We were about to share our opinion in a very different way.
It was hellfire and brimstone with lots of outrage and biting commentary.
And we would have been justified in stoking just that sort of bonfire.
It was hard not to — trust us — but we choked it back.
We are sure that if you have read what we had to share with you this week, you had the same visceral reaction.
What has happened — and continues to happen — in our county schools and on its Board of Education is really that disturbing.
In fact, we are still shocked that we have to tell you about any of it.
We weren’t sure we could top a board trip to Ocracoke Island to talk about the district’s future while teachers put up “wish lists” for classroom supplies and others struggled with air-conditioning that only “sorta” worked.
But here we are again.
There are so many more important and more pressing problems than dealing with a rogue school board member and incompetent board leadership — like children who do not know how to read or do math or how to behave in a classroom, abhorrent state scores, and a worrisome teacher shortage.
Sounds like that should be the priority, doesn’t it?
We wanted to shout our displeasure from the rooftops.
But then we realized something.
What we have to say relates to more than just one part of our community.
You see, the issues we have covered over the past few months have shown that we let the Trojan horse in, turned our heads for more than a moment, and the rot slipped in — seemingly everywhere.
Now, it is time to clear it out.
So, let’s tackle yet another bad seed.
When a board chairman, or in this case, a past board chairman, has decided that the rules no longer apply to him, that somehow his “mission” or position or experience justifies dodging accountability, it is time for him to go.
And when he pretends that he is not sculking around the district’s office or that he is not scratching backs and making deals behind the scenes — or that he is so full of bloated self-worth that he can’t see when he is being flattered into forgetting the promises he made about fiscal responsibility, transparency, and performance-based metrics in education, well, you know.
Ooops. See how hard it is to bite our tongue?
If you read our recently published story, you learned that BOE member Chris West’s son, Noah, under the masthead of Next Level Lawn & Landscaping, received nearly $25,000 to provide beautification work at several county schools — one of the two largest amounts provided to any landscaping company as part of a district-wide effort to make WCPS campuses places students would be proud to call “their school.”
We get the intention of the projects.
And if we were flying high and scores were where they should be and the air-conditioning was working, etc., well maybe.
We will get back to priorities later because there is more to share there.
But before we do, get ready to get angry.
Really angry.
Back to the shocker in the previous paragraph.
That’s right, the former chairman of the Board of Education’s son got the chance to earn a pretty substantial bonus by being the landscaper “chosen” by the schools’ principals to put down mulch, remove bushes, etc., at several schools — many of them in West’s district, all with principals who were appointed while he was board chairman.
Smell a little fishy yet?
Well, what if we told you that West’s son is also an employee of the district — that he works as an HVAC technician in the already-strapped and chronically understaffed maintenance department that has been struggling trying to get to all the jobs that need to be done in the district, like making sure the AC units are working in the buildings?
Upset yet?
Well, what if we also told you this: There is a rule that prevents decisions involving the hiring of employees and contractors with ties to board members to be made unilaterally.
Here it is:
“Before any immediate family of any Board of Education member or central office staff administrator is employed by the Board or engaged in any capacity as an employee, independent contractor, or otherwise, (1) the Board member or central office staff administrator must disclose the familial relationship to the Board and (2) the prospective employment or engagement must be approved by the Board in a duly open session meeting.”
So, that means one of two things:
- The board violated its own rules.
- Board members just rubber-stamped another questionable purchase/hire.
Here is what district spokesman Ken Derksen said when we asked about it:
“No such presentation occurred or was required for these projects.”
Um … OK?
Guess we got our answer.
And one more thing.
The address on the invoice for Next Level is familiar to anyone who has looked up candidate rosters during election season.
It’s Chris West’s address.
Seriously.
Look at the picture of the invoice.
Now, Google the address.
Yikes.
Something else occurs to us, too.
Seems like a job of this magnitude should have been bid out to save money, right? Or at the very least, a portion this large should be competitively bid to allow other businesses in Wayne County not associated with the former board chairman the chance to make a pitch?
What if we also told you that West’s son is not, according to the state database, a licensed landscaper, which means he did not have to meet the strict standards that govern those who run businesses like that in North Carolina when they complete jobs north of $6,000?
And what if on that invoice, there was a notation — about taking a paid day off from his WCPS job to do the work?
West’s son might be a great landscaper with a league of satisfied customers. He is not really the issue here.
