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00SL2
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ABC-12 reported this morning that Flint Schools Superintendent Walter Milton Jr. is being considered for superintendent position in Springfield, Illinois. Here's the story, from Springfield news. Note the reader comment--what was the Baltimore reference, anyone know?
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http://www.sj-r.com/sections/news/stories/111284.asp
The State Journal-Register Online - Springfield, Illinois
District 186 search narrowed to two
Wortham, Milton up for superintendent
By PETE SHERMAN
STAFF WRITER
Published Sunday, April 01, 2007
A high-ranking school administrator in Baltimore and the superintendent of Flint, Mich., schools are the two finalists for Springfield School District superintendent.
Read Sherman's "School Talk" blog
District 186 will have its first black superintendent if either gets the job.
Deborah Wortham has worked for the Baltimore City Public School System since 1972, starting as a teacher and working her way up to an area academic officer, overseeing a zone of schools representing about 11,000 students. The district has roughly 97,817 students overall.
Wortham has taught education courses at many universities, including John Hopkins. She's a frequently sought-after speaker, lecturing on, among other topics, leadership and school culture.
Walter Milton Jr. is the superintendent of Flint Community Schools, where he's served since 2005. Before then, he was superintendent in Fallsburg, N.Y.
While at Flint, he has proposed dividing high school students into smaller learning communities, reconfiguring other schools and rethinking school boundaries. He also proposed eliminating the district's magnet programs - schools wrapped around special themes such as arts or technology, and commonly known to have open enrollment. According to a news story from Flint, his goal has been to turn the Flint school system into a "national model."
Wortham is expected to visit Springfield on Wednesday. Milton will visit on Thursday. Each candidate will have the opportunity to answer questions from an invited group of community representatives.
Tentative meeting times are set for 5 to 6 p.m. at 1900 W. Monroe St. After each community session, the board will interview each candidate again, but in closed session.
School Board president Cheryl Wise said a job offer could be made as early as Thursday evening.
After narrowing the list of candidates down from roughly a dozen semifinalists, the board interviewed six candidates, Wise said.
"All six were outstanding and would have been good choices," she said. But she added that after the board compared them all, there was a "gap in the progression" between the top two and the other four.
In addition to interviewing each candidate, the board ranked them according to a series of questions, ranging from what each has done to close the gap in test scores between different student groups to what each has done to promote educational programs in the community.
Both candidates have earned doctorate degrees in education, Wise said.
The school board advertised the job with a salary in the range of $220,000 a year, roughly $40,000 more than is currently earned by Rutledge, who is retiring after this school year. Wise said a final salary will be determined after a job offer is made.
Neither candidate returned phone calls from messages left Saturday evening.
Pete Sherman can be reached at 788-1539 or at pete.sherman@sj-r.com.
Reader Comments - 1 comments
Live in Flint wrote at 4/1/2007 7:32:48 AM
Milton has all but destroyed our schools. He was accused of wrong doing in Baltimore, including misrepresenting his resume. Check him close before trusting him in 186, where I graduated! |
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Sun Apr 01, 2007 10:44 am |
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Biggie9
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LOL,
is THAT our Walter Milton, so dedicated to Flint schools, he is already looking to GET OUT?
If he is & does, the entire school board who supported him , note Vera Perry DID NOT, should LEAVE WITH HIM!!!
Herbert Cleaves should be driving the bus!!
HAHAHA |
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Biggie |
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Sun Apr 01, 2007 12:55 pm |
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Milton desperately wants out of Flint. He realizes he's in way over his head. But the Springfield system will never hire him because they'll do their due diligence and check out his past.........unlike our board.
