Proposal 1 & 2 were passed by the voters today. Because of todays results, you will see some much needed improvements mainly at the High School!
In other election news
Kellogg Community College Board of Trustees
Top 3 vote getters were:
Reba Harrington
Brian Hice
Jonathan Byrd
Congrats to EVERYONE who got out and voted today!
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183 comments:
I am very happy as a parent who voted for both Proposal 1 and 2. But like most people in Marshall, I am very unhappy with the decision to extend the contract of Superintendent Joyce Phillips. Now that the bond proposals are passed, we must unite for a new Superintendent ASAP!
I voted for the bond proposal for the kids! The Marshall shools have been neglected and have suffered in more ways than one under bad leadership for too long.
It was hard to vote yes thinking that in some way it could benefit Phillips. Only an idiot or a fool would interpret this vote as some kind of endorsement or vote of confidence in Phillips, Potter or Darling! If they get arrogant and start bragging about it I will be furious, as will be the majority of those who voted for the bond but are still angry at the board for renewing Phillips contract and giving her a huge raise!
The "no tax increase" "cost you nothing" bond only passed with 59% of the vote? What a blow to Joyce Phillips and the school board! If we had a good Superintendent we would have gotten at least 90% of the vote for such a small bond proposal, that will not accomplish very much. Everyone I know who voted for the bond, also want to see major changes at the top. Without a new Superintendent, the physical fixes will only be cosmetic and the district will still suffer in many ways.
Great, now the improvements can be made. Parents, school retirees, private citizens, please help us to get new leadership. I don't know if a 59%-yes vote is enough to send a message to a deaf,dumb, and blind school board. Please get vocal in the community and media. WE NEED CHANGE NOW!!!
The MTA supported the bond but that should NOT be interpreted as support for Joyce and the board's disasterous decision to extend her contract two more years. We still have major problems in the Marshall schools. The building improvements will be meaningless until there are leadership changes. We need to at least replace Joyce Phillips. There is great hope to get past the bad years of to move in a new and better direction. If Joyce is allowed to stay the future for the next two years is not good.
I voted for the bond, but I agree we are not done with much-needed school improvements. The school board can do more to force or pressure Dr. Phillips to resign. She has clearly failed as an effective leader, she has lost most staff and community support, and the outlook is grim if she sticks around two more years. We need a new Superintendent. Now is the best time to find a much better leader to lead the MPS into the future!
Since the bond will not cost the taxpayers any money, as Joyce's PR claimed, I thought there would be a 99 percent vote in favor of it! I was shocked to see it pass by only 59 percent! I know our Superintendent would never lie about something like a bond to the people of Marshall. ;-)
I'm going to write the board, and maybe the Chronicle with some thoughts about where to go from here. Among my points will be that their lack of openness will mean we parents and supporters will continue to view them with suspicion.
Based on their public comments, I don't know where they think they are taking the district in terms of academics. Is there a plan?
It seems people here have ideas, but everyone seems afraid to comment. I want to know why they think there is an atmosphere of fear.
Any thoughts I can include from you all?
My goal will be either to shame or wake up some of the board members. There are some who will continue to ignore us, some will realize we are right, but will be afraid to act. My goal will be to push enough to the edge of the light that change can begin.
If being honest takes anonymity, this seems to be the only place to clear the air.
John Bedient
The Marshall School Board have been largely ignoring and avoiding the teachers, parents and community members who have brought to their attention a long list of reasons why Dr. Phillips is an ineffective leader for the Marshall schools. There is little to no hope that morale, community support, trust, cooperation, honest communication and true teamwork will improve under Phillips regime. The board must share the blame for these numerous problems as they have either encouraged Phillips, played dumb, or both in response to this ongoing crisis. Some board members may now finally see Phillips as the huge liability and embarrassment that she become, but they are so far unwilling to do what needs to be done- replace her ASAP!
For whatever bizarre, foolish and unknown reasons (many suspicions), JP has solid support from Potter, Darling and Beardslee. She also enjoys at least lukewarm support from the rest of the board members. After Sam and Bob left there is no board member who is fully trusted to hold JP accountable or to question her publicly about problems and controversies. It is clear the real discussions and debates take place in private. In public they carry out carefully organized (scripted?) board meetings to make JP and themselves look as good as possible. There is not much hope for the Marshall schools anytime in the near future unless the Phillips regime is replaced by much better leadership!
Phillips is a poor communicator, a terrible team player, is uneasy around staff, plays loose with the truth and seems to be several levels above her level of competence. Therefore she is big on "smoke and mirrors." She likes to run school board meetings as a public relations spectacle, with no real debate or discussion. She does not want to hear any criticism or complaints. She wants complete control as many insecure leaders do. She wants to claim credit for other people's hard work. She rarely visits classrooms or has the trust of the staff to know what is really going on in the Marshall schools. She has threatened and intimidated the staff and the MTA. She counts on the opinions of a very few that may have hidden agendas (Marsha Haring?, Linda Bennink?, Vic? Janice?) to establish what she thinks should be done (or maybe she is told what to do).
Marshall needs a good Superintendent who knows and understands all levels of jobs to some extent, is approachable and trusted to share information, is a good communicator and motivator, is a true leader that enjoys wide public and staff support, is a team player that works well with others, and most importantly some who truly cares about the Marshall schools.
Nobody I know thinks that Joyce cares anything about the Marshall schools and that she is only in it for the money and power-trip, and she will promptly leave Marshall once she is done soaking us in two years (hopefully much sooner!)
We need an election over whether or not we need a new Superintendent.
I appreciate John Bedients comments and his willingness to go public. As a longtime school employee who has seen way too many negative things happen to way too many good and loyal employees over the past three yrs I like most others am not comfortable speaking out openly. That our wonderful community supported the improvement bond in spite of major problems at the top that leads to the worst school climate in my many years of involvement I am sad that we didnt do as
Battle Creek did and go for the whole package we so desperately need. I felt from the beginning we shouldnt piecemeal our needs over a period of yrs but go for the gusto as all the BC schools now have done. It is so sad that we were all afraid that because of incompetent admins and board our supporters would not go along with the total package of needs. I also hope the board does not think this vote is a vote of support for them or their blind support of the worst leadership in our schools history. Change still needs to happen and no matter how much Joyce
Brian and
Amy try to spin things they do NOT have the support of the wonderful employees who are and always have brought excellence to this district. It is sad what these past three yrs have brought and wrought to a staff and district that did not deserve what they have recieved. Keep on with your campaign Mr. Bedient because there are hundreds of people who agree with you but cannot put their head on the chopping block. We have seen to many times what JKP can do to her "minions" who dare to disagree.
The Marshall School Board could not even consider going for a "full package" of building improvements like Harper, Pennfield, Lakeview, Gull Lake and even now Battle Creek did, due to the lack of trust and confidence in Dr. Joye Phillips and her board supporters.
Yes, Joyce has done major damage to the Marshall Public Schools in many different ways! With $50-$70 million in admitted needs, the Marshall School Board were afraid to ask for anything beyond a "no cost to you" small millage, spread out over an outrageous 29 years! Marshall passed about 5 mill for $8.7 mil, and Harper passed 7 mills for a whopping $55 million over 30 years! Yes, Marshall's 4.45 or whatever mills will start declining some in a bout 5-10 years, but it is still a drop in the bucket for our needs and most likely a bad financial plan in the long run (why pay for tech that goes obsolete in 5-7 years over 29 years?).
All of this mess and problems just so the MPS board can keep Joyce Phillips employed, enjoying hefty raises, a second MI retirement and happy! What a big loss to the kids, the shools and the community!
Its been a bad year for the Marshall Public Schools. We lost Sam and Bob last year on the school board, Joyce has been as awful as ever, the school board and Joyce largely ignored the MTA when the surveys went public (Vic bought JP flowers as a one-fingered salute to the teachers), Joyce then threatened to sue the MTA, the Foreman case dragged on another year even though the charges were dropped and Mr. Foreman is clearly a victim of false charges and JP, no one bothered to run against Vic and Janice, Ron Behrenwald was forced out at MHS, JP is extended another two years until 2009, the reputation of the Marshall schools has declined due to poor leadership at the top, the community support and trust has been in decline for the same reasons, a small "no increase millage extention" barely passed, Metcalf and Jones-need I say more, morale in decline, good people harmed, no real debate or discussion at school board meetings, and I could go on and on. What can we do now to turn things around?
Get a new Superintendent would be a great start to follow-up the millage victory! Let's unite and truly put the kids first!
Joyce has got to go. Her statement "how happy her heart it" I can only say HOW BIZZARE. No one at MPS has even been convinced she has a heart. I have absolutely no confidence in her nor in any of her decisions. She has been a 100% disaster. How dare Janice Darling gush on about how she could care less who doesn't support joyce....she supports her 100%. Janice: you know Marsha Franke is actually running this school district with her husband's old money.
Thank you John for considering being the mouthpiece for so many people who can not speak up. I have always had alot of respect for you -
Perhaps this web log can start a list of issues that need to be addressed. Yes, we all agree the top three are a total financial and emotional disaster to MPS. Amy has represented MPS at so many workshops and been reported to have been a total intoxicated embarrassment. The ooops forgot to do my job on so many ocassion would have gotten any one else fired many times ago. But joyce needs her little ducks in a row around her for insulation.
Joyce has once again received, a very quietly kept, 3% increase on her already huge salary. Other groups are seeing cuts for classroom overloads, not replacing positions, now the cuts that Turner is doing at the MS - so kids can have more gym time (cuts in the fine arts class times)....
