MPS School Board Member Doesn’t Show Up for Conference

Nice to see that this particular school board member got a free vacation out of it. 

Officials with the National Association of School Safety & Law Enforcement Officers say Hardin, a three-term board member, and Lolita Pearson, a data processing secretary at the Milwaukee High School of the Arts, were MIA during the three-day gathering on July 14-16.

[...]

Joe Ricci, a Philadelphia school administrator who helped plan the event, was at the registration table when Hardin and Pearson arrived on the final day of the conference.

At first, Hardin complained loudly that the staff had run out of conference bags, which contained zoo passes, city information and discounts for various items, Ricci said.

“Then she proceeded to go into the vendors’ area, get some plastic bags from them, help herself to a ton of food and cookies and candy and all that stuff from the snack tray, and proceeded to walk out the door again, making another big stink about the thing, and left,” Ricci said, estimating that the pair were there for all of five minutes.

“She never checked in . . . or showed up at any conference functions at all, her or her assistant.”

[...]

On Friday, Applewhite said he had been told by Pearson, his secretary, that she did attend the sessions at the Philadelphia conference. The principal said he was unaware of the criticism that she and Hardin had gone AWOL. He said he was also told the two visited a city elementary and middle school that specialize in the arts.

As for the cost, he estimated that conference registration was about $400 each, hotels were $130 a night for three nights each, and the airfare was between $300 and $400 for each roundtrip ticket.

If his estimates are correct, that would put the total cost at roughly $2,400.

1. A “data processing secretary” approved for travel to a school safety conference?  Something does not compute.

   Who’s going to be first to turn in Hardin & Pearson to the IRS?  If they didn’t complete any MPS business while in Philly, the cost of the trips become ordinary income.

   Nail them for submitting false expense reports, too.  The stated “reason for travel” did not match the reality.

   Posted by on August 25, 2008 at 1140 hrs




2. Not that I want to defend these people because lord knows what they did was reprehensible and they should be nailed to the wall, but if you read the article the principle clearly states he sent his assistant because he could not go and he thought it would be valuable information.

   Posted by on August 25, 2008 at 1159 hrs




3. From the article:

   Officials with MPS’ Office of Board Governance initially were unaware of the trip and required the paper to submit an open records request for the numbers

   On Friday, Applewhite said he had been told by Pearson, his secretary, that she did attend the sessions at the Philadelphia conference. The principal said he was unaware of the criticism that she and Hardin had gone AWOL.

   As for the cost, he estimated that conference registration was about $400 each, hotels were $130 a night for three nights each, and the airfare was between $300 and $400 for each roundtrip ticket.

   Sounds like there is a certain “cluelessness” & lack of accountability & lack of “awareness” on the part of the Principal and MPS Administration.

   The fact that the Principal could not attend does not excuse sending someone in his place without laying out some expectations & following up to ensure that those expectations were accomplished.

   Posted by on August 25, 2008 at 1210 hrs




4. How dare we criticize wasteful expenses?  It’s “for the children”, after all…

   (sarcasm on).

   Posted by on August 25, 2008 at 1252 hrs




5. I agree it must be for the children - since these two acted as childlike as possible.

   What class - grabbing a bunch of bags and cleaning off the food tables, and complaining they didn’t get all the freebies coming to them.

   If I was their boss - they would now be looking for work.

   Posted by on August 25, 2008 at 1353 hrs




6. mht- I agree 100%.  I just wanted to make sure that the information presented was accurate.  There are a ton of things wrong with what happened let’s just make sure that it is reported and criticized correctly.

   Posted by on August 25, 2008 at 1456 hrs




7. You know, I am now at the point where I feel that MPS is a lot like inner city crime. Most just accept it rather than work to change it.

   The only outrage we will see is outside of Milwaukee. So, why should we get in a huff? I would never send my kids there, nor would I allow my family to live in a place where they could get killed by random gunfire just sitting on the front steps of our house.

   I would much prefer we send our money to Kenya where people are working hard, with very little, to make a better life for themselves. Better yet, let’s just keep our money and piss it away at our will, not MPS’s.

   “Hardin, a three-term board member” boy, doesn’t that say it all. The voters are bigger loosers than the people they elect.

   Posted by on August 25, 2008 at 1511 hrs




8. The silence of some on this particular issue is deafening ...

   Posted by on August 25, 2008 at 1526 hrs




9. I’m glad Owen called it what it is, a free vacation.  This is what Milwaukee wants, then that’s what Milwaukee will get.  Lil Detroit here we come.

   Posted by on August 25, 2008 at 1530 hrs




10. Laws have broken here, have they not?  This is clearly a fraudulent theft of state assets.  They should be investigated and charged by the DA.

    Posted by on August 26, 2008 at 0853 hrs




11. I know that the article has a certain “spin” to it, but what irritates me is the lack of concern & “don’t give a s--t” attitude coming from the administration & Principal - I’m sure from their perspective, the only bad part is that because of the media finding this out, it added stress to their workday.  My takeaway is that the Principal is an incompetent administrator.

    At least when this came up at the state (Fischer & his assistant), the situation seemed to have been dealt with.  We may not know how it happened (I suspect he was “counseled” to resign), but the fellow no longer is in a position to take advantage of the taxpayers.  I don’t see that happening at MPS.

    By the way, on the news last night I tripped across a clip where one of the ladies was “ambushed” on the street by a reporter - she was so stunned, she didn’t have time to come up with a good lie or excuse.  She tried to say that she was there, when the reporter said that witnesses said she wasn’t, she was at a total loss for words.  It’s almost like she was not aware that this had already hit the news.

    Posted by on August 26, 2008 at 0927 hrs




12. I think this is the clip I saw:

    http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/27382059.html?vide o=YHI&t;=a

    Posted by on August 26, 2008 at 0933 hrs




13. You watch...if they prosecute her/them, it will be “racist”.

    Posted by on August 26, 2008 at 1013 hrs




14. Wow.  13 comments and not one person yet has tried to change the topic to the war in Iraq or John McCain’s 70 gajillion houses.

    Oh, that’s because all the usual liberal commenters have nothing to say, apparently.  C’mon, folkbum, just give us a sign that at least one person in MPS thinks this is wrong.  Please?

    Posted by Recess Supervisor on August 26, 2008 at 1145 hrs