The Atlantic:

Bernie Sanders’s Ideas Dominated the Second Debate

WCSD to shut down offices as Davis plans return. Davis reacts: ‘racial issues’ in district

This is a truly amazing story playing out in the Washoe county School District.  While the District is telling the public that the reason for Superintendent Davis’ problems is the leaking of information, the reason for the offices being closed is described by the District as such: “The offices were closed because multiple employees have come forward, in fear of retaliation by Davis, to report their work environments were hostile, harassing, toxic, and unprofessional,” the statement said. “With Davis announcing her return tomorrow in breach of her leave of absence agreement, employees are understandably concerned about what their work environment will be.  This District supports a hostile free, professional work environment.”

When Ms. Davis was last evaluated by the District, a firm was hired to collect information from employees and public and the surveys found that considerable numbers of those who knew of and were recipients of her actions reported dissatisfaction, many pointing to behaviors such as those that are now reason for closing down the District offices.  THOSE SURVEYS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR A LESS THAN SATISFACTORY EVALUATION OF MS. DAVIS were ignored.  Ms. Davis retained her job.

Ms. Davis is now making claims that the current situation involves racial discrimination. It may.  At this point, however, I think that it may be that the fact that Ms. Davis is of African-American background has led to treatment of her that violates the civil rights of students who deserve well managed schools and employees, parents, and students who have received mistreatment at her hands.

“‘Huge victory for the Republican Party’: Legal experts weigh in on Supreme Court’s landmark gerrymandering decision”

Real trouble!  The fix is in and the fix is legal.  So says the highest court in the land.  Vote in a democrat and what is he or she going to be able to do to right wrongs that have been made to be legally right by a right-wing court.  This is why it is without question a question that should have been asked a while back as to why the democrats failed to protest vociferously against Mitch McConnell’s incredibly potent power grab when he refused to allow the Obama nominee to be confirmed.  The whimper was beyond pathetic, quiet that loudly spoke to the degree of disfunction we were experiencing in our political system, disfunction created by a coup that conservatives have been slowly bringing to full victory by packing the courts and distorting the vote.  Democrats have never provided anything resembling a safety wall, complicit in so many ways for so many odious reasons that to believe in that party as the answer to our cries is simply foolish, a notion of something better that soothes but will not cure because the cure is fixing a corrupt system by which too many in the democratic leadership benefit enormously.  In America today, the reality is class warfare not a battle between political parties and the class that will continue to devour all others that ONE that has allowed political power to be legally purchased by and for those who can accumulate enough money to have a voice.  There is no people’s party and our history clearly shows this.  Those who keep hoping for change while going about doing the bidding of those who control them get crushed a little more every year and the response is to rub a little not so conservative ointment on a deep and deadly gash.  That gash is what been cut into democracy, really, into the quest for democracy that had some life–maybe an illusion–still after so many crushing defeats.  Reagan’s revolution was a great success and ever since, the unfairness of it all has become more and more the acceptable norm, more and more encoded in the law.

The decision today would, in a nation with a citizenry smart enough to know when it was screwed and intelligent enough to plot a way to relief would be marching in the streets and closing down cities.

Not in the United States of America.

Josie did this Story Corps interview with me in November of 2018 and I had never heard it until today when I came across it browsing around to see if anyone had recently had reason to mention my name.  I am posting it because Josie gave me a chance to summarize my views and my outlook on life.  She also gave me an opportunity to talk about her and my feelings toward her, this incredible person who has ever so much enriched my experience as a human being.

THE INTERVIEW

Another article just up on RGJ webpage.  Note that lack of qualification for jobs such as director of special education are a part of the story.  The superintendent in place when MS. Davis was made assistant superintendent was not lawfully qualified to be a superintendent.  The Las Vegas school board noted this when he was not hired as superintendent there.  Ms. Davis was responsible for the hiring of the other two administrators recently fired.  Their qualifications for their jobs have been questioned, for good reason.  Why were such people hired in the first place?  I mentioned patterns in an earlier post.  I do not think it paranoid to notice insider advantage for positions beginning three superintendents back with Heath Morrison.  Serious allegations involving the safety and well being of children, some with special needs, are involved here and the public should be made aware of what is and has been taking place in relative secrecy.

New RGJ story that, as far as I can tell, only appears on their online posting site.  It is not today’s front-page story.  It should be.

