Lady Whistleblower Dearest Gentle Reader,
It has been said that, “Our public officials have forgotten that they are ultimately accountable to the people who put them in office, that the information they keep in secrecy belongs to all of us.” And so it is with the greatest of pleasures, that this author delves into this particular topic.
The Ongoing Saga of Shamblin’s Non-Renewal
Now the conversation whispered on everyone’s lips is wondering at the inner workings of the “bored.” What are the “bored” members thinking?” What are they doing? What do they know that we do not?
Of course, we, the public, are not privy to all of the inner workings within a school, for such things as privacy laws, particularly around children, actually do exist. For more information, just look up the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) if you would like to explore this interesting, yet decidedly side-topic. And of course there are other things that we aren’t privy to surrounding personnel, and that too, is not surprising.
But the non-renewal of Rake Shamblin has been anything but clear. Those that non-renewed him, the King, Queen, and the “bored” have cited “reasons” after the fact based on student data, but those “reasons” were backed by cherry-picked data that seemed to be slanted against Shamblin. This data was quickly debunked by using more complete data from the state’s website. The King has since come out and said that it was for other reasons that couldn’t be publicly released due to the privacy of personnel regulations, and then challenged Shamblin to release the evaluations himself.
This author now will have to backtrack and fill you in on some other information. Last month, about a week before the last monthly “bored” meeting, some unknown person decided to create a FB alternative to this site. Again, it has been said that, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.” This author is very sure that she has used this before – but now someone decided that they could also leverage some social media coverage to offset the information that I have been providing. I have been unwilling to publicize this page, because quite honestly, I didn’t want to give them attention. But some of my readers found it, and well, it’s been very, very interesting – and many readers now attribute this site as perhaps something created by the King himself! If it is not the King, then it is definitely someone adjacent to a school “bored” member (could it be the Prince Consort, the Queen’s husband?) as there is information there that is generally only accessible to people very high up within the Kingdom’s structure.
Why would this author surmise this? The most damning evidence of this was that the person who is posting under this page published two supposed evaluations of Shamblin – one from King David, and the second from King Spinster. Now – this author (and others) have spent considerable time trying to figure out how this information was obtained – as it was not available in the district personnel file of Shamblin and it doesn’t seem to be publicly available online. Believe me, this author tried. In fact, the evaluation from King Spinster was literally a screenshot of what appears to be the State Evaluation system page. One can only guess that it was the King or someone close to the King who was able to gain access to this. If this author missed something obvious in on-line records, please correct me and send me information on how to access it! And it is interesting that the evaluation from King David appears to be a screenshot of some sort of document. This author questions the legality of whoever posted this information publicly – and they should be held accountable for it. This author would like to note that she has only posted legally obtained documentation.
Now while there are members of the public who doubt the veracity of the King David evaluation, I have corroborating evidence that this may be authentic because of information contained in it. Dearest readers, you have given this author so much help, but I recently was sent a very interesting legal document – and this document, perhaps, can explain much of the upheaval at the high school of the past few years.
In short – well, as short as this author can make it – the Queen and the “bored” (made up at that time of Dumbridge-Void, Liccass, Broommeadow, Willy Lastic, and Pester Brown) directed Shamblin, through the King (David) to change the high school schedule from a block to a more “traditional” one. There was just one major problem – and that was that neither the students nor the majority of the staff wanted to change it.
Apparently within the teacher’s contract, there is a section on shared decision making and one of the things this group is in charge of, specifically, is making the daily time schedule.
Dearest reader, I’m sure you might be able to guess what happened. Instead of following the proper protocol set forth in the teacher’s contract, Shamblin, directed by King David and the “bored,” violated the contract and shoved through the wildly unpopular eight period day.
The teachers’ union grieved this decision and had it turned down by Shamblin, King David, and finally, the “bored” itself. What happened next is that it headed to federal arbitration. According to Google AI, federal arbitration, “is a method of resolving legal disputes outside of traditional court proceedings. It involves a neutral third party, the arbitrator, who hears both sides of the case and makes a binding decision.” Think of it like court-light, as arbitration agreements are a binding legal agreement.
The “bored” lost.
In the 33 page document, Shamblin was called to account for his conduct and for being the person who violated the contract. What is missing here is that he did so on the King and “bored’s” direct orders. And thanks to that other source, we now have proof of that.
He was told to do their dirty work in violation of the contract and it seems like they threw him under the bus for it. So Shamblin’s first year difficulties with the staff were directly a result of being told by the “bored” to not work with the staff. Is this the type of leadership we want on the “bored”?
