Kenney reports:
Board members decided that Stinson will have to undergo an alcohol and drug assessment at his expense, in addition to community service, with a focus on making good decisions and no automatic renewal of his contract. Any further alcohol incidents will result in automatic termination.and
Wiseman also said the board is looking at morality clauses for employees.
"We're working on putting that in our board policy and with the school, as well as all the administration and the teachers," said Wiseman.
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55 comments:
Light indeed, good thing he is paid so well he can afford a miniscule fine. The board policy may be rewritten to include a morals clause but it won't affect his current contract which expires in 2014. So it's all sizzle and no steak as far as the change in policy.
Would you expect anything else from this board?
Jon,
IF they (both the board and the superintendent) made a deal to a new contract effect immediately could the new contract be for one year and nullify the old contract????
Looks like Stinson is immortal in Decatur Township board members eyes. Hope the morality clause is specific - honesty, drinking and driving, public intoxification, sexual decency, etc., etc., etc. Ask someone to publish this new contract, please.
Re: anon 4:11, why would the superintendent agree to a rewrite of his current contract? Even if the Board wants to rewrite his contract they have no leverage to force the issue. I can't see the board and the superintendent agreeing on a rewrite, it is not in his best interest so why would he agree?
Jon,
Did not the board have the right to fire him for just cause, i.e. drinking and driving not acceptable to community standards??
Not one negative letter? Stinson said he has gotten letters but not one was negative! Someone should print this blog and mail it to him.
Thanks Stinson for getting the board to add a morality clause to employees contracts. We didn't need one until you screwed up! Seems the board needs their own morality clause, high priority...honesty! They continue to amaze me.
Anon 5:58
His contract has no language, zip, nada, none for dismissal. They can't fire him for cause.
It'd be a little hard for the board to come down on Stinson for getting smashed at a Christmas party where some of the board members were also boozing it up. But for the grace of God, it could have been one of them that was snagged by the Plainfield cops that night. I had to laugh to see Stinson stammering his way through the board meeting while the board members were covering their faces or looking down at the desk and shuffling papers about. Stinson said this will be a "challenge" for him. Got that right. You can tell that he and his 'hear-no-evil, see-no-evil, speak-no-evil school board cronies desperately want everyone to forget about this incident. They want us to shut up and let them continue to rob the system blind.
Anon 7:51 wrote:
"Not one negative letter? Stinson said he has gotten letters but not one was negative!"
I can't imagine any employee, or parent with children in Stinson's school, system would risk DUI Don's retaliation on themselves or their kids. Stinson no doubt cherry-picked through all the letters until he got a stack of what he claimed were "positive" comments. Yeah, right.
Call me crazy, but I believe in second chances.
Glad to see he was treated like a human who are subject to fault and did not face a mob with torches and pitchforks. It is reassuring that I live in a world full of perfect citizens who are able to harshly judge others because their life has been pure and free of mistake.
I believe in second chances, too. Most especially for the children in this school district, though there's little likelihood that they'll get one with the drunken incompetents in charge whose prime directive is lining their pockets with retirement cash. I'm not sure who the previous poster was referring to, but my life has not been "pure" or "free of mistake". However, I have worked at the same job for 31 years and dedicated myself to furtherance of the goals my employer has set, not ignored them and fleeced his cash coffers for my own enrichment. Nor have I publicly embarrassed my employer by being jailed for drunkenness while representing him as the public face of his organization. Too bad DWI Don can'y say the same. Another sterling example of your tax dollars at work.
Wahington Township is looking for a new superintendent. Bloomington is looking for a new superintendent. Maybe Stinson can get one of those jobs???? He can use the stack of papers he showed at the board meeting as letters of recommendation.
I doubt Stinson would leave his current job under any circumstances.
He lied through his teeth to the gullible folks in Alabama about how badly he wanted to be their superintendent. Then backed out when his cronies on the school board here got re-elected for another term.
Their re-election meant the jackpot cash flow into Stinson's pockets was sure to continue for another couple of years. The Alabama district was much larger anyway and would have meant more work and less partying for Don.
With regard to Washington Township, Bloomington or any other job openings, I'm sure they view Stinson as a PR liability and a besotted caricature of what a school superintendent shouldn't be in the public's eye. He is the "world's greatest" superintendent only in the eyes of those who are riding his gravy train.
Stinson's in pre-retirement mode now, diverting all the he cash he can from our kids' tax funding into his pockets. Its all about the sweet life for DUI Don.