So we're stuck with him I'm afraid. |
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Sun Apr 01, 2007 1:08 pm |
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00SL2
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| The Flint Journal reported on March 15, 2007 that Milton told the Board he would turn down any bonus offered to him this year. "The board discussed capping any bonus at $13,000 to be paid if Milton exceeded expectations. That figure was based on the difference between Milton's $153,000 annual salary and the average $166,423 salary for superintendents in comparably sized districts that the board reviewed." Would Milton's move be for the money or because it would place only 100 miles from Anthony? |
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Sun Apr 01, 2007 3:17 pm |
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Biggie9
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quote:
00SL2 schreef:
The Flint Journal reported on March 15, 2007 that Milton told the Board he would turn down any bonus offered to him this year. "The board discussed capping any bonus at $13,000 to be paid if Milton exceeded expectations. That figure was based on the difference between Milton's $153,000 annual salary and the average $166,423 salary for superintendents in comparably sized districts that the board reviewed." Would Milton's move be for the money or because it would place only 100 miles from Anthony?
'ole Saturn, are you suggesting Julius and Walter have a thing going on?
hmmmmmm, maybe that is why he had Julius living with him for a while?
regardless, I wonder what the "Milton at Any Cost" supporters are feeling right about now. I mean the man hasn't ACHIEVED anything of note here yet. Even if you are one of his supporters, the story is wait, wait wait, his plan is sound, it just needs time to be executed to see the positive results.....how can anyone look at him as accomplishing anything?
What has he done here? Nothing yet, but cause chaos....no turn around in grades or attendance, the school deeper in debt, apparently careening out of control as administrators jump ship or are laid off. He is conspicuously silent or absent in forums where he should be energizing his supporters and convincing the dubious [not me, I'm firmly in the "he's a sham/con man" corner].
Of course if he plays his cards right and finds a way out of Flint before the proverbial excrement hits the fan[and I believe he's a very competent conman] he'll posture his abrupt and premature departure as "I was chased out of Flint by the unrelenting and oppressive attacks of racists, obstructionists, stick in the muds doubting Thomas' and the Teachers Unions.....what do you bet? No doubt he'll blame his failure on to the families, teachers, media, and any others he can blame.
And I bet his apologists will buy it, hook, line and sinker. I have no doubt that guys like Cleaves will try to profit by it by beating the drum of racisism.
and FCS will be another 2 years behind the curve in getting better, only in more chaos structurally than when Dr. Chow left., or should I say forced out by the incompetents & racists on the FCS school board.
sad day indeed. But there is hope, that this will be the bottom, its only when you reach rock bottom that the light bulb goes on and the incomptenets on the board are identified and voted out, or get so embarrassed they leave on their own accord. I hope guys like Cross get elected. Then there is a chance. |
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Biggie |
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Sun Apr 01, 2007 5:39 pm |
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terrybankert
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Milton a finalist for job with Springfield, Ill. school district
http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/newsnow/2007/04/milton_a_finalist_for_job_with.html
1. Posted by Melissa Burden and Chad Swiatecki April 01, 2007 17:53PM
Categories: Breaking News
FLINT -- Flint School District Superintendent Walter Milton Jr. is a finalist for a superintendent's job in Springfield, Ill., according to media reports.
Milton, reached by cellphone Sunday, confirmed he is interviewing with the Springfield, Ill. Public School District 186, and said he would speak more about it later.
Milton has led the Flint district for less than two years and has faced some resistance to his reform plan, fallout over a former administrator's resignation and deficit woes.
A news story in the State Journal-Register today said Milton is in the running for a job currently held by Springfield Superintendent Diane Rutledge, who is retiring after this school year.
Milton and an administrator from Baltimore are the two contenders for the job, the story said.
The State Journal-Register reported that community representatives and the Board of Education will interview the candidates for the top post. The advertised salary for the job was about $220,000 salary.
Milton currently is under contract through June 30, 2009 and will earn $153,000 this year. Last month, he turned down any incentive bonus this school year, which his contract allows, due to the district's $5.1-million deficit and because he had to lay off staff.
The Journal couldn't immediately reach Flint Board of Education President Stephanie Robb Martin and Springfield, Ill. district Board President Cheryl Wise for comment.
