Looks like Josh make a smart move:Three members of the Lebanon School Board gathered for a special meeting Thursday before the regular meeting of the school district's budget committee to revisit the district's recommendation to hire the two. Vice Chairman Josh Wineteer made the motion to hire both and Chairwoman Sherrie Sprenger and board member Chris Fisher joined him in voting yes.
This is a much quicker turnaround on one of their mistakes than usual, thought it's interesting that neither Rick nor Debi showed up. Rick I can see - he seems to avoid admitting to mistakes. Debi... well, my guess is that she didn't want to take the heat for a bad decision and is laying low for the moment.
Friday, May 16, 2008
[LCSD] Board hires two administrators
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From the Lebanon Express story..
Later, in an e-mail to Sprenger criticizing the chair's handling of the matter - obtained through a public records request - Shimmin described Kelley and Superintendent Jim Robinson as insubordinate.
“... I feel to a certain degree Sherrie that you exacerbate the situation because you often agree with them, and you allow them to argue with us,” Shimmin wrote. “You don't protect me when you allow them to bully me. I need you to support me in my right to vote any way I choose without fear of public rebuke.”
What do you think of that email from Debi to Sherrie?????
First of all you ask "what do you think of that email from Debi to Sherry?????" I remind you that once again the LE has taken only a small portion of the email. I have read the email from Debi to Sherry, and the quotes in the paper are as usual innaccurate and incomplete.
Another example of the irresponsible reporting that we the citizens of Lebanon have to endure.
I think the statement made by Debi Shimmin as quoted in the email in the Lebanon Express is completely reasonable. How about that?
Anon @ 12:45... if you've read the email, can you send me a copy?
Just asking =)
Dennis you are more reasonable than most, but I can't send you a copy of the email without Debi's permission. But I can sum it up for you with a couple of direct word for word quotes.
From the original email here are the first couple of sentences...
"When I was first elected you told me that if I ever needed help to go to you first, with that said, I have some serious concerns about the professional conduct and decorum that is taking place at our board meetings. I am contacting you first and I am hoping you will be able to put a stop to this."
And a little farther down.......
"They (the assistant superintendant and superintendant)should not be allowed to berate us for a half hour on any issue before the board. Steve Kelley's speech at the end was insubordinate. He has no authority to make a speech to the board and not allow a member to respond. He has no right to tell me that I am supposed to tell him how I am going to vote before the meeting."
I believe that accurately sums up the email.
Thanks.... but you could always ask Debi if I can see it =)
I'll ask her if she will send it to you. What's your address.
rhetoricalwasteland [at] gmail.com
To Anonymous at 1:18 pm.
"When I was first elected you told me that if I ever needed help to go to you first, with that said, I have some serious concerns about the professional conduct and decorum that is taking place at our board meetings. I am contacting you first and I am hoping you will be able to put a stop to this."
Debi said I have serious concerns about the professional conduct and decorum that is taking place?????? Example talking with Josh and Rick about ways to surprise Sherrie, Chris and the administration before the board meetings???? Not giving Sherrie and Chris a chance to review anything that is presented by Josh or Rick but just vote? Chris asked her the last board meeting about the ammendment on the PIE contract if she was going to let Josh take her voice away by not requesting all the State statues listed on contract or even a copy of the original contract and what did she say??????? I call for the motion!!!! What kind of Board member is that??? The power has got to her head and she is the one berating other people at the meetings.
Have Chris ever ask for protection from Rick when he threating him at the meetings or better yet when Debi's friends send him threating letters??????
If you can't stand the heat Debi get out of the kitchen. She sounds like a little child crying because nobody wants to play with her. Welcome to politics Debi.
To Anonymous at 2:30
You're an angry person. Pro Law?
If you would read my post you will see that I am not defending anything Debi has done. Simply pointing out that we can't depend on our local newspaper for and accurate story.
You are defending her????? So let me see if I understand this, I am not defending Debi but I think the paper is not reporting the story correctly, but by the way I have a copy of her email???? How did you get a copy???
