendent and C.E.O. of Schools.

STAY TUNED FOR MORE... Thankyou

Board Meeting Review

2006-12-15T00:35:00.000-05:00

This poster summarized the events of the meeting better than we could do. Their is only one thing that we would like to add. During one speaker's exchange with Dr. McClure, he mentioned to McClure that the board should have talked to everyone involved in the allegations before coming to a decision. In response, McClure stated that he had spoken with Mr Weiler about the situation. We know for a fact that this is not true. McClure did not speak with Weiler or any other blog contributors about these allegations. Unfortunately, he only chose to speak with Alvin Wilbanks and accept his denial of wrongdoing as truth. In doing so, he clearly failed to do the job that the taxpayers elected him to do.

----

A Frustrated and Increasingly Concerned Parent said...

For those of you that were afraid to go to the meeting tonight and for those of you that just couldn't make it....not much happened and it was quite disappointing!

No "apparent" media coverage (other than the newspaper reporters that are at every meeting), no picketing lines, etc. were present!

All in all, it was "business as usual" for a typical monthly meeting. One thing the Administration did do that seemed to curtail some of the public speakers is that they started the meeting early which didn't give the general public much opportunity to speak before the general meeting began at 7....smart on their part but quite underhanded!

Dr. McClure was asked by a Speaker to investigate the allegations and to realize that there are 2 sides to every story. McClure stated that he has looked into the allegations and he is confident that there is no wrong-doing.

Two speakers told the Board and Mr. Wilbanks that they should be "above reproach"....it didn't seem to phase them.

McClure said that we are welcome to ask questions; however, I find it contradictive that he said in the AJC that it was "too complicated for us to understand certain aspects of the situation".

Boyce said tonight that she is excited about a project they are working on with three other school systems (Fresno, D.C. and Austin) because they are getting great ideas but yet she didn't (or couldn't) outline what those ideas are. I don't understand why they continue to be so vague in their dialogue with the public - we aren't that stupid!

I've got to say as a parent and taxpayer that I was disappointed in this meeting and walked out at the end of the meeting fairly upset that the Board Member I voted for isn't taking the responsibilities that I entrusted in his/her care to heart!

It was apparent that McClure will do nothing to further investigate our concerns. We need to continue to demand action and not let up. We need to remind them all that they have an obligation to the public, not the administration and they can be removed from office. We need to stay in their faces between now and next month's meeting!

If next month's turnout is like tonight, we won't see any change! We have to take some drastic measures as a group and it is going to have to be done in large groups rather than individually to get any action or for anyone to take notice.

I propose that we attempt to organize another meeting where concerned parents, citizens and taxpayers get together prior to the next Board Meeting to develop a strategy to ensure our desires are heard at the next meeting.

Perhaps a standing meeting the first Tuesday of every month will work to ensure that we are prepared? That would make the next planning meeting January 2 (I know that's not ideal but we have to start somewhere). We can meet at the Gwinnett Justice Center. If people are interested, I will schedule a conference room for the next several months. Please respond if interested so we can move forward. A few great ideas were discussed at the last meeting but there weren't enough people present to implement them....we need numbers openly involved to make change occur!

Please step forward for our children!

Show the School Board and the Media You Care About These Issues!!

2006-12-12T17:59:00.000-05:00

Please attend the school board meeting on Thursday at 6:30 pm. A camera crew from WXIA will be in attendance at the meeting. The more support is there for these issues, the more the media and others will be inclined to intestigate these matters further.

Supporters of the blog are looking for a group of 10 to 20 activists to make some Prominent Signs about blog issues to hold and Display at the Entrance to GCPS Headquarters this Thursday from about 5:00 on.

We also encourage anyone who feels inclined to speak up during the time that is set aside for public comments. Another supporter offered this advice:

On Dec 14, GCPS lists on the website, that the public will be invited to speak regarding redistricting during the 6:30 commentary section at the school board meeting. Usually redistricting brings passionate people out to speak. If anyone is going to speak out regarding the issues on this blog, I would recommend getting there very early to sign up, if in fact, speaking is done on a first come, first serve basis. I am not aware of the process, in terms of order/priority, but if you want to speak I would double check the order process, otherwise you might be locked out.

A good crowd would be a huge benefit for this cause which obviously is building support from the number of people visiting this blog. This meeting is not a make or break moment for the fight in any way, but a strong showing could be a great benefit.

Check This Out

2006-12-10T23:29:00.000-05:00

From the AJC. Great letter that brings up a lot of good questions.

Get to the bottom of school system accusations

As a longtime critic of the largest school system in the state, I must admit even I've been somewhat taken back by the seriousness of the allegations being leveled at the school system, on gcps.blogspot.com, by what appears to be a group that includes the previous chief financial officer of the school system, Jeff Weiler. ("D.A. looks at blog accusations; Web journal says schools leaders guilty of malfeasance," AJC Gwinnett News, Dec. 3)

I'm even more amazed at what seemingly appears a lack of interest in these accusations by the Gwinnett County District Attorney's office, the lack of reporting by the media and the silence by the school system.

... I believe that taxpayers in Gwinnett County have been more than generous in providing financial support to our public school system, as can be witnessed by our recent approval of extending our special purpose local option sales tax for yet another time.

We deserve to know the truth regarding how our school system has managed the funds with which we have entrusted them. After all, we're paying for it at the tune of well over $1 billion a year. So let's get to the bottom of this mess, and let the chips fall where they may.

JIM DUMOND Buford

School Board Meeting Thursday

2006-12-10T22:47:00.000-05:00

Attend the Board Meeting on 12/14 and make your voice heard!

From the GCPS website:

Procedures for Addressing the Board

The agenda is prepared in advance of each meeting. Anyone wishing to speak before the Board should inform the Superintendent's office in writing by noon on the Monday prior to the Board meeting. Items for the agenda may be suggested by any Board member, staff member, or citizen.

Before each regular meeting, a public forum is held at 6:30 p.m. to allow persons not on the agenda an opportunity to address the Board. Citizens may sign up at the Board meeting to speak during the 30-minute public forum period. Speakers are asked to keep their comments brief, and no Board action is taken.

More to come on this tomorrow evening...

Statement From ‘The White Rose’

2006-12-10T22:42:00.000-05:00

Statement From ‘The White Rose’ (Main Advisory Group for the new Teachers’Alliance of Gwinnett, or T.A.G.)

November 30, 2006

Over ten years in the making, the perfect storm may finally be forming around the entrenched leadership of Gwinnett County Public Schools. And the tempest could result in a long overdue cleansing of a highly toxic and multilayered web of ill-advised academic changes, appalling waste of taxpayer dollars, conflict of interest arrangements with local political, business, and even religious leaders, bullying of teachers and support staff, and a cynical disregard for the best interests of our children.

Given the long history of serious charges leveled at the school system’s famously remote and disinterested leadership, one must wonder why it has taken so long for responsible authorities to thoroughly and genuinely investigate the frequent allegations . Parents, residents, and taxpayers have the right to demand accountability from school officials. Teachers and staff would appreciate a modicum of professional respect and an immediate termination of the micro-management and constant bullying by bureaucrats.

The recent and partially documented allegations of financial mismanagement directed against GCPS officials by Jeff Weiler, former Chief Financial Officer for the school system (and posted at www.gcps.blogspot.com) have deeply shocked and disappointed employees throughout the district.

Of course, the primary responsibility for effective oversight begins with the Gwinnett County School Board, whose silence has been stifling and whose lack of willingness to reign in J. Alvin Wilbanks and his sycophants quite curious. However, the School Board has failed the voters before .

More than a decade ago, after the last fad fizzled (O.B.E. – Outcomes-based Education) and then-Superintendent George Thompson was shown the door, the Board promised Gwinnett parents a national search to locate and hire a ‘world class’ superintendent.

After a rather superficial and lethargic search, the Board hired Sidney Faucett from the Virginia Beach, Virginia, school district. But interestingly enough and though every cab driver , meter reader, and homeless person in southeast Virginia seemed to know that Mr. Faucett was under investigation for allegedly mismanaging millions of dollars of district funds, the Gwinnett School Board either missed that crucial detail, or, deliberately chose to ignore it.

When Atlanta media outlets picked up on the allegations coming from outraged citizens in Virginia, Mr. Faucett dutifully resigned his new position in Georgia, but the Gwinnett Board did not resume the promised national search for a highly qualified applicant for what would soon become Georgia’s largest school system.

Instead, the Board quickly opted for the Gwinnett Technical College president, and former DeKalb shop teacher, J. Alvin Wilbanks , an insider with close ties to local business interests . Despite the latter’s lack of a doctoral degree, any substantial experience or training in academically-oriented programs, a seeming inability to connect with students, teachers, or parents, or despite any attempt to gather local public and employee input, the Board appointed Alvin Wilbanks as the new boss.

Within a short period of time, once the Special Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) was engineered to provide for the runaway growth occurring in Gwinnett, an eventual school district budget exceeding a billion dollars would serve as the fuel for an engine, in retrospect, seemingly designed to promote unadulterated chicanery instead of a sincere focus on developing a world class educational experience for students. And, since Gwinnett County Commission members had no desire or intention of planning for or regulating unbridled growth and development, GCPS had the perfect cover for what would turn out to be some extraordinarily nefarious plans and activities.

Today, most teachers and support personnel within GCPS believe that there can be no “continuous improvement” for students until new and visionary leadership supplants the current status quo. In addition, many educators believe that, while the district functions like a finely oiled machine with respect to daily nuts and bolts issues (such as buses running on time and construction schedules being met), most also would likely agree with the statement that the ‘brain’ of this GCPS machine functions but possesses neither a heart nor a soul.

But when the business at hand and primary goal is the educating and nurturing of children , then the current status quo is and should be wholly unacceptable. Gwinnett’s school children and teachers need, and parents and taxpayers deserve, flexible, compassionate, and visionary leaders – not cranky, arrogant, and isolated industrial managers who think they know more about teaching students than the professionals in the classroom.

