[LCSD] Numb From The Shock

No one said running a school was easy:

In an interview after the meeting, Alexander said, “What we need to do is give the charter school more money so they can hire more office help. They're trying to do too much with too little of funds.”

Welcome to public education, jackass. Now let me find something shiny to distract you before you break anything else...

I wonder if Rick voted for Measure 5?

Hey... is Rick advocating spending more money on central support? It sure sounds like it to me!

Ooohhhh... here's a good one:

Alexander said the superintendent is presenting “hypothetical” concerns as being real problems.

Asked if any of the issues raised in the 95-page document presented to the board on Dec. 3 concerned him, Alexander said he had not yet read the entire presentation.

Uh, Rick? Just because you don't know about them doesn't make them hypothetical. It makes you irresponsible.

He's had, what, 50+ days to read 100 pages? I was reading that much every night for a bit there.... and the Sand Ridge report is much, much easier than Habermas, though they both made me want to cry.

Rick gets all blue-collar on us:

Robinson told PIE leaders that he does not believe they are maintaining written policies required by state and federal laws. Asked which ones, he said it was PIE's responsibility to know what laws they need to follow.

“It bothered me that statement was even made,” Alexander said. “PIE is the subcontractor to the district. Just like on a construction site, the contractor is liable for the subs. To stay out of trouble you want to make sure the subcontractors are aware of all of the rules.”

“It's not the same kind of contract,” Robinson said. “It's between two separate entities. I don't know why they would want us doing that. They've always wanted to stay at arm's length.”

I get that Mr. Alexander was (is?) in construction, so that's where he's going to draw his analogy. But his analogy bombs here: The implication he makes is clearly that the LCSD - the "contractor" - is responsible for the behavior of the charter school - the "subcontractor."

That might be true, to an extent. Certainly the LCSD is liable to suffer along with the PIE schools if the DoE comes down hard. But Rick also implies that following the law is not the responsibility of PIE, and I have a huge problem with that. Parents with children in PIE schools should too.

Alexander, incidentally, also spends a lot of time and energy keeping the LCSD away from PIE's records and internal processes - which, if Alexander is to be believed, the LCSD somehow doesn't need access to in order to ensure (remember, it's the LCSD's responsibility) that PIE is following the law.

He's trying to have his cake and eat it too: All the money, none of the responsibility and none of the blame.

I wouldn't want him working on my house. Let's leave it at that.