What will be next. Outsourcing of our local workers to private companies? I suggested before we consolidate our top administration. They lie, hide truths, make it difficult to find out what is going on at OUR LOCAL PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM, Perhaps a private accounting firm, private or interim business superintendent, would be a great start to improvements in Marshall. People that pay taxes deserve to know what is being done with their money. I did not consent to new carpet, buying years of service for a michigan retirement, upgrading the worst superintendent ever for MPS to a more competetive wage, giving her a vehicle and clothing allowance, etc....etc,...etc...
Stop the corruption by removing Joyce. I'll bet we will be MOVING FORWARD as soon as we do that!!!!!
I am very tired of the good doctor in every aspect. Her taking time to address rumors via email, her taking time to email the staff to remind us to vote (like none of us are smart enough to know it is voting day), etc. The only thing I am happy about is she has quit writing those insane, fictional articles:::::Leadership is about leading. Leadership is about change joyce...find a realtor...get some boxes...don't make the international world wait a minute longer. Yes - it will be very difficult for this community to know what to do without you...but we will muddle through. Thanks for nothing good that you accomplished during your employment...Oh - I forgot - you did keep the kids out of the MS foyer, got rid of some awesome families (Behrenwalds), totally tried to ruin the life of the Foreman's, thumbed your nose at all the employees and their families, lied to the board on many ocassions, - Well you see joyce the list of your accomplishments is long. China is calling. Janice, Vic, Marsha and Paul will recover without your presence. I don't think this community will forget what harm they have allowed for a long time though. So - time to go. Let the healing begin! You have split this community more than the Redskin issue ever did! So you will go down in Marshall school history. But it will not be pretty!
It's not really a community split over Joyce Phillips. It is more like JP, Amy Brian, Vic, Janice, Paul (maybe Dan, Chris, Ali), Marsha, and a few others on one side versus everyone else on the other side! It is clearly the "Joyce First" group (or is it "hidden agendas" group?) against the teachers, parents, building Principals, community leaders, etc. This tiny dangerous clique can fire Joyce any day of the week for the benefit of the Marshall schools. Why they choose such a bad Superintendent (or did they create this monster?) most people cannot understand.
Two more bad years ahead unless the "Kids First" majority do something soon. To follow-up the bond success, is a recall needed now? Only the Joyce Phillips supporters would be targeted.
I guess you gripers dont get it. It appearrs janice received 81% of total votes available. It appears vic received 77%. If you are all right how did this happen? I dont think everything is great, but not worse than any other district. Every district has issues with money. State funding is not done in proper manor. vote on bond reflects economy, not joyces performance. How do you recall with support janice and vic received? I am an overall happy school employee and when i am not i will go else where."""""
Good morning Joyce!
Thank you to everyone who has participated on this "Kids First" Web Site/Blog, and/or wrote letters to the editor to help educate the public about the major issues and problems in the Marshall Public Schools this past year. Thank you to whoever runs this web site, it is a great public service!
Though we tried with reports and warnings, we did not succeed in stopping or preventing many of the bad things that are occurring in the Marshall schools. Supt. Phillips did succeed in forcing Mr. Behrenwald out, as it was well-known on this web site that he was on her "hit list." We did help build pressure that may have forced Phillips to back off from her threatened lawsuit against the Marshall teachers. As of early January the MTA was preparing for her lawsuit. Much public protest and contacting school board members helped prevent this outrage from occurring.
Though not as well-planned as some would have liked, passing a school bond was good and necessary. Yes, we know that Phillips will brag and be arrogant to try to take credit, but the fact is the big bond the Marshall Schools needed ($40 million plus) was not possible at this this time due to the near complete lack of trust and support in Supt. Phillips. Yes, Phillips cost the Marshall school the bond we needed to catch up to the Battle Creek schools that have pulled so far ahead of us. Our expectations and goals have to be lowered a lot because of Phillips. But let's not give up! We all need to keep sharing information, questions, opinions and ideas on this web site until the Phillips regime is "history" and we can return to normal and go public.
To John Bedient: thanks for your public efforts and courage! The bottom line is that Joyce Phillips has failed. She has lost trust, respect and support from her staff and most everyone else. She is a bad leader and a huge liability and embarrassment to the Marshall schools and community. Why does the school board tolerate this? Why can't there be "excellence" at the top too? Just a few thoughts for you to include, if you like, in your letters and other methods of communication.
I agree! Though we do not always think the same, the Marshall citizens who truly care about the best interests of the schools, including school board members, can work together for good changes. This web site exists BECAUSE of big problems in the schools. It exists because of threats, failures, bad leadership, lies and intimidation by Dr. Phillips. It exists because other methods were tried (letters to the editor, talking to school board members, etc) and have had little success. Now the problems and issues have gone public and we are engaging in a community-wide debate about the future of the Marshall schools. That is a good thing!
Why don't we start putting coffee cans around town to collect enough money to buy out Joyce's contract. I would be very generous!!!!
Joyce is dragging this district down. Enough is enough, it is time for her to go! Us teachers can't stand her pompous incompetence and meanness, the support staff want her gone, every parent I talk to want her replaced. The school board knows she needs to go too. Let's give them the support and encouragement they need to force her out. New leadership is needed, now is the time!
We cannot heal nor move forward until phillips is gone. The less impact it has on this district would mean the absolute soonest the board can find an equitable solution to it. I strongly recommend they ditch the purchase or her michigan retirement. This does cost MPS for years to come. She must go. As she slithers around with her fake facade while attacking those dedicated employees that are out there each day PUTTING KIDS FIRST.
To Joyce I say this: The problems you seem to think exist are your current underlings that you have surrounded yourself with....Amy, Dave Turner, Mike Walbeck and Brian. Why is Rich Hulkow not in on all the interviews for the replacement of Ron Behrenwald. Is his 23+ years of service at the HS not enough experience to know what is needed or going on there? Your micromanagement is killing Marshall Schools. Why is your little friend Dave Turner cutting fine arts for middle schoolers only to add gym time? The problem here is Turner has a different story for each different person that asks. Is this your agenda because I do not feel he has the capacity to come up with so many angles on his own. We are not going to solve student obesity unless we are going into the homes and removing video games, etc. I can only say your 'keeping the main thing the main thing' is about your direct destruction of programs that have made MPS what it is today. I am not sure your friend Janice has heard all of the scenarios in regards to all the different ones given by lil' Turner. Gosh - this guy was strongly recommended 'not to be ready for a principal job' by his boss last year...but joyce...you just put him in that position...no postings, no committees to interview...NOW IF THAT DIDN'T LOOK LIKE AN AGENDA...
Marshall Citizens: It is time to move forward (not just talk about it). This board knows what needs to happen. Possibly a lightning bolt will strike them and cause them to take some action. It is imperative to do so now. I do not believe the taxpayers will endorse Phase II (when it costs more money) unless the board take some action to better this district now by presenting a buyout of phillis. This is the time of year to find a good candidate for superintendent...not mid-year. It has taken joyce 2 whole months to put in place the 'key to the grand piano at the high school'. All she had to do is follow the guidelines that were given to her by the administrator that she directed to write them. This was given to her ON TIME as required by her and has been on her desk since March 1st. If this administrator could work out the details why are you just letting those detailed guidelines sit there with no significance? Joyce - are you are all interested in the truth why Jones has not settled the 'roll over contract' by the ESP members. You stated it was given to the district in late December....NOT TRUE...but you know that. The systematic abuse of groups at MPS is only bringing them together - unlike your theory of 'divide and concurr'. Thank you for helping the unions become stronger with your abusive behavior towards them. We all want your 3% raise...as you see ... we got good evaluations. A 3.8 should not have gotten a raise at all. Raspberries to you!
It is curious that no one ran against Janice and Vic. I suspect it had more to do with the trials of running that with an approval of their work.
Go back and reread the Chronicle interviews with them. Neither could mention why Marshall should be a school of choice. Neither had a plan for the future.....Vic thinks people know too much about things....
With all the budget woes why don't we outsource the Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent positions and allow the building level admin to run the buildings as they should be now? That would save lot's of money!!!
As a parent active many years in a PCO, I am very concerned about what is happening in the Marshall Schools.
The Marshall school board is viewed as being run by a clique. The theory is that the group that dominates the board are part of a secretive clique that recruits and runs board candidates so they always have a majority. This group is know to have origins in the anti-Lou movement, the Anti-Redskins movement (same people?) and may be heavily influenced by a newly wealthy former interim-Superintendent, who was mad the administrators and staff at the time who didn't want her to get the job.
Therefore, as the theory goes, anyone who runs against this group will be against big money AND will be in the minority when elected which means they will be pressured to join the others or be treated badly (like Sam and Bob were). This may be why no one else ran for the school board. Many would say their efforts at real school improvement and "kids first" would be a waste of time as they would be outvoted. Either way it will take a majority that is not part of this group to get anything accomplished. The suspected members of this group include Vic, Janice, Paul and to a lesser extent Dan, Ali and maybe Chris. Not sure about John Coulter, but this group would view John as someone they can keep under their influence. There seems to be no truly independent voices left on the board. Everything appears to be planned, scripted and choreographed out of the public view. Joyce is believed to be protected by this group for carrying out their agenda(s), and no real accountability exists. Joyce was allowed, even encouraged, to run Ron Behrenwald out of town. Hulkow, Hanson and Townsend may be their next major targets. I was skeptical at first when I heard this theory, but many pieces of the puzzle have fallen into place to support it, and many of the predictions made on this web site have come true. Could there be any other explanations? The board support for JP is so bizzarre, and her behavior so bad, that nothing else logical seems to make sense to explain what has happened, or is happening. Any opinions about this?
