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West Bend School District responds to Questions

In response to a lengthy letter from Gordon Goggin to school board member Lynn Corazzi, Superintendent Pat Herdrich has responded.  I’m not going to go through the whole thing, because, frankly, I have other things to do like watch the Bristol race, but I wanted to post it for all to see.  I do have a few comments, however. 

First, I continue to be frustrated when the Superintendent or other school administrators respond to citizen questions put to board members.  Yes, the board members may need to ask some questions of the administration to get facts before answering, but the board member is still responsible for responding to the query.  As a citizen, I don’t care as much about what Dr. Herdrich thinks about these things as much as a I do a board member who happens to be up for election in a few weeks.  This is particularly galling when Mr. Goggin is asking Corazzi to defend a statement that he allegedly made in public at a meeting and Dr. Herdrich responds with, “I cannot offer a first-hand response. However, Lynn Corazzi confirmed that this comment reflected one of several observations he made about working within a Fortune 50 company, and was in no way related to any financial management practices at the West Bend Public School District.”  Seriously?  Corrazi can’t reply for himself?  If Dr. Herdrich his spokesperson now?  What does Corazzi think about all of these things?  I can’t tell you.  I haven’t seen his response. 

Second, it does certainly appear that Mr. Goggin has leaped to some false conclusions, but that doesn’t make the questions invalid.  Dr. Herdrich spends a lot of time rightly detailing the various responses to Mr. Goggin’s questions - or at least the various exchanges that may not constitute an actual response.  She also spends some time telling him the accrued costs of replying to him (over a grand if you buy that) and explaining all of the reasons why the district had not responded to all of his questions.  While all of this information is perhaps interesting and truthful, it is exactly the kind of attitude that has continued to damage the district’s reputation regarding openness and transparency. 

You can read through the responses.  In some cases, Mr. Goggin appears to be wrong.  In other cases, he’s on target.  And, as usual, in some cases the district dodged the question.

Posted by Owen at 1215 hrs
Politics + Politics - Wisconsin

1. Please name the area’s where he’s on target.

   Every question raised by Mr Goggin made assumptions, answered them and wanted someone fired.

   1+1=32 stuff

   
   and what questions were dodged. Lots of smoke in your post- no fire

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 21, 2010 at 1435 hrs
   
   
   

2. Since you seem unable or unwilling to read it yourself, allow me to spoon feed you a couple of examples. 

   As for where he was right… the $100k for PR in 2008 for the referendum was partially on target.  While Herdrich says the $100k included some other clerical work, she does not delineate how much.  She also confirms that the district hired a guy whose job responsibilities included doing PR for the referendum.  Mr. Goggin was right. 

   An example of where the district dodged… read the response about the phone system.  Mr. Groggin asked two specific questions: “Who made the purchase recommendation? Why haven’t they come forward to show the ROI?”  Can you find a response to either one of those questions in Herdrich’s response?  I can see a partial ROI if you run out the usage figures, but nothing complete.  Nor did I ever see a name of who made the purchase recommendation.  Dodge.

   Posted by Owen on March 21, 2010 at 1453 hrs
   
   
   

3. Check out gordons facebook page , save the west bend school district, he also replies to Pats reply. You may want to check on them flames again maley.
   I realize your giddy today with all the excitement of baby killings becoming publicly funded, as a former director of planned parenthood in West Bend your opinions, not to mention logic carry as much weight as those of charles Manson, or Ed Geen.

   As you have no respect for the life of an innocent child, why o why do do you commit to coaching children? personal gains? Please dont tell me its for the children.

   Dont you get it mark ? if somebody has a question about the district they have a right to be heard, not crucified because they came forward, should we just all assume the district is 100% correct all the time every time, because pat said so and mark agrees with her. Whats wrong with Lynn he cant reply to Gordon? If he is a board member and dont have a clue about these questions then he should sit down and let someone who cares and is interested take over.

