Back to the Board Office today...

Following the Money

Freedom of Information

Request #4

Looking at the

Central Office Personnel & Administrator Conferences

at the Stonewall Jackson Resort

for 2008

$10,123.68

Gross Salary Paid to Todd H. Thompson for the Current Fiscal Year:

7/01/2008 thru 11/19/08

He worked 5 days.

Can You Say Head-Fake? AGAIN?

THE BOARD HAS SPOKEN.

They voted 3 - 1 to accept the resignation of

Mr. Todd H. Thompson,

son of Wayne County Board Of Education

Member, Rodney Thompson, D. C.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." George Santayana, from The Life of Reason, Vol. 1: Reason in Common Sense

Once More,

A Note to All Concerned:

Be assured that we remember the past.

One More Definition:

Resignation in Wayne County: means Freedom. Freedom to be hired with no scrutiny, no rules, no boundaries, paid whether you show up or not, paid whether you work or not.

1) Freedom to be re-hired as a teacher. Tomorrow. In a school. In a classroom. Everyday. With kids.

2) Freedom to be hired as an Outside Contractor. For where? Could be Central Office, any school, all schools. With access everywhere, to schools, to everyone's personal information - employees or students, AmberAlert photos, the new lunch-line fingerprint database, social security numbers. Or a Contractor could work from home. There's something that makes you go hmmmm. Who checks their hours? Who knows? Who checks? But they are paid. Someone's signature is on something. Whose signature(s) is it? And payments to Outside Contractors won't be listed in the newspaper. They aren't payroll. Nobody knows who's employed, who approved it, how much they are paid, what they're supposed to be doing, or if they did it.

3) Freedom to be hired as a federally funded Title I "Coach" or "Consultant". Wonderful work if you can get it. For years, we had a few, very good "coaches". They were experienced, wonderful mentors, spent every hour in the schools, in classrooms, with kids, with teachers. We now have more "Coaches" and "Consultants" being hired. Did we actually pay someone $1000 a day? Might be a little champagne on a beer budget there. Even if they're good. And we have made progress on test scores and AYP. Still, there's been at least one that's had attendance issues. For a long time. Paid whether they show up at a school or not? Paid even if they're doing "non-numeracy" things? Might be a good idea to get at least that one off the payroll. And certainly not hire anyone else with "issues" or worse.

The Board Has Spoken.

BUT

THEY HAVE NOT:

- Answered one question.

- Fulfilled their duty to pursue termination of a dangerous employee.

- Acted to protect our children.

- Explained their actions.

They have accepted Mr. Todd Thompson's resignation.

WHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHY

WHY WAS THIS EMPLOYEE ALLOWED TO RESIGN WHEN OTHERS HAVE BEEN TERMINATED?

WHY DOES HE GET TO KEEP HIS TEACHING LICENSE?

HE CAN WALK INTO ANY SCHOOL TOMORROW.

WHY?

TIME TO SEEK ANSWERS.

TIME TO FOLLOW THE MONEY.

P. S. Did anyone see the morning news yesterday regarding the dangers of someone using your photo on the internet?

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4613202n

Time For Answers

Truth and Consequences

If the

Wayne County Board of Education

and the

Wayne County Central Office Administrators

will not do what is right

We Will Know Why

Freedom of Information

The Wayne County Board of Education members have made their choice.

The same choice.

They have chosen again

NOT to act to protect our children.

OVER and OVER.

WHY?

What could possibly justify their long history of inaction on this employee?

Their inaction on the questionable actions of the Superintendent on this and other matters?

Their inaction on the questionable actions of the Asst. Superintendent on this and other matters?

Their inaction on the questionable actions of other Central Office personnel on this and other matters?

WHAT IS GOING ON?

Note to Parents: The Board did discuss SVHS at their last meeting.

Well, SVHS Football. At length.

Board to SVHS: (condensed & paraphrased) 'SVHS football is great. Although my kids go to Wayne to play football, we should all get behind the new coach and support SVHS football.'