I have heard many of the same things in recent years. I am concerned that the best interests of the schools are being sacrificed for the benefit of a select few. Any other school district would have replaced Mrs. Phillips by now.
By the way....to whoever runs this site...John Coulter's e-mail is not correct. It should be:
JCoulter@oaklawnhospital.com
What next? There is a "war of wills" between those who want Joye gone now and those few on the school board who want to keep her at least two more years. Paul announced that we have Joyce (stuck with her!) for two more years whether we like it or not, so get used to it. Should the staff and parents just sit back and accept this? Will the MTA take a stand for the kids and the "what's best" for the Marshall schools? Will the community tell the school board "enough is enough"?
Joyce Phillips failed leadership is why the school board could only ask for a small part of the MPS building needs in the bond this week.
We may have to wait years as we fall further and further behind other area schools before we can pass the kind of bond we truly need to catch up to the BC area schools. I blame Joyce's failed leadership and her board supporters for this mess. The Marshall schools have suffered enough! It is time to replace Joyce now!
Be sure to check out today's (Sunday, May 13) Battle Creek Enquirer article about how the proposed funding cuts will hurt area schools. There are only two schools on the list (which is from the entire Battle Creek circulation area, Hastings to Coldwater etc.) that do not have enough money in fund equity to absorb the $122 per student cut. One is Endeavor Charter school, the other is Marshall. According to the article, Marshall's fund equity is less than 1% of the district's operating budget. I think most districts try to have a Fund Equity of at least 10%, ideally 15%. My questions: the supporters of the Phillips administration often cite her financial management as one of her strengths. (She came to a district with no fund-equity and built one up etc.) This is her greatest strength?
Money has been lavished on Phillips, Metalf and Jones, one way or another. Phillips' sleazy pursuit of Mr. Foreman after the charges were dropped (goal:make an example out of a teacher to scare the rest) has cost the district about $250,000 so far, all unjustified. Much bad leadership and poor planning has contributed to many other problems. Now as we can see the Marshall schools are in bad shape on all levels (buildings, morale, leadership, finanances, etc). Contact the school board and complain, write letters to the editor, post on this blog, talk to friends, relatives and neighbors. We need to take action to reverse this ongoing decline. The little bond is only cosmetics on the bigger problems. Marshall is at risk!
The purchase of the service credit toward retirement (buying one year for every year she is in Marshall, so that after 5 years as superintendent she will have 10 years service credit upon which to base her pension) is what I think the people of this district should be the most upset about. At her salary, each year purchased costs the district between $13,000 and $15,000, so the total cost will approach $70,000 by the time the five years is up.
She is real big on rumor control; lets she if she responds to this rumor -- is it accurate that the Marshal Board of Education will spend over $65,000 to buy her five years of universal service credit toward her Michigan retirement?
Yes! We need Dr. Phillips to comment on those rumors that have run rampant for the last year about all her "perks". Since she started those rumor control emails to the staff and has asked the employees to bring up the rumors so she can explain them perhaps she will enlighten us. Chances are she wont be willing to comment on those "rumors".
Phillips and the board are sneaky and try to cover everything up. With Sam and Bob gone, they have free reign to do whatever they want with absolutely NO accountablity! With Jones doing the paperwork it would not surprise me if many things are hidden in different places. The BC Enquirer article is quite embarrassing. Compared to Harper Creek and Lakeview Marshall is very pathetic financially. In most other areas Marshall has fallen behind. We have great MPS staff but they can only do so much working under such awful leadership. Let's start with firing Phillips, that should save at least $150,000 per year!
Why not get ride of Jones also. If she is in charge of finance and operation - and our fund equity is her responsibility - why should we not replace her. Perhaps her inexperience handling a budget that is struggling, especially under the direct leader of phillips is partly the reason for our dire financial situation. It is surely not the employee benefit, insurance or wages of the employees other than the top three. Shamelessly they make comment to the media that would make the citizens think it is employee insurance (which is paid with large contributions from the employees and has not risen more than 4% this year - of which the employee pays for....) Possibly the inexperience of Jones who is about 31 years old and came to Marshall School with virtually no experience and has a supervisor like phillips....WHY WOULD THIS NOT BE PART OF THE PROBLEM?
Very true. In any other company if the head of finance does not fix the problem - they are history - and the company hires someone else whose approach to funds and operations may be the changes that are needed. How about getting a consulting firm to oversee the district finances for one year...get an interim superintendent...?
As a parent who follows the schools closely, I was shocked at how poorly the Marshall school have been managed. I keep hearing the school board members bragging about Dr. Phillips financial management skills at building up the fund equity. After all of the bad things I had heard about Dr. Phillips, I thought at least she has built up the fund equity in three years! Well this turned out to not be true. The Marshall schools are not in good financial shape and Dr. Phillips had three years to make some big improvements. Now I am embarrassed to say we are at the bottom of local school districts and have fallen further behind the two districts I compare us to- Lakeview and Harper Creek.
Call or e-mail the school board members and ask any questions. Dan Stulberg is good that if he does not know he will look into it. Other probably would too. I would not trust talking directly to Phillips, Jones, Metcalf or Walbeck.
Dan Stuhlberg is in Joyce's back pocket in a big way!!!!!!! Coulter is the ONLY one I would trust>
I agree that Dan should be doing much more to hold Joyce accountable. So should Paul, Chris, Ali and John. I do not expect much out of Potter and Darling, they let JP walk all over them. Why the others so far seem to allow JP to do the same to them I do not know. The board needs to take the main leadership role and show Joyce who is in charge! Until that happens there is not much hope for the Marshall schools.
There have been months of sharing issues on this blogsite. Is it time to form a committee to look into some of these issues. The MTA has tried - and are continually told - thanks, we appreciate what you are telling us....but nothing gets done. Has anyone looked into the payment for the tenure charges (the 3 days of depositions taken in December) and where the money was taken from. Shelly has great difficulty getting her 'freedom of information' from the office. I know other groups have been put off until they have no more time left to pursue FOI items. How about ideas on how to move this process forward before jones and phillips totally destroys MPS.
Are you saying that the "Titanic Captains" Phillips, Jones, Metcalf and Walbeck are steering us in the wrong direction? "Hey board, those iceburgs are no problem!" As JP once said after the Chronicle asked her if some expelled students had been a threat to any Marshall students, and she said "No, you have to trust me." Can we trust her? Later the Chronicle confirmed that they had shot at students at MHS with a BB gun, injuring at least one. I guess that being shot at by a BB gun at school did not constitute a threat.
Why do I also feel like the Marshall schools peadership is heading in the wrong direction? Is it because every single teacher I talk to has horror stories of bad management and problems caused by Phillips and her group at the top?
typo: leadership oops!!!
There is very poor leadership at the top of the Marshall schools. Lou was a strong leader but somewhat controversial, Bob C. was a nice guy and often frustrated but not a strong leader, and now Joyce is distant, mean, insecure, a poor communicator, a demotivator and overall failure of a leader. The MPS school board has been slow to react, if at all, to these problems in leadership. Since they seem to take their queues from Joyce, things have gotten even more divisive with trust and support in rapid decline. The Marshall Public Schools need a good Superintendent real bad and real soon to avoid any further declines that we cannot afford as a community.
Leadership? What leadership?
I can personally tell you I have tried to express to the board grave issues on two occasions...only to receive nothing. If the Board, the bosses of the superintendent, do nothing - then something must be done about the board. They do take an oathe each July (or are supposed to)...to not serve selves, build trust, etc. They have not done this. Unless they show great movement a group must be formed. I am happy vic and janice were unopposed and are reseated. This is their chance to change things that have gone wrong during their tenures or BE TAKEN TO TASK FOR THE GRAVE ERRORS THEY HAVE ALLOWED. I THINK IT IS TIME TO TAKE THEM TO TASK FOR THE DAMAGE THEY HAVE CAUSED.
The people of Marshall seem to be suffering from what you may call "combat fatigue." I think all of the infighting, dishonesty, lack og good leadership, hidden agendas, etc etc have taken its toll on the morale of everyone and the perception that anything positive can be accomplished. "Excellence" has been gone for some years at the top. The bar has been way lowered as far as expecatations of the top leaders and the school board. Mediocrity or worse has been rewarded handsomely. I do not think anyone will start a recall. So without real changes in the school board, expect more of the same problems or worse for the next few years. If you have kids feel free to start looking into other educational options until things improve in Marshall.
What I don't get is that parents don't seem to be beating down the doors complaining about the academic situation. Their students should be doing better.
It's not a knock on teachers. They do the best they can with what they're given. Especially the parental involvement passiveness and lack of board support.
Today's graduates are not ready for college. They can't write and they can't do math. They can't think. They think their opinion is fact.
The problem is that Marshall should be better than average. We are no worse that many districts - but we are not better, either.
There is no plan to make us excellent. In fact, we should be ashamed of our graduation rate.
Every point on the ACT above about 24 will bring a student about $2,000 in scholarships. Marshall is at 21, just above the state average.
We are better than some nearby districts, but that's being a big fish in a small, rural pond.
Marshall has been known as a "good" district. Crap.
Boards for many years have circled the wagons and kept things quiet. They think if no one knows the details all is well.
Good people have lied to us, thinking they were protecting us: Haley, Neidlinger(s), Hibler, etc.
Parents, your children are being told they have achieved (3.5 GPA), it means nothing. They're not ready.
Prove me I'm wrong. I dare you.
