Memba him ?
According to a source on this blog - Noah Wepman, Cheif Financial Officer who caused a controversy after his testimony before the DC City council was fired last week. The story of Mr. Wepman's termination is courtesy of the WTOP website and has been posted here for your review.
Link: http://www.wtop.com/?nid=25&sid=1807727
November 9, 2009 - 4:21pm
WASHINGTON - The chief financial officer of D.C. Public Schools has been fired, WTOP has learned. DCPS CFO Noah Wepman, who withheld budget numbers from the D.C. Council, was fired last Friday, sources tell WTOP. A spokesperson for D.C.'s Chief Financial Officer Nat Gandhi declined to comment on whether Wepman was still employed by the District. .Last month, Wepman told council members the $43 million budget gap that forced the firings of hundreds of D.C. teachers were not entirely due to council budget cuts. Wepman told the council the DCPS budget was certified, despite the fact that there was a multi-million dollar shortfall. Posted by The Washington Teacher featuring Candi Peterson, blogger in residence, story courtesy of WTOP website.
Why did the council jump Wepman a young fellow. They should go after Ghandi as people who work for him seem to be the scape goat.
ReplyDeleteI hope Wepman tells all and files a claim against DC as I am sure he was coerced. Ghandi should be fired.
Our prayers go up for you Wepman and you will be just fine son.
Are we really surprised?
ReplyDeleteCan Ms. Rhee be next?
Many school staff and teachers who were fired had the goods on bad principals before they were fired and said nothing until they were fired which made them a part of the problem. Some of those principals are still enjoying a nice pay check as a result of hidden secrets by fired staff.
ReplyDeleteGray and his staff, Rhee and her staff all work together as a private city. Gray was not going to do anything or did'nt the fallen staff know this.
ReplyDeleteIt is not race against race, it's about the fat pay check at the end of the day.
Summer school is very important, yet no one told many parents that Gray wanted to cut summer school. If this info. was told to parents then Rhee would have had more supporters than she could have ever imagined and there would have been not need for the fake hearing.
ok maybe I am confussed. I am reading the comments and I don't understand. I know that Wepman was the scaptgoat but lets not forget that he testifyed before the council that he knew the budget was not balanced, he certified an unbalanced budget and he also testifyled that he did not tell his boss. I know that there is a lot of back room meetings in politics but to me this one is clear and he deserves to loose his job.
ReplyDeleteAs far as summer school lets not loose focus. Michelle Rhee did not like the decision of the City Council and decided with her staff that she was going to do something different. If she was so confident in ther decision why did she choose to leave the council out of the loop and then blame them for the budget shortfall.
Summer School was designed to be enrichment not replacement, too many students use summer school as a crutch and in the last few years our "wonderful" mayor has decided to pay students in summer school.
So on top of failing a class for 9 months now a student gets paid to get the credit in five weeks.
One last note Summer School is always in question every year and they always "find" the money to have Summer School, the City Council did not eliminate Summer School they cut Summer School. Maybe we need to do like Maryland and make parents pay for Summer School, maybe students and parents will put forth a little more effort during the year.
I don't think Wepman is a complete victim. He should have told Gandhi about the budget and then he would have been able to provide documentation that he was not a scapegoat. It would be very interesting if Wepman filed an EEOC complaint and told everything. I'm sure Rhee is concerned because there is a lot more Wepman could tell.
ReplyDeleteI thought Mr. Wepman was innocent in all this drama. Found out that he'd been in DCPS for years serving in different capacities. They all need to go. What were his credentials? We knew that his resignation was coming..just not this soon.
ReplyDeleteOoooo, Wow - I figured that would happen, he couldn't cover for them well enough, without stammering and stuttering so they had to make him a fall guy... nasty!
ReplyDeleteGOOD!!! Let's get this party started. Like someone said, Wepman is not a victim, he couldn't cover for his people well enough, and what he did was wrong. When you do things that you know are not ethical, then your downfall when it comes can not be blamed on anyone but yourself. PERIOD.
ReplyDeleteWhat goes around, comes around....
ReplyDeleteWepman today, Who's next on tomorrow? The bottom line is that the 266 RIF'd educators need to return to their perspective positions ASAP to work effectively with their students and parents. If Wepman or Rhee and Co. gets away with breaking the law, other DC Government agencies will manufactured a budget pressure & RIF tenured, union, or certified employees as well. All of us will be unemployed. It's time to hold everyone accountable, DC Government City Officials, Adrian Fenty, DCPS Central Administration, Michelle Rhee, Principals, Coaches, Master Teachers as well as the President of the WTU. All stakeholders must be actively involved and document everything. Stand up for your rights.
Kudos to Chairman Gray & City Council Members who supported the students and RIF'd teachers.
Does anyone know who the CFO was before Mr. Wepman and what his position is now?
ReplyDeleteThere are reports that some of the fallen staff somewhat discriminated as to who they would help with school funds soley designed for the neediest kids, but some select kids where mistreated by those staff when asking for the help. Is it true that one of the fired staff called one of the neediest kids selfish aloud for asking for help that was highly needed.
Gray fooled everyone when he got on the news last week and said that all is well in the schools and scores are climbing after his so called yelling at Rhee.
ReplyDeleteSeems that many council members cow tow so much that they will tow others right into their positions since they are so divided concerning their own people.
He's a fall guy, for sure, but he also deserves to go based on his own actions.
ReplyDeleteI just hope he's the first of many to go for just cause.
