Comments (2)

By Marc, October 6, 2011 9:50 pm

It seems that Sheriff Jett wasn’t a big fan of our recent post about crime being up big in Stafford County.

So instead of fighting crime Sheriff Jett did what any reasonable person would do: he set out to slice and dice the numbers to try to change the narrative. The problem is that it didn’t work.

I find it interesting that a month out from Election Day that Sheriff Charlie suddenly finds a 6-year old “software glitch” in HIS 2005 crime numbers. Glad to see Sheriff Charlie is on top of things. One has to wonder what other “glitches” he’s overlooked?

Despite his “new” numbers, crime is still on the rise in Stafford County. Jett’s recent attempt to mask 5 consecutive years (2006-2010) of increasing crime in Stafford shows just how serious he is taking the disturbing uptick in crime in the county – he ISN’T!

If we discount the 2005 numbers because of Jett’s 6-year “glitch,” per capita crime in Stafford County is up 13% and violent crime is up 47% from 2006 to 2010. For comparison’s sake, Prince William County’s overall per capita crime rate has fallen 10% and their violent crime rate has also fallen 20%. During this time period we’ve had more overall and violent crime, per capita, then both Spotsylvania and Prince William respectively.

Source: Virginia State Police

Source: Virginia State Police

Crime isn’t the only thing that’s been on the rise in Stafford over the last 5 years as his department’s budget has also increased a whopping 42% over that time period. I wonder whether Jett used HIS faulty numbers to justify huge increases to his department’s budget?

Jett is clearly more interested in playing with the numbers then keeping us safe. Maybe if he spent more time in Stafford County instead of pursuing his political career the last several years, he could have done more to address the rather disturbing increasing crime trend. Of course, he would first have to admit that there is a problem.

Admitting there is a problem is the first step to recovery.

Is Sheriff Jett’s 6-year computer glitch an oops on the scale of Marilyn Monroe’s dress blowing up over her knees by a passing train? Can we expect MM’s patented pout on Charlie’s face next? Stay tuned…

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By Marc, September 25, 2011 11:49 am

I don’t know about you, but here in the Fredericksburg area—during the early autumn months of odd-numbered years—I am struck by how state roads that for two years prior remained pockmarked with Buick-sized potholes suddenly are milled and expertly paved. All of this, courtesy of our munificent Speaker of the House of Delegates Bill Howell. Of course, Bill’s up for re-election…and he really wants your vote!

Nuthin’ happens around here for no reason.

In Stafford County, it is always about politics. And, the overly aggressive arrest and handcuffing of #BananaMan by Deputies of the Stafford County Sheriff’s Department was no accident. That is because this year, Sheriff Charlie Jett is up for re-election…and he really wants your vote!

If the Colonial Forge High School sophomore Bryan Thompson’s antics hadn’t been captured by a mobile device camera—and replayed on YouTube more than 66,000 times—the BananaMan episode would never have made national or international news.

And none of us would be asking the deep and troubling questions about how a funny, good-natured, high-functioning autistic kid could be punished so severely for a high school prank so benign.

But thanks to social media, Stafford County and the world have gotten a sobering view of how Sheriff Charlie Jett’s burning desire for re-election got in the way of common decency…and common sense.

A Colonial Forge parent working the food concessions told us that she wasn’t in the stands to see BananaMan’s on-the-field brouhaha. But, she witnessed—beforehand—sheriff’s deputies acting overly aggressive with some kids buying refreshments.

What is going on here? Are Sheriff Charlie’s recent visions of flash mobs looting Stafford County convenience stores affecting his policing strategy? Or, is it just politics as usual for Stafford County—where the winning strategy for re-election as sheriff is to show how tough you are on crime by having your deputies rough up a nice kid in a store-bought banana costume before a large crowd of onlookers?

Stafford Sheriff Candidate Chuck Feldbush (I) thinks it is all of these things and more. “This is the latest example of a department going bananas over harmless kid stuff while real crime – violent crime – is threatening the peace and safety of Stafford County,” said Mr. Feldbush.

