Moving Forward – Sebring is Gone. The School Board is Not.

I filed a request with the Office of Citizens’ Aide/Ombudsman to investigate the 12:00 p.m., May 10 closed meeting of the Des Moines Public School Board. This is the link to the letter to the Ombudsman and this is the link to the attachments I included with the letter to the Ombudsman.

I contend the Des Moines Public School Board improperly went into closed session on May 10 to discuss political strategy on how to best handle the resignation of Nancy Sebring.

In the minutes, hours and days following the meeting, the board president and District officials misled the public to why Sebring resigned. They have subsequently said they did so because the truth would come out eventually. It is not up to public officials or employees to decide when and how the truth surfaces.

As interim superintendent, Thomas Ahart should make every effort to end the controversy surrounding this matter. He should rescind his request for a closed meeting and the School Board should release the recording of the entire session as soon as possible.

Should Mr. Ahart refuse to rescind his request, all portions of the meeting should be made public that do not involve Thomas Ahart’s performance, appointment, hiring or discharge. The public has a right to evaluate the matter free of the changing filters established by self-interested board members and DMPS employees.

The quickest way to dispense with the swirling controversy Nancy Sebring left behind is to open all of the records. This would allow the public to reach an informed decision about how to best move our community forward.

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Graham Gillette can be reached at grahamgillette@gmail.com 
This entry was first published as a Des Moines Register online essay.

Des Moines School Board the Issue, Not Sebring’s Sexual Emails

Regardless if you were horrified, humored, sickened, disappointed or saddened by former Des Moines Schools superintendent Nancy Sebring’s salacious emails, don’t let the steam heat distract you from the worst of what these emails expose, the Des Moines School Board’s blind trust of the superintendent.

Nancy Sebring broke District policy by using school resources both on the clock and off for, let’s call it, juvenile electronic cavorting. Shame on her and, well, ew. Thankfully, she is gone.

The huffing and puffing by suddenly outraged school board members over these sexually explicit emails and how policy was broken with their transmission is a sloppily choreographed dance to avoid the real issue. Strike all of the sad bedroom talk found in these emails and we get a peek into Sebring’s unfettered and selfish leadership. This school board has been a fervent and breathless group of Sebring backers for the last six years, allowing Sebring to operate with little to no oversight.

Even the board’s handling of this matter shows their unwillingness to do the job they were elected to do. According to Teree Caldwell Johnson, the school board president, as soon as she knew the media was about to be given copies of the emails, Sebring resigned. The very next day the board went into closed session to discuss the matter anyway; something I maintain was in violation of Iowa law since Sebring was no longer an employee or being considered for a position. At the conclusion of the meeting the board president made a statement saying Dr. Sebring had decided to resign her position earlier than expected so she could focus on some personal matters – a kind of “there’s nothing dirty goin’ on” riff. We know now that this was not the case.

The board president was protecting Sebring even at the end by trying to downplay the matter. She was hoping this kerfuffle was going to go away for both Sebring and the board’s benefit. It has not and the board president was wrong to mislead the public.

The school board claims it did not want to violate the privacy of a legal personnel matter. Fair enough, but the board president’s statement was a bald face misrepresentation of why the meeting was called and what occurred. A simple, “Dr. Sebring has resigned and we have no further comment” would have sufficed. The board opted for the smoke and mirrors.

The really scurrilous stuff in the emails confirms a pattern of behavior the school board has rigorously denied and, at times, even defended as appropriate. One needs look no further than the charter school to see an example of Sebring’s active support of friends and relatives in Des Moines. Her willingness to dangle a job under her management in Omaha to her six-week lover proves beyond a doubt Sebring felt little shame in using public jobs to reward those who pleased her personally.

The emails also show Sebring was actively involved with the charter school. This had to be plainly obvious to the school board as it was conducting its own ‘thorough’ review of the failing school. If it wasn’t, one should wonder what exactly the board was reviewing.

It comes down to this, Nancy Sebring convinced the school board to edit, pass and strictly follow a governance model that stripped the Des Moines School Board of most of the activities an effective body conducts in order to ensure the public needs are being met.

During the Sebring years the school board became little more than an out-of-touch, disengaged cheerleading squad. Those who should feel the most shame in the wake of the Sebring emails should be the seven people who sit on the school board. The board has many responsibilities. Chief among them, setting policy and ensuring those policies are followed. It is the board’s obligation to hire the superintendent and to provide effective oversight. This board did not and has not for some time.