“Holland said in the statement there were reasons why she didn’t share details of the situation earlier this week when asked directly about it by the press.

“The District’s counsel discussed the issue with them hoping for resolution that would not harm the District,” she said. “District counsel has provided information to me which I feel shows a reasonable conclusion that at minimum was recklessly negligent supervision and gross misconduct on her part.”

Okay, but knowing what she knew, Ms. Holland, that is, would it have been good for the district IF the matter was resolved in discussion with Ms. Davis’ lawyers and would such resolution kept quiet have been to the benefit of the public?  Remember that we still do not know why the Galena administrators were fired.  Good for the public?

A meeting will take place at which Ms. Davis’ behavior will be discussed.  It will be a public meeting.  From the article:  ““The District’s counsel discussed the issue with them hoping for resolution that would not harm the District,” she said. “District counsel has provided information to me which I feel shows a reasonable conclusion that at minimum was recklessly negligent supervision and gross misconduct on her part.”

As of Sunday night, 617 people have read–clicked, at least–he piece titled Tracy Davis.  That is considerably more readers than anything else I have published on the lafered.com site and I cannot help but wonder what has caught the interest of so many.  I invite those who have read the piece to tell me why they are interested and, too–and more importantly–what they think about the situation the piece describes.  Please comment on the lafered.com site or e-mail me your comments to lafer@unr.edu.  I would appreciate the conversation.

The WCSD finally began to explain some of what was going on in regard to three top district administrators who suddenly were administrators no more, the superintendent said to be on leave and then said to be absent from a meeting she was required to attended to discuss her misconduct.  The district says now that Ms. Davis is accused by the district of violating confidentiality rules, the medical leave explanation complicated now by this revelation.  As I said in the earlier posts about district conduct, particularly its tendency to find excuses for sharing with the public information the public has a right to know, for instance, why administrators are forced to leave their positions.  Those excuses are, ironically, often couched in concern for confidentiality.

So again, the district is telling the public that it cannot discuss the matter of an administrator preventing a valedictorian from giving her speech at the commencement ceremony.  According to the Reno Gazette-Journal,  the district, when asked about the incident said, “The decision regarding the valedictorian speech for North Valleys High School involved school staff, a student, and a family. It would be unprofessional and unfair for the District to comment on such individual matters concerning a student.”  The story  is an interesting one for it appears that the administrator who objected to the speech do so for no other reason than that the valedictorian planned to say about her experience at the school that it had not been a positive one, that she felt that she had been ignored by those who are payed to care about her as a human being, as a student.

My concern is as it has been for a long time, that this entity, the Washoe County School District, far too often tries to keep things from the public, things that the public has every right to know, things the public, through its representatives and through proper media pressure to get at the truth of things, needs to know in order to act as an informed public when it comes to matters of public education in the county.  District administrators should be questioned every time they use the excuse of law and confidentiality to make sure that such claims are valid ones and not misuse of public policy to hide wrong doing.

From Reno Gazette-Journal today: “The Washoe County School District again provided no information after Superintendent Traci Davis went on an indefinite leave of absence and two of her top administrators were no longer employed.”

Does the district know things we, the public, do not know.  Of course they do and, as I said in the last post, any person with the least bit of sensible curiosity has good reason to believe that withholding information here is more than an instance but a way of doing business for this school district.

There is “no investigation” says the Board president, this as if she wishes people to believe that there is nothing amiss.  But, again for the least bit curious and enough memory to recall other recent events, “no investigation” means that really important information is being buried.  Firings of administrators, their sudden resignations without explanation, without explanation of cause, is unacceptable and for a public school board to treat the public so is cause for investigation into the board’s behavior.

Secrecy for the public’s own good has become an excuse for hiding bad behavior and, here, confidentiality is being used to withhold what people concerned with the welfare of the young and with the proper operation of institutions of education have every right to know.  What did those who are forced to leave leadership positions in a school district do that was serious enough for them to be forced to leave.  Whatever happened, it has to have been very serious and this is most definitely cause for a need to know.

The Board president and the Board cannot be allowed to get away with the “no comment” is the best we can do approach to queries into actions taken.  Something is going on in our school district that is obviously wrong.  People trusted with our children have done wrong.  There had to be wrong done if these people were forced to leave their positions.  What that wrong was and why it was allowed to take place must be made known.