“Slapping cuffs on a kid – who has a disability – for running down the sidelines at a high school football game in a banana suit is a complete overreach of the authority of the sheriff’s department.” Mr. Feldbush continued, “It’s a disturbing sign that Sheriff Jett has lost control of his deputies – and this is placing our kids at risk.”

According to the Virginia State Police, violent crime is up 66% in Stafford.

Where has the Free-Lance Star been on reporting about this brouhaha with law enforcement? The overlords of your hometown newspaper are probably too distracted by thoughts of cashing the $1.3M check they stand to collect for hosting Sheriff Charlie’s overpriced $40M public safety communication system on their broadcast towers.

After all, what are friends for?

And where does Stafford County Commonwealth’s Attorney candidate Eric Olsen figure in all of this? The overzealous “Law & Order” [intellectual property-stealing] prosecutor is probably fuming that BananaMan’s ten-day suspension has ended early and that he won’t be able to put the kid on the stand in a jury trial.

But Eric, have no fear. We hear that there was a Grape running amok around Stafford this week, too. (Times a waistin’ and you and the Man in the Yellow Hat need to go find him!)

What has BananaMan taught us all? It’s politics, stupid!

Comments (2)

By Marc, September 24, 2011 5:59 pm

Could a lack of accountability by the Stafford County School Board have led to the hiring of Dr. Karen Spillman, the Colonial Forge High School principal who we discovered—through publicly available sources—was convicted in 2007 in Prince William County, Virginia for public intoxication?

Dr. Spillman’s name is all over the internet and social media like Facebook for famously suspending Colonial Forge High School student Brian Thompson ten days following his benign Banana Man [high school football game half-time] prank.

Parents are asking administration officials and their school board members simple but serious questions, such as: what motivated Colonial Forge’s new principal and Sheriff’s Deputies to “go medieval” on the smart, funny, and high-functioning autistic kid running around the field in a store-bought banana costume? And, is [Principal Spillman] temperamentally well suited to lead Stafford County’s academics leading high school?

We believe Superintendent Randy Bridges acted properly in bringing an end to the BananaMan controversy. But does the school system Dr. Bridges runs have the necessary funding to run itself—and to assure proper administrative accountability? Budgets are stretched so far beyond tolerance—we know that because the Stafford County Board of Supervisors, led by its chair Mark Dudenhefer—took a chainsaw to the school system’s current operating budget.

Year-after-year, the chain-sawing of school operating budgets gets worse, thus year-after-year, staff members and administrators do even more with much less.

This year, Chairman Dudenhefer gleefully reduced the school system’s budgets to the point of utter absurdity. So, it is not outside the realm of possibility that decision-makers in Stafford Schools—who force themselves to do more work with less headcount—look over their shoulders and take time-saving shortcuts to complete critical hiring.

Did overwork and shortcuts [like not using Google or other search engines to query] lead Stafford Schools to avoid necessary due-diligence in regards to vetting candidates for its open assistant principal and principal assignments? Is it conceivable that an overworked senior administrator in Stafford Schools—under pressure from up on high to hire—have rushed the hiring of Dr. Karen Spillman?

We believe that it has.

Could a better-funded school board have identified the bright red flags in Dr. Spillman’s curriculum vitae?

Perhaps.

Comments (1)

By Marc, September 24, 2011 4:36 pm

As we reported last night, Stafford County Schools Superintendent Randy Bridges acted smartly and decisively to end the #BananaMan brouhaha; Superintendent Bridges’ formal statement apologized for actions taken [by the Colonial Forge High School principal Dr. Karen Spillman and deputies of the Stafford County Sheriff’s Department]. From the official statement:

My staff, under my direction, has reviewed the recent actions at Colonial Forge High School relating to the wearing of yellow tee shirts and other activities in support of a student who had been recently disciplined. We have concluded that many of the actions that were taken by the school were inappropriate. We are sorry for any embarrassment or inconvenience incurred by the students who were appropriately exercising their freedom of speech and by the families of those students. This administration and the School Board fully support the First Amendment rights of our students.

