Everythinglakecharles.com The Blog
Carl M. Ambrose, Jr.
It been awhile since a new blog, so here it is random thoughts about the CPSB.
Some background, prior to the vote on the sales tax to increase teachers pay, many people had reservations due to fact that the Superitendent of CPS was unable to balance the budget for....a long time, even when it was his only job. At the time of the tax proposal, the plea was for the teachers. Of the 7,400+ employees of the school system, 2600+ are teachers. You would think that for sure all 2600+teachers got their $4000 raise, all didn't, some are rumored to have only received $3600 while some administrators, who NEVER deal with students, received the full amount. While we are on the subject of administration, someone should file F.O.I.A. or ask for a "forensic audit" to find out how many people are receiving a full pension as well as a cushy $50,00+ job and don't have to deal with students, as well as, where is our money? 61 school,2600+ teachers, $330+ million dollar budget that will grow each yr. We have closed schools, fewer students, and in the past 10+ yrs 0 for 10+ in balanced budgets, a common denominator that everyone knows. A total audit is the only we can account for EVERY DIME that is ours. Too many decisions made without the public's knowledge.
Now this leads the the attorney who is suppose to represent the people of Calcasieu Parish by making sure that all laws are followed, all deadlines met, etc, you know lawyer stuff that we aren't suppose to understand. He is FAILING miserably. In fact he may cost the school board some money, a lot, not $330 million, but a lot. The documents below outline how he has failed the public.
Now to the President/Chair of the school board, who sets the agenda i.e. what can,who will, won't be able to talk and what will be talked about, he campaigned on one thing and is now doing the opposite. What can we say? He is using his position to Censor the very taxpayers whose money they have control of. Soon it will be all out in the open. At this point as a taxpayer you have no idea if the money is being used wisely and can't find out because all decisions are made in either small "meetings" or Executive Committee. Either way the taxpayers are shut out of decisions on their money.
Some of you may be saying, "We already know that." I would hope that you do, those that don't, you do now. One would think that would be enough, it's not, there's more. The board now wants to take the University program away from LaGrange and Washington-Marion and move it to LCB. This after they discovered that won't have enough students to keep it open. You may ask why does this matter since it would just be another school closed in NLC? Maybe they want to keep a public school close to downtown? not likely, maybe they don't own the property and if the school is closed, the property reverts back to the heirs. So making the most gifted of these schools get up earlier to be bused to LCB,( the program has only been in place for 1 yr) thus, in the process keeping LCB open and no one is the wiser. The board has even gone as far as to send letters advising parents that they should attend a Thursday meeting, and not the Scheduled Tuesday meeting.
Now about the stipulation that was put in place when the Sup. of CPS was placed in the position.
There many qualified candidate for the position the of Co/Sup or whatever title they planned on using, but The superintendent chose someone NOT QUALIFIED, and asked for a waiver, IT WAS DENIED and still refuses to hire the qualified candidates in his building. So earlier when I spoke of how the board's attorney could cost the parish money, this situation can, but you will never know, because the board has a long history of settling and keeping quiet ALL SUITS. You can go all the way back to to the late 70's and there is a trail of settlements that you don't know about, just like you don't know about all the ones in the past, you don't know what's happening with your money.
Speaking of THE LAW, below you may find another reason that all of the above decisions will or may cost the Parish more money. I received these in mail in an unmarked envelope postmarked from Baton Rouge, La. with nothing else, no note no explanation. After reading them, no explanation was needed. Simple fact, of the 70 parishes with Superintendents, Calcasieu Parish is the ONLY ONE with a Non-Educator running it, and legally that may not be case. Between a quarter of a Billion dollars and a half Billion dollars of your money, no matter who and where you are in Calcasieu Parish ,your school would be getting more money if the board made wiser decisions. Apologies to my English teacher.
Enough for now...
These documents were sent anonymously from Baton Rouge....
All view expressed are those of Everythinglakecharles Blog,
