This Cat's Outta The Bag

Those listening carefully at the Monday Nov. 14th school board meeting would have learned all they needed to know about the district's push for Mandarin Chinese.

The good Dr. Culver reported that he had a magnificent time in China and noted that other school istracts brought a large contingent with them--including...wait for it.....SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS!

Dr. Culver then suggested that "next year" we should bring a group of people.  Hmmm....does the "we" include a return engagement for him?  We're wondering how long it took Jim McCourt to ponder whether he could postpone his big business deal for at least another year so that he could be one of those school board members to get a trip to China for peanuts.

"Other school districts brought a whole contingent, including school board members [to China]."
--SPASD District Administrator Tim Culver

Clearly, there's much more to this China deal than just adding Chinese I.

Letters - Monte Couch: "Sue the School Board!"

We thought we'd seen the last of Monte Couch.  But nooooooooooo!  He's baaaa-aaack!  He just can't get enough of what SP-EYE has to offer.


Honestly...we don't get it.  If he wants so badly to sue the board..or do "something", why isn't HE doing it.  Or perhaps getting his two new board buddies in line?

Monte...round 1
In which Monte suggests that we sue the entire school board because Whalen took action which Couch believes to violate policy.  Note that we agree Whalen over-stepped his authority.  But he and the board violate policy all the time.  What makes this instance any different.  And does anyone really think that a judge is going to care about the animal cracker antics of our school board?   This supposed lawsuit is a dog and that dog don't hunt.   Besides...who has that kinda of disposable income  other than the $100K club?


Monte Couch to SP-EYE
10-10-2011 1:55pm
School District Policies have been upheld by court decisions, that is considered to have the force of law. Instead of continued wailing about Whalen's Actions on the China Trips, get a few bucks together and take [sic] ther board to court.

Reference: [sic] Poliocy BAAR\A\2:
" Board members will govern only when meeting as the Board in legal session. Individually, Board members cannot make commitments for the Board on pending or outstanding issues.."
monte couch

In which Mr. Couch schools us on legal authority. 
Monte Couch to SP-EYE
10-11-2011 10:30AM


Why sue the school board instead of Whalen about the china trip? Because the board members have evidently allowed Whalen to usurp their responsibility and authority and there is a state statute and case law on that subject. So it seems to me there are 2 legal [sic] basis for forcing a change, that is forcing the board to follow the rules. . To sue because we don't like a decision made, ( ie going to china ) I do not think would fly. Forcing the Board to follow the rules, could result in canceling Whalen's actions and forcing board action which might end up with the board turning down the whole deal.
monte couch

Monte round 3
....bringing Editor Chris Mertes and school board members Jim McCourt into the fray. 

"Always two there are...
a master and an apprentice."

 Hmm....why not the other 5?  More to the point...ever notice how Mr. Couch tends to cozy up with two board members?  Most recently it was Stackhouse and Slane.  Then those two departed.  Now it seems that he has glommed onto McCourt and Shimek.  Hmmm...we wonder which one is the master and which is the apprentice.
Caps lock is now on. He's e-YELLING now. 
He apparently didn't like our suggestion that he sue the board if he was so inclined.  OK...there might have been a little more than that. :-) The bear has most definitely been poked.  Monte calling us out.  Labeling us "weak". Oooooh. 

Monte Couch to SP-EYE, James [McCourt], Editor[ Mertes], Terry [Shimek]


10-12-2011 7:25PM


AS TO YOUR SUGGESTION, I DID "get a few bucks together" SEVERAL YEARS AGO, SPENT ABOUT $18,000.00 TO GAIN ACCESS TO SCHOOL DISTRICT FINANCIAL RECORDS IN COMPUTER FORMAT. THAT ACTION BENEFITED NOT ONLY SOME IN DANE COUNTRY BUT A SURPRISING NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN OTHER PARTS OF THE STATE..


WHAT YOU TERM MY "LEGAL ANALYSIS" IS DEAD WRONG.I DID NOT OFFER ANY LEGAL ANALYSIS, SIMPLY RESPONDED TO YOUR CONTINUED "CONCERN"? ABOUT SPENDING MONEY ON TIMOTHY'S CHINA EXPEDITION.


MY FIRST MESSAGE TO YOU WAS ABOUT FORCING THE BOARD AND WHALEN TO FOLLOW THE DISTRICT POLICIES AS THEY RELATED TO THE REQUIREMENT THAT NO SINGLE BOARD MEMBER CAN MAKE AND ACT ON HIS OR HER PERSONAL DECISIONS, IT TAKES A VOTE BY THE BOARD.

THERE ARE ALWAYS READILY AVAILABLE REASONS FOR NOT TAKING action but to keep on "talking" AND PUBLISHING, showing "concern" about taxpayers picking up defense fees SEEMS WEAK TO ME. I ask you, when do you stop just "talking" and bring about some specific needed changes?


School Boards exist only because of legal actions. They were created starting with the State Constitution. People should know that, and realize their ability to bring about real change as opposed to talking about it, is not limited to the election process.

