How do we score the Class of 2014?
By Robert Yarnall
| The CCA Party's team of Ron Areglado and Donna Chambers - Do they pass the ethics and morality test? |
Other than being a registered
voter who is 18 years of age or older, there are no minimal qualifications
required to run for school committee in the state of Rhode Island. Whether or
not a particular candidate is “qualified” in the opinion of the electorate is a
different issue.
We the People depend on the
claims of Them the Candidates, based primarily on campaign literature, local
media profiles and community involvement. We expect them to tell the truth but unfortunately, as you will see as you read on, they often don't.
WARNING: what you are about to read contains links and copies of actual documents, not just commentary. Readers who suffer from an allergy to facts are whereby forewarned.
As a courtesy to the new kid on
the block, we begin with Mr. Stephen Young, who hopped aboard the popular Baby
Boomer Retirement Bandwagon bound for Charlestown nine years ago, according to
reports in our local mainstream media.
Mr. Young hails from the great
state of Colorado, where he owned a successful graphic arts business. He offers
the perspective of a budget-conscious small business owner to serve as an ad hoc
voice for the chronically underrepresented taxpayer.
In a Chariho Times article (not on-line, so no link), Mr. Young notes
that he “was asked to run by a lot of people.” Meanwhile, we here at
Progressive Charlestown note that he shares his neighborhood with John Goodman,
co-founder of the CCA.
The Westerly
Sun reports that Mr. Young has expressed
interest in challenging Superintendent Barry Ricci on a range of issues, a
daunting task even for a pioneer from the Rocky Mountain State. He is concerned
that “far too many school committee members just give him (Mr. Ricci) what he
wants, which just leads to arrogance.”
Which reminds us that, if
elected, Mr. Young seems destined to find himself engaged in animated conversation
moderated by Chariho Civility Commissioner Dr. Ronald Areglado for using the
word “arrogance.” Areglado can use that word, but others can’t. So be it.
 |
| Craig Luzon |
Perhaps Dr. Areglado has already had that conversation with him: Mr. Young reversed his position on Superintendent Ricci in the Sun's follow-up article that ran last Sunday.
Current school committee vice chair Craig Louzon, a building and grounds superintendent at the University of Rhode Island, represents a critical area of expertise on the school committee. District infrastructure, including water quality concerns in an area impacted by agricultural chemicals, is necessarily a priority for the safety and well-being of Chariho youth. Mr. Louzon’s continued presence on the committee seems to be an easy call for Charlestown voters.
Current school committee vice chair Craig Louzon, a building and grounds superintendent at the University of Rhode Island, represents a critical area of expertise on the school committee. District infrastructure, including water quality concerns in an area impacted by agricultural chemicals, is necessarily a priority for the safety and well-being of Chariho youth. Mr. Louzon’s continued presence on the committee seems to be an easy call for Charlestown voters.
CCA Party loyalists Donna
Chambers and Ronald Areglado each received political appointments to the
Chariho School Committee last year when seats became available due to
resignations. They tout nearly a “century of experience” in education, inviting
the following public service Progressive Charlestown Consumer Alert with
respect to Truth in Labeling disclosures.
Chambers: Inflated
credentials?
Mrs. Chambers rightly portrays
herself as a dedicated advocate for adult education. She cites over four
decades of experience in both volunteer and consultant capacities to school
systems, state departments of education, and private adult education companies.
Her Westerly
Sun profile said she has an “extensive background in education as a teacher”
although her CCA
Party profile only shows four years as a fifth grade in the South County school
system.
Mrs. Chambers lists twenty-five
years of service as a Program Specialist for the Fairfax (VA) County Public
School Office of Adult High School Completion. Program Specialists, who seem to
be a corps of well trained, highly engaged community service volunteers, play
an important role in the Fairfax County education community. Sounds like
something we should think about here.
Mrs. Chambers is a National
External Diploma Program (NEDP) Assessor, qualified to administer an array of basic
educational tests to help a student plan a program of studies leading to a
National External Diploma, a legitimate and respected alternative to a
traditional high school diploma.
 |
| From the RIRAL website (actually, this is a screen shot extract - click here for the whole list) |
Mrs. Chambers is one of five NEDP
Assessors delivering this service under the auspices of Rhode Island Regional Adult Learning. Mrs. Chambers identifies
herself as the NEDP State Coordinator on the CCA website, yet oddly, the RIRAL
website staff directory lists a Sandy Smith as the NEDP State Coordinator and Mrs. Chambers as one of several NEDP Assessors.