The seven members of the school board need to stop gasping about their disappointment in Nancy Sebring and look in the mirror. It is time the board was back in charge of our public schools. The governance model used by the Des Moines Public Schools is an unmitigated disaster. Sebring’s sexual dalliances are a passing story. However, if the school board fails to change the way it governs, Des Moines will soon discover something worse may be going on than sex talk on public time.

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Graham Gillette can be reached at grahamgillette@gmail.com 
This entry was first published as a Des Moines Register online essay.

The Impotency of the DSM School Board

The Iowa Department of Education issued a disappointing accreditation report to the Des Moines school district.  The State found unlicensed teachers in the classroom, an inappropriate use of dedicated state funds, high school seniors attending school for fewer days than required, and credit being given for classes in violation of state law.  Even worse, when the State notified school officials about these violations and prescribed a timeline to correct some of the most egregious of them, the District refused to take action.

If you think the Des Moines School Board is outraged and pressing for immediate action, you are sadly mistaken.  The sound you hear is school board members trying to change the subject. 

The Des Moines School Board continues to abdicate nearly all of its oversight responsibility opting to blindly trust school administrators to run our public schools as they wish.

Not only did Superintendent Nancy Sebring fail to provide a copy of the accreditation report to the school board, but even after the troubling findings were reported in this paper, not a single school board member thought there was a need to read it himself.   And, according to today’s Des Moines Register story, the District has submitted a corrective action plan to the State without school board review or input.

So, class, let’s review.  The District received the report, ignored the parts district officials did not like and submitted a plan to fix the other problems all without a discussion with the School Board or one involving the public.

However, lack of knowledge about the report and the District response to it did not stop one school board member from saying, “I believe the school district is addressing each and every one of these issues.”

Wow.  If the school board does not know what the report says, let alone what district officials are doing about the violations it contains; how in the world can a school board member believe the correct actions are being taken?

The overwhelming silence from the school board and its lack of interest in this serious matter makes one wonder what it would take to get this board’s attention.

If school board members cannot be bothered to read official reports, it is impossible to imagine they will ever take the initiative to dig into problems on their own in an effort to represent those they were elected to serve.

This school board’s disinterest in wading into any controversy, setting policy and overseeing the actions of the administration has rendered the Des Moines School Board an impotent body.

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Graham Gillette can be reached at grahamgillette@gmail.com


This entry was first published as a Des Moines Register blog entry.

We’re Mad as Hell, but We Don’t Have Time to Vote?

Voters in the Des Moines Public School District are trickling into the polls today to vote on the renewal of the Physical Plant and Equipment Levy (PPEL).  I understand a tax levy isn’t exactly the sexiest topic, but amidst all the “Take Our Country Back” talk, one might think turnout would be heavier.  The fact only about 1,700 people had voted as of 1:00 p.m. is troubling on many fronts.  This is, after all, a property tax issue and one that significantly affects our public schools.

Turnout is so low for a couple of reasons; 1) this is the first year a school board election is not being held on the second Tuesday of September and 2) PPEL is one of a handful of obscure and confusing funding tools few voters understand.

The General Assembly recently changed terms of school board members from three to four years.  This was supposed to save the cost of holding elections every year by making the elections biennial.  Des Moines Schools, in its wisdom, has made sure those savings are not realized in year one by holding this vote.  More important, by keeping school board elections as a standalone election the second Tuesday after Labor Day, the General Assembly assured turnout will always be low making it easy for special interest groups to manipulate the results.  Yes, some will say vaguely that election officers prefer to keep school board elections separate from other votes because school board boundaries do not line up with city, congressional or other ballot items.  This is bunk.  Ballots can be prepared for elections with multiple questions and boundaries.

Second, school funding is a complex mix of revenue sources and a mind-numbing array of spending restrictions.  PPEL is just one example.  Voters might be better able to get their arms around this messy brew, if the school district did a better job of presenting its budget.  I won’t bore you in this blog with my full prescription, but let me give you a synopsis.  The district budget needs to be presented each year in a simpler layout.  Each funding source should be listed with its effective and renewal dates, amount of money raised, the exact amounts spent and the items purchased or salaries paid with these funds, etc.  Each funding source’s revenue and expense totals would correspond with the larger budget document the district already produces.  The result would be a budget we could all understand.

OK, go ahead and discount my ideas above, but we should all agree today’s turnout is abhorrent.  Next time you find yourself in an angry mob yelling about government tyranny, you should ask how many of those in that mob voted today.  It is hard to take somebody too seriously about what he is going to do to change things, if he could not get to the polls to decide this important issue on such a fine, sunny day.  And, there is still time to get to the polls, if you have not voted yet.