While Lakeview, Harper Creek, Pennfield, Gull Lake and now even BC Central have built new high schools or huge remodelling/additions, our MHS has become an embarrassment and the new little bond is only going to make a few cosmetic changes, nothing that will truly impact teaching and learning very much. Why can't Marshall pass the kind of bond we truly need? Maybe $20-$40 mil? Go visit Lakeview and Harper, you will see how pathetic MHS has become.
It is obvious that the bad leadership is holding us back. With leaders who have lost so much trust, support and respect they had to lower their expectations a lot as to what can be passed with Phillips in charge. To pass a bond they went all the way down to simply extending a small millage for a whopping 29 years. We need a "uniter" as our Superintendent, not a "divider." United we stand, divided we are falling behind!
Weak, shady and bad leadership are at the root of the problems in the Marshall schools. Look at what a pathetic job our school board has done this past year? I was not the biggest fan of Lyng and Ramon but in retrospect they were two of the best we had before they went off the board. They knew the staff, asked tough questions, and tried to hold Mrs. Phillips accountable. That is far more than the current board members have done! We desperately need a change in leadership and we need it sooner rather than later. That is our only hope to begin to turn things around. We cannot afford two more years of the same old same old.
You can talk about the new age buildings in Calhoun County and talk about how pathetic Marshall buildings are but buy a paper, better yet, talk to staffers at Marshall. You can have all the wonderful beautiful buildings and pay those higher school taxes but until you make the imperative changes in your leadership you will not be competitive in this area. The superintendent change as well as the obviously inexperienced finance director change must be made. The top leadership is sinking our 'educational ship' in Marshall. While they discuss the little bond, and the updating of bathroom and moving of offices THEY ARE CUTTING PROGRAMS AND TELLING YOU IT IS BECAUSE OF THE PENDING STATE AID CUTS. Get a calculator out and figure out what the good doctor just received for her annual raise based on 3% of $119,000. (? - no one can get a straight answer on what the board has actually given her) Stulberg can really dance around the subject without ever giving an answer. But - 3% is much more than any other employees have received in the past 5 years. I believe the top was 4 years ago at 2.75 (based on the state formula). If we are cutting programs for students - WHY HAS THE SUPERINTENDENT EVEN RECEIVED A SALARY INCREASE? Pretty soon we are going to need 'Wells Fargo' to come in and help her move her finances when she finally graces Marshall with her exit!
I heard a board member bragging how Mrs. Phillips has the MTA under her thumb. Apparently he thinks the Marshall teachers are soooooo weak that Phillips and the board can do whatever they want, and at least some teachers will still praise them, invite them to lunch and let them get away with disrespect and abuse of staff. Has the MTA gotten that weak? Why do the MHS teachers invite Phillips to lunch after she forced Behrenwald out and filed tenure charges on some guy that I heard is innocent and had the charges dropped, which were unrelated to the school anyway. Isn't Phillips after Mr. Hulkow too? Why wasn't the MHS track fixed last fall as Hulkow recommended?
Speaking of Behrenwald,let's take a look at the hiring process that's going on now at MHS....even though we have some fabulous internal candidates neither one will get the MHS principal job (Nessel or Vaught) because they both have backbones and Joyce can't control them. She will opt for an outside candidate that she may be able to snow into thinking she's a great gal. We know that won't last long unless they are another Dave Turner and have no brains to begin with.
Vaught did not apply because Joyce fixed the hiring committee with her own "plants" the last time a job was open at MHS. He was Behrenwald's choice for the job (along with the 1st hiring committee's choice)but she disregarded all input from other people, knowing that she could not control him and that it would create strong unity at that building. "Divide and conquer" is how Joyce keeps her power intact.
Speaking of hiring process, why were there no high school prinicpals, nor elementary principals on Paul Holbrook's interview team last year. Dave Turner said that he essentially hired the guy he wanted. I wonder if Hulkow is on the new principal's hiring committee...I already know the answer, but it does show how corrupt Joyce is.
Joyce wanted Holbrook hired because he is Mike Kinter's son-in-law, so it was most likely a very political situation. Paul is a nice guy but there were certainly much better candidates for the job.
Well both Turner and Holbrook are stooges for JKP and are essentially useless boobs. I work with both of them and I've heard parents make trememendous jokes about both of them. Barney and Gomer are people who exist in Mayberry, but also in Marshall! Holbrook continiously brings up Portland and how great they are...look up their "Great Schools" grade, is this one of the school districts that we want to emulate? Wake up board, you are being duped, oh yeah, you are in bed with the hoosier!
As a Marshall High School teacher I just want to say that Ron Behrenwald is the best Principal we ever had at MHS and he was the last person to deserve the horrible treatment he got from Joyce and our school board. We lost him because of Joyce and the board, end of story! This is a huge loss for the Marshall schools! Now we are losing Dan Luciani, an excellent MHS teacher, probably in large part due to JP and all the nasty problems. This entire mess is outrageous and I think us educational professionals need to make our voices heard louder. We have been way too nice for way too long!
Is the MHS Home Ec teacher Shelly Densmore? I was at the Marshall Public Schools web site that Joyce bragged about a while back and it is full of outdated announcements, newsletters, etc that go back many months. Is anyone paying attention in central office? Does Joyce, Amy, Brian or Charlie know the school's web address?
MHS home ec teacher is Shelly Densmore...I believe a college bud of Amy's. If you can trust her - you better not trust Jeremy Root.
I too work at the high school and have for many many years. I can tell you Ron Behrenwald has turned that building into a very well run educational establishment that is light years above the central office operation. The loss of him is huge. The calculated targeting by joyce phillips is still in motion. Rich Hulkow should have been on the administrative interview committee to find a new principal. Joyce did not allow this. Do you see anything wrong with this picture. Question: How many of the new employees have been hired outside of the 'equal opportunity employement rules?' OK - now how many have a direct tie with Amy Jones or Brian or better yet - a political placement to help the good doctor strengthen her position with the 'who's who in Marshall'? Are you seeing where we are at the top admin at Marshall yet? Frustration is at an all time high. Morale is so very much lower than it was a year ago when the surveys were mailed out. I am very happy for Dan Luciani - but in the English department as well as in the quality human being department - WE HAVE A GREAT LOSS ON OUR HANDS AT MHS...BEHRENWALD AND LUCIANI. Guess this will help us get back to excellence right joyce? This woman must go. Here existence at MPS while the best of the best (Behrenwald/Luciani) leave is a travesty! If we are going to keep talking about putting kids first - why are we allowing a board to dole out 3% salary increases for joyce while she cuts programs. How long has Marshall Singers been a part of the Marshall School system? Why would joyce want to cut into the fine arts programs? How can she do this with a straight face while she goes to the bank with her new inflated salary? BOARD - GET IT TOGETHER - YOU WERE ELECTED TO GOVERN OVER HER NOT DALLY WITH HER!
The board will not take anything seriously from the MTA/Marshall Teachers. They have proven their hostility again and again. Only a public campaign of negative publicity and/or a recall may lead to changes. All other civil avenues have failed and have been exhausted by dozens of excellent people who care about the Marshall schools.
There is a clique of "hidden agenda" people running the Marshall schools for their own power-trip, revenge, self-interests, and other harmful reasons. This has been well-known for some years. They are doing great damage to the Marshall schools and they feel that no one is willing to do very much to stop them.
From what I am hearing around town that is what many believe. So many decisions and actions make little to no sense. The school board (most, not all) have become very isolated from the staff. I can't believe how so many people are so upset at how things are being run but there has not been more public outcry. Maybe everyone is just posting on this web site and not doing much else.
There is so little excitement and enthusiasm in Marshall now due to the numerous problems with the schools and previously with the city. How can a town with so many intelligent and wonderful people be so poorly lead on some levels? Why can a select few dictate there will against the interests of the kids?
Chris Wigent leaving the CISD will be a big blow. Too bad we could not have gotten someone of this caliber to be Marshall's Superintendent years ago.
We could sure use a good Superintendent in the Marshall schools, especially someone as good as Chris Wigent. In my opinion Lou was so so and his predecessors have steadily gone downhill. Phillips is a bottom-of-the-barrel Superintendent who needs to be replaced for the good of the Marshall schools. Her forcing out the far-superior MHS Principal Ron Behrenwald was the last straw for me. I am so angry I would vote for a recall tomorrow for any board supporters of Phillips.
I heard that Dan Luciani left if large part due to the problems with Phillips, etc. Why stay and give 110% when you, your staff and your Principal are treated like crap by your own Superintendent! I another big loss for MHS and a decline of "excellence" caused, at least in part, by Phillips!
Is this what philly meant when she wrote: Leadership is about Change...because I have not seen ONE change that has been for the good of this community, this school or anyone interested in Kid's First.
What was with Phillips walking out at the Prayer Breakfast while the MHS choirs performed...standing in the kitchen doorway talking...then returning when the students finished singing? I thought this was very inappropriate and offensive action from someone who speaks so often of excellence and putting kids first. Students reading this - let me know if this was in fact what happened?
Phillips likely did this to show gross disrespect to the MHS choir and their teacher. Any surprises their? I am glad she did something so public, usually she is sneakier about her bad behavior that targets MPS staff and students. I guess since everyone knows how terrible she is now (thanks in part to this blog), she doesn't care anymore.
How absurd! Instead of taking a phone call at her seat, she quietly got up and answered the call. So she would not be disruptive, she stood and waited for the choir to finish and then took her seat. "We" are really looking hard to make her look bad. Does anyone really believe she would exit when the choir started and come back when they finished? Another lack-of-thought comment on this website.
As the parent of two MHS students I am very concerned about the hiring process for a new MHS Principal.
