STAR's "Fool's Gold" is a Fool' Errand

Guess subscriptions must be down again for the Sun Prairie STAR, because recently the STAR's managing editor. wrote an OpEd piece casting aspersions on the Sun Prairie School Board's actions...and more directly at President Tom Weber.

Chalk one more up on the list of whiners in the "Bryan Davis for Superintendent" fiasco.  Or is it that outgoing SuperNintendo Tim Culver is trying to sow as many seeds of malcontent as he can during his final weeks (can't we just put him on paid administrative leave and avoid this nonsense?).  We wonder what the good doctor's correspondence records would show.

The coconut (emphasis on "nut") telegraph tells us that our local editor-in-cheek has either filed or is planning to file a massive open records request.  When you cast a net that large, be careful what you are fishing for!  You might find that some of your buddies are far more worthy of an investigative journalism article than the school board or its President. 

Our money is on Mr. Weber and the board landing squarely on their feet.  They did what the community wanted...went through a process.  The process ended poorly.  Then they went out and found a perfect fit for our district.  Instead of crying foul, why don't you thank them?  What?  You wanted ANOTHER lengthy, time consuming process that would drag into summer when most residents are gone?   Your thought process is misfiring!  They found a perfect fit, and the board was unanimous.  Note as well that when it came to RE-considering Bryan Davis, only John Whalen was a fan (and you understand that his vote has no value...right?).  They averted a potential train wreck and turned it into a huge success story. 

In fact, even new board member Marilyn Ruffin voted against considering Mr. Davis.   You don't think THAT caused some interesting dinner conversation in the Ruffin household after Jerry Ruffin pleaded with the board, on behalf of Sun Prairie African American Parent Network (AAPN), to hire Mr. Davis? (Hi, honey,I'm home...and hey...I didn't vote to hire Davis.  Sorry!).

And we hope, Mr. Managing Editor, that if you do get those Open Records, that you'll spend as much time exposing the multitude of district staff who we are willing to bet will be discovered to have spent much staff time involved in some grass roots lobbying for Bryan Davis...all on the taxpayers' dime.  If anyone should be worried, it's those folks.

9 1/2 Hours - When They Get Behind Closed Doors

9 1/2 Hours: The true story behind the Superintendent hire

It begins on March 24th.    This is immediately following current Columbus Superintendent Bryan Davis' candidate forum.  Internal candidate Erik Olson's forum was held the previous evening.

Two and one-half hours of discussion ensued, followed by a very specific motion by Steve Schoeder/John Whalen:  extend offers (note the plural)  to: 

--- Bryan Davis the Superintendent position and 

--- Erik Olson a Deputy Superintendent position (for strategic planning and organizational alignment) and 

to direct President Tom Weber to discuss with the candidates.

The vote was unanimous.

Then two weeks passed with no notification.  Of course, in there was spring break for Sun Prairie, as well as the Spring Elections when 3 shool board seats were up with 4 candidates including one incumbent.

On April 7th, the board met again for 2 hours and 22 minutes.  

Two critical motions were made:

The first was to offer the superintendent position to Bryan Davis.  That motion failed having only support from John Whalen.

The second motion was to offer the superintendent position to Erik Olson.   

That motion passed 6-1, with John Whalen in opposition (God love John Whalen for his fierce loyalty to the Culver regime!  It's cute; really it is).

The question is...what happened between the decision to make a tandem offer (David/ Superintendent, Olson/Deputy Superintendent and this decision?  And what about Bryan Davis declaring for all the many (???) STAR readers that no offer was ever made to him. If one digs a little, one will learn that in the world of Public Instruction, what the rest of us would call "negotiations towards making a formal contract offer" is viewed a "an offer".

We have no need to trash Dr. Davis' reputation or bona fides, but clearly the room turned dramatically against him (except for Johnny Whalen!).  Did he demand an outrageous salary?  Or were other demands simply not to the board's liking?  Or did something else come out during the background check (which--newsflash-- is a prerequisite before a contract is offered)? Perhaps we never need to know, but the vote on April 7 made it clear that Davis was no longer a viable option.

April 15th....an offer is rejected.

We now now that on April 15th an offer was extended to internal candidate, who subsequently declined for personal reasons.  We don't blame him.  The behavior of district "professionals" in this who process would turn most away. If it were up to us, the district office would be raining pink slips in the not too distant future.

Two weeks later....the drama further unfolds

We now have a new school board...3 new members in fact.  At the school board meeting on Monday May 27, more district staff come out to speak the praises of Bryan Davis and for the board to hire him.  There are rumors (which, if true, can be confirmed via Open Records) that Dr. Davis was heavily lobbying for himself with key district staffers (more on that to come!).  Several community leaders also spoke, including Jerry Ruffin, whose wife Marilyn is a newly elected board member.

The April 27 closed session brought two more very key motions during a 95 minute session.

