Saturday, September 22, 2012

Legalus Pissing Contestus



My Latin is rusty, but I believe the above phrase describes exactly what we are now witnessing in the case of Johnson vs. Sandwich School Committee, Marshall, Crossman, Kangas and Linehan.

While most of the general public has moved on to iPads, STEM, and other pressing issues (soccer, Pop Warner, and North Face jackets), the Johnson case continues to wind its way slowly through the justice system.  The most recent report is that the "Discovery" phase of the case is expected to run through March 15 of next year.  So far, the State Appeals Court & the State Supreme Court have "discovered" that there was a valid contract and that nobody made a proper effort to void it.  

I'm not sure what's left ..... other than running up the legal bills and continuing to delay accepting responsibility for the "real" decision -- who wants to be in the room when its time to approve a settlement?  

Without talking to anybody, if I was a fly on the wall, this is what I bet i would hear:


From the School Committee:  "We have no money.  She's a Town employee, the BOS needs to fund a settlement."

From the BOS:   "The School Committee caused this when they didn't bother going to court to void the contract.  We warned them they were being irresponsible, but they did it anyway.  We know that two of the four culprits aren't on the Committee anymore -- but, Screw them!"

From FinCom: "The Schools would have had the money to settle this lawsuit if they hadn't gone on their year-end shopping spree.  We like the Superintendent, but he left his Committee hanging in the breeze with their pants down on this issue.  The Committee should have discussed year-end spending including a litigation reserve -- not just allow this hot potato to get dumped back on the Town."

From Kangas:  "We need to stop kids from leaving the District, regardless of what it costs ... What?  That wasn't what you asked? Oh, What was the question again?"

From Crossman:  "We were thinking about maybe having a meeting to talk about forming a subcommittee to maybe have a fundraiser for the pool maybe, um, someday ......."

From 93% of the Electorate:  "When does soccer practice start?"

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Agreed, its a basic question of fairness. They trashed Dr. Johnson's reputation and (at least from what the last two courts have said) threw her out even though she had a contract.

She sued because they ended her career.

And, unfortunately, we will soon all be forced to pay. Will the Town be able to recover anything from the 4 SC members' own insurance?

What about their lawyer -- he supposedly knew about the continued meeting, and the 21 day rule, but apparently overlooked bthjjnsurance

Anonymous said...

Maybe Crossman's fundraiser can include a bake sale and we can overturn the ban on cupcakes in the classroom?

The Truth Maker said...

The Truth Maker would hope that all four conflicted souls whom brought this about will be part of the questions and answers when this all goes to court. It should be important that others see what has transpired and that it should not have happened.
In the end this will become a text book case for a future lesson on not how to conduct ones self under the umbrella of childrens educational needs, in an attempt to discredit the truth of what was being spoken.

Anonymous said...

Please show me where they have trashed her. This blog has published comments about the fact they have not given any reasons as to why they didn't renew her contract. She ended her career buy suing.

Anonymous said...

"she ended her career by suing" ?

I have been staying out of this electronic mudslinging contest -- but are you a moron?

You don't think the damage was done when 2 new Committee Members with absolutely no experience or education decided to join in with two incumbents with axes to grind to attempt to overturn a prior committee's contract?

Or maybe when they banned her from her own District over trumped up employee bullshit ... or when the same employee was then suddenly awarded "employee of the year" for the second consecutive year -- and probably the first time in history?

Should she have just rolled over and let the morons prevent her from continuing to earn a living in the profession she had spent years training for?

The idiots made an expensive mistake this time.

Shouldn't you be concentrating on getting your own name off the lawsuit?

The Truth Maker said...

The Truth Maker would state that unfortunitly those whom decided to put the ball in motion to discredit Dr. Johnson did so at there own peril. Had they not, also used the teachers union in the process, it might not have been as vindictive for Dr> Johnson to overcome. The conflicted,in my opinion, assured that she would be blackballed for some time into the future and that is where the line in the sand gets drawn.

In my opinion, It would have been much better had the conflicted admitted the conflicts, which to this date, have not been addressed and resigned from there position and moved on for the benifit of the whole school district and the future educational quality here in the Sandwich schools.

It is easy to see why they decided to stay on in order to protect a position that was with out merit or logic,

Now we all get to pay for there misgivings, when the final bill is given to our town in the form of a law suit, that could have been prevented, had some soul searching, transparency and truth been on the adgenda.

Anonymous said...

Nobody cares about this and nobody is thinking about this either inside town government or outside it.
In a few months, maybe longer, this will settle for some sum of money (maybe a lot of money) and a few folks will crank and complain and then it will all blow over. Nobody in the schools or town departments will be held accountable. Nobody will change a policy, a procedure or a practice. Nothing will get done and nothing will change. That’s just how it is.

Anonymous said...

you forgot to add one thing from Kangas the moron. "I got nothin." !

Anonymous said...

IF BOB CHOOSES TO PUBLISH ALL MY COMMENTS. YOU ALL ARE NOTIFIED IAM NOT ANY CURRENT OR FORMER SC MEMBER. I WRITE TO GET SOME BALANCE IN THIS BLOG. BOB CHOOSES NOT TO PUBLISH MY COMMENTS FOR BALANCE. HE LIKES THE NEGATIVE BS.

Bob Simmons said...

That's interesting. The term "balanced" never comes to mind when I read your comments.

Your comments are frequently deleted because they are generally pointless, and always undocumented and unverifiable.

"Because She Sucks" is not a good reason for anything. Nor is continually claiming everyone else is lying -- unless you want to provide some specifics.

If you should ever decide to include something specific or verifiable in your comment, or even have the guts to sign your name, you might see more of your rancid ramblings online.