And by the way I am not angry, it is the double standard that bothers me.
Since we are on that subject of her email here are more parts I would like to comment on.
"He has no authority to make a speech to the board and not allow a member to respond. He has no right to tell me that I am supposed to tell him how I am going to vote before the meeting."
("He has no authority to make a speech to the board and not allow a member to respond"). When did Debi have the right to deny the administrations voice in discussing issues related to the school district??? What does she means about not allowing a member to respond? Did she let Jim have a saying or a respond before they voted to place him on administration leave??? Did they let Sherrie and Chris know that they were going to bring forth a contract written by Josh to bind the district for 5 years??? Should I go on???
("He has no right to tell me that I am supposed to tell him how I am going to vote before the meeting.") Oh the almight Debi, condensending statement.. he has no right? Just like how she told Sherrie and Chris you have no right to know what we are planning for tonights meeting??? You have no right Chris to question me about prior knowledge on the document before the meeting. You have no right Chris asking questions if any of the board members know any of the Oregon Statues listed on Josh's contract. By the way Sherrie, even though this is not listed as an action item for tonight's agenda and we did not ammend the agenda at the beginning of the meeting to list it as an action item we will just go ahead and make a motion to approve it because you know why???? You have no right I am Debi!!!!
Now she goes asking Sherrie to protect her after she poke her in the eye?
“You don't protect me when you allow them to bully me. I need you to support me in my right to vote any way I choose without fear of public rebuke.”
Wow.. from a lady that does not even think of Sherrie and Chris when she makes secret plans with Rick and Josh.
I am just sick to my stomach...
"When I was first elected you told me that if I ever needed help to go to you first, with that said, I have some serious concerns about the professional conduct and decorum that is taking place at our board meetings. I am contacting you first and I am hoping you will be able to put a stop to this."
Assuming this is true, it sounds to me as if Debi is doing exactly the right thing in this situation: Seeking to solve the problem by seeing existing rules as she understands them enforced - i.e. Robert's Rules of Order.
Also bear in mind that she is most likely talking about a fairly narrow issue here: The fact that Robert's Rules of Order, which govern LCSD board meetings, do not allow for people to speak out of turn, which she certainly feels like Kelley did. I suspect that is what she is referring to - remember that Sprenger has, on multiple occasions, prevented the LEA President from speaking out of turn. In this sense, Kelley and Kim should not be treated differently under the prevailing law, and Debi is almost certainly right in calling out Sprenger and Kelley for what happened - Kelley for talking out of turn and Sprenger for letting it happen.
The fact that others may see Debi's behavior as unprofessional at times does not obviate any claims she is making about the behavior of others, such as Steve Kelley. It might make her a hypocrite in the eyes of many, but it does not, in and of itself, invalidate her claims.
We would do well to remember that for the most part, everyone is simply doing the best they can with what knowledge and experience they have. Disagreements will happen, and they will be real, and they will threaten to hurt and offend us personally, but they will, more often than not, ultimately be rooted in genuine disagreements about what the future should look like and not in mere disagreements about process or personality.
Dennis I was there... Steve Kelley was not speaking out of order. He had the floor to plead the administrations case on hiring the two administration. He was not taking directly to Debi. He was addressing the board as a whole and his disappointment inviting the two ladies there just to be humilated by their grand standing.
Kim on the other hand is not part of the administration team. She is just like everyone in the audience. In this case should we give her then a special seat at the administration table??? The administration is to answer to the board. At meetings the chair person will always refer to the superintendent to clarify certain events or issues. That is their job. The board hired the Superintendent to answer and respond at anytime. The board did not hire Kim directly so I beg the difference in you comparison.
(Also bear in mind that she is most likely talking about a fairly narrow issue here: The fact that Robert's Rules of Order, which govern LCSD board meetings, do not allow for people to speak out of turn, which she certainly feels like Kelley did.)
By the way, right after the motion died with no second Debi told Jim that she does not like to be lied to?? Wow... I believed she berated the Superintendent infront of everyone right there on the spot by not telling her durning their lunch hours who were applying for the job. She did not ask the chair for a chance to speak she just spoke.