The Teachers’ Alliance of Gwinnett cannot fairly speak to the frequent accusations toward GCPS regarding corruption and financial mismanagement. That should be the domain of the media, the Gwinnett District Attorney, and the elected School Board.

As veteran teachers with long service in Gwinnett, TAG is keenly aware of , and knowledgeable about, the slow erosion of academic standards; the rapid erosion of employee morale in the schools; the almost nonexistent role afforded teachers in the important decisions affecting teaching and learning; and the often brutal repercussions for teachers and support staff who either express dissent, disregard orders that defy their professional training and instincts regarding what is best for students, or whom become whistleblowers in an attempt to alert the public and obtain justice for themselves and their students.

Some of these victim’s stories make headlines in the newspapers when their cases are adjudicated by a court, but most do not because of threats and intimidation cultivated by school administrators. Fear , anxiety and frustration seem to permeate the faculties of perhaps three-quarters of the schools in Gwinnett – and virtually all of the secondary schools. How can this situation be healthy for kids?

Schools or Factories?

The latest fad being imposed upon students and teachers by the bureaucrats is known in the business world as ‘Total Quality Management’ (TQM). Some in the education profession, including those who should know better, euphemistically refer to the experiment as ‘Standards-based Reform’.

Whatever term is employed, the effects on teaching and learning have, in the professional judgement of many veteran teachers in Gwinnett, been ruinous for students despite the official spin job generated by those who do not work closely or daily around kids in the classrooms, labs, or media centers of the district.

Several years ago, Stanford University’s Elliot Eisner said of the Standards movement in schools, “It distracts us from paying attention to the importance of building a culture of schooling that is genuinely intellectual in character, that values questions and ideas at least as much as getting right answers…The challenge in teaching is to provide the conditions that will foster the growth of those personal characteristics that are socially important and, at the same time, personally satisfying to the student.

The aim of education is not to train an army that marches to the same drummer, at the same pace, toward the same destination. Such an aim may be appropriate for totalitarian societies, but it is incompatible with democratic ideals.”

As veteran educators who deal with kids on a daily basis, we realize the enduring irony that public schools in Gwinnett are the most undemocratic of institutions. How can we expect children to love and appreciate democratic ideals when autocratic values are constantly modeled and reinforced at school?

Is it any wonder then why tens of thousands of kids are being home schooled in the U.S.A. nowadays, or, plucked out of public schools to be enrolled in private schools? Is it any surprise that fewer and fewer college undergraduates are electing to major in education?

After years of stealth TQM practices (GCPS senior leadership refuses to even now admit that the experiment is occurring – though implementation began no later than 1997; the nomenclature and steps of TQM practices here closely resemble those in certain other districts of the country in which officials openly acknowledge the connection; and the fact that undergraduate and graduate students at UGA and other state institutions often come to GCPS in order to observe, and then write reports and essays on TQM for their professors! ) , the extent of the damage done to innovative teaching, faculty morale, and student achievement is only now becoming apparent but certainly has not been worth a few additional points on standardized tests.

In fact, both Gwinnett (Gateways, Benchmarks) and the State of Georgia (EOCTs, GHSGT) are increasingly deceiving the public by developing and scoring home-grown assessments to supposedly determine what students know… except that these tests are continuously modified depending on annual student performance results, and , via the magic of “scaled scoring”, the actual student score results from one test application to the next cannot be used for comparison purposes due to the absence of statistical validity.

Teachers realized the farce years ago but risked termination if they spoke out. Centreville Elementary teacher James Hope, a popular and successful veteran educator, became the first of many “examples” made by GCPS when it attempted to have his teaching license revoked by the Professional Standards Commission for calling the public’s attention to significant design flaws of elementary-level Gateways which the leadership was perfectly content to ignore in favor of rapidly implementing a stunningly expensive assessment program in order to garner maximum bragging rights and other public relations benefits.

Interestingly, Hope’s subsequent trial resulted not only in his exoneration, but with Gwinnett school leaders being scolded by a judge and reminded that teachers do not lose their constitutional liberties when entering through schoolhouse doors. Two later Gwinnett Grand Jury indictments, relating in part to the millions of dollars spent for development of flawed Gateways, went nowhere, apparently because the D.A. was not willing or able to take on the powerbrokers. Sadly, this state of affairs merely emboldened district officials to accelerate their secretive agenda.

Yet another example of one of the district’s more talented teachers who was willing to resist as well as sound the alarm about the changes wrought by TQMers was high school science teacher Larry Neace. Mr. Neace was eventually fired, after being systematically and unjustly discredited by the central office crowd and Neace’s own principal.

Contrary to the stated cause for termination cited by school managers, the underlying issues of the poorly handled Neace debacle were, in fact, deeply rooted in TQM management concepts and practices which were eroding the last vestiges of teacher autonomy at Dacula as well as driving off other experienced teachers unhappy with the new agenda and highly unorthodox direction.

Origins

The Reagan-era ‘Nation At Risk’ report in 1983, which unfairly and inaccurately painted U.S. public schools as the villain for all real or perceived advantages by students from other nations scoring higher than American kids on standardized tests, planted the seeds for the TQM Movement to sprout in the 1990’s.

A quarter century ago, certain business executives and politicians liked to suggest that American youth were being thumped by the Japanese and South Koreans. Today, the Chicken Littles trumpet the same nonsense, except that China and India have allegedly taken over the task of leading hordes of underachieving American youth to the woodshed for a sound spanking.

Unfortunately, many university professors in colleges of education and many ambitious school leaders hopped on the bandwagon. Afterall, universities attract much grant money from business, industry, and government sources while numerous school administrators enjoy constructing reputations and advancing their careers posing as so-called “reformers”.

The lingering fact is that America still proudly stands as the sole surviving ‘superpower’, with citizens possessing one of the highest global literacy rates; that Americans continue to largely lead the world in developing new and useful innovations – not to mention still raking-in most of the Nobel Prizes for advancements in diverse fields ranging from chemistry and physics to medicine and economics; and that American workers continue to rank as the most productive in the world and achieved, by the late 1990’s, the longest period of economic expansion and prosperity in U.S. history.

Apparently, all those public kindergarten, primary, and secondary teachers and support staff, under verbal assault by clueless and agenda-laden critics, were not doing such a shabby job afterall. And, if special interest groups would cease turning public school campuses into cultural battlegrounds, at the expense of students and teachers, perhaps even more could have been, and would continue to be, routinely and expertly accomplished by these dedicated professionals.

By the summer of 1996, the TQM experiment was under development by the GCPS leadership. Parents and teachers began to notice curious changes in educational jargon spoken by school officials. Suddenly, the new mantra was being wrapped in impressive corporate buzzwords such as “continuous improvement”, “world class schools”, “data-driven” strategies, “best practices”, “customer and stakeholder” satisfaction, and the like.

When asked by a reporter for a local newspaper in August 1996 to define “world class”, Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks responded… “World class standards are qualitative measures of the performance or attributes of a product, service or organization. They are acknowledged, accepted and admired by customers, stakeholders and competitors alike, as measures that distinguish the product, service or organization as one of the best in its class.”

Apparently, it makes no difference to the leadership of our schools whether we are dealing with cars, toasters, or children.

A respected Language Arts teacher and former ‘Teacher of the Year” remarked after reading Mr. Wilbank’s statement above, “I am not aware that any clear ‘world class’ standards exist in education since the world is so diverse in its cultures and philosophies. Therefore, I don’t believe that world class is an appropriate, clear and compelling term…Words like ‘customer’, ‘product’ and ‘value-added’ are too business-oriented. The belief that principles of corporate America can be successfully applied in public schools is erroneous, lacking both philosophical validity and empirical support.”

Clearly, the seeds of the almost total disconnect between teachers and GCPS central office officials was already planted and growing more than ten years ago. As time went on, the gap would become an insurmountable chasm.

In addition, by 1996, the central office administrative high command began acquiring fancy new titles as well. The Superintendent became the C.E.O.; the head finance person was now the C.F.O.; a newly devised Division of Educational Leadership would have an Executive Director of School Improvement; the guy who oversees construction henceforth would be known as the Chief Operations Officer. There would soon be a Field Engineer for the Continuous Quality Improvement Office, a Chief Information Officer, a Director of Infrastructure Solutions, and even an Executive Director for the Department of Student Accountability, Assessment, and Advisement for the huge Division of Organizational Advancement.

While teachers and support staff on the frontlines, and probably not a few parents, generally considered these changes cute if not somewhat amusing, certainly few envisioned that such highfalutin language actually portended a future threat to quality education for their children. However, they were mistaken.

The recognized gurus of Total Quality Management theory – which was devised by them for business and industry, not education or artistic endeavors – included W. Edwards Deming (1900-1993) and Peter Drucker (1909-2005).

Deming, often called the ‘Father of Quality Management’, was a statistician from Iowa whose research centered on more efficient ways of gathering precise data on variations of manufacturing as a means to improve the quality of a firm’s outputs. His TQM methods were clearly designed for shop operations and factories, with the goal of increasing consumption and production for purposes of fattening profits.

Drucker, an Austrian by birth and later author, investment banker, and then professor of management at NYU’s Graduate School of Business, was fascinated by employees of firms who knew more about their jobs or certain subjects than their bosses or co-workers but yet had to cooperate with others in a large, bureaucratic organization.

According to a Wikipedia biography of Drucker, he was intrigued and impatient with executives who thought they knew best how to run companies. Thus, Drucker set-out to poke holes, though sympathetically, in their beliefs. He wrote 39 books on management theory, focusing on “ manufacturing efficiencies and managerial hierarchies of mass production”.

