The Plainfield School System and BOE was the third and largest of Mark Spivey's subjects in Sunday's paper. Once again Plainfield is being confounded by an official or a Board/Authority circumventing State statues.
Since ignorance is no excuse, the appointing of individuals without proper qualifications to State recognized positions in which the prerequisites are spelled out is inexcusable. It does not matter if the blame lies with the the system superintendent who made the recommendation or with the BOE that accepted and approved the nominees.
To compound an error by creating positions with titles and/or job descriptions not recognized by the State is malfeasance unless procedures outlined by the State Dept of Education are followed. There does not seem to have occurred. At least we have not had any documentation presented to that effect.
DR. Gallon has continued to discombobulate the issues concerning the two individuals with unsupported statements and references to documentations which he refuses to reveal. Since he has referred to their existence and has made no reference to any restricting clauses he should comply with OPRA and release the "great news that he has received".
As an outsider, I believe that Dr. Gallon has made strides in bringing a disorganized, ineffective PSS into an organization with positive goals. Along the way he will step on entrenched toes and that will create difficulties between school administration and the unions. However he is spending money on books not special coffee for the superintendent's office. It is too bad that nepotism has the ability to destroy any good that he has accomplished.
As to his obfuscation I have previously-and I will have to look up the specific post- made reference to his use of vocabulary. At that time I also referred to the most popular radio program in the years of the great depression when at 7 pm America stopped to gather around the radio and listen to Amos and Andy.
Today, Amos and Andy would not only be political unacceptable but considered racist. However this "blackface" comedy supposedly reflected the great public concept of the inhabitants of Harlem in the 1930s. One of the characters in the show to whom every one turned to for help was a local political leader called the "Kingfish" . Of course he more often created greater problems than he solved but covered up his mistakes with his very erudite and convoluted speeches that left his disciples bewildered but afraid to ask for clarification.
The first time I heard Dr. Gallon address the Council at an agenda session my sudden and immediate reaction was ' Good lord he is the Kingfish". I have since realized that Dr. Gallon has substance and could be an asset to the city. However he has to be honest with the public and be simplistic and direct when talking about school matters.
The Board of Education's role in this fiasco is another serious matter. At best they have forgotten their fiduciary responsibility an accepted without research the recommendation of of the Superintendent regarding appointments and job descriptions. 98% of the time there should be no problem. But, it is the 2% that must be avoided and that can only be done by thoroughly vetting all appointments and job changes. If the members do not wish to do so they should reexamine their reasons for having sought the position.
Once again I will advocate the advantages of an appointed Board over an board elected by a bare minimum of voters. This is despite Plainfield's history of having this and previous Mayors make appointments as a political gift. With an appointed board the buck stops at one desk. It takes a petition of only 20% of the electorate to issue a call for recall.
But first I think we need an overview of the BOE's operating structure, committees and meetings with responsibilities. And a review of the monthly meeting schedules and agendas. Why should this group be faced with what I read somewhere is a forty page agenda at this business meeting? I have tried to open the agenda page from Firefox but my browser crashes each time. Suspecting that it may be only available on IE I have been unable to get the meeting site. Of course I am doing something wrong but what? The fact is old agendas I have read are full of stuff that takes time and if it is too much for the whole BOARD one or more members should be made responsible to review and report to the board before a vote is taken.
The point is that much of Plainfield's school problems are the result of incompetent boards. Change musty start there.
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Welcome to my world Old Doc. It's going to take a collective effort to figure this stuff out. Amos and Andy is before my time but Bugs and Daffy's Duck Season Rabbit Season skit -- is a good frame a reference for this sitcom gone wrong.
ReplyDeleteI believe you are right Doc. Dr. Gallon has done some good things, but this nepotism and wasting so much of our tax money on unqualified people makes everything else moot. He should know that and in this "Saprano" state we live in, people are very concerned when they see our superintendent acting like one of our crooked politicians. He should have known better, and the fact he didn't makes me wonder if he is the right person for the job. We pay too much for someone like him to take liberties with our money.
ReplyDeleteOk let's say he didn't know better for sake of argument. They are friends he wanted to get them connected. Ok I can go with that, but once the public got wind of it no matter HOW that happened -- He should man up and release the girls. But he further insulted this public by placing them in other 6 figure salary jobs and further salts the wound be denying inhouse currently qualified peronnel access to apply for the jobs. People with a high caliber of character do not continue down a slippery slope...their conscience wouldn't allow it! I believed he had what this district needed, but NOW I can not trust what he says and above EVERYTHING else that makes me the saddest!
ReplyDeleteOld Doc,
ReplyDeleteI take it from your comments on this post that you do not attend many Board of Education meetings nor do you have much understanding of how a Board of Education functions. Boards of Education, regardless of their location and regardless of whether they are elected or appointed operate under the same rules and laws set forth by the State of New Jersey. Boards of Education function differently from the City Council. Ethics Rules preclude individual members from speaking out about school issues. Only the president of the Board is authorized to speak on behalf of the Board. The opportunity for individual Board members to speak out on issues is at official public meetings of the Board of Education. Also, the discussion of confidential personnel matters is considered unethical, illegal and strictly forbidden. Therefore, calls for Board members to speak out publicly about the two employees that are the focus of the current controversy are completely inappropriate since they are asking Board members to break the law in order to quench the thirst for dirt that prevails amongst some members of the community. I come to the conclusion that you do not know much about the operations of the Board of Education because you suggest that maybe each subject area should have one Board member assigned to it to look it over and report it to the rest of the Board. Well, if you have ever been to one single BOE meeting, you would know that the Plainfield Board of Education already has that system in place and has for a very long time. Your call for an appointed BOE may look good to those that are looking for a quick fix to our local school problems, but it is weak in that it does not address any of the real issues facing our school district. In fact, given that the school district is in much better shape than the municipal government at this point in time, moving to an appointed BOE now would just make things worse since Sharon (Jerry) would just use the school district as a patronage tool to make up for what they were unable to deliver to their contributors through the City coffers.