Want proof the Courier-Journal is in bed with Jefferson County Public Schools?
JCPS Superintendent Sheldon Berman sent out a memo to members of the Jefferson County Board of Education yesterday, defending his recommendation earlier this month to approve a contract with a non-profit organization in which he also serves on its board of directors.
On April 13, the school board voted to approve a contract with VHS (Virtual High School) out of Massachusetts that will essentially allow 50 high school students from Atherton and Eastern high schools to choose from a variety of elective courses from the VHS catalog. In addition, two teachers will also provide course instruction for a VHS course.
What’s interesting about the memo Berman sent out is that he says he receives no monetary compensation for the time he spends serving on various boards of directors. Fine and dandy.
But as we’ve reported time and again on this very website– both before and after the Robert Felner scandal– it’s not about making money for yourself. The appearance of impropriety exists because you scratch your friends’ backs and they scratch yours in return. Reference: John Deasy.
You’ll note that the Office of the Attorney General doesn’t address anything of the sort. But with Berman’s close ties to Robert Felner and with everything else we’ve unfortunately had to report about him, maybe they should?
We’ve got an interesting voicemail from Berman’s assistant that we’ll publish later. It’s the one where she calls back at the end of the day to tell us she was sorry, that Berman was backtracking, that everything we’d said was accurate.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Always Amazed // Apr 27, 2009 at 10:02 am
You hit the nail on the head Jake. This might not be about direct cash going into his bank account, but it is about power, priviledge, perks and resume building for Berman.
Rumor had it that Berman’s kids were going to attend Eastern. Eastern started an ice hockey team for them to participate on, did they agree to this VHS deal to please the superintendent too? What do they think now that his kids are staying in Hudson? Talk about a bait and switch. Wonder how long that ice hockey team is going to stay around now?
How are teachers getting trained to provide course instruction? How are they getting paid to do that? Was there a comparison study done between VHS and KVHS offerings? What analysis was done to start this up other than the superintendent telling the board to approve it because he thinks it is a good idea?
When you have an entire school board who is there just to rubber stamp everything (with support to do so from GLI, mayor, and C-J) and only raise questions if somethings affects JCTA bargaining and contract, this is what you get.
2 jake // Apr 27, 2009 at 10:30 am
I don’t think we have to bring his children into anything – even if it’s all his fault – in order to paint the picture that there are clear appearances of impropriety.
It’s not even important, really, if he’s benefiting financially (he says he’s not). He’s still directly benefiting personally. There’s no question. And there’s no question his personal friends and business partners are directly benefiting.
That cannot and must not be ignored because we’re talking about the public’s money. JCPS isn’t a business and it isn’t a private non-profit. It’s a government entity funded by us, the taxpayers.
3 Bob // Apr 28, 2009 at 10:21 am
But this is the kind of special deal Metro voters allow all the time.
Berman knew he could get away with it because Abramson gets away with it because this is how things work in the Metro. We continue to elect people to the Council and Board of Education who are rubber stamps. Don’t expect improvement until we stop electing those folks and their ilk. Abranson, Berman, etc. will continue to operate this way because it works for them.
Metro should have numerous power centers (UL, newspaper, pitiful as it is these days, GLI, Metro Council, Board of Ed., et al) but they have morphed into incestuous copycats of one another and can’t provide leadership at the same time they cover each others’ butts.
In an economic meltdown and a cultural decline we need leadership that reaches out and makes things happen for the region and the state. What we have instead is a particularly nasty and personally greedy group of figures who have their hands in one anothers’ back pockets. And the saddest part is that most of the elected boards that are supposed to provide checks and balances sell out so cheaply most of the time.
Where lies the primary responsibility? In the voters, who repeatedly keep these types in office.
4 Always Amazed // Apr 28, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Sarah Haavind, wife of Dr. Berman, is also involved with VHS:
http://www.freshpond.com/about-staff.php
http://gradworks.umi.com/32/21/3221597.html
http://virtualschooling.wordpress.com/2006/10/25/re-post-from-the-aect-blogtrack-the-greatest-challenge-for-the-virtual-high-school/
http://www.concord.org/publications/newsletter/2002winter/online_courses.html
She is cited in this book:
http://books.google.com/books?id=z7FxeM_bLL8C
and wrote this book:
http://www.amazon.ca/Facilitating-Online-Learning-Strategies-Moderators/dp/1891859331
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