Secondly, I learned the $37.5 million Edward L. Kelly Leadership Center had been approved and construction started on it prior to Walts being hired as superintendent of Prince William County Schools. This was too much money to be spent on a new administrative building when cash was sorely needed for education. I don’t know if the project could have been deferred but Walts certainly made no attempt to defer this project.

Finally, a 2009 audit by McGladfry and Pullen found no wrongdoing on the part of Superintendent Walts. I remain solid, however, that Superintendent is not spending all of the money allocated to him wisely even if an audit did find no wrongdoing. I have decided my letter to the editor regarding him should not be published. I need to have my facts straight and my focus needs to be precise. I welcome any information parents, teachers and others have regarding Superintendent Walts and the school board and district in general.

Governor McDonnell is going to cut K-12 education $730 million dollars. This will mean thousands of teacher layoffs, increased class sizes, etc. Although the LCI has been unfroze and Prince William County Schools will receive an addional $23 million dollars with a budget shortfall of $80 million many programs and services will be cut or eliminated. While the unfreezing of the LCI will mean more money for Prince William County Schools Virginia’s poorer school districts will face even more lack of funding as a result.

Governor McDonnell has pledged no increase in taxes but it has been suggested by some (admittedly mostly Democrats) that this budget crisis could have been cushioned by a roll back of car tax subsidies. Others have suggested increase in income tax, tolls, etc. Given the economy what is more important: absolutely not increasing any taxes under any circumstances or providing for our children’s education? Is there a realistic third alternative?

If you have any ideas please post them here or contact me at MichaelEugeneRagland@gmail.com

A 2009 audit by McGladfry and Pullen found no wrongdoing but I’m just
as concerned with how well the money has been spent. Was a $37.5
million administrative building really necessary when so much money
was needed for education? Should Superintendent Walts be getting the
pay raise he is when teachers salaries are not increased? When many
students are having problems with Math Investigations which has been
dropped by many districts and as of 2008 had cost $2.4 million dollars
in Prince William County Schools could this money have been better
spent elsewhere? Although the present costs of Math Investigations is
publicly unknown it must be near $4 million dollars if not more by
now.

I am concerned Prince William County Schools doesn’t have an internal
auditor. Although I realize this position will cost money it is needed
even though I have my doubts at how well an organization is on
investigating itself. I’m concerned that once Walts was hired the
amount went from $200,000 to $500,000 dollars the superintendent could
spend without school board approval. I understand the shift to site
based management and rising construction costs and the need to not
have construction delays but the school board needs to be a part of
the process when such a large amount of money is involved. The school
board needs to know where the money is going and to approve it. This
is just responsibility and accountability.

Don’t you find it odd that when Walts was hired as superintendent he
brought along with him three former Greece staffers; George Kisha,
Keith Johnson and Keith Imon? All are Associate Superintendents except
for Mr. Kisha who resigned. This is downright favoritism if not
cronyism. Why did the school board allow that? The school board should
have conducted an independent search for Associate Superintendent
positions.

I read about how Prince William County Schools are bursting in class
size and how many more schools would need to be built and how the
building of schools can’t keep up with development. Do you think those
politicians are really concerned in their dealings with developers how
this will impact the Prince William County School system? There are
stop gap measures such as in Bristow, Nokesville, etc.where the BOCS
will approve rezonings but prohibit building permits until the schools
can accommodate the children. The BOCS says it is concerned developers
may get the General Assembly to override their decision. Why then
approve the rezonings in the first place? Logic dictates development
should be slowed so the situation doesn’t arise where class rooms are
bursting in size and where many more additional schools are needed to
ameliorate school overcrowding. But greed trumps logic. Ultimately,
more schools will be built but that won’t matter in the long run.
Eventually, there will be more and more development and Prince William
County Schools will be a big sardine can.

Governor McDonnell has unfroze the Local Composite Index so Prince
William County schools will receive something like $23 million that
wasn’t there before. Still, that isn’t a horribly lot of money when
Prince William County Schools are facing $80 million budget shortfall.
In fairness, Prince William County public schools aren’t the only
school system facing such hard times. Fairfax County public schools
are facing a comparative budget shortfall and due to the weak national
economy there are thousands of school districts which have been
negatively impacted. So I’m not blaming Superintendent Walts for the
budget shortfall but I do think especially now he needs to be careful
how he spends the money and what he cuts or eliminates.