SVHS to Board: Thought we were.

Glad to see the Board continues their great tradition of having their priorities in order.

Perhaps they should ask our football players what they think the Board should do about Mr. Todd Thompson.

They certainly don't seem to want to hear what the parents of our football players think they should do about him.

The journey to a much more comprehensive solution begins.

We Have a Response

Friday - November 14, 2008:

Important Note to Parents & SVHS Staff:

Please Do Not Be Misled

- He is Not Gone -

He has not been Suspended

He has not been Terminated

He put pictures of your children on his website

again

THREE WEEKS AGO

He asked your children to "get in touch" with him by email if they

"share some of my interests?" or "just want to start a correspondence?"

again

THREE WEEKS AGO

On 11/13/08 we again requested that all unauthorized photos of students be returned to parents.

Answer - 11/13/08: They have not been secured and have not been returned to the parents

On 11/13/08 we again requested the termination of this individual.

Answer - 11/13/08: He has not been suspended, He has not been terminated

On 11/13/08 we again requested the resignations of those who failed repeatedly to fulfill their duty to protect students and staff at SVHS.

Answer - 11/13/08: Gary Adkins, Superintendent & Mike Rutherford, Assistant Superintendent have not resigned

No Response

is a

Response

Thursday - November 13, 2008:

Busy Day

More Places To Go, More People To See

Meeting Preparation

Important Note to Parents & SVHS Staff:

Please Do Not Be Misled

- He is Not Gone -

He has not been Suspended

He has not been Terminated

He put pictures of your children on his website

again

THREE WEEKS AGO

He asked your children to "get in touch" with him by email if they

"share some of my interests?" or "just want to start a correspondence?"

again

THREE WEEKS AGO

MEETING:

Thursday, November 13, 2008

At SVHS, Auditorium, 6:30 p.m.

We will again request that all unauthorized photos of students be returned to parents.

We will again request the termination of this individual.

We will again request the resignations of those who failed repeatedly to fulfill their duty to protect students and staff at SVHS.

No Response

is a

Response

Wednesday - November 12, 2008:

Busy Day

Meeting Preparation

Important Note to Parents & SVHS Staff:

Please Do Not Be Misled

- He is Not Gone -

He has not been Suspended

He has not been Terminated

He put pictures of your children on his website

again

THREE WEEKS AGO

He asked your children to "get in touch" with him by email if they

"share some of my interests?" or "just want to start a correspondence?"

again

THREE WEEKS AGO

MEETING:

Thursday, November 13, 2008

At SVHS, Auditorium, 6:30 p.m.

We will again request that all unauthorized photos of students be returned to parents.

We will again request the termination of this individual.

We will again request the resignations of those who failed repeatedly to fulfill their duty to protect students and staff at SVHS.

No Response

is a

Response

Tuesday - November 11, 2008:

Busy Day

Places Gone & People Seen

Important Note to Parents & SVHS Staff:

The Board of Education will be at SVHS for a meeting this Thursday, November 13, 2008 at 6:30 to receive reports on school achievement from the LSICs for Buffalo/Ceredo/ Kenova/Kellogg/ Elementary Schools, Buffalo/Ceredo-Kenova/Vinson Middle Schools and Spring Valley High School. This meeting was previously scheduled, long before the Superintendent returned Mr. Thompson to SVHS.

This meeting should be considered, by law, to be an official meeting of the Wayne County Board of Education and regular business should be conducted, including receiving delegations from schools who wish to be heard. Regular business, including personnel matters, was conducted at the most recent WCBOE meeting held October 23, 2008 at Tolsia High School, where the LSICs from several area schools made reports to the Board.

News media will be present at this meeting.

It is important for all concerned parents to be aware that photos of SVHS students were taken, without the knowledge or authorization of administrators or parents, and posted to a private internet site last year, again without authorization, and posted again to a private internet site, again without authorization and with direct insubordination approximately three weeks ago.

