Dr. Leone remembers Kasich's Education Czar!

Dennis Leone to John Curry, January 26, 2012

I know Richard Ross pretty well, as do most supts who were active in BASA and served in Ohio as supts between 1985 and 2005. Memory Lane: In 2003, when the STRS spending stuff hit the fan, Ross was called at Reynoldsburg and asked by the Dispatch to explain what in the world Jack Chapman did at Reynoldsburg when he missed 84 days of work the previous school year to due to "STRS business." Ross replied: "When he is here, we use him to supervise an in-school suspension room."

All by himself, Chapman was the trigger for new legislation in 2004 to restrict the total dollars spent by board members on their fun trips. The Dispatch followed up with a strong editorial about Chapman with this headline: "Hit the Road Jack, Less Often." The new legislation in 2004, because of Chapman's personal spending abuses as a board member, banned him personally from ever serving again as an STRS Board member.

The law also banned Hazel Sidaway and Eugene Norris from serving again. They were two more big spenders when they were STRS Board members. I recall how arrogant all three were in their belief and practice, as [former STRS Executive Director] Herb Dyer once wrote, that STRS funds were "their dollars to spend as they see fit." Terrible, terrible times (1994-2004) at STRS. I am afraid that some of it is quietly coming back.

Dennis Leone