The BananaMan tsunami—which, over seven days, was covered as “weird news” by over 150 news-gathering outlets in the U.S. and abroad—is finally ebbing.

But let us be honest. We haven’t seen the end of controversy—far from it!

Dr. Spillman’s—and Stafford County Sheriff’s Deputies—heavy-handed response to fourteen year-old Colonial Forge student Brian Thompson’s halftime prank has led many Colonial Forge parents to ask important questions. Such as: who is Principal Karen Spillman? And, why did a harmless halftime prank result in handcuffs and [an initial] ten-day suspension from school?

A Colonial Forge parent living in the Augustine North sub-division spoke to us off-the-record; the parent thought it both odd—and troubling—that Stafford County’s SAT score-leading high school would actually deny one of its students two weeks of precious classroom instruction, adding that “[in this case], the punishment did not fit the [Banana Man] crime.”

So now, the focus turns to accountability. In regards to the recruitment, candidate-vetting and eventual hiring of Dr. Spillman by Stafford County Public Schools, people are rightly asking: what did Stafford County Schools and the school board know—and when did they know it?

This morning, we reported publicly available information on the July 2007 arrest of Karen C. Spillman in Prince William County for public intoxication. The arrest preceded Dr. Spillman’s (2008) acceptance of the Strasburg High School principal post as well as her resignation from the job, fifteen days later for “health reasons.” So, we—like so many Colonial Forge parents—wonder:

• When Dr. Spillman applied for employment to Stafford County Schools—to be an Assistant Principal—was she forthcoming about her July 2007 arrest in Prince William County for public intoxication?

• At the time of her recruitment for the Assistant Principal assignment, did Stafford County Public Schools run the proper [criminal and professional reference] background checks? Did they conduct thorough due-diligence?

• And this summer, when the principal’s position opened up, did the Stafford Count Public Schools re-evaluate Dr. Spillman’s background to replace Colonial Forge High School principal Dr. Lisa Martin, or, did they just rubber stamp Dr. Spillman’s promotion to that role?

Jobs are hard to come by these days, especially plum principal assignments in our public schools. In this difficult economy, there may be dozens of applications posted for each open public school principal assignment (even in under-performing school districts). But this is Stafford County—which touts the nation’s thirteenth-highest per-capita household income and its reputation for academic excellence. Can the Stafford County Schools and its school board assure us that they vetted Dr. Spillman properly? Were there no other candidates for the Colonial Forge principal’s job that could have done as well or better?

Let us be fair to Dr. Spillman: no one rises to the level of Associate Superintendent of Prince William County Schools unless they are truly talented educators and administrators. In fact, we know that in 2006 she applied for Superintendent of Prince William County Schools [to replace the late Superintendent Edward Kelly].

Sadly, Dr. Spillman’s 2007 arrest clouded what arguably [has been] a very bright career in the Commonwealth of Virginia’s third-largest school system.

But parents at Colonial Forge are wondering aloud about Dr. Spillman’s temperament. And are seriously concerned about the safety and civil-rights of their own children. What if [their kids] make a bad choice and take part in some benign high school high jinks: will they too end up in handcuffs, suspended from school, and risking all out expulsion?

Right now, Stafford County Schools has a lot of explaining to do about the hiring of Dr. Karen Spillman to run Colonial Forge High School. Taxpayers need to know.

[Image via Free-Lance Star.]

Comments (2)

By Marc, September 24, 2011 8:49 am

The recent “Banana Man” incident at Colonial Forge High School has brought to light some serious past actions regarding Principal Karen Spillman. LeavingMyMarc.com has uncovered that Prince William County police charged “Karen C. Spillman” with Public Intoxication in July 2007 (click to enlarge photo):

It now appears that this may be the “health reasons” on why Spillman resigned (was pushed out) her post at Strasburg High School in 2008 – 15 days after being hired.

Given Spillman’s checkered past, how on earth did the Stafford County School Board hire this woman in the first place? It’s clear to me that their “hiring standards” need some serious updating!