I wonder how many central office secretaries were involved in writing that stack of supposedly positive letters he used as a prop for the TV camera?
Anon 2:52 p.m.
Agree that he would not have been offered the Alabama job if their board members had not been convinced that he wanted the job. Alabama was very lucky. He is not going any place unless this board tells him to go. That won't happen so he will be right here. That does not mean that ALL taxpayers should not watch every move he makes. The students deserve dedicated supervision of this undisciplined superintendent.
This is a link to a conference of school administrators discussing some of the same problems we face in Decatur twp. These problems are, in my estimation, largely what led to Stinson closing down Lynwood grade school when the school repeatedly failed to meet state standards. It seems clear that at least some of the nation's top school administrators understand that the school districts must join with the community to solve these problems. This only serves to underscore why Don Stinson needs to be replaced as our chief school administrator. His self-serving, adversarial relationship with the township community make it impossible for him to get the job done;
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/national-superintendent-still-edit
This is in regard to Wiseman's comment that Stinson deserves his $1,000 a month car allowance along with his free gas for personal and business use. The argument against it was that his license was suspended. (He is allowed to drive to and from work during his suspension.) Wiseman defended their car/ gas allowance by stating that he was on call 24/7. If that is true then he should never have been drinking because he could have been asked to report to work. (24 hours a day, 7 days a week) No wonder he gets paid so much!
Another thing that upsets me is that his gas is paid for by the tax payers. If the children take a field trip they have to pay for the gas and the bus driver's hourly wage. There are no longer before or after school activity buses for the students in elementary schools due to the lack of funds. If children want to participate in choir, the teacher has to volunteer his/her time and parents have to provide transportation. Consequently, many students can not participate in choir. $12000. could provide our children with worthwhile educational experiences or programs.
Who ever came up with the idea that someone who made over $200,000. a year needed a car allowance?
How about giving some of the gas allowance up for more chairs in the cafeteria. Our kids have to sometimes sit on the floor at lunch due to not having enough seating.
Everyone at central office KNEW the DCHS cafeteria did NOT have adequate seating when the new high school was built. It will soon get worse as time goes by, and everyone at central office KNEW that. But the folks in central office all plan on being retired by the time it gets to be a problem, AND the construction contract was sweet for the right people. So the kids will just have to suck it up and sit on the floor.
Stinson gets $1000 per month for a car allowance and then another the taxpayers have to pay another $75 per month for a state teacher retirement pension on top of that. Both taxpayers and students are being robbed by this continued wasteful spending. It is a shame. Wish Channel 6 would look into this.
Anon 10:47, I don't understand your comment with respect to retirement pay as $75/month. An employee in TERF, Teacher Education Retirement Fund, has s/he retirement funded by employee and employer contributions which are calculated as a percentage of gross wages. As a guesstimate figure the employer share of Terf as 6-8% so if the super is paid 190k / year or 7307.69 per pay the district is paying $438(6% of 7307) to $584(8% of 7307) every pay. And if his contract has a clause to buy additional years service add another 20K / year for retirement.
Anon 11:42
According to the TRF website, the employer must pay 7.5% of the wages. Since Stinson's vehicle allowance is $1000 per month, the district has to pay $75/month (.075 x $1000 = $75) just for his vehicle allowance. They have to do this for his medical insurance also since he does not have the Decatur insurance. All of his benefits, including his base pay, are like this.
anon 1:42, you're right all of the added items in his contract, car allowance, insurance etc. are subject to retirement, since TRF bases retirement on your five highest years of salary it really will bump up his retirement dollars as well.
After viewing WRTV Kara Kenney's interview with Cathy Wiseman following the board meeting, I shook my head in disbelief at the statement Cathy Wiseman made about Don Stinson. "He is going to do convocations with EVERY SINGLE STUDENT in EVERY SCHOOL of our district." I would be interested in knowing what kind of attendance verification will be used to assure EVERY SINGLE STUDENT hears his presentation and apology.
Say Cathy Wiseman say this also. They should get parent permission before kids have to listen to this. Don't they have to have parent permission? Do parents have any rights?
Would think it would have been better if DUI Don met with victims' families of drunk drivers. The DUI should be about consequences for drinking and driving not about using drinking and driving to prevent others from drinking and driving.
Stinson wrote:
"I have embarrassed myself, even worse my family and friends, and have unnecessarily brought negative attention to the district. On both, I am truly sorry! I offer my sincerest apology to my families and friends, to our school board, to all employees and students of the MSD of Decatur and to the Decatur community and pledge to work harder and re-focus on what is truly important to attain some positives out of this negative situation.”