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 21, 2010 at 1521 hrs
   
   
   

4. Owen

   Jesus told us to take care of the the ignorant, and I are obviously both (State school in Indiana english)

   Your patience with someone as out of the loop as myself is warmly appreciated.

   Mr Groggin asked 20 questions. By your count ,he got a partial correct and one I would call a IMO.

   7.5% out of 100%- not too good-even at the cheap school I went to in Indiana.

   and the district needs to jump everytime these type of questions are raised, by the cabal ?

   I’m just a hick,but after a few of these with no smoking gun, can we get back to funding a school district?

   
   Don’t want to upset you any more on a Sunday.

   See you tomorrow night.

   MHM

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 21, 2010 at 1549 hrs
   
   
   

5. pot meet kettle

   No issues with questions.

   Some issues with questions that are asked , answered and given marching orders
   to fix with 11% of the facts.

   watchdogs are needed for the expenditure of tax monies. In this district, i am fine with “trust, but verify” (one of your guys said that)

   it’s the assumption that wrong doing is present, even when it’s proven not to be that I object to.

   thanks for the note

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 21, 2010 at 1556 hrs
   
   
   

6. Mark,

   What part of “for example” do you not comprehend?

   Posted by Owen on March 21, 2010 at 1612 hrs
   
   
   

7. “trust, but verify”

   This is a favorite Ronald Reagan quote borrowed from the Russian culture: Russain Bolsheviks had used the quote against their opponents.

   Ronald heavily used it when nuclear disarmament talks were being negotiated with Gorbachev and his party leaders. 

   Read: The dead hand : the untold story of the Cold War arms race and its dangerous legacy by Hoffman, David E..  Readers will be horrified by the two government’s killing power yet become optimistic towards the fruitfulness of negotiating differences.

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 21, 2010 at 1753 hrs
   
   
   

8. I’m sure Pat would step right up and do the same for Dave or Randy.
   Is Pat Lynn’s Bodyguard?

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 21, 2010 at 1856 hrs
   
   
   

9. Gordon has every right to ask the district difficult questions regarding finances.  It appears he has gotten a thorough response in a relatively short amount of time.  It was not hostile and he was not crucified.  These issues go back long before Gordon’s letter to Lynn, and I question how any member of the School Board could provide the detail that was provided.  After a thorough analysis, I agree a few items may have been partially “dodged” but as a whole the majority of the questions were answered.  I’m not sure you can ask for much more than that.  I encourage everyone to attend the meeting tomorrow.  Let’s have an honest debate.

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 21, 2010 at 2119 hrs
   
   
   

10. I’m back - did you guys miss me?
    Wow, where to start.

    I’m sure Pat would step right up and do the same for Dave or Randy.

    She absolutely would and will if they join the Board. The Board is governance and Dr. Herdrich follows the vision and general direction from the Board, even if she disagrees. The Board should not be micromanaging.

    Why haven’t they come forward to show the ROI?

    Not sure of Goggin’s business experience, but ROI calculations are not really appropriate for infrastructure replacement projects. The IP phone system also replaced the aging loud speaker system (required by law). I was not a big fan of this particular deal, but it was for other reasons, not that it wasn’t needed.

    5500 badger science equipment

    Was there a point to this and other listings? I’m not that surprised that a school district buys science equipment. And just to give you a idea of the respective magnitudes, for a normal family, this would be like grilling your wife over a $5 expense, and implying that she is somehow dishonest. I wonder how that would go over in Gordie’s house?

    the $100k for PR

    As long as it was information and not advocacy, not a problem - kind of like those “educational calls” from the AFP.

    I continue to be frustrated

    Stop the presses!! I have in my possession the names of 57…

    Posted by Charlie Hillman on March 22, 2010 at 1443 hrs
    
    
    

11. Thanks for this insightful post on crime.

    Posted by autism on March 22, 2010 at 1731 hrs
    
    
    

12. it is exactly the kind of attitude that has continued to damage the district’s reputation regarding openness and transparency.

