Verify What I have Said--I welcome this

If you are watching a redwood fall in the woods, yet the emperor says "Watch this tree fall silently-- it shall make no sound"-who will you believe, your ears or the emperor?

This morning on facebook, a person posted this comment under the PNJ editorial calling for an independent investigation of Newpoint.

"Just because Bergosh claims it happened doesn't make it so."   to which I replied:

XXXXXXXX you are correct so that is why I believe the FEDs need to look at it. And also, just because the emperor says the redwood that is falling in front of you in the woods makes no sound does not make his statement true. Do you understand? But I know a little of what it is I am speaking of. I don't wear a tinfoil hat, spend weekends hunting for Bigfoot in the woods and weeknights on my roof looking for UFO's.... Just because I say the district had to repay the FEDs $250,000 in school lunch overages recently doesn't make it so--go check to make sure I am telling the truth. Just because I say the district had to recently repay the FEDs $500,000 for badly and embarrassingly mishandling student loans and grants, doesn't make it true, I encourage you to go look and find out for yourself. I'm telling you this happened, these things happened but by all means just because I say it doesn't mean it happened, right? Just because I say the district swept bullying incidents under the rug and did not comply with the Jeffrey Johnston stand up for all Children Act, doesn't make it so--but I would encourage you to look into that because it has happened repeatedly and the FEDs might be interested in knowing about this--could this be a civil rights violation? You need to check on this XXXXX. And finally, XXXXXXXXXX--just because I say that in the office of the School Board's Attorney two-plus years ago just as this Newpoint story broke, the attorney and I both were told by a high ranking administrator, and I quote "Yes we were told not to tell the Board about the problems at Newpoint---I won't have to testify to that will I?" to which the attorney responded, "Yes, you may have to." Yes, by all means just because I say that happened does not mean it did, why don't you go ask her for yourself? Here is her phone number 850-469-6275. While you are at it, ask her for the redacted electronic files she has that I gave her because now she is the custodian of those records and because the district is not investigating newpoint any more these are legitimate public records that you should request XXXXXXX. There where other astonishing things happening and nobody was telling the board--by all means I am saying it, but you are right, just because Bergosh claims it happened doesn't mean you will believe it. After all, you are not willing to ask are you, and you believe the crashing smashing sound of the redwood hitting the ground in front of you was not a sound because the emperor told you it wasn't.

Newpoint-Day of Reckoning

"how long would Newpoint have been allowed to keep this charade going on--allegedly jeopardizing student safety, cheating on grades, cheating to earn bonus money from taxpayers, stealing money from students---if not for the whistle-blower coming forward?" 

Everyone is gleeful over the announcement yesterday that owner of Newpoint Partners Marcus May will face criminal charges.  He allegedly misused public funds for a variety of reasons and there has been a thorough investigation into this which has led to these charges.  I'm thankful he will face justice.

But as a former school board member who was intimately involved in the matter as it unfolded--I am disappointed over this case for two big reasons:

1.  This misuse of funds was known for more than a year before the Escambia County School Board was ever told.  The whistle-blower who gave me the documentation and the phone records in late March of 2015 was exasperated over the district's inaction in the wake of all the problems at Newpoint.  The whistle-blower herself had told the superintendent and members of his staff about the grade-fixing, state standardized test cheating,  and student safety issues at Newpoint a full year before she contacted me.  Students had contacted the district office about money being stolen.  Parents had lodged complaints.  But the board was not told any of this.  The whistle-blower was an insider-an employee of Newpoint--, she knew there was wrongdoing but nothing was being done, and nobody was listening to her.  She begged the superintendent's office to do something about Newpoint with multiple calls to that office in 2014.  Nothing was done, but more importantly--staff deliberately withheld these complaints from the school board. Although we held quarterly charter school reviews at our workshops---NONE of this information was given during these sessions.  Several employees confided in me that they were told NOT to tell the board about the problems at Newpoint.  As a result, Newpoint received state bonus money from Governor Rick Scott at a celebration ceremony in March of 2015.  This was an embarrassment that was the impetus for the insider to contact me.  I'm glad she did.  But this all could have been prevented if the School Board had known about the problems.

2.  When the investigation was finally launched- and I went with the school board attorney and the whistle-blower and testified under oath about what I was told and what staff had told me---apparently these important items were never investigated.  This continues to leave me very suspicious about how this investigation was conducted.  The school district's investigator (a former employee of the state attorney's office) --who reports directly to the superintendent of schools -- was allowed wide berth to participate in this investigation with the state attorney's office.  In fact, I'm told he conducted several of the interviews in this investigation and participated in many for the State Attorney's office.  Why was this allowed to happen?  Was this not a blatant conflict of interest?  This, in my opinion, is the fox being allowed to watch the henhouse.  One particularly high-placed employee of the school

Here's Your Answer Jim

Former school district employee and frequent School Board meeting attendee Jim Nims has a question.  He's asked it of me a few times, at a few separate meetings now so I thought I'd go ahead and do him the courtesy of responding.

