Penny MacCormack’s & Robin Kulwin’s dishonest/careless spending: do we pay the bill or question it?

No matter where you stand on the Superintendent’s assessment tests, the Common Core, etc., there’s one truth that has been proven to be undeniable:  this Superintendent and BOE are financially reckless, and cannot be trusted to make wise fiscal decisions.

Consider their careless expenditures over the past year:

• $490,000 was spent on the creation of assessment tests that are the centerpiece of the Superintendent’s Strategic Plan.  The first round of these assessments in October ’13 were cancelled because the tests weren’t properly protected on the district’s server (the Superintendent felt that extra security wasn’t necessary), and were leaked onto the Internet.  Regarding the most recently administered assessment tests, the Superintendent claims they were “successful”, but no metrics, facts, or benchmark achievements have been presented which validate, explain, or clarify how/why they were successful.  While the ROI on the Superintendent’s $490K has yet to be determined, it’s looking like it was a tremendous waste of money.  If it isn’t, where are the hard details to justify the cost?
• $100,000 was spent on the Superintendent’s Tripod Survey in April ’13.  The goals of this survey were poorly defined and murkily explained, and the survey itself was sloppily executed.  The specific data/results (not generalities) garnered from this survey have yet to be shared with the district.  The ROI on this cost?  N/A.
• $130,000 (and counting) was spent on legal fees.  When the first round of assessment tests were made vulnerable, the Board’s President suggested that sabotage may have been the culprit, and launched an investigation.  Unlawful subpoenas were authorized by the Board’s President that targeted her anonymous critics in the community (as well as Board member David Cummings), a lawsuit was launched by the ACLU to protect the anonymous critics’ freedom of speech, and the invoice for these totally unnecessary legal services continues to build.  The ROI on this cost?  None.  It was a 100% waste of taxpayer funds that was spent on a vindictive, arrogant, and unconstitutional extralegal adventure.

(NOTE:  none of the above expenses are listed as line items in the BOE’s 2013-14 budget.  So where is the money coming from?  Is it being diverted from other areas of the budget?  Is it from outside sources?  No one in the district knows:  the BOE hasn’t given us the answer.  Obviously, in addition to being imprudent spenders, the BOE are also secretive and deceptive spenders.)

If the Superintendent, the Board president, and their supporters/enablers in the community can justify the wisdom of these pricey outlays using data-based evidence, the parents and taxpayers of Montclair would love to see it.  If not, then there’s no way to defend them – and there’s no way that the Superintendent and Board can be trusted to spend our money efficiently.

I’m hoping that the City Council will demand accountability and answers from the Board, and insist on close oversight of their future spending patterns at the next Board of School Estimate meeting.  If not, expect more wasteful and sneaky spending – which will surely add to our property tax increases in the future – as long as this Superintendent and BOE are in power.