Thursday, August 19, 2010

Riley's Lapdog Attacks Kandrac

With permission from his master, Jon Butzon of the Charleston Education Network (CEN) (the what? you ask), has joined the attack against CCSD Board member Elizabeth Kandrac. [See Thursday's tirade : Letters to the Editor]

Readers of this blog may recall several postings on Butzon and his curious privileged position vis a vis the School Board. You may want to try for yourself to get any specific information on the organization at this web address: http://www.charlestonednet.com. See any references to how it is funded? Learn who its members are? Of course not.

Here's what I wrote back in January of 2009:
Jon Butzon--the executive director of the Charleston Education Network--sounds impressive, doesn't it? I'm impressed with how much he takes home (must be up to $80,000 per year by now) for attending CCSD School Board meetings and writing two or three op-ed pieces per year. And his qualifications for that are what? And what is the Charleston Education Network (apart from being part of the edublob)? [See entries for CEN and Butzon on this blog.] Who pays his salary? Who calls the shots?

Here's what a commenter wrote back in July of 2007 (just a sample of a heated conversation):

"The waste and inequities that CCSD has forced on Dist. 20 are common issues that unite both white & black downtown public school advocates. Butzon & CEN have been noticeably absent on all fronts. A united downtown is a scary prospect to some. It would seem that all the special interest groups that live off the crumbs that CCSD throws them, from Dot Scott to Jon Butzon, the NAACP to the Chamber of Commerce (what a strange mix), none can afford to have a bunch of loose cannons downtown calling for public school reforms."

My nominee for controller is Joe Riley.

Posted by Babbie at 6:05 PM
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4 comments:

West Ashley said...

A school board member (you can guess it wasn't one of those who is favored by Butzon)asked for a copy of the Charleston Education Network's budget and funding sources. Butzon was quick to respond...by saying "You'll never get it." How's that for arrogance? We need an outside audit of the whole mess just to find out who is sleeping with whom.

The truth is Butzon and CEN are receiving CCSD funds, directly and indirectly. Two of the sources for Butzon's upper end five figure salary are the Chamber of Commerce and the Charleston Evening Post Foundation. CCSD is one of the biggest dues paying members of the Chamber and the owners of the private non-profit also own the Post and Courier newspaper.

It seems that full disclosure of his association with the newspaper's funding source would be appropriate when Butzon gets space for one of his op-ed pieces. Tbe P&C is reluctant to follow the money at CCSD because the paper has dirty hands, too. Butzon is given far too much deferrence for someone who appears to be nothing more than an unlicensed lobbyist.

2:15 AM
Anonymous said...

How many art and music programs in our most challenged elementary schools could be restored if Mr. Butzon's $65,000 a year salary was directed to classroom teaching instead of non-teaching hot air? One could ask the same question for the $40,000 CCSD sends the Chamber of Commerce every year. An audit would ask these questions and much more. If Mr. Butzon is serious about Ms. Kandrac being wasteful, then he should be square with having a total review of the books. It would look suspicious if anyone inside the system were to oppose an independent audit. And right after they urged us to support a sales tax increase, too.

2:11 PM
Anonymous said...

Oh, boy. Looks like the spin machine is being turned on full blast. McGinley in her regular op-ed tells us about how East Cooper residents just think our public schools are wonderful and they can "choose" to send their kids to Whitesides. Meyers tells us in his long letter that the board only recently learned about seismic issues and based on advice of district officials the downtown schools will be "fixed". (Hey, Gregg, read the referendum. We're being asked to tear them down and build new schools. That's not fixing them.) And if the Charleston Teacher Alliance polls isn't telling us what the Superintendent wants us to know (or not know) about teacher satisfaction, she'll just go out and have a new poll conducted. She can rephrase the questions to get the answers she wants but it's too bad she can't control who writes the P&C headlines. You bet'ya she knows who's saying what and there will be retalliation. We can also expect a lot more of this leading up to the election and the push to raise sales taxes. More letters and op-ed pieces for Butzon are just one more part of the campaign to snow us some more.

12:48 PM
Anonymous said...

Nancy McGinley won't tell a North Charleston resident to just "choose" to send their child to Whitesides. McGinley isn't likely to be meeting people on the street in North Charleston, either.

Gregg Meyers says we should trust what district officials tell us because he does. He either hasn't read the engineering reports or doesn't realize he voted to raise many millions to REPLACE downtown schools, not FIX them. Buist Academy will cost $35 million tear down and rebuild. Charleston Progressive Academy, according to the plan Meyers approved, will cost another $18 million to replace even thought the engineers only said it could be FIXED. Like McGinley, Meyers is looking only at what he wants to see. They both want us to see the world as they do.

It's the same with Jon Butzon. He strains at a gnat and wants us to swallow a camel. Shame of board members, he says, who want to learn more. Never mind that other board members are sent to the same conferences at the expense of a private law firm in order to solicit business for this and other school districts. And why shouldn't we have an outside audit to look at everything? If board members are spending too much on their own education, maybe we're being asked to spend too much to tear down schools we could more wisely repair. Maybe North Charleston residents should know they can choose to send their children anywhere they want in spite of what district employees have told them.

We can expect a lot more clutter before the truth is known. Vote NO on the tax increase. Vote YES to anyone who supports a complete audit of CCSD's entire financial system. Vote YES to school board candidates who are willing to ask tough questions and get complete answers.

1:05 PM

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