AJC.com > Blogs > Get Schooled > Archives > 2007 > September > 27 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USGet Suspended, Get A Raise
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
How would you like to be suspended from work, still get all of your paychecks and be given a raise?
That’s the deal two central office employees have gotten from Atlanta Public Schools, according to today’s story by my colleague Paul Donsky.
The situation has cost taxpayers $195,000 so far.
Now, it’s not clear why Cynthia Lewis-Lunn, who worked in the school system’s finance department, or Toney Ward, who was a technology department manager, were placed on leave last June. All APS officials would say was that there was an ongoing investigation.
Ward retired two weeks ago, the same day, according to Paul, that Ward was set to face charges that he violated system policies — including falsifying documents.
Ward’s attorney told Paul that APS didn’t provide him with any details about the allegations.
Interestingly, Atlanta’s own policies say employees can’t be suspended with pay for longer than 60 days. I assume that’s to protect both the employee and the school system. Yet, these suspensions lasted for more than a year.
The school system’s attorney said suspensions can be extended during an investigation. But that still leaves one nagging little question:
How do Atlanta Board of Education members bestow raises on employees who are not only on suspension but also under investigation? I mean, was it intentional or was it an oversight?
UPDATE: Paul is now reporting that Arthur Scott, the former APS technology director, and his wife, will serve three years and two years, respectively, in federal prison for their roles in fleecing E-rate, the multimillion-dollar grant program meant to put computers into classrooms. You may recall that Scott and his partner-in-crime, Evelyn Myers Scott, pleaded guilty to charges of bribery and fraud in May.
Comments
By JustMe
September 27, 2007 12:06 PM | Link to this
I think that the ‘pay raise’ part of this issue is irrelevant. For all government jobs (and most all jobs), there is an automatic pay raise with every year - mostly to account for cost of living increases.
The bigger issue is why were they left on pay roll at all (if they were placed on leave without pay)? That is a mistake in HR that has to be addressed. That means that some HR person should be fired over costing the tax payers that much money.
If they were placed on leave with pay, then it seems that nothing wrong was done. Unless you can fault their boss for allowing them to remain on leave with pay for such a long time.
By HS Teacher Too
September 27, 2007 12:12 PM | Link to this
I tend to be cynical when it comes to the administrations of large school systems.
After a quick reading of the article, it seems like maybe the school system was afraid to fire the employees — if the system was already facing trouble for antitrust violations, why compound that with firing the whistleblowers as well?
In any event, I doubt entirely that the board’s actions (or failures to act) were simply oversight; but that’s the cynic in me.
By SET
September 27, 2007 12:40 PM | Link to this
Much ado about nothing. Large organizations are less able to turn on a dime - or dismiss employees. There are many reasons why this is so. Public Agency large systems are (much) worse than General Motors and that’s saying something.
If the undesirable employees are near retirement anyway you just “investigate” - (a lie, there is no further investigation) till the retirement date then deem the problem solved. Who’s going to complain anyway? Certainly not the undesirable employee.
The real interesting part is that large systems commonly tolerate known dishonest or disordered employees but move to eliminate those deemed politically incorrect. Office politics can be rough.
This kind of decay continues until the organization is no longer able to serve it’s mission. Then it’s “reformed” or “re-organized” and the game starts all over.
In business we have a cycle of healthy destruction where increasingly fat and incompetent organizations go bankrupt, close or fail, or are sold off in pieces to rivals. New smaller rivals become larger and depose the old guard.
History is replete with such stories even where the wives do battle using chartity balls as a proxy for boardrooom fights. Remember the story of the upstart titan’s wife who set her ball on the same night as the railroad baron’s wife? It was New York City I think. The town society had to chose between the new rival and the old guard. It was the turning point between that era’s old industry and new industry. The railroads’ power went downhill ever since.
It’s not been mentioned on this blog much but I still hold that the Internet (and Internet Secondary Schools) will soon post a deadly threat to the fortunes of the Public School Educrats. We could see the Educrats’ constituency vote with their feet one day to superior and affordable alternative education.
