Decatur School Board Debates, Then Hires Chairman’s Son
Decatur Metro | September 7, 2011Patch reports that the Decatur School Board debated, but ultimately hired Chairman Marc Wisniewski’s son, Joseph “Andy” Wisniewski, for a part-time job at College Heights Early Childhood Learning Center last night.
The background from the Board’s agenda, Action Item “a”, states…
O.C.G.A 20-2-58.1 states that no local board of education shall employ or promote any person who is a member of the immediate family of any board member unless a public, recorded vote is taken on such employment or promotion as a separate matter from any other personnel matter. Any board member whose immediate family member is being considered for employment shall not vote on such employment.
On July 18, 2011 two part-time After School Program Provider positions were posted at the direction of Ms. Suzanne Kennedy, Principal of College Heights Early Childhood Learning Center (ECLC). Once the posting closed, she and her team evaluated the candidates and a separate team interviewed those candidates. The team decided that they wanted to go forward with Andy Wisniewski and therefore the Human Resources department is requesting the public vote on his employment in compliance with O.C. G.A. 20-2-58.1.
The Board voted 3 to 1 to approve, according to the Patch article, with outgoing member John Ahmann casting the only “nay” vote. Lots more info on the dabate in the article linked to above.
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Assuming the Chairman abstained, and that the the legally required procedure was followed, I don’t have a problem with this so long as young Mr. W is not only actually qualified for the position, but was the most qualified applicant willing to take the position for the money it pays.
from the article: “Board member Julie Rhame said she understood Ahmann’s concerns about nepotism, but noted that the Decatur school system is “the largest employer” in the community.”
Whaaa? Most CSD employees do not live within the city limits (which is why our courtesy tuition benefit is so great for retaining good teachers). I’m just not sure what to make of this comment. Can someone elucidate?
CSD is wonderful at a lot of things but quantitative information is not their forte.
I’m very torn. I suspect that the young man is just perfect for the job and it will be a win-win for him and College Heights. But I also think that the School Board and Administration should err on the side of squeaky clean when it comes to stuff like nepotism.
The good news is that it looks like the letter of the law/policy was followed. That’s important.
+1
Re: “But I also think that the School Board and Administration should err on the side of squeaky clean when it comes to stuff like nepotism.”
Absolutely, especially in light of the patronage going on in neighboring school districts.
Just because most CSD employees do not live in the community, it does not mean that CSD cannot be “the largest employer in the community.” I would bet, though, that Dekalb County Government is actually the largest employer in the community.
Andy was one of my son’s teachers at the DHS Frasier Center – he was great with all the kids, and I am excited that he will now get to work with the little ones at College Heights.
I met Andy today when I picked up my son. Lil Nell is not in his group but some of our friends are in it, so i was enjoying some good hugs with Andy’s group. Andy was pretty adorkable. I know Suzanne has been really anxious to balance the heavily-female leaning gender imbalance and is proud that CHECLC is attracting some male teachers- which are rare. I liked him on sight, which is compliment, believe it or not, and I’d hate to throw out the baby with the bathwater just because he had the bad luck to be born to the board chair. If a DHS alum, which I assume he is, is interested in pursuing early childhood ed in our system, all the better.I also think exposing the kids to a rainbow of genders, colors, cultures, and non-hetero etc. in their teachers is good.
“Adorkable.”
Great word, Nell!
Agree that adorkable is a great word. Even though it’s new to me, the Urban Dictionary said it’s been around since 2004. In my limited experience, most Decatur teens are adorkable which I vastly prefer over beauty queens or stud muffins.
Sounds from above that Wisniewski Junior may be a great fit for this position so I have no concerns about his selection and wish him and the school well. I’m a little doubtful that the name was not recognized during the selection process given its unusualness plus the candidate’s history of working at the Frazier Center but that’s inevitable and doesn’t bother me. And the legal process was followed so no concerns about illegality.
