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07-12-2002

Tooele County Schools
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  For the national and international readers, my sincere apologies for the localized editorial this month.
     It's been in the news a lot lately about how a Tooele school employee embezzled nearly $80,000.00 over the course of 3 years, and why she wasn't caught. It's been often asked "how could she get away with it, didn't the administration check the books?" (She was a secretary in a local elementary school. Since she's not been convicted yet, but has admitted to taking 'some' money, we'll assume she's innocent for the time being)
She didn't get caught, because the school district administration has no clue what is happening in the schools or even in the community.
     I'd like to tell a tale of my own experiences with the school district going back over 4 years.
     When my son died in 1998, the high school newspaper published a story about his death that was utterly false. They'd used what they call "journalistic license" to generate false statements, but were attributed to him in the name of said license. This was 7 days following his death. They published a large picture of him in the school paper as well. When I approached the journalism teacher about the story, she was very sorry about it, and cited that the schools computer system still wasn't networked after 2 years, and so she'd never seen the story before it went to press. She offered to print an apology. This was before the school's principal got involved. The school principal took the position that the school could 'print anything they damn well pleased' and they weren't going to apologize. I set up an appointment to meet with the principal and the school district superintendent.
     In the meantime, the president of the school board, Kendall Thomas, came to my home. He happens to be a neighbor. He apologized right and left for the story, and then said that 'come hell or high water, there would be an apology and retraction' for the story. He also happens to be the uncle of the woman charged with embezzling  the nearly $80,000.00 from the elementary school. He's also never been in my home, spoken to me, nor come near me since that night 4 years ago when he promised an apology)
     We also learned from the Jr. High principal shortly after this meeting, that my son had told a teacher and two students of his planned suicide on the day before he took his own life. He'd even shown one of his suicide notes to the students. The teacher didn't believe Josh, and thought he was just 'joking around.'   This reaction, in spite of the recent numbers of suicides in the community. If the teacher had only had a responsible thought for one short moment, my son might still be with us.
     We met with the superintendent. The principal came, 30 minutes late. During the meeting, not only was she openly defiant, but when the superintendent told her he'd be in touch with the district lawyers, she responded with "I've already been in touch with them, and they told me I am in the right. His response? "The school district lawyers work for ME, not you, and you have no right to supercede my authority. She basically told him to go to hell because the school board is her boss, not the superintendent. I was fit to be tied at her gall, callousness, and irrational behavior.
     It should also be explained that the school district has gone through a number of superintendents in recent years. One retired, one was fired for sexual misconduct, one was fired for his driving down the road on a Sunday with an open container of beer in his car. In the middle of all these disruptions to the leadership of the school district, Dr. Jose Trujillo, an asset to the school district for greater than 27 years, filled in as superintendent pro-tem. The school board wouldn't hire him full time as superintendent for undisclosed reasons. The community openly questioned the school board, including myself, asking if Dr. Trujillo's race had anything to do with the fact that he wasn't being hired. He'd been superintendent for greater (cumulatively) than 3 years anyway, so why not hire him? He lives in Tooele, has the respect of teachers and parents, and is open with the community. He's fluent in Spanish, which is important in a school district that is 25% Hispanic. He has concerns for Native American students, and is very sensitive to race issues. However, he's not Mormon/LDS, and he's not white. Apparently those were the whammy's that kept him from being the full time great superintendent that he'd been good enough to be in the middle of the consistent firings of other superintendents.
     A new superintendent was finally hired into the school district, a man from Bountiful Utah, nearly 50 miles away. But he is Mormon, he is white. A man with no knowledge of a farming community, no awareness of the community value system. In other words, a lame duck in an nepotistic pond where the school district employee roster is filled with brothers, uncles, aunts, sisters, cousins, mothers, fathers, and close friends of each other. He comes from an alternative High School with no administration background to speak of.  No matter.....
     One day, a foster child that was in my home stole a knife from my home, and attacked another child with it. I learned of the attack 3 weeks later from the foster child's teacher, who had turned the knife in to Mr. Luke, the elementary school principal. He felt that "The foster boy had gone through enough in his life without getting into more trouble for assaulting someone with a knife, even if it is a 4 inch lock blade." He didn't report it to ANYONE! I marched into the office of the new superintendent demanding an explanation. He told me he'd find out the answer to the issue, and get back with me.  3 years later, not a word from him.
    Since that day, two parents groups have been started in Tooele to get rid of the bad principal at the high school in the face of rumors of her lack of morals, even rumors that the principal has been involved in an extra marital affair with another city employee. Unsubstantiated rumors, but in a state where a woman was recently and openly fired for being lesbian, you'd imagine that any inappropriate rumors would be of issue.
     I did fail to mention that in the past, my band and I have done 3 benefit concerts for the school district, and raised nearly $50,000.00 for the high school music programs. Sandy Shepherd, aforementioned High School principal, told someone who worked at the local bank at the time and to another teacher in the school, that I'd wrongfully taken money out of the fundraising account. Given that her statement was false and moreover, I didn't have access to any school accounts, I confronted Ms. Shepherd with her accusation. She denied it. She then called the teacher into her office, and told the teacher that the teacher had "behaved unprofessionally in telling me what Ms. Shepherd had said about the alleged missing money." (turned out no money was ever actually missing, she'd made an error) The teacher got quite angry with Ms. Shepherd about the incident, as she felt the principal had ordered her to lie about what had happened. The teacher then quit as a result. The choir teacher also quit over the issue.
     More teachers have left the Tooele High School since the hiring of this principal 4 years ago than in the previous 15 years combined.
     In an old editorial, you'll find I make reference to a principal of a school making racist comments about Native American students. That principal was Sandy Shepherd before she was principal at the High School.
     There have been racial issues, sexual discrimination issues, and abuse issues at the high school in the past 4 years, not to mention an incident involving a drunk teacher on high school premises (who was not even reprimanded, let alone terminated) and many, many other incidents at the high school.
    The seniors think so little of the principal that they give her marbles at graduation because they think she's lost hers. It took her 2 years to catch on to why they were doing this.
     Bottom line is, with this kind of leadership in the high school, is it any wonder that a secretary embezzled nearly $80,000.00? Or that the school district test scores are significantly down? Or that parents groups are forming in the county to take on the task of determining why our school district leadership is so terrible?
     In closing, I've met with most of the school board at one time or another, met with the superintendent twice, and met with the High School principal more than I care to admit. And in those meetings, I've encountered blind ignorance, complete buffoonery, and absolute black evil and amorality, in that order. These are the people responsible for teaching our children and providing for our future generations. Seems to me that the school district has bigger issues to deal with than the missing $80,000.00.

Scary thought, isn't it?

 

 

To my nieces and nephew that are serving in our armed forces as we fight this war, I'm proud of you, I love you, pray you will return to us safely. I thank God for your safety, bravery, and dignity. 

dse