Deming’s concept of quality management centered around “delighting customers”. However, teachers in non-profit, public schools think it healthier to view students as workers and strive to foster a close relationship with parents that functions instead as a working partnership. Most professional educators do not believe parents want to view their children’s teachers as ‘customer service representatives’. Nor do the majority of parents or teachers believe that the delivery of teaching ‘services’ should be construed or otherwise treated in the same manner as a Bluelight Special at K-Mart.

In addition, public schools are not factories or businesses; they are not for-profit entities; teachers are not as effective or productive when treated as mere replaceable parts on some sort of moving , mass assembly line ; and… should we really be treating the education of our children as simply another bland consumer product ?

Good schools are about cultivating human intellect, skills, and potential; that includes nurturing , reassuring, and supporting children; firing-up young imaginations; reinforcing important values… not goals that can be measured with mathematical precision or efficiency.

TQM As Applied in GCPS

Deming and Drucker were brilliant thinkers and well-intentioned men. While their ideas received only mixed reviews and success within the U.S. corporate community, their theories became wildly popular for many years in Japan, where conformity, obedience, and homogeneous behavior if not thought is traditionally more valued than self-reliance, innovative thinking, reasoned risk, or individual freedom of expression.

The primary reason why much of corporate America rejected TQM schemes, and the main reason why Alvin Wilbanks modified and distorted them for GCPS, was due to the executive disdain for the relinquishing of a substantial degree of control, as required by TQM’s founders, in order to permit and cultivate a bottom-up work environment empowering ordinary workers to participate regularly in problem-solving and decision-making.

In Gwinnett and throughout much of the state, many school managers still commonly behave as if their buildings are personal fiefdoms and those who toil within them little more than vassals or serfs expected to pay homage. In other words, kiss the ring or hit the road. Clearly, this is no way to treat professionals, or indeed, anyone entrusted with the responsibility of educating the next generation of citizens.

Furthermore, Gwinnett County school officials did not even seek to legitimately implement either the Deming or Drucker TQM models when they unilaterally redesigned local school and district management teams. In fact, the heavily modified version of TQM favored by Superintendent Wilbanks, and subsequently forced on the district’s teachers, violates the most important precepts of TQM applications, of which both Deming and Drucker repeatedly warned, including their admonishments to executives and managers to “stop haranguing workers”, “remove barriers to pride in workmanship… and barriers that rob people of joy in their work”, “ do not run companies by the numbers… eliminate numerical goals, numerical quotas and management by objectives”, “use all employees’ broadest expertise and reward it meaningfully”, and by all means possible, “drive out fear and build trust so that everyone can work more effectively” .

The naked truth about working for Gwinnett County Public Schools under the current leadership structure, is that teachers are increasingly being micro-managed to death, while students are often being bored to death thanks to unwarranted administrative interference in the teaching and learning process taking place in the classroom. Most teachers and staff are not afforded a role in decision-making and their opinions and professional judgement are routinely ignored. The district’s increasing emphasis on devising a “cookbook” plan for uniformly teaching students at all levels is literally sucking the fun and creative energy out of the teaching and learning process for both students and teachers.

Parents might ask themselves this question. “Who is more qualified to direct instruction regarding the specific subjects being taught your children?” Teachers, and not school administrators, are the real curriculum experts and should be, with parents approbation, the instructional leaders and key decision-makers in the schools when issues of teaching and learning, curriculum and instruction , or simply what’s best for kids is in question or under review..

It’s easy to understand why TQM has been a failure, a nightmare for teachers, and the wrong format for educating children.

The industrial management model advocated by the TQM crowd believes that a “one size fits all” approach is best due to the perceived efficiencies inherent in such an approach. Traditional academic-oriented advocates believe that every child is unique, and that schooling must strive harder to customize educational opportunities for learners. In Gwinnett, considerable resources are interjected from time to time for the top achieving students in certain programs (i.e. Gifted classes), as well as for the very lowest achievers due mostly to concerns by Principals about not making the dreaded A.Y.P. (Annual Yearly Progress) as defined by state education authorities via the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Unfortunately, the group which consistently gets “shafted” in terms of funding and attention are the vast populations of students in the middle achievement levels. For example, class sizes for this particular group are always much higher than for higher or lower achievers.

TQM implementation is based on standardizing as many aspects of the teaching/learning process as possible, including tests, technologies, course syllabi, lesson plans, projects, teacher grading procedures, and increasingly, teaching methods as well.
TQM management practices tend to be top-down and authoritarian, risk adverse, and geared toward efficiency, organization, and vague notions of productivity.

Traditional academic-oriented educators stress flexibility, creative problem-solving, more empowerment for teachers and more self-reliance, accountability, and assumption of personal responsibility by students for their learning, and greater tolerance by school and county administrators for diverse ideas, teaching styles, and instructional programs for students.

And, there is a disturbing strand of anti-intellectualism among many local school and district leaders that is quite unsettling to teachers and many parents. It would seem reasonable to conclude that promoting and cultivating scholarly pursuits and intellectual development among students should constitute an important goal for schooling, and thus should be reflected in school personnel hired from the top leaders to the newest teacher recruit.

Another obvious but disturbing aspect of the TQM model as mandated in GCPS is the almost total emphasis on quantitative measurements … meaning of course… on numbers, numbers, numbers (rough translation = data derived from standardized tests). In fact, teachers are expressly discouraged from incorporating any serious qualitative measures in their annual professional goals for promoting student growth and achievement.

In other words, if a desired outcome for students cannot be statistically measured, tracked, and compared… it apparently does not merit teacher time or attention. So much for the critical efforts teachers have traditionally made with respect to such insignificant variables as student feelings, experiences, emotions, problems, perceptions, civic values, or character development. Apparently, there is no time or place left for such outdated efforts.

In GCPS, the ‘product’ is marketed under the brand name of ‘A.K.S.’ To assure that the product is ‘ safe’ for consumers, textbooks are usually and carefully selected for the absence of controversial topics or ideas. A “good” text is one bland enough so as not to offend anyone. And, teachers must be extremely careful to avoid discussing or otherwise engaging students in sensitive topics (evolution, religious differences, certain political subjects, subjects involving race, ethnicity, love, sexuality, drugs, or disabilities, certain local school or school board policies, etc.) lest they are reprimanded or dismissed ( should a complaint be registered) for having committed the unpardonable sin of straying from the official curriculum previously written by a handful of individuals whose ideas and attitudes were approved in advance by district administrators.

The obsession by school managers and district administrators with feeding students unrelated facts so as to improve test scores often translates into under-utilized media centers in middle and high schools, fewer field trips or guest speakers, more superficial projects for students, less time spent discussing the significance of current events, etc., because teachers cannot afford the instructional time lest test scores decline slightly.

A decade ago, it was widely deemed unethical and unprofessional for teachers to “teach the test”. Under the new reality , teachers are being pressured to do exactly the opposite ( this is termed “curriculum realignment”) lest their students suffer a competitive disadvantage resulting from lower standardized test scores than students in other districts.However, most teachers continue to resist this pressure.

Most importantly, TQM and ‘Standards’ Models for public schools rely almost exclusively on the emphasis of “high stakes” standardized tests, although the vast majority of veteran teachers insist these snapshot-in-time measurements have extremely limited applications, do not accurately determine what most students actually know or can do, and are often embraced by administrators as an excuse to supercede the classroom teacher’s judgment about student progress and achievement levels and to justify their interference.

Since public school leaders have designed the entire learning environment for students around the tests (it should be the other way around), with the only goal being to increase numerical scores, the phenomena continues to beg the question, “Are all these standardized examinations true indicators of what a child actually knows or how he/she will fare in college or in life… or merely how accomplished the student has become at mastering the plethora of test-taking strategies taught him/her throughout a dozen years of schooling and indoctrination?”

TQMers therefore MUST defend all the testing to the bitter end because failure to do so signifies they must abandon a long cherished myth – that standardized test scores correlate to student achievement or achievement potential – a myth carefully crafted in the ‘public mind’ by those who seek to control the education agenda. More likely is the proposition that certain standardized tests simply reveal how good of a test-taker and how much of a mainstream thinker is the student.

Mainstream thinkers are not the individuals that historically advance human knowledge and civilization. Besides, a bunch of poorly worded multiple choice questions can not even remotely divulge whether the student possesses practical or theoretical knowledge, or whether the child can apply it in terms of the ability to critically think, innovate or improvise, or otherwise problem-solve their way to a solution or greater understanding.

When Leadership Fails

Warren Bennis wrote in Why Leaders Can’t Lead (1989), “Leaders are people who do the right thing; managers are people who do things right. Both roles are crucial, but they differ profoundly. I often observe people in top positions doing the wrong thing well.”

Better still is a July 1990 comment from the New York Times attributed to former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan… “You can lead an organization through persuasion or formal edict. I have never found the arbitrary use of authority to control an organization either effective or, for that matter, personally interesting. If you cannot persuade your colleagues of the correctness of your position, it is probably worthwhile to rethink your own.”

Strong, progressive, and democratic leadership makes all the difference, whether in the context of a single business, a conglomerate, politics, the military, government , a school or a large and sophisticated school system such as Gwinnett County.

Quality leadership in education here in Georgia has historically been lacking and has relegated the state to the basement when it comes to student achievement. This void also appears to be the Achilles’ heel of GCPS. It is both unfortunate and telling that both former Governor Roy Barnes and former State School Superintendent Linda Schrenko would likely poll higher than Alvin Wilbanks on an internal popularity survey in Gwinnett among certified teachers and support staff as well as classified employees. And while a leader does not have to be popular to be effective, the survey results for effectiveness likewise would almost certainly be an embarrassment.

In fact, School Board members might best serve their constituents by permitting district personnel to complete such a survey, though containing only one vital question –
“Do you have confidence in the leadership of GCPS Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks, Yes or No ?”

Veteran observers in GCPS have noted through the years that administrative hires for local schools and central office positions frequently, though with many notable exceptions, are not based on merit or in some cases even competence. Indeed, over the past decade, only two attributes stand out as being critical for upper-level management – loyalty and strict obedience.