Board Vice President Herbert Cleaves, who said board members learned Saturday night of Milton's interview, said he's somewhat surprised by Milton's move to seek employment elsewhere, but said it's understandable.
"What can you say after all the controversial things and the way he's been treated here?" Cleaves said.
"He doesn't have to take that.
He's proven to people he's wanted by other school districts.
He's good.
He's good at his work."
The Flint school board approved Milton's wide-reaching reform plan in March 2006, which included integrating the middle schools into the high schools, closing schools, adopting a new curriculum and opening a classical academy and gender-based academies.
But there were problems implementing the plan, with overcrowded classrooms and students without textbooks at the beginning of the school year and seventh- and eighth-graders having to move mid-year due to overcrowding at Southwestern Academy.
The overcrowding angered many parents, who now wonder what becomes of Milton's ambitious plans if he leaves.
"I'm shocked, he created all this turmoil and now who's left to deal with all of these kids and problems he's caused," said Jean Glenn, grandparent of Flint Central student Trev Glenn, 14.
Jean Glenn said her grandson is among students routed to the school's cramped basement, which she described as a breeding ground for tension and violence.
"The (school) board's not paying attention and they don't even know about all the times the police have been called to the school this year.
It's probably a good thing if (Milton) does leave, because they hired someone who didn't know much about Flint, came in wanting to make all sorts of changes and it's not working."
Others want to give Milton's aggressive reorganization plan a chance to produce results, whether he's around to see them or not.
"I think it would be something of a loss if he did leave, because the status quo wasn't working and he tried to shake things up and do something different," said Darryl Johnson, who has two daughters at the Flint Southwestern Annex.
"This news really catches me off guard, because if he's prepared to leave you wonder what's going to happen to what he's done. With any changes you need time to work out the kinks and see what the results are."
And there was controversy when Milton's former business partner and friend Julius B. Anthony resigned in September as a top administrator with the district after officials learned of Anthony's misdemeanor sexual battery conviction in Georgia, which has since been set aside.
Steve Burroughs, president of United Teachers of Flint, who has criticized Milton's performance as superintendent, declined to comment on Milton's job interview.
"It would be improper for me to comment at this time except to wish him
the best of luck in pursuing this new job," Burroughs said.
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Posted here by
Terry Bankert |
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Sun Apr 01, 2007 6:34 pm |
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00SL2
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quote:
Biggie9 schreef:
are you suggesting Julius and Walter have a thing going on?
They worked together in New York, then Flint; Anthony left Flint, now Milton wants to leave Flint for Springfield which is about 100 miles from where Anthony resides (Google). According to Milton, they are friends. If Milton becomes Springfield superintendent, they can probably expect Milton to want to hire Anthony as a consultant.
Julius B. Anthony, Principal Consultant, Gateway Learning, Inc., an educational training and management company that focus on closing the educational gaps of children in urban America.
10/20/2005 Milton's first day as Flint Schools superintendent
Dec. 2005 - Flint Board hires Julius B. Anthony as consultant to Superintendent Walter Milton Jr.
05/05/2006 FJ: (New York audit probes Milton payments) Another concern cited in the audit findings was thousands of dollars in extra payments to Gateway Learning Inc., for which auditors couldn't find a contract. Gateway is run by Julius B. Anthony...
Jul. 2006 - Flint School Board hires Anthony as district's executive director of curriculum and instructional services.
09/22/06 - District suspends Anthony
09/25/06 - Anthony resigns.
01/18/07 - Georgia judge sets aside Anthony's conviction in Georgia. |
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Sun Apr 01, 2007 7:40 pm |
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terrybankert
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Look at the shared decision making model in the District Milton is going to. Looks good mabey we can get the guy thats leaving?- TRB
Springfield Public School District 186 in Springfield, Illinois,
see http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/envrnmnt/go/go7lk19.htm
provides a successful example of site-based management.
Since 1996, central and building staff have steadily implemented many of the shared decision-making processes developed by author and labor-management consultant W. Patrick Dolan. According to the District 186 Communications Council (1998), the new system of shared decision-making "is being established deliberately to place greater authority, responsibility, and related decisions for education within the school itself " (p. 3).
