Can We Have More Please?

Now that our fearless leader has deigned to comment on a few issues up in the comments section ( http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/news/article/26976/ ) perhaps we can get some feedback on a few others?

I would love to clear these up, and I would think the Board and Mr. Schofield would too!

The Hall County School Administration has been criticized for several issues in the recent past. They have not been forthcoming with explanations or answers. It seems the State Auditors over the past two audits have found a few issues to be at least a bit concerned about also. Below are portions from two supplemental letters from the Hall County School System’s past two audits (2007 and 2008). Pretty much supports much of what has been said by bloggers critical of the county school system.

The use of SPLOST money to fund the Johnson High School meeting/dressing facility and the East Hall High Sports Complex not being in compliance with State law noted in the February 2008 letter is also very interesting. Maybe the local news could look into that for us? Is that improper use of our tax money? Were the mentioned reimbursements ever made? Were they allowable? Could having to pay that back or reconcile it have contributed to some of our budget shortfall and job losses and pay cuts across the system?

These documents are public records and are available upon request from the Department of Audits and Accounts.

Excerpts from a letter dated March 30, 2009 to Members of the State Board of Education and Superintendent and Members of the Hall County Board of Education
from THE DEPARTMENT OF AUDIT AND ACCOUNTS AT 270 WASHINGTON STREET, S.W., SUITE 1-156 ATLANTA, GEORGIA 30334-8400

“Delinquent Property Tax Accrual

An audit adjustment to Taxes Receivable on the Statement of Net Assets was proposed and accepted by the School District to properly record delinquent ad valorem taxes receivable at June 30, 2008, as confirmed to the auditors by the Hall County Tax Commissioner. In preparation of its financial statements, the School District relied on incomplete information provided by the Tax Commissioner’s office to estimate the value of the delinquent tax that varied from the amount confirmed to the auditors. In the future, after preparation of its financial statements, the School District should consider performing an analytical comparison of the financial statements to the prior year audited information.

Undocumented Employee Compensation and Incorrect Job Codes

Our examination of employee compensation disclosed that one employee was paid travel as part of their compensation package without being included as part of their contract or being approved in the Board minutes through Board resolution. When this was brought to the Board’s attention the Board signed an affidavit supporting the payment of travel to this employee.

Also during our examination, instances were noted where employees had incorrect job code classifications in the Salary and Travel report submitted to the Department of Audits and Accounts.

We recommend that all compensation paid to employees be supported by an employee contract or a formal Board resolution that is included in the minutes of the Board. Also, management should review the job codes assigned to employees to ensure they are reported correctly.”

Excerpts from a letter dated February 26, 2008 to Members of the State Board of Education and Superintendent and Members of the Hall County Board of Education
from THE DEPARTMENT OF AUDIT AND ACCOUNTS AT 270 WASHINGTON STREET, S.W., SUITE 1-156 ATLANTA, GEORGIA 30334-8400

“Internal Control Process Documentation

As a result of our audit, we found a lack of formal documentation related to management’s internal control processes and procedures, risk assessments, and monitoring of key controls over significant processes identified by management. Management should formalize their documentation and monitoring of key controls over significant accounts, processes, decentralized operations, and financial statement disclosures that will be relied upon to ensure that Hall County Board of Education’s financial statements are fairly presented.

Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) Expenditures

As a result of our review of construction activity during our audit, we found that the Hall County Board of Education funded the construction of two athletic facilities with SPLOST proceeds. The facilities constructed included the Johnson High School meeting/dressing facility and the East Hall High Sports Complex which is owned in part by the Hall County Parks and Recreation Department. The sports complex includes a baseball and soccer field, a track, concession stands, storage, etc. Expenditures of SPLOST funds for athletic facilities appear to be in conflict with State laws regarding the imposition and use of SPLOST funds when you consider that Paragraph IV, Section VI, Article VIII of the Constitution of the State of Georgia provides that SPLOST proceeds may be expended on “capital outlay projects for educational purposes” and the Attorney General has ruled in Official Opinion 97-7 that facilities used primarily for athletic competition do not meet the definition of educational facilities.

We recommend that the Board contact legal counsel and research this issue to determine if expenditures incurred for the athletic facilities in question are in accordance with requirements of the SPLOST referendum or allowable under State law. In addition, a determination should be made regarding reimbursement to the SPLOST project for any expenditures that were not an appropriate use of SPLOST funds.

