Wednesday, October 24, 2012

2000's: A Poor Decision and Hubris Buried Emery School District


Recent Emeryville History
The Emery Unified School District hired a new school superintendent, J.L. Handy years back after a long executive search.  Mr Handy had such a poor a record of fiscal mismanagement, he was fired from Compton Unified School District before a state takeover of that district.  Regardless of his record, officials at Emery thought he would work out fine here and so Mr Handy was hired with great fanfare.  
All those responsible in Emeryville for the 'Handy debacle' have since been ousted save one: Council member Nora Davis was the chairwoman of the search committee that recommended Emery Unified hire Mr Handy.
As Emery Unified proceeds with its plan to rebuild the schools, including closing the newly remodeled Anna Yates Elementary School and moving it over to the High School site, a move which will cost Emeryville taxpayers $107 million paid over 40 years, it can be instructive to see where we came from as a school district...our recent history.
Below is a snapshot of a cocksure but deluded school district and the fallout of one poor decision; the hiring of J.L. Handy as superintendent. Headlines and snippets of stories are from the Los Angeles Times.
For your edification: 

December 9, 1992
The Compton Unified School District's Board of Education fired Supt. J. L. Handy on Tuesday and named Area Supt. Harold Cebrun as his interim replacement. The 4-3 vote to dismiss Handy was announced after a two-hour closed session. The board then voted 5 to 2 to name Cebrun, who is in charge of Dominguez High School and its feeder schools, as acting superintendent. Handy, who was placed on probation last month, has been criticized for mismanagement.


September 20, 2000 | JOHN M. GLIONNA, TIMES STAFF WRITER
J.L. Handy, fired in 1992 as superintendent of Compton schools amid allegations of fiscal mismanagement just before an unprecedented state takeover, is under investigation for what officials describe as a similar pattern of conduct in the Bay Area community of Emeryville, where he is school superintendent now.



December 24, 2000 | JOHN M. GLIONNA, TIMES STAFF WRITER
In an extremely rare move, state education officials say they will soon take control of a tiny, financially troubled East Bay school district as a criminal investigation continues into the spending practices of its former superintendent. State Sen. Don Perata (D-Alameda) says he will ask the Legislature next month to provide $3 million for an emergency financial bailout of the bankrupt Emery Unified School District, which is more than $1.4 million in debt and unable to pay its bills.



June 20, 2001 | JOHN M. GLIONNA, TIMES STAFF WRITER
The former superintendent of an embattled East Bay school district has been accused of criminally misusing a work-issued credit card and illegally guiding lucrative school district contracts to a girlfriend in Orange County, authorities say. J.L. Handy, who was fired nine years ago as superintendent of Compton's schools amid allegations of financial mismanagement, recently surrendered to police and is free on $15,000 bail.



July 24, 2001 | JOHN JOHNSON, TIMES STAFF WRITER
Embattled former Bay Area schools chief J.L. Handy may have run the little Emeryville school district into the ground, but he didn't do it alone, the Alameda County Grand Jury declared Monday. The grand jury report says the onetime Compton school official, now facing criminal charges over his spending practices in Northern California, was abetted by a lax educational establishment that failed to supervise Handy and protect the finances of the 900-student East Bay district.



October 4, 2001 | JOHN M. GLIONNA, TIMES STAFF WRITER
J.L. Handy, the superintendent of a small, financially troubled East Bay school district, has resigned in the face of a mounting investigation into his financial practices. The 60-year-old Handy, who was fired as superintendent of Compton schools in 1992 amid allegations of financial mismanagement just before an unprecedented state takeover, has been the subject of a recent probe into his activities as head of the 900-student Emery School District.



January 25, 2003 | From Times Wire Reports
The Emeryville Unified School District plans to close its middle school and launch a parcel-tax campaign to bolster a shaky budget. During the past two years, the district received a $2.3-million state bailout; residents ousted school board members; and former Supt. J.L. Handy was sentenced to five years' probation for using school funds for personal business.

1 comment:

  1. Looks like Mr. Handy was hired specifically to be the "Fall Man" in order to divert the attention from the real persons who were at fault for the bankruptcy. Who will be the next "Fall Man or Woman" for the impending bankruptcy and heavy and ongoing tax burden the ECCL project will be laying on us?

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