The SVHS LSIC requested multiple times the return to parents of all photos of past and present SVHS students in all forms that exist, including prints and any and all digital forms, including those stored on any type of storage media or on hard disk.

The requests were denied. In fact, the Superintendent of Wayne County Schools, Mr. Adkins, stated in May 2008 that all photos had been destroyed. This statement was proved false by the recent re-appearance of several photos which were again posted to the same private internet site, without authorization, during October 2008, by Mr. Todd Thompson.

No Response

is a

Response

Monday - November 10, 2008:

Places to Go & People to See

TICK ...... TICK ......TICK ......

The Clock is Ticking.

The Board Must Act.

TERMINATION.

More Than One.

Relevant 21st Century Technology Integration Tie-Ins:

Current Events, Civics, Journalism, Business Law, Economics, Criminal Justice, Psychology, Drama, Historic Novels

Dangerous Stuff Here.

Geez. Hope I don't need a Juris Doctor.

Monday Night Football - 11/03/08

GOTCHA!

Loss of Yardage

Posted Monday night:

This is my response to a Comment from a person posting with a fake identity, calling himself "JD":

Been waiting on you to show up, JD.

And let's be clear, my name is Karen Rucker and I post here as Truth-In-Education.

And let's be very clear, you are definitely no JD that I am acquainted with and your blog profile is completely blank except for the two initials. So if we're talking semantics, it is your post here and your comments that would best be described as deceptive.

So, let's talk about the truth.

It is indeed sometimes hard to look at.

Pure and unvarnished and shocking.

So,

If you consider posting the truth to be inflammatory,
If you consider posting the truth to be malicious,
If you consider posting the truth to be abusive,
If you consider posting the truth to be vilification,
If you consider posting the truth to be defamatory,

So be it.

As regards my behavior in this matter, I and others involved in this have tried to follow every protocol, every rule of procedure, beginning during the last school year, without publicity. Those who know me, know I am not a malicious or abusive person. Those adjectives could definitely be used in describing what the students and staff at this school have endured, though. Neither I, nor anyone on the Spring Valley side of this, chose this path or it's timing. And there is nothing on the face of this earth that can reduce the validity of the truth.

Thank you for your analysis of the best way to resolve this situation and your definition of hysteria. Let me reassure you that none of the hundreds of people that have spoken to us personally at school, at ballgames, at the gas station, at the grocery store, at the mall, at WalMart, at McD's-BK-Wendy's..., that have commented on this site, or have sent emails are the least bit hysterical. They have expressed disgust, amazement and some anger. Mostly they have expressed solidarity and resolve as to the efforts to pursue the termination of Mr. Thompson and the removal of others complicit in this mess. No hysteria. No extreme emotion. Just a lot of good old-fashioned Wayne County backbone out there.

As for your additional analysis of the "only way this can be resolved to anyone's satisfaction is legally" and they must "rely upon the law and the law enforcement agencies to investigate and take action!" -----I would say 1) be careful what you wish for and 2) the last person terminated in this county and several others were terminated with no criminal charges pending and indeed no criminal investigation. Well, maybe that's not the best example - the Superintendent gave the last guy his job right back. Well, maybe that will get a higher-up-the-food-chain looksee soon.

As far as my motives, you're the first to question them. Short answer: I am a Mom, You and Yours put my kid in harm's way. And my friend's kids. And my friends that work at that school. Didn't want this fight, but you brought it to my door. And a few other doors. Do believe me when I say that I am SO not saying exactly what I would like to say here - the "issue at SVHS" is NOT being used as a "retaliatory weapon to slam the Central Office Administration and the Board of Education". IT IS NOT A FLIPPIN ISSUE, IT IS THE SAFETY OF OUR KIDS. Talk about not seeing the forest for the trees.