In the normal course of the audit process, the auditor is only required to obtain an understanding of internal control sufficient to plan the audit. This, however, does not imply that the auditor must perform any type of test or other verification of the effectiveness of the internal control system. As such, we strongly recommend that management evaluate the effectiveness of the Board’s system of internal controls. This evaluation should reaffirm management’s responsibility for establishing and maintaining an adequate system of internal controls and financial reporting. Strong and effective internal controls are the responsibility of management and we believe that this practice, conducted on an annual basis, will be of significant benefit in enhancing internal controls and preventing fraud and abuse.”

Regarding the bit under “Undocumented Employee Compensation and Incorrect Job Codes”

Posts here and elsewhere have refered to Raymond Akridge as Will Schofield’s friend, buddy and/or mentor. There is word on the street is that he may be a bit more than that. It has been said that he is actually a relative also. Apparently he may actually be Schofield’s wife’s uncle from what is being said around the system. If this is not the case I hope he will let us know as quickly as possible!

Because if that is true, it might lead one to believe that the 18 to 20 thousand tax dollars paid out in travel money (tax free bonus, whatever anyone wants to call it) as well as the three high ranking, high paying jobs Schofield threw to Akridge without allowing any competition or going through normal protocols and procedures, were all kept in the family. How tidy. It may smell like nepotism more than cronyism. Let’s hope not!

It has also been asked if Akridge was asked or made to pay the money back. The answer apparently is no. The Superintendent and the School Board did not make him pay it back, even after the State Auditors pointed it out. They said it was “a bonus” and allowed him to keep it.

I bet a lot of other folks in this system both would really appreciate, and probably highly deserve, such a fat little bonus (on top of 100 thousand a year some odd salary) from our tax money! Isn’t travel reimbursement tax free?

But only one particular person has received it. Wonder why? If I am mistaken and the Hall County Board has been handing these bonus out as a matter of common practice, someone please let me know.

For a little perspective on how outrageous this really is, think on this: Akridge’s ‘bonus’ travel money for just one of the two years (total of $9767.82 for one year, the previous year he received $8719.45) was the 8th highest paid travel allowance of all the principals in the entire state of Georgia! There were only 7 principals in the entire state that were paid more than him for travel that year And there were only 12 School system superintendents that received more in the entire state. (Figures are taken from http://www.open.georgia.gov/sta/search.aud )

Why?

I still find it very hard to believe that no one involved knew this was directly against State regulations. The Hall County travel form states directly next to the signature lines: ” I do solemnly swear, under penalty provided by law, that the above statements are true and I have incurred the described expenses and mileage in the discharge of my official duties for Hall County Board of Education and the State of Georgia” . Next to the State travel forms signature lines it states: ” “I do solemnly swear, under criminal penalty of a felony for false statements subject to punishment by fine of not more than $1000 or by imprisonment of not less than one nor more than five years, that the above statements are true and I am eligible for the requested per diem for meals, and have incurred the other expenses as described and the state use mileage as reported in the discharge of my official duties for the state.”

State regulations for travel state on page 5.3: Prohibited Mileage Reimbursement:
Employees are not entitled to mileage reimbursement for: travel between their place of residence and their official headquarters, or personal mileage incurred while on travel status.

No where in any state or local policy has it been found that travel money can be used as a bonus in any shape form or fashion, yet our Superintendent and Board sees fit to do so in this one particular case? No one has denied that the large sums of travel were paid on mileage to and from home and work. What is up with that? Why not just give the man a contractual bonus like the rules and policies (and auditors) say? Bizarre.

The Job Codes issue refers to the person listed as a Substitute Teacher making $109,000 a year who is really a Central Office Administrator and a few other ‘mistakes’ of that flavor that have been listed before.

In case you haven’t seen it our Hall County School Superinindent actually addressed a few comments from bloggers over on the Gainesville Times’ website today.

See it here at http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/news/article/26976/

The part that was changed after the first few comments read:

“The Hall County Board of Education is on track to adopt a hybrid schedule next school year that means contracts will not be renewed for an estimated 35 high school teachers. Hall Superintendent Will Schofield estimates the move will annually save the system between $2.5 million and $3 million.”

That became a reporting error really quick .

Graduation Games

Let’s take a closer look at AYP in our high schools. Graduation rates and the graduation tests are the big deal here as mentioned in the article. http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/news/article/21112/
It seems that there is now a practice (last 2 years or so) where the students who may be graduating without an actual diploma, but with a Certificate of Performance, (these students would count against the graduation rate and passing rates for the graduation tests and therefore AYP for the schools) are systematically being transferred to the Lanier Career Academy right before graduation (a matter of days in some cases).