Classroom teachers have watched in recent years as many highly experienced assistant principals, especially in middle and high schools, with long years of successful service to Gwinnett, have been frozen in their current positions, nudged into retirement, or unceremoniously ignored or shoved aside while a new cadre of young, inexperienced and highly ambitious replacements, eager and willing to immerse themselves and their schools in industrial management practices, are trained at locations such as Dacula High or North Gwinnett High Schools , then “fast-tracked” into local schools as head principals (at the high school level, the most recent examples having occurred at Peachtree Ridge, Norcross, and Grayson).

Frequently lost on numerous school leaders in Gwinnett is any logical or coherent philosophy that adequately defines or clarifies their roles as school leaders. This is the fault as well as the responsibility of senior district officials. So here is a complimentary refresher course of some free samples for Principals and school C.E.O.’s.

First, Your most important duty is to identify, carefully interview, investigate, and hire the best qualified applicant for EVERY available position in the facility, including teachers, counselors, media specialists, clerks, custodians, principals, etc. Attempting to lure the most talented people away from other schools is perfectly acceptable. Don’t worry about offending fellow Principals or hurting their feelings.
Such competitive hiring practices would force all school leaders to improve working conditions for employees and to improve relationships with them as well. Highly qualified and happy employees make excellent schools and even make poor or mediocre school leaders appear talented and successful.

Second, it’s all about PEOPLE, not process or numbers. Cultivate and maintain a positive and pleasant work environment, as you scout out and induce the best employees to come work for your school, and the rest will take care of itself over time. Good relationships also extend to students, parents, and all other visitors to the school.

Third, your background does not qualify you to serve as, or otherwise claim the title of ‘Instructional Leader’ or ‘Curriculum Expert’ for the whole school. Make sure your people understand their duties and responsibilities to students… then ask continuously what you can do for them to support their mission to educate and assist students. Teachers are primarily responsible for students. Administrators are there to support teachers. Your role will be validated by comments from students, parents, teachers, support staff, and community leaders expressing their pride and joy to be associated with the school you lead.

Fourth, don’t attempt to micro-manage anything. Trust your faculty and give them lots of latitude. Permit faculty leaders and veterans to take active roles and exercise some authority in hiring , training, mentoring, and monitoring new people. Make it clear that all opinions and suggestions will be welcome. The best results inevitably occur when employees have “ownership” of their duties as well as the full support of their supervisors. Maintain an ‘open door policy’ and convince even the skeptics that dissenting views will not be negatively reinforced. Also, remember that most teachers did not become teachers so that administrators could turn them into accountants, statisticians, data-entry clerks, career counselors, and the like. Work tirelessly to take unnecessary duties away from teachers that detract from their ability to directly serve the interests of their students. In most schools, especially at the secondary level, parent volunteers are severely underutilized or discouraged. Why turn this free labor away?

Fifth, hire with an eye for gathering a very diverse group of teachers and staff. Encourage not just human diversity as pertaining to race, religion, gender, and ethnicity, but also diversity of ideas within the faculty and diversity of teaching methods and other strategies for reaching kids. School leaders have no ethical, moral, or professional “right” in seeking to build a faculty in their own image.

Sixth, using fear, threats, coercion, manipulative practices, the withholding of resources, playing favorites, verbal abuse, unwarranted reprimands, aggressive behaviors, isolating or abandoning employees, or assigning meaningless tasks as punishments do not make effective schools. In fact, such practices only serve to undermine respect for the leadership and call into question the qualifications of school administrators.

Update

2006-12-06T00:35:00.000-05:00

As an update, the State has responded to the allegations presented. Here are their responses, for your information.

From the 'Society of the White Rose'

2006-12-04T23:38:00.000-05:00

1) Gwinnett D.A. Danny Porter assembled a couple of Grand Juries last week... one is looking into the allegations made against GCPS. They will then decide whether an indictment is warranted.

2) We are very disappointed in the Gwinnett Daily Post's lack of serious interest in all this... The GDP, however, has a conflict of interest problem. Years ago, they were in a contentious competition with the AJC Gwinnett Section to win rights to publish the weekly 'Legal Notices' supplement. Since Gwinnett's political leaders sided with the GDP for this lucrative opportunity, the newspaper somehow became a pussy cat when it comes to taking on the bigwigs in the county.

3) All readers of this blogsite must understand what's at stake here. Powerful business interests and local political leaders have an enormous stake in protecting and defending Alvin Wilbanks as long as he continues to award their firms lucrative construction, consulting, maintenance and/or supply contracts. The White Rose does NOT believe that Wilbanks is himself profiting above-and-beyond his VERY adequate salary & perks as "C.E.O.",
but the average life expectancy of a school district superintendent in the U.S.A. is about 3.5 years. That Alvin has lasted more than a decade says more about his usefulness to the members of the Business Roundtable & Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce than his achievements as superintendent.

REPOST:

2006-12-04T20:31:00.000-05:00

In April 2005, Frances Davis (Chief Human Resources Officer) requested a check for $1,000 payable to Hopewell Baptist Church, with no reason or documentation given. Upon further investigation, this payment was a donation or honorarium for a celebration honoring the church’s pastor.

On April 25, 2005, Ms. Davis completed and signed a Check Request Form for payment of this honorarium from a school district account. We have knowledge of, but no evidence in-hand, of other payments made to this church.

The fax below shows CFO Jeff Weiler questioning Davis about this check and her response, telling Weiler not to worry about it because Superintendent Alvin Wilbanks had already given the "ok for payment."

Weiler chose to further pursue this matter due to the obvious legal ramifications for the school district. Davis responded by leaving a voicemail that again tried to downplays the situation as no big deal and questioning his authority to investigate the issue. Weiler. in turn, sent a memo on May 12 (at bottom of entry). The memo included this excerpt from Article I, Section II, Paragraph VII of the Georgia Constitution.

Paragraph VII. Separation of church and state. No money shall ever be taken from the public treasury, directly or indirectly, in aid of any church, sect, cult, or religious denomination or of any sectarian institution.

When Weiler took the information to Wilbanks, he responded by saying that “this should have never come to you like this” and proceeded to right a personal check for the full amount of $1,000.

Of course, there is no doubt in our minds that Wilbanks and Davis chose to try and sneak this payment out of GCPS (and taxpayer) funds, only to change when caught in the act. We are confident that further research into GCPS accounts would provide proof of similar payments that were made and not caught by employee audits.

According to Laura Diamond's article in the AJC, Gwinnett School Board Chairman Robert McClure reviewed these allegations with Wilbanks. He told the paper that the money was paid to Hopewell Baptist to recruit prospective employees. However, no documentation of these recruitment ads has been provided. No answers have been provided as to why Wilbanks chose to write a personal check for this payment either.

To further cloud matters, one former GCPS employee has stated that he was instructed to provide on-site technical support for the church after hours. Questions have also been raised about the church donating computers to the church as well.

According to McClure, "this is all a bunch of nonsense." It appears many citizens in Gwinnett County seem to disagree.

Wanted to Call Attention to This

2006-12-04T12:25:00.000-05:00

This information is from the comments section of our previous post. Please consider attending if you feel inclined to do so.

I have made arrangements for anyone that wants to meet to develop a strategy to collectively address the Board at the 12/14 Board Meeting. Our planning meeting will be held at the Gwinnett County Justice Building on Langley Drive in Conference Room A which is on the 2nd floor at 7:00 PM on Tuesday, December 5.

I realize that current GCPS employees may not feel comfortable attending but if you are a concerned parent or want to be an involved citizen, please attend so that we can determine how we want to proceed to present an united front. We can also determine who we want to put pressure to attend the meeting (TV, newspapers, politicians, etc), determine specific questions we want to ask to ensure answers, and develop a contact list if needed for future meetings.

I look forward to seeing you all!

A Concerned Parent and Taxpayer!

Thanks

2006-12-03T12:31:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Laura Diamond, of the Atlanta Journal Constitution, for bringing attention to the issues raised in this blog. Also, thanks to our tech guy (Heath) for all that he has done to set up and run the technology. That has been his sole role and he has performed quite well and selflessly. Finally, we thank those of you who have sent emails or placed comments of support on the blog, your courage and determination is inspiring.

Now that the facts are out, it remains our hope that the truth will be known and it will set us all free.

Article Upcoming in the AJC

2006-11-30T22:15:00.000-05:00

Good news! The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has decided to run a story on the blog on Friday. Laura Diamond, the education reporter for the Gwinnett section, will be writing the piece. I am grateful for the AJC taking an interest in the site and look forward to a fair, well-balanced article, given the AJC's reputation as a newspaper and Ms. Diamond's journalistic integrity.

Below is my e-mail interaction with Ms. Diamond...

Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2006 19:15:07 -0800 (PST)
From: "Heath Mills"
Subject: Re: Fw: gcps.blogspot.com
To: "Laura Diamond"

Laura,

Again, I apologize for the delay in getting back to you. I would like to thank both you and the AJC for choosing to write about our blog. Given your paper's readership, I am excited about the number of Gwinnett citizens that your article will direct to the blog.
I also would like to thank you for taking the time to contact me before writing your story (and I am sorry again for allowing you to do so much searching before I had an opportunity to respond). I am the blog's creator, but serve merely as "the technology guy." My role doesn't extend farther than that.
Unfortunately, after receiving the nature of your questions, I feel like the nature of your interest in the blog is misguided. I was disappointed to see that you are more interested in the messengers than the message that is provided. It has been disheartening that some who visit the site are so caught up in who may or may not be involved in the blog’s production beforehand that they fail to consider the message being delivered. The good news is that most readers have not fallen into that trap and have elected to read what is presented with an open mind.
I plan to post our e-mail conversation later this evening so that readers of the blog will know to expect your upcoming story. Once again, thank you for choosing to write about the blog. I hope that you will encourage your readers to visit the site and form their own opinions about the information that is being presented.
I have read many of your previous articles and am sure you are set to do many more great things in your journalistic career. I wish you the best of luck in all of your future endeavors. Hope your Thanksgiving weekend was relaxing and enjoyable and your upcoming holiday season is even better.

