Forum… Or Against ‘em

I love my adopted country. Despite the negative attitude of some in the international community with regard to America and all she stands for and the outright jealousy of an equal or greater number of others, I can tell you that the United States of America is, on balance, the object of admiration and envy the world over. In fact, I can make a case that no one can appreciate America more than a non-American, since natural born Americans themselves do not have the perspective of seeing up close or living intimately with the disadvantages that the citizens of many other countries are born into. Without having that comparison as a guidepost, one cannot see the opportunity that befalls every American as a birthright…
Nevertheless, it never ceases to astound me how out of touch some elements of American governance are with the reality over which they have authority. To put it rather bluntly, certain of our rulers in this country are unworthy of the honor that has been bestowed upon them. There are too many examples of this, in my opinion, and I could expend the rest of the too few days left me on this earth holding forth on just the ones I know about. For the sake of brevity, I will dwell on just one case in point, that of the board of trustees for the Rialto Unified School District…
For over a year now, Mohammad Islam, who was formerly that district’s associate superintendent of business services, has been serving in the capacity of acting, or interim, superintendent. He was appointed to that position after former Rialto Unified Superintendent Harold Cebrun was placed on administrative leave as a consequence of the scandal involving Judith Oakes, the district’s accounting official who it has now been confirmed embezzled $1.8 million in proceeds from the district’s school lunch program over the five year period between 2008 and 2013. Oakes is suspected of having embezzled another $1.4 million from the lunch program between 2001 and 2007.
Miss Oakes might still be pilfering money from the district if it had not been for Mr. Islam paying attention to detail and following up on what he observed and reacting appropriately and forthrightly. There is some evidence to suggest that Miss Oakes and Mr. Cebrun, to use the vernacular, “had a thing going,” although Mr. Cebrun has denied that was so…
Whatever the truth about the relationship between Mr. Cebrun and Ms. Oakes, who had been stealing money from the district prior to Mr. Cebrun being hired by Rialto Unified in 2009, she felt comfortable continuing to do so after Mr. Cebrun was in place as the head of the district. During Mr. Cebrun’s tenure as superintendent, the videorecording system that was in place to monitor the counting of money from district enterprises such as the lunch program was inoperable. Whether that was by design or chance is not clear…
Within a year of his hiring as associate superintendent of business services, Mr. Islam took notice of the numbers running through those various accounts. Looking at the numbers of students, the numbers of meals, the cost of preparing those meals, the income and the outgo, Mr. Islam saw that the numbers did not scan, and he sensed that something was not quite right. He acted sensibly and bravely. He did not inform Mr. Cebrun of his suspicions. Rather, he risked his own personal position by arranging to have the video recording system in the money counting room reactivated…
The result of that action is now well known. Moving images of Miss Oakes stuffing money into her bodice were captured on that video recorder. She was arrested and prosecuted and has pleaded guilty to embezzling the earlier reference $1.8 million and has been sentenced to five years in state prison. Last year, after six months on paid leave, Cebrun retired…
The school board this week signaled its intent to bring in a permanent replacement for Mr. Cebrun, voting unanimously to pay the La Quinta-based firm of Leadership Associates $26,500 to carry out a search and recruitment for a new superintendent…
I hope I am not the only observer bothered by the school board’s action. They already have an ideal candidate for superintendent. They need search no further. They can save the district $26,500 by rescinding the contract with Leadership Associates and simply dropping the qualifier “interim” from Mr. Islam’s title…
Need I spell out my rationale? Mr. Islam has already demonstrated his competence. In the relatively short period of time that he was with the district, he recognized a problem that previous superintendents, assistant superintendents, finance managers, accountants and accounting firms had consistently missed for over a decade. He met the problem head on with no shillyshallying. He stuck his own neck out on behalf of the students of the district and their taxpaying parents. What would have happened to Mr. Islam if Mr. Cebrun had learned he had gone behind his back to reinitiate the video recording and was in touch with authorities outside the district? Mr. Islam got to the root of the issue…
I know that some will say that even though Mr. Islam is an astute bean counter and he acted properly in this instance, he is not necessarily qualified to lead the school district for the next decade or more. After all, they will point out, Rialto Unified is an academic institution, or a collection of academic institutions, and its ultimate director should be a serious academic…
My response to that is Mohammad Islam is a serious academic. He studied the situation in the Rialto district more intently than anyone else. He is obviously bright, sensitive, disciplined, well-trained and educated, not to mention resourceful. But more than that, he is committed and brave. He may not have a doctorate in education. But he possesses an intangible quality the previous superintendent, the other assistant superintendents and the entirety of the school board lack: situational awareness, the ability to recognize the challenges the organization faces and the will and courage to take on and defeat those challenges…
Is there anyone who will suggest that Mr. Islam will not reach within himself or move beyond himself to make the Rialto Unified School District live up to its mission of educating the young minds of Rialto and prepare them for dealing with the world? I, for one, am confident Mr. Islam, if he does not possess the expertise to address certain issues facing the district, will reach out to network with those who do possess that expertise. Instead of wasting money trying to find something they already have, the school board’s members should see the opportunity that lies before them, prove themselves worthy of the honor of authority that has been bestowed upon them and promote Mohammad Islam to the position of superintendent, post haste. They have done much worse in the past…

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