This increases all the other 6 high school’s graduation rates artificially. The Career Academy is small and is never expected to do all that well any way so no biggie on AYP there. In fact on the State AYP site it reads “There are not enough students in this school for the AYP determination to be
statistically reliable, therefore an AYP determination has not been made for this
school.  These students are included in the District and State AYP reports.” in reference to the Career Academy. (http://public.doe.k12.ga.us/ayp2008/overview.asp?SchoolID=669-0105-a-1-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0)

Interesting. Let’s look at some numbers found on the Governor’s Office of  Student Achievement site regarding Hall County students receiving Certificates of Performance over the past few years now (  http://www.doe.k12.ga.us/ReportingFW.aspx?PageReq=111&PID=62&PTID=69&CountyId=669&T=0&FY=2008 )  (look under the Report card tab for each school and then under the “Indicators” tab for information on High School Completers).

Numbers for the 2005-06 school year for the Lanier Career Academy show 12 students graduating with a Certificates of Performance. In 2006-07 The Career Academy had 16 students graduating with a Certificates of Performance. In 2007-08 (the same year Hall County finally made AYP in all High Schools I believe) The Career Academy has a whopping 47 students graduating with a Certificates of Performance. Wow! What is that – something like a 48% increase from 2006-07? HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN?!

Good question. Let’s look at the other 6 High Schools now.

If you look at the 6 combined (excluding the Career Academy) in 2005-06 they had 97 students graduating with a Certificates of Performance. In 2006-07 the 6 reported 91 students graduating with a Certificates of Performance. In 2007-08 they reported 28, about a 48% decrease from the year before. Oh I see now. Tricky tricky!! It seems like they are transferring the kids that will hurt their scores to the Career Academy between the taking of the Graduation tests and actual graduation. Neat trick! Really helps to make that pass on AYP.

So in 2006-07 the Career Academy had 16 students out of the Hall County District’s 107 students receiving a Certificate of Performance. In 2007-08 The Career Academy had 47 out of the Hall County District’s 75 students receiving a Certificate of Performance. Unreal! Any statisticians out there want to compute those odds?

All schools were fairly consistent in their Certificate of Performance numbers between 2005-06 to 2006-07. However, from 2006-07 to 2007-08, West Hall High went from 17 students graduating with a Certificates of Performance down to 0. Johnson High went from 23 to 8. North Hall High stayed at 8 for both years (not going to pull that up there I guess). Chestatee High went from 17 to 2. Flowery Branch High went from 12 to 10 (after being at 19 the year prior) and East Hall High went from 14 to 0.

Haven’t looked at the numbers for 2008-09 yet, but I will bet quite a bit that they are low again at the 6 high schools and higher at the Career Academy as it seems they did the same thing.

Have to wonder how ethical this is? Is it cheating? Is it fraud?  You be the judge.

Also have to wonder if a disproportionate number of these students are economically disadvantaged, special needs or of a certain minority status.

And these folks want more freedom from oversight and rules. I guess so!

I also have to throw this in: A couple of articles this past week have reported that AYP and test scores are not the name of the game and are the wrong focus for the current Hall County School Superintendent and administration. Then why is the Superintendent currently at a conference on Jekyll Island this week presenting on better ways to hold teachers accountable based solely on CRCT scores?

Just curious.

Hall County Horror

And we’re back! Lawyery stuff was just request for information (not from any organization), so no big deal after all for this site.

I am in awe.

In awe regarding how spectacularly badly this entire situation with the Hall County teacher ‘layoffs’ has been handled. First there have been several years of reckless spending – remember how this past budget was “the largest passed in Hall County School System history”?  I mean, how many expensive programs does one system need to try to enact in a two year period anyway…and those things aren’t cheap.   And did we really need a combination high school/middle school??  Apparently we didn’t, since we’re not using it for that now?  Reckless payment of travel supplements and moving expenses for friends and cronies coming from their old systems has contributed to the mess.  How can you defend paying that kind of money to your friends from other areas and then turning around and taking someone’s entire livlihood away from them?  One of the defenses that has been thrown out is that we are not top heavy in central office.  Yet, suddenly we can afford to cut 9 positions from the central office level?   Which one is it?? Are these all people from “Central Office South?”  What district this size has two central office buildings and all of the associated costs with running them anyway?   They will tell you that no one saw this economic downshift coming, but that isn’t entirely true.  Bloggers on the Times site were talking about it over a year ago before the last budget was passed.  It’s true, that a lot of these so called “lay offs” could not have been  avoided, but it could have been a lot less painful for a lot of people if we didn’t have such a bunch of know it all, self-serving types running the school system now.