Now to lose a federal arbitration case is a big deal – and I understand it is also very expensive. This author wonders how much money was spent on this – and all because the “bored” didn’t want to work with teachers. The hypocrisy here is stunning – and it now makes so much more sense about why the “bored” wanted to make sure that staff wouldn’t be able to communicate directly with them, and thus created the new “chain of command” rules.
And it’s amazing that this federal ruling was kept under wraps. One has to wonder why…
This leads this author to a particular conclusion, though, when it comes to Shamblin’s relationship with the King and “bored”. He’s been burnt by them now and was basically told to destroy his relationship with the staff to do their bidding. Do you think he would be stupid enough to keep following their lead at this point? He did it once, to his detriment. It seems like they want to get rid of him like a dog that cleans up their own vomit by eating it. And it could be that the Queen literally had him targeted the moment a new King came on board who was willing to do her bidding in order to win her favor. And it doesn’t help that the King wants to be the big dog and is going to go after anyone who might challenge him or have their own ideas. I believe this would have been the case for anyone who had any sort of long administrative relationship within the district.
Just What Does the “Bored” Know?
This, dear reader, is the biggest question of all. What do they know, indeed? And do they all know it? This author is starting to question the transparency even within the confines of this group. Here are some pertinent questions:
- Who is the “bored” member tasked with talking to the lawyer? Of particular interest – who gets legal advice when it comes to union contracts? Who gets it when it is something that pertains to the King?
- Is the “bored” communicating ALL of the information to the lawyer? Or are they giving slanted, incorrect, or incomplete information to the lawyer so they get the answer they want to hear? Since the “bored” pays for a private law firm, this author suspects that the lawyers don’t care – they get paid either way.
- Are all of the “bored” members receiving accurate information from the lawyer? Are they all in the room every time they receive advice? Is the information only communicated verbally or are their records of these conversations being given to all of the members?
- Isn’t the “bored” a member of the Ohio School Board Association (OSBA)? Can’t they receive free or reduced cost counsel from them? Given the apparent quality and cost of their current representation, maybe they want to do something differently? This author has been told that legal fees for this year alone have reached $32,000, and we’re not even to the end of the year yet.
- Does the “bored” really trust what the King tells them at this point? How can they? What about that data that was supposedly compiled by a district employee? You know, the data that was initially used to support the non-renewal of Shamblin? And this is the crux, right? Trust has been irrevocably broken between all of the parties here.
This author is going to cut to the chase and directly ask – are the King and Queen treating the rest of the “bored” like mushrooms? You know, keeping them in the dark and feeding them shit?
The “Bored’s” Prime Directive (at this point)
It is the “bored’s” job to evaluate the King as they are the hiring and firing squad. If they don’t document everything, we will be stuck with him. They need to be showing him that they are keeping records and that the heat will continue to be on him to do his job correctly and for him to maintain professional demeanor and conduct. He wasn’t able to maintain it for longer than three months before it all started falling apart. I have zero belief that he can maintain for the next three years. So it comes down to the “bored” – as they are the only ones who can ultimately do it. And if they fail their jobs, well, we will continue to be stuck with the King for the foreseeable future. (Is it time again to remind the “bored” that maybe giving a brand-new King, with a checkered professional history, a four year contract at the top of the pay scale is a bad idea?)
More Administration Missteps
Word is also out that the “bored” is going to have to rescind two non-renewals of teachers because the administration did not follow proper protocol, nor did they adequately provide the level of support and feedback that is necessary before someone can be let go. And given the fact that both of these teachers had good evaluations to begin with, well, you can tell that we are having some issues with our Kingdom’s leadership team. (We are looking at you, Blizzard. You’ve spent any good will that you had banked with your staff, and the King leaving isn’t going to fix that.)
The King Drags His Feet
Given the number of job vacancies and the little amount of time left in this school year, it seems that the King may be holding up the hiring process. As a result, we are losing out on potentially good candidates because the King doesn’t seem to want to do any hiring at this point. Maybe it’s hard to plan when everything is so chaotic, but who’s to blame for that? (We are looking at you, Kingy.)
Maybe he’s just waiting to see how many people will actually quit. His budget certainly will look better if he drives away more experienced teachers and is able to replace them with the cheapest of new and inexperienced teachers.
And while we’re dreaming of new hires, this author speculates that we would have trouble finding a new King – because what new person – who would actually be decent at this job – would ever want to come and work here once they realize the Queen would be their boss? It is certain that most agree that her garret is unfurnished!