(GRAHAM GILLETTE CAN BE REACHED BY EMAIL AT GRAHAMGILLETTE@GMAIL.COM)

Added 9/15/2010 – The PPEL was renewed for another ten years by 65% of the 5,077 voters who voted in this election.  Des Moines has 119,139 voters.  This means 4% of voters turned out yesterday.  The special election will cost Des Moines Schools $85,000.  Here is the link to Des Moines Register story about the vote

Senator Gronstal Starts Schoolyard Fight with Des Moines School Board

An interesting letter to the editor appeared in the Saturday Des Moines Register. The Iowa Senate Majority Leader, State Senator Mike Gronstal, offered a scathing rebuke of Superintendent Nancy Sebring and the Des Moines School Board. Gronstal was troubled by their actions during this year’s budget process. His tone was strong and stinging. Almost as surprising as a person in Gronstal’s position making such an accusation is the Register’s relegation of Gronstal’s comments to a mere letter to the editor. The relationship between Des Moines School officials and State leaders has deteriorated to such a point they are calling each other names. This situation demands further investigation by the media.

In his letter Senator Gronstal said Des Moines school officials “deliberately set out to scare parents, teachers and students with doomsday scenarios that were irresponsible, inflammatory and, well, pure fiction.” He said Superintendent Sebring and the School Board “conspired to unnecessarily scare families, teachers, parents and residents of Des Moines with irresponsible budget scenarios.” He used phrases like “flights of fancy” and suggested that the officials in Des Moines were less than honest. Even in today’s caustic political climate, such chilling words are unusual. There is trouble right here, right now in Iowa’s capital city. If the parties do not come together and patch up their differences before the next budget season, our school district might suffer.

Much of what Senator Gronstal says make sense to me this time. I could never get the Des Moines School District’s numbers to add up before the State allocated money and the revised numbers discussed at last week’s School Board meeting still appear suspect. In the numbers the District bandied about in what Gronstal calls the “doomsday scenario” was an overall potential $30 million shortfall. The District told us this meant approximately 346 teaching positions would be eliminated. Now the shortfall appears to be $11 million, yet the District predicts 173 teaching positions will be lost. So, the cuts in dollars are 73% less than expected, but the cut to teaching positions is only 50% compared to the doomsday number. Either there is something odd about the District’s math, or the District feels there are things more important to use these additional tax dollars on than teaching positions.

I cannot say if Senator Gronstal is being fair or honest in his remarks and I do not know what motivated him to get out his acerbic pen. I certainly am not writing this to defend him. But, something is terribly wrong when people in power do not trust each other. The Des Moines School Board, the Administration and Senator Gronstal all have some explaining to do. Since they are all adults and cannot be sent to the principal’s office, the public needs to hold them accountable. The place to start might be taking this feud off the letters to the editor page and making it a front page investigative piece.

This entry was first published as a Des Moines Register blog entry.

Stand Up for Education, Stand Up for Teachers

Last night I went to the Callanan Middle School band concert. It, like all of the others I have attended over the last few years, made me marvel about the difference a good teacher can make. While I know better, it would be easy to believe Dana Andrews employs magical powers to transform these gangly, disorganized and often unfocused adolescents into musicians. I know many of the kids who were up on that stage and like them very much – one in particular. In fact, it is my familiarity with these kids that makes me appreciate Mr. Andrews all the more. In the hours and days he spends with his students, he teaches more than music. He weaves respect and discipline into the lessons, and leads theses hormone raging beings down a path of discovery that ends in a belief in themselves.

Mr. Andrews and his colleagues in classrooms across our District do something remarkable. They teach and, in doing so, they mold the future for thousands of students. Due to budget cuts, it is likely there will be 300 less teachers in Des Moines next year. This will mean fewer band performances and math competitions. More important, there will be fewer individual interactions between teacher and student. Many of the teachers will find other jobs, but how many magical, life transforming connections will be lost for the students they leave behind? Over-crowded classrooms and pared back curriculums will have a monetary and social impact that we cannot calculate.

During a Facebook discussion on Monday about the likely loss of teachers in Des Moines Public Schools next year, one of those commenting said something fuzzy about it being time we stop “throwing” money at schools until parents get more involved in raising their children. She said personal responsibility starts at home and went on about turning off the TV, silencing cell phones and reading books to kids. OK, American kids do watch too much TV and wonderful things happen when adults read to children, but could she really think this alone would balance the probable loss of more than 300 teachers in our schools next Fall? I hope she wasn’t serious.