Then all we complain about will fall down and go boom.
And people can happily segregate themselves along tribal, social and IQ lines.
By V for Vendetta
September 27, 2007 1:54 PM | Link to this
Funny HSTT, they seem afraid to fire those employees, but they are so quick to fire teachers who don’t follow some of the more assinine rules handed down from on high.
My reaction to this was (feigned shock) “What!? You mean central office educrats are corrupt, self-serving, money-hungry, A-HOLES!? No way!”
By Becky
September 27, 2007 2:04 PM | Link to this
Heck, I show up for work every day & have for the last 15 years & I can’t get a raise..
By high school teacher
September 27, 2007 2:29 PM | Link to this
Forgive me for sounding bitter, but nothing will happen because they are in Central Office. The good ol boy system runs rampant in education (yeah, but he is a good man… he only has two weeks til he retires… what was the real harm…)
It burns me that all the big-wigs in our county, from asst principals up to the top, have $600 blackberries, but teachers have no data projectors, no phones in classrooms, no laptops, and have copy limits.
By JustMe
September 27, 2007 2:52 PM | Link to this
Becky - If you really have not even gotten a cost-of-living raise in 15 years, it is time to get a new job!!!
By Janine
September 27, 2007 3:28 PM | Link to this
Did you see the 20/20 report last year, I think, about the NYCity school system… where teachers who have been in some sort of trouble continue to be employed, but report to another building totally dedicated to teachers who are not allowed to report to classrooms. They read magazines, do whatever they want to do, but they must report every day and stay there until the end of the day. I also heard that there is such a building and procedure in place right here in Atlanta.
By Janine
September 27, 2007 3:30 PM | Link to this
That 20/20 report indicated that there were hundreds of teachers there.
By Janine
September 27, 2007 3:32 PM | Link to this
V is so-o-o right! I think I have mentioned before the educrat in Dekalb who was caught stealing stuff from the service ctr….After his jail term, they HIRED HIM BACK>
By NICK
September 27, 2007 4:19 PM | Link to this
Our tax dollars at work! This is what happens when you let the government control anything.
If Clinton or Obamma get elected, no one will be held accountable at the federal, state or local level.
This kind of “fleecing” will continue unless we Americans stand together and demand less government and more privatization when it comes to everything, but the military.
By Oh, But Wait a Minute...
September 27, 2007 4:29 PM | Link to this
You’re right Nick — because under Republicans, we’ve seen much less government and governmental intervention.
Oh…wait…in the last 8 years we’ve seen the largest governmental expansion since the New Deal. Never mind.
Hey, but at least the Government under the GOP hasn’t meddled in education too much!!
Oh wait…never mind
By SET
September 27, 2007 4:42 PM | Link to this
Oakland’s (CA) failure of a school district was taken over by a state receiver. The school board continues to meet and be paid but has nothing to do.
Ron Dellums (ex-congressman) was recently elected mayor of that city and the first thing he does - I believe before he was even sworn in - was to announce that he would change city policy so that convicted felons were no longer ineligible for city jobs (and I don’t think he was talking about streetsweepers).
Meanwhile the murder rate in Oakland continues to reach all time highs and they recently had a black newspaper reporter shot to death in broad daylight by one of the local black gangs for investigating gang finances and gang city grants and contracts. (Google “Your Black Muslim Bakery”) We also have the urban cities trying to hire police officers who fall below the state minimum qualifications, claiming they have to do it for racial quotas.
My point is - corrupt and failing systems - corporations, school boards, city government, whatever - degrade their workforce once performance is no longer any significant part of their mission. This is not news.
It’s only a surprise to those who haven’t studied organizational behavior or economic history.
Never depend on pious mission statements that the organization publish as part of their propaganda. Watch what they are actually doing.
