I am writing in order to clarify the controversy surrounding the published 2014 salaries of EVSC administrators by CCO yesterday.  I decided to follow up on the information that I read in City-County Observer after Marsha Jackson, Communication Director, implied that the figures posted in the CCO were erroneous, and that the Publisher of the CCO was aware of it. I called the EVSC  switchboard and was referred to Paul Neidig, who works out EVSC the Chief of Staff’s office. Mr. Neidig told me that the figures in the link are for the 2014-2015 school year.  He said that there had been some miscommunication about that with the person who picked the information up from his office, but they had contacted that individual and given the correct information. I also questioned Mr. Neidig about the 2011 employment contract for the Superintendent of EVSC that is published in CCO and was assured that it is the current, in-force employment contract that Dr. Smith is presently working under.
I then called the Publisher of CCO, and relayed to him what Mr. Neidig had told me. The CCO publisher told me that he had no conversation with MR. Neidig or anyone else at EVSC concerning the 2014 salary figures being wrong, as they had been furnished to him by a highly reliable source whose identity he will not divulge. He went on to tell me that he had not been given any information about any miscommunication about the time period those salary figures covered, and that he deeply resented EVSC Communications Director Marsha Jackson’s implications that he had purposely misled his readers.  He also shared with me that he has received several complaints that a high ranking EVSC employee told a couple EVSC athletic coaches to make some popular athletes wear “Kiefer For School Board” shirts during todays school session.  He went on to say if this was true he going to file a formal complaint with the State Election Commission concerning this issue.
I can’t understand Mr. Neidig’s stance on  the dates for the Superintendent’s employment contract, because it appears to be unchanged since 2011.  The contract renewal date is June 30, 2014.  One thing that I do know for sure is that exchanging personal barbs on CCO is not proper professional conduct for the very well paid EVSC COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR Marsha Jackson while she is “on the taxpayer’s clock.† She has politicized her position by spinning propaganda to make her “big boss†look good to the public.
I have also been told by more than one person about EVSC Attorney Mr. Pat Shoulders calling them on behalf of Chris Kiefer. It isn’t very professional of him to be campaigning for any one member of the board, as he works for the entire school board. It appears to me that there is an “insider culture†that exists between the board and top administrators at EVSC,  which aims at maintaining the status quo in the $300 million plus taxpayer-supported corporation.  That is never a good thing for the taxpayers or the public interest.
I hope I have shed some light on the controversy surrounding the information concerning EVSC’s back room political wheeling and dealing and the fuss about the 2014 administrative payroll.  Whatever your take on the situation is, I hope you will see fit to vote your conscience today, if you have not already voted.
Respectfully,
Laura K. Blackburn
POSTED BY CCO WITHOUT BIAS, Â OPINON OR EDITING
