WCBOE – The Big Field Trip (Part I)

Junkets to Disneyland.  Junkets to Las Vegas.  Junkets to DisneyWorld.  These are just a few instances of where Wicomico tax dollars go thanks to our infamous Board of Education (WCBOE).

Oddly enough, I don’t believe that junkets such as these are the worst examples of the WCBOE’s travel / entertainment profligacy.  I don’t doubt that many of these trips afford some marginal benefit to our public schools.  Some may even be necessary.  Some examples, such as employees going to Hooters on the taxpayers dime are actually amusing.

No.  What frustrates me most is the attitude shown by superintendent John Fredericksen and his merry little band of bureaucrats towards the taxpayers of Wicomico County that I find most disturbing.  To Fredericksen, et al, we are a giant cash register; nothing more.

Eating out at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.  Fredericksen going out to lunch with county parks director Gary Mackes or county executive Rick Pollitt and then charging it to the taxpayer.  The response is that this is allowed in the private sector.  This is true.  However, the private sector does not take funds from citizens by force.  Those same people in the private sector don’t have lifetime job security or a retirement package like WCBOE employees.

HIDE THE EXPENSE ACCOUNT

What is even more despicable is Fredericksen’s belief that he can hide this information from the public.  Last summer, Wicomico County councilman Joe Holloway requested information on the WCBOE’s travel expenses for the last two years.  Here is Fredericksen’s response.

Note that Fredericksen (in his most obtuse bureaucratic lingo) says that he would love to comply, BUT, before he could “assist our County counterparts”, Fredericksen must explain that it’s going to cost a small fortune to provide the information to Holloway.

Now, that might be a valid concern – EXCEPT …  Fredericksen wasn’t being exactly truthful with Joe Holloway.  Holloway is tighter with the taxpayers’ money than he is his own (and Joe can pinch a penny).  So, after receiving Fredericksen’s response he didn’t push the matter any further.  Until … at a council meeting in the Fall of 2009 the usual suspects from the WCBOE showed up for a budget transfer.  WCBOE comptroller Bruce Ford had a printout of some expense categories.  Holloway asked Ford how difficult it was to get that information.  Ford replied that all you had to do was enter the account code(s) and the time period and VOILA!

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Why Does the WCBOE Protect Criminals?

Harken back to the days of the great landfill scandal.  After Sheriff Mike Lewis caught the criminals and States Attorney Davis Ruark sent them to jail it was discovered that the miscreants would be collecting full county pensions.  Shame on us.

By law, nothing could be done about the problem at hand.  However, Wicomico’s county council did take steps to make sure that such an event wouldn’t occur in the future.  If a county employee was found guilty of defrauding or otherwise stealing from the taxpayers they would forfeit the county’s contribution to their pension.

Last year it was discovered that a Wicomico County Board of Education (WCBOE) employee was defrauding the taxpayers (or if you are a lefty – “stealing form the children”).  I’m sure it wasn’t the first time; nor the last.  Assuming that this woman is convicted and sentence to jail, she will be eligible to receive her full pension.  Shame on us again?

Maybe.  The WCBOE bureaucrats read the paper.  Hell, thanks to their “special relationship” they practically run it.  But, I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt as to why they didn’t pass a resolution similar to the county’s soon after the county passed their new pension rules.  However, in early December of last year the Wicomico County Council sent a letter to superintendent John Fredericksen asking that they adopt a similar resolution.  Almost four months have passed.  NOTHING.

If the WCBOE doesn’t act, then the next time an employee is discovered stealing from the taxpayer, the fault will lie squarely on Fredericksen and the board.  Perhaps Fredericksen, et al, will argue that their collective bargaining agreements wouldn’t allow them to pass such legislation.  But wait, I thought that it was all “FOR THE CHILDREN”.

