ANSWERING JOHN TEDESCO’S WAKEED BLOG RESPONSE PART 1

                                           TEDESCO

    

            I have been reading, with great interest and equal amusement, Wake School Board Vice Chairman John Tedesco’s response to my story, "“Chairman” Tedesco An Issue in District 3 Wake School Board Race."

           

            The detailed story, tracking Tedesco’s career in government over the past decade, raises the reasonable question of not only the District 2 school board member’s maturity, temperament and leadership abilities - all qualities that any decent elected head of a governing body should have in respectable measures - but also, what do we really know about John Tedesco after watching him in action after the past two years.

            Most importantly, the story asks, should the school board member we see today, be the next chairman of the Wake County Public School Board that parents, children and citizens can trust to lead with honesty, integrity and skill tomorrow, especially if Republican - Tea Party candidate Heather Losurdo defeats Democratic incumbent Kevin Hill in the Nov. 8^th District 3 runoff?

            As most citizens who are paying attention know, the official outcome of that important contest will determine not only the balance of power on the Wake School Board, and the direction of the board for at least the next two years, but also who will indeed lead the board during that time.

            So a lot is at stake, no matter what the voters of District 3 decide, and it is my job, as a journalist, to accurately review, report and, yes, expose the record in that regard.

            To be blunt, Heather Losurdo isn’t the 800 lb. gorilla here.

            John Tedesco is.

            With fellow Republican board member Debra Goldman having already served as vice chair and still really not trusted by her GOP colleagues; Chris Malone leaving soon to run for the state House (though adding school board chair to his campaign flyers couldn’t hurt before he leaves); and Deborah Prickett not likely to be chosen over the current vice chairman to replace the dethroned Chairman Ron Margiotta; pure logic suggests that if the board Republicans hang on to their 5-4 majority after Nov. 8^th, then John T. Tedesco will be the next chair.

            So despite Mr. Tedesco’s bloviated “Who me?” protestations to obscure the obvious political pot-of-gold he knows is in store for him if Losurdo wins, make no mistake, this runoff is as much about him and his leadership, as it is about the next Wake School Board.

            That was the premise on which I began to research my story. And because I did, and found both previously unknown pictures...

          Tedesco, as Borough Administrator of HighLands, NJ at a 2001 holiday party (courtesy Highlands Business Partnership website)
 ...and solid facts about John Tedesco - a public official of which all of us know really very little  - he accuses me of lying about, and “demonizing” him.

            If by “demonizing” Tedesco means I’m exposing what he’s up to, or what he really means, or a truth he’s not telling, then I plead very guilty.

            But he also uses my alleged “demonizing” of him as an excuse for not once in two years, sitting down, face-to-face, like men, and interviewing with me, taking the tough questions like a true leader of character and fortitude should. If I’m doing something wrong, or acting dishonorably, the best way to stop me and expose me is to confront me…with the truth, to my face, for all the world to see.

            Not hide from me. How could a “liar” damage you, if you have the truth, and can prove it?

            If by “lying” Tedesco means I’m deliberately setting out to deceive my readers about him and his actions, not a chance. You don’t last in journalism as long as I have in this market, or anywhere, for that matter, with that kind of behavior. In fact, it’s because I have relentlessly sought the truth about those elected officials sworn to serve the public, but do a better job serving their own interests, that I’m trusted to do my job, and have been so for over twenty-years.

I’ve learned during that time that when a politician starts screaming “liar” after I’ve exposed them, it’s their way of saying, “Ouch,” when I’m getting close to the truth.

            So I understand Mr. Tedesco’s overheated reaction very well. It’s typical.

            So let’s check the record and see if any of John Tedesco’s accusations against me and my story hold any water, shall we? This is part 1 of my two-part reply.

            Mr. Tedesco’s remarks and accusations from the 10-27-11 N&O WakeEd Blog are in red:

            Cash,

            I understand it serves you well to keep demonizing me. Try not to use so many lies with only a sprinkle of truth. Not that I could ever correct all your lies, but let's try a few.