And since you are posting here, freely speaking, with your fake name, non-censored by me, as an advocate for the "Central Office Administration and Board Attorney and Board of Education", then I will assume you are privy to the full story on this situation and other workings of the Central Office. If we agree that is the case, then you know I have chosen not to post massive additional amounts of info here that would be of a more sensational nature, both about the Thompson situation and the daily happenings at the Central Office.

I was advised in March to pursue dismissal of Mr. Thompson based on violations of the morals clause in his contract disrupting the learning environment. I chose instead to leave that mess behind, and to pursue the harassment and abuse of students and staff, violations of the safe schools act, hostile work environment, and multiple violations of both the WVDE and Wayne County Acceptable Use of Internet policies because I had WV Case Law and Grievance Board precedent handy. And yes, the hard evidence you speak of. Signed. Delivered. More than enough. It never occurred to us those would be ignored. So the comment that the "Administration and Board of Education have been working diligently on this issue" is a little disingenuous. I am sure they are now working diligently but not as an advocate for SVHS. Or this would have been over. But we're past that now. We'll let that someone a little further up the food chain decide if the items that have come before them should have been ignored. And look at the actions, and inaction, of ALL concerned, Board included.

So let's talk about New Truths. New Hard Evidence. New infractions. By Mr. Todd Thompson. In the last two weeks.

I'm sure you're very familiar with these. Let's talk about re-violations of the WVDE and Wayne County Acceptable Use of Internet policies by Mr. Todd Thompson. And Insubordination for the re-offense. Caught. Posting those bogus SVHS pages again. On a private internet service provider. With the "share my interests? just want to start a correspondence? contact me at --" page. And the page with the unauthorized pictures of SVHS students that he "copyrighted". Caught. Again. Turned in by a parent. Who kept looking. Who never let her guard down. And conveniently, Assistant Superintendent, Mike Rutherford was right there to.........suspend and recommend termination? Well no, he just told him to take it down. Like to see the incident report he wrote up on that one. Oh right, there isn't one. But there were witnesses. And the complaining parent. And another parent who printed the complete set of webpages complete with date viewed on them, just before the website was taken down. Sounds like hard evidence to me.

But there's more. Let's look at a complaint filed by an SVHS teacher on behalf of a frightened student on Monday, October 27, 2008. And said complaint delivered into the hands of ...again ... Mike Rutherford, Assistant Superintendent ... conveniently on the scene at SVHS that Monday with the Superintendent of Schools, Gary Adkins, and other Central Office Staff. An additional, important fact: the unhappy father of that student was at SVHS on Friday talking to the principal. And the unhappy father contacted a lawyer before he met with the principal. Oops. Lawyer alert.

As far as me "continually adding to the emotional instability surrounding this situation and the unstable learning environment for all concerned at SVHS" , no one's heard a peep from me since I and another SVHS parent spoke to Mr. Adkins, Mr. Rutherford, Mr. Lycan, Mr. Conzett, and the Board of Education Members in attendance during Executive Session, Wayne County Board of Education meeting held on June 3, 2008. Not a peep. Until Tuesday, October 21, 2008. Until Mr. Gary Adkins, supported by at least four members of the Wayne County Board of Education, chose to send Mr. Todd Thompson back to work as Network Administrator at Spring Valley High School. I wrote one letter. Mailed five copies to five Wayne County Board of Education members, Thursday, October 23rd, at approximately 5: 35 p.m. Received a very brief phone call from the Superintendent of Wayne County Schools the next day. Then it was off to the media and posting letters to this blog so the public has complete access, at least to our records. And our actions.

So

Let's vote. Tomorrow is election day. Let's have every single student, parent, teacher, staff member, and administrator from SVHS vote on just who they think is "continually adding to the emotional instability surrounding this situation and the unstable learning environment". Based on the feedback we've been getting in the last two weeks, maybe we should have the entire County vote on that question. I don't think my name would be the one they'd come up with.

