Sunday, July 30, 2006
The Rehabilitation of Glen Stewart
As I have mentioned previously, I think former Huntley School Board member Glen Stewart may do a credible job in his new $101,000 administrative job because it is so rare for school districts to hire anyone with a business background.
The cross fertilization from the business world may be quite useful.
Sunday, the Daily Herald reporter than has given Huntley School District 158 and Carpentersville School District 300 fits wrote what an article that seems to be aimed at giving Stewart a fresh slate as the district’s chief operations officer.
It combines that with an opportunity to allow school board president Mike Skala an opportunity to do a “mea culpa.”
The article sets up the background first:
The article says Stewart thinks
It continues,
= = = = =
The picture is of Huntley School Board member Glen Stewart offering his hand of thanks to Huntley School Board President Mike Skala right after being hired on a 5-1 vote for his $101,000 school job.
The cross fertilization from the business world may be quite useful.
Sunday, the Daily Herald reporter than has given Huntley School District 158 and Carpentersville School District 300 fits wrote what an article that seems to be aimed at giving Stewart a fresh slate as the district’s chief operations officer.
It combines that with an opportunity to allow school board president Mike Skala an opportunity to do a “mea culpa.”
The article sets up the background first:
The hiring decision was announced shortly after an audit said the district lacked proper financial controls. And shortly before the investigation of an employee for stealing an estimated $8,000 to $10,000 from the district’s coffers.Once a face for positive change, Stewart over the past month became a rallying cry for critics who say it’s bad business as usual in District 158.
The article says Stewart thinks
He shouldn’t have voted in favor of administrator raises while he was a candidate for the job.This article says nothing about Stewart's vote to change the position's minimum qualifications, however.
It continues, “I did not take into account how that would look,” Stewart said. “I apologize to the children and residents of the district for that oversight.”Then, board president Skala is quoted thusly,
The only thing I think we could probably have done better as a board, is let the community know Mr. Stewart had applied for the position. It never really crossed our minds as something to do.Skala says
the best person got the job,but no one knows why the
retired U.S. Navy officer who serves as chief operations officer for Cincinnati Public Schools…pulled out of the running,Could it be because he found out the “fix” was in?
= = = = =
The picture is of Huntley School Board member Glen Stewart offering his hand of thanks to Huntley School Board President Mike Skala right after being hired on a 5-1 vote for his $101,000 school job.
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It was refreshing to read the Daily Herald article. Clearly, both Glen Stewart and D158 Board President Mike Skala were serving humble pie. This includes the honest assessment that additional public disclosures were in order.
It does appear both Stewart and Skala have taken the constructive criticisms to heart, particularly the editorials in both the Daily Herald and the Northwest Herald. There's hope for D158 yet.
But, just like with D300, voters have their say come April 17th, 2007, provided there are contested races for school board.
It does appear both Stewart and Skala have taken the constructive criticisms to heart, particularly the editorials in both the Daily Herald and the Northwest Herald. There's hope for D158 yet.
But, just like with D300, voters have their say come April 17th, 2007, provided there are contested races for school board.
The human mind is a wonderful mystery.
dundeeblogger (absolutely entitled to his/her opinion) read the article and came away with one interpretation and I came away with another.
Maybe it's being very close to D158 revelations for two years and ongoing.
Maybe it's the yawn that now appears in the face of heart-swelling apologies - only after information is forcibly dragged into the light by others.
Maybe it's the "Oh, please." factor when I'm asked to believe, once again, that someone didn't know what they should have known or didn't do what in hindsight they should have done or that ....yada, yada, yada. (If I can find info on the Internet in 30 minutes or less that deal with things like conflict of interest or the appearance of impropriety - year long or decade long board members should already know them by heart.)
And then there's that quote "The only ones I see attacking my character are the ones who don't know me," Stewart said.
He's entitled to his opinion.
My friends and I?
We just don't believe that if the search for job applicants was properly handled and truly pursued that the only person in America to fit this job would be Mr. Stewart, an active board member, who happened to be out of a job since some time in March, and who was part of the PAC that supported returning board members in 2005. (Heck, we don't even believe he'd be the only person residing in District 158 who could fill this seat.)
Whether or not Mr. Stewart is a "nice" guy or not isn't the issue.
We wonder what other "nice" person out there, who didn't get the job, had his or her life changed because of this. Did someone else's child not have money to go to college because their Dad or Mom didn't get this job?
We wonder how you can vote for your future fellow workers to have raises when your application is on the table.
We also wonder how we are expected to believe that the determiniation to hire Mr. Stewart was not already set in stone among the board majority members - when, for one thing, Mr. Stewart's family members(including a young son) were in the "audience". At a public meeting, at a time of day few people from the community could be expected to attend. People usually bring their family members to award ceremonies - not undecided job decisions.
Then there was the instantaeous appearance of a well-prepared press release before the dust left the dais at meeting's end - ready to be handed out before the doors closed.
The board majority's recent actions and comments tell me they have not learned and will not change. They do not represent someone like me and in my opinion aren't doing what should and needs to be done.
If the board majority was actually taking constructive criticisms to heart - they wouldn't be playing the same old tunes.
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dundeeblogger (absolutely entitled to his/her opinion) read the article and came away with one interpretation and I came away with another.
Maybe it's being very close to D158 revelations for two years and ongoing.
Maybe it's the yawn that now appears in the face of heart-swelling apologies - only after information is forcibly dragged into the light by others.
Maybe it's the "Oh, please." factor when I'm asked to believe, once again, that someone didn't know what they should have known or didn't do what in hindsight they should have done or that ....yada, yada, yada. (If I can find info on the Internet in 30 minutes or less that deal with things like conflict of interest or the appearance of impropriety - year long or decade long board members should already know them by heart.)
And then there's that quote "The only ones I see attacking my character are the ones who don't know me," Stewart said.
He's entitled to his opinion.
My friends and I?
We just don't believe that if the search for job applicants was properly handled and truly pursued that the only person in America to fit this job would be Mr. Stewart, an active board member, who happened to be out of a job since some time in March, and who was part of the PAC that supported returning board members in 2005. (Heck, we don't even believe he'd be the only person residing in District 158 who could fill this seat.)
Whether or not Mr. Stewart is a "nice" guy or not isn't the issue.
We wonder what other "nice" person out there, who didn't get the job, had his or her life changed because of this. Did someone else's child not have money to go to college because their Dad or Mom didn't get this job?
We wonder how you can vote for your future fellow workers to have raises when your application is on the table.
We also wonder how we are expected to believe that the determiniation to hire Mr. Stewart was not already set in stone among the board majority members - when, for one thing, Mr. Stewart's family members(including a young son) were in the "audience". At a public meeting, at a time of day few people from the community could be expected to attend. People usually bring their family members to award ceremonies - not undecided job decisions.
Then there was the instantaeous appearance of a well-prepared press release before the dust left the dais at meeting's end - ready to be handed out before the doors closed.
The board majority's recent actions and comments tell me they have not learned and will not change. They do not represent someone like me and in my opinion aren't doing what should and needs to be done.
If the board majority was actually taking constructive criticisms to heart - they wouldn't be playing the same old tunes.
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