            Actually, Mr. Tedesco, it serves my readers “well” to be kept informed about what you, and the rest of the Wake School Board are up to. When you make political speeches at Tea Party rallies regularly across the state, telling folks about instilling your “conservative values” into our education system...

             ...instead of good, sound apolitical instruction and guidance, believe me, it serves us all “well” to keep an eye on someone who is two weeks away from actually carrying through with his political agenda.

            By the way, your repeatedly stated angst about my reporting “so many lies” about you that it would be hard to “correct all,” is an old worn out rhetorical cover for the basic fact that you have no factually-based, truthful answer for much of what I’ve uncovered. For if you did, you would revel in knocking them ALL down, one-by-one.

            But we’ll do it your way, by looking at the “few” that you did brave to tackle.

            Outright lie #1. I NEVER attempted to take credit for a rise in 2008 graduation rates because it never happened. I have repeated numerously that our graduation rates declined 5 consecutive years in a row from 05-06. Only now in 2011 did they rise for which I credit our teachers, principals and students.

            Nice spin, but let’s go to the WCPSS website at http://www.wcpss.net/news/2011_august4_graduation_rate/ for the correct answer:

            The state defines the 2010-11 four-year cohort graduation rate as the percentage of students who entered the 9^th grade for the first time during the 2007-08 school year and who earned a diploma by June of 2011. Students who transfer into a school on grade level are added to that school’s cohort, and those who transfer out are removed. Students who earn a certificate of completion are in the cohort, but are not counted as graduates.

            The students who graduated in 2011 “entered the 9^th grade for the first time during the 2007-08 school year,” WCPSS says. That is one whole year before John Tedesco was elected to the board, and that is the last cohort anyone has figures on. Those students entered high school under the old student diversity policy, and matriculated under that policy even after the Republican-led board took office in December 2009.

            The record will show that the current board spent most of its time from 2009 to 2011 dealing with student assignment issues, doing very little at all to address student achievement. Indeed, the record will also show that the board’s Republican leadership was willing to put the accreditation of the system’s high schools at-risk in its fight with AdvancEd, almost rendering the hard-earned diplomas of the 2007-2008 class worthless to most universities after four years of hard work.

            So the improvements put in place over four years ago by Supt. Del Burns and Academic Officer Donna Hargens, per the curriculum management audit they conducted, bore fruit with the 2007-2008 class, that led to 2011’s much improved graduation rates.

            Did Tedesco try to take credit for this? He says he “NEVER attempted to,” but a posting on his Facebook page (which has now been render “unavailable”) and a Sept. 15^th email from Tedesco titled “Dollars and Sense - Results Matter,” suggests otherwise.

            In a missive to “Friends,” Tedesco wrote:

            In 2009, the Wake County Public School System had just completed 5 consecutive years of declining graduation rates, broadening achievement gaps, climbing suspensions (21,000 in Wake led NC which is 4th in US), skyrocketing expenses, 24,000 students had been reassigned with the continued quota-based busing, and Wake had laid-off hundreds of our dedicated teachers.

            Our parents and tax-payers demanded better and elected a new board. At that time I was honored to join that new team with nearly 77% of the vote. The contentious status quo supporters loudly proclaimed the sky would quickly fall due to the new family friendly conservative leadership. Well, results matter.

            Two years later:

            We now have 165 schools serving approximately 147,000 children with 18,000 employees and a $1.5 billion budget. Graduation rates are heading up, suspensions are down, schools are safer, we are at an all time efficiency rate, and performance gains are being made for all children.

            This year graduation rates exceeded 80% posting the first gains in 7 years and placing Wake as number 3 in America of the nation's top 100 large districts. The 62% for African American students was a 6% gain over the past two years.

            Now I don’t know about you, but when someone writes that “Two years later” after he and his group came on a school board, the improvements “our parents and taxpayers demanded” are now coming into reality, I think most reasonable people would say, yes, he’s attempting to take credit.

