Karen Ragland’s opponent in the race for Vanderburgh County School Board E. Lon Walters has filed a formal challenge to her eligibility to hold the office that she has been in for some time. The basis of Walters challenge is the fact that Ragland is a teacher for the EVSC and that teachers are forbidden by Indiana laws to sit on the school board.
C’mon Lon, she’s already asked to withdraw and won’t serve if elected. Grandstanding and beating a dead horse won’t make you any more popular if you decide to run against Missy again. Just let the lady fade into the sunset with whatever dignity she has left.
When did Joshua Academy become a EVSC school? I’m sure Rev Rascoe would love to have Tax Payer’s money, but I do not think EVSC would get along to well with Joshua Academy’s extremely effective faith based curriculum….
2011. The charter is in the complaint that Walters filed.
Why?
Trying to grab some headlines, Lon?
The “headlines” that were never printed by our local “give light and the people will follow” bunch should have been printed back when Karen Ragland left EVSC for employment with Joshua Academy. Here they are:
“With her move to Joshua Academy Karen Ragland resigns as Trustee of the Evansville-Vanderburgh School corporation.”
We have yet another case where state statute was totally disregarded.
In order to obscure the facts in this case the C&P has crafted an article today that actually seems to take Lon Walters to task for doing the right thing!
Such is life in Evansville with this current bunch running things.
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Read the law and one shall get the answer.
Not really. Oh well let Sue Kirk decide the issue. Right, you know she is going to vote for her buddies in the 4th Ward. Oh, is she running for an elected office right now?
Answer–Ragland stays!
interesting documents … when the school board unanimously voted to grant the charter to Joshua Academy does that mean Karen voted for it, even with a clear conflict of interest? Doesn’t the school board have a lawyer present to advise on such things?
according to the C&P she abstains on voting on issues affecting the Joshua Academy
The EVSC School Board approved the $1 transaction with Joshua Academy in a 7-0 vote. http://www.courierpress.com/news/2010/oct/11/evsc-joshua-academy-complete-howard-roosa-building/
While I agree with the vote it still is a conflict of interest.
Another one of those RUBBER STAMP votes,7 yes and 0 no. The whole board needs to be replced.
Looks like some us think that laws, regulations, and rules can be ignored at will. No wonder this town is going to hell in a handbasket!
Lon this was bad enough when you were bllamed for it, but ordering one of your employees to do your dirty work is sinking to a new low
Didn’t Karen Ragland pull a Marsha Abell on the county taxpayers by getting a job for her daughter with the school system? If so, it’s this a comflict of interest? Oh, County Commissioner, Marsha Abell step son now works for a vanderburgh county funded department making big bucks!
If the above post concerning Karen Ragland daughter is true, it looks like Lon Walters has a real campaign issue!!!!!!
What is it with the Election Office and this School Board? How many times is the voting public going to be asked to look the other way at these violations of State statute?
If the local election office can not do a better job than it has been doing perhaps the Secretary of State could offer some advice on how to correct the problems.
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For the record Henry I did not order my employee to file, I did ask him. He did not think the law should be ignored.
Lon, when you think of all the people who had the opportunity to file and should have filed, going all the way back to MS Ragland’s departure from EVSC and employment with the Joshua Academy, it is certainly a positive service you have performed for the voting public who have had enough of this election office and school board turning their heads at these violations of statute. I mean, how many does that make now?!
Again, thank you Lon and without question you did the right thing.
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Lon you should have filed the challenge yourself instead of “asking” an employee to do it for you. It’s come out that you did that and in my opinion it doesn’t show you in your best light. I voted for you last time around but not this time.
Just so you know I did ask some people but I also filed on my own behalf.
What kind of a violation is it when the elected school board as a body places one of their members in violation of state statute by voting to make her employer an EVSC charter school. Is this criminal (fraud), civil or some other kind of violation that carries no penalty in law? It seems to me the complaint really show be directed to a higher authority than the local election board, and should be on the body that willingly and enthusiastically placed one of their members in harms way…. the school board should be held legally accountable for this act.
That is an important point. Ragland became ineligible and may well have not known it. The same with Branson. The school board and the vetting of eligibility is not doing evil, they are simply incompetent. The candidates themselves are victims of the idiocy. As for Duckworth, his eligibility has been questioned many times without answers.
It does look bad with 3 out of 7 members of the school board are technically ineligible by some interpretations of law.
Good luck Lonnie , the people who have allowed ms Ragland to serve on the board should also be fired , rules are put into place for a reason ,, if I don’t follow rules and regulations I am held accountable for my actions …. Politicans and evsc both know the rules and need to be held responsible for their actions
I don’t think someone that sends their kids to private school should be on the school board like Chris Kieffer. Why should someone who doesn’t think public school is good enough be on the school board?
Maybe the public school is not good enough and needs an outside perspective to improve. Ranking politicians including our President and those before him have routinely sent their own kids to private schools while presiding over public education.
I think that Clinton, Reagan, and Carter are the only 3 of the 11 presidents in my lifetime to have gone to public schools. Do you think that members of congress send their kids to public schools in DC?
I believe that to be a member of the school board, one should be a registered voter in Vanderburgh County. You object to their membership if they send their children to a non-EVSC school. What about the members/candidates who are childless? Should they be eligible to serve?
I hope voters wakeup to the extreme importance of the school board. The School Budget is larger than the City and County Budget combined–those dollars all come from you the taxpayer.
If you have been paying attention to the public notices the last couple of weeks, you have seen the legal notices of the 2013 proposed budgets for the 3 largest consumers of tax dollars in Vanderburgh county posted in accordance with State statute.
They are as follows:
$303,375,000. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ City of Evansville
$226,916,261. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ EVSC
$112,831,000. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Vanderburgh County
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$643,172,261. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ TOTAL
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Free spending, out of control spending, rubber stamp everything the Supt. ask for what did you expect from that group of misfits. Why don’t they publish the cost of overrun on the new North High school? That is something EVSC does not want you to know. Get rid of the whole board, they are useless!!!
The state has ruled that Ragland must remain on the November ballot. If she would be elected and immediately resigned, who would select her relacement? It is the same incompetent bunch that is currently serving as the EVSC Board. That should be changed!
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