Third Reason Why Kansas Schools Should Consolidate

To further discuss reasons why Kansas public schools should consolidate, instead of operating in "unified" districts, a misnomer because school districts in Kansas are not unified at all, a third reason is unequal and selective hiring practices and selective application of the law in relation to teachers and other employees of the "unified" school districts. The Renwick school board, near Wichita, has terminated the contract of Troy McChristian, principal of Garden Plain High School, pictured to the left; because he was arrested in the recent past for DWI. Officials cited that McChristian was "not setting a good example" for students, and was not reporting criminal activity, both prosecuted and unprosecuted, to the board in order to ensure proper decision making! Okay; driving while intoxicated does not set a good example....no argument there, but what about Noble Rick Pendland? He taught in a different public school in Southern Kansas, and was a foster parent, to boot, yet it took years to get rid of him, and his school isn't even responsible for the decision: Pendland was arrested and jailed for sex crimes against children, and was not granted work release pending bond or trial so that he could continue to go to work at the school where he met some of his victims. Terminating Pendland's contract was simply necessitated by circumstances, and would not have happened if law enforcement had not removed his presence from his forced audience, the students. This is a glaring example of unequal, and possibly selective, application of Kansas law, used to make or break a school employee's contract with a "unified" school district's school board.

 

If public schools in Kansas were consolidated, it would be much easier to insist that the same laws be followed by all Kansas teachers in public schools. Parents would have a basic notion of what to expect from their childrens' teacher; Rick Pendland and his ilk, favored by conservative Christians, would have to curry favor with a school board governing the public schools in all of Kansas, rather than just brown nosing the republicans on the school board in one locale. There would not be teachers who get away with drunk driving or showing up to teach classes while drunk (yes, Frankfort, you covered for a teacher with addiction problems) in one part of Kansas, while the same is not tolerated in other parts of Kansas. Children would have more stability, as well, through knowing what to expect. As things are run at this point, each unified district is allowed to play picksies/choosies with which laws it will respect and which laws it will ignore, at the ultimate expense of the children.

 

Another problem with laws, and the applications thereof, that could be cleared up with consolidation of public schools in Kansas is not only the favoritism employed by unified school districts, but the favoritism employed by local judicial systems and county prosecutors. When a teacher commits a serious crime, especially a person felony against a student, and a parent steps forward with a complaint, terminating his contract should be the next logical and acceptable step. According to the Kansas Department of Education, prosecution for a crime is not what determines breach of contract. Breach of contract is setting the bad example in the first place. It should not matter if the policeman responding had the teacher for eighth grade social studies, or if the teacher's parents also taught at the same school and donate money to the school, or if the county attorney has personal problems with the child's parents and denies justice out of personal prejudice. Once the state school board hears about a teacher who criminally endangers a child, such as Tom Schroeder, pictured on the right, who abandoned a fourteen year old girl along a highway in Marshall County Kansas, that teacher's walking papers should be forthcoming. There should be no exceptions made because of political or personal favoritism, and if all of the public schools in the state of Kansas answered to one school board, instead of un-unified  unified districts, equality, justice, and common sense would have a stronger chance of prevalence in such decisions.

 

Has anyone noticed a difference in skin complexion between the two teachers cited in this post who did not get sanctioned by their "unified districts", and the teacher who did? In other places, this might be chalked up merely to coincidence; but in Kansas, it deserves consideration.

 

Reason Number One For Consolidation Of Kansas Schools

Kansas never ceases to amaze me with it's stupidity. The public schools in Kansas are not consolidated, which means that each "unified district" has a local school board that is not answerable to state or national standards, or to the state or federal authority, and can force any decision they please on children and parents, be it lawful or not. They can even hire sex offenders and kidnappers if they choose! We now have a Sedgwick County former coach, who was caught in an internet sting, attempting to solicit sex from a fifteen year old, demanding his job as a high school football coach back! Unfortunately, Todd Puetz (it really should be Todd Putz) was allowed to plead guilty to the lesser charge of soliciting sex from a prostitute, and now, since he was not convicted of more serious sex offenses or required to register as a sex offender, his lawyer says he is "entitled" to his job as a high school football coach, and is fighting to somehow force the local school board to engrave him another invitation to endanger children!

Most of us would find this whole request, and the obvious best response......telling Mr. Puetz that he need not apply again.......to be a no brainer. After all, he was fired immediately after his arrest for sex offenses, the local school board did not wait for the trial or the disposition of the charges. As Kansas law does not guarantee a person a job in the event that his services are no longer relevant, and his contract violation(no abusing or molesting children) was proven by his admission of guilt, even though he made a plea in court to a lesser charge, there is a tradition in the unconsolidated, unified school districts of Kansas of covering up the misdeeds of teachers and coaches, and telling the victims to go to hell, because they don't matter. At the other end of the state, in Marshall County, a guidance counselor at Frankfort High still collects taxpayer dollars to endanger children by dropping them off by themselves along highways. The parent who almost had a heart attack over it was told by her local school board that this should not be a cause for concern. If schools in Kansas were consolidated, the laws against child endangerment would need to be followed at each and every public school, and there would be no local school boards protecting political favorites. A thug, such as the guidance counselor in Frankfort, would not be allowed to continue employment in a public school. In fact, the school's insurance should not be allowed to cover this employee any more than an auto insurance policy can be written to cover a driver with fifty DWI's. Child abuse is child abuse, and this guidance counselor committed child abuse and got away with it because Kansas school boards are unsupervised and do not answer to the state. They only answer to themselves. If they do not care about a particular child who has been abused by a teacher, they will generally not lift a finger to stop the abuse. Kudos to the school board who will not offer Todd Puetz his job again. This is an amazing change of pace for Kansas.

Most Kansans fight tooth and nail against consolidation of their schools. Brown v. the Board of Education in 1956 was quite a shock for the quietly prejudiced white population of Kansas, and keeping schools unconsolidated is quite likely a deliberate attempt to continue to keep schools as racially and culturally segregated as possible. Unfortunately, unified districts also have a lot of latitude to violate almost any law when running Kansas schools.