I do wonder–and I’m only wondering, not advocating–if the policy should be changed and a Board member should resign if a close relative is hired by CSD. No financial harm would be incurred because the relative would get the job and Board members have been declining their stipends (I believe) during these tight budget times. Given that an election is coming up and there’s two good candidates running for the north side position, it shouldn’t have been a problem to fill another north side position. My brother is an unpaid town official in another state and I remember that concerns were raised when my sister-in-law was appointed to the School Board to fill an unexpected, also unpaid, vacancy, even though he and the town government clearly had no official role in that selection. It’s natural for folks to want their government officials to err on the side of squeaky clean.
If you go and read my original story linked above, you’ll see that there’s another Decatur board member whose husband works for the system. I think Julie meant that Decatur schools is one of the city’s largest employers, and I’m curious as to why you think that’s not correct. Even if some of those employees don’t live here. They WORK here.
It is a different situation with the Wilsons. Carter worked for the system before Valarie was elected.
Regardless of who got the position first–Carter works for the school system which reports to the school board…….
Yes, but the above referenced policies about hiring would not apply.
In a town as small as Decatur , I would be fine with revising the policy to flat out prohibit employment of a close relative of any BOE member (or City Commissioner) . Perhaps even add top level administrators like school superintendent, asst. superintendents, city manager and deputy city manager positions.
As it stands, though, this situation and the Wilsons’ situation seems legal .
Is it OK for Valarie Wilson to be a board member and an employee of CSD?
She’s on the school personnel employee list as a substitute teacher.
I hadn’t heard about that . In my personal opinion it is a bad idea for her to be employed in any capacity by CSD ( other than board member if that is considered employment) .
I wonder if that isn’t an error or a different Valarie Wilson–Wilson is a common last name. I don’t think Valarie Wilson the School Board member is a teacher–she’s headed a Fulton County government agency and Beltline fundraising, I believe. I think she would have mentioned it in her campaigning or Board comments if she had worked as a teacher at some point. Where is that document posted?
http://www.open.georgia.gov/sta/search.aud
The following CSD board members are coded as substitute teachers.
Name Title Salary Travel Organization Fiscal Year 2010
WILSON,VALARIE D SUBSTITUTE TEACHER $0.00 $1,221.53 CITY OF DECATUR
WISNIEWSKI,MARC J SUBSTITUTE TEACHER $0.00 $4,177.71 CITY OF DECATUR
RHAME,JULIE P SUBSTITUTE TEACHER $0.00 $285.40 CITY OF DECATUR
SEALS,BERNADETTE J SUBSTITUTE TEACHER $0.00 $957.04 CITY OF DECATUR
WILSON,CARTER ATHLETICS DIRECTOR $99,712.08 $0.00 CITY OF DECATUR
WISNIEWSKI,JOSEPH A SUBSTITUTE TEACHER $8,982.40 $0.00 CITY OF DECATUR
DM: Can CSD perhaps be contacted to explain this? Have all of these Board members really functioned as bona fide substitute teachers for those sums of money? None of my children have ever mentioned them as substitutes (often an exciting item to a child–a substitute!) and I’ve never seen them around the schools in the daytime so I’m thinking this is some kind of spreadsheet category for which the label name does not well describe the contents. Maybe they were teaching at the Career Academy? I’m confused because I thought the only financial renumeration for Board membership is the stipend (being declined in this fiscal era, I hope!) and health insurance options.
On another note, I couldn’t manipulate the above mentioned Open Georgia well enough quickly to find the document myself. But it does look like a potentially useful website if one had the time to figure it out better.
The information is misleading as it is posted here. If you go to the site you’ll see it laid out clearly that the first number is salary (which in the case of the board members is $0), the 2nd number relates to travel expenses resulting from school, or in this case board, required travel which as a DOE employee myself means mileage at 51 cents a mile, hotel stay only if you are traveling more than 50 miles away from home and meals at ridiculous rates ($6,$7 & $14, nice but typically the $7 lunch amount won’t even cover your lunch purchased in the DOE building) but ONLY if you qualify by being gone from home for an exorbitant amount of the day – 9-5pm isn’t eligible.