    Posted by life coaching on March 29, 2010 at 0226 hrs
    
    
    

13. $100000 (salary, taxes, benefits) 2008 hired a marketing guy from Midwest Express to market the referendum. Referendum is done with. Why are we still employing a marketing director for a school district?”
    Blaine Fowler was employed as the district’s Public Information Coordinator for approximately three months, starting June 2008 through September 2008. The referendum information campaign was part of his regular job accountabilities. (Payroll information). This staffing line included multiple clerical positions

    So that’s $33k each month for 3 months for what??? 1 marketing manager and 4-5 clerical people???  A whole lotta cha ching…Only one of the 3 referendums passed…I don’t think I’d be hiring that guy or the clerical positions to run the Operational Referendum marketing campaign…In this economic environment, I don’t think an O.R. is going to pass anyway…School Board, do us all a favor and save the district $100k and opt out of the next marketing campaign…

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 29, 2010 at 0659 hrs
    
    
    

14. I don’t think the school district ever had a “marketing director” for the purpose of marketing the referendum (never mind the “express advocacy” restrictions that have been pointed out here before).

    If my memory serves right, there is a “Public Information Coordinator” staff position that was held by a Doreen Dembski - when she resigned, she was replaced by Blaine Fowler .  As per the above, he was not employed very long at West Bend (I would imagine that a marketing director would have more lucrative opportunities than what West Bend School District could offer), and has since been replaced by Amy Swanson.

    Maybe someone with a working knowledge of the district could clarify what the Public Information Coordinator does - I recall many years ago having a question about bus transportation to private Kindergarten, and Doreen Dembski was the person who responded, and that was well before any referendums were on the table.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 29, 2010 at 0721 hrs
    
    
    

15. What happened to combining the high schools ? why is this option not on the table ?
    How can anyone talk about budget problems if this has not been examined, hard to come back to the community holding out your pockets when you out right refuse to dig into the biggest piece of pie staring you in the face.
    Would the district rather cut more programs and see more kids pack up and choose another school?
    Throw your politics away and do whats right for the children, practice what you preach.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 29, 2010 at 0833 hrs
    
    
    

16. What happened to combining the high schools?

    I hope that this is still an option - a pretty easy way to save some bucks.
    Instead of going over line items in the budget, the Board should be looking bigger picture.
    So, I’ll start. How about two different ways to reorganizing the High Schools given that they were built together?
    Option 1: Combine but put 9-10 on one side and 11-12 on the other. Could help with transition from middle school if freshmen do not have to deal upper classes.
    Option 2: Divide the high schools by gender. We’d still get the savings from the reduced athletics, and I think the evidence is pretty clear that such an approach improves academics and reduces teen pregnancy.

    Posted by Charlie Hillman on March 29, 2010 at 1058 hrs
    
    
    

17. Combing high schools was taken off the option list around the end of November.  The School Board felt there wasn’t enough information on “what the transition would look like” from 2 schools to 1.  A team of administrators was appointed to come up with a scenario on that transformation.  I have not seen or heard anything since then.

    Unfortunately I feel (IMHO) that the School Board is looking at participation in High School sports from the 80’s point of view…I say 80’s because I think most of them were in highschool around that time…2010 High School participation, school spirit it’s NOT the same as it was back then…

    Kids weren’t specializing in sports back then like they are now, and playing 1 sport year round…

    Couple that with teams that aren’t full or barely full (ie. Wrestling)  If there are no athletes “waiting in the wings” to take your spot on varsity, what keeps the kids on the “straight and narrow”? 

    The Students know that earning a Varsity Letter by default (due to lack of participation) is just that.  There is no pride and ownership in the process…what will kids value more?  Something they are handed or something that they have to work for and earn?

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 29, 2010 at 1242 hrs
    
    
    

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