1. Stakeholders from all areas (not just the schools) are constantly involved in the decision-making process.
At the district level, a Communications Council (composed of representatives of the board of education, administrators, teachers, and support staff) meets regularly to "assist and support individual learning communities as they implement shared decision-making" (District 186 Communications Council, 1998, p. 6).
The roles of the Communications Council have been clearly defined. Specifically, the council locates resources and training for stakeholders, reviews waivers (allowing sites to function outside board, state, and union policies), provides technical assistance to individual site leadership teams, and develops an information system throughout the school district.
"The council is not a regulatory body, nor does it replace the superintendent, school board, or collective bargaining groups" (District 186 Communications Council, 1998, p. 6).
A school may participate in the shared decision-making process if at least 80 percent of the school agrees (by secret ballot) to participate.
(This process is illustrated in a flowchart of the shared decision-making process.) At each school, a site leadership team is created. The site leadership team is composed of the principal, teachers, support staff,
parents,
students (at the middle and high schools), and community members.
A teacher working with the principal usually chairs the leadership team. The site leadership team assumes primary responsibility for the education of the school's students and generally handles all communications. After receiving appropriate training, the site leadership team completes a needs assessment. Then it forms design teams to focus on the identified areas of need.
The design teams are composed of administrators, staff, parents, and community members. Each design team is charged with developing an action plan (typically predicated upon a review of best practices and available research or literature) that maps out a method of dealing with the problem or need. If approved by the site leadership team, the action plan is presented to the school as a whole for ratification.
Once ratified, the plan's implementation is continually monitored and assessed by the design team. At the close of the cycle or school year, the design team's assessments are used as a basis for determining what strategies either did or did not work well. The design team's findings are then worked into the school's next cycle and overall school-improvement plan.
The shared decision-making process functions best when parameters are clearly defined. Schools are more able to develop effective plans when they understand the scope of their responsibility and their power to make changes.
Communication also is important. When school board members are kept aware of changes resulting from the implementation of site-based management, they are able to respond promptly if they are questioned by community members about the appropriateness of activities in the schools.
Robert Hill is the superintendent of Springfield Public School District 186, and he heads what is perhaps one of the Midwest's most conscientious attempts at decentralizing the school decision-making process.
Since 1996, more than half of the 36 schools in the district have bought into and remain fully vested in the shared decision-making process. "What's going on is a conscious attempt to realign power, and lately I can't give away the power fast enough," says Hill.
Although the central office still holds primary responsibility over most budgetary decisions, District 186 is in the midst of implementing a Web-based business information system.
With the infrastructure in place, Hill foresees the district taking steps towards a system of quasi-autonomous site-based budgeting. Despite the current lack of budgetary authority, participating schools have a good deal of say over the formulation of school policy, scheduling and grade reporting, the selection of instructional materials, and staffing patterns.
Principal selection is perhaps one of the most notably collaborative and democratic processes the district has undertaken. As the district moves toward collective hiring, candidates undergo a rigorous series of interviews by parents, school staff, students, and a mix of district personnel.
The work of W. Patrick Dolan has been instrumental in helping District 186 move toward shared decision-making. In fact, Dolan's book Restructuring Our Schools: A Primer on Systemic Change has served as District 186's shared decision-making instruction manual. Superintendent Hill, other administrators, the Springfield Education Association, and school board members attest to the effectiveness of the Dolan model for school change.
Dolan is "a pioneer in promoting collaboration within learning communities," states Superintendent Hill.
Site-based management in District 186 is constantly being adapted to reflect changing needs and phases in the implementation process. In spring of 2000, the name of the Communications Council was changed to the S.I.T.E.E. Council (Shared Initiatives Toward Excellence in Education), and the membership was expanded to include a representative from the site leadership teams of every school in the district.
The new Council is organized to operate in a manner congruent with a school's site leadership team.
