I have to admit, I've been comfortable that there are 4 responsible members on the Committee that actually have the best interests of the kids at heart so I haven't bothered to watch many of the meetings lately. I will admit I have subscribed to the popular sentiment to just ignore the remaining three stooges until the clock runs out on them.
But, as last night was the Superintendent's last meeting, I assumed the Bitches of Eastwick would make one last effort to lend the meeting the gravitas of a midget mud wrestling contest. And, at least in that respect, they did not dissappoint.
During a presentation on changes made in the SPED program, Hands Linnehan continually interupted with her own rambling cacophony of observations/statements/questions. This brought to mind three thoughts -- (1) What the hell has she been doing for the past two years, since she didn't seem to even understand her questions -- let alone the Superintendent's answers. (2) Who cares about her personal "philosophy" ? I would take the side of experienced, certified SPED teachers, and experience, professional, licensed administrators over the opinion of someone whose sole profesional qualification seems to be working in a school library. Finally (3) What's the point -- the Superintendent is leaving next week. Although, if the new Superintendent needs a good library book on Special Education, I'm sure he knows who to call!
Finally, at the end of the 9th inning, Flipper Crossman delivered the coup de grâce when she made a motion asking the Committee to prohibit the Business Manager from paying any expense related to the release of employee social security numbers and that all such expenses should be paid by Dr. Johnson personally.
I have two thoughts here -- First, the District is obligated to protect its employees and should take whatever steps are neccesary to protect the four people whose social security numbers were released. Second, while the District is obligated to protect its employees, I see no reason why they shouldn't attempt to recover that cost from the attorney who improperly released the information.
While the documents were appropriately included in a case file to document potential fraud allegations, they should certainly not have been released by counsel. I would have expected that counsel would have come forward by now, acknowledged his carelessness and removed the issue from the table by offering to reimburse the Town for credit insurance on the four affected employees.
But, he didn't. So this gave Flipper, Hands and Mad Dog Kangas an opportunity to deliver one final beating.
Of course, the reality is the Business Manager has never been authorized to approve ANY invoice for payment -- only the School Committee can approve invoices. So the motion was either just one more meaningless, display of vindictiveness -- or yet one more display of a complete lack of understanding of the School Committee's role in the financial operation of the School District.
Or both.