Tomorrow – Part I of The Big Field Trip, our expose of waste, fraud, and abuse in the WCBOE Travel Budget

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Fredericksen Needs A Little Economics Lesson

It’s pretty obvious from yesterday’s Daily Times op-ed that Wicomico County schools superintendent John Fredericksen never bothered taking an economics class during his many years of post-secondary education.  Fredericksen seems to be under the delusion that the Wicomico County Board of Education (WCBOE) is somehow an “economic engine” that grows our local economy:

The Wicomico County school system is one of the region’s top three employers, an economic engine with 25 schools and more than 2,500 employees. Our employees support the Wicomico County economy and the communities where they live, magnifying the effect of dollars that are spent on public education.

While I certainly don’t expect Fredericksen to grasp Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, he should at least take the time to tackle Henry Hazlitt’s Economics in One Lesson.  Government spending CANNOT CREATE WEALTH.  Wealth creation is what grows an economy over the long term.

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Media Monday, 02/01/2010 – Spinning Travel Abuse at the WCBOE

Tracey Sahler, “Public Information Liaison” (that’s “Spin Doctor at Taxpayer Expense” for you non-bureaucrats out there) for the Wicomico County Board of Education (WCBOE) really earned her pay this week.  She’s proving the old adage “It’s not what you know, but who you know” is definitely true when it comes to the WCBOE and the Daily Times.  Thanks to her relationship with the paper’s managing editor (her husband, Erick Sahler), Daily Times reporter Greg Latshaw will not only print the WCBOE’s spin, but their lies as well.

Sunday, the paper ran a front page story – “Wicomico School Travel Expenses Scrutinized”.  This piece was in obvious reaction to pieces ran last week by both Delmarva Dealings and Salisbury News outlining just a few of the abuses found by Wicomico County Councilman Joe Holloway.  Holloway has spent months attempting to get this information from the WCBOE and has been stonewalled every step of the way.  He has requested copies of the receipts for specific line items and has still not received those!  Yet, what was Mr. Latshaw’s lead for this puff piece?

The Wicomico County school system is viewing every out-of-town conference or business lunch with increased scrutiny as it prepares for big budget reductions.  "We would anticipate the (seminars and conferences) budget to be substantially and significantly reduced," said Superintendent John Fredericksen.

The WCBOE has refused to cut this year’s travel budget – instead choosing to cut from SPECIAL ED!  They have been caught using taxpayer funds for trips to Hooter’s, junkets to Vegas (including tickets to a Toby Keith concert), and dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse!  It appears that the taxpayers have even been charged for Superintendent John Fredericksen and Wicomico County Executive Rick Pollitt to have lunch.  Yet, Latshaw (and his boss Erick Sahler) want the public to believe that the WCBOE is attempting to be a faithful steward of the taxpayers’ money.

Fredericksen Lies … Again

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Holloway Uncovers MORE Wasteful Spending at the BOE

Wicomico County Councilman Joe Holloway isn’t very popular with the bureaucrats over at the Wicomico County Board of Education (WCBOE).  He politely asks for information on their spending habits, they attempt to stonewall him, Holloway keeps fighting for the information, the bureaucrats are embarrassed.  At least the taxpayers get to find out how their dollars are being wasted.

Speaking last night at the monthly meeting of the Wicomico chapter of Americans for Prosperity, Holloway gave a brief re-cap of his term on the county council.  Holloway made one thing crystal clear – despite the protestations of people like Wicomico County Executive Rick Pollitt and several members of the county council, Wicomico County doesn’t have a REVENUE PROBLEM.  Wicomico County has a SPENDING PROBLEM.

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Why The Proposed Wicomico Budget Amendment Is Bad Policy

On Tuesday, November 10th, the Wicomico County Council will hold a public hearing on County Executive Rick Pollitt’s proposed budget amendment.  Nominally, this budget amendment is to correct a revenue shortfall caused by a loss of over $6 million in state aid to the county.  In reality, Pollitt’s amendment is designed to force citizens to repeal the revenue cap and will result (within 7 – 19 months) with a tax increase for Wicomico homeowners and businesses.