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Milton may have contibuted after all-TRB |
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Sun Apr 01, 2007 9:33 pm |
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00SL2
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Sun Apr 01, 2007 11:01 pm |
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Biggie9
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Well it looks like Milton is definitely firing up the exit strategy into full motion.....
now starting to blame "resistence" as the reason he has to leave.
huh? can anyone point to ANY real resistance to his adminstration?
From my perspective, he pretty much had his way as the "decider" including overspending, mis-spending Title I funds, closing buildings, reopening buildings, mashing young and old students together, throwing out the community based-initiatives already underway, then after taking a lot of heat, starting up parent councils to assuage the anger and frustration..etc etc...not to mention a school board that in the majority, hell they chose him, that supported him.
So what was the resistance? He's starting the PR campaign for his exit strategy. But the people ought to be asking this question....why won't he defend his work here? Why is he so eager to flee? There is little to no pressure on him from HIS superiors on the school board. He's pretty much silenced his parent critics by mis-directing their attention away from him. The media by and large has [other than the Anthony incident that is now dead] taken a wait and see position with his performance. He has no apparent enemies in the local governmental agencies..they are all fairly supportive if not nuetral. So you have got to be asking WHY LEAVE NOW???
Any opinions?
Here is mine....perhaps he has found the situation is more dire than even he could have imagined. Perhaps he feels the ultimate solution to the problems is beyond what even he feels he can accomplish. Why ruin a reputation and a career on the train wreck that has become FCS? So rather than wait for the "plan" still in mid-implementation to crash and fail, get out now, with your reputation as a "change agent" still somewhat intact, reputation not tarnished if not enhanced from the 1.5 year experience.
Maybe he looked himself in the mirror and found the person looking back at him incapable of the task.
He's folding up like a $2.00 suitcase. If he's not up to the challenge, its best to let him go. Let him and his supporters offer all the excuses in the world, he IS NOT THE MAN FOR THE JOB. If He won't even fight for his "plan" then maybe the job requires a person of sterner stuff. I can only imagine if he had been a civil rights leader of many decades ago, how many years would he have set the cause back.......you've got to be committed and dedicated to the goal. Clearly he has neither, nor any grit. And that is what a city and a school district like Flint requires. An eye on the prize, and the determination and tenacity to keep moving and clawing your way towards it.
Not a quitter, who turns tail when the tough gets going. [and I'm still trying to find where he has a tough going].
Coward. |
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Biggie |
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Tue Apr 03, 2007 12:12 am |
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JBToolFist
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But how do you really feel Biggie? 
Your post hits the nail on the head. I wish everybody in Flint would read it.
My wife asked me yesterday, "what kind of man, up and leaves in the middle of turning a district of children upside down." I could only respond - 'a coward' |
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07pLGIgyfjw
"If you ain't from Flint, then it's like straight up F*&^ You!" - The Dayton Family
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiV_ue-PbL4 |
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Tue Apr 03, 2007 6:26 am |
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JBToolFist
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How would you like to be one of the board members who has supported Dr. Milton all along, only to hear on Saturday night that he's trying to hit the road.
Think about the incumbents for the upcoming school board election who have taken the stance of "we need to stay the course - we believe in Dr. Milton and his reform." If I was one of these guys who put my neck on the chopping block for him.............OOOOOOH would I be PISSED! The smoke would still be coming from my ears.
Now they only have two options: try to distance themselves from him. Politically this would be suicide because it would be admitting they were wrong all along........or, play the sympathy card, i.e. what Herb is doing...."Poor Dr. Milton, can you blame him for wanting to leave town, look how the evil empire has treated him."
Tracey Fountain and Erica Leverette MIGHT have a chance if they play the anti-Milton card, only because they are new to the board - appointed after Dr. Milton was hired. Damn, I wouldn't want to be their political consultant. What a nightmare.