In conclusion, I’m concerned about Superintendent Walts handling of
Prince William County Schools. Although Walts has defended himself and
states the Greece CIP was well within budget when he left and there
are school board documents which prove it an audit nevertheless found
financial waste and abuses. Based on what I’ve read in the media I
don’t believe the findings of that audit are without a basis.
Therefore, it is understandable why Walts would deny any wrongdoing
but I still find his statements denying any wrongdoing to be
dishonest. Assuming that is true how can Prince William County
citizens have trust in his leadership?

I haven’t touched upon Superintendent Walts management style here.
Although the Washington Post articles are dated they paint a picture
of a superintendent who doesn’t listen to grievances and hands them to
others; who canceled monthly meetings with principals; that is elusive
and who isn’t concerned with emotional issues and troubles which come
up with students. I think it will take something new to come up for
the school board to reconsider their faith in Superintendent Walts.
Below is a letter to the editor I submitted. Hopefully, it will get
published but more importantly there will be more scrutiny of
Superintendent Walts.

February 16, 2010

To the Editors:

Regarding Prince William County Schools Superintendent Stephen L.
Walts, scandal is not new to Prince William County
government. It is still reeling from the debacle of the Prince William
County Information Technology Department where three former employees
along with another Virginia man pulled off one of the largest
bid-rigging and embezzlement scandals in county history.

The Prince William County Community Services Board hired Dr. Phillip
E. Dukes as its Executive Director when there was public information
from the news in Cuyahoga County, Ohio documenting Dr. Dukes fiscal
impropriety. Dr. Dukes performance as Executive Director came under
fire and his contract was not renewed.

Although chump change by comparison, even our own previous County
Executive Henry “Bern” Ewert and Deputy County Executive Craig
Gerhart had Prince William County citizens pick up the tab for a
flight and visit to Norway to meet with officials from Aker RGI, an
international conglomerate that [is] building a housing, office and
entertainment complex on the Cherry Hill peninsula near Dumfries. That
was ten years ago and we saw how much Aker RGI cared about that
development. It just wanted the land rezoned so it could be sold and
they could get the money. Its been ten years and those people on the
Prince William County Board of Supervisors sold the Cherry Hill
peninsula down the creek. Nothing has been built; not the marvelous
conference hotel, or the houses, or the entertainment. There is,
however, an unused Jack Nicklaus golf course.

Superintendent Walts was not vetted properly; Prince William County
School Board members did not visit Greece and the search was not as
public as it could have been. Several teachers alleged discrimination
on the basis of age. The EEOC rulings were issued after the Prince
William School Board chose Walts for its new superintendent, but the
agency’s investigations began many months before he was hired. The
group Citizens for Accountability and Reform in Education had concerns
about Greece Superintendent Walts during his time as Superintendent
there. In addition, Walts has shown favoritism (and Prince William
County government didn’t object) in that three former Greece
staffers George Kisha, Keith A. Imon and Keith J. Johnson were hired
as Associate Superintendents. Keisha has since retired. This suggests
importing to some extent Greece style of leadership to Prince William
County Schools.

Walts can spend up to $500,000 dollars without approval of the school
board. Why is this? There have been questions regarding Walts travel
expenses and concerns that $37.5 million was spent building the
Edward L. Kelly Leadership Center when that money
was sorely needed for education. there has been much opposition to
Math Investigations (MI) in the curriculum which replaces traditional
math teaching and how much it has cost. As of 2008 Math Investigations
had cost 2.4 million dollars in a three year period.

Will it be like Greece, NY after Walts has already left we discover
the extent of damage his administration has done?

Sincerely,
Michael Ragland

Good thing we have laws, AIN’T IT???

Current estimates indicate 95,000 children of illegal aliens are enrolled in Virginia schools with around three quarters of them in the Northern Virginia area. If these sanctuary jurisdictions are to continue to receive federal and state funds to assist them in their assault on the people of the Commonwealth then we are indeed doomed.

The continued tolerance of the federal government’s refusal to enforce the law, along with the failure of every state government to force its hand will provide the mechanism for our failure from within.

http://www2.insidenova.com/isn/news/local/article/cost_of_illegal_aliens_in_va._soars/38284/

Thank You!!

The BEST reason to GET OUT and VOTE in LOCAL elections.

I have very little patience with people who ONLY VOTE in NATIONAL elections.

The last “curriculum specialist” (or whatever you want to call it) to come & visit a teacher friend of mine at the ELEMENTARY level spent all of 20 minutes in the classroom and watched a science lesson. Of course, the curriculum specialist spent her career teaching English at the HIGH SCHOOL level. What a waste of time (and our money!).