Interestingly, you chose to mention "violating another individual's rights". Mr. Todd Thompson was very interested in individual rights, also. He mentioned his perceived "violations" of his "constitutional rights" over and over and over in an alarming, threatening email he sent back in February which I happen to have a copy of. My perspective is a bit different. I think some rights got violated, but they sure weren't Mr. Todd Thompson's. Those students, those teachers, that staff, had a right to a safe school environment, a non-hostile workplace, freedom from harassment, freedom from disruptions to learning, freedom from fear. Those are the rights I'm concerned with.

To your lecture on my "ethical obligations" and your legal opinion that I "do not have the right to use this blog and hide behind the freedom of speech" my response is I DON'T HIDE. Never Have. Never Will. You on the other hand...

As far as your advice to me about letting others know about the problems I've encountered "with accuracy, restraint, patience, and great care"

been there, done that.

As for seeing red, nope. Absolutely crystal clear here.

Everyone can see clearly now.

This is the actual comment posted by someone calling themselves "JD":

JD said...

Host Name: c-76-26-81-250.hsd1.wv.comcast.net
IP Address: 76.26.81.250
ISP: COMCAST CABLE COMMUNICATIONS INC
Domain: COMCAST.NET

Although you may have legitimate concerns and complaints they are severely being under minded by the language and color commentary you’ve insisted on using over and over again when describing the Central Office Administration and Board of Education. Your words are highly inflammatory and deceptive! You vilify Mr. Adkins, Mr. Rutherford, and The Board of Education members with malicious and abusive statements. Behaving in this manner reduces the validity of your argument and detracts from resolving the issues at hand. Furthermore, it works against the legitimate concerns and complaints of the people you claim to represent!You are continually adding to the emotional instability surrounding this situation and the unstable learning environment for all concerned at SVHS. The only way this situation can be resolved to anyone’s satisfaction is legally, not in an extreme state of emotion or hysteria (“a state of extreme or exaggerated emotion such as excitement or panic, especially among large numbers of people”, “media hysteria about the latest scandals”). The Administration and Board of Education have been working diligently on this issue. However, the Administration, Board Attorney, and Board of Education cannot act upon inflammatory statements, requests, or notifications may by you or any other individuals. They must act upon hard evidence, they must rely upon the law and the law enforcement agencies to investigate and take action!With these highly defamatory statements and half-truths concerning the Wayne County Board of Education your motives are now in question. Are you using this blog and the issues, mainly the issue at SVHS as a retaliatory weapon, to slam the Central Office Administration and The Board of Education? Your ethical obligations include accurately informing the public and treating subjects of your blogs fairly. Just state the facts, you do not have the right to use this blog and hide behind the freedom of speech to say anything you want in any manner. What you are doing now can be looked at under the microscope to see if you are violating another individual’s rights with these posts! How do you let others know about problems you’ve encountered when blogging? The answer: with accuracy, restraint, patience, and great care. Bottom line: If you’re seeing red, be very careful about what you post in black and white.
November 3, 2008 10:21 PM

Wednesday - 11/05/08:

Desperation Play

17 days to nothin, 2 minutes to go

Trying to Score

QUESTION: What do you think my husband got in the mail at his office today?

ANSWER: A large manila envelope with no return address and 5 42-cent stamps on it. Addressed to him personally. By hand. But mailed to the office post office box.

QUESTION: What do you think was in the envelope?

ANSWER: Twenty-eight pages. The first page said GOTCHA at the top.

Some helpful anonymous person sent my husband a copy of everything on this website. A printed copy.

You fellas out to the Board Office are so busybusybusy.

Working haaaard for our kids.

P.S. Been married to the same guy for 28 years now. Dated him four years before that. My high-school sweetie. He knows who I am. He know's what I'm doing. And he knows why. And he knows it could cost him business.

Fire Down Below.

Read Yesterday's Post.