I have to believe that the board members who support Dr. Milton saw through his disguise all along. They were just trying to give the impression that they had a unified front with the man. They should have went with their gut feelings all along. |
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07pLGIgyfjw
"If you ain't from Flint, then it's like straight up F*&^ You!" - The Dayton Family
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiV_ue-PbL4 |
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Tue Apr 03, 2007 3:26 pm |
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Ed U. Kate
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April 26, 2006
State to audit Fallsburg schools
By Paul Brooks
Times Herald-Record
pbrooks@th-record.comspamfilter
Fallsburg - The Fallsburg School District has asked for a state audit of possible mismanagement by former Superintendent Walter Milton Jr.
The request comes after a routine annual outside audit of the district's books and procedures for the 2004-05 school year.
Among other irregularities, the auditors found:
- The district paid $80,000 in penalties for paying payroll taxes late.
- Milton charged thousands of dollars in personal expenses on a district credit card, but auditors could not determine if he had completely reimbursed the district.
- Many questionable expenses were charged to district credit cards, including more than $600 for a farewell party for a business official.
- Milton received $12,000 to cover his moving expenses from Rochester, but auditors said the moving contract they found was for $4,000. The $12,000 in moving expenses was not recorded in district financial records and was discovered through bank records.
- Auditors said there were errors made in calculating Milton's salary and that they could not determine if he had been paid correctly. He would have made $133,000 this school year.
Auditors called the problems "material weaknesses," or conditions that run the risk that "errors or fraud ... may occur and not be detected within a timely period."
Interim Superintendent Charlotte Gregory credited the school board for asking the state comptroller to come in as soon as possible. The state audit begins May 8, she said.
"We have stacks of stuff for them (the auditors) to go through," Gregory said yesterday.
Both Gregory and board President Robert Scheinman said they believe that no money is missing from district coffers.Steps have been taken to correct the shortcomings cited by auditors, they said. For instance, the district was able to get back more than two-thirds of the $80,000 in late tax penalties. It has eliminated district credit cards, too, Gregory said. The audit was done in the fall by the accounting firm of Gitlin, Knack & Pavloff, which has an office in Middletown.
Milton left Fallsburg Sept. 30 after two years as superintendent. He became superintendent of Flint, Mich., schools - a district with 21,300 students - compared with 1,400 students in Fallsburg. Last fall, he ran into trouble in Flint when it was learned he had not received all of the advanced educational degrees he claimed on his resume. Milton did not respond to messages left Friday, Monday and yesterday with his office in Flint.
"He was a very good educational leader," Scheinman said. "I believe a lot of the things he did he didn't believe were inappropriate. He just didn't know."
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Tue Apr 03, 2007 5:37 pm |
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SL2
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Wortham presents her case; First of two finalists for school chief, by Pete Sherman, Staff Writer, The State *ournal - Register Online - Springfield, IL
*ttp://*ww.sj-r.*om/sections/news/stories/111586.asp |
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Thu Apr 05, 2007 1:41 pm |
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Biggie9
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quote:
SL2 schreef:
Wortham presents her case; First of two finalists for school chief, by Pete Sherman, Staff Writer, The State *ournal - Register Online - Springfield, IL
*ttp://*ww.sj-r.*om/sections/news/stories/111586.asp
Great article, thanks old Saturn.
read the comments at the end.
THEY ARE TO CHOOSE APRIL 11TH.....LESS THAN ONE WEEK FROM TODAY.
As Moses declared...."Let my students go...o' Pharoah"
Can we all post positive comments about Milton on the Springfield Journal so they hire him? Would that be unethical?
maybe we should look at Ms Wortham, the other candidate, at least she comes from a large urban school district. I'm sure she would pass the Cleaves test....unless he is chauvinistic as well as racist. better yet, once Dr Mike beats him for the single 2-year term; we'll let Mikey try it.....
so come on folks, talk up Milton to Springfield, make an ethically, financially, knowledge-challenged educator's dream come true.
Like the boll weevil he's just looking for a home. |
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Biggie |
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Thu Apr 05, 2007 2:30 pm |
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