Archive for Friday, May 11, 2007
Meeting kicks off recall effort
Save Our Schools group hopes to gather 2,300 signatures
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The DeVincentis e-mails
- Download a pdf of e-mails exchanged between John DeVincentis and Joby McGowan between August 2004 and May 2005. The pdf is 54 pages.
- Download a pdf of e-mails exchanged among Steamboat Springs School Board members between February and June 2006. The pdf is 76 pages.
- Download a pdf of the Steamboat Springs School Board's findings on the public release of the e-mails. The pdf is 5 pages.
- Download a pdf of the Steamboat Springs School District's interview transcripts from its e-mail investigation. The pdf is 157 pages.
- All stories related to the DeVncentis e-mails
Jim Swiggart, a member of the Save Our Schools RE-2, speaks to members of the public about the circulation of School Board member recall petitions at Olympian Hall in Steamboat Springs on Thursday evening.
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For more information on the recall, visit www.sosre2.com or call 819-3981.
Steamboat Springs — A group hoping to lead a successful recall of Steamboat Springs School Board member John DeVincentis began collecting petition signatures Thursday night after a meeting at Olympian Hall.
About 40 people attended the meeting, during which Save Our Schools RE-2 committee members gave their reasoning for the recall effort.
The group hopes to obtain 2,300 signatures from eligible Steamboat Springs School District voters before the petition is due July 2. That total would be about 360 more votes than what is needed, but committee members said they wanted to account for the "one or two signatures" that inevitably will be discounted.
Jim Swiggart, who was a member of the pro-DeVincentis group Parents for Dr. D when DeVincentis was a principal at Strawberry Park Elementary School, told Thursday's audience the recall is necessary because of DeVincentis' actions as a School Board member.
"(DeVincentis) has admitted to and accepted responsibility for sending alarmingly vindictive, derogatory and destructive e-mails concerning (former) Superintendent (Cyndy) Simms while still a principal in the RE-2 district," he said. "Although John commanded much of the community's respect and appreciation while principal of Strawberry Park Elementary School, as a board member, it is our committee's opinion that he has demonstrated a continued history of being destructive to the continuity and function of our school district and board."
DeVincentis apologized for the series of e-mails he exchanged with a Mercer Island, Wash., teacher about Simms, but said he would not resign from the board, prompting the recall. Simms left Steamboat to become superintendent of the Mercer Island district.
Thursday's meeting was calm and respectful, standards former City Council member and current SOS RE-2 member Paula Cooper-Black said she intends to maintain in the coming months as community members sign and circulate the recall petitions.
"As passionate as we are about the recall, there are people as equally passionate on the other side," she said. "We're trying to be as ethical and honest in everything we do. It's very important to us that we set very high standards for ourselves."
The group focused the meeting on moving forward with the first part of the two-part recall process, which is to gather enough signatures to place the recall issue on the November ballot.
SOS RE-2 members said they chose not to pursue a special election because of the excessive cost to the school district. A special election could have cost the district between $12,000 and $18,000, group members said.
Petitioning the recall issue onto the November ballot will not cost the district any money, committee members said.
SOS RE-2 committee member and former School Board President Paula Stephenson said the committee is an "issues committee" only and that the group will not "endorse, propose or financially support" any person seeking a spot on the November ballot to replace DeVincentis on the School Board.
"Who will be (DeVincentis') successor if we are successful in getting the issue on the ballot? I can't answer that," she said. "I can't tell you who may or may not rise to the occasion."
The group said it is waiting until after Mother's Day to begin circulating petitions en masse. Residents who want to sign or circulate petitions are encouraged to contact the group. Group members said they may use City Market, Safeway and Third Street as centers for regular petition-signing events. They will advertise such events when more information becomes available.
Former School Board president Jim Gill said he is optimistic the group will continue its momentum in the coming months, and it plans to hold additional informational meetings to keep the public informed.
"We want to try to keep the excitement up, keep the momentum going and get the signatures early on rather than trying to get them in the 11th hour," he said.
Other SOS RE-2 committee members include former School Board and Education Fund Board members Tom Miller-Fruetel, Pat Gleason and Brian Kelly.
Comments
nu2boat (anonymous) says...
This is the age of myspace and blogs. As a parent, I caution my kids not to put too much information on the web. Job offers and college acceptances have been taken away because of things kids write about on the "privacy" of the web.
Overlooking the fact that he is an egomaniac with an individual agenda and a nasty streak, he should be recalled just on the basis of being dumb enough to write electronically about 1. his employer and 2. his peers and co-workers.
Um...haven't schools been advising kids and parents about the perils of the Web for years? Did this guy miss the memo?????
May 11, 2007 at 1:10 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
beagle (anonymous) says...
nu2steamboat, I can see how things might look pretty bad if you're new to town and are getting the story from the Pilot. there is one heck of another side to the story though. of course you're right that it wasn't too smart to write that stuff on a work computer.
also - a couple of lines in this article are just too good to pass up.
the quote, "We're trying to be as ethical and honest in everything we do. It's very important to us that we set very high standards for ourselves."
I guess that would mean from now on, huh, since they've kind of blown it on that so far.
And Gill's quote, "We want to try to keep the excitement up, keep the momentum going and get the signatures early on rather than trying to get them in the 11th hour."
