FSD Renews The Shameful Keller Contract
Wow. It’s sort of weird. I spend a few months in eastern Nevada and when I get back it seems like nothing has changed. It was way back in February that Joe did a recap on the doings of Pam Keller – and what a recap it was. We had over 130 comments, most from some pathetic Keller apologist calling him/herself 4th SD Observer.
And today I learned from a pretty reliable source that last night the Fullerton School Board renewed the Keller/Collaborative contract. You remember, the contract that permits Keller to be an FSD employee while in actuality she goes gallavanting around Fullerton, latte cup in hand, hobnobbing with other professional do-gooders, and taking credit for real philanthropy performed by others.
Anyway, I gather that the vote was 3-2, with Bev Berryman and Lynn Thornley, to their credit, dissenting. As usual Ed Royce liberals Hilda Sugarman and Ellen Ballard voted yes; and of course our old friend Minard Duncan had to go along, too. That figures. He has popped up here occasionally to inform us of how hard Pam works.
The fact that the Collaborative is helpful to the community or not wasn’t at issue. What was brought up by dissenters was that the MOU clouds the relationship between employer and and employee. It makes the FSD into an employment agency for the Collaborative.
The supporters all talked of the good deeds done by the Collaborative. That’s nice to know but irrelevant from the MOU. At the end of the day, taxpayers are on the hook for what the directo does or does not do.
Berryman and Thornely will get my vote!!!
Sam,
Did you attended last nights board meeting? If so, how many people attended AND did anyone from the public speak out against the renewal?
Was the ‘executive director’ of the collaborative there to justify her own existence?
About 5 spoke out against and about 3, maybe 4, spoke in favor of… Keller was not there. She pulled out all the stops: boys & girls club and the OC business council. Why would the OC Business Council care WHO the director was? If it is so important to them, they should hire a fulltime director at the going rate. Instead, these jackasses like to “borrow” public employees.
OC Business Council = Lucy Dunn = Curt Pringle.
There must be some angle.
who’s up for re-election?
Curious, FSD positions sometimes don’t even make it to he ballot because not enough people run for the seats to have a competitive election.
why is this the best thing to happen to our school board? When those who voted to continue funding this useless collaborative come up for re-election, their support for this collaborative will lose votes for them. See, their is a dark cloud lining keller’s sunny smile and a silver lining around these dark events
Ok, pretty crappy news story. Very imcomplete. I dont live in Fullerton, but I read this sites blog stories, and this story, without prior insite, I have no clue what’s going on. What’s the job description, how much does she get paid, how long is the contract, what are the performance objectives, etc. Curious minds want to know. Thanks!
Is this program available to everyone? As a business owner, I find it difficult to pay for my own employees’ benefits. I too would like to pawn off this responsibility onto the government. Where do I sign up?
Are your employees skilled at lobbying and schmoozing for government grants? That seems to be the ticket to boarding this gravy train.
Hey, we tried.
I’m not too bummed. By giving up her council seat, Keller has lost her ability to peddle votes for Collaborative donations. That was the ethics problem that led to the exploration of her various machinations.
Without that influence, it may become harder for her to raise money for her ancillary activities like OCCCO “community organizing”. We’ll get to see how valuable her donors really think she is.
For instance, I doubt she will pick up any more donations from developers like Steve Sheldon or Pelican-Liang.
My summary.
1. The result was really as good as I anticipated in light of the current Director’s connections in this town.
2. I do not hold an opinion that the Collaborative is a worthless organization. I’m sure that they do things or associate themselves with events or organizations that I am not a fan of, but I do not find the nature or work of the organization itself to be at issue.
3. Sam well summarizes one of the, if not the most important point in the first comment.
4. In this latest MOU, the Collaborative is responsible for reimbursing the District for the salary (which is now at a 50% full time equivalent for wherever Keller ends up on the union contract matrix), the District’s portion of the pension contribution and somehow for liability insurance.
5. There are still costs remaining. Management and HR time and energy in dealing with Keller as an employee even though practically speaking she is not. Note my comments on Beverly Berryman’s excellent characterization of the issue below. Most egregious is that the taxpayer will be left holding the bag on whatever portion of Keller’s currently drastically underfunded pension will ultimately have to be paid…by taxpayers.
6. Lynn Thornley seemed to see this issue as very simple. Keller doesn’t work for the district, they have huge budget problems, the district has no responsibility to provide this service, the Collaborative has options…vote no. Excellent! Last night it was very comforting to know that this is the lady that defeated me 10 years ago.
Beverly Berryman put on her pro-Collaborative lenses in a highly effective way that had not actually occurred to me. The District has tacked on some bogus “responsibilities” and tried to create a formula for accountability, when in fact such responsibilities and accountability make no sense for the Director of an independent organization. In other words, the Collaborative shouldn’t even want this. While Bev did not say it, the point can lead to no conclusion other than the fact that this is merely a deal to satisfy the wants of a well connected individual. The proverbial “get your cake and eat it too” scenario. Beverly also wisely pointed out that many other similar organizations accomplish their goals without depending on government to be the employment agent of their Director. Furthermore, Bev pointed out that in these horrible budgetary times, they are constantly discussing how they need to take things off of their plate. Have never been prouder of this terrific lady. Yes, I’m a little biased on this one.
Ellen Ballard just flat out doesn’t get it. I doubt that Ellen could write 2 sentences on what ‘appearance of a conflict’ means or even describe how and why small government is superior to large government. Her logic. Collaborative does stuff….District gets reimbursed….yay!!!!!
Hilda Sugarman held up some recent brochure from one of the educational elitist groups that the district pays dues to and said, “here is what my brochure that the superintendent sent me tells me are best practices.” I was so nauseated that I can only recall a component that said if more money comes in than goes out, it’s good. Good thing to know that Sugarman has been on the board for well over a decade and she takes her direction from a brochure that she should be able to write in her sleep. Spectacular outfit though. That lady knows how to dress herself!
Minard Duncan. Nice guy. Loves Pam Keller. There’s really not much else going on there. Allow me to mention again that he’s a really nice guy.
You forgot to mention what a nice guy Minard is.
Very nice.
from what is said above, it seems FSD can’t cut through the contrivances of those who support the fullerton collaborative. keller personifies her collaborative with her silly grin and do-gooder homilies. under the silly grin is a calculating, self-serving woman who diverts our tax dollars from our children’s education and puts it into her own pocket. Where is the public outcry against this indecent person?
Eastern Nevada, huh. Not much out there , Ely perhaps? Maybe Elko (or its suburb Spring Creek)?