And your stand is that the only acceptable reason not to study, understand and make sure the statutes guarding and guiding school board responsibilities are being followed is: "it might cost money?". IT ALSO TAKES A LOT OF TIME AND STUDY, AS OPPOSED TO SIMPLY PUBLISHING COMMENTS, OPINIONS ABOUT SOME SITUATION.

I HAVE BELIEVED FOR YEARS IF SCHOOL BOARDS FOLLOW POLICIES AND STATUES, TAXPAYER COSTS WOULD BRING BETTER BANG FOR THE BUCK.
monte couch

Monte...round 4
Hey...we need editorial review! Wanna guess who's looking for the job?
What Mr. Couch doesn't get is that we DO pay for any legal defense for board members. Who exactly do you think pays those premiums, Monte? And there are always "clauses" that exempt claims.  We think we'd rather invest our money with Bernie Madoff.  May we suggest that you exercise caution when using broad statements (or any statements) which cannot be supported by facts? 

Monte to SP-EYE, Editor, Jim[McCourt], Terry [Shimek]


10-14-2011 7:40am


...One problem I have had with your publications has been the lack of careful use of broad statements which can not be supported by the facts. Such statements make what you write sound authentic and impressive but when checked out fall short of supporting what you write.

For example, you wrote "After all, we'd be suing the taxpayers, who would be picking up the tab for any defense fees." Fact is, the district taxpayers pay each year, an insurance premium for insurance to cover defense fees among other expenses covered by the policy. Starting a suit to force the board to follow the rules, would not increase costs to the taxpayers for fees to defend, we already pay each year, insurance premiums to that end. Having been on the finance committee I would have thought you would know that is part of the annual budget..


As I have said before, you have an ability to dig out interesting info and some details, but you need the kind of help editorial review could offer before you hit the "print" button.

 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

pressing "PRINT" now...

The China Syndrome? Here? In Sun Prairie?

Someone PLEASE explain to us the fascination the district (or a portion thereof) has with the need for Mandarin Chinese in the curriculum!

We hear the argument, "China is the second largest country by size and most populous--and therefore the ability to speak Chinese will ultimately have value".
Right.  And property values always rise.  And 100-year storms only occur once in one hundred years.
There is also truth to the fact that in European countries, most people speak multiple languages.  True.  But in Europe, driving to another country is like driving to Chicago.  We teach French and Spanish in this country because we have neighbors to the north and south that use these languages.  If some massive tsunami managed to moved China closer, perhaps then there would be a need.

People!  The generally recognized international language in the business world remains:  ENGLISH.
Further, the United Nations has declared 6 languages to be  "official" languages, but only English and French are considered to be working languages.  The 6 languages, in alphabetical order, are:  Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish.

How much is this going to cost?  And where is it budgeted?
How much will this quiet movement to develop a Chinese language program cost?  And shouldn't the decision to offer it be APPROVED before we go and spend all this money travelling and what not?  Somewhere in the 3.5% tax levy increase wethinks there is a lot of cash squirreled away to spend on these costs.  Why?  Who's in charge?  Tim Culver?  The school board?  The taxpayers?

Why are we sending all even ONE individual to China?  And what's the eventual payback?
When we started a French language program (curriculum), did we send the District Administrator and high school principal to Paris for a week?  What about for Spanish?  Trips to Barcelona? Madrid? Mexico?
And wouldn't the true value be obtained by the teachers that will actually be teaching the language and culture?  And what is China getting in return?  And what will THAT cost?

Tim Culver and Phil Frei want to know why the community distrusts them and won't call them directly when they have issues.  Here is the answer:  because people have no trust when leaders (in title) spend money frivolously and do things behind closed doors.  When the checks have been cut, it's too late for anyone to say, Hey!  Wait a minute here."

Is this just yet another passing fad?
There's some good information in the following link:
http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/07/will-americans-really-learn-chinese/

http://www.gocomics.com/jeffdanziger/2010/04/20

It seems clear that it is a monumental challenge for someone to learn Chinese during high school (and that's only 3 years in Sun Prairie).  All experts agree that IF one is to successfully learn one of the world's most difficult languages with its thousands of characters (the good news is that learning only about 3,000 characters is enough to get one around) and multiple intonations, it must be learned in elementary school (or befoire).  Hmmmmm...remember Culver's deep desire to establish such a program?  One can only assume that the language program --which has not been discussed publicly---will be incorporated at the high school level because we're sending high school principal Lisa Heipp to China.  But maybe that's not the plan.  Maybe she's just the lucky/special administrator that gets picked to go???

The bottom line
If this were some hoity toity private school district, by all means, you could spend the fat cat monies any way you choose.  You could develop language programs for every own language if you please.
But it's not.  This is a public, taxpayer funded school district.  And the economy is killing people that earn only a small fraction of what the Sun Prairie decision-makers are earning.  They don't feel the pain.  And their spending habits only serve to further ravage a gaping wound.

Read more about the China School Administrator Shadowing Project (in which we are obviously participating):
http://www.thechinaexchangeinitiative.org/other-projects