The critical motion, passing unanimously, was--interestingly enough-- what is termed a "motion n the negative.  Normally motions are made in the positive...i.e., worded in favor of something.  This motion made it clear for those that hadn't figured it out yet, that the board would NOT consider any of the candidates from the failed search.  Instead, they would go in a different direction.

The second motion direct board president Weber to bring in Dr. Bradford Saron in for an interview.  So clearly, that name materialized on the board's rada, and in a relatively short meeting, they abandoned all candidates from the initial search and went after Dr. Saron.

April 28th...success!

Just a hair over 3 hours spent interviewing Dr. Saron, the board unanimously directed president Weber to negotiate a contract with Dr Saron.

--------------------------------------------

So there you have it, peeps.  These are the facts.   There was no formal contract ever offered to Dr. Bryan Davis.  In fact, the board was clearly opposed to offering one to him.  So disinclined were they that they actually made a motion in the negative to make crystal clear that the search had ended and none of the 18 applicants would be considered any further. 

We wish Dr. Davis luck in his quest to be somewhere other than Columbus.

Superintendent Saga: Whiners' ignorance makes them comfortably dumb

Boo frickin hoo!
The school board...your ELECTED leaders did what you elected them to do: they chose a superintendent.

You didn't like who they picked?
You didn't like how they did it?
TOUGH NOOGIES!

Option 3: Review and Reconsider from the Previous Candidate Pool
The Board considered our options and ultimately voted unanimously not to reconsider candidates from the initial pool. Please understand, because this is a hiring process and confidentiality rules apply, we cannot necessarily share details of the conversations that took place.  However, all of the Board members agreed that this was not a viable option.

Now why would the board vote UNANIMOUSLY not to consider Dr. Davis?

He came off so well during the public forum.  Except that to some there was an uneasy feeling that one definitely should not assess this book by its cover.

It would seem that the board had some pretty compelling information that you, the whining minority did not have.  Information that indicated that Dr. Davis was definitely not what Sun Prairie is looking for.

NEWSFLASH!  You're not supposed to have closed door session information!  Hence the term "closed door".  

Now, some of you seem to believe that you are privy to conversations that went on in that room.  There's this thing called "context" though.  Maybe someone is talking outside of class. But...if you just take a single piece of information it can suggest a whole lot more than when viewed with the surrounding information.  That's called the Fox New game plan, and we're really surprised that the Sparclers adopted that as their plan.

The rumor is that Dr, Davis was offered a contract contingent upon him retaining Erik Olson.  And that the vote was unanimous.  Not sure how it works in SPARCle-Land, but in our world, a "contract" means a firm offer with a salary, and clear contract terms signed by at least the board president.   And if he were offered a contract, don't you think he'd be here?

Unless you are one of the 7 board members or Dr. Davis, YOU DO NOT KNOW THE FULL STORY.

Perhaps the rumored "vote" was simply to open up discussions with Dr. Davis.  Certainly, if his salary demands were $500K per year, the decision would be a no-brainer...right?

Claims that Board President Tom Weber is lying to the public just sound so uninformed and juvenile.  Time to call the frickin' WHHAAAAAmbulance.

We suspect the unanimous vote was designed to see whether even the framework of  contract could be agreed upon.  Maybe the board learned that Dr. Davis wanted to work only Monday Wednesdays and Friday with no evenings or weekends.

Again...we don't know...and neither do you.  So be like Elsa and Let it Go.

The Chippewa Falls School District has an enrollment of over 5100.  That's about 3.5 times the size of Columbus, much more in line with Sun Prairie.  If one takes the time to read his curriculum vitae, Dr. Saron also seems to mesh very well with the structure, framework, and vision that the school board has worked so hard to build over the last few years (yet another thing---AHEM!--- that Culver should have done without cattle prodding).

Wouldn't you WANT the board to hire a superintendent that fits the vision, mission, and structure that we've built?

In the end, the list of candidates was whittled to 2.  The school board voted UNANIMOUSLY to extend an offer to Erik Olson.  For whatever reasons--it's NOYFB--he opted to decline the offer.  You do not HAVE to go to your number two.  It's like Peyton Manning and Ryan Leaf.  Don't you think San Diego would love to forget they ever took Leaf?  There's Peyton Manning or nobody else on that list.  Manning declined.  Give kudos to the school board who listened to you very carefully.  You wanted a quality superintendent to be hired quickly and you did not want an interim" superintendent.

They did just that...how about getting past yourselves and give them a round of applause.

So...enough of this crap.  It is done.  We hired a damn fine superintendent.

Readers Write: THIS is Lack of Accountability 101

Sometimes we can just leave it in the hands of our readers who know way more than we do...
This is precisely why Tim Culver had to go.  In fact, if we had our way, we'd send him packing early.  Good luck Oak Creek-Franklin!

You just can't make this shit up, people, truth IS stranger than fiction.  Enjoy this...we certainly did.

Dear SP-EYE,

Perhaps you noticed the district's $40K renovated varsity soccer field is not looking so good?  