Stinson said he was embarassed and apologized to his family, friends, school board, employees and students. He did not state that drinking and driving is wrong. He did not say that he put the lives of others in danger. He did not say that he should be punished by the loss of his job even though he was driving while using taxpayers' money for a car and gasoline. The negative attention is not on students, teachers, family, and friends. The negative attention is on Stinson. Others will pay the price not Donald Stinson.
Re:January 15, 2011 8:51 AM
I agree. If he receives a given amount of hours for community service,I would hope he would be required to spend that time at a food bank or something similar to what you've suggested. The idea of having him speak to the student body just has an air of cult of personality to it.
What are the six conditions that the superintendent has to do as reported in the M-D Times?
Did Harris quit his job?
Is drinking and driving in the state standards or curriculum for students under age 16? Contact Gov. Daniels.
If Stinson has to do community service, it should be done as a substitute teacher in Decatur township. It would save the township money and give him a chance to experience life in front of today's classroom
Ms Gregory, monitor this:
Mr. Stinson - here is your first "negative letter". Mr. Stinson, you did not simply "make a mistake", you made a decision. We have no reason to think you did not make similar decisions in the past and you have not yet assure us it won't happen again. You made a potentially deadly decision to drive drunk. That is a crime. When drunks drive, people die. It's just that simple. Are we clear? You are not an embarrassment, you sir are a disgrace. You've disgraced this administration and this district. We know the law will do little and of course those face-licking lap dogs you call a school board have done even less. We knew they wouldn't stand up and act responsibly, so perhaps you should. Mr. Stinson, man up and Stand Down!
As a school bus driver with a DUI conviction, my CDL license would be suspended for a year, and I would be undoubtedly terminated. Are we to hold the Superintendent to a lesser standard?
Robin Gregory, we understand the Transportation Supervisor recently retired. We also understand she received a five figure raise while her department was axle deep in red ink! So tell us, did Rosie O'Brien receive a generous parting bonus as others did last summer? As generous as this administration is, I would not be surprised. Tell us if that is the case, and is so, how much did she receive. Your prompt response is always appreciated.
Anon: Jan 13, 2011 9:31 PM
Hard to believe that the parents of these students who have to sit on the floor while trying to eat their lunch would come forward and demand they bring in more chairs in the cafeteria. At least why can they not bring in chairs from another department until the lunch period is over? Would Mr. Stinson if he had a son or daughter in this school like it if they sat on the floor while eating? How about you Robin, would you like it if yours did? I would think not!
Kathy Wiseman doesn't live in Decatur Township. She can't be a school board member. Every vote she's taken has to be nullified. She's breaking the law. The MSD Decatur Township is breaking the law letting her serve on the school board. The law is clear on this one. A majority of the laws that this board has broken are subjective at best. This law is plain and simple. You have to live in the district you were elected in. She doesn't live there. She lives in Wayne Township. This needs to be investigated and finally something can be done legally against this bunch of crooks.
Do you have her address or something? How do you know where she lives?
Anon 8:09 wrote:
"Cathy Wiseman doesn't live in Decatur Township. She can't be a school board member. Every vote she's taken has to be nullified. She's breaking the law. The MSD Decatur Township is breaking the law letting her serve on the school board. The law is clear on this one."
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Suggest you contact the county election board and ask them to confirm her eligibility to be on the school board. She was elected as the rep for District 1 in the north end of the township. All it takes is an e-mail request and they'll look into it for you. Their phone number is: 327-5100. Nice folks, and they're always willing to help.
Anon 8:09: Ever see a dog chase a tail? Yep....I called them. Thank you by the way for the phone number. They refuse to get involved based on "rumor" that an elected official doesn't meet residency requirements. You have to have proof. I told them there are a couple of hard facts that she DOESN'T meet the requirements; such as the fact that she lost her home in a tax sale and her phone number was disconnected. They claim they can't investigate because there is no proof that she ISN'T living in her district. Their recomendation was to start at the board level. The suggestion was to contact the board president in writing and ask for a new phone number (since the old one was disconnected) and address. Know who the board president is? LOL!
Anyway....it was a good thought!
This group gets away with anything they want. There ought to be laws against this stuff.
Thank you for checking. You might want to contact Channel 6 news.