Look Dennis, I am voicing my disappointment because Debi does not follow what she preach. (Do unto others what you want others to do unto you) She always say things about needing time to review documents required by the district to be in compliance with Federal and State Laws. And the district including Sherrie and Chris will grant her that wish and put it off until the next meeting but when it comes to documents or any issues that Rick and Josh brings up without Sherrie, Chris and the administration knowing she does not give them an chance. She either just sits there and say nothing or she will side with Rick and Josh.
So any of her sad story will not change the way I see her and I am very sorry I voted and campaign for her.
Anon @ 5:15, I stand corrected. I was not there.
First anon: your quotes from Debi's email are in addition to what appeared in the Lebanon paper? Or you're saying they made something up?
Can't say your additional parts of the email make Debi sound any more professional.
It was a horrible board meeting. Several meetings before someone requested they move public comments to after the consent to the agenda so the public could comment on amendments as well. Josh said the comment period used to be after the meeting was over and he was the one responsible for getting them moved to before the meeting and didn't want to see them moved any further down the agenda. It left people with the impression he had no desire to be transparent since he and Rick are known for popping amendments in at almost every meeting despite Sherrie and Chris repeatedly requesting they call and have them added to the agenda ahead of time so the public can comment.
When they got to the discussion item about charter school negotiations Josh stood up and said he had been "threatening" to do this and now he was going to do it. He passed out the contract he had written to the other board members. He did not even give a copy to Jim or the press until Jim asked for it. Sherrie was stunned and made it very clear she had no prior knowledge about the contract and asked the others if they had. Then Josh said he didn't believe in holding people accountable (not his exact words, he might have said punish) if they broke a contract and thought instead you should hold a carrot in front of them to encourage them to honor the contract. So he intended to give them more money if they didn't break the contract again and the same amount if they did break it. He then asked the motion to be the following: and read the two page contract. Normally there is a discussion period after the motion is seconded. Sherrie and Chris were pointing out the finance director and attorney should have a chance to tell them how much it would cost and the legal consequences. Josh did not offer up the dollar amount it would cost. Jim knew and began to explain and Josh started swirling his hand in a "hurry up" motion to Rick and Debi and they approved it with no further questions. The audience was quickly going from stunned to furious. When Jim explained what they had done Debi made a friendly amendment to freeze the enrollment of the charter school to the present number of 298. Jim said the present number is 280 and she changed it to cap the enrollment to 280. She actually saved the district hundreds of thousands of dollars by doing that. Josh's original contract had increased the percentage to 85% and allowed them to increase enrollment by 18 kids every year for 5 years.
Things got worse as they moved down the agenda. Steve explained because of budget cuts they were only hiring 2 more high school administrators instead of 3. and Rick said how could he approve them when he hadn't even seen the applications? (he had just approved the hiring of two other people without seeing their applications) Josh said he wanted to wait until he saw the budget. (coming on the heels of making a motion to give hundreds of thousands of dollars to the charter school before seeing the budget) And the hiring committee and 2 principal candidates were sitting in the audience. Jim tried to explain how they were breaking his contract and Josh made a statement that in the long run will make this the most lucrative job Jim has ever had. It was just a horrible board meeting. At one point the audience erupted in applaud from a comment (the applaud was actually being disrespectful to Josh) and Sherrie slammed down the hammer and said NO! There was dead silence which showed the tremendous respect everyone has for Sherri.
Steve pleaded with the board, not Debi, to contact him in the future if they had concerns so he could remove it from the agenda to avoid what ended up happening. He certainly did not ask them to tell him how they were going to vote. I question her interpretation of the word insubordination. A workplace definition is: a refusal to follow a direct, valid work order -- The order must be clear, it must come from someone authorized to issue directives, and the employee must understand it as an order.
The bottom line is Rick, Josh and Debi gave most if not everyone in the room the impression they had colluded outside of the public eye on matters that were public. Whether they did or not, giving the appearance they did is bad board behavior. I hope we never have another board meeting like that one.
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