Fear and Retaliation in Lebanon

Many have wondered why there is so much noise from the Jim Robinson camp and so little opposition voiced publicly. People whisper in the parking lot and at the grocery store but beg, "don't let anyone know that I said something, I don't need the negative attacks!"

The district swears up and down that they want to hear from everyone but in just about every case, the people with major concerns who speak up receive retaliation.

Let's take a walk down memory lane....

1. Bo Yates, Rob Allen, Boys and Girls Club leadership and the coaches of the district: This group has been hit hard with insults and attacks from the other blogger, and even though he had been authorized by the district to work out a solution, Bo Yates was smacked with a TSPC complaint by district office administration in an attempt to discredit him.

Let's not forget the complaint was dismissed by TSPC.

2. Debi Shimmin, Josh Wineteer, Rick Alexander: This group have been trying to require that the district follow law and ethics, they have been seeking to stop the violations of special education law, testing laws, bargaining laws, free speech laws, and the disregard by administration of the value of staff loyalty and participation in the decisions that impact them. This group has been harrassed by the other blogger, had recall efforts placed against them and Jim Robinson regularly threatens to sue Mr. Alexander and Mr. Wineteer, and in fact HAS filed lawsuits against them as well as the district. They received threatening phone calls and messages and have had to hire personal lawyers to defend themselves for protected actions taken lawfully as board members.

Let's not forget that Jim Robinson has never won a lawsuit against them.

3. Kim Fandino and the teacher union: Granted Ms. Fandino has been a thorn in the side of the district for a long time due to her constant reminders of legal concerns, the grievances and lawsuits brought against the district, her comments about the teacher turnover, the crowded classrooms, the misdirection of district funds, the intimidation and harrassment of administration toward teachers and staff, the issues around bargaining over the years.... oh, and the 81% of the teacher vote of NO CONFIDENCE in Jim Robinson in 2004 that was never truly addressed by the school board.

Ms. Fandino has been attacked by the other blogger, had a letter placed in her file for almost three years for speaking to a board member, has been insulted and even threatened in public board sessions by audience members who are from the CARES group, and has been publicly maligned as an individual for actions she was required by law to perform as a part of her elected position.

Let's not forget that the union won the lawsuit and the letter had to be removed from her file and District policy was ruled illegal on its face.

4. The Bauers: These two employees were asked by the district to go to a conference several years ago. The paperwork was filled out by the district. They requested reimbursement that was less than the "per diem" expenses that board policy allowed for. However, they had recently filed personal complaints about things relative to their own children's education in Lebanon and were now "on the radar." As I am sure you can guess... they had a complaint filed against them by district administration relative to their reimbursement request. The complaint contained many inaccuracies and false accusations. However, district administration saw fit to allow a copy of it out to the other blogger even though it had not been ruled on.

Let's not forget that the complaint was thrown out by the government agency.

5. Ed Sansom: This administrator has spoken up about concerns and obviously did something to annoy the district because although there are other administrators that have been complained about repeatedly, they are protected by district admin. But, poor Ed, he must have done something because not only has he been blogged and possibly has had mis-information about him spread intentionally, but the district office wants to fire him.

Now don't get me wrong, poor administration and poor teachers should not be working in schools... however, Mr. Sansom has a much better reputation among those who count (teachers, parents and students) than several other administrators. Why was he singled out?

Let's not forget the main issue cited as reasons for the non-renewall..... Communication.... isn't that kind of like the pot calling the kettle black?

6. In general, almost every person who has spoken up at a board meeting in opposition to the direction of the district has been blogged negatively by the other blogger.

So fear and retaliation reign supreme in Lebanon.... ain't free speech great?