Best Regards,
Heath Mills

To: "Heath Mills"
Subject: Re: Fw: gcps.blogspot.com
From: "Laura Diamond"
Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2006 14:13:52 -0500

Hi Heath –

I understand how busy things can get with work.
Would it be possible for us to meet in person rather than talking over the phone? If not, I will be in the office until about 6 today. That number is 770-###-####. From about 6:30 on you can reach me on my cell phone. That number is 404-###-####.
I'm sure once we talk I will have more questions for you. Basically I am interested in: whether you work/used to work for Gwinnett schools; why you started the blog; where you found the posted information; and what you hope will be the result of making this information available.
I look forward to speaking with you.
-- Laura

Laura Diamond
Staff Writer
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ldiamond@ajc.com

Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2006 10:36:23 -0800 (PST)
From: "Heath Mills"
Subject: Re: Fw: gcps.blogspot.com
To: "Laura Diamond"

Laura,
Please allow me to apologize as work has interfered in my chance to get back to you sooner. I would like to respond to any questions that you have for me. If you could, please e-mail me whatever you are interested in knowing, and I will call you this evening. Thanks.
-Heath

To: heathmills2000@yahoo.com, gwinnett2@mail.com
Subject: Fw: gcps.blogspot.com
From: "Laura Diamond"
Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2006 09:56:29 -0500

Mr. Mills -

Hello again.
I am planning to write an article for Friday's newspaper about your blog and would still like to ask you a few questions. I'd appreciate it if you were to call me at 770-###-####. I have also left messages with every Heath Mills I was able to find listed in Georgia in the hopes of speaking with you.
I hope to speak with you soon.
-- Laura Diamond

Laura Diamond
Staff Writer
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ldiamond@ajc.com

To: heathmills2000@yahoo.com, gwinnett2@mail.com
Subject: gcps.blogspot.com
From: "Laura Diamond"
Date: Wed, 29 Nov 2006 10:21:42 -0500

Mr. Mills -
Hello. My name is Laura Diamond and I am a reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Your name and email address was posted as a contact on the gcps.blogspot.com site. In another posting you were identified as the blog's creator.
I am working on a story about the blog and other stories about some of the allegations raised on the site and would like to ask you a few questions. If you could please call me I would greatly appreciate it. I can be reached at 770-###-####. I should be in the office until about 6:30 p.m. today. If there is another time you’d like to speak, just send me the time and a contact number and I will call you at your convenience.
Thank you for your time. I hope to speak with you soon.
-- Laura Diamond

Laura Diamond
Staff Writer
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ldiamond@ajc.com

Our Strengths Can Become Our Weaknesses

2006-11-29T23:04:00.000-05:00

The following is an article, written by Sherron Watkins, a former Enron employee. It is on the Time Magazine web site at http://205.188.238.109/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1198927,00.html.

Enron's whistle-blower responds to the verdict
By SHERRON WATKINS

Posted Sunday, May 28, 2006
The reporter caught me while I was sitting in the sanctuary of First Presbyterian Church awaiting the joyous and celebratory graduation services of my daughter's grade school. "What do you feel about the verdicts?" Since I had met with Ken Lay in August 2001 to warn him of Enron's shady accounting and Lay for the most part ignored my warnings, the reporter wanted to know, "Do you feel vindicated?" My mood did not remain joyous or celebratory. I stammered something about being satisfied that justice prevailed. What I couldn't convey in words is a sense of sadness, sadness for what could have been.

In early 2001 Lay and Jeff Skilling, Enron's longtime leaders, unveiled a new mission statement. No longer would Enron strive to be "The World's Leading Energy Company"; we were going to be "The World's Leading Company." Why limit ourselves to energy? Enron was fast-paced, inventive, exciting; we epitomized the New Economy, able to innovate virtually overnight. Unfortunately, in life, our strengths can become our weaknesses. Just as the dark side of charisma is narcissism, the dark side of innovation is fraud. Enron fell victim to both. Our finance, accounting and legal departments pushed the use of off-balance-sheet vehicles over the line that separates creative transactions from fraudulent ones. Our corporate culture became narcissistic; we were focused on our image, not our customers or our products. The most alarming revelation is how easy it was to co-opt the outside world into joining us as we sang our praises: auditors, lawyers, bankers, the media.

Are we now less likely to fall victim to the next charismatic, innovative leader? I still wonder whether we truly recognize and value the appropriate traits in our leaders. We want honest leaders who are decisive, creative, optimistic and even courageous, but we so easily settle for talk that marks those traits instead of action. Worse, we often don't even look for one of the most critical traits of a leader: humility. A humble leader listens to others. He or she values input from employees and is ready to hear the truth, even if it is bad news. Humility is marked by an ability to admit mistakes.

There is no humility in either Skilling or Lay. As I watched Lay after the verdict, I was deeply dismayed by his inability to discern truth. He did not discern the truth of my warnings in August 2001. He failed to discern the truth of his own culpability; he refuses to take responsibility. He hides behind words of Scripture, but even these he misuses.

By the fall of 2001 Lay was telling us that Enron's future had never looked better, even as he was cashing in his Enron shares. By taking care of himself, Lay violated one of Jesus' leadership lessons, found in Mark 9:35: "If anyone desires to be first, he must be last of all, and servant of all." We need to applaud the servant-leader, the one who clearly demonstrates that the interests of the organization and its customers, employees and investors (in that order) come first, not his own. Humility is a critically important trait in leaders. We have to ask ourselves, Is our society cultivating humility? Do we exhibit that trait individually and collectively as a nation? Will we stop and learn from the Enron lesson in leadership failures, or will we just shrug our shoulders and thank God we're not Ken Lay?

Don't Just Take Our Word For It

2006-11-27T00:03:00.000-05:00

The information that we have posted on this blog probably seems unbelievable to at least some of you. Judging from many of the comments, though, many others out there are not surprised. Either way, you have the right, as citizens, to know for yourself first-hand. In fact, that right is spelled out in the Georgia Open Records Law. The Attorney General has a wonderful website dedicated to the details of this law (http://www.state.ga.us/ago/open_govt.html).

Using that as your guide, exercise your rights as citizens to request information from GCPS yourself. If you want, look at some of the documents we have posted and ask for them specifically. Or ask for other information, whatever you have concerns about. All you need to do is to put your request(s) in writing, being sure to be very specific and clear about the information you are seeking.

Remember; GCPS is spending YOUR money, educationg YOUR children, and running YOUR schools. You have every right to know how, and how well, they are doing. Once you have the information in-hand, then judge for yourself. Take us (the bloggers) out of the equation and then see what the message is.

Words & Actions

2006-11-22T02:30:00.000-05:00

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them."

John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Projection?

2006-11-21T00:37:00.000-05:00

"The truth is incontrovertible; malice may attack it, ignorance my deride it, but in the end, there it is."

Winston Churchill

Shooting the Messenger?

2006-11-19T18:51:00.000-05:00

You may believe, as some have said, that the people allegedly behiind this blog are unethical and vindictive. That is your right. However, if you do think this way, then why did you even bother coming here (to the blog)? Could it be that, just maybe, the issues brought out here are worth looking into?

We have tried to present the facts, as per the documents we have shown on this blog, and to stay away from any opinions we might have about those in leadership at GCPS. Please feel free to point out if you feel otherwise. We have faith that you (the reader) have the intelligence to evaluate the facts and come to your own conclusions, without having to say what we might think about anyone personally.

Throughout history, there have been people who have seen things they felt were wrong and sought to do something about it. Do a Google search on Sherren Watkins of Enron, Cynthia Cooper of Worldcom, and Jeffrey Wigand of Brown & Williamson. They all risked a lot, in an effort to stand for something greater than themselves. Were they perfect and without weaknesses themselves? Probably not. Did they have to come forward with their concerns about their respective companies' practices? Definitely not. Then why did they, in fact, come forward? Only those individuals truly know the answer to that question.

All we ask is that, if you come to read this blog, you not confuse the message with the messenger. If you feel that shooting the messenger is warranted, then that is your right. Just make sure that the message doesn't die in the process.

Checks and Balances?

2006-11-19T01:35:00.000-05:00

The following are some excerpts from an article in the December issue of Leadership Insights, a publication of the National School Board Association. This article is on the web at http://www.nsba.org/site/docs/37600/37501.pdf.

"...the need to focus on the big picture must not undermine the board’s fiscal oversight role. High-profile incidents of corruption have been unearthed not only in large districts like Detroit, Miami, and New Orleans, but in smaller ones like Roslyn, N.Y., Sauk Village, Ill., and Eastpointe, Mich."

"Recent changes in the law bear on the board’s duties. Two former chairs of COSA, Edgar H. Bittle and Martin Semple, review governance requirements under the federal Sarbanes-Oxley Act, enacted in the wake of corporate debacles. They point out that these requirements, even those that technically do not apply to school boards, may suggest best practices and may shape conceptions of good governance among the public, government agencies, and—significantly—the courts. When presenting this information at a recent COSA seminar, Bittle and Semple cautioned school board attorneys against too readily allowing cries of “micromanagement” to interfere with appropriate school board questions and oversight. This admonition highlights an important reality in our American system of democratic accountability. As with any other concerns, when fiscal problems—let alone malfeasance—arise in a school district, the public naturally demands to know, Where was the school board?”

How do you think the Gwinnett School Board's actions rate, in light of the guidance given in this article? Go back and look at all of the articles in this blog (click on the archive links on the right to see entries going back to October). Then decide if you think that there are checks and balances in-place at GCPS.

Where Do the Audits Go?