My Facebook friend is a good person who volunteers her time and does good work for the community. And, adults need to play a role in helping children reach their potential. However, the funding crisis faced in Iowa schools will not be solved by a lecture on the importance of personal responsibility. Class size will go up, some subjects will be reduced or eliminated, and learning will suffer next year unless something is done.

After the concert, many of the parents gathered in the Callanan lunchroom to discuss what could be done to protect music, art and classroom teachers in these tough economic times. I heard frustration and anxiety in their voices. If you share this concern, I ask that you join us in doing something about it. Des Moines Schools Superintendent Nancy Sebring and the School Board face some terrible decisions. They should not make these without hearing from you. It is equally important for you to contact Governor Culver and members of the General Assembly. The most likely place to find dollars to fill the budget shortfall is at the state level. Without new money, the District has to decide where and, ultimately, which teachers to cut.

Please join us in letting school and state officials know how important teachers are to the education equation. The next School Board meeting is Tuesday, March 9 at 6:00 p.m. Attend, if you can. Watch the meeting on cable channel 12, if you cannot. Contact the officials below to tell them how you feel.

Contact Information
For a list school board members and their contact information click here.
To contact Des Moines School officials click here.
For a list of Iowa House members and Iowa Senators click here.
To contact Governor Chet Culver click here.

More Information
For a link to Des Moines Public Schools Board agenda that includes the proposed budget cuts click here.
Here is a list of the positions being cut at each Des Moines school

This entry was first published as a Des Moines Register blog entry.

School Board Huffing about Culver is Ironic

Last week I took the opportunity to bash the Des Moines School Board in this space for voting to dismiss school 90 minutes early every Wednesday next year. I believe this decision is bad for education. I also railed about the board making little effort to involve parents, students and the community in the decision. Now it appears the School Board got a taste of an ironically similar acrid brew and they are feeling left out.

Des Moines joined the other six large Iowa school districts and refused to sign on to Governor Chet Culver’s entry application for the federal government’s Race to the Top funds. Des Moines School Board president Connie Boesen said, “We’ve had no input, and we’re the ones that have to be accountable and implement it.”

Wow, I bet those words tasted nasty coming out of a school board member’s mouth after spending more than a week telling parents and community members that the opportunity for discussion about early dismissals had past. Hopefully, she and her colleagues will learn how it feels to be excluded from the conversation and revisit their recent actions.

Regardless, Ms. Boesen did the right thing. In truth, she had little choice. The board and the community need to be a part of the process. The Governor and the Legislature were told by the feds months ago that the application for the Race funds would be due January 19. Waiting until this week to push legislation through at record speed and ask for school board presidents to sign on to the application with scant to no public discussion is flat out wrong.

Often, those who pay the price for well intended, yet hastily concocted government programs are the very people the government is supposedly out to help. The Race to the Top looks like a contender for such a program. It is fraught with numerous potentially harmful consequences for our nation’s schools. Let alone the fact the program description and the application itself sound like NBC’s latest reality show. Building better schools will not be done with gimmicky competitions. It is going to take a real commitment to fund schools and empower teachers, parents and communities to reinvent the way we run our schools.

A handful of school boards and states are letting the first of two application deadlines pass without being bullied by the federal government to play a bobbing for dollars contest. If most of them were to do so, perhaps Washington would figure out it is time to stop waving tax dollars in our faces and expect we are going to ask how high when they say jump. Good policy isn’t a race to be won. Good government comes through setting standards and cooperating with each other to get results.


Note: The following was added Saturday, January 16, the day after the original post.
Today, the school board president made statements to the Des Moines Register even more thick with irony than yesterday. “We need to be more centered on students than adults.” Really? Siding with the union to dismiss school early once a week was more about adults than students? Maybe the president will ask the board to reconsider their own actions next week now that they understand that education is more about students than employees.

From the Saturday edition of the Des Moines Register: “Des Moines school board chairwoman Connie Boesen said state leaders made serious missteps in drafting the legislation because they didn’t allow districts ample time to weigh in.

‘We have shown success and we need more flexibility to get schools turned around, not more constraints,” Boesen said. “It was all so hastily done, and I don’t understand that. We want to be able to have the latitude to handle educational programming in ways that make differences for students. We need to be more centered on students than adults.”


This entry was first published as a Des Moines Register blog entry.