Has any decision been made about who will be on this committee? I think Mr. Hulkow should be one of the main decision makers. A few veteran teachers and maybe John Coulter if he is available would make an excellent team. We definately need someone at least as good as Mr. Behrenwald whcih will not be easy. We need a strong leader who would not be afraid to stand up to Phillips when she is wrong or nutty, which is most of the time. Too much damage has already been done to MHS. We cannot afford a Phillips' lackey at MHS to cause further harm.
To two above, why would Phillips take a phone call in the middle of an MHS Choir performance? She is not a surgeon! She could have easily waited a few minutes. Was it Metcalf wanting more time off to Safari in Africa or take classes? Was it more "international opportunities" calling?
She was probably planning lunch with Janice. ;-)
When I attend a public performance event, such as a prayer breakfast or concert, I turn my cell phone off. I don't find the explanation that she left to "take a phone call" any more acceptable than just leaving.
Phillips has been rude, cold, mean and arrogant ever since she arrived three years ago. She must have really conned Janice Darling and the board when she interviewed.
I agree on the temperature, but silly gripes are what give them fuel for their argument that it's just a group of malcontents who are bitching.
The "malcontents" are aboout 99% of the MPS staff, at least 90% of parents I have talked to, and at least 90% of business and community leaders I have talked to who follow the schools. The other 10% for the most part are neutral as they are not for sure what is going on.
It appears, again, that Joyce's favorites get preferential treatment...the director of technology just got another raise...the two people who actually do all the work got nothing.
Now Joyce and Amy are pushing to fire the janitors and other support staff and "contract out" their jobs to save money. First that will do great harm to many loyal employees and their families who are already way underpaid to begin with. And second, when Lakeview did this building thefts went way up and are an ongoing problem. In many school districts ex-cons, sex offenders and illegal aliens have been hired by these low-paid contract businesses. Expect high turnover and "who knows who" working in our buildings and with our children. All to save a little money! I know Joyce and Amy would love to fire more dedicated employees, but is this overall a good plan for the Marshall schools? Why are good emplyees fired to save money when bad employees (Joyce, Amy, Brian, etc) are rewarded with big pay and perks?
As a lame duck, you can bet that Joyce has many evil plots up her sleaves. Expect a steady stream of bad news for the next two years. The only hope is if the "pro-Kids" majority can somehow convince the school board to remove her before she does too much more damage to the once "excellent" Marshall Public Schools!
It seems that we should start the recall process now and find some caring individuals that would be willing to step in knowing that they would actually have a voice when the rubber stamp committee is removed.
Sure seems that there are a lot of paper tigers in Marshall. All talk, no action. The only ones producing action are the top three.
It would need a very well-organized effort to carry out the recall AND find at least 4 good candidates to run. Since no one ran against Vic and Janice, it seems nobody wants the headaches. Maybe if they knew they would be part of a "pro-kids" majoity that can do a lot of good they may reconsider.
I think the Marshall residents have "battle fatigue" from years of problems and fighting in the schools. But a well-planned recall effort would likely succeed!
There have been growing efforts putting pressure through various legal and civil means on the board to get rid of Phillips. These efforts, including this blog, have continued and have gotten stronger. No one wanted to run for the school board because they knew one or two votes coould not change anything, ask Bob and Sam. The mess we are in now was created by Vic, Janice, Paul, etc and needs to be fixed by them! Or there needs to be a clean sweep of at least four board members to force change. They have turned somewhat on JP publicly and their support is much softer now than it was a year ago. At the same time many things continue to go badly (losing Behrenwald, could only pass a small bond, staff morale in decline, ongoing awful PR, etc etc) that strong pressure continues. Keep up the calls, letters, postings, educating of community members, etc to keep pressuring for positive changes in the Marshall schools!
One board member told me in confidence that he wished the b***ch would retire this summer! Guess who he was referring to?
I am sure the board would be happy to see Joyce Phillips move back to Indiana and retire this summer. I am not sure how old Phillips is but she looks to be pushing 70, well past normal Superintendent retirement age. It seems her main motive in staying is to get two more years so she can get a second Michigan retirement. I have no illusions that she cares anything about the Marshall schools or the Marshall citizens. If she did she would resign now.
To anonymous above:
Would that be one of the same board members that just voted a raise and decided to put my job on the chopping block to fund their raises?
Mrs. Phillips is either 60 or 61. She was a finalist for a job in the Grand Rapids area in the fall of 2003 and her age was given then as 57.
She cannot retire from Michigan without five years of service. The universal years the board are buying her do not count for those five; they only serve to help increase the amount of her pension when she gets it. She needs five years, in Michigan, to get the insurance benefits as well. She has three down and two to go. I don't see her "retiring" before she get those last two years in.
If you call a board member of the proposal to outsource our custodians of which 15 of the 20 own homes in Marshall School district - don't settle for the 'nothing has been decided'. Keep on with the questions. There are many answers lacking. One answer I would like to have is how 20 local school employee jobs being lost will affect this small community. If they shop here, eat here, bank here, own homes here, and lose their jobs here to people from Kalamazoo....how will this keep our system sound? A sound school system must have a foundation of citizens with sound income. If I were one of those local people being outsourced with school age children I would immediately take them out of MPS and enter them into any outlying school district through School of Choice. If you choose to not employ the local parents - why would these parent/employees choose to help this district out with state aid dollars per pupil. I heard in just the custodial unit of 20 there are currently 9 children in those families attending MPS. This is $63,765 just for the 2006-2007 school year. I also heard there are 3 school of choice students currently attending MPS just within the custodial group of 20. This is another $21,266 just for the 2006-2007 school year. Another fact, I understand combined years of service for these 20 is 186.25 years. Your private company will have 0 years experience in these buildings. Our 20 custodians are working with teachers and administrator to keep the main thing the main thing and put kids first. Is our top 3 administrators doing as much as our custodians?
The real purpose to to make revenge on the custodians and cause them and their families great har, Yes, they may be punished for being hardworking loyal employees and citizens. The lousy leaders in charge are from Indiana, Olivet, Coldwater and Tekonsha. These bad leaders have wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars. Now they must make this up at the expense of good employees, the kids, the teachers and the Marshall community. What else would you expect from such an evil administration?
What is next, The secretarial positions, the food service positions or maybe the bus drivers?
I realize that the board only said that the custodial staff but in (joyce)reality where will the ax stop? These are all positions that have potential for privitization if only for the fact that there will be more money for wage increases! So lets think alittle and wonder where will this leadership take us and do we want to follow?
I do not!
Those who have followed this web site or work for the Marshall schools are never surprised at all of the bad, stupid and mean things that are done by the top MPS leaders. That has become the norm and our school board encourages and supports these actions. I guess we get what we deserve since no one ran against Vic and Janice, two of the worst! I hear much talk about a recall but I doubt anyone will organize one any time soon.
I hate to read this web site because of all the negative news and bad things on it. Of course I am referring to the actions of Joyce Phillips, Amy Jones, Brian Metcalf and our school board! They engage in so many bad, stupid, arrogant and mean actions that it is driving up my blood pressure! How can they live with themselves after forcing poor Mr. Behrenwald out (the best MPS Principal!), targeting the poor janitors, causing great harm to good employees and their families, launching a war on the staff and lying to cover up waste, fraud and corruption at the top? Joyce Phillips is a dishonest, mean, arrogant and failed leader who should have been fired by now, what are they waiting for?
Try working for them, you would be shocked at how they are ruining the Marshall schools each day! What a bunch of lazy, wining and incompetent morons! If you think this is harsh, I am actually being nice towards them. They are much worse!
But Jpyce sounds so nice and witty in her "Leadership" articles? Could it be these are not true? ;-)
Oops it is "Joyce" of course, or as many know her as the "Good doctor." I asked a fellow parent where the name the "good doctor" came from? They replied that most people who insist on being called "doctor" are medical doctors and in many movies a caring medical doctor is called the "good doctor." Since Joyce is neither caring or "good," nor a medical doctor, this has become a sarcastic nickname for her in the Marshall schools.
Joyce insists on being called "Dr. Phillips" which would imply that she is highly knowledgeable and competenent. It is a fact she does not have the experience for the job, for example she has never been a Principal. Since she has also proven herself incompetent, a poor leader, mean and foolish time and again; staff and parents do not feel she deserves the respect she has not earned. I guess Joyce has earned her sarcastic title as the "good doctor"! Brian Metcalf, oops Dr. Metcalf (thanks to our giving him paid time on the job all of last year to get his PhD AND we paid for all of his tuition) is just as bad. The two are referred to as the "good doctors."
How can anyone who cares about people sit at a Board Workshop while talk of axing 20+ local school employees in the custodial unit - wondering how these families job loss will affect this small community and SMILE WHILE THE BOARD GIVES HER A 3% SALARY INCREASE WITH MULTITUDES OF PERKS? For joyce to sit and take her salary increase while encouraging the board to chop local family incomes should tell everyone exactly what is going on at the top of MPS. I am in total agreement with Shelly Sulser when she talks of the savings if we outsourced the supt, asst supt, and finance director. One added note: If we do not bus children to school during the summer - what exactly does Mike Walbeck do all summer. ANSWER: He stops into Amy Jones office each morning expressing how much work he has to do...then leaves the district and goes home to Tekonsha. If you don't believe me....ask some Marshall City Employees. They laugh at the school for their waste! Those guys know what a piece of work Walbeck is. Now - ask Walbeck how often he slanders Vic Potter to his employees at the bus garage. The latest: (we will quote here - 3 weeks ago) "I told Vic to shut up, each time he opens his mouth he proves how stupid he is". That is a quote...almost word for word! Do you get a picture of how things are working for your tax dollar at the top of Marshall Admin?
