Carla Ranger - Dallas ISD Education Blog: Lew Blackburn's conflict of interest - PROACT Search and East Baton Rouge Parish School System

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Lew Blackburn's conflict of interest - PROACT Search and East Baton Rouge Parish School System

The disclosure that Dallas ISD Board President Lew Blackburn applied for the open Superintendent position of East Baton Rouge Schools (43,000 students) which is represented by PROACT Search - the same firm hired on September 20, 2011 to conduct the Superintendent search for Dallas ISD - raises not only conflict of interest but abuse of Trustee Blackburn's position as President of the Board.

This raises a clear conflict of interest but that didn't stop the ambitions of Trustee Blackburn.

There was no official disclosure to the Dallas ISD Board by Trustee Blackburn or PROACT Search. The
application deadline for the Baton Rouge position was December 1, 2011.

The Dallas ISD Superintendent search with PROACT will now have a cloud hanging over it because of the Board President's self-serving conflict of interest.

It now appears the Board President is using the Dallas ISD Superintendent search to campaign for a Superintendent position for himself.

The Dallas ISD Superintendent search is being dragged on too long.

We need a Superintendent - not a Board President seeking to land a Superintendent position for himself at the same time with a school district represented by the same search firm - PROACT Search.

It shouldn't take a year to find a Superintendent for Dallas ISD.

One of the search firms interviewed last September stated they would have a list of candidates for the board to consider in January 2012. That firm was not chosen.

The Dallas ISD Superintendent search will continue to be tainted by the the Board President's conflict of interest and current campaign to obtain a Superintendent's position for himself.

And the compromising of Dallas ISD will continue.

PROACT Seach - http://proactsearch.com/
East Baton Rouge Parish School System - http://ebrschools.org/

East Baton Rouge Parish School System Applicants
Blackburn, Lew Vice President Texas Can! Academies! Dallas TX

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"In the classroom on the first day of a new school year, I am eager to meet my students. I have rehearsed my greeting and first day’s remarks, but no matter how many years I’ve prepared for this procedure, it’s always new. My heart pumps a bit harder, faster; I feel adrenaline like an athlete, or like an actor, or maybe like a novice public speaker. It’s a marvelous feeling, this first day, because I know that something special is going to happen, and I know it because I’ve experienced it before and I know that I will experience it every time I meet a new class throughout my venerable career. And then they’re seated before me and I smile at this special feeling. This is an assembly of students, yes. But there’s so much more, because each of these young persons is more than just a student entrusted to me. Each of these students has a story to tell, a lifetime, however brief, of experiences, a history in volumes whose richness and depth I can barely begin to fathom. And so as I absorb the first glimpse of these young charges, I must appreciate the extent of my responsibility, of the privilege I’ve accepted in presenting these young souls my special knowledge. In offering them my talent and passion, I am adding an enormous array of new bright stars to the vast firmament of their minds, stars that will never have time to fade in their lifetimes. I will be part of their story. And I know that each of them will always be part of mine. And that’s a good feeling, a feeling that is perpetually renewed, revisited, and rewritten in A Teacher’s Creed."

Carla Ranger - Dallas ISD Education Blog

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Lew Blackburn's conflict of interest - PROACT Search and East Baton Rouge Parish School System

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