Someone somewhere else pointed out that this should have been handled as a RIF (Reduction in Force) because honestly that is what it is.  However, the people running the district have apparently decided that they wanted to do this a different way by picking on the people with the least legal recourse.  Is the way they have done this legal?  Perhaps.  It is right and honorable?  No.   If this had been done as a reduction in force they would have been REQUIRED to hire the people that were let go back as the situation improves.  The way they have chosen to handle this puts them under no obligation to hire anyone involved back at any time.  If you believe the rumored line they are giving people “if you resign, we will hire you back” then I have a bridge and some swamp land I’d like to try to sell you.

Another problem for all of you who have been let go is your superintendent has labeled you all as “ineffective” in a public forum.  It seems, as others have pointed out, that by resigning you are admitting this.  What data was used to make the determination that you are “ineffective?”  Are you on a PDP?  Do you have NIs on your evaluations?  Have all of your evaluations even been completed?  Do you have letters of reprimand?  Are your test scores lower than those of your peers?  I’m betting in the majority of these cases, the answer is no.  You are simply being screwed over in order to expedite this process for the folks at central office.  It’s unfair, because there are tenured teachers who may be less effective than you, who should probably be let go, but administrators by and large don’t do the work necessary to get rid of an ineffective tenured teacher.

Here’s a little something you might not realize.  My understanding is anyone who is non-renewed has a right to request in writing from the Superintendent the reasons for the non-renewal.  They will also tell you that you have no right to a hearing in front of the board.  This is not entirely true.  While you do not have an automatic right to a hearing as if you were tenured, a good lawyer should know how to force a hearing. You lose this right if you resign.

I urge you to do extensive research before signing anything or accepting what you are told at face value.  They are counting on your ignorance! They are capitalizing on the fact that you are upset and scared. Check to see if resigning makes you ineligible for unemployment benefits.  Call the labor department and ask.  Resigning really doesn’t do you any good because most employment applications now ask if you resigned in lieu of non-renewal, and if you lie on an application you can lose your certificate.  Go as soon as possible and ask for a copy of your personnel file from your principal and the one kept at Central Office.  You will want that to help dispute the fact that you have been labeled as an ineffective teacher by Hall County.  Remember, if you were truly ineffective, there should be documentation and you should have been fired.

No doubt we will hear plenty of excuses from 711 Green as well as the normal ad hominen drivel, but you all need to be very sure of where you stand  before going along with anything they say.

Good luck to everyone negatively impacted by this.  Please feel free to share your stories here.

What a great example of character and competency for our children.

Stay Concerned

Well, it seems someone has gone and got all lawyery.

As much as I hate to do it I am turning the site off at this point while I figure out where things stand legally.  The purpose of this was to help create some transparency in our county school system and to promote dialogue and discussion. Unfortunately that has been strongly resisted by many at 711 Green and others but we gave it a shot. Thanks to everyone who has posted and supported the effort.

I apologize for any discomfort this dialogue may have caused certain individuals. This was not the intent whatsoever.

Remember:  Question and find out about your rights. Don’t just take their word for everything! If there is nothing to hide then your questions shouldn’t be met with resistance, disparagement, or dismissal.  They work for you and for all the taxpayers, no matter what they may believe or how they may act.

This is a great school system in many ways. There are wonderful teachers and kids and parents in this county and system, I see them every day.  We just deserve better than what we currently have in many ways . I’m afraid things will get worse before they get better due to some poor decision making and priorities and only everyone together can change things for the better.

Stay tuned, this may be back when you least expect it.

Stay Concerned!

Open Records Oops!

All this information is from public records found at www.open.georgia.gov .

I guess taking some flak for having too many central office people leads our current school system leadership to simply change titles when self reporting to the state and the public which they supposedly serve and then crowing about how they really haven’t grown positions (just buildings and office space).

Apologies to the people listed. I’m pretty sure they didn’t misrepresent/mislabel their own positions. They aren’t the ones responsible for reporting their titles to the state.

Hall County School Year 2008 information.

Just a quick look through.

I’m sure these are all fine people who earn every penny but they ARE central office based and many serve in administrative roles. This is all public record.