Outside grass included to emphasize the piss poor field quality

Why yes...yes we did notice (after you pointed it out)!

Credible sources close to this issue have revealed that:

• The lead grounds worker has not turned on the water so that the field can be irrigated.  I'm sure that is a difficult task, you know, opening the valve and all!  Not sure this would really matter because the irrigation heads put more water on the track than the grass...but I'm sure that has been resolved with the installation of the proper heads (sarcasm intended).  BTW has the district installed the irrigation booster pump that they budgeted for a few years back to ensure proper water pressure to irrigate efficiently?  We think NOT!

Q: How many SPASD  groundsworkers does it take to open a single valve?

A:  Apparently more than we have on staff.

• The PE programs at the high school use that field exclusively over the other outdoor fields in the athletic complex.  And why not, with a newly renovated field why would anyone want to use the lesser quality JV soccer field that has not been renovated (that's another story) or the practice fields behind the varsity soccer field?  They are not as nice and they are another 50 feet farther from the PE door to the school! 

Good lord, man....do you really want to make our kids exercise? [SP-EYE snarkiness intended]

•  After $20K in drill&fill treatment to the JV baseball field why cant PE classes use that outfield?  After all, former AD Jimmy Mac, in his attempt to get that field renovated, argued that the field was really a PE field and should be renovated so that it could drain better, hence the drill&fill.  On a related matter, if all our fields are PE fields, why isn't Ashley Field used for PE programs at PPA or CHUMS? We wouldn't want to get Coach BK Football mad because someone was using "his" field for something other than the 5 football games he has in the fall now would we?  

Ouch!  Was that a direct blow to the knees of everything that is football in Sun Prairie?  Wasn't us!!!!

• The track team practices on the field and was doing so even before the athletic fields were "released" for spring sports.

• Whatever happened to rotating the use of fields?  Why would we want to do that because it would make too much sense.  

• A recent request to increase Buildings & Grounds staff to better deal with this and many other related issues got absolutely no support from outbound District Administrator Timmy Culver and his management team.  

Caren Diedrich is infamous for declaring, "I don't want to see one damn hole in one damn roof!".   We wonder how she feel about blowing $40K on a field and then outright murdering it?

SP-EYE, it looks like you need to get back to exposing the districts ineptness.  Sadly, we seem to be slipping back into our old ways. 

You've been slippin' into darknessPretty soon you gonna pay---War

This one falls squarely on the shoulders of Doctor Timmy and his travelling management team.  We get it.  Education is a priority.  But at the end of the day, taking care of the buildings and grounds is a priority too.  We're quite certain that Erik Olson and Jeff Butler made things abundantly clear and prepared quality and verifiable documentation.  But yet, their proposal got no love at the budget planning table.  You can only hang Tim Culver for this.  Add it to his Pandora's legacy box.  A 1-to-1 computer plan is an awesome goal/vision, but couldn't we go 1.5 or 1.75-to-1 and be good stewards of taxpayer dollars spent on fields?

There's a committee in place now working on a plan for school space that could involve 1,2, or even 3 new schools and a likely $80-$100 MILLION dollar referendum.  THIS is how we want to show the community we take care of our stuff?

The Reader writes right.

Fix it people!!!!

Desperation Sun Prairie: What Part of 'Failed Search' Don't You Get?

So....
The superintendent/ school district administrator position was offered to one of the finalists, who was not Dr. David from Columbus.
The offer was declined.  And we totally get that.
So why are we hearing MORE rumors (confidence is high; we repeat, confidence is high) that Dr. Davis has been reaching out via e-mail to both school board members, district staff, and even community residents?

Newsflash:  All this is easily discoverable via an open records request.  The difference between rumpr and fact is what you can prove.  We may just do that to offer proof, to show you rumor-mongers what an actual fact looks like.

So, it appears that SOMEONE is at DesperationCon 1.

We have so very many questions about what transpired during lat March/early April...and so should you.

Question #1: if an offer was made to Dr. Davis, as has been rumored, why was he not hired and instead an offer made to "the other guy"?

Question #2: Once the other guy turned it down, why didn't the board go back to Dr. Davis?

Deductive reasoning would tell us that there was something....or some things...that soured the board on the Columbus Superintendent.  

• Did he demand some unfathomable salary....you know like the $175-200K club?
• Was he requesting "absolute power" like Elliot in E.T. the Extraterrestrial?
• Or was there some other as yet unrevealed  BSC requirement/condition that piqued the board?
• Or after not 1, not 2, but at least 3 failed attempts at getting another job, is Columbus eager to help him on his way?  (How happy would your boss be if you were in the public eye applying for many positions?)

Question #3:  Why is this guy peppering the board, district staff, and ostensibly key community members with his resume and continued interest?  Doesn't that sound a bit like, "nobody wants me; think I'll go eat worms?"

Is Dr. Davis doing the Desperation Samba?