The substitute coding does not mean they are subbing, it is place to define them that does not guarantee work hours/salary or benefits.
Carter’s salary comes from years of system experience plus the fact he is the athletic director for the entire system. He actual makes less then some of the principals.
Andy’s salary comes from working with the Frasier Center.
(and no, I don’t work for csd, but am someone tired of the board and the system being demonized at every turn)
Thank you, FHR, for taking the time to add these details.
Thanks for taking the time to spell this out, FHR. I know it required more work — and less ill intent — than just trying to smear people with raw data.
As I suspected, “Title” is a spreadsheet label that is a misnomer and is really a catchall category for non-salaried recipients of CSD funds which would include substitute teachers but also other individuals. Confusing table.
I guess you were hoping for some shock value with that number, but posting his payroll information was in extremely poor taste.
Sure he’s a public employee and this is an open forum, but are those really the things we want to see here at DM? Posting this type of information about private citizens makes me uncomfortable. I’m glad the info is available, I just question needing to post it here.
I’m absolutely concerned about corruption in the government, and there are discussions where that information is absolutely relevant to the discussion at hand, but that’s just not the case here.
This guy isn’t the Governor and should still has a right to privacy.
+1 Tacky TP!
To be clear, no aspersions intended. In hindsight, it was tacky to post the salary information, although public information. If I could edit my post, I would to remove the salary information.
DM, feel free to remove, if it’s out of line with the terms and conditions of this blog.
FHR, the information is not misleading. I clearly include the following information.
“Name Title Salary Travel Organization Fiscal Year 2010″. The formatting and narrow reply box make it difficult to read.
I did say “The following CSD board members are coded as substitute teachers.” This may be a means to reimburse board members for their travel, as you mention.
When using the transparent and Open Georgia web site http://www.open.georgia.gov/sta/search.aud one needs to select the the Advance Search option, check Local Board of Education, select the Organization, CITY OF DECATUR BOARD OF EDUCATION, and fill in the Search option.
If you didn’t mean to cast aspersions, and in hindsight would remove the salary information, then what was your point?
In the spirit of editing our words – I should have used confusing, not misleading.
You are right tp – you have those titles there, but it is difficult to view it correctly in the comments box. I, for one, appreciate your clarification.
Thanks, FHR. Like I said, no aspersions intended. My original comment dealt with the conflict of interested of a board member also being an employee. As it turns out, it seems to be a coding or category for HR purposes for 4 of the 5 CSD board members.
+1
Re Decatur employment: I believe that the biggest employers of Decatur residents are places like Emory, DeKalb County, CDC, Georgia State and other state government, etc. The real data, vs. my guesstimates, have been posted here and probably a billion other places. In terms of what employers physically based in Decatur offer the most positions, CSD is probably up there in numbers but I would think that places like DeKalb County and Agnes Scott offer more positions. I think the main point is that the City of Decatur is not an isolated area with few nearby options for employment outside of the city limits.
But if I were going to modify the nepotism policy–and that’s a big IF, I’m still playing with the concept–I would want to focus on the Board member, not the relative. I wouldn’t want to prohibit any relative from getting a position they deserve nor deny CSD their talents. A good solution might be for the Board member to resign if a close relative is hired. No one is burdened financially. Any perceived or real advantage that a relative would have in hiring hopefully would be counterbalanced by the disadvantage of the Board member having to resign. A downside of this policy would be if it caused a lot of Board turnover but I doubt it would. And at least CSD could still hire those good relative employees.
Whether the nepotism policy needs updating would be a good question to ask the School Board candidates! They could research it, compile information from other systems and other states, get opinions, maybe even do a survey, and demonstrate how they formulate a position. (This could be a senior project too!)