A mutual friend is a good friend of Amy and says that she ridicules Vic and other board members all the time. She also has joked about Metcalf doing nothing and how Phillips is clueless about the "leadership" she keeps writing (or finding) articles about all the time. There is no real love between Jones, Metcalf, Walbeck, Phillips, Potter and the rest of the board. It is more a marriage of convenience.
Has anyone asked to take away all those school issued Nextel phones that are being used for personal but paid for by the district? How about cutting some of the workshops? During other years of cuts that was one of the first chopping block items? Besides the waste of taxpayer salary money in sending administrators out of the district. Perhaps - joyce would consider spending some of her time (that we pay for) to drive to lansing and apply some pressure towards school funding. I would rather see my tax dollar spent that way than to hear about her having time to roam buildings each day, try to make employees speak to her - while she is chopping their livlihoods, or how about her little 'rumor control emails'. Gotta say - Lou was in Lansing and knew that gossip and rumor is part of life. He was not out there trying to control the employee thought processes! There is a tremendous waste of money at the top. You can believe the few elite that support joyce - that she is fixing everything broken....WHATEVER! I have never in my 25 years seen one person cause so much harm to so many people. Even students ridicule her. They are aware of the harm to their programs that she is causing - while she bags up more money for herself. What are we teaching our next generation. These are the next wave of citizens that will be running this town - and hopefully - caring for us...while we are aging. I am very frightened what Marshall will be like if we allow this type of unethical practice to infiltrate this community. I have an inheritance coming. Would someone let me know the dollar amount needed to buy this supt. out now? I am serious here...as I know there are a couple others that would make substantial contributions.
Until Marshall citizens start going public (this Blog is a good first step), nothing will happen. Some have already like John Bedient and Mike Rio, but we need more citizens who care to write letters to the editor, speak up at school board meetings and help lead efforts to start solving the many unresolved problems that plague the Marshall schools.
Dealing with the school board has been like talking to a rock. They will tell you what you want to hear and then do the opposite. I heard all fall how they were "very concerned" about Phillips, were upset with her dishonesty and were "working on it." Well they did work on it, extending Phillips for as long as she wants with a big pay raise!
Could a recall remove at least four board members? Who may be willing to run if they knew they would be on a majority that could accomplish many great things? Could they hold Phillips accountable and maybe fire her?
A reall would be easy of Vic, Paul, Dan, Janice and Ali. I would leave Chris and John alone. Then there would need to be five good and honest citizens willing to run that would "clean house" of the mess in central office. The latter is the harder part.
Re: "Until Marshall citizens start going public"...from above.
As usual, the malcontents want the public to do your dirty work for you...if you have a problem with JP and her cohorts, then make an effort yourselves to deal with it or quit complaining. Don't recall seeing any of you at the Board meetings asking questions, because I'm sure they would be more than happy to hear from you in person. In the future lets substitute the line above with, "Until Marshall teachers start going public".
You are right, until the teachers take a stronger public stand, there is not much anyone else can do. The teachers got off to a good start last fall with the surveys. Then the MTA and Tom Duffey started caving after the lawsuit threats started from Phillips. Several board members put up a front that they "cared" and were "concerned" and would be "doing something." Well Phillips got exactly what she wanted, Behrenwald was forced out, and many other bad things occured with full board support and encouragement. If the MTA and support staff are not going to do much but let the board and Phillips abuse, humiliate and walk all over them, then so be it!
The Marshall schools are not a dicatatorship, no matter what Phillips believes! It would not take much to force her out and turn things around. Her power is that of a paper tiger. She has lost all support, respect and trust in Marshall! She only has raw authoritarian power left that can be removed any day by the school board. Keep up the pressure!
I have re-read the harrassment policy. With everything that she has done in the past two weeks I suggest a couple attorneys from out of town, Kalamazoo has a really good labor lawyer, and let's start slamming her with the harrassement through an outside attorney. You all know of someone that has been harrassed by joyce or amy. If an attorney can be shared and a class action suit filed on behalf of anyone interested...I believe we would have a start. I know I have been harrassed as recently as the past 12 days. Please respond.
Help me understand how we get from bad management to harassment. Can anyone elaborate?
If Mr. Foreman is not restored, wait and see his big upcoming lawsuit!
There may be several lawsuits in the coming months or years related to this Superintendent and school board. The outlook is not good and keeps getting worse.
Do you not understand the targeting of union leadership position people that is going on and has been for the past 10 months. Actually - since the survey was delivered. She has actually reaffirmed why 151 of 252 sent out returned those surveys. jp is very sneaky yet smart. She is currently trying to downsize anyones schedule that she thinks may have been involved. She has zero respect for people or positions.
If the school board keep supporting and tolerating (encouraging?) Phillips bad behavior, then we will need a new school board! I would target Beardslee, Webb, Varvatos, Stulberg, Potter and Darling. Their power trip has gotten way out of hand! They say they are doing what is best for the Marshall schools and then do the opposite in secret. I am tired of their lies and excuses! I only trust John Coulter. Chris, Dan and Ali put on a good front but have not done anything good when it comes time to vote or make public comments.
I know Chris is very intelligent but can not remember anything he has taken a stand for since he was elected. Have I missed something? John seems to be the only member that wants to Put Kids First so I am sure he is feeling alot like Bob and Sam did at this point.
Chris is a great guy but so far he has not been the leader we need and expect out of him. Dan knows what is right but so far has not mustered the courage to do the right thing. Paul should know better but aspires to higher office and does not want to lose the financial support of Joyce's wealthy friends. Janice and Vic are simply smitten with JP and on their own little power trips. Ali, what does she do but PR stuff! We expect much more from Ali too! John is a great guy, we need more of him on the board.
I believe Ali is actually starting to listen...she is also shocked by things she has heard recently. It may be the same scenario as Bob and Sam.....she and John are starting to get the cold shoulder from Joyce and the rest of the board. Let's keep supporting people who may be starting to see the light.
I hope that is true! I also keep hoping that Stulberg and Varvatos come around against Phillips. There is no logical or good reason (if you truly care about the schools) to keep supporting Phillips! Beardslee must be up to something, because there is no excuse for his unquestioning support of Phillips this past year. Potter and Darling are considered lost causes.
Nobody ran against Darling and Potter... Marshall gets what they deserve!
The topic of 'no one running against' darling and potter is not construed as any kind of victor or stamp of approval for them. It should be viewed as "who would want to sacrifice their personal lives by getting involved with the school board during such a tremendous mess".
If MPS employees could run there would be enough people to fill 3 boards!
Amen to that. And it is the employees that truly know what joyce is doing to OUR SCHOOL SYSTEM. Once you become a retiree and hear all the current issues - who would want to interrupt that new founded lifestyle. I pray for change for MPS. I personally know this change will not happen until the board removes joyce.
The patience of the people of Marshall has been stretched to its outlimits by Joyce Phillips. If she is not fired or resigns by fall, we are in for a very bad school year next year.
The Marshall School Board does not care how much Joyce Phillips lies about, well, everything! They do not care how many times she has been caught lying, covering things up, or just being awful in general. They know this, they know it very well! They well tell you how bad she is but they feel that they don't really care or can't do anything about it. Is this leadership? No, that is the problem. We have a school board that have proven themselves inept. Or worse, they know how bad it is and support it for some other reasons.
Until there is a new school board nothing good will get accomplished. This board has failed us time and time again.
Is it time for an information picket, a story with the local channel 3 or 8 news, or an open public informational meeting? I am desperate to see something positive happen before the new school year. Is it that hard to get rid of Phillips or is her price tag just too high?
Possibly jars around town asking for donations to buy her out? Maybe then the school board will do more than pretend to listen to these hundreds of concerns.
I hear it takes about $8000.00 to start a recall....maybe we could start a collection to get that going. I know I would be happy to contribute!
Whoever gets the recall snowball started will see it turn into an avalanche in no time at all.
The school board keeps failing us time and time again. There actions speak much louder than their words. I no longer believe their excuses, as they show again and again their bad intentions and their unquestioning support for bad leaders, while harrassing the good leaders. I hope they are enjoying their power trip. Every day they do great damage to a once fine school district.
It will likely be along hot summer for the Marshall school Board and the Marshall schools. Expect Joyce Phillips to be at her worst now that the bond vote is over and she seeks revenge, which has already begun! Is it true the choir teacher at MHS is being punished for her involvement in MTA union work by making her go teach part of her day at the alternative school? If so, that would be a new low by JP! Can she get any meaner and nastier? I bet she can and will now that she has all of the years she wants to stay approved and no accountability by the Marshall School Board!
To the above poster, I agree with most of what you say, but having been a substitute teacher at both the alternative and the middle school, several times at each. I think that it would be more of a punishment to work at the middle school. Mr. Vogt is a much better administrator than the 2 clowns running the middle school and the kids are at about the same level.
JPs actions are clearly meant to send a message. It was done with meanness and vengeance in her dark heart. Expect much worse to come!
Carol Eberhard was suddenly transferred to Hughes from the Middle school, and Turner didn't even let her know before hand except to track her down in a lab and say, "Your moving." That's it...no communication at all. Carol only has two years until retirement and would need to do all new lessons....Carol is also the MTA secretary. Divide and conquer is Joyce's mantra.
It is a violation of federal labor law to retaliate against people for their union activities. The problem is that it is very hard to prove. But the MTA needs to keep detailed written documentation of all of these types of activities. If there is any way hint of evidence that any of this was done for other than needed educational reasons, a complaint should be filed with the NLRB. I am a teacher in another district. A number of our teachers were moved to different levels, and they were not happy about it. But it was all done in order to prevent any layoffs. And, all of the people involved in the re-assignments were told ahead of time and the reasons clearly explained to them. That is the way quality administrators handle something like this. Times are tough financially right now in Michigan, and part of that means reassignment. But they better have a very good educational justification for moving a union officer over a newer teacher.