And I hope he sends the message -- This is what happens if you pimp for Michelle Rhee.
Dont do it.
I think the DC coucil members are weak and blindingly couching their wasteful spending habits and lustfull desires, thus inheriting the perfect benevolent mayor.
ReplyDeleteThey got exactly who they really are, who orders, demands, and conceales withouth their consent with no regard for their feelings as the council has done to so many other people who have gone before them for help with no resolution.
Great job Mayor Fenty as you are the turning tide for change.
As a DC resident for the past 35 years and a senior citizen, you have to be stupid and blind to say that the Mayor is doing a great job. Mayor Fenty lied to people, young and old and you have the guts to say he's doing a good job. He is one of the worst mayors we have ever had. He is breaking DC laws continuously and does not want anyone to say anything about it. He brings Rhee and other so called officials to DC Government to replace African-Americans and other minorities because he thinks they are making too much money. That's not doing a good job because all these veterans in the city government paid their dues as a starter on the job before they got to where they are. PLEASE STOP THE HATE...............................
ReplyDeleteI believe that removing Noah Wepman is a strategic move DCPS has undertaken to let everyone think things are moving forward in the right direction.
ReplyDeleteWait and see until he scores a better paying position with the Fenty administration or even with DCPS.
Anyone who stands up and LIE SHOULD BE FIRED – FENTY, K. HENDERSON, G. PARKER, JOHN DAVIS, STACY THOMAS, AND ALL OTHER BLOOD SUCKERS WHO SERVE RHEE IN HER REIGN OF TERROR.
ReplyDeleteSheila H. Gill Responds to an Anonymous 11/09/09 comment (below) at the invitation of Candi Peterson, blogger in residence.
ReplyDeleteHi Candi:
I would like to thank you in advance for allowing me to write a rebuttal in regards to Anonymous 11/09/09 comments with an Ah Ha moment.
As I previously stated at the City Council Hearing on October 20, 2009, all DCPS High Schools are STEM Schools with Science, Technology, English and Math courses offerings. Clearly, Engineering is an education/career program. A student doesn't need Engineering to meet the 24 basic credits to graduate from a DCPS High School.
Honestly, all students need to meet the DC Municipal Regulations Requirements which clearly defines that students must have earned credits in English, Math, Science, Social Studies, Physical Education and Health, Music, Art, Foreign Language, Career/Technical Education, General Electives as well as 100 Community Service Hours requirements to graduate from DCPS.
Please don't get it twisted that Educational/Career programs are Engineering, Bio-Technology, Information Technology, Mass Media & Communication, Health & Human Services, Business Finance, Vocational, Architecture, and Construction. Again, every DCPS High School is a STEM/Liberal Arts program with Science, Technology, English and Math to meet the basic requriements to earn a high school diploma from DCPS. In closing, students do not need Engineering or any other educational program to meet the 24 basic DCPS graduation credits. Again, each student needs 100 Community Service Hours for DCPS HS graduation requirements.
For the record, as a Professional School Counselor as well as the Senior Counselor for the Class of 2009, I had 100% graduation rate at McKinley Technology HS (MTHS). The Class of 2009 @ MTHS was the highest student rate of seniors who were awarded the Last Dollar Scholarship Award for 4 years as well as two million dollars of scholarships/financial aid awards. I'm proud to write with the support of MTHS terrific students and parents, we worked collectively and effectively to achieve highly successful graduates to continue their post secondary education.
Educationally yours,
Sheila H. Gill
_______________________________
11/9/09 Anonymous comment:
"I agree with Sonya! I point to the testimony of the McKinley Tech HS Counselor, Gill. She stated that "Every school in DC is a S.T.E.M School (Science, Technology, English, and Math) AH HA!!! the E = Engineering. Therefore, every school in DC is NOT a STEM school. A Guidence Counselor should know that, right?"
It appears that someone from McKinley is attempting to post negative comments on this blog about Sheila H. Gill, Professional School Counselor formerly of McKinley Technology Senior High School. Of course these comments are being posted by someone who refuses to identify who they really are. This says to me that this person is a coward.
ReplyDeleteIt should be noted that I refuse to approve any of these future comments on The Washington Teacher blog should they continue to occur so let a word to the wise be sufficient.
I don't know Ms. Gill (personally or professionally), but she and others should be aware that in the acronym STEM, the E stands for Engineering and not English. STEM is a shorthand way to refer to science-related fields, and a STEM school is one that specifically focuses on these topics (while, of course, still helping students meet all graduation requirements). See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STEM_fields
ReplyDeleteI like Noah Wepman and feel for him. He made the classic mistake of trying to save his job by bowing to Rhee's demands, when he should have saved his career by getting another job and refusing her demands.
ReplyDeleteHaving said all of that, when is she going to be fired? Wepman only moved the money at her behest.
Calling on the Accountability Mayor - can you bike ride over to 825 North Capitol and supervise your employee, Ms. Rhee? We might have to extend some more tax dollars for your bike to be carried on the plane as she might be in California.... Got a leave slip?
I also don't know Ms. Gill, but the DCPS website says the E in STEM represents Engineering. Here's a quote.
ReplyDelete"The acronym STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. Use of the term “STEM” emphasizes the connection points and overlap between these areas of study."
Don't forget Peter Weber and Maia Blankenship. The are part of team. They carry out the human resources part.
ReplyDeleteTheir hands are just a dirty.
Nice people, but they hooked up with MR, which can be a career buster.