2006-11-18T01:26:00.000-05:00

The following are excerpts from a Recommended Practice report prepared by the Government Finance Officers Association ( found on the web at www.gfoa.org).

"The Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) makes the following recommendations regarding the establishment of audit committees by state and local governments:

• The governing body of every state and local government should establish an audit committee or its equivalent;

• All members of the audit committee should be members of the governing body.

• It is the responsibility of the audit committee to provide independent review and oversight of a government’s financial reporting processes, internal controls and independent auditors;

• The audit committee should have access to the reports of internal auditors, as well as access to annual internal audit work plans;

• The audit committee should establish procedures for the receipt, retention, and treatment of complaints regarding accounting, internal accounting controls, or auditing matters. Such procedures should specifically provide for the confidential, anonymous submission by employees of the government of concerns regarding questionable accounting or auditing matters"

Do you think this is in place at GCPS? Does the internal audit department present all of their reports to the Board's Audit Committee or the entire Board? How does GCPS handle the "treatment of complaints?"

These are all good questions to ask. Why? Because a good and truly independent audit function can uncover and report significant issues like those raised in this blog. No one likes being audited, it's tough to have a fault or defficiency pointed out. However, it is much better for auditors to be ALLOWED to do their job than to have issues go unnoticed and uncorrected.

Maybe we could ask GCPS' Internal Audit Director, except he was recently forced to resign. Why could that have happened?

Remembrance

2006-11-17T00:06:00.000-05:00

A Poem by Jennifer R. Scott

Has the memory of your lives faded
Like the fallen petals of a dying rose?
It seems that way so often...
As though no one cares and no one knows.
But the shadow of your existence haunts me
Years have passed, but I feel your strength today.
You sacrificed your futures, your very lives,
The harshest price you were forced to pay.
And as I feel my own youth passing,
The days and years fading fast,I think of your short lives stolen -
And I know we must not forget the past.
So I faithfully nurse your memory
Trying to bring it back to life -
Like watering the dying flower,
Moving it hopefully into the light.
At times my hope for your remembrance wanes,
And other joyous moments it grows,
But even if the world never knows your sacrifice,
I'll cherish the beauty of The White Rose.

To Current and Former GCPS Employees Supporting the Site

2006-11-15T23:20:00.000-05:00

Many of you have come out in support of what we are doing here with this blog and we appreciate everything that you have provided. Your words of encouragement and ability to grow the readership of this blog have been just amazing. If this trend continues we will be able to bring the truth to light in, around and about GCPS and some of its leaders, which has been our hope all along.

The ultimate goal of this blog is to put this entire matter in the hands of the court system and let the entire truth come to light. We feel that both sides should have a right to state their case in a court of law and have the people render a verdict. At that time, GCPS leaders will have the right to present any claims they want about people they assume are contributing to this blog. Who knows, they may actually even present a case against the documented allegations we have presented against them. We can't wait for that day. Once both sides have the opportunity to present their case, we trust in the court system to sort everything out.

If and when an investigation into the actions of GCPS leaders was to ensue, we want to be prepared. Many of you have posted comments claiming to have information and/or documentation of further illegal/unethical activities by GCPS leadership. We want to collect as much information as we can to either continue our fight online or present to authorities if and when the opportunity arises.

Before I go any further, WE WILL NOT DO ANYTHING TO JEOPORDIZE YOUR EMPLOYMENT OR PERSONAL IDENTITY. Some of the contributors to this cause have lost their jobs and/or suffered extensive harassment for working to uncover the truth. We would rather not see anyone else suffer as they have. But we do want to a way to gather as much information as possible.

Please, e-mail gwinnett2@mail.com or heathmills2000@yahoo.com with any information and or documentation you have that will help our cause.

You have the right to dictate where and how anything that you provide will be used. If you do not want to have the information/documentation used in this blog, we will not. We will pass along anything to the proper authorities should the opportunity present itself. However, again let me reiterate, we will not do anything to compromise the source of the information if you do not want us to.

Whether we receive an enormous response or none at all, we have ample information, documentation and resources still at our disposal and are not going anywhere anytime soon (sorry if our call for aid got any lurkers' hopes up). Nevertheless, if you have information to help bring the truth to light, please do what you know in your heart is right for all other employees, citizens and, most importantly, children in this county.

Thanks again and keep spreading the word to other Gwinnett County citizens.

Message from J. Alvin Wilbanks

2006-11-14T10:16:00.000-05:00

We were pleased to receive the following comment from Gwinnett County Public School's Superintendent Alvin Wilbanks. We did take out one paragraph, which included names and accusations against people he believes are serving as sources for this blog. If you wish to believe that the sources to this blog are vindictive and unethical people, then that is your right. If that belief then leads you to discount all of the information posted on this blog, that is also your right. However, these people have suffered or fear suffering persecution for standing against the actions within GCPS. In order to bring the truth forward, I have promised each source the choice to remain anonymous. We ask that you focus on the facts provided (by both sides) and the decisions made, rather than on the people involved (on either side of this debate).

"In recent days I have received questions from some of you regarding a blog critical of Gwinnett County Public Schools that began appearing on the web near the end of October. I typically do not pay much attention to websites such as this. However, because some of you asked, I felt it was important to let you know we are aware of the blog's existence and want to allay any concern it may be causing."

[We removed one paragraph from Wilbanks's response becuase it made personal accusations against people that he believes are serving as sources to this blog. All sources have been promised a right to anonymity here and will continue to be given that right. We ask that all comments continue to focus on the issues.]

"You may be assured that we have reviewed in detail the claims made on the blog. The GCPS documents posted on it may be authentic. However, while they are presented as the full and complete picture, in fact they are used out of context and without other related documents-- the apparent intent being to mislead the reader with partial, selective information. We are confident the claims have no merit and no one currently employed by the school system acted improperly or unethically as the blog alleges.

Gwinnett County Public Schools is fortunate to have a workforce composed overwhelmingly of passionate, competent, and ethical people. It is regrettable that two former employees (and others on their behalf) apparently have chosen to try to discredit this great, successful organization and the good people it employs in a vindictive response to the consequences they suffered because of their inappropriate behavior.

I hope this information is helpful if you are called upon to respond to questions within your school or community. If any of you wish to discuss this further, please call me or contact your area superintendent. Thank you for taking time to read this and for all you do every day for the children of Gwinnett County Public Schools."
J.Alvin Wilbanks - Supt GCPS

What is a Conflict of Interest?

2006-11-13T23:43:00.000-05:00

If you read the post from last Thursday, regarding a conflict of interest, you might wonder what a conflict of interest is. Wikipedia defines it as "a situation in which someone in a position of trust, such as a lawyer, a politician, or an executive or director of a corporation, has competing professional or personal interests. Such competing interests can make it difficult to fulfill his or her duties impartially. Even if there is no evidence of improper actions, a conflict of interest can create an appearance of impropriety that can undermine confidence in the ability of that person to act properly in his/her position."

Would $100,000 a year be enough to "make it difficult" for a State Board of Education member to "fulfill his or her duties impartially?" It's impossible to know, unless we were in that board member's head. Would that payment "create an appearance of impropriety?" You be the judge of that. Bear in mind that the State Board hears appeals of student discipline, employment, and other issues that are not resolved at the local School Board level.

Interestingly, the State Attorney General wrote an opinion on this subject, regarding the State Board of Regents. In his opinion, number 2004-7 dated July 23 2004, Deputy Attorney General Dunn says that "State officers or employees who have “state-wide powers” are prohibited from transacting business with any state agency." The opinion goes on to lay out, in great detail, the specifics of what conflicts of interest entail. Feel free to read the whole opinion for your self. None of us here are attorneys, but this opinion sure makes the contract discussed in last Thursday's post look like a conflict of interest.

Finally, in the September 2004 issue of the National School Boards Association publication, Leadership Insider, there are a number of great articles regarding ethics. In one article, on page 2, attorney Jay Worona says that he advises his school board clients to ask "might the action seem unethical to others, even if it is legal?" And, he goes on, "can the action be credibly legitimized to the public?" Good questions, indeed.

Please feel free to weigh in with your comments about the issue raised in this post.

Ethical Choices as Viewed in a Post-Enron World

2006-11-12T15:08:00.000-05:00

Much has been written about the ethical and moral abuses that ocurred at Enron and several other high-profile companies. Bear in mind that Enron was, in it's heyday, very highly regarded by analysts, experts, journalists, and political leaders. Ken Lay, the now-deceased former Enron CEO, was an icon in the Houston community and was praised by many for his contributions to the community. For more on this, read the book "The Smartest Guys in the Room," by Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind.

How does this relate to public education? In his excellent American School Boards Journal article titled "The Ethical Choice," Craig Colgan writes about the ethical choices facing public educators. In the article, Mr. Colgan mentions a case of fraud in a Texas school district, which the superitendent chose not to report to the Board. Quoting from the article; "School administrators face new and complicated ethical challenges these days that can seem never ending. The challenges involve more than money and do not always result in criminal charges. Many involve collecting and reporting data on student achievement—cases where administrators' careers hinge on the result. And more personal issues, many of which involve students, are complicated as well."

Another news item, also on the National School Boards Association website, provides "practical perspectives on school law and policy." One particular article is of relevance, titled "After Enron - What the Sarbanes-Oxley Act means for your schools." This article, written by attorneys Edgar Bittle and Martin Semple, also gives examples of where lack of proper oversight resulted in fraud and abuse at several school districts. While Sarbanes-Oxley does not apply to public school districts, the authors make a good case for school boards to adopt many of the reforms required in this legislation. Everything from maintaining the independence of internal and external auditors, having a Board audit committee, and maintaining protection for whistleblowers.

Read these publications, read about Enron, or find your own sources for ethical deliberations. Then look at what you see at GCPS and make your own judgement as to how this all applies there. Bear in mind, though, that there is often a big gap between what is said and what is done. Your thoughts and ideas on THIS topic will be greatly appreciated.