Joyce is very devious....I'm sure she will come up with a justifiable reason to move Carol. They are not hiring another teacher to replace her. Class size soars and school of choice is a joke for Marshall. There is another union employee that they are targeting at the High School. She is becoming upset and like a couple other employees recently is thinking about leaving. This is just what JP wants! 1st Behrenwald...now, I hear she's making Vaught's life miserable even though his alternative program is a diamond in the districts tarnished crown.
Jpoyce, Paul, Janice and Victor will likely wait until July to start doing even worse deeds. They postponed the custodian firing sfrom June due to strong publicity of the issue. They will try to be sneaky and pull it off in July or August unless the other board members can stop them. The MTA needs to pull together and maybe do another survey. Of course JP and her supporters will ignore it again but I know it would be much worse and it can get big publicity. The staff should also give honest evaluations of Amy, Charlie and Brian and publicise those findings too. Honest reviews will expose publicly the well-known bad performance of this group. Unio leaders will be targeted either way, we all know it is going on.
I have heard that Amy now under budgeted her big push for the HSA/HRA insurance by 24%. Is it true that these employees (non union) now have to start paying for their Health Savings Account insurance coverage due to her 'under budgeting'? What if the RFP for firing our custodians and putting private companies in place is just 'another mistake' and we have let all these local lives be affected? I think it is time for some experience in the Operations/Finance Office. Perhaps this district needs someone that has worked for more than approx. 9 year and has been around the finance world. Maybe we need some fresh ideas instead of the 'no brainers' like cut the lowest paid people so we don't have to pay for their retirements. How do we justify not wanting to pay custodian retirements when we are, I have heard, sending Michigan Marshall money to buy years of service for Joyce to the State of Oklahoma? Shouldn't this alarm someone. I know alot of people think we are buying her years here in Michigan. Can someone tell me if it is true we are sending money to another state to add to her pension. This money should be staying here in MI. Please let me know facts about this
MHS teacher Jody Foreman has won on two counts at the tenure board. The same false charges the courts through out before a pretrial have been ruled, $300,000 later, in Mr. Foreman's favor. For all of the false charges and dishonest tactics that were used against him, he deserves to be reinstated immediately. As the highly publicised false charges fell apart, a former assistant tennis coach who is the relative of a school board member came out of the woodwork and claimed that 5 years previous she had lunch with Mr. Foreman and Mr. Crandall while attending a tennis clinic and that she claims Mr. Foreman bought her a beer just shy of her 21st birthday. Mr. Foreman has denied this and Mr. Crandall said he does not remember anything like that. So this minor unproveable 5 year old charge by a relative of the board president is all that they got to fire Mr. Foreman. Would they do something as evil as use this likely false piece of old information to fire an excellent MHS teacher and father of four Marshall students? The the school board members are honest and decent people they will restore Mr. Foreman, who has suffered immensely and has been exonerated twice on the charges reported by Phillips two years ago. Phillips is expected to push for firing, as there is no expectation of anything good, fair or honest from her. The Marshall school board have been extremely lenient and tolerant of all the bad things and mistakes that have been made by Phillips, Metcalf and Jones. For Mr. Foreman and his four longsuffering children, will the Marshall school board do the right thing and restore him or will they push hard to hurt him and his family even worse?
Please contact school board members to have Mr. Foreman restored ASAP! If Mr. Foreman is restored it will be a very positive step by the school board to put this whole ugly episode behind us all.
If the tenure board ruled in Mr. Foreman's favor, how can the board do anything but restore him? Were there more than two counts against him? Did the tenure board rule in the district's favor on some of the charges? I am somewhat confused, because my understanding of the tenure law is that if the tenure board rules in the teacher's favor, (which is rare) then the teacher is automatically restored to their position. But then maybe I don't totally understand the law. At any rate, the money spent to persecute Mr. Foreman is more than would be saved by privatizing the custodial staff.
I heard from a friend of Foreman's that there were three charges. Two were related to the well-known false charges that the court throughout last year. Despite a judge who is known for ruling against teachers and much stricter laws making it harder for teachers to defend themselves from false charges, the judge ruled in Mr. Foreman's favor on these two main charges. He should be restored since this was the main issue.
In a bizzarre twist, a third charge was filed when a former assistant tennis coach named Meagan Wolf said that Foreman had bought her a beer while attending a tennis clinic five years previous when she was 20. Bob Crandall was there and had no knowledge of this happening. Foreman denies it but said he had problems with her performance as a tennis coach and that they had had a falling out. Why was this not reported for five years if it was true? Why did the board and Phillips pull this out at the last minute and throw it in as if it were fact? Meagans relationship to a board member is another suspicious situation. I guess the tenure judge let this one minor charge stand despite no evidence other than Meagans five year old out of the blue claim. I am sure Phillips will try to use this lame and most likely false charge to try to fire Foreman. She has been dishonest about this case all along and I hope the board does not support her efforts. If the board member who is Meagans relative sides with Foreman, it will do a lot to improve board-staff relations. If not, it will be seen as another ploy to hurt a a great teacher for no valid reason. When I had Foreman he was one of the finest MHS teachers! I hope we get him back, it has been a big loss since he has been gone.
I got the same e-mail update. The Jody Foreman case has had many twists and turns during the past two years. I know his family well, his kids play with my kids on occasion. This case got me involved in following the schools much closer and the more I learned about Superintendent Phillips the angrier I got. I also now follow this blog where I learned about the targeting of Mr. Behrenwald too. I am very confident that Jody Foreman is innocent and deserves to be reinstated to his teaching position. I am very angry that hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent on an investigation that should have been dropped when the courts dropped the charges. Digging up some old shady charges by someone with an axe to grind and a connection to a strong Phillips supporter looks like a scandal in the making. I urge the school board to drop this nonsense now and allow Jody Foreman to return to the job he loves and knows so well. He has suffered enough already! If he is not returned, I think the Marshall schools will have a big lawsuit on their hands.
I know well the nightmare that the Foreman family have been through. Jody Foreman has suffered enormously, it is time for the Marshall School Board to admit that it has no solid case against Mr. Foreman and that the main charges against him have now been ruled in his favor twice.
To bad Mike Rio couldnt get to megan like the rest. Jody may have won everything. Cant he appeal? If so maybe he can win all.
The comments under the thread "Election Results are Final" about the Foreman case are quite interesting. A year ago at least one of the building principals, who is a Phillips supporter, supposedly said something to the effect that the only people who were upset with the superintendent were Foreman supporters, but that now (this was last summer he said this) they knew the truth about Jody, all the opposition had died down. This has been the "partyline" from the very beginning of this blog: most people are not really unhappy with the administration or the superintendent, only Foreman supporters.
The facts seem to indicate that perhaps the Foreman situation was the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak: it got people at least speaking out on this forum.
It also seems to reveal an awful lot of the character of the superintendent. The reason this case has dragged on for so long is because it appears that it has become a personal crusade for her. Even if someone believed the original charges, that Mr. Foreman had some former students, (over the age of 18, but under 21; who were graduates) at his apartment, where alcohol was consumed, why was the superintendent so involved in the investigation? Why was she present at all the court hearings? Why did she push so hard for prosecution? Why did she not just sit back and wait to see how the case worked out in the courts. In most situations similar to this, I think that the school would try to remove itself from the criminal investigation, and take a wait and see approach.
But it appears to me that once she heard the original charge, she assumed the worst. She decided that this popular teacher needed to be gone based on these charges. Once she decided that she was going to fire Mr. Foreman, nothing would alter her conviction, not questions about the character of the original accuser (who may have been angry at Mr. Foreman for some reason); not the prosecutor dropping the charges for lack of sufficient evidence; not the pleas of many members of the community and former students who spoke on Mr. Foreman's behalf. She would not back down; she would not consider any other course of action except firing Mr. Foreman. Rumor has it that she has even said that if the tenure commission ruled in his favor, she would appeal all the way to the supreme court.
Doesn't this strike you as very bizarre? The district has probably spent over $300,000 so far on this case in legal fees and substitute teacher cost. There are other ways this situation could have been handled that would have been less expensive and less divisive for the community.
If she continues to try and finalize the firing on the basis of a "he said-she said" story about him buying a beer, at a lunch at a conference, for someone who was 20, but not yet 21, five years ago, is that rationale? It has become a personal vendetta for her, and that tells me that that lady is mentally unbalanced. And that is the type of person Marshall wants in charge of its school system?
Update: Phillips is not stupid. She is stepping back of the action of targeting and harrassing employees while putting her cronies on the front line as to take the lime light of her bad behavior off her and to enable her incompetent underlings prove their loyalty. Everyone should be watching the budget for certain people to see pay increases without any credible reason for them. I most enjoyed the $8,000 for Charlie MacDonald. Charlie knows where he came from, he knows he was well liked by his peers, I am wondering now - why does Charlie walk around not making eye contact, not talking to people, just looking at the floor. Charlie knows!!!! Too bad for the tech department people that really do know what they are doing and are really doing an awesome job. Cathie and Don are incredible, knowledgable individuals. Too bad Charlie got their raises!
Every time I think the Marshall school leaders have hit a new low in bad management, they seem to find a way to go even lower. It is definately time for a change of leadership, our schools are at risk.
Expect things to get worse this summer. Thats all I expect anymore.