Don't know where i'm goin'I don't like where i've beenThere may be no exitBut hell i'm going in
---Jimmy Buffett, "Desperation Samba"

The bottom line here is this thing smells funny and noone should be eating it.  Someone needs to get through to Dr. Davis and respectfully suggest that he be more like Elsa and just "Let it Go".

psssst....we meet at "the BARN"...OK?

Thanks to several community residents that want to do things right, we understand that Operation BBALL has relocated its base of operations to "the barn".  If you've been in Sun Prairie for any length of time, you probably know what that means.

Of course, these are all "allegations", but where there's a ton of smoke, there's usually some flames causing said smoke.

This gives us pause to ponder...

If one continually is changing its base of operations, it's likely due to one or both of two things:
(A) to avoid paying facility rental fees, or
(B) to avoid detection/scrutiny etc.

IF what's really going on here is gaining a "leg up" on the competition via unauthorized contact with players during the offseason (and where not saying it is) then how is that any different than what, say, Ryan Braun did?

For the school district, this is probably just fine because the issue has been removed from sight.  Out of sight, out of mind, right?

Is that how we operate in Sun Prairie?  Just get things out of sight?  Sweep them under the carpet or cram them in the closet with our other skeletons?

The question we have goes back to the "it's all about the kids" mentality:  how does this really help the kids?  Is this the life lesson we wish to impart our children with?  Win at any cost?  Rules don't matter unless you get caught?  Does the WIAA subscribe to that same philosophy?  Hmmm.  We wonder.

We have an old saying:  Cheaters Never Prosper.  And it's in the scriptures!

Difference Makers: School Board VP Welke and Police Chief Anhalt

Understandably, our attentions have been diverted to the tragedies which occurred in Boston and Texas over the past week, but we'd be remiss if we didn't highlight this recent action.

In the wake to the Newtown tragedy, school board VP John Welke, who has a law enforcement background linked up with Sun Prairie police chief Pat Anhalt to see what they could do for our community.  The result is a program to offer free gunlocks to community members.  And it doesn't raise your property
taxes.

Sometimes guns are too accessible, and during an emotional upheaval, things can go wrong in a hurry.  Often deadly wrong.  People....please make use of this opportunity.  Keep your guns safe and secure.

If this program saves even one life, it will make it all worthwhile.  Sometimes it's the little things that speak loudest; and this one speaks volumes.

Here's to Mr. Welke and Chief Anhalt for making things happen....for making a difference.

Read the complete letter

Read the complete letter

He's Baaaa--aaaack!

10 days ago, Mr. Naud dropped out of the race due to information coming to light that he was cited for shoplifting. It seems he's changed his mind. Know what we love about this community (country?)...never a dull moment!


And he's running on an anti-Walker agenda (how unique!).
Will that drum up votes from the teachers union?
Does John Whalen need to check six?

1. 
   

   
   
2. 
   


3. 
   

   Gary Alan Naud

   The Reports that I have Dropped Out have been Grossly Exaggerated. Stand up to Walker and Vote Naud on April 3rd.

Gaming the System?

We hate politics.
You know why? Because politics is a dirty game.
And many try to game the system.

We'd like to believe little old Sun Prairie was above that, but perhaps not.
At election time, we like check out the STAR's "The Star Picks..." editorial for grins.  We usually can figure out which candidates the STAR will endorse (as if that requires some magic crystal ball), but we like to see how the editorial slants things.  But this year we came across something interesting.

One commenter, expressed concern about the lack of journalistic love for City Council candidate (and School Board candidate) Gary Alan Naud :

---

Posted: Friday, February 10, 2012
Article comment by: Joshua Breister
I have to agree with Mr. Larson. I live in district 4 and had an opportunity to meet with Gary Alan Naud. He actually introduced himself, inquired about my life in Sun Prairie and thoughts about how our governments doing and where it can improve.

Naud actually took the time to listen and explain what he would do and stand up for. He had more to say than a sleepy (misspelled) rattling of the "same old" with the "same promises" and catch phrases. I think not even mentioning his name is an injustice to our community and letting them know who their options are.

I personally plan on voting for Gary Alan Naud in District 4!

---

"Had an opportunity to meet"....? 
 Naud... "introduced himself"....?
Really?
One would hope so, seeing as a quick check on "411.com" shows that Sun Prairie School Board and City Council candidate Gary Alan Naud actually shares an apartment with Mr. Breister.

A little further Internet sleuthing will reveal that-- unless there is another Joshua Breister that has traveled from Fond du Lac to Sun Prairie like Mr. Naud-- Mr. Naud and Mr., Breister have known each other quite well for a number of years. C'mon!  What is this, like high school all over again?  Having a close friend write a letter to the editor (of sorts) posing as just the average Josh?

Mr. Naud may be new to politics, but he needs to counsel his friends against gaming the system.
It really paints a very unflattering picture for Mr. Naud's political future.  And that's too bad, because many of us are looking for fresh perspectives in local government.  But we want straight shooters.

