Word from PUSD insiders is that Superintendent Dr. Jack Erb is planning to break yet another committment to PUSD by quitting. This may happen as soon as June 26 with a "surprise" announcement at the board meeting that night. I guess it won't be such a surprise now, will it?
We shouldn't be too shocked, however, we should be relieved.
He has been doing his best to undermine the board now that he can't "keep them in their place" and get the votes he wants. Whether it is stonewalling selected members' requests for information, foot-dragging on requested agenda items or allowing the closed-campus "protests" to get out-of-hand, Erb has done everything he can to get back the near-monopoly control he used to have, to no avail. He has been known to viciously bad-mouth certain board members to teachers and administrators, even before some of them were sworn in.
We will be better off once we finally have a superintendent who doesn't govern by fear and intimidation. All but his "buddies" are afraid to ever express any contrary opinion for fear of retaliation, including possibly losing their jobs. I've gotten emails from some of them myself. Many PUSD employees privately look forward to the day this climate of fear ends.
We also deperately need a superintendent who understands financial responsibility. Erb, with the knowing (or maybe just incompetent) complicity of the past few boards, has made a complete mess of PUSD finances.
He created vast numbers of new positions and hired so many new employees, especially administrators (including a many at the DAC), it was a virtual certainty that there would barely be enough money to keep them all, much less give decent raises (unless you were one of his DAC "buddies"). That's why they did the early retirement buyouts a few years ago, to get rid of the experienced teachers who had higher salaries. It bought him time so that the real crisis would happen on someone else's watch and he could escape the blame. With him at the helm, it has been about carreer-making for adults, not doing the best to educate our kids.
We have seen some pretty good "spin" lately about an Auditor General's report that says PUSD administrative costs are below the state average. Great, we're average! But we used to be the BEST! The other half of the truth is that compared to our own past history, we are doing worse, not better in this area. But you won't hear the defenders of the status quo talk about that!
Then there is the Challenger fiasco. Erb and Debra Raeder were primarily responsible for costing PUSD approximately $1 million that is unlikely to ever be repaid. Did you know they were both on the Challenger board of directors (in addition to their PUSD responsibilities) when the majority of the debt was incurred? Most people don't, and that's the way they want it. What was that saying about not being able to serve two masters? When they claim they "didn't know" the extent of the debt, their dual roles show that claim to be either a lie or an admission of incompetence, take your pick. In addition, there are still rumblings that some of what was done when PUSD was paying salaries of Challenger employees was flatly illegal. A separate post in the next day or so will provide more specifics, including a detailed timeline.
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4 comments:
"Truthteller",
If you speak the truth you should remember to keep your opinion of Jack Erb out of it. Dr. Erb is not the fear inducing dictator you portray him in this post. He is one of the most approachable administrators I have ever worked with or for in PUSD. Dr. Erb is and has always been about what is best for PUSD and the students. His children were educated in PUSD, he and his wife taught and still work in PUSD. Dr. Erb's motivation has never been anything other than to move PUSD forward.
I suspect Dr. Erb couldn't be manipulated by you and your fellow board members. Your intense dislike of him is very obvious. If you are being "honest" keep your personal feelings out of your posts. Right now you sound like a person out to get revenge.
Erb's propensity to govern by fear isn't "my" opinion. I have been told about numerous examples of retribution (or threats of such)and intimidation when the "company line" is not adhered to. Unfortunately, all of the personal stories that have been shared with me thus far have been shared on the condition of confidentiality, as they all are afraid of additional consequences. One teacher is currently considering whether to allow at least some details of his/her story to be posted. I sincerely hope the answer will be "yes."
My, this is nasty personal attack, and one without an ounce of proof behind it, and riddled with errors.
By every measure the Peoria School District approved under Erb's leadership. And read the auditor general's report again: the Peoria district isn't average, it's ABOVE average. Kind of make you wonder if you've even read the report.
And you're wrong about Challenger, too. The debt was piled up while Sherry Lammers and Paul Kohler were in charge, and because Diane McCarthy gave Sandi Hicks, Paula Cohen and everyone else at the Challenger HUGE raises. All of that happened BEFORE Erb was superintendent.
Joker, your credibility is shot.
Sigh. Since my name was specifically mentioned, surrounded by false information, I'll respond.
I could address so much, but I'll attempt to be relatively brief. And TT, please correct me if I've got my dates wrong, but I'm pretty sure they're correct.
The beginning: It's quite true that Koehler was superintendent when the Center was started, signed for and initially being built. However, he left PUSD to go to WestEd in January 2000 (pretty darn sure of that date, but, as I said, correct me TT, if I'm wrong). However, he stayed on the CLC Board. This was also about the time that Diane McCarthy came on the CLC board; she was president of WESTMARC. The CLC opened in the summer of 2000.
Sherie Lammers was on the CLC Board from 1996 through at least 2001, while a PUSD Board member as well. She was on the PUSD Board thru 2002 if memory serves me correctly. She also was the CLC bookkeeper after Jan Wilson left that position due to issues she had with the way the accounts were being handled and reported, or not reported, as the case may be (my interpretation, not her words).
The middle: Monte Littell became PUSD superintendent in mid 2000 thru mid 2002 (Dr. Kellis served as interim after Koehler left in January 2000 until Littell came on and then Littell, as PUSD Superintendent, served on the CLC Board for a short time.
I believe Erb was appointed Deputy Super. in Sept 2001, then became the "real" superintendent in 2002 and both he and Raeder came onto the CLC Board.
I personally started working at CLC in 2001 for the grand salary of something like $30K/year, for a job that was at least a 60-hour a week job, 12 months a year, far less than a starting teacher makes/made. All the CLC employees worked very, very hard to try to make the Center successful. We were also repeatedly told that "the money" was being paid back to PUSD on a regular basis and that all was well, everyone was happy with the arrangement. These were believable statements at the time because of the PUSD representation on the CLC Board.
I left CLC in 2004 when it became quite glaringly apparent that everything that was rumored about the debt growing astronomically and not being paid back was true(again, which was quite contrary to what employees were repeatedly told).
The end: There's so much more to this story, but what I wanted to point out is that contrary to what "Sarah" says:
(1) Most of the debt was piled up, as she puts it, while on the watch of Erb and Raeder, as PUSD representatives on the CLC board.
(2) Sandi Hicks did indeed receive HUGE raises and bonuses, going from around $70/75K a year to around $150K a year. However, I personally never made more than around $32K/annually at the CLC. As far as I know, except for Hicks, none of the employees there made "huge" salaries, in fact, nothing remotely close to it.
(3) Good, bad or indifferent, the fact is that most of the debt happened while Erb was superintendent and both he and Raeder were on the CLC Board.
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