If you don’t mind paying higher property taxes, you should attend Tuesday’s hearing and say so.  However, if you agree with me that the revenue cap should stay in place then you should go to Tuesday’s hearing and DEMAND that the county council vote this measure down and call on Pollitt to RESTRUCTURE the county government to live within its means.

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WCBOE Fiddlin’ Along With Board President Mark Thompson

This is an update to last night’s story regarding the misstatements of Wicomico County Board of Education (WCBOE)  President Mark Thompson.

WCBOE “Public Information Liaison” Tracy Sahler is back in her office today, but she’s hiding the facts from the public.  To understand the extent to which the WCBOE will go to prevent citizens (and even our elected officials) from knowing the truth about what goes on at the corner of Mt. Hermon Road and Long Avenue (the WCBOE offices), we’ll give you a little background.

After reading Thompson’s statements in Thursday’s Daily Times, I decided to do a little research.  A couple of things didn’t ring quite true.  After finding out more about the Reading Forever Fund (an admirable charity) and how it works, I asked two SPECIFIC questions of the WCBOE:

 

1. Where does the money which is given by schools to the Reading Forever Fund come from?
2. If the WCBOE (or an individual school) did not order the books in question, who did?

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It’s Been A Rough Week At the Wicomico Board of Education

Wise people learn from their mistakes and view adversity as opportunity.  This may be a cliché, but true none the less.  One thing we have learned this week is that the people running the Wicomico County Board of Education (WCBOE) are not wise men and women.

After being denied a budget transfer by the Wicomico County Council for the first time in memory, members of the board and senior staff were then hit with the public revelation that one or more school libraries were stocking material wholly inappropriate for school students.  Has the WCBOE learned from its mistakes?  No.  Are they turning a bad situation into an opportunity for improvement?  Hell No!

Instead, we have Superintendent John Fredericksen flip-flopping right and left as to what will be done.  Basically it depends who is interviewing Fredericksen as to what will be done about the book scandal dubbed by one public official as “ComicGate”.

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Fredericksen Tries to Spin “Dirty Book” in Wicomico Schools

John Fredericksen, Superintendent of the Wicomico County Public Schools, is attempting to draw attention away from the core issues revolving around yesterday’s report of inappropriate material found in an elementary school library.  Fredericksen wants the public to believe that issue is closed with the POSSIBLE removal of the book in question.  Fredericksen failed to address the WCBOE’s complete lack of a coherent policy regarding the approval and purchasing of books for school libraries.

"I’d say it’s coming off the shelves as soon as I can get a phone call back to the office," Fredericksen said.

But later in the same interview with Daily Times reporter Greg Latshaw, Fredericksen states:

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Wicomico Budget Vote Tuesday – Another Pig in a Poke

As the Wicomico County Council prepares to approve another budget, taxpayers will again be buying a pig in a poke.  No, this is not a criticism of the council, but concern that Wicomico elected officials will be appropriating most of the county’s tax dollars to a proverbial black hole – the Wicomico County Board of Education (WCBOE).

So far, the county government has no idea as to how tax dollars at WCBOE will be spent.  While I am sure that we would hear protestations from the likes of Supt. John Fredericksen and councilman Bill McCain, the facts are simple;  we don’t know how much the WCBOE’s employees will be paid next year.  Given that a disporportionate percentage of the BOE’s budget goes to salaries, how can we know how much the BOE is spending next year.  How can the county council or County Executive Rick Pollitt?

The answer is simple.  They can’t.  As county employees dodged the furlough bullet, expect to see WCBOE employees either receive raises, an increase in benefits through the now infamous “Rate Stabilization” slush fund, or both.

Expect Pollitt to continue to whine about the revenue cap.  Expect the teachers’ union (or probably all four WCBOE unions) to start organizing for the cap’s repeal.  Expect to hear that “It’s for the Children!“.

When bad teachers can be fired and the majority of BOE members start treating the taxpayer with something better than contempt, MAYBE it will be time to start having that discussion.  Of course, if the cap is ever repealed I’m sure Rick Pollitt has a huge wish list.

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