            And just why would John Tedesco “attempt” to do that?

            Let’s go to the bottom of his email:

            We are grateful to the countless teachers, administrators and parents who help our schools achieve new heights every day. I am honored to serve as our Vice Chair along side of our Chairman, Ron Margiotta. I think we as a community owe Ron Margiotta a note of appreciation for his leadership in these efforts and a big thank you to the rest of our team as they stand strong as servant leaders (Deborah Prickett, Debra Goldman and Chris Malone).

            Be sure to tell all your friends of the School Board elections Oct.11th.  Keeping Mr. Margiotta and adding a couple of more board members who focus on students first this October can ensure that the best is yet to come.

            Notice how Tedesco shares “credit” with Margiotta and the rest of the board Republicans, but absolutely none of the board’s Democrats, as if they had nothing to do with any of the alleged “successes.”

            So yes, Mr. Tedesco, in your own writing, from your own email, you DID “attempt” to take credit for success Del Burns and Donna Hargens were responsible for long before you set foot in the system building!

            So much for “Outright Lie #1.”

            Lie #2. I was never FORCED to apologize to Mrs. Goldman for my inappropriate emotional moment. I chose to apologize to her publicly within 24 hours because that is what human beings do – they make mistakes and then seek forgiveness. I made a mistake and sought forgiveness out of humility.

            Extreme embarrassment is more like it, Mr. Tedesco. Your extraordinarily undignified outburst at a public meeting, rhetorically and relentlessly attacking and bullying a female colleague personally in front of television cameras and the public, raised very serious questions about your fitness for office and mental stability, leaving a bad taste in the mouths of even your staunchest supporters.

            The raw videotape of your Oct. 6^th, 2010 incident where you called Debra Goldman “prom queen,” and “Ms. Pinky Hairdo,” an insensitive slur to a breast cancer survivor that you denied to WRAL-TV, even though they had you dead-to-rights on video saying it, also shows Chairman Margiotta finally barking “Enough!” to shut you down, and board members Carolyn Morrison and Anne McLaurin reacting in visible and audible disgust.

            I never said that anyone specific "forced" you to apologize (though I'm sure someone proverbially took you by the ear to read you the riot act). I said that you WERE forced to apologize, whether you’re honest enough to admit it or not, because you were in a no-win situation. No matter what Debra Goldman did, you knew (and I’m sure you were told) that what you did threatened your credibility, and the longer you allowed it to grow, the more your actions and behavior endangered not only your personal agenda, but the board majority’s political agenda.

            None of what I've laid out is guess work. It’s logic, Mr. Tedesco. You were the absolute villain on every TV station and in every newspaper and blogsite in the market. Your family, friends and neighbors saw it. The people in your church, where you profess to be a Christian, saw it. Heck, the Wake Republican Party saw it. You were radioactive! If you didn’t fix it fast, with full and unadulterated contrition, it would have been a complete disaster for you.

           

            And you knew it!

            I might also add that with little more than a polite smile and a “Calm down now John,” Debra Goldman had you where she wanted you. She was getting support and sympathy from people who didn’t even like her. Remember, Tedesco, her “treachery” of voting against the 16-zone plan you worked so hard on was supposed to be a campaign issue in 2011 (don’t bother denying it, I have Margiotta and Malone saying exactly that).

            After what she publicly did to you, you couldn’t possibly let Goldman win! In fact, forget 24-hours. For many months after, you still treated her like an outcast. The subsequent tapes from WPTF-AM’s Bill Lumaye Show prove it!

            So yes, you were FORCED, Tedesco, you had NO options BUT to be contrite a lot sooner than you had planned. You had no other options! Save that, “…because that is what human beings do – they make mistakes and then seek forgiveness. I made a mistake and sought forgiveness out of humility…” masquerade for Halloween, where it belongs!

PART TWO FORTHCOMING!