Why are you folks so intent on trying to find out where a person lives? So what if Kathy Wiseman doesn't live in the township. Why are you being so dog gone negative all the time!? Isn't it tragic enough that she lost her home due to unfortunate circumstances? Why are you trying to undo the work that this board has done? They have done more to better and improve the township schools than anyone in the history of the township. LOL I'm glad that the Marion County election board basically laughed in your face! Too bad for you LOL! Leave it alone. Drop it. Get on with your pitiful and pathetic lives. No laws are being broken or ever were!
It is the opposite of taxation without representation. It's representation without paying taxes!
Why should someone be allowed to represent an area if they did not pay taxes in that area and no longer live there? Representing neighborhoods in the district is the role of board members.
Just because something bad happened doesn't make it alright for her to stay on the board. It's about the by laws and how they must be enforced. Board members agree to this when they take office. It's also about honesty and integrity, something this board and their super have not demonstrated to the tax payers of Decatur Township.
That is why we are involved, trying to right the wrongs and get the wasted money back for the education pf our children.
Anon 7:31: No, YOU'RE not being honest. There are so many lies that have been posted here. The biggest is about Cathy not living in her district. Sounds like the marion county election board laughed in your face; you lose on this one. It's proven that there are no laws being broken. There's a very vocal very small minority in the township that wants to ruin what this great board and administration has started. Lies and slander. Remember that this blog is being monitored.
Sorry, Robin. It doesn't prove that no laws were broken, it only proves that the county election board again refused to investigate any violations, just as they have in other cases. Most notably city-county council members who did didn't live in the district they were elected to represent, as required by law. At least in those instances the individual in violation had the class to step down and let a proper person replace them. But then class is something in short supply with the folks riding DUI Don's gravy train. Your activities are being "monitored". LOL!
Anon 8:53
I'm not the one who called, so they didn't laugh in my face. I doubt they laughed in anyone's face. You just assumed that my response was the caller's because you believe we are a small minority. Guess what, I didn't even write the response following yours. So there are more of us than you care to believe.
If Cathy doesn't live in the township why doesn't she do her public duty and post her address and phone number?
You are wrong that no laws have been broken. Stinson was arrested for drunk driving. Driving while drunk is against the law.
Isn't it against the law if you do not pay property taxes? Isn't that why the county is allowed to take your house from you? It is not slander if it is true.
Keep on monitoring this blog. If you can prove that Cathy lives in the district, do it! Tell her to shut us up by providing her address and phone number so her constituents can reach her!
Pat Andrews has been detailing the endless parade of state laws that the Decatur school board, and their robber baron superintendent, have willfully violated for a year now. Right here in this blog. All linked to state documentation that solidly proves the laws were violated. You need only look in this blog's archive section to see chapter and verse.
The trouble is, the state laws in question do not have any criminal penalty for violating them. They were promulgated years ago when no one dreamed that board members would ever tolerate school administrators looting the school's coffers for their personal gain, and leaving our children on the short end of the stick.
I guess it's just another comment on the slow moral decay of our society when, by example, our elected and appointed school leaders now teach our children that it doesn't matter if it's "right", as long as it's "legal". That's the new paradigm of education that DUI Don is giving to our children, right before our eyes. All while Mr. Pellico, Mr. Webster and now Mrs. Gregory all hysterically attempt to convince us how Stinson and his hard partying board members are the "best" we've ever had in charge of our children.
To be fair, I suppose we have to expect that from people who are riding Stinson's gravy train, or hoping to be allowed aboard. You have to parrot the official rhetoric or you're booted off the caboose without ceremony. But that doesn't lend much credibility to Stinson's high dollar media machine. They shouldn't be surprized that no on believes them. All after the rest of us watched the stunned expression on Stinson's face that a cop would dare to pull him to the curb as a common drunk when he sees himself as above our laws. How threatened it must have made our board members feel. It's disgusting that our children should see this transpire. For shame...!
Are you kidding me what a joke Decatur is. I show up to pick my children up today at the high school and there is a fight outside the front of the building involving two students no staff no were to be found untill after it was to late I know they could hear what was going on I could hear it from the point that it started and i was a good distance away from the situation that was happening they were right outside the windows to the office and then to watch one of the kids parents flying off the handle and having to be held back by three people, she needs to be investigated as a parent. Then to hear from my kids that this was the second fight that these two kids have been into today, what is wrong with the staff why send two kids out together that have already been into it once today. Then my children inform me that yet again someone has managed to get passed the office staff and security that did not belong or go to the school to go fight a student in the lunch room. WTH Decatur staff where are your heads were are you when all this is going on. You say our children are yours when they are there then step up and protect them step up and teach them you are failing are kids you are wasting our tax dollars are children are not why your graduation rate is what it is YOU are.