Knowing I'm a conservative that supports school choice, Nims apparently finds it amusing to take jabs at me and make snide, crass remarks about me.  recently he has repeated a question over and over,  asking:

"If the District 1 Board member has sent a letter to Newpoint asking for the taxpayer's money back." 

Jim---The answer to that question is No.  I did better than that.

You see, there is more to the story than just answering your question with a "NO", Jim. 

Let me explain it for you, let me break it down for you Jim so that you might understand the issue. 

You see, I support charter schools so when the allegations surrounding Newpoint, a school I strongly supported before all the misconduct was alleged, arose in March---I took the issue seriously.  

Unlike others who knew of the same allegations and stood by and did NOTHING, I went to red alert,

Newpoint: A Constituent's Email of SUPPORT (and My Response)

Here is an email I received from a constituent yesterday evening, supporting Newpoint schools.  My response to this email is below.

>>> XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  05/09/15 4:32 PM >>>

XXXXXX XXXXX XXXXXXX,

I am writing in response to the press release out today by Rick Outzen in

regards to the Newpoint Schools. It was stated that the agenda for the next

school board meeting will include a recommendation to close all three

Newpoint Schools.

XXXXXXXXXXXX attend Five Flags Academy, after having to leave XXXXXX

XXXXXXXX school over terrible conditions. This is the flagship year at

Five Flags and all of the teachers have been wonderful and show nothing but

a love for their jobs and our children. From even the little information

that was issued to the public by Rick Outzen, the grade tampering issue is

being investigated on a high school level and the individuals responsible

are no longer employed by Newpoint Education.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX thriving in the environment they are in and my husband and

I do not feel that they should be punished for the actions of individuals

that are no longer employed. 

No information had been issued to the public

by Malcolm Thomas or anyone on the board when the allegations were brought

to light in 2014, which could have made a difference for parents who chose

Five Flags Elementary for their children. At this point in time, school

choice is closed and students in Five Flags are not being served by their

district schools. Private schools are not an option for all parents in the

area, obviously. 

We realize that there are political motivations to the

press release, with Mr. Outzen wanting Mr. Thomas out of office; also

calling for an elected superintendent, and we question the timing of the

release of the Newpoint information. That said, it feels like the

recommendation to close the schools is a response to the political attacks.

The education of our children is not a political matter in this already

failing school district. All viable educational options should be utilized

and explored for our children.

At this point, we are asking for time, much like was given for LuTimothy

May when he ran Dixon as a charter school. Although the school was failing,

he was given additional time to make improvements with additional school

board and community oversight. The Newpoint Schools are not failing

schools. Five Flags school is in it's infancy. Please do not let politics

motivate any hasty decisions and instead follow normal district procedure

(i.e Dixon),and let the investigation take it's course.

Thank you for your time,

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Super Voter, XXXXXXXXXXXX

My response:

XXXXXXXX,

Not by choice, mind you, but I was put into the middle of all of this when whistle-blowers contacted me with incredible, outrageous allegations about Newpoint and a lack of any district response/investigation.

Remember, for reasons I still fail to apprehend, the Escambia County School Board was not made aware of the most egregious allegations against Newpoint, we were totally left in the dark until whistle-blowers contacted me.  That is when this whole thing broke open.

And regardless of what anybody says, I do not believe that any significant investigation of the allegations of May 2014 would have happened had I not aggressively followed up on the whistle-blower's complaints; had I remained silent this would not all be happening.  But I will never ignore issues that threaten student safety.  Never.

This said, I remain open-minded on all allegations until I see all evidence.  You can take that to the bank.

And I remain strongly supportive of expanded school choice and charter schools in particular.

In short, I'm not convinced we, as a district, are blameless in all of this.  I think we made significant mistakes in the way we monitored Newpoint, and the way in which we responded (or did not respond) when we learned about problems there.

When a traditional district school struggles and has big problems, like Warrington Middle school has for years, the hue and cry is "We need more time, more resources!"  personnel, particularly if they've done wrong, are removed/replaced. Sometimes not in a fast manner.   The school does not pay the price for the misdeeds of the personnel running the schools.  That is how we treat OUR schools.

With charters in general, there appears to be a zero-defect, hair-trigger mentality when there are problems.  "Close them down NOW" becomes the chant loudly and often repeated.

If these allegations surrounding Newpoint are true and all of these contract violations are legitimate, I will listen to what Newpoint has to say about a plan of attack to address all the issues.  Make no mistake, if crimes were committed by anybody involved in this mess--Newpoint or District Personnel, I'm convinced those responsible will be held to account.

But My vote on whether or not to terminate Newpoint will be the vote that least impacts students and parents, and will be cast in an unbiased, open-minded manner as I have typically cast my votes throughout my time on the board. 

I'm not out for blood, I just want people to do their jobs and not waste taxpayer resources.  I want people that did wrong to be held accountable.

Sincerely,

Jeff Bergosh

Jeff Bergosh

Escambia County School Board

District 1 Board Representative

850-469-6147

www.jeffbergoshblog.blogspot.com

jbergosh@escambia.k12.fl.us

Newpoint Issues a Press Release This Afternoon at 5:00