This is indeed the electronic age, and Mr. Naud, who professes to be adept at social networking, has to realize that the Internet is a powerful tool, and people use it.  We all know from reading the papers that all candidates are simply selling their best wares.  But they need to be wary of being caught gaming the system.

"Our View" In Need of Corrective Lenses

In this week's editorial ( Our View: Finger Pointing) Sun Prairie STAR editor Chris Mertes jumped on the school board for indecision on the Ashley Field project.

• The school board thought the Cardinal Quarterback Club was raising money. 
•  The Quarterback Club found it difficult to raise money for something that had not been approved by the school board. 
•  It’s time for a directive from the Sun Prairie School Board -- one that will be clearly understood not only by everyone who uses the field, but also so the public knows the issue will be put to rest and not simply hanging out there. 

 --Chris Mertes, Sun Prairie STAR editor 

 Perhaps Editor Mertes needs to read his own newspaper .  
A quick look into the archives finds that the STAR reported the following:

June 17, 2010 STAR- "Board authorizes fundraising for Ashley Field project"
 At the Sun Prairie School Board’s Monday, June 14, meeting, the board followed the committee’s recommendation to allow the Quarterback Booster Club for the football program to begin fundraising for the project.


Stackhouse said he wanted to be clear that the improvements to Ashley Field were not going to be just for the football program.


“This is brought forward by the football program, but it’s for all the students,” Stackhouse said. “We want to make this truly a community field. It’s not just for football. It’s for the community.”  
He said soccer, youth football, lacrosse and baseball programs can use the field and benefit from the improvements.


The amount to be fundraised by the Quarterback Club is approximately $839,000. The amount of money the district is being asked to commit is about $475,000.


Stackhouse said the number one priority from the football program is the locker room facilities and then the turf, but “it’s a project that needs to be combined together to get the savings.”


“They’re [the football community] willing to do their part if the district is willing to do their part in all of this,” Stackhouse said. “Essentially, we’re not saying, you’re building locker rooms by approving this motion. This motion is saying go start raising funds, and talk to administration about facts and work on the plan and figure out the district obligation.”


The board approved the motion to allow the Quarterback Club to begin fundraising for the improvements. Diedrich voted against the motion

 9/29/2010 STAR - "FTT to QB Club: 'Step Up To The plate' "
 Committee member John Welke said that the community members he sat nearby at last week's home football game had no idea of any of the proposed improvements.


“The community won't support it if they don't know about it,” Welke said. “I'm not sure what more support they [the Quarterback Club] need. The Quarterback Club should have been at the game with a table saying this is our vision. I love this idea, I love this concept, but somebody has to take the bull by the horns and lead it, and I think that's the Quarterback Club.”


Stackhouse agreed with Welke, adding that the Quarterback Club has to “step up to the plate.”

 3/24/11 STAR-
The board voted unanimously to approve the lowest bid for the architect work at Ashley Field and for the FTT Committee to establish the priorities for the Ashley Field project. The estimated cost for the architect fees for conceptual drawings of the locker room facility upgrades at Ashley Field is about $4,500. Diedrich did not vote, as she stepped away from the board table before the vote.

SP-EYE Level View
While we're not usually the biggest cheer squad for the school board, the school board has been abundantly clear regarding the "Ashley Field Project"--as reported by Mertes' own staff reporters.  Over 18 months ago, authorization to conduct fundraising was granted.  The school board paid $4,500 for architect work on the project. The Sun Prairie Cardinals Quarterback Club has done nothing.


School Board meeting minutes and STAR online history clearly indicate that the majority of funding for this project has always rested squarely on the community. It wasn't the school board that said, "Hey, let's spend some money and re-tool Ashley Field".  The "football program", with former board member David Stackhouse as its spokesperson, came forward with the idea.  And notably, they came forward only AFTER discussions were held regarding what to do with a surplus of $1.2M in referendum dollars.  It sure looks like people pushing for the project are only interested if the taxpayers fund it and they don't have to lift a finger.


Sure, the project price tag has increased, but that doesn't mean that the tax payers need to take up the slack...or all of it.  No one ever said this all falls on the shoulders of the Quarterback club, as the goal was to make Ashley accessible by many sport teams.  But the Quarterback club needed to...well...quarterback the effort.  Sadly the Quarterback Club's "quarterbacking" skills seem more Ryan Leaf than Tom Brady.  


Coach Hamilton very quietly and pointedly spearheaded a hugely successful effort to upgrade Summit Field, raising over $300,000.  And he represents only the baseball program.  We always hear about "Sun Prairie" football.  Well, they're not making any noise on this effort.  And imagine what they could accomplish if they worked with the soccer program, the lacrosse program, the Sound of Sun Prairie...just to name a few.


But they've done nothing in 18 months.  No one even attends meetings when Ashley is being discussed. Even the agricultural program had students and supporters present when the greenhouse was being discussed.  And they raised more than the vaunted football folks.