Let’s please not start having a bunch of knee-jerk reactions to the lack of ethics displayed in nearby systems. Decatur is a relatively small town, and among our professed values is the ability to both live and work here. Situations with the potential for conflict of interest are going to arise from time to time, and IMO the best approach is having measures in place to alleviate those situations. Putting unnecessarily broad measures in place to prevent the appearance of nepotism seems likely to encumber the selection and hiring of the most qualified person in a given instance. In any case, all the rules in the world won’t keep dishonest people from being dishonest. We should strive to just keep such people out of the system to start with, instead of trying to build a system than can withstand them from within.
And I think forcing a Board member to resign if a relative goes to work for the system is unnecessary and counterproductive. The learning curve for effective Board membership is substantial, and we have quite an investment in each one who’s been there for at least a year. The hiring of Andy Wisniewski seems to have been handled in a manner that is above reproach, which IMO demonstrates that we don’t need to throw out the baby with the bathwater.
+1
Mr Andy teaches my 4 year old and he’s great.
Girrrrrl…we need to clone you!
Well said!
Well said. This just seems to be the handy work of a departing board member with an axe to grind.
+1
Well said
I see no problem here. Procedures were in place to deal with this issue… and they were followed to the letter.
I agree with some of the others. Even the appearance of nepotism is not something
the board should work under. I’m sure that everyone on the board wants to assist each other’s family members, but I’m a little more than uncomfortable with this action.
I agree with Tom. The act of actually hiring a family member, in my opinion, is unacceptable most of the time even if the correct procedures are followed. The actual hiring of the family member is only a small part of what I worry about. Decisions made by the Board regarding a family member’s department, school, or facility will naturally have an effect on the family member. Decisions regarding athletic funding and facilities (think new stadium, gym, and salary) by the current Board with Valerie Wilson on it directly impact Carter. Sure, he was there first, but as A Native pointed out, when it comes to making decisions who got there first is irrelevant. Think about future decisions that the board will have to make about the number of part- time faculty at College Heights. The Board’s decision would have a direct impact on a Board member’s son. From my knowledge three Board members have immediate family members working in the system now. I don’t think most of their decisions are effected because the family member is an employee. I do, however, agree with Tom that part of the responsibility of being a Board member is avoiding hires of family members. Regardless of intentions, it is simply unethical to some extent.
You raise some good points. But there are intangible benefits as well. For example Marc may have more insight into where budget is best applied & Valerie may want to make sure capital expenditures end up on the field and not in extraneous expenditures. You’re right to be concerned that these type of subtle (or not so subtle) conflicts of interest can cloud decision processes on the board and by those that evaluate the performance of the employee. But on balance these risk are greater in larger systems where the community has less visibility. I’ll bet that with full disclosure, adequate regular review and community engagement we can help insure that we get the benefits of our cozy ways and stay clear of the pitfalls.
“I’ll bet that with full disclosure, adequate regular review and community engagement we can help insure that we get the benefits of our cozy ways and stay clear of the pitfalls.”
Community engagement: DM is providing that!
Cozy ways: Well put and I think we’re often talking about our subjective personal reactions to coziness. What feels cozy to one DM reader may feel uncomfortably close to another.
I really think this discussion would be appropriate for all three Board candidates and I hope Board forums occur again this year and this is one of the submitted topics.
To those who disapprove of this action, and I have no opinion one way or the other: The way to fix it is to get either the state law changed, because it sounds like it was followed to the letter, or get the Board to adopt a local policy prohibiting such action.
I wonder if any school systems in Georgia have found it useful to have such a policy. Also whether any states have laws prohibiting it. It would be useful context.
Nothing against the young W. I hope he does well. Kennedy, she was given job when husband came as sped director. All connect to Thomas Vz. It has always been who you know. Decatur. Small town small town politics. Cheryl N. Tons of influence on hiring, especially at rms. Her cronies have continued to be rewarded. This kid is the least of your worries.