"Handpicked" KHSAA Committee Is A Sham

[Hearsay]

On April 5, 2007, the Kentucky Board of Education passed a resolution to re-form a 1993 Committee designed to investigate the practices of the KHSAA. This Committee's purpose is to investigate the inner workings and practices of the KHSAA, to determine whether fair hearing procedures are implemented, whether the KHSAA is following or ignoring court orders, whether they are efficient in investigating recruting, whether there is significant favoritism, etc. etc. etc. All of this purportedly falls under the auspices of whether or not KHSAA is following their BOE charter.

 

Apparently, even though each BOE member has submitted their nominees for the Committee to "acting" commissioner Kevin Noland and Chairman Keith Travis, those two have chosen to ignore those requests and instead have "handpicked" their own committee to submit for confirmation at the Board meeting Wednesday. The sham committee has no one from Northern Kentucky, no one with a private school background, and even contains one person who is already a KHSAA Board of Control member. I guess it remains to be seen whether the handpicked committee intends to really investigate anything substantive.

 

Here are the committee person submitted for approval:

 

District 1 - L.V. McGinty, a special investigator from Ky. Dept. of Insurance, Paducah, with law enforcement background;

 

District 2 - Thomas Gumm, a contractor from Glasgow

 

District 3 - Jane Adams Ventners, a lawyer from Somerset

 

District 4 - Sherron A. Hoehler Gambert, a retired teacher from Louisville

 

District 5 - Harvey Thompson, a Lexington CPA

 

District 6 - Brenda Jackson, a retired state government employee from Shelbyville

 

District 7 - Dr. Zella Wells, asst. superintendent of Johnson County Schools in Paintsville

 

Does anyone else here think this stinks to high heaven????

[theguru]

Without giving this much thought one thing sticks out like a turd in a punch bowl. You can't have a member of the KHSAA Board of Control on the investigative committee if you are serious "auditing" the KHSAA.

 

It would be very interesting to see who the submitted nominees were from each district to see if we could figure out why they were dumped.

 

I would like to hear a response from Noland and Travis on why they disregarded the nominees.

 

No one from NKY and no one from any private schools does not pass the smell test.

 

Of course I cannot prove it, but my spider sense tells me Noland, Travis, and the BOE are up to something but I don't know what it is they are up to.

 

Anyone?

[RockPride]

This is a horrible thing...and very poorly executed.

[CentreRocks]

This is a horrible thing...and very poorly executed.

Can you or anyone really be surprised by the KHSAA's actions at this point?

[Oxnard]

Is it possible that the BOE will reject this confirmation, or do Nolan and Travis feel that they have sufficient votes lined up for acceptance of their slate? This move is reminisent of tactics utilized by Putin in Russia in recent years. It would really be interesting to be a fly on wall during the backroom conversations.

[ladiesbballcoach]

So I take it you guys all know these people and they are scum and can't be trusted? Cause it sure comes across that way.

 

I don't know a single one of these people so I can't personally comment on whether this is horrible, a sham, it stinks or anything.

 

And as far as the BOC and private school issue, remember the BOC voted on the side of the private schools come Prop 20 time.

[3ptshooter]

Hopefully some of these people listed have experienced wearing a jock strap or a sports bra so they understand athletics a little bit!

[RockPride]

So I take it you guys all know these people and they are scum and can't be trusted? Cause it sure comes across that way.

 

I don't know a single one of these people so I can't personally comment on whether this is horrible, a sham, it stinks or anything.

 

And as far as the BOC and private school issue, remember the BOC voted on the side of the private schools come Prop 20 time.

You're the ying to our yang....you give them the benefit of the doubt, while us realists, know better.

[Birdsfan]

So I take it you guys all know these people and they are scum and can't be trusted? Cause it sure comes across that way.

 

I don't know a single one of these people so I can't personally comment on whether this is horrible, a sham, it stinks or anything.

 

And as far as the BOC and private school issue, remember the BOC voted on the side of the private schools come Prop 20 time.

I don't think the problem (at this point) is with these people. It is in the perception these selections create. The problem is in the apparent disregard for the choices of the board members.

 

On the surface, it definitely smacks of committee by design.

