Thursday, July 26, 2018

California's Kern High School District's Fired Whistleblowers Given a "Retirement" Party





Kern High School District, reported on previously, held a Retirement Party for 19 employees - and ironically  included the three men forced into early retirement for whistleblowing about Garland products being illegally sole-sourced, bought by the Business Administrators at the rate of $200,000 in materials for many years, and installed by only one installer.



Both KGET Television and the local paper, The Californian, carried the story.



The reporter told a person who was in attendance that when the Superintendent first started talking to her he was smiling and friendly, but when she then asked the question about the irony of honoring those they fired for supposed incompetence such as John Fox, his hands started to immediately shake, and he stared at her with an angry look, and then made the statement on the video about honoring all of those who have retired.  She asked if he had any other comments he would like to make about the lawsuit and he just continued to stare at her with that angry look on his face.  She then extended her hand to thank him, and he reluctantly reached out, shook her hand, and then threw her hand back at her, turned and walked away in disgust.



The reporters "get" what is going on.



Here is the link to the TV Story at KGET in Bakersfield, California, with Garland featured as the culprit:

http://www.kget.com/news/local/story/Retirees-suing-KHSD-are-honored-by-trustees/PX4rHjOe502Ffc533Nwp3w.cspx



And here is the print story at The Californian regarding the same:

http://www.bakersfield.com/news/local/x1337479310/Education-roundup-Kern-High-recognizes-retirees-including-lawsuit-filers?utm_source=widget_56&utm_medium=photo_entries_teaser_widget&utm_campaign=synapse



The Californian notes their previous stories on their firing for whistleblowing, noting:

"The three former veteran maintenance and operations workers filed lawsuits against the district alleging they were wrongfully terminated for whistleblowing on corrupt practices, breach of contract, and age and race discrimination, among other reasons, court documents show."


They also state "John Fox and Clem Williams argue in court documents that they spoke out against "needless wasteful" spending in their department, as well as "kickbacks, bribes and improper gifts" being given to KHSD employees from construction companies."





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