Wednesday, February 15, 2012

CCSD's Stealth Contract Extension for Lewis

It was a dark and stormy night when Bill Lewis's job performance flew under the radar.

Well, anyway it was dark on Monday night when CCSD Superintendent McGinley pulled the wool over the public's eyes--and the Post and Courier compounded her subterfuge by spiking the story.

At last Monday's Board of Trustees meeting, not only was a contract extension for Bill Lewis labeled on the public agenda as a "personnel matter," but the contract itself was not available to trustees in their executive session. The packets provided to Board members simply mentioned a "contractual matter." Any discussion of Lewis's job performance or erratic behavior with the public was also shut down, even in the executive session, nor did McGinley produce a performance evaluation.

I guess we know who wears the pants in this family.

I could have sworn that McGinley worked for the Board and not vice versa.

Lewis, who is in charge of the District's 2011-2016 building program, was granted a contract extension until July of 2016. What was the rush? His present contract does not expire until July of this year, nearly six months from now. At $164,000 per year and an all-expenses-paid car, he is the second-highest paid official in CCSD. Thanks to the contract extension, he will also receive any pay raises that are given to teachers in coming years.

It all fits the pattern of lack of transparency in the district. It makes some wonder what Lewis, who isn't even qualified as a P.E. in the State of South Carolina, holds over McGinley.

2 comments:

Pluff Mudd said...

Was this legal? No public disclosure. No performance evaluation. What exactly does this guy do? CCSD already pays a Construction Management (CM) firm millions to oversee new school construction and renovations.

Anonymous said...

Locally ABC News (Ch. 4) willingly allowed their air space to be used to pad the case for keeping Bill Lewis. He, Nancy McGinley and Mary Graham of the Chamber of Commerce (imagine that) all appeared in a news clip that says "all is well" as they spend our sales taxes for new schools like there's no tomorrow. When you see the quality of what is being built, it looks like they weren't planning for too many tomorrows anyway.

http://www.abcnews4.com/story/16952354/penny-sales-tax-making-positive-school-change

Channel 4 News is no better than the P&C. They repeat what they are told. No one in the local press investigates. This was a puff piece. Mary Graham even repeated that the entire $450 million was being reinvested in the local economy. Oh, yea? Then why are the majority of the contractors coming from out of the region, and many from out of state?