Also:

Response to Herald-Dispatch reporter's questions by Karen Rucker, parent of a SVHS student:

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: Truth-In Education <takebackourschools@gmail.com>

Date: Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 3:09 PM

Subject: Re: the Todd Thompson situation

To: Bill Rosenberger <brosenberger@heralddispatch.com>

Bill,

To answer your specific question -

Everyone's top concern is the safety of the students at Spring Valley. Period. There's also the very real issue of the safety of the administrators, faculty & staff there. Unfortunately, that's not the only concern. There are so many.

As regards the numerous, more or less continuous, infractions over a long period of time, any one of which Mr. Thompson could have and should have been terminated for - the infractions that involve students and photos of students, actively seeking both positive and negative interaction with students which is certainly not appropriate to his job, and frequent unstable, angry, threatening behavior and the appearance of being under the influence while on campus are certainly intense issues, too.

I think everyone fears the obvious - an attack on or at the school by a mentally unstable person. My deepest fear though is what might happen if a parent or even a student feels provoked or threatened enough to take matters into their own hands. No matter how justified, think of the tragedy that would fall upon that person or that family. The community. They would never be the same, their lives would be ruined, changed forever.

And essentially, because a bunch of big-feeling suits sitting on a hill chose over and over not to act. And I do mean over and over. The situation with Spring Valley is small potatoes to them, the tip of an iceberg when you look at the bigger picture of the current situation at the Central Office and with the Wayne County Board of Education.

This community, and every community in our entire County, are so used to things being wrong. You become numb to it. People fear for their jobs. Grievance procedures become irrelevant if everyone is afraid to use them. The entire system is flawed, fatally in my opinion. Some things are just wrong, freestanding, and should be remedied, independent of an individual having to push an issue. This extends far past the issues at Spring Valley.

Perhaps the Central Office has always been a "way of life", an odd highly-entitled mentality/mind-set, a little prone to perks & graft & favors & retaliations rather than the best, brightest, hardest working people getting moved into the most crucial positions, not to say there aren't good people working at Wayne.

Everyone knows someone or has family or friends who work for the Board of Education. It is a family thing. And that can be a great thing. Our schools are kept running by people who have known three or four generations, front and back. So many good people. Good at their jobs. Working hard every day. But I have had person after person, some retiring sooner than they would have, from all over the county, people I've known a long time, say this is the worst they have ever seen in their 30, 35, 40 years in the system, incredibly flagrant, arrogant, heavyhanded abuse of power, hiring, trips, spending, spending, spending, cover-ups, countywide.

I think it is very simple. No one in the county wants that much. They simply want the people they have elected and especially the people whose salaries they pay with their tax dollars, to do the right thing. And if there's any question, I think the people of Wayne County would be glad to let them know exactly what the right thing is, any given day.

Thanks,

Karen Rucker

It Has Begun:
Can you say head-fake?

Relevant Definitions:

Relinquish:
Definition 1. To surrender, release, or let go of; give up
Synonyms forgo, waive, surrender, yield, give away, abdicate, cede, renounce

does not equal

Resign:
Definition 1. To end a period of employment; esp, by formal notification (often followed by 'from')
2. To passively submit (oneself) to something disagreeable or disappointing
Synonyms quit, vacate, leave

does not equal

Terminate:
Definition 1. to end the employment of; release; fire
2. to bring to an end; put a stop to
Synonyms finish, end, conclude, abolish, sever, halt, cease, fire, dismiss, discharge, remove, sack, can

Relevant Quotes:

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." George Santayana, Professor of Philosophy, Harvard University, American Philosopher, Essayist, Poet & Novelist from The Life of Reason, Vol. 1: Reason in Common Sense

Note to All Concerned:

Be assured that we remember the past.

We remember what was said during meetings in April 2008.
We remember what was said during meetings in May 2008.
We remember what was said during meetings in June 2008.

And

Although it is likely we will be lied to again,

We will not be fooled, be misled, or be quiet again.

We will not quit until ALL CONCERNED understand what
"Do the Right Thing" means.

We will not quit until the "Right Thing" is done.