Gee, isn't this exciting and fun, recalling a board member. We've tried everything we could to ruin the guy's life and it's so "exciting."
May 11, 2007 at 1:57 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
nu2boat (anonymous) says...
What's the "One heck of another side to the story"??? I'd love to hear it!
May 11, 2007 at 2:16 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
reallocal (anonymous) says...
Beagle-how has this group not been ethical and honest so far? Specifically, and if the email issue is the only one you've got, please don't even mention it (that dead horse has been beaten to death thrice). I honestly can't say that I remembered that quote from last night's meeting. Were you there? If you were, you would understand that there are two phases to a recall election. The first phase relates to the petition. The petition is a civil exercise that helps to determine whether the recall question should be included on November's general election ballot. The second phase is the campaigning for or against the recall, and also the time for any candidates to assert their desire to be included on the ballot. This meeting addressed only the first part of a recall election: the petition. It is exciting that we are fortunate enough to live in a country where our constituents can demand a recall, and can carry out a civil exercise to that effect. It's exciting that you will have the option on the November ballot to mark that you think DeVincentis should not be recalled. It's democracy, and yes, it is exciting.
As for trying to ruin DeVincentis' life, I would suggest maybe he should accept some responsibility for his actions with respect to his current political position rather than blaming everyone else. His behavior has been of concern to many community members for quite some time now, even prior to his election to the BOE. Maybe had he behaved gracefully and professionally with respect to his pay-for-performance bonus, maybe if he had not attended a BOE meeting and stood and yelled and disrespected the very board he so desperately wanted to be a part of, had he not violated trust and manipulated parents, students, and teachers so that he could have a school of "excellence" (which, coincidently, looks like "exclusivity"), maybe had he not written the emails but instead left Simms well enough alone, had he not fantasized about bodily harm to another person, had he not admitted to lying, and had he resigned with grace and dignity after all of this came out, he would be in a different situation right now. Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't those all actions he is accountable for? So if the state of his life is not where he wants it to be, maybe he should examine some of his own actions rather than blaming his fall from grace on everyone else.
May 11, 2007 at 2:39 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
blahblah (anonymous) says...
Local,
You make some rash statements time and again. How about explaining what you are talking about regarding ..."manipulated parents, students, and teachers so he could have a school of 'excellence.'" Share some facts rather than hyperbole.
May 11, 2007 at 3:36 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
beagle (anonymous) says...
well, nu2boat, since you asked, ... the Devincentis who sounds like such a jerk when you read excerpts from 2-3 year old joking, sarcastic, and out-of-context e-mails was actually a hugely successful and well-liked principal of Strawberry Park Elementary for 23 years. Every teacher I've met who worked for him still loves the man. During part of his time as principal, he had big problems getting along Simms, who was the superintendent. She gave him a bad job evaluation and put a lot of lies on his official job evaluation. They were later found to be wrong and blacked out. Apparently there were some meetings were Dr. D. was very angry. After that he ran for the school board and won with 70% of the vote. He had made some enemies along the way with his shake-it-up style and his tendency to question the way things were done. When he got on the school board, so did some other new members and the board suddenly was very different from the 'old' board which had a reputation for being rude to people who came in to meetings to comment. At one meeting, Dr.D sent in an angry letter about the current superintendent to be read since he couldn't attend. That was probably not a cool move and a lot of people were mad at him for it, regardless of whether they agreed with what was in his letter. The infamous e-mails were taken off Dr. D's computer at the very end of his time as principal. A district employee was directed by the current superintendent to get them. (that part is not public knowledge yet but many people know it) Pat Gleason and other members of the old board were told about the e-mails. They saved them up for two years, didn't tell any new board members about them, and didn't tell Devincentis about them. It turns out it's against school district policy to get someone's e-mails without making the proper request. Anyway, when the "new" board starting doing things in a very different way from the old and especially when they starting having some disagreements with the current superintendent, Pat Gleason (the only holdout from the "old board) resigned and released the e-mails to the newspaper. The Pilot then printed them even though Dr. D would have resigned to spare the community and his family the upset. Of the many ways Gleason and pals could have dealt with their concerns about Dr. D., they chose the newspaper leak. Go figure. Now the board is doing an investigation into the leaking of school district information and the old board members are refusing to cooperate. And they're launching the recall. That's a condensed version of a long story. There's a lot more but I'm out of time. I didn't even get into the part about the Pilot being biased against Devincentis for years, their conflicts of interest with school issues, and their lawsuit against the school board. I'm sure someone will come in to dispute me but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
May 11, 2007 at 3:46 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
steamboatsconscience (anonymous) says...
Beagle,
Thank you
Reallocal,
Time to give it a rest.
You are painting yourself into a corner.
May 11, 2007 at 4:20 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
WZ (anonymous) says...
Beagle: Again, thanks for your time and sharing your information. Things are finally beginning to make more sense with this complicated mess.
Too, bad this forum is how such information has to come about to the general public. But, too, bad it's only reaching the few who bother to read the comments.
I wonder what kind of an award Mr. Stanford will get for this one?!
There's definitely an open door for another publicist to come into this town/region. I'm curious to see who it will be. You'd make a good investigative reporter there, Beagle. ;)
Too, bad it's the kids who lose out over all this crap. What a waist of time, energy and resources.
God bless Steamboat Springs
May 11, 2007 at 11:03 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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