Circular Donations?

2006-11-10T15:25:00.000-05:00

As you may know, it is not legal for public entities such as GCPS to raise funds in support of an iniative such as the SPLOST vote. Thus, a stand-alone organization is created to raise funds to promote SPLOST. This has been done in Gwinnett for each of the 3 SPLOST referenda (1997, 2001, and 2006). Many fine citizens have contributed money to these campaigns, presumably because they support the concept of building schools to house a growing student population. That is very admirable and they should be commended for putting their money where their mouth is.

However, there are also many commercial enterprises (companies, partnerships, etc.) who have donated to the SPLOST campaigns. This is where things get a bit murky, as a number of these companies also do business with GCPS, work that is ultimately paid for from the very same SPLOST funds that the campaigns are meant to support. For those who want more details, the campaign disclosure reports are available at the County's Elections office.

Two companies, in particular, stand out; specifically Donald Camp Electric and IBM. In 2001, of the $199,000 raised by that year's SPLOST campaign committee, $30,000 was contributed by these two companies (see below). For the 2006 campaign, with final contribution reports not due until the end of December, Donald Camp has already donated $2,000 (also shown below).

What makes these contributions suspicious is that GCPS pays both of these firms thousands (Camp) and millions (IBM) each year without any public bidding. Is there some sort of arrangement implied here? Perhaps. Is it illegal? Maybe not. Is it suspicious? Definitely.

A few thoughts

2006-11-10T13:12:00.000-05:00

We wish that we could say we are surprised by the comments made in response to this blog. Unfortunately, we know all to well how GCPS leaders use unfounded accusations and slanderous comments to put down any person who dares to stand up or even question their misdeeds. Searching for the truth has cost multiple people their jobs within the school district.

The great aspect of this blog is the fact that information and documentation can be spread to the public without GCPS leaders exerting their power and influence to continue covering up the indescretions. I (Heath Mills) have chosen to edit out these hateful comments against the brave souls who have chosen to stand up and speak out. For those of you who had the chance to read them beforehand, I hope that these comments will further convince you the amount of things that GCPS leaders are attempting to hide.

We leave you with the following quotes to think about this weekend:

Have patience awhile; slanders are not long-lived. Truth is the child of time; ere long she shall appear to vindicate thee.
-- Immanuel Kant

It is easier to find a score of men wise enough to discover the truth than to find one intrepid enough, in the face of opposition to stand up for it.
--A. A. Hodge

Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at the touch, nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening.
--Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Yes, It Passed, But Look at the Trend

2006-11-09T00:07:00.000-05:00

67 percent of the voters in Gwinnett County approved the extension of SPLOST for another 5 years. The people have spoken, and Democracy has worked (sort of). Democracy is a great thing and perhaps the best thing this country has going for it. Just a guess, but it's quite likely that when this nation's founding fathers set up this system we call Democracy, they assumed that the voters would have full and open information regarding the choices before them. Did that happen here, in Gwinnett County?

It would really be interesting if you asked any of those in the 67 percent what their penny sales tax was going for. More interestingly, if they saw the documents posted on this blog, how would they feel about the people they have entrusted to mange this money?

One thing is for sure, however, and that's that not as many voters in Gwinnett County favor SPLOST as did in the past. When this trend was positive, after the 2001 SPLOST vote, it was highly touted as a barometer of the support Gwinnett citizens had for their school system. What does the downturn, from 79 percent to 67 percent, show now?

For the Love of Public Education

2006-11-07T08:41:00.000-05:00

(We obtained a copy of this letter that was sent by former GCPS and current Clark County (Nev) Schools District CFO Jeff Weiler to Atlanta area newspapers. We wanted to print this here today for anyone to read before heading to the polls.)

For the Love of Public Education, I Would Vote No
I have spent my entire post-college working years, 23 to be exact, in public education financial and administrative management. The last 6, prior to September of this year, at Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS). I have now worked in 3 school districts, in 3 different states, and consulted in several others. No, I'm not an educator by training, I'm a finance guy. But I have been in public education long enough to see when things are working well and when they are not.

I have truly developed a love for and strong belief in the value of public education. Public education, when practiced in an effective and efficient manner, is a crucial part of making this country what it is today and will be in the future. Across this country, whether it be in Gwinnett County, Georgia or Clark County, Nevada; a lot of great things are happening in classrooms every single day. Often, these great things happen in spite of seemingly insurmountable challenges; everything from poverty to limited english proficiency to special needs. If you don't believe me, go visit a school in a part of town you might not usually venture into. Or go to a play or soccer game at your neighborhood school. I think you'll be impressed.

That's the good, what is working. Now the bad stuff, the stuff that, as a career public education financial professional, makes me sick. What I experienced, while employed at GCPS, was a total abuse of power that resulted in complete disregard for financial responsibility. I tried, and failed, to rein this in and, when unsuccessful, communicated my concerns through the chain of command. Others did as well, and most of them are no longer employed by GCPS. Of course, for at least some of my tenure at GCPS, I was part of the problem. You see, like many other decent people in and around Gwinnett County, I too was fooled by the rhetoric and pontifications of those in power.

The rhetoric was that we put our money in the classroom and valued teachers above all others. Why then, when enrollment increased by 5 percent per year between 2001 and 2006 did non-school-based positions increase by 7 percent per year? Why again when, over the same period, average teacher salaries increased at a rate of 2 percent per year did average non-school-based salaries increase at a rate of 9 percent per year? The rhetoric is that GCPS has the best technology at the best-possible price. That sounds good, but how can anyone justify spending anywhere from $20 to $50 million ever year with one single technology company, all without any form of public bidding? How can anyone justify spending over $49 million (and counting) with that same company for implementing a new system (PeopleSoft), when that same company orignally estimate the total cost to be just over $27 million. The old adage is that actions speak louder than words. How do these actions speak to you? Never, in all of my experience, have I seen a school district do so little with so much (money) in the area of technology. I could give examples of other abuses of power but will leave that for other forums such as, for instance, a new blog that some insider(s) have created at http://www.gcps.blogspot.com.

Now to the issue soon to be before the voters of Gwinnett County, the renewal of the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) for education. It pains me greatly to say this, but I could not vote in favor of the renewal of SPLOST at this time. Not because I don't believe there is a need for classrooms to house students. That need is real. Not even because of what I think about how GCPS builds it's buildings. In fact, GCPS' Facilities Division has a proven track record of building schools on-time and at or below industry-standard costs. The problem, as referenced above, is in the area of technology. At least in my tenure, technology spending was virtually uncontrolled, whatever was requested was ultimately funded. Without, or sometimes in spite of, questions to the contrary. Unlike in the area of school construction, where the free-market determines the cost of a new school, all technology contracts were awarded without any form of free-market competition. While that may or may not be against the law, it does defy common sense.

How, might you ask, is this love for public education? It sounds just like the rhetoric we hear expousing rampant wasteful spending in public education. That's because I am writing in a spirit of tough love. A type of love that those of you who have experienced abuse or been exposed to addiction will likely understand. Left unchecked, abuse of power and privilege hurts everyone, even the innocent among us. I, for one, don't want the abuses of a few to curtail the many great things happening in public education across this country. Exercise a little tough love, and just say no. It will send a strong message to those who have allowed power to blind them to the privileges they have been granted.

With tough love,
Jeff Weiler
Las Vegas, Nevada

Separation of Church & State?: GCPS Donates Tax Money to Pastor's Retirement

2006-11-06T22:17:00.000-05:00

Paragraph VII. Separation of church and state. No money shall ever be taken from the public treasury, directly or indirectly, in aid of any church, sect, cult, or religious denomination or of any sectarian institution.

Questionable Ethics: Retirement Gifts

2006-11-06T21:08:00.000-05:00

Fred Rundle retired from GCPS School Improvement Director in Summer 2004. However, his retirement actually was just to collect his retirement check while still serving in the same job in a part-time capacity. In fact, by the time of his retirement party on Sept. 7, 2004, a new school-year had already begun and Rundle still directly supervised and evaluated at least 1/4th of the principals in the county.

This still did not stop the leaders of GCPS from authorizing a gift fund to be set up for Rundle's retirement celebration. School principals were asked to donate between $100 and $150 (per school) to fund a “celebration” and “provide our friend a gift" for the man who was still their direct supervisor. This request has been provided for you in the image on the left and was copied to Staff in the department of Educational Leadership. However, we found no evidence and heard of no one questioning this request in the Central Office.

The records at the end of this post show that on September 7, 2004 and November 15, 2004, checks in the total amount of $6,397.19 were paid to Fred Rundle from one school’s account. Once again, many of these gifts were asked of principals who were still directly supervised by Rundle. In addition, this gift was not reported by school officials to the IRS.

Not only is this questionable ethically, audits of a number of schools’ accounts showed that the donations that most schools made were not from personal funds (i.e.; the principals’ or other employees’ accounts) but from the various schools’ school activity funds (moneys raised from students, parents, and others). We know of no justification, either within GCPS policy or State law, for paying gifts to employees from public funds.

We know that CFO Jeff Weiler made Superintendent Alvin Wilbanks aware of these transgressions during an annual school audit. Wilbanks agreed that this was questionable but did not direct any response. Subsequently, the Internal Audit Director (Keith Knight) questioned this with Mr. Wilbanks and others in the central office and received no support to take any form of action. We also have not seen any evidence that this gift has been reported to the IRS, though we know both Weiler and Knight brought the information to the Payroll Director as well.

Please Spread the Word

2006-11-03T14:36:00.000-05:00

Do your part to help spread the word to other Gwinnett citizens. E-mail a link to this site to friends and co-workers. Paste a link on relevant message boards. We appreciate all of your help.

