Vanquish
Vanquisher of shills
- Aug 14, 2009
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I happen to be working on a case dealing with education that is absolutely deplorable and thought I'd share.
In the complaint we filed on behalf of my client, Dr. Annette Bohannon, she details how she was fired for blowing the whistle on corruption within the Alabama State Department of Education.
The awarding of federal education grants are, of course, done by using a grant application system, complete with rules, anonymous readers, and a scoring system - to make sure that all children are treated fairly and honestly within the system. There are some preferences for poorer areas as well as geographic diversity (i.e. areas that aren't getting any money already) which are factored into the scoring system.
My client has alleged (and I feel we have more than enough proof) that after she noticed that the grant application for a particular organization (non-LEA for those in the know about jargon) was deficient (violated at least 3 rules that EACH should have rendered the application unreadable (read:invalid))...it was read anyway. But it doesn't stop there. Even though the score was waaaaaaay below the cut off, it received funding...cheating deserving children and schools/organizations out of the money they deserved.
But why, you might ask? My client has testified at deposition that she was told by her superiors that pressure from a state board of education member and a state superintendent was the reason! Flat out unscrupulous political influence! There's even an email to that effect which we produced at deposition.
When she spoke out about the immoral and unscrupulous political pressure...she got fired! Such a termination is illegal based on the caselaw from Connick vs. Myers.
As it turns out...one of the named defendants is already under investigation and resigned because of it:
Alabama education official Deann Stone resigns amid federal probe | al.com
(It's alleged that she gave ultimatums to grant recipients use her husband's technology company...or at the very least for using her influence in the grant awarding to solicit business)
And what are they hanging their hat on for the termination? They claim that she botched a one-hour training session during a 3-day conference. A training session that she was commended for by the school hosting the conference. And her work record was STELLAR. In her previous job in the Dept of Ed, she was given such a high review that a letter of justification had to be written explaining the high score! The investigation into this "botched training session" consisted of one complaint, by one attendee, where the investigator took no notes, failed to find out the name of the complainant, failed to assess the bias or axe-to-grind of the complainant, and supposedly made the decision, conveniently on his own with no recommendation. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
This kind of thing really burns me up as a taxpayer and future parent. Our taxes are being wasted by corrupt politicians and state workers who are only out for themselves.
Apparently someone with access (not us, seriously not us) scanned in and is hosting copies of the depositions in the case. For the legally inclined...or someone who likes a Grisham-eque thriller...read on.
http://www.madisoniep.com/LegalIssues/BohannonALCase/Complaint.pdf
http://www.madisoniep.com/LegalIssues/BohannonALCase/MortonDepo.pdf
http://www.madisoniep.com/LegalIssues/BohannonALCase/StoneDepo.pdf
http://www.madisoniep.com/LegalIssues/BohannonALCase/OppSummaryJudgAnnetteBohannon.pdf
In the complaint we filed on behalf of my client, Dr. Annette Bohannon, she details how she was fired for blowing the whistle on corruption within the Alabama State Department of Education.
The awarding of federal education grants are, of course, done by using a grant application system, complete with rules, anonymous readers, and a scoring system - to make sure that all children are treated fairly and honestly within the system. There are some preferences for poorer areas as well as geographic diversity (i.e. areas that aren't getting any money already) which are factored into the scoring system.
My client has alleged (and I feel we have more than enough proof) that after she noticed that the grant application for a particular organization (non-LEA for those in the know about jargon) was deficient (violated at least 3 rules that EACH should have rendered the application unreadable (read:invalid))...it was read anyway. But it doesn't stop there. Even though the score was waaaaaaay below the cut off, it received funding...cheating deserving children and schools/organizations out of the money they deserved.
But why, you might ask? My client has testified at deposition that she was told by her superiors that pressure from a state board of education member and a state superintendent was the reason! Flat out unscrupulous political influence! There's even an email to that effect which we produced at deposition.
When she spoke out about the immoral and unscrupulous political pressure...she got fired! Such a termination is illegal based on the caselaw from Connick vs. Myers.
As it turns out...one of the named defendants is already under investigation and resigned because of it:
Alabama education official Deann Stone resigns amid federal probe | al.com
(It's alleged that she gave ultimatums to grant recipients use her husband's technology company...or at the very least for using her influence in the grant awarding to solicit business)
And what are they hanging their hat on for the termination? They claim that she botched a one-hour training session during a 3-day conference. A training session that she was commended for by the school hosting the conference. And her work record was STELLAR. In her previous job in the Dept of Ed, she was given such a high review that a letter of justification had to be written explaining the high score! The investigation into this "botched training session" consisted of one complaint, by one attendee, where the investigator took no notes, failed to find out the name of the complainant, failed to assess the bias or axe-to-grind of the complainant, and supposedly made the decision, conveniently on his own with no recommendation. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
This kind of thing really burns me up as a taxpayer and future parent. Our taxes are being wasted by corrupt politicians and state workers who are only out for themselves.
Apparently someone with access (not us, seriously not us) scanned in and is hosting copies of the depositions in the case. For the legally inclined...or someone who likes a Grisham-eque thriller...read on.
http://www.madisoniep.com/LegalIssues/BohannonALCase/Complaint.pdf
http://www.madisoniep.com/LegalIssues/BohannonALCase/MortonDepo.pdf
http://www.madisoniep.com/LegalIssues/BohannonALCase/StoneDepo.pdf
http://www.madisoniep.com/LegalIssues/BohannonALCase/OppSummaryJudgAnnetteBohannon.pdf
