Plainfield's Board of Education has a work/study session set for Tuesday evening (yes, Primary Election day), at which it was advertised 'action may be taken'.
The 'action' presumably will include an effort to fill the position of Acting Director of Human Resources, in which a move to install Dr. Garnell Bailey was stymied at last week's meeting (see here, and here).
A move to reinstall Dr. Bailey would indicate the abandonment of the SLAM team's campaign language of cleaning up the situation with the schools.
While the fire-breathing four (Campbell, Hernandez, Abdul-Haqq and Edwards) were hot to get rid of Gallon, voters also drew the conclusion that they wanted to clean house and get the District set on a proper course.
How would hiring Dr. Bailey clean up the mess? It wouldn't, in my opinion.
I went back over the OFAC report, which details her involvement in the personnel matters that are the subject of the investigation and is indirectly damning of her performance in the Plainfield district (see report here, PDF).
With regard to the hirings of both Kelly and Borge, Dr. Bailey failed to include or overlooked matters of importance -- there was no mention of a requirement of a vice principal's certificate (Borge) though Bailey and Centuolo had made it a condition, and the rating sheets were incomplete (Borge) and non-existent (Kelly), see pages 4-7.
On page 7, the state investigators conclude that Bailey was 'unable to produce rating sheets for most candidates (including in-house as well as external), and noted additionally that there were 'irregularities with sixteen staff that required remediation'.
These are part of the core competencies required of a Human Resources director. Dr. Bailey has not demonstrated the level of execution that a responsible Board of Education should require in its due diligence.
In addition, it is troubling that Dr. Bailey's is 'in the job market' again so soon after leaving Plainfield for the Pleasantville school district.
The voters certainly had an expectation that tossing the incumbents would mean cleaning house in the Plainfield school district where there were tainted actions taken and poor personnel placements.
The Board of Ed needs to conduct a wide search for a qualified applicant with 'clean hands' in order to help the District truly move on into a post-Gallon future.
Anything less would be subjecting Plainfield taxpayers to a 'bait and switch' scenario.
- Courier: "Board, attorneys clash on procedures as votes stall"
- Ledger : "Plainfield schools try to choose human resources director"
- Plainfield Today --
- 4/7/10: "Gallon and the OFAC report" | OFAC report online here (PDF).
- 5/7/10: "Christie needs to intervene in schools mess now!"
-- Dan Damon [follow]
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5 comments:
There have been ocasions when I disagreed with some of your commentary. But in this particular instance, I agree whole heartedly.
Plainfield needs to "clean house". Some one brandy new to the situation with knowledge of NJ School's Human Resources rules and regulations to get us out of the "muck and mire" where we seem to becoming very comfortable.
Nothing against Dr. Baily, but bringing "old eyes" to review and "FIX" the problem is liken to recycling used oil in your automobile. Old habits and friendships and grudges die hard.
PPS needs to be repaired, not patched.
Why is this coming up for a vote again? Did one of the board members make a deal? I hope Rashid Abdul-Haaq did not make a trade for his vote. He is a better man than that. Rumor is that some board members voted to reinstate a friend of Abdul-Haaq with the expectation that he would return the "favor" by changing his vote on Garnel Bailey. Common' Rashid, say it ain't so!
Dan, here are a few of Bailey's accomplishments as a administrator over the past two years. An official investigation has started on all of this.
1. Negotiated a job into Plainfield and undermined Peter Carter
2. Went Logan-Leach place of employment to fight her during work hours. Check the records.
3. Oversaw job applications for noncertified staff from Florida before Gallon even arrived in June.
4. Promoted and rewarded four staff from her office into positions that DID NOT EXIST AND WERE NOT APPROVED BY THE BOARD. This was ILLEGAL and promoted Rose Davis to administrative job that was not even advertised 5. Got 3 raises for special person in HR in one year -Carletta Jones. Check the records.
6. Denied a hearing for a long term employee Irving Casey.
7. Started the investigation and pushed the firing of Paul Graves. and arranged with Board Attorney to appeal for extral legal expenses to the Board. The firing earned the attorney $100,000. They also hooked Bailey up where they work in Pleasantville.
8. Bailey handled the investigation of Williamson and Kemp.
9. She undermined Gallon and leaked personnel information to Courier News and Mark Spivey. One fax went to an elected official with her office fax number at the top and promoted Eric Jones from a teacher position to a job earning $100,000 with a staff of two people. She got rid of Louie Rivera who made less than $70,000 without a staff. She also created a job for her friend Deborah Boyd in Administrative Services for a $100,000.
10. When OFAC said they were coming she suddenly got sick and resigned knowing that she would be exposed when the report came out. So she left with nearly $50,000 and a new job on Pleasantville.
11. She joined the campaign of the Grand Slam team and was featured on the Courier News in time for the upcoming election. She threw 4 unnamed Board Memers and Gallon under the bus, claiming she tried to do something about it. Was she referring to the other 16 people that has certification issues as well? One is currently a principal in a school.
12. She worked their campaign after being promised the interim job when the Grand Slam team got Gallon out.
13. Bailey then made threats and forced her name onto an agenda compliments of Anna Belin Pyles the new puppet interim superintendent.
In the end no matter how people try to dice it,BAILEY WAS OVER HR BEFORE AND DURING Gallon's administration. People are losing their jobs and the districts current state starts at her doorstep. If you need references start with OFAC report and the countless people who have witnessed her incompetence, rudeness, back stabbing, and wickedness. If these are the qualities the Board seeks then appoint Dr. Garnell Bailey.
Clean House! Start by removing Gerry Green as the the head of the DEMOCRATS Maybe then Plainfield will have a chance to recover.
This is the problem with PPS BOE they don't have the proper exprience needed to make sound decisions. The one thing we don't need is the rehiring of Dr. Baily; why isn't she still working in the district they left back in December? I have read many opinions on this issue and I find bring her back would be doing the very same thing that was done with Kemp, Borge and Kelly. The position should be posted and advertised so the BOE can have more than one choice. They are rushing into rehiring her when it was shown in the report and her comments that she did not do what she should regarding hiring employees. The school needs to have new personnel who don't have a past history or bad habits which will push PPS backward instead of forward. We have other applicants in Plainfield who are capable of doing a better job than Dr. Baily.
Also at $525.00 a day when teachers, secetaries and other staff members are being layed off how does her consulant contract fit in our budget?
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