[westsider]

I assume that northern Kentucky is part of one of the districts that has a representative on the panel ... at first glance, it looks like the committee has representation from a good geographical cross-section of the state.

 

As far as the "no private schools represented" comment ... there appear to be only two people with an education background on the panel, although at least one of the members (L.V. McGinty of Paducah) has a spouse that is a retired high school principal.

 

I don't pretend to have an idea of how wide-ranging the panel's investigation is supposed to be, but I would say it's a bit premature to assume the whole thing is a sham.

[Hearsay]

Is it possible that the BOE will reject this confirmation, or do Nolan and Travis feel that they have sufficient votes lined up for acceptance of their slate? This move is reminisent of tactics utilized by Putin in Russia in recent years. It would really be interesting to be a fly on wall during the backroom conversations.

 

The scuttlebutt that I have heard is that a certain board member called Travis or Noland to submit her nominee, and was told that not only was the "slate" already chosen, but the "slate" had already been put together PRIOR to the April 5, 2007 board meeting where the issue of the Committee was raised.

[Hearsay]

I don't think the problem (at this point) is with these people. It is in the perception these selections create. The problem is in the apparent disregard for the choices of the board members.

 

On the surface, it definitely smacks of committee by design.

 

This is exactly the problem the BOE had recently with the selection of Barbara Erwin as the new Education Commissioner. Once she was caught lying on her resume, it didn't matter what she actually does, the PERCEPTION is that she will continue to be a liar.

[Hearsay]

Is it possible that the BOE will reject this confirmation, or do Nolan and Travis feel that they have sufficient votes lined up for acceptance of their slate? This move is reminisent of tactics utilized by Putin in Russia in recent years. It would really be interesting to be a fly on wall during the backroom conversations.

 

They meet June 10th, and theoretically the BOE can reject the proposed slate.

[STRIKE3]

The scuttlebutt that I have heard is that a certain board member called Travis or Noland to submit her nominee, and was told that not only was the "slate" already chosen, but the "slate" had already been put together PRIOR to the April 5, 2007 board meeting where the issue of the Committee was raised.

Not good, if accurate and investigative committees, must be impartial and have no hint, of a possible conflict of interest, to be taken seriously and effectively complete their assigned task.

[Hearsay]

I assume that northern Kentucky is part of one of the districts that has a representative on the panel ... at first glance, it looks like the committee has representation from a good geographical cross-section of the state.

 

As far as the "no private schools represented" comment ... there appear to be only two people with an education background on the panel, although at least one of the members (L.V. McGinty of Paducah) has a spouse that is a retired high school principal.

 

I don't pretend to have an idea of how wide-ranging the panel's investigation is supposed to be, but I would say it's a bit premature to assume the whole thing is a sham.

 

McGinty is the most interesting guy on this list. Apparently he has a law degree from Tulane and worked in the FBI for 26 years, and then was chief of the Paducah P.D. for 4 years before joining the Dept. of Ins. as an investigator. It says he was a member of the KHSAA for 40 years, though I don't know what that means. He has been an at-large appointee to the Board of Control since 2000, and his terms expires in 2008.

 

In one sense, his investigation background is what is needed, but in another, he has a serious conflict of interest issue.

 

Gumm is on the Governor's Workforce Development Council. I'd say that's where he ties in.

 

Ventners was a Kentucky Board of Education Member from 1994-2002, and she's a lawyer. No better way to cover up past bad acts then to get a former Board member who's a lawyer on your committee.

 

Flying Tiger, you missed a part of the bio on one member regarding private school affiliation. Apparently Gambert was a teacher for the Archdiocese of Louisville for 33 years, but she did teach in JCPS for her last 9.

 

Thompson is with Barr Anderson & Roberts, P.S.C. He appears unaffiliated.

 

Jackson is the immediate Past President of the Kentucky School Boards Association, and a Trustee for the Kentucky School Boards Insurance Trust. She was on several of the past Education Commissioner's various task forces.

 

Wells, of course, is a lifelong committed public school person.

 

With the exception of Thompson, all of these people have a common thread in ties to either the Board of Education, the past Commisioenr, or the Governor. There is little independence from those units, and I would not anticipate much more than sword rattling in their "investigation."