Tryin' To Reason With the Hurricane Season

(with copious apologies to Jimmy Buffett)

And the award for the Most Confoundedly Enigmatic School Board Member goes to....Caren Diedrich!

In April, she won re-election by receiving nearly 2000 votes, leapfrogging Al Slane by more than 300 votes. This event blew many in the community away. "How could she have been elected over Al Slane, who appeared to be coming into his own as a board member?", many asked...and are still asking.

Here is just a sampling of our too many termed school board member's antics.

Is This Compliant With Political Sign Ordnances?

We have two reported sightings of Diedrich walking about within the community wearing an "Elect Caren Diedrich" t-shirt prior to the April 2010 Election. The aformentioned residents have been duly flogged for not thinking to snap a cell phone pic.

Going Walkabout

This past Monday, Ms. Diedrich attended the FTT Committee's tour of the "Prairie Phoenix Academy"and then proceeded to go walkabout----disappearing in the middle of the tour without saying a word and walking from the to the Municipal Building. WTF?

No Kit Kat Bars for You!

By God after hearing a report that employees were now receiving granola bars on their birthdays instead of KitKat bars, she checked to be sure that employees are not getting either! Diedrich has now successfully wrestled the crown of Birthday Treat Nazi from Rick Mealy.

The Case of the Stinky Smoking Coffee Maker

After clearly being on the wrong end of a Finance Committee 'unofficial' vote to recommend discontinuing personal appliance fees, Diedrich tossed a 'Hail Mary' and requested that the issue be moved to the FTT Committee to review the safety hazard of these personal appliances being left on over the weekend. Hello! Does she really think that having to pay an appliance fee has ANY relationship to remembering to turn said appliances off at night and over the weekend???

Battling against the second Police Liaison Officer (PLO)

Diedrich clearly wasn't pleased with the board's decision to hire a second Police Liaison Officer a year earlier than planned. She was clearly fuming. To make her point, when the official contract came before the board this week, she pored over that contract with a fine-toothed magnifying lens. Perhaps hoping to sway the board to reconsider their decision, or at least serve as a fly in the ointment, Diedrich asked:

---are we paying the PLO for snow days [Yes]

---we're providing the officer with an office? a computer? a phone? [Yes...did you want him to sit in the hallway and pass notes?]

---Does he need a desk phone AND a cell phone [um...YES]

---if the PLO is called away on another police emergency, are we still charged for that time? [Yes...but seriously...how often does that occur?]

---Do we have liability insurance to cover the PLO? We have someone in the schools who has a gun on his hip. [Yes...um...hello...we have for years]

Going Off the Deep End Debacle - the Pool Manager Fiasco

Many are still wondering how we hired a Pool Manager for $51,250 per year ( Yes...a POOL Manager for that amount!) after the school board voted in open session (4-3) to set the salary at $40,000. Well...

Initially Caren Diedrich was on the majority side of a 5-2 public vote to reduce the Pool manager salary to $40,000 (Admin requested $45,000+). Then the closed door sessions began, and by a vote of 4-3, we're told by several community members(who must be talking to board members!) , the board agreed to increase the salary range. It is reported that Caren Diedrich was 1 of 2 board members to flip her vote from the public session. [ Geee...nothing like publicly looking like a fiscal conservative to the taxpayers that elected you , only to flipflop behind closed doors and outside the public eye!] But it doesn't end there!

Remember that there was ANOTHER closed door session called? Reports from multiple sources indicate that Diedrich requested a meeting because she had "changed her mind and wanted to change her vote". Of course what wasn't said (that we know of) was that Diedrich, being the swing vote, essentially held the board hostage because if she changed her vote at the open meeting and voted AGAINST hiring the Pool Manager, the board and district would look really, really, really wacky.

So...in the end...what happens? Diedrich fully votes to hire the Pool Manager at a salary over 25% HIGHER than what she originally voted! This has got open records request written all over it. The truth WILL come out!

.......................................................

We're wondering which version of Ms. Diedrich will manifest itself when raises for Administration are discussed at the board table (or behind closed doors) and Administration Support raises go through her HR committee.

Never a dull moment. Trying to make sense of Ms. Diedrich's actions is like trying to reason with the hurricane season. Batten down the hatches for 3 more years of this.

And now I must confess,

I could use some rest.

I can't run at this pace very long.

Yes, it's quite insane,

I think it hurts my brain.

But it cleans me out and then I can go on.

--Jimmy Buffet: "Trying to Reason With the Hurricane Season"

Second Verse...Same as the First

We received this from a resident who either attended or caught the video re-run of the recent budget hearing held on June 21st. Enjoy.

