Newpoint Chapter Comes to a Close….Vindication

People lost their careers and went to jail--just as I correctly predicted when I learned about the Newpoint cover-up in late March of 2015.  This whole fiasco also helped pass the appointed superintendent model locally --a historic silver lining for Escambia that was, in part, born of the Newpoint mess

If you steal from the state, if you steal from students, if you try to cheat the system—eventually it will catch up to you and the wrongs will be righted.

So it is with some satisfaction that now we see another person involved in the Newpoint Charter Schools fiasco get sentenced tojail.  Good—that is a good outcome. Rip off teachers, steal money from kids, you deserve to go to jail so far as I’m concerned.

But that is an outcome that almost didn’t happen…and it happened too late for the taxpayers (the school got bonuses for BOGUS test scores before the whole thing tumbled down on them…) and it happened too late for many students that were subjected to that school and all of its spectacular dysfunction for far too long to keep negative headlines out of the press.

As a staunch school-choice and charter school supporter—it is and was somewhat ironic that I was the board member that received the whistle blower’s complaint and ACTUALLY did something with the information.  If I had not blown this up—my prediction is that Newpoint would still be operating in Escambia County today.  Sad, right?

I won’t rehash how it all went down-but there are a few of us that know the whole truth. For those that want to know the truth about how it went down, and what the Judge meant when he referred to “misfeasance” by public officials in his sentencing yesterday—I’d suggest the following blog posts (here here here here here and here) as a primer.  You'll get the flavor if you read them.

The nefarious conduct at Newpoint was being actively swept under the rug by district staffers at the behest of the superintendent’s office throughout 2014 and into early 2015.  That is a fact, and it is also factual that multiple staff members told me this point blank:  “We were told NOT to tell the school board about all the problems at Newpoint.” (these employees and the Newpoint Whistle Blower were the heroes of this story—they risked their jobs by telling me and doing the right thing)

I made the decision to unilaterally report the misconduct to the State Attorney’s Office, over the strenuous objections of the Superintendent, when I went to his office to confront him about the accusations.  He told me I was wrong.  “You are making a mistake –you  are wrong!” he yelled. 

Here’s the thing, though.  I was right, and he was wrong.  He was a part of the problem and he is


 fortunate in many respects that other aspects of that MESS were not investigated.   He is fortunate that the investigators looked at other things.....  (I told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth under oath to the state attorney and their investigators.)

But what does this all mean now, three and a half years later? 

Well it means a couple of things.  First off—yes, just as I predicted early on, this ended careers and folks were arrested for this situation—at least three thus far (one teacher and two Newpoint Employees)

Secondly:  We just had an historic outcome when the voters of Escambia County finally, at long last, voted to end the Boss Hogg, King Superintendent throwback model of electing superintendents of school locally.  That is a huge victory that was improbable according to many.

I pushed for this outcome in this election, wrote editorials and blog posts.  Others stepped up big and put money into the effort—but the people that voted made this happen.  Many teachers and administrators (current and former) familiar with the cronyism and the petty politics of the elected “regime” went into their polling places and voted YES for the appointed model. I spoke to MANY of these employees.

The Newpoint fiasco was a part of the reason this happened.  People read about that.  People read about the board being left in the dark purposely—people didn’t like that.

And now that we will finally have a Superintendent that will answer to and be accountable to the School Board (as it should have been long ago)…I predict the school board will NEVER again be kept purposely in the dark by whomever it is that holds the Superintendent job going forward.  Never again will this happen without immediate ramifications and consequences.  And this is a good thing.

I also predict that school board elections will now become more competitive and more widely scrutinized by the electorate, which will inspire even more and highly qualified candidates to run for these positions, which is a great thing!

Now all the School Board needs to do is start the search for Escambia County’s first Appointed Superintendent because there won't be an election for superintendent in 2020--which I know leaves some crestfallen...But it was never going to be a slam dunk that the anointed successor would walk into that job.  It would have been a contested election that would have been vigorously fought--and that guy would have lost in the end anyway, in my estimation and according to the only poll numbers that were put out on that race.  Nobody was going to just walk into that job, no matter who it was that wanted it, no matter who it was that was pushing.  Nobody.  It would have been bloody carnage, and in the end the guy who wins elections and knows how to win and has a proven track record of winning--yeah, that guy would have won, that's my prediction.

But it's all a moot point now.

So, because this is the last elected superintendent ever here locally, the school board should start the recruitment effort right away, and as soon as they go through that process and find their ideal candidate, the School Board of Escambia County should make that switch sooner rather than later.  They don’t have to wait until the end of2020 to do it—they could, like Marion County is considering, do it immediately.