King Reaches Out to Other Kingdoms
A couple of months ago, the King reached out to other Kings for some much needed help. In his letter he basically does the following:
Places Blame
- He’s a new super
- Our culture makes it feel like “it will never get better”
- He doesn’t have a mentor
- His desire to help us isn’t what we “really want”
Plays the Victim
- “From day 1, the constant attacks on my character, the divisiveness, endless public records requests, a rogue principal… poor academics, or turnover on the board” have led him to wonder if he is “crazy”
- “At every turn, I am met with torches”
- “I get ill every month leading up to board meetings due to the audience behavior”
- “I am contemplating leaving and struggling to find a way forward”
And then he lists all of the things wrong with the district – some of which are not factual. He then claims to be looking for help or advice. Here is some real advice.
Look, Mr. Narcissist,
FAFO. No one sunk you. YOU sunk you. You did it all on your lonesome, and you have no one but yourself to blame. Besides, I thought you said you had at least 4 good days – so you are obviously exaggerating that “everything started bad ‘From day 1.’”
You are an exhausting man-baby who wants the position to feed his ego and the salary to feed your addictions, but you don’t ACTUALLY want to work for it. You work hard at creating an outer appearance to cover up for inner insecurities. You work hard at shoring up the appearance that you know what you are doing, and hold on to that even when it has become apparent to everyone else that you are clueless.
Look, this author is not a practicing therapist, but you seem to display many traits related to Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD).
The sad thing is you destroy any empathy anyone may have for you, because you yourself do not display or offer empathy to others. While it is definitely too late to repair your relationships in this Kingdom, it’s not too late to get professional help with this. This author understands that people who truly want to work on themselves and show improvement can. You might want to work on that, for professional reasons if nothing else. But again, please do this far away from here because we are done.
Last Post Info Update
This author received information that Shamblin’s second reprimand, the one where he published the handbook without permission was actually approved by interim King & full-time jester, Deuce Dirtsucker, and therefore is a meritless reprimand. That seems to be a valid reason for requesting that the “bored” review the reprimand, given that it was false. When all avenues of justice are closed, one might need to bring things to light – and it’s unfair that the victim, Shamblin, is blamed here. Could it be that facts didn’t actually matter to the King and Queen as long as they got the outcome they wanted? This seems to be the case in many of their dealings – do what you want, make stuff up after the fact to justify it, and when that gets proven false, somehow become the persecuted victim.
The people of this Kingdom are tired of it. The Queen has been in power for far too long and the King is useless unless you want a person who uses AI to write his platitudes, his inspirational speeches, and heck, all of his other correspondence as well. (We know it’s real when we see the typos!)
And for the King and Queen – because I know you can’t resist reading about yourselves – this author has not had any direct contact with Shamblin, so please use that paranoid energy to do something productive – like think about all of the ways two narcissists can turn on each other.
Final Notes
Thanks to everyone for their help and for reaching out with information. For those of you conducting public records requests – we all are cheering you on!! For those of you suggesting we get together a Go Fund Me to hire a PI, very tempting!
As I was writing my last article, which was supposed to be way funnier, all I have to say is this:
And yes, I’m looking at you, King and Queen.
Sincerely,
The Lady W
Breaking News
So instead of attending the high school’s public senior project night yesterday evening, the King was seen at another Kingdom’s board meeting. He was accompanied by a lady friend.
The King seems to be having a hard time reconciling and dealing with his past, as he has an unhealthy obsession with Morgan County. Additionally, the King was the one (along with the Queen’s prodding) to get rid of senior projects. Therefore it is no surprise that he couldn’t be bothered to attend. What’s his excuse for all of the other district events absences? Maybe he has trouble acclimating to a culture that’s not centered solely around him.
MONTHLY “BORED” MEETING
The next regular meeting of the board will be held on Tuesday, May 20 at 6PM and is scheduled for the MS/HS Library. (This author believes that it needs to be moved to the auditorium to accommodate the crowd.)
Please show your support for Federal Hocking by wearing your Lancer gear, and if you don’t have that, something in maroon and gold. This is the time. If you would like to speak, you must sign up for Public Speaks before the meeting begins. (There is a sign up sheet where you come in.) Remember, you may have as little as two minutes to speak, so please be concise. If you find that you cannot get all of your issues condensed into two minutes, consider working with friends to make sure that you get everything out that you need to.
If you care, be there!
