In the No Hard Feelings Department, an eager reader notices an item in the January 14 Mid-Central Educational Cooperative minutes that escaped my attention in yesterday’s review:
Four months after yanking the multi-million-dollar GEAR UP contract from Mid-Central for three years of accounting incompetence, while state and federal law enforcement continue to investigate Mid-Central’s finances to sort out corruption that Governor Dennis Daugaard says reached a “ridiculous” level, Secretary of Education Melody Schopp hands Mid-Central another state contract to rewrite our language arts and reading standards.
Mid-Central is setting standards for South Dakota—perhaps we can use that sentence as a writing prompt for students learning about irony (see ELA Standard 11-12.RL.6: Analyze a case in which grasping point of view requires distinguishing what is directly stated in a text from what is really meant (e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, or understatement).
Rewriting these curriculum standards (wait—we need new standards again? we adopted our current Common Core standards just six years ago!) is only a $4,200 contract, but with several South Dakota educational cooperatives who are not under investigation for corruption available to do the work, are taxpayers really ready to hand even that meager sum to MCEC exec Dan Guericke and interim business manager Stephanie Huber again?
Maybe Secretary Schopp is handing Mid-Central this small contract as training wheels. Maybe she is reassured that the fiscal incompetence is over; after all, right after the Mid-Central board approved the standards contract, it reaffirmed a memorandum of understanding with Wagner-based accounting firm Bechen and Company for fiscal services through June 30 for $800 a day plus travel. Amanda Bechen has been at each monthly Mid-Central meeting since October; over the last three months, Mid-Central has paid Bechen $14,157.50.
If they keep that up, Mid-Central’s going to need to rewrite a lot more standards.
So, we are back to business as usual? Sad.
This should be a crime.
That Dan Guerike is still on board or walking free is beyond comprehension. DCI, Schopp and DD hold him in a reverence.
Guerike must have caught someone with their pants down.
Couldn’t agree more with all of the above comments, but seriously who of us expected anything different?
@90 Schilling
AGREED!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, the trough is still there. How can we expect the hogs to leave it alone?
Hard to believe. I wonder how many consultants can you hire for $4000.00 plus dollars?
What to say? Melody. Give us some direction. Where are you headed? Is the new accountant, necessary as she is, related, and Wagner is pretty darned close? We used to joke about in-breeding in mountain towns. Maybe that’s the problem:) Seriously, its Daugard’s lack of managerial oversight. Buck should stop there….
This is white collar crime by the Republican administration
.
The legislature is in session. What’s it take to impeach Schopp? The executive has no shame. Is the legislature also as feeble minded and spineless? Apparently so.
Mr. John, I don’t think the legislatures have any powers over Ms. Schopp. She is untouchable and they can only stand and listen. I expect she will be directing their every move from here on out. You know that she has half of them in one pocket and 25 more in the other pocket. Untouchable by the laws and this is because she does know more about teaching than any 12 of the legislatures combined. She has outfoxed that union fellow Mr. Pogany at every turn.
Good comment,Eve Fisher. Know anyone who was able to shame hogs into eating less?
You are mistaken, Grudz. The Legislature has the ultimate power over Secretary Schopp. They can zero out her budget until she gives some answers or resigns.
So Daugaard mutters a few words about corruption.
What did you guys expect? He didn’t say he would do anything about it.
Cory:
An excellent idea. Why not relegate the development of standards and the teaching of such to the persons who know the most about the instruction of same — the teachers in the district in which they teach. Why is this so difficult for the state department and the Governor to comprehend? Oh, yes, this would increase the unemployment rate in SD.
Paladn, it’s very simple: The State Department and the Governor and most of the legislature simply do not trust or like or appreciate teachers. Teachers are dangerous. No matter how hard you try, you can’t control what they teach 100% of the time. That’s why our Board of Regents is consistently packed with the Governor’s cronies, who deliberately know nothing about education, and yet continue to put forward new policies and new paperwork (it’s the latter that counts – that keeps the bean counters employed). That’s why there’s insufficient funding for teachers. What they all keep hoping is that some day, somewhere, there will be a computer software and robot circuitry which will make human teachers obsolete. And then we can turn out a semi-educated workforce for little or no cost, which is the ideal.
If Jan Nicolay were still in her Appropriations chair this sleazy stuff would not be happening.
Paladn, that’s been my recommendation from the start. Every good teacher knows what students need to learn. They don’t need state standards to tell them that. State standards fill blanks and binders in bureaucrats’ offices, never minds or souls. The standards MCEC writes will add no value to my teaching, or anyone else’s. That money is wasted both in corruption and the obsession with state-imposed standards (and there’s an interaction to be found there).