The readership of this blog generally believes that the Public Schools are here to teach it’s students to for industry, higher learning or military service (that was the general idea prior to the “Great Society”). This is no longer true in CA. And the forces at work here are national forces so if you haven’t seen such problems in GA you probably will real soon.
I saw this syndrome when the financial services non-profit I was on the board of one day had a woman with (small but visible) gang tattoos at the reception desk. Although she was immediately dismissed after I saw her, I left the board sometime after that (after over 10 years service) when it became clear to me that the board and management no longer “got” it. The agency folded a few years later.
By lovelyliz
September 27, 2007 4:42 PM | Link to this
A guy I used to work with had bounce in between 4 departments in 3 different offices in less than 3 years. he was forced to leave each time.
Not only did he not get fired, but the last position he had came along with a promotion and more $$$$.
By lovelyliz
September 27, 2007 4:47 PM | Link to this
Oh, But Wait a Minute
Don’t forget the fiscally conservative Republican who would rid the government of no-bid contracts and would never think of allowing private contractors who overcharge the taxpayer & or charge the government for services never rendered to remain in business let alone remain on the taxpayer dole.
Oh wait a minute….scratch that one
By lovelyliz
September 27, 2007 4:53 PM | Link to this
It surprises me that so many people accept this situation as being solely in the territory of the government.
As someone who has worked in public education, the private sector & been a military veteran, I can assure you that the opposite is true.
I’ve known & experienced good people getting nowhere and incompetence being raised in all sector.
By SET
September 27, 2007 5:10 PM | Link to this
lovelyliz: You are right on - but there is no functional difference between the Republician Party and the Democratic Party. Neither one has any intention whatsoever of salvaging the USA. Socialism and Facism have very little distinction, both have Centralized Authoritarian Government, a jack booted police state, elimination of private property and of free speech. And you can forget about free elections also.
The dumbing down of the US people is vital to usher in these regimes and that is what has happened to our public schools.
By Pompano
September 27, 2007 5:14 PM | Link to this
Lovelyliz - Big difference though between this behavior by Public sector vs private. In the Private sector, this type of a decision by a company only wastes their own money. Too many bad decisions and the company folds.
In the public sector, they are wasting taxpayer dollars. The more bad decisions made, the more our taxes climb.
A company is not empowered to seize more revenue from it's customers. The gov't can take all it wants.By Lee
September 27, 2007 6:09 PM | Link to this
This story leaves more unanswered questions than anything.
Reading between the lines, they were “persons of interest” in a US Dept of Justice racketeering investigation. As such, you don’t want them to have access to documents, computer systems, and witnesses until the investigation is completed.
But, if the main person who perpetuated this fraud is about to be sentenced, that means the trial has taken place and the investigation was completed a long time ago.
Once the indictments were handed out, APS should have made a determination what to do with these two employees.
Maybe the AJC should try to get a few more facts before they publish a story like this.
Ya think?
By V for Vendetta
September 28, 2007 8:17 AM | Link to this
Right NICK, the government has been keeping its nose out of education a lot lately. Right? Anyone? Hello?
Your political assertions sound like those of my high school students, just regurgitating the partisan rhetoric that has been crammed down your throat. Grow up, get informed, and make decisions based on intelligence, NOT PARTY LINES OR RELIGION.
Please everyone, is this so hard to figure out!?
By Jeff
September 28, 2007 8:30 AM | Link to this
Guys, let’s face it:
There is only ONE Presidential Candidate that is TRULY for SMALL government.
He has ran with an (L) beside his name before, he is currently running with an (R) beside his name, and yet he is the ONLY one with a proven voting record that reflects the same things he says today.
His name is Dr. Ron Paul.
By jim d
September 28, 2007 8:44 AM | Link to this
Although I’ve been known to wonder a bit of topic on these blogs, I certainly hope this one doesn’t become a venue for an upcoming presidential election.
