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Tonight is the secret executive session meeting that GACS Bd. Pres. Bill Bush uses to discuss and decide school business. Do you think they will talk about...

1. Holding a special meeting for the public to talk about and answer questions about the investigation? When this blog started Bill Bush immediately ran to the teachers to talk about issues, but not the public or parents. Why? His sole support comes from one teacher and small click around her. Okay, so as we learned from the paper, it was mostly BS, but at least he talked to someone..sort of in public. He and the board have no support from the parents and community. They know they cannot justify their incompetence so they hide behind lawyers (welcome to the board) and board meeting rules (questions?...questions? We don't need to answer your stinking questions!). The way they treat and involve parents shows they do not give a rat's a** about the views and reactions of the parents and community. (Your two minutes are up. Shut up, sit down, go away.)

2. Resigning or taking action against ghost members. Ty Malone is a now a rumor. We think she exists, but no one has seen here since October. Where are the milk cartons? Both parent members will no longer have their children in the school next year. As long as Bill Bush and his patrons Marc Richards and Jerry Calone are still on the board, this blog will exist, there were will pubic scrutiny, outside agencies investigating, a strong presence at the CASD meetings, the truth will be told, and conflict and drama will continue...with school at serious risk of closure. It will more public, open, honest, embarrassing for the members and sad for the kids and parents who need this school to work for them. That is the future with this board. You can announce your resignation now with June being the last meeting. End of the year...new board in July. Clean. Simple.

3. Do we really want to put a personal friend of Bill Bush as the new principal? The leading candidate fits that description. Do you really want someone to protect lead teacher(s) and screw over CEO Mr. Gordon? Why else would an administrator come here unless they are personal friends with the board president and willing to do his bidding? If he does a good job, maybe he can work in Bill's charter school management company. Did any candidate do their research? Who would want the job unless a)they didn't do their research and don't know what they are getting into, b) know, but is really desperate for a job, or c) ready to be the puppet of Bill and his favorite lead teacher? First time he goes against them (especially her), bam, he will be the eighth administrator gone under Bill's reign. Any way you look at it, is that the person we want?

4. Why are teachers looking to leave? Luckily, it's not all of them. Only the good ones.

I'm sure they will have a lot to talk about...and decide...and we will never know.

Help On The Way??

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, it looks like our local state senator is leading the way for reform. Notice the last sentence of the article. We need to contact Mr. Dinniman to offer our support and let him know what is going on in his home district.

Daily Local Article

In Sunday's Daily Local, there was a followed up on the investigation. Some people commented that they didn't know what Graystone is doing wrong. Perhaps some of you can enlighten the readers. My guess is the Inquirer will have something soon as well.

Points of Information

Here are some new items to think about.

- It appears that Bill Bush is still on the Board because he wants to start a charter school management company. Seriously. He actually told board members, administrators and a few community members this. He is doing such a great job with Graystone, that he (along with Nancy Cooper) wants to establish a company that will open and run charter schools based on all of the success they had at Graystone, and let's not forget, with all his real estate experience, build buildings for these new schools. They were working on it last spring/summer, but decided that they could coop Graystone to start. And, they are the first to say that he is an unpaid volunteer.

- Prediction: Former teacher rep to the Board and current lead teacher, Nancy Cooper will get named to an administrative position before the school year is out. If that happens...the teachers, who choose to stay, will contact the PSEA. Many are shocked that the union is not here already.

- Has anyone, CASD or an independent auditor, looked at Bill Bush's reimbursements? Has anyone questioned his reimbursements for legal expenses, evening "emergency meeting" dinners with the former administrative assistant? Dinner/Lunch meetings with the other real estate agents? What is the process for justifying expenditures beyond - I say so? Just because an expenditure may be "legal" is it ethical and worthy of tax dollars?

- There is CASD meeting tonight. (Tuesday, APRIL 27, 2010 - 7:00 PM
9/10 CENTER AUDITORIUM) One of the reasons CASD has not been aggressive with GASD is the lack of a voice from the GACS community. Coatesville needs to see that people care. We need you to be there.

Coatesville Report Back?

Bill Bush told the teachers that the Coatesville Area School District's report was sent to Graystone's attorney with no findings and "a only couple of recommendations". He didn't present it or read from it. We know Bill thinks he owns the school, but the taxpayers pay the attorney fees.

So....

1. Does it really exist?

2. If it did, why didn't he share the information at the public meeting?

3. When will he share it?

4. Will he not share it because they recommended the GACS Board's resignation?

5. Why has CASD been so silent? Why haven't they visited the school?
Talked to administrators current and past? Talked to Board Members current and past? Talked with parents? Talked with all teachers? What did CASD do for eight months in their investigation?

Parents and the community need to call the GACS and CASD Boards to demand the truth. WE ARE IN THE PROCESS OF BEING TAKEN AGAIN....AGAIN! We need to start demanding some answers.

More Racism

We know that Graystone Academy has a minority population of over 80%. We know the one minority board member is a meeting no-show and lives and works way outside Coatesville. So of course, at the last Board meeting, they added a minority or GA parent to the GACS Board. Wrong. They found a white, male, attorney from the Mainline. The nomination committee of Jerry Calone and Marc Richards (who live in Bill Bush's right and left pockets) endorsed Bill's recommendation and the new guy got voted in for three years. A parent and husband of a Graystone teacher was rejected because, according to Bill Bush, "it would be a conflict of interest". Yea, a conflict to Bill's interest. All minority applicants to the GA board were rejected. There was not a single minority or parent available to serve on the Board? Oh, come on. The new member may be a wonderful man, but that is not the point. A charter school requires parental participation from the community served. This move tells us that they do not give a damn about the community. They don't care about diversity. They don't care about the parents. Just sit down, shut up, better yet...don't bother to come to Board meetings, and let Bill and the good ol' boys run the school.

Parents and the community should be outraged.

10 Question for the Graystone Board

We know the GACS Board no longer answers questions at public meetings. But if they did, perhaps they could answer....

1. Why didn't you share the details of the CASD investigation with us? Why did we have to find out in the paper when you knew about it for three months?

2. What have you done to cooperate with the investigation and resolve the issues under investigation?

3. If the school's minority population is over 80%, why do you only have one minority member on the Board (Ty Malone, African Am. - who lives on the Mainline and works in Philly)? Is it right to have the only minority member on the board who 1) was an employee of another Board member at the time of her appointment (Jerry Calone), 2. a perpetual no-show at meetings?

4. Is it right to have more representation from TD Bank (Ty Malone and Jerry Calone)then we do minority members? How is it not a conflict of interest to have two reps from TD Bank, who hold over $2 million dollars of our school accounts, to serve on the Board and be the treasurer?

5. How much is Graystone spending on legal expenses? How does that compare to how much we are spending on student field trips or a school library?

6. Because the CASD investigation has prevented us from doing anything for a new building, what is the Board going to do for housing if our building, which is for sale, is sold?

7. What were the topics of discussion at your last executive session meeting and why are administrators banned?

8. Why do you think it's okay for Board Members (Bill Bush) to take individual teachers to dinner at night and expense the meals back to the school?

9. Why do you have police at Board meetings?

10. Why should we not believe that the Board's actions are corrupt, racist, and incompetent?

Bonus question: If some board members are considering resigning in June, why not do it now so a new Board and a new administration can plan for next year?

There are many more questions that could be asked. The Board will probably not answer anything, but it doesn't hurt to ask. If parents are interested in asking questions and maybe getting answers, they need to be at the meeting tonight at 6:30 in the GACS cafeteria.