It's All in the Headline
The December 5th Gazette summed up Sharon Thomas' year in D11 with one simple headline - and they probably don't even know they did it. The headline says:
"Educator's new job all about the money."
The actual story was about Thomas' new job with the American Numismatic Association Money Museum, but the headline could certainly be written with regards to Thomas' time in D11.
As everyone knows, Thomas worked a golden parachute into her superintendent contract with the school district to ensure that she would receive big money when she was fired, a task that she worked hard to achieve. After doing little more than occupying a chair in the D11 superintendent's office for a year, Thomas walked away from D11 with $425,000, thanks to those who recklessly brought her into the district. To put that into perspective, Thomas received 10 times the average D11 teacher's salary for being fired for incompetence.
Members of the Numismatic Association should beware. An August Gazette article detailed some financial problems that this organization has had that were due, in part, to the actions of the outgoing Director of Education at the association. This Director, also an attorney, hand picked Thomas to be his replacement.
D11 had a healthy financial reserve balance prior to Thomas' arrival. That reserve balance has disappeared. Thomas took $1 million from the district's general operating fund to cover the cost of g0lden parachutes for herself and her deputies. D11 spent over $1 million on legal billings from Thomas' old law firm, HRO, during Thomas' reign. This was well above past billings, despite the fact that the Board changed the billing contract to save money.
If I belonged to the Numismatic Association, the headline itself would make me nervous, and rightly so: for Thomas, it's "all about the money."
"Educator's new job all about the money."
The actual story was about Thomas' new job with the American Numismatic Association Money Museum, but the headline could certainly be written with regards to Thomas' time in D11.
As everyone knows, Thomas worked a golden parachute into her superintendent contract with the school district to ensure that she would receive big money when she was fired, a task that she worked hard to achieve. After doing little more than occupying a chair in the D11 superintendent's office for a year, Thomas walked away from D11 with $425,000, thanks to those who recklessly brought her into the district. To put that into perspective, Thomas received 10 times the average D11 teacher's salary for being fired for incompetence.
Members of the Numismatic Association should beware. An August Gazette article detailed some financial problems that this organization has had that were due, in part, to the actions of the outgoing Director of Education at the association. This Director, also an attorney, hand picked Thomas to be his replacement.
D11 had a healthy financial reserve balance prior to Thomas' arrival. That reserve balance has disappeared. Thomas took $1 million from the district's general operating fund to cover the cost of g0lden parachutes for herself and her deputies. D11 spent over $1 million on legal billings from Thomas' old law firm, HRO, during Thomas' reign. This was well above past billings, despite the fact that the Board changed the billing contract to save money.
If I belonged to the Numismatic Association, the headline itself would make me nervous, and rightly so: for Thomas, it's "all about the money."
posted by Craig Cox | 1:33 PM
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