If you ask us...the board needs to halt any discussions regarding Ashley Field upgrades until someone starts waving a pretty substantial check...or a lengthy list of funding commitments.

Greed: First DeForest Administrators; Now Milwaukee Teachers

Check this out!
From the people that demanded their Viagra at a cost to the taxpayers of $1M, now comes a refusal to capitulate to what most other teachers' unions have already accepted.  The cost?  The jobs of as many as 354 of their own.  Yes, Virginia...Milwaukee teachers apparently do eat their own.

Education Action Group: Milwaukee school board and teachers union – not the state – to blame for 354 teacher layoffs

Seven months after painting itself into a financial corner, Milwaukee Public Schools did the inevitable yesterday and laid off 354 teachers and 165 staff members.
    The layoffs come after teachers union members made it abundantly clear they had no interest in helping alleviate the district’s financial woes by agreeing to contribute 5.8 percent to their own pension plans, a move that would have allowed 200 teachers to remain employed, according to CNN.
    “We are not willing to negotiate,” MTEA President Mike Langyel recently told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “We have concluded bargaining. We are willing to work with the school board to get proper funding from Madison.”
    Translation: We got ours, so tough luck to the students as well as the younger teachers who will lose their jobs.
    In addition to the huge number of teacher layoffs, MPS said that students will have to make do with old textbooks and larger class sizes. We’ll wager that students will also have fewer academic offerings from which to choose.

Certainly, the school board was foolish to offer a 4-year contract when the smell of wholesale change was wafting through the air.  No one was offering lengthy contracts.  But now is the time to sacrifice for others, to protect your brethren.  We wonder how interested these young teachers, who lost their jobs, will be in maintaining their union status.  Walker may have delivered a crushing blow to unions, but the old guard of MTEA have themselves delivered what may be a finishing blow to the union.  Remember, folks...Walker's law requires unions to re-certify annually...or be gone.

 Yes...things are tough.  NO ONE wanted to accept these cuts disguised as  increased payroll deductions. Our own Sun Prairie teachers didn't like it either.  But they accepted their Governor Walker imposed fate and took the high road.  Our teachers understand that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.  They understand that Walker has his way...for now anyway.

Basketball Closure at Last?

A peek at the school board's agenda for this coming Monday includes the following closed session:

Agenda Item Details

 Mar 14, 2011 - REGULAR SCHOOL BOARD MEETING (Revised), 

7:30 p.m. at the Municipal Building, 300 E. Main St., Sun Prairie. President: John Whalen

 Category -  Closed Session

 Accept a motion to go into closed session for the purpose of taking action on closed School Board minutes of February 17 & 21, 2011; discussion and action on a personnel retirement issue; discussion and action on a grievance settlement; consideration of negotiation of changes to District Administrator's employment contract; and discussing Sun Prairie Substitute Teachers Association (SPSTA) negotiation parameters [Wis. Stats. 19.85(1)(c) & (e)].

 Multiple Monday!

We hear rumors that the grievance settlement involves former girls basketball coach Liz Hrodey.  Settlement?  Sounds like the checkbook is coming out!

And then in the 2nd part of our doubleheader, comes none other than Tim Culver's double genie wish list of 6 contract proposals.  Keep that checkbook warmed up!

Tim the Builder

Dear SP-EYE,

I was thinking of a good analogy for the current school district situation, and remembered an article I read back around the time of the referendum vote about Dr. Culver and his hardhat collection.

Sun Prairie Votes for New High School (NBC15.com)

Culver has a hard hat for each school groundbreaking he's presided over. He's hoping [this] vote will allow him to add to the collection, this time for a long awaited new high school.

It didn’t really mean much to me at the time, but as I see the administration’s priorities in spending I have found it to be good place to start thinking.

I was at a school board meeting a year or so ago when a man got up during public comment and said that the district seemed to be spending on a lot of projects and administration and talking less about educating the children. We hear all the time about the new building or program or computers, but not as much on what our kids are really learning. I guess that you don’t get your name on a brass plaque for producing smarter kids, better teachers, or a better learning environment like you do for a new building. Which brings me to the hard hats.

Who do you suppose paid for the hard hats? I don’t know how many there are, but in Dr. Culver’s tenure he has probably swung the gold shovel 4 or 5 times at least. Are these ANSI Z89.1 and OSHA 1910 certified, or just whatever came in the Bob the Builder playset (ed: hey, free saw that makes real cutting sounds). I’ve worn a hardhat to work for years, and I know that they are not terribly expensive. If you are not looking for comfort you can get by for about ten bucks or so. Since these groundbreakings don’t last terribly long, I could see where Tim the Builder could get by on el cheapo. No sweatband insert, no accessory slots to accept hearing protectors, no screens and no chinstrap attachments. All this would just mess up the hair for the post-dig photo-op anyway.