I hope the school board summons the courage to do the right thing. I hope they have learned from their mistakes of the past year. Right now they are our only hope! hope we are not all let down again.
Someone needs to look into how much Jones, and Metcalf salaries have escalated in the past 3 years. Loyalty does have it's cost! (to us the taxpayers) But the recipients of these hidden pay increases are enjoying the wealth. Didn't Jones hire in around $60,000 5 years ago. How did she get to $94,000. Better question: How does Marshall find the money to pay Jones $94,000, Metcalf $95,000, Phillips with perks way over $120,000. And did you see what Turner makes?
Someone also needs to question this at a board meeting. But I don't know if that is even possible. Isn't there some sort of policy that during public comment you can only comment on items on the agenda? The budget was adopted at the last meeting. That is when someone needed to question those salaries. If someone tries to bring it up at the next board meeting, they will probably be ruled out of order. They seem to know how to cover all their bases.
Possibly this is where you could write to a board member (John or Ali)and ask for salary costs or time studies to be placed on the agenda.
The Marshall School Board has been sending mixed messages to the community for months. They are well-aware of all the problems but have not really done anything about them. What gives?
If only the community really knew what this woman is doing and is capable of...unfortunately joycey seems to exhibit a split personality. At times during board meetings she appears to be a pit bull fighting to get something her way (ie the outsourcing of custodians). But - if you haven't witnessed it yet - when the right influential or new adminstator is around she is the 'picture of southern charm'. This my friends is what has happened...she knows when to use which personality. My question: Why can't the board demote her. At this time no one knows how many employees she is attacking or having her little loyalists attack for her. I for one can say - this district is in my opinion going to continue to plummet until it is officially the bottom district in Calhoun County! Pressure the board. It is our only hope. Demote philly now!
Hey leave Dr. J alone! I am looking to buy a house in Marshall. Thanks in large part to her damaging the Marshall schools so much, house prices in Marshall are in a big decline. Thanks Joyce!
What a sad state the Marshall schools are in, and by default the community, suffering under the bad leadership that has emerged victorious at the expense of our kids.
I am hearing that Mr. Foreman has been cleared yet again of the false criminal charges that Joyce Phillips has been pushing since last year. I have also heard that the Marshall schools under pressure from Joyce and her lawyer are engaging in a very expensive appeal of these same false charges in an extreme attempt to keep Mr. Foreman from justly returning to his teaching job. Now if he is cleared from Asst. tennis coach Megan Wolf's highly suspicious 5 year old charge from way back in 2001 (no mention of it until last summer when the cmrinal charges fell apart), that he supposedly bought her two beers at a lunch while attending a tennis clinic (she was just shy of 21 then), then he can return to teaching. JP and the school board have done everything they can think of to make Mr. Foreman's life hell. They never once made any attempt to conduct a fair and honest investigation. Joyce blocked key evidence form the school board also. There is very strong evidence of a lot fo wrongdoing by Joyce and the Marshall schools. I can't wait to see how big this lawsuit will be! How much lower can Joyce go?
The Foreman case is another example of mismanagement by Joyce Phillips. After she messed up the initial investigation (she made no attempt tp find the facts, just to persecute Mr. Foreman), she then moved to cover it all up. The Marshall School Board were never given all of the facts and much of the information they were given was known to be false. This entire mess should have been resolved last summer, but due to dirty politics and a "witch hunt" mentality, Mr. Foreman has had to pay a big price as a victim of Phillips' abuse. Unless the Marshall School Board is wise enough to quit believing Phillips and to resolve this case justly, there will be a big lawsuit coming up and their is a mountain of "dirt" that can come out about those involved in the case against Mr. Foreman.
I am so angry at the harm that has befallen the Foreman family in Joyce's zealous quest to hurt them. If the charges had any merit then the prosecuter would have pursued them. The school board should have reinstated Mr. Foreman last summer, but Joyce wanted to make an example out of him to scare other teachers. They also claim their lawyer told them they had no choice, the same lawyer of course is making about $200,000 in legal fees off of them on this case!
If justice does not prevail, meaning Mr. Foreman does not get his job back, there will be a huge backlash against the schools- even bigger than last year! Watching this family suffer this past year, nearly costing a life, has made so many very upset. There is no reasonable or logical reason for this extreme treatment. The school board voted last summer to allow a teacher with a felony conviction to keep teaching- A CONVICTION! They have done nothing about the lies, scandals and wrongdoing that has plagued the Phillips administration. Any good board would have fired her! Why take such extreme action against Mr. Foreman? Clearly to cover up how it was all mishandled in the first place. Now there are reports that the late added charges by Megan Wolf are part of some plot by a school board member so they could pursue tenure charges last summer. It gets worse as more and more comes out!
Our prayers and thoughts are with the Foreman family, especially little Ashley (11), Ally (8), Holly (6) and Adam (4). I hope they do not lose their house, they nearly lost their dad due to the unjust actions of Joyce Phillips and the Marshall School Board!
If there had been a strong case against Mr. Foreman he would have been gone last year. There is a strong case against Mrs. Phillips and she got a big raise and contract extension for bad performance and dishonesty. Why is that? Is this what is known as corruption?
The doublestandards and hypocrasy is what makes everyone get so angry at teh school board. Joyce Phillips and her loyalists can do all kinds of wrong adn nothing ever happens, it is not even discussed! But if even something small comes up, true or not, against someone else- look out!
The school board has taken massive heat from the staff and community this year for their poor performance, double standards and loyalty to Joyce Phillips. Ali and John have admitted publicly that they have nearly resigned several times, and John said he will not run again. All of their reputations have been in a freefall for their support of Joyce Phillips against everyone else.
The superintendent and the other top leaders are no longer trusted or respected. They have lost nearly 100 percent of the support of the community and staff. Phillips is a dangerous lame duck seeking revenge, and a second Michigan retirement, before she goes into exile in Indiana. She needs to be stopped before she causes more harm or gets her undeserved second Michigan retirement. If she is forced out that would be win-win-win for the Marshall schools, the Marshall community and the Michigan taxpayers!
I have been following this blog for a few months now and I have been shocked at all of the problems I have learned about the Marshall schools. I have asked questions to teachers and others I know in the schools and they have confirmed that most of the information on this blog is quite accurate. What a mess! Why hasn't the school board taken action to remove Dr. Phillips?
Good question!
Marshall gets what they deserve! Nobody ran against the incumbent school board members. There is no recall. They have carte blanche to wreak as much havoc as they want on the schools and nobody cares enough to do anything serious about it. I live in a neighboring community that would never tolerate such a bad school board and a bad superintendent. Oh how Marshall has declined!
To the above post; I have to agree with you. I cannot quite figure this town out. I know that there have been many issues with both the school and the city council, and that many people are just burned out by local politics; but jeezez, the school situation is totally out of control. I firmly believe people get the government that they will accept; and Marshall citizens are apparently willing to continue to accept this school government. Neither the citizens of the district I teach in; nor the district I live in would have tolerated this mess. People would be speaking up at board meetings; those opposed to the current regime would have found candidates to run for the board; something would have happened to force a change. It seems that all the unhappy people in Marshall are willling to do is post anonymously on this blog!
The only comments allowed at board meetings are ones that are on the "approved" agenda. How's that for free speech?
To the poster about only being able to comment on "approved" agenda items only: If you actually got involved and went to a board meeting, every meeting at the end, you are allowed to get up and talk about things NOT on the agenda. So I would say the free speech is pretty good. I wish people would actually THINK before posting stuff on here. IT MAKES YOU SOUND STUPID!
That's true, sometime between 10 pm and midnight or later you can speak on non-agenda items. If there is a crowd that the school board suspects may want to speak up on non-agenda items they will kindly find a way to drag the meeting on as long as possible to dwindle those down that came to speak. Also the school board tries to limit space at its meetings so if more than about 15 extra people show up the rest are moved to the hallway or a room down the hall. I have been to many school board meetings, and they are not very friendly environments for speaking to the board.
I tried to go to www.peopleforstrongmarshallschools.com
but found no such webiste. Is there an error in the address?
This web address works in my browser, here is the copy and paste:
http://www.peopleforstrongmarshallschools.com/
Good luck Marshall custodains, but hope is fading fast. Expect a 7-0 rubber stamp vote by our "beloved" (sense sarcasm) school board to back Joyce firing all of you come August 13th! Then they will lie and say all is well and that you will be hired back with no loss of pay or benefits.
Joyce is on the warpath of revenge!
I say if the custodians get fired and Phillips, Metcalf and Jones are not fired with them, that a grass roots effort gets started to recall Phillips board supporters. We need to take back the Marshall schools, for the kids, for the parents, and for the community!
The custodians will get fired, everybody already hates JP, and no one will do anything about it.
I heard the board lost on most of the Mr. Foreman case charges but are spending another $100,000 for an unnecessary appeal because they will spend anything to fire Mr. Foreman for a personal vendetta of the board president and Dr. Phillips. Mr. Foreman was cleared of the false criminal charges AGAIN! Now potter got some relative to claim he bought her a beer in 2001 when she was a 20 yr old assistant tennis coach. How ridiculues? How low will they go to get Mr. Foreman? This is criminal!
Ask mike. Corruption at its best.
Is the Foreman case still going on? Last I heard he was cleared again.
Ask mike. opops, He might have to change more stories.
I heard the Foreman case is basically over. He was sunk by a former friend and tennis coach who said he bought her a beer, at a lunch, six years ago, with Bob Crandall present, when she was just shy of 21. The proof is nonexistant. So he will be fired for this! Everything else he has been cleared on, twice!
This is in fact very suspicious.
The case is still on appeal. Perhaps for many more months.
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