By Jeff
September 28, 2007 9:08 AM | Link to this
jim:
Eh, wasn’t trying to do any real politiking here, just pointing out a fact. If you want small government, there is only one viable candidate. Each of the other 15 or so right now are all pro-enlarging government, though granted in the flavors of whichever party they belong to.
By JustMe
September 28, 2007 9:08 AM | Link to this
jim d- AGREED!!!!!
By muffin
September 28, 2007 9:44 AM | Link to this
i know several people who work in education and the money i witness being wasted is abhorrent. trips on the taxpayers’ dime staying in fancy hotel rooms and renting luxury automobiles, they get endless amounts of vacation pay, personal pay, sick pay, holiday pay, much more than anyone i know that works in the private sector. most parents i know do not want to put their children in public school and are opting to pay for private schooling for these very reasons. they are bleeding us dry with their lack of supervision over spending in the school systems, at both county and state level. people are hired back as “counsel” after retirement and drawing a larger salary than they did before while they don’t do any work. school employees being paid their salary while they’re in jail. the list goes on and on. it’s disgusting.
By Terry
September 28, 2007 9:56 AM | Link to this
This is nothing new—- but when are the people going to raise hell at each county’s school board meetings about this waste of tax dollars.
Not to mention the kickbacks, fancy hotels and trips on our dime.
Yes, kickbacks too. Conflict of interest, unfair labor practices.
This is what we have in Forsyth.
Everybody should investigate their school district with Georgia Open Records Requests, round people up and say… cut the b.s. right at the school board meetings.
Draw the business leaders in too… tell them they are partnering up with fraudulent and deceitful government.. that will get her done. When you pull the money away from them, they will automatically tighten up their belts..
Let me ask Brigitte— How did they even get an investigation going— we need one up here in my neck of the woods.
By Terry
September 28, 2007 10:01 AM | Link to this
This story is interesting— in my County they Demote good ethical educators— here is the story:
http://www.cumminghome.com/news30041/Education/parents-ask-forsyth-county-school-board-to-reinsta.shtml
By V for Vendetta
September 28, 2007 10:07 AM | Link to this
lol, you’re right Jim. Just one mention of government these days seems to set off a firestorm of debate.
NICK just baited a few of us on that one :-)
What was the topic again? Oh, right, corrupt central office educrats. Sigh.
By david
September 28, 2007 10:45 AM | Link to this
Teacher’s unions, like senior citizens, are holding the nation hostage to any meaningful change in the public education system or SS reform. They can do this because they do what the vast majority does not do, they vote. Witness the recent 100% denial of submitted charter school plans by the state. Note AARP’s full assault against any privatization of SS. I know teachers have a challenging job, but who doesn’t? I know seniors have given a lot to the country. That should not mean they get a free ride, ie no property taxes while fulton county more than doubles mine, with 80% of the money or $3k going to schools our kids will never attend. Look at your paycheck and your tax bill. As long as they vote and the majority does not, nothing will change.
By John
September 28, 2007 11:06 AM | Link to this
This story is a mere diversion from the real issue. APS squandered over $73 million dollars, covered up its misdeeds, and is still in denial.
The real story is that the distrct has missed out on $200 million dollars over the past five years because of the actions. Do you think that kind of money would help in educating our children? That is the real story.
By Terry
September 28, 2007 11:12 AM | Link to this
The apathy by the public in regards to education is killing the quality of education in Georgia.
Everybody needs to get involved in the political process to change school boards and the way education is done in Georgia
By lovelyliz
September 28, 2007 11:36 AM | Link to this
By Pompano Big difference though between this behavior by Public sector vs private. In the Private sector, this type of a decision by a company only wastes their own money.
In the public sector, they are wasting taxpayer dollars.Unless you are a shareholder or pensioner.
Or a taxpayer picking up the pieces afterwards.
By John
September 28, 2007 5:20 PM | Link to this
Read last year’s report by the Fulton Co. Taxpayers Association and learn how much money APS really throws down a rat-hole call administrators. The APS Board of Education is composed of people that have no idea how a large company should be operated.