........................

All indications are that the district spent this year doing the same thing they did last year—motivating the “wrong” people to show up to the October meeting. Between now and October it appears that they will overpay for a pool manager. Though it is difficult for most people to evaluate the wisdom of most expenditures made by the district, each of us has a pretty good idea of what a pool manager should make. If someone really cares, they could do a job search and find out what pool managers are making these days.

What they would find is that Milwaukee YMCA is hiring a manager for aquatic facilities at 2 locations, with a budget of more than a half million dollars and responsibility to about 10,000 members. They are hiring this individual in the $38k-44k range. Further searches show that that is about average nationwide for the position (a position less complicated than the one we need to fill).

On June 14th, the school board unanimously approved spending $51,250

to fill a pool manager position that pays 20% less everywhere else in the world. Since this is a number that is pretty easy to evaluate, it serves as a proxy for how smart they are being with our money. If they are being that careless with that money, they are probably overpaying other places too. Actions like this will make the October meeting a tough one for board members.

................................

SP-EYE's take. We agree with what this resident presents. However, one teensey weensy little fact makes up for the apparent discrepancy in the hiring salary. You see...our Pool Manager (sorry...we're not falling for the touchy feely, use-big-words-to-justify-an-exorbitant-salary trick) will be an employee of a school district (ours). School districts are the Exxon-Mobils of the education game. Recession proof. Big Pay. Oh... and the CEOs cost us a fortune.

School Board Facepalm

You know it's bad when despite all meetings being held in closed session, we've heard the precise details of the Pool Manager hiring process from nearly a dozen community members. How could they know? NOTHING has been publicly announced!

And to prove it, we thought we'd post this BEFORE the school board package gets posted tomorrow. Check out the Personnel table.

We know WHO was hired. (hint: Middleton had a pool manager).

We know WHEN the offer was made....and when it was accepted.

We know HOW MUCH the offer was for (less than $51,001; more than $49,999).

We know that Terry Shimek is no longer the Flip Flop king.

We know that the actual decisions were made during the 1st closed session.

Somebody (or bodies) is (are) talking outside of school!

Welcome to Sun Prairie, sir.

Did we mention that Family Circle named us one of the top 5 places for families?

Houston, we have a Pool Manager

...or so we're told by a community member who appears to be "in the know".
Word is that the offer was made and accepted this past Monday.

" The job was offered at a very high salary originally, but the second closed session was due to Caren Diedrich flipping her vote and [the Board] did not want it to be offered and then pulled when it came to open session. Not sure where the offer ended up. "
---The Cigarette Smoking Man

Assuming our source has good information, we're wondering if all the school board members are aware of this update. Apparently, at least SOME of the school board members know...for how else would a community member know?

Also interesting is that this indicates that Caren Diedrich was effectively the "swing vote", which means that the original votes was 4-3. Hmmm...the board member who claims to be a staunchly fiscal conservative? Wonder which way she voted???? Oh wait...she most have voted BOTH ways.

Oops, They Did It Again...

So many possibilities for title to this entry:

• WTF!
• Here They Go (Yet) Again
• Everybody (Back) Into the Pool (Manager)

What's the hub you ask bub?
How could anyone forget the shenanigans associated with the hiring/compensation of the Aquatics Facility [Pool] Manager?

Well...after the board met in closed session Monday night...and presumably came to some conclusion...they're doing it all over again tomorrow (Thurs May 27) nite!



So...what happened Monday? It has been eerily quiet.
We know the board met. We suspect decisions were made and actions taken.
Then why the need for ANOTHER closed session for the SAME purpose as Monday night?

Do they just enjoy those backroom, closed sessions so much that they're doing it all over again?
Did the person they tried to hire decline the job?
Was it STILL not enough money (after they presumably upped the ante)?

We can't wait to hear the results of all this.
You just KNOW it's gonna be a gigglefest.
Perhaps the Dark Forces of Mordor should hang out for this session tomorrow night...

Did anyone notice...
That the "Notice" was sent by Culver for "psoting" on Tuesday...but wasn't sent to Key Communicators until 24 hours later? WTF!
And what that means is whatever happened Monday night...they knew fairly quickly Tuesday that something else had to happen and another meeting was needed.

Ours's a tale that can't be told,
Open government we hold dear;
How years ago in days of old
Since shenanigans filled the air,
T'was in the darkest depths of Mordor
we cherished transparency so fair.
But Seabass, and the evil one crept up
And slipped away with her.
---all apologies to Led Zeppelin for fracturing their classic "Ramble On"