Ten bucks times 4 is $40 dollars, a pittance over this many years, but I wonder if it ever occurred to Tim the Builder that if he reused his last hardhat he could put another book in the library or buy nutritious meals for a couple of kids at lunch that day. I’m sure he didn’t work hard enough at the groundbreaking to wear one out, and though I’ve had some that started to stink I have never known one to spoil with age. No, reusing a hardhat would be the thought of a Tim the Educator.

The big point I’d like to make is that there are a lot of guys and gals in the Sun Prairie School District who are at work before Dr. Culver is out of bed and who put on a hardhat every day to make a better life for their families. Part of this is getting the best possible education for their kids so that their kids don’t have to spend their life under a hardhat unless that is really what they want to do (Like Bob the Builder). Another part is coming up with the property tax money to keep a roof over their head. The district should respect that struggle.

The focus should be on educating the children and not on anything else we tend to think of as an “accomplishment”. The building is just to keep the rain off kids so that they can focus on learning, and it would reflect better if the space on the hardhat shelf were filled with news clippings of Sun Prairie students who are National Merit Scholars or receive national or state accolades in academics or student organizations. Collecting those clippings can be as addicting as collecting AO Smith’s finest yellow plastic and it will help leep our eye on the ball.

One hardhat is good enough for Bob the Builder, and he is a movie star. Then again, his focus is more on educating children and less on collecting trophies.

Paul the Plumber

Budget Whoas!

From yet another "long time listener, first time caller". Gee...anyone get the idea that a lot of people were less than pleased with information received from the recent budget hearing as well as how the meeting itself was (mis)handled?
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I regrettably was unable to attend the budget meeting on May 20, 2010, but I did attend the voting meeting last October. I have just now gotten the opportunity to review the presentation by Dr. Culver, Phil Frei, and Jim McCourt. Perhaps I missed something in the translation by skipping the song and dance and just reading the script, but it did allow me to focus on those things that they felt were important enough to write down. A few quotes caught my eye:

...Is $900,000 under the state-imposed revenue cap!!

Excellent data point, and the only bullet in the entire presentation to be awarded the coveted second exclamation point. This is obviously the point that they are going to emphasize. This will make up what in advertising parlance is known as the theme, in auto sales parlance as the sticker price, and in other sales circles as the elemental tactic of “showing high”.

This is the benchmark from which all discussions should be started. Don’t ask us what the car costs or is worth, ask us what number has been hung on it and we can work our way down from there. That number has been set by the manufacturer, in a manner that may be more or less arbitrary than the levy cap set by the state. That is not the way to approach a budget. The public is not terribly interested in what you don’t intend to do, but rather what you do intend to do.

Let me suggest a more honest way of approaching this issue. Instead of celebrating the money you are NOT asking to spend, work your way up from the bottom by justifying the money you ARE asking to spend. I personally don’t care what the state revenue cap is unless it becomes a referendum issue. I am not favorably impressed by the man who steals my wallet, spends the money on hookers and lottery tickets, and then comes back to me bragging that he did NOT steal my watch too. Let the man ask for help to get a meal and an education, show me that the money is going for that, and I will gladly help him.

Current budget contains a 7.8% increase; mostly due to the “rebound” effect of last year’s Annual Meeting vote.

Laughable. This is like a child saying that there is no change from the twenty because the “rebound” effect of seeing a movie is popcorn and a drink.

The current budget contains a 7.8% increase because that is the amount of money the administration is proposing to spend this year. They might be proposing to spend it this year because they were not allowed to spend it last year, but this isn’t a rebound anything. Since they seem to understand basketball analogies, let me give them one that really describes the situation.

After time ran out we did not have the points we wanted, so we are going to try to come out in the second game and score enough points to make up the difference. Our only other option is to play defense (reduce spending) so that we do not have to score as many total points, but we want to be the Michael Redd[1] of school districts and score, score, score!!! My analogy fails. So does theirs.

If the tax levy had not been lowered by the $2M last year, this year’s increase would be 1.6%.

This is the administration’s way of saying “if you had given us more money, we would have spent the same or a lesser amount of money”. Anyone who believes that can take a look at the discussion of what to do with the “leftover” referendum money. They are like a pig on full feed—the only way to stop them is to load them on the truck. That’s what happened last October.

The message from the voter’s meeting was that those present thought that the school district spends too much money. This message was either not received or not believed. Had it been, the board and administration would have been making a greater effort to spend wisely and in a way that the public can understand and agree with.

The message that the board and administration DID receive was that they need different voters and had better work to that end. They may be right, and they may get enough free spenders to carry the day next October. If they are wrong, however, they are doubling down on a losing hand by not taking the concerns of ALL members of the community seriously. They will have hurt their credibility to the point where citizens who want to do the right thing will not trust them to carry it out. And those citizens will quit buying feed.