Starting with Stinson everyone that holds any power in any part of the schools needs to be reviewed. Mr. Stinson If you did not want to answer questions about your dwi theres one of two things you should not have done first one YOU should not have drank and got behind the wheel do you not go to the pre prom things about teaching the students not to drink and drive what gives you the right to are you a higher power, what if in your drunkin stage you hit and killed one of those students you preach to about not doing it. Quit blaming it on a divorce that made you make your poor decision that was not your first time that was not the first you have drank and drove there have been many school christmas parties and other parties you have attended that most of your staff and you have got behind the wheel and drove after having drinks I myself have witnessed it you blaming it on your divorce is a bunch of crap, lots of people get divorced and dont make the same poor decisions to do that quit making excuses and take accountablity for your poor actions, what you have done. you should not hold the position that you do you should have been terminated others in your school system have been terminated for much less and not even a crime yours was a crime it was illegal. For two if you do not want to have to answer to the public to the parents to the news then you should have made a differant career choice noone forced you to be a superintendent you made that choice all on your own so you should answer the questions as long as there are questions. For every action there is a reaction. You need to step down since you have the board to cover up your mistakes and defend your wrongfull actions and are to scared to fire you. There are only a few people that defend your situation and there probley your staff and have participated in the same illegal activity that you have. Yes people deserve second chances but when you keep making excuses for your actions you have not learned from your mistake to deserve a 2nd chance and take your 2nd chance at another school, see if another school board would fall for it. All the other drunk driving superintendents that have been on the news did the right thing either stepped down or was terminated but that shows how much respect and honor our school board is lacking to the tax paying citizens and children of our community.
The fight described at the HS is inexcusable. Remember that our funds were cut, teachers jobs, security, staff, all cut. (With the exception of some people's salaries and benefits.) That does not excuse allowing a fight between the same 2 people in one day, if it did happen. I'm not doubting you.
The students should have been sent home immediately. Then it would not have happened at the end of the day in front of everyone. Why didn't staff respond? Good question. Were they all in those meetings they have on Mondays? Did someone call security? Did security come?
Next time there is a fight like that, take it upon yourself to call police, 911. That will take care of it. School is no place for violence of any kind.
Anon 8:18....the RUMOR ( if you can believe it ) is that the reason one of the students wasn't sent home is because he's protected by a school boardd member...............a relative.....
Anon 3:11 and 3:15: Are you serious? I bet you went to Decatur.....your communication skills show it.
OK to set the record straight. There were no fights at DCHS yesterday. Anyone saying there were is a trouble maker.
Remember this blog is being monitored.
The actions of the school board, as well as $tinson and his Gravy Train riders at central office, are being monitored also. By the parents and taxpayers of this township. Their illegal, self serving actions are confirmed in the archives here on this blog.
While we're at it, I suspect that we need to post TJ Whitfield over at central office each morning with his breath test unit. TJ always made the seniors blow into his breath tester at the DCHS after-prom party. Sounds like he needs to do the same thing every morning at CO. That and test the board members before the school board meetings.
Anyone who fails the breath test gets security called on them, assuming they still have security at the high school. If it's good for the students it's good for $tinson and the Gravy Train riders. The school's bus drivers are tested for booze in their system if they wreck a bus. It's only fair to test $tinson and his fat-cat pals after they've wrecked the school district.
Anon 9:09 wrote:
"Anon 3:11 and 3:15: Are you serious? I bet you went to Decatur.....your communication skills show it."
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You may be right, Robin. But then doesn't it worry you that your kids are going to Decatur?
Whoever posted there were no fights at the high school on the 24th of January, you must be one of those kiss @#$ board members. I witnessed the fight with my own eyes and heard from several kids that was not the only one those two had been in already that day, along with the man that got into the high school at the begining of the day and managed to stay untill lunch. Are you kidding me anyone can get into the high school its ran by students the office is. I was in there the other day and watched myself two other adults walk in with nothing said a four kids leave nothing being said and the five or so minutes I was in there all i heard was them four kids cursing and planning there way out and what to do when they left, and I watched them leave no staff no where. So why are the kids not being paid for sitting in the chairs that the office personal are to be in. Why cant we use those chairs in the office for the cafeteria for our children to sit on. And for your info MRS. or MR. kiss #$% that was not the first fight i have witnessed and not seen the staff or security. You are a liar and are trying to cover things up. Anybody that has had there children in a Decatur Township school for more then 3 years knows the BS thats going on with all of it.
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