If you have any questions, comments or information that you would like to share with us, please let us know: gwinnett2@mail.com

SPLOST II Review: PeopleSoft Project

2006-11-03T14:17:00.000-05:00

The cost analysis below shows the original 5-year budget for the district's PeopleSoft implementation. The original cost estimate presented to the public when SPLOST II was on the ballot was $27,648,683. This estimate was supposed to cover the entire implementation.

Unfortunately, the budgets from the past five fiscal years show that spending on the Peoplesoft project was $49,355,164 - $21,706,481 more than originally estimated! Not only that, the district has not even implemented all of functionality envisioned in the original plan.

This is made even more horrendous by the fact that GCPS has continued to work exclusively with only one company, IBM, in the implementation process and continues to write checks - even as the total charges near $22 million more than IBM's original estimate.

Wilbanks assures us all that the numbers will all work out with the new SPLOST program and help to pull GCPS out of debt. How can we be sure when costs are grossly underestimated in previous proposals? Can we really trust these leaders to spend our tax money efficiently?

Memo from CFO to Alvin Wilbanks about Excessive Tech Spending

2006-11-03T13:49:00.000-05:00

Jeff Weiler served as GCPS's CFO from 2000 to August of this year to take a job with Clark County Schools in Nevada (the nation's 6th largest school district). However, based on the documents our friend found (see below) he had grave concerns about the excessive technology spending planned by the district.

In a note that he wrote on June 28th, Mr. Weiler noted that the technology budget was 252% greater for the upcoming SPLOST III propsal than it was for the 5-year budget from SPLOST II. Meanwhile, the facilities budget only increased 87 percent.

Weiler recommended the following actions to Alvin Wilbanks:

Stop any future PeopleSoft implementation that is not already funded until the system can find a more affordable way to implement them. These actions were not taken because
Changing the county's policy of replacing computers every four years to six years.
Review the upcoming 5-year plan and challenge program leaders to find ways to cut back spending while still getting the same results.
Dividing up responsibility of developing the 5-year plan among more people, rather than allowing a select few who have cozy relationships with certain vendors to plan everything.

Sadly, none of these recommendations were ever considered.

Defrauding the State Retirement System

2006-11-03T00:36:00.000-05:00

Emmett Lawson served as the Associate Superintendent of GCPS until he retired from the position on June 30, 2002 in order to start receiving his retirement benefits from the Teachers Retirement System of Georgia. However, he decided to return to work in 2004 after the legislature passed HB-366, which allowed for retired teachers & administrators to return to work and receive a full salary without interfering with their retirement payments.

Lawson returned to work in April 2004 even though the law did not take effect until July 1st. Not only did he start collecting an additional paycheck 2 months before the law allowed, he did so at the same position that he retired from, Associate Superintendent-also a clear violation of the law (listed below).

SECTION 1.
(b)(1) A local school system may employ a retired teacher as a full-time classroom teacher, principal, superintendent, counselor, or librarian and such person shall be subject to the provisions of subsection (c) of this Code section; provided, however, that a member who retired as a principal may not be employed as a principal in the same school in which he or she was so employed prior to his or her retirement, and a member who retired as a school superintendent may not be employed as a school superintendent by the same school system in which such person was so employed prior to his or her retirement.

SECTION 2.
This Act shall become effective on July 1, 2004

This payroll authorization form from April 2004 shows that Alvin Wilbanks and Frances Davis authorized Lawson's full-time status to begin that month. Lawson was given a monthly pay rate of $11,666.66 (equivalent of a $140,000 annual salary) and the title of "Associate Superintendent School Imp." Wilbanks and Davis were clearly in violation of Georgia law.

The July payroll authorization form shows that Lawson was officially returned to his title of "Associate Supt." replacing Dr. Don Fielder. On August 2nd, Wilbanks made Lawson a contracted employee and increased his salary to $156,000 a year.

On September 24, 2004, Alvin Wilbanks and Frances Davis signed a Payroll Authorization form assigning Mr. Lawson as “Principal, GIVE Center” with an annual salary of $156,000. Not only was there already a principal in place at the GIVE Center, Mr. Lawson continued to serve in the role of Associate Superintendent. In fact, we were able to find multiple references to Lawson as an associate superintendent following his 'reassignment' (listed at end of blog entry).

Wilbanks and Davis made the change on the payroll authorization form in response to an inquiry from the Teachers Retirement System about Lawson's position. They intentionally lied on the form in order to fraud the TRS laws and allow Lawson to receive retirement payments in addition to his salary. Proof of the inquiry can be seen in this memo.

On April 19, 2005, TRS sent a letter to GCPS’s Retirement Director asking for further explanation of the “salary discrepancy” that was uncovered during an audit by the State Department of Audits. The letter questioned Mr. Lawson’s employment as Principal, when the GCPS website listed him as “Associate Superintendent of School Improvement.”

On April 28, 2005, Frances Davis signed a memo in response to the aforementioned query from TRS. In it, she again asserted (lied) that Mr. Lawson was serving as “Principal.”

We questioned Wilbanks about this assignment, along with many others (Directors of Payroll and Retirement as well as the CFO). Subsequently, Mr. Lawson’s title was changed to “Chief School Improvement Specialist,” a job title that had never before existed at GCPS. Further, there are no “School Improvement Specialist” positions at GCPS. This change was made because it provided a loophole to the law by not listing Lawson as a "superintendent."

This is a blatant example of Alvin Wilbanks and Frances Davis defrauding the state government. Sadly it is just another example of the leaders of GCPS lying and deceiving to provide financial benefits to their friends.

Take a look at the technology numbers presented below and how this situation was handled. Is there any doubt that the numbers they are presenting for the upcoming SPLOST are trumped up to their benefit? It is time to demand answers.

Emmett Lawson as Superintendent after October 2005
11/12/04 - Gwinnett Daily
2/25/05 - GCPS Education Briefs
4/17/05 - The Gwinnett Daily Post
5/10/05 - GCPS Education Briefs
9/9/05 - The Gwinnett Daily Post
11/11/05 - The Gwinnett Daily Post

Conflict of Interest: GCPS gives 100k+ Consulting Contracts to GA Board of Ed Member

2006-11-02T22:31:00.000-05:00

Jose Perez was appointed to the State Board of Education by Governor Perdue on April 12, 2004. The state BOE sets education policy and judges legal appeals that are not resolved at the local (School Board) level.

Just 13 months after Perez was appointed to the board, GCPS Superintendent Alvin Wilbanks initiated a consulting deal with Target Market Trends, whose president and sole-proprieter is Jose Perez. This 1-year contract was in the amount of $150,000 to work on Phase III of the district's Hispanic Outreach Initiative. We neither know of nor have found any documentation of TMT working on previous phases of the Hispanic Outreach (prior to Perez being appointed to the BOE).

As the schedule shows, the contract was to provide recruitment strategies for Hispanic teachers and administrators, support the development of the GCPS foundation, improve performance among Latino students and develop Latino awareness courses for current employees. No itemized billing for professional services was required.

Interestingly enough, the contract also allowed for at least one trip for Perez and two GCPS employees to Puerto Rico that totalled more than $2,400 that was covered by additional taxpayer dollars. (Note: One GCPS employees was Human Resource Director Frances Davis, who will appear in multiple future blog entries).

During the time of this contract, The record will show that the state Board acted on at least several appeals relating to employment termination disputes raised by now-former GCPS employees. This is a clear conflict of interest. However, it does make life a lot simpler for Wilbanks and those pulling the strings within GCPS each time they immediately terminate any district employee who dares to question or look into other questionable spending practices by the school system.

To further the audacity, Wilbanks and Perez signed another 2-year deal on June 6th to continue the consulting payments to Perez. The contract dictats that Perez and TMT will receive $100,000 a year to provide “Hispanic outreach,” “NCLB reauthorization, including Monthly DC interaction,” “support GCPS Professional development and Foundation efforts,” and “provide support for the Georgia Legislature and the PSC.”

Not only is this new contract a clear conflict of interest, it obligates GCPS to a 2-year contract with no provision for non-appropriation by the School Board. Why? Because Alvin Wilbanks believes that no one has the right to question his authority or decisions.

How Much Does it Cost to Install a PC?

2006-10-31T20:43:00.000-05:00

Would you believe it can cost over $600 to install a single computer or printer? That doesn't even include the cost of the computer or printer. Another way your sales tax dollars are at work.

Specialized Testing Services?

2006-10-31T20:27:00.000-05:00

What would you get for $2.4 million in the way of specialized testing services? For that matter, what are specialized testing services? At typical hourly billing rates for consultants, this $2.4 million in consulting services would pay 5.8 consultants for the entire 1-year term of this contract.

This project was funded from SPLOST, your sales tax dollars at work.

From Deep Inside, The Secrets of SPLOST

2006-10-28T11:24:00.000-05:00

I know someone, deep within Gwinnett County Schools, who knows of things that need to see the light of day. This person is sickened by what they see and knows of others who have left or been run off while trying to expose the truth.

And please, please, please, take this into account before voting for SPLOST. SPLOST is a great thing, something that funds new schools, additions, renovations, and other capital improvements. However, as with any priviledge, it has the potential for abuse if left unchecked. In Gwinnett's case, the abuse is in expenditures for technology.

Don't take our word for it, let the facts talk...

Are you aware that GCPS spends anywhere from $25 to $50 million every year with IBM?
Are you aware that these expenditures don't even include the cost of purchasing computers, servers, and printers?
Did you know that all of these expenditures are being made without any public bidding?
Would you believe that GCPS has spent over $49 million to implement their PeopleSoft system, and that they aren't even thru yet?
What if someone told you it cost over $40 million to retrofit all high schools with new computers and upgraded networks?
Are you aware that a number of GCPS employees were run-off for questioning these facts?

If you don't believe us, ask for yourself. You have a right to know, whether you are a citizen, student, parent, or concerned friend of Gwinnett County. This won't end on it's own, voice your opinon with your questions and votes, before the abuses of a few taint public education for all.