---

[1] G: MICHAEL REDD, Milwaukee Bucks.
-Possibly pound-for-pound, minute-for-minute the worst defensive player in the NBA on sheer talent and effort. For instance, last year he had a mere 13 blocked shots and 65 steals in 2,702 minutes

"Hungry" Reader Writes About the Expanding Budget Wasteline

OK...pun most definitely intended. A reader identified as "the Thin Man" offers the following take on the ever expanding budget and the commenter who feels that "just forgoing 2 pizzas a month" is worth the price.


I'm finally catching up on my "light "reading and I thought I'd comment on the young woman's remarks about forgoing a couple of pizza's. I've lived here long enough to tell her that...

• I had to forgo four large pizzas a month when we built the two new middle schools,
• then I had to forgo another large pizza when we built Horizon,
• then I had to forgo another large pizza when we built Creekside,
• Now I'm forgoing four large pizzas for the new High School,and
• I'm forgoing two large pizzas for the upgrade of the Upper Middle School,and
• I gave up my bread sticks for the Pool.

As you can see I'm starting to get pretty damn hungry so I don't need to sacrifice any more "FOR THE CHILDREN." I guess if anyone could convince me that our children are getting a better education for all my pizzas I could live with our spending, but I guarantee you that the quality of education has gone down in the last ten years yet we continue to throw more money at it. Our test scores are not comparable to other districts our size and we are a laughing stock among Dane County schools. At least my weight is down but my blood pressure is off the charts.

WAKE UP SUN PRAIRIE !!!!!

Sincerely,
the Thin Man

SP-EYE Note: We couldn't agree more. We've become a renowned sports district, but we're growing very few scholars and far between. We're hungry too. Maybe we can live without pizza and bread sticks, but when we lose our Cinna Stix, THAT is the last straw. We're mad as hell. Throw open your windows, Sun Prairians and scream at the top of your lungs, "We're mad as hell...and we're not gonna take it anymore". Then come to a budget hearing...and tell the school board.

Fetterly Decisions McCourt

One of our friendly neighborhood community residents provided this summary of the McCourt-Fetterly tiff at Monday night's schoolboard meeting:

Things got a little heated at the school board meeting when concerned citizen and junkyard spending dog Roger Fetterly accused the administration of running a “shadow government”, and trying to limit the community budget meetings to the inner circle of true levy-and-spend believers. Mr. Fetterly’s characterization of the…hmmm…shall we say…”targeted marketing effort” of the administration’s budget meeting enterprise elicited an admonition from President Whalen to sit down and be quiet and the honest-to-goodness “crap” word from the ordinarily mild-mannered and jovial Mr. McCourt. A couple of observations:

First, I think that it is all that the board and administration can do to run the government they have, let alone figure out how to run a “shadow” government. That said, the structure of the meetings and notices appears to be geared toward increased participation by people likely to support large levies and program expansion.

The administration understands that the taxpayer meeting did not go their way last October. They understand that the financial situation for the district and the average resident of the district is not better this year than last, and in fact is worse. They understand that they need a game-changer if they are to have any hope of outnumbering the shortsighted child-hating rubes that showed up last year to ruin their party.

That game-changer needs to come in the form of rallying the troops. They can count on most teachers and district employees and their spouses to help carry the day, and that has been borne out by the participation of teachers at the first budget meeting. But the numbers of those on the outside are significant, and the dark child-hating forces of Mordor may be building their army too.

Second, shortly after delivering the double-heapin’-helpin’ of sanctimony on Fetterly, the one who would dare question the body’s openness, they proceeded to go into a closed session. A closed session that had to be rescheduled because they did not adequately inform the public the first time. A closed session to discuss secret reasons for reversing a spending decision that was made publicly. A closed session that likely discussed a number of matters that were entirely inappropriate for closed session. The notice said that the reason for closed session was to go into closed session to consider the employment and compensation of a specific applicant for the position of Aquatics Facility Manager. The qualifications of the applicant are appropriate for closed session. The employment and compensation of the position is not. Salaries are public record, and if this position justifies a higher salaries, such discussion should be had in the sunlight.

Short version: “Sit down and shut up Roger, we are the most open and accountable school board ever. Now if you’ll excuse us, we need to talk amongst ourselves and you are not invited.”

Solid Comic Gold—You can’t make this stuff up, people.

The takeaway from the Fetterly spat is that the board is of the opinion that there are two kinds of people in the community,

• those who will give them any levy they ask for, and


• those who want the school kids on work farms during study hall to pay the bills so that they can have that property tax bill that approached zero.

There is no use in attempting simple communication with the savages in the second group because they cannot converse on our level anyway.

The board and administration are wrong. There is a third type. There are those in the community who do not mind paying for a good education system so long as the district is open with regard to how and why the money is being spent and that the money is being spent in a responsible manner. By the time October rolls around we will have been barraged with midterm election ads and the community will be in tune politically. These people just might show up, and in numbers that could make a difference.

When that happens, the district will need to convince them that they are wise stewards of the public purse. This will be difficult to do with some of the expenditures and practices of the last year.