I have quite a bit of respect for our school board members, but their silence through this whole ordeal has been very disappointing. They need to IMMEDIATELY remove Spillman from her post as Colonial Forge’s Principal.

I also believe that we need to revise the “hiring standards” for senior positions in our school system. We need even wider community involvement and input!

We need leadership from our elected officials NOW and not more deafening silence. If I were on the school board, I would have shown some decisive leadership. Letting the “Banana Man” incident fester for a whole week and still not dealing with the issues surrounding Spillman is a complete failure by our elected officials (and those currently seeking office) and has allowed this situation to get so out of control. Stafford County is now the laughing stock of the entire world (check out our petition – and continue signing it to send a message that Spillman should be removed).

We need strong leadership NOW!

Comments (1)

By Marc, September 23, 2011 1:49 pm

Chuck Feldbush (I-Stafford), who is running for Sheriff in Stafford County, has just issued a press release on the “Banana Man” incident:

STAFFORD, VA — Citing police overreach and overreaction to high school high jinx, Stafford Sheriff Candidate Chuck Feldbush today condemned the response of Stafford County Sheriff’s Department to Colonial Forge High School’s “Banana Man” incident.

“This is the latest example of a department going bananas over harmless kid stuff while real crime – violent crime – is threatening the peace and safety of Stafford County,” said Mr. Feldbush.

“Slapping cuffs on a kid — who has a disability — for running down the sidelines at a high school football game in a banana suit is a complete overreach of the authority of the sheriff’s department.” Mr. Feldbush continued, “It’s a disturbing sign that Sheriff Jett has lost control of his deputies – and this is placing our kids at risk.”

Citing that under Sheriff Jett’s watch, violent crime is up 66% in Stafford County, Feldbush declared that he would focus more on reducing violence in our community, put more resources into clearing unsolved cases, and work on real solutions to make Stafford a safer place to live, work and play.

“We need law enforcement officers to protect our kids and keep them safe, not hassle them and rough them for silly pranks that injure no one,” Mr. Feldbush concluded.

Nice job by Chuck! I’ll say it again, it’s all about accountability and results. Sheriff Jett may be a likeable guy, but to me it’s all about the results – which just aren’t there. Keep Stafford safe by voting for Chuck Feldbush (I-Stafford) for Sheriff on November 8th.

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By Marc, September 23, 2011 7:18 am

Professor Rao isn’t the only one speaking out about the violation of student’s free speech rights in the wake of the Banana Man controversy. His daughter, Tizrah Rao, is a Colonial Forge High School student who became engulfed in the controversy when she wore a yellow t-shirt that read “Free the banana man” in support of her classmate. An assistant principal confiscated the t-shirt.

Of Brian Thompson (a.k.a. Banana Man), Tizrah explains her support by saying “he’s a nice kid” and that the suspension was unfair and “didn’t match the crime.”

In response to her t-shirt being confiscated on Wednesday, she wore a yellow t-shirt that read “Free Speech” on Thursday. The result was that the same assistant principal asked her to take it off.

ACLU of Virginia Legal Director Rebecca Glenberg supports Tizrah’s constitutional right of free speech. On Thursday, she sent a letter to Colonial Forge High School Principal Karen Spillman that supported her right, “Based on our understanding of the facts, it appears that some students at your school have strong feelings about the discipline of a fellow student, and that they have chosen to express those feelings in a passive, non-disruptive manner. We ask that you respect their constitutional right to free speech.”

If all of this wasn’t enough already, we learned last night about Principal Spellman’s heavy-handed past in Prince William County. Given her checkered past, it is certainly fair to question her judgment (and the judgment of our school system who hired her).

It also appears that the Sheriff Jett is in damage control and is now claiming that Brian cursed at deputies, which is why he was handcuffed and thrown into a squad car. Another boy has already come forward and admitted to being the one who cursed. With violent crime up 66% in Stafford County, Jett is so focused on bananas and not on the real criminals. With him facing re-election this year, his prospects of re-election continue to plummet.

Please don’t forget to sign our online petition to Free Banana Man here. Over 200 signatures strong already!

[Image via Free-Lance Star.]