How Graystone Works

This is how Graystone works. Anyone who worked or currently works for GA will verify this . You have five parts.

1. Board President - Bill Bush.
2. Lead Teacher - Nancy Cooper
3. Board Members - Gerry Carlone and Marc Richards
4. Anthony Gordon and school administration
5. Parents and community members

Bill and Nancy served together on the Board for over three years and have a very close relationship. Nancy was a teacher representative to the Board. Bill and Nancy created the "Lead Teacher" position to undermine school administration and give Nancy a position of power inside the school. They are in constant contact and together run the school. Last summer, the two worked together to write their own charter for a new charter school based on her TDC program. (More on this in future posts) This was at the same time they were having evening dinner meetings, paid for by Graystone without administrative knowledge, but approved by Marc Richards.

Information the Board uses to make decisions comes from 2 places - Nancy Cooper and school lawyers via Bill. What Nancy thinks, Bill thinks. What Nancy wants, Bill wants. The school attorney Graystone used last year (one of the best in the state) quit because they didn’t want to work with our school anymore. The new attorney reports directly to Bill Bush. (unheard of in most schools) Board members - Gerry Calone and Marc Richards supports Bill 100%. What Bill wants, they want. That makes 3 votes out of five board members, giving Bill and Nancy control of the school. If Anthony Gordon does something Nancy doesn't like, Bill overrules it. The other two board members are no shows. Even if they did show, Bill has a guaranteed three vote majority.

Only a few teachers support Nancy and are in her click. Most are afraid of her or stay clear of her. If she likes you, life is good. If she doesn’t ….you got trouble. That's the way GA runs. And everybody on the inside knows it.

The Board has no respect or need for school administrators. That's why there's a huge turnover in administrators and why administration is banned from executive board meetings. Bill and Nancy think they know how to run a school. This explains the massive number of lawsuits, with more to come, and why the Board is under investigation. Two people, who, in their arrogance, think they know what they are doing, but barely have a clue. To see their views on parents and the community, just look at the rules for public comment at board meetings. Two minutes max at the beginning of the meeting and no questions will be answered. No minority parental representation. No Board-Parent committees. Bill Bush does not care if involved parents stay or leave. In fact, he would prefer to see parents who complain leave.

So you have a culture of conflict, drama and dysfunction because of the leadership of Bill Bush. Where does that leave administration and parents? Left out. Where does that leave the kids? At a serious risk of losing their school.

This is why parents need to stand up at Tuesday's meeting and tell Bill Bush and the Board that they need to resign….now.