Sally Krisel at 98K, Gerald Boyd at 90K and Sandra Perry at 102K – all listed as “Instructional Supervisors” just like the school level instructional coaches. (actual or formal titles of their positions are Assistant Director of Teaching and Learning/Rigor Specialist, Competency Specialist, and Coordinator of ESOL respectively)

Sandra Edwards – IS Personnel at 113K (Hall County IB Coordinator)
David Robles – IS Personnel at 94K ( Instructional Technology Coordinator)
Cindy Tu – School Secretary at 58K (Assistant Coordinator of ESOL)
Delane Melton – IS Personnel at 79K (Chief Technology Officer)
Carrie Woodcock – Director of Curriculum – 40K (4 Curriculum Directors now? Must bring the salary average of the curriculum directors down or something)
Nancy Fields – Other Instructional at 62K (almost 7K in travel) (Singapore Math Coordinator?)
Crandall Autry – Principal at 48K (he was at CO last year in a half time retirement job, not a school)

And the capper!
Aaron Turpin – SUBSTITUTE TEACHER at over 109K! (and over 5K in travel) (Actually a former principal and promoted to Executive Director of Information Technology)

What is that? Close to 1 million bucks in just salaries without adding benefits?

Kind of a big oversight there.

And oh yeah, in case you missed it – We also paid the super’s good principal buddy another $9,700.00 plus to drive back and forth from work and his home last year.

Even though it is against state regulations and a huge waste of taxpayer money. (See prior post for links to regulations – the travel can be found on www.open.georgia.gov ).

You make the call.

With Sugar on Top?

Can someone please explain how this is ok?

I suppose this should just be let go but it keeps coming up.

The regulations for travel in the State of Georgia put out by the State Accounting Office directly and clearly say:

“Prohibited Mileage Reimbursement

Employees are not entitled to mileage reimbursement for:

• travel between their place of residence and their official headquarters, or

• personal mileage incurred while on travel status.”

This is on page 5.3 of this publication:

STATE OF GEORGIA

STATEWIDE TRAVEL REGULATIONS

ISSUED BY:

STATE ACCOUNTING OFFICE

AND

OFFICE OF PLANNING AND BUDGET

Which can be found at: http://sao.georgia.gov/00/channel_createdate/0,2095,39779022_65773523,00.html

By clicking on the link “Statewide Travel Regulations” at the bottom of the page : http://sao.georgia.gov/vgn/images/portal/cit_1210/7/40/65786241SAO%20Travel%20Regulations%20effective%20April%201%202008.pdf

The friend and mentor of our school superintendent who is the principal at Sugar Hill Elementary (well documented elsewhere) received $8,719.45 in travel money through Hall County Schools to drive to and from work (his headquarters) during school year 2006-2007. No other employee of the system has a travel supplement anywhere near this amount.

This can be found at The Department of Audits and Accounts website: https://www.audits.state.ga.us/esa/search.aud by clicking on the link that says ‘Salary and Travel Supplement’.

On the next page click on the bar that says ‘I understand. Proceed to the Salary and Travel Supplement’

On the next page select ‘Local Boards of Education’ and then select Hall County Board of Education under the Select an Organization: heading. Select Principal under the Select a Title/Position: heading. Click on ‘Submit’. The third one down shows the travel supplement for this person.

When this first came up several months ago an email from a member of the Hall County Board of Education I received said “… lived in Oconee County and did not want to sell his house and move just for a year, so we supplemented for “some” of his travel to and from Hall County. This is his last year.”

He was referring to the current principal of Sugar Hill (it wasn’t his last year apparently). The numbers for school year 2007-2008 have not been made public yet, although the date of the email being this year leads one to believe that this person received the same kind of supplement for last school year also.

Now, if the STATE ACCOUNTING OFFICE AND OFFICE OF PLANNING AND BUDGET says in very plain English that you cannot grant “mileage reimbursement for travel between their place of residence and their official headquarters, then how is this not an issue??!! How is it not a violation???

If this had been, for example, Gainesville City (or most other systems in the area or the tax assessor’s office or the clerk of courts office, etc for that matter) and that system’s (past) Superintendent and Board it would have been splashed on every news outlet in town and people would be calling for someone’s resignation or at least restitution for the funds that should not have been used in this way! Especially in light of the budget cuts and looming money issues and personnel cuts being faced all over the State. It seems to me that this sort of wasteful practice is a perfect example why this State has such a budget shortfall. Is this what we accept from our public officials?

Someone please explain how this is right in any way.

Pretty Please….

Singapore Sling

Those wascally wabbits are at it again!

And on the heels of the friend and mentor who is the president of this company getting snuck in the back door as principal over at Sugar Hill (again). Wonder how much Hall County is supplementing him with travel again this time?

You Hall County teachers may not be getting paid for the summer Singapore Math training but it sure looks like someone is!

Anyone remember AIW training year before last? Same outfit.

Good to be the king (or at least the friend and mentor to the emperor).

I’ll let you all draw your own conclusions.

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