And

We will hold ALL CONCERNED in this matter
PUBLICLY ACCOUTABLE.

For years it has been, "How does he get away with this?"
For years it has been, "Why don't they do something?"
For years it has been,

"Okay, NOW they'll HAVE to do something."

Months ago, in April, in May, in June,

there may have been a question of
what remedy, what action, what would occur.

That time is gone.

The question before us now is "How many will go?"

The Board Must Act.

T E R M I N A T I O N

New Info:

New Info:

New Info:

Information Relayed to the SVHS LSIC: Friday, October 31, 2008

Announcement by the SVHS Principal made to SVHS Office Staff at 3:40 p.m. with the permission of Gary Adkins, Superintendent of Wayne County Schools:

"I have received a phone call from Mr. Adkins, the Superintendent of Schools. Mr. Adkins says that, and I wrote it down so I would be sure, Mr. Thompson has agreed to relinquish his position at Spring Valley High School because of the compassion he has for the students, staff and the community."

Hmmm. Feels like ..........DEJA VU.

What month is this? Is it April? May?

No termination? No resignation?

Relinquish? Verbally Relinquish?

Right.

Relinquish equals "BAD PENNY" Syndrome. Where will Mr. Todd Thompson turn up 5 months from now? 5 weeks, 5 days from now? Back at Spring Valley? Been there. Done that.

Maybe Wayne Middle. There's a vacancy there - he could use the suspended guy's computer.

How about Tolsia? Let's see. Yes. Looks good. Spring Valley definitely not the only school in Wayne County with teacher troubles. Mr. Thompson could pop up there, sent by the Superintendent, even if he's terminated. Is this the only school in the state of West Virginia where you can terminate a teacher (which revokes his license to teach), then re-hire him as a substitute on the same night, same Board Meeting (Joshua Wellman, English 9 -12, Tolsia High, Recommended Personnel Matters, Board Approved, Date: September 2, 2008, Gary L. Adkins, Superintendent)? Is this legal? Some interesting public documents there.

Is there any doubt that Mr. Todd Thompson will pop up somewhere else? Courtesy of our Superintendent of Schools. And evidently our Board. He was a librarian before his Spring Valley job. Can you imagine him back at a school as the librarian? The Superintendent might decide elementary schools finally get that full-time, paid librarian/sysop they've been asking for every year. Or at least one elementary school might get one special someone.

Extra Info: The Tolsia story actually gets better: The Superintendent of Schools, Mr. Adkins, sent the terminated English teacher right back to the same school he was terminated from. Next day. Personally appointed. Not even sent to a different school. Evidently quite a surprise to those at Tolsia. Everyone knew he had been fired. Someone had already been hired for his old job and was occupying his old classroom, teaching English since the first day of school. No additional English teachers required or needed. Usually that just means they'll create a fake job, then appoint the favored person. Then the Assistant Superintendent, Mr. Rutherford, is available for the on-the-scene cover-ups, as needed or take the ensuing complaints by phone. This particular situation seems to be a work-in-progress. Didn't even create the fake job before they sent him. Getting sloppy. No job specs. No job bid, posted within the required amount of time. But he's still back. Among the students. That he was removed from. Teaching. Or at least there. Getting paid. But definitely with a revoked certificate. Or maybe he's a new "Literacy Coach", paid out of the Title I Slush Fund. That would be better. He wouldn't even have to show up at the school. He could join all those other phantom employees listed at the schools, diluting the teacher-student ratio on all those official reports.

Where-O-Where is the WVDE when you need them? OEPA?

WVBOE? Anybody.

ANYBODY OUT THERE ???

Is it any wonder why students are afraid to speak up about a Wayne County School employee?

Do we not teach our children - TELL, TELL, TELL - no matter what TELL??

Should we change that? Except at school? Except in Wayne County?

Not hardly. It's time to TELL. TELL EVERYTHING.

T E R M I N A T I O N

More than one.

The Board must act.