This is part of a bigger problem — rot that we are still trying to root out because of a scourge that has been business as usual in the school district for ages, with disastrous results — nepotism.
We see it all over WCPS and it has put some pretty underwhelming administrators in schools and in district jobs for years.
And what it sets up is that good old boy (or girl) backscratching that leads to contracts that never really are competitively bid or jobs that don’t go to the most qualified candidate but to someone’s daughter-in-law — or sorority/fraternity brother or sister.
It leads to employees who watch the preferential treatment and decide to take their talents elsewhere and bidders who see that there is no oversight and don’t bother to give consideration to efficient use of taxpayer funds.
But back to this particular head-scratcher.
In all, more than $115,000 has been spent on the beautification projects so far this fiscal year.
West’s son — again, a current employee of the district — took home more than 20 percent of that total.
Wonder if the chance to earn an extra $20,000 was offered to any other maintenance department employee?
We cannot believe we have to tell anyone what a bad idea this was — let alone the former board chairman and now senior member of the county school board.
Why?
Because when he first ran, back when we talked with him at his office in then-local Republican leader Bob Jackson’s house, he said one of the reasons he was seeking a spot on the BOE was to fix fiscal irresponsibility — and to stop the nepotism train that had put relatives of a prominent school board member in administrative positions all over the county, and eventually, in the county office.
So much for that.
We wanted to ask the new superintendent in person how he felt about the beautification projects and how the money was spent.
He thought about it, then sent back a press release.
In essence, he said he put the decision in his principals’ hands.
Any questions we had, he said, could be addressed by Derksen.
We have been here before. When you corner people with questions they do not want to answer, they do one of two things.
- They just refuse to respond, thinking that if they don’t, you will give up.
- They start poor-mouthing all over the county about how unfair you are — about how everything you report is “biased” and that you never report anything positive.
Sigh.
We wish we could just report on the great things going on in county schools.
And over the last several months, we have featured, right here, student artwork, high school athletes, an amazing teacher/cheerleading coach, and stories about at-risk students turning their lives around through the arts.
Here’s another.
We recently received an anonymous tip from a concerned community member who let us know that a wheelchair-bound Northwest Elementary student with a severe disability who needed an ADA-compliant ramp and a new, size-appropriate changing table, could not get that work done because the maintenance department told school officials “there wasn’t enough money” and that the resources the child had were “good enough.”
This was after meetings and prep work by Northwest over the summer in anticipation of the child’s arrival from Meadow Lane.
The person we spoke to had tears in their eyes and choked up as they told us the story.
But don’t worry, we have $115,000 in new bushes and mulch!
We know that having just read about that little girl’s plight, you are as disgusted as we are that WCPS seems to have a priority problem.
So, here’s what we are going to do.
We are going to ensure that little girl has the ramp and changing station she needs.
New Old North will be donating $500 to the district for those items.
If you feel compelled to chip in, send us an email or stop by our office.
No child in Wayne County should ever be made to feel like he or she doesn’t matter. And we won’t stand for it.
So, no matter what, come hell or highwater, there will be a new ramp and changing table at that school.
We have experience with what happens when this community finds out one of its neighbors is in need.
Let’s get this done.
Right now.
Together.
And as we are cutting those checks, let’s remember how you know when someone has gone bad — hold your nose, make a face, and spark a visceral reaction of disgust bad?
It starts when they, a grouper, looks in the mirror and sees a great white shark.
And it gets worse when they listen to the flattering hiss of a serpent whose interests and advice are part of an agenda that is the polar opposite of the one they proport to support.
When they believe that they are a kingmaker, when they believe that they are a tough guy who holds other people’s feet to the fire, but that the very rules of responsibility, integrity, and fair play they fire others for violating do not apply to them.
And when they hit that level, when they actually think that they are a powerbroker, and they believe that they can do whatever they want without accountability, the real stench begins to become so powerful it can no longer be ignored.
We talk a lot about this county’s future.
And part of creating that future is to jettison those who have forgotten what they promised their constituents they would do if elected.
We can’t have this anymore. We can’t.
And we are going to keep calling it out until it has been stomped out for good.
We think you want that, too, so keep helping us make it happen.
As for the ramp and the changing table?
To whom do we make out the check, Mr. Superintendent?
We’ll wait for your — or, I guess we should say, your spokesman’s — response.
