Thursday, February 28, 2013
In All Fairness.....
In all fairness, Interim Daddona deserves all the credit for going after the IT Director. The alleged misconduct was started under Marks' reign. Daddona wanted accountability and went after him. At that point, the Director was put on leave with pay, as required, until the lawyers decided how to proceed. Remember, innocent until proven guilty? That's why there is a leave with pay. Once this is a legal issue, the lawyers dictate what is done. There are people accusing Daddona of the outcome. He has NO choice on what is done with the Director or what is required of him. Be fair! Daddona is giving you accountability and he is criticized for doing it? Doesn't make sense.
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Word is Mr. Longo found it, just like he found the $4m over several years. Good thing NPS has a cracker jack finance team.
ReplyDeleteI am not disagreeing with who found it out. I am disagreeing with blaming Daddona for what the end result is. That was up to the attorneys with the blessing of the Board.
DeleteYes, Dr. Marks Hired him but also approved by BOE and they too knew how far he was traveling..they could of flagged that as an issue. I'm sure that any other Super would of done the same as Daddona especially when others in CO knew of it and when Mr. Long brought it to to light. So Daddona did not do anything special, he did as anyother head-leader would of done. Of course, I'm not knocking him..just pointing facts out. Kudos/props to Mr. Longo for reporting and taking action on this. Now, he deserves the credit!!!!
ReplyDeleteSo, the Board of Education was supposed to fire the IT director because he was travelling? Don't forget, he was hired by an interim and the BOE didn't have any choices but him.
DeleteAll I'm saying that the Board should of asked for more candidates. The fact that he had to travel, let alone on a plane, c'mon, really.
DeleteI've heard that the case against the IT Director wasn't full proof. Now everything makes sense.
ReplyDeleteWhat he did (IT Director) was wrong, plain and simple. He made his choices in using the credit card. He had the choice to find out whether or not he could use it for the purchases he made. He had the choice on whether or not to ask Finance, purchasing or Superintendent. He chose not to, now he's paying for it. It doesn't matter if the case was full proof, if he was travelling, or how he was hired...he CHOSE to make the purchases knowingly on the BOE credit card. He can't be that ignorant to think it was okay to charge a baseball cap and FLIGHT software for and IPad. If it was a non-tenured, non-director, non-high salary employee they would have been fired or arrested by now.
ReplyDeleteThe person for bringing to this Tony D.'s attention is Elio Longo, so I feel he should get the credit. Between Elio and Rich R. in Finance, we finally have people who care about the BOE's financial issues. This has been going on since Stuat Opdahl was COO. I am Norwalk taxpayer and this makes me sick that no one was watching the IT Director until Elio was hired. Why is he still working and getting paid? If this was any other place, he would have been fired and arrested. I'm sure that there are other emloyees (Diretor's) that are still getting kickbacks for favors they provide. I feel that the current BOE members are not watching even with an attorney on board. Maybe it's time that Tom Hamilton requests that the State Dept.of Education comes down to really look through the books and find out what is really going on! (even though most was shredded!
ReplyDeleteThe credit goes to Eliot Longo for discovering the inappropriate purchase orders. He brought it to the attention of Marks. She ignored it. Daddona should get credit for bringing it forward and reporting it. According to what I've been reading here and in The Hour comments, if I were advising Daddona for the future, I would tell him to do what Marks did. No one wants to give him credit for his actions. Everyone demands accountability, but no one supports it when it happens. That's Norwalk! Anyone who wants to apply for the superintendent's job has to be desperate or out of their mind!
ReplyDeleteWithout commenting on the specifics of a labor issue, I would like to join in the praise for COO Elio Longo. Prior to Rich Rudl joining his staff, Mr. Longo had to serve as both a chief operating officer (where he must supervise all the non-educational departments) and as the chief financial officer (which is responsible for developing and managing the budget and all on-going spending). He did amazing work and brought a level of professionalism that continued the very solid work begun by Craig Drezek in cleaning-up years of poorly planned budgets and slipshod financial oversight. Rich Rudl has contributed greatly to that progress as well. The close relationship among Mr. Longo, Mr. Rudl and the interim superintendent has vastly improved the Board of Education's ability to evaluate budget needs and spending issues.
ReplyDeleteSteve, you give credit where credit is due. Time for this blog to step away from Daddona -Marks saga or reform versus status quo and just start managing the place for the benefit of children and taxpayers. The next super has a tall order, but with solid financial accountability, its a start. Stay away from personalities.
ReplyDeleteSteve, Elio deserves the credit for finding this misappropriation of funds and bringing it forward, but don't you think Tony deserves some credit too? Why is the Board not crediting both Elio and Tony? Susan Marks left Tony the dirty work. Now the Board isn't even defending him against the critics? Have you read some of the comments made against Tony in the Hour?
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DeleteActually, I have no qualms giving Mr. Daddona credit for bringing stability to our school district- he has earned my respect for the job he has done. If you look at several posts I've made here, you'll see that. Also, if you come to many BoE meetings (and I won't blame you if you don't), you'd know that I feel very strongly (and let it be known) that cheap shots at the Interim Superintendent's expense should not be tolerated.
ReplyDelete(For those conspiracy theorists, I removed the post above because I found some typos in it).
In an effort to be fair, I was giving credit to the interim for picking up the dropped ball. I apologize for the error of giving all credit to Interim Superintendent Daddona and amend this blog to give the credit to Elio Longo. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteSo what happens tonight in Board of Ed World? Will there be a quorum (can they count Angry Jack even if he's not awake?)
ReplyDeleteThis had been a respectable post until you made your obligatory cheap shot.
DeleteA respectable post..11:09am? really...refresh your system please.
ReplyDelete