C-TEC - The buck stops nowhere

The evaporation of public money entrusted to the care of C-TEC’s school board and administrators has been well-documented by the Advocate and discussed at length in blogs and comments. Those I’ve written, plus links to news reports, can be found at this link.

Bob Handelman, president of the school board, denied responsibility when asked by the Advocate about the school board’s role. This school board president - with whom the uppermost resonsibiltiy lies - believes himself, other board members, and administrators blameless for any of this. The buck, for them, apparently stops nowhere.

As reported by the Advocate 4/27/10, “board president Bob Handelman, a Newark school board member, joined the second session to defend the board's handling of the expansion, arguing C-TEC was guilty of nothing more than accepting bad professional advice. He's told us there's no evidence anyone in C-TEC acted in bad faith and there was no need to investigate what went wrong, nor any need for apologies.”

The fact is, Bob Handelman and everyone involved in C-TEC’s recent and present administrative blundering owes this community four things: 1) an apology for irresponsible management of public money; 2) an explanation of how things went so wrong in the decision-making processes and by whom these decisions were made; 3) resignations of those responsible; and 4) new administrative policies to prevent recurrences.

If C-TEC leaders think denial is their salvation, they are truly underestimating the intelligence of parents and taxpayers. To claim innocence - rather than to claim responsibility - rather than claim a firm resolve to do better - demonstrates delusion that won’t be forgotten.