On her handwritten initial
application for a CCA-sponsored political appointment to the Chariho School
Committee dated 2/19/13, Donna Chambers lists her occupation as “Education
Administration,” which is different from what she really does, administering
educational tests.
The RIDE Office of Teacher Certification indicates that
Donna Chambers holds no Administrative Certificate that is required for all
Rhode Island school administrators.
Another big problem with Donna Chambers’ claims – none of the above is included in
her mandatory disclosure statement filed with the RI Ethics
Commission. She signed that statement before a notary under “pain of perjury” on April 14, 2014.
Click
here to read it (her husband Mike would insist that you should only judge
things based on hard evidence so here it is).
Click
here to read
her official CCA Party campaign resume, where she also lists a number of
current non-profit affiliations. Again, you
won’t find them on her ethics disclosure report.
Donna Chambers
|
|
What she claims on the CCA Party website. These are verbatim
|
What she reported to the RI Ethics Commission under oath
as her employment and non-profit affiliations
|
Contracted consultant for Adult Education with RI Department
of Education, Boston Public Schools, and Maine Department of Education
(current position)
|
No
mention of the RI Department of Education.
She
reports she performed “Education
Consultancy”
for Maine Department of Education 12-2013 and Boston Public Schools
June-Dec.2013 but also claims she had no reimbursed out of state travel
|
State Coordinator for RI National External Diploma Program (12
years)
|
Not included in her
ethics disclosure report
|
So which version of Donna
Chambers’ life is true – the one on the CCA Party website or the one on her
Ethics disclosure form? They both can’t be true unless the CCA Party has some
linguistic magic up its sleaze.
Charlestown Democrats are very
familiar with the CCA “Independent Party” practice of fine-tuning the English
language to create the illusion of credibility. The best example to date is the
recent CCA website relabeling of prolific “guest columnist” and Zoning Board
Political Appointee Michael Chambers as “Author Michael Chambers.”
This aberration of literary
nuance is equivalent to certifying Mr. Chambers as an electrician after he
changes a light bulb, with the assistance of his Education Administration wife,
of course.)
Areglado: "Incomplete" on Ethics test or flunked for cheating?
Mrs. Chambers’ CCA Party running mate
is former one-year-only Charlestown Elementary School Principal (1998-99)
Ronald Areglado, a career education administrator who seems to have spent a
career building his resume, available on the CCA website, and yet whose name is
mysteriously absent from RIDE’s Educator Verification Portal.
Dr. Areglado’s most trumpeted public
persona in the mainstream media is his claim to be president of an organization
called The Center for Ethical and Moral
Leadership. It leads the Westerly Sun’s background article on his candidacy.
You would expect that given the
high value he places on ethics and morality that he would put extra care into
the preparation of his mandatory filing with the state Ethic Commission.
However, in his financial disclosure
report to the Ethics Commission (click
here), he does
not even mention the Center for Ethical and Moral Leadership. Multiple internet
search engines list no organization for the specific query the "Center for
Ethical and Moral Leadership,” either as a source of income or a place where he
volunteers his time.”
The Center for Ethical and Moral
Leadership is not on the Secretary of State’s corporate database either.
There are multiple search engine
returns for “The Center for Ethical Leadership” and/or “The Center for Moral Leadership.”
But when the two phrases are combined to read as “The Center for Ethical and
Moral Leadership” there are no results. Zippo.
The closest result that is
returned combining the dual parameters of Ethics and Leadership is, and I’m not
making this up, The Center for Cowboy Ethics and
Leadership,
which turns out to be almost too complimentary to even our esteemed Dr.
Areglado.
Neither of these two
organizations listed by Dr. Areglado on his resume at various times appear on his
Ethics Commission financial disclosure (again, click
here to see
for yourself) as clearly required. Dr. Areglado swore this statement before a
notary on April 4, 2014, “under penalty of perjury.”
Let’s compare his claims on the
CCA Party website with what he reported to the Ethics Commission.
Ron Areglado
|
|
What he claims on the CCA Party website. These are verbatim
|
What he reported to the RI Ethics Commission under oath
as his employment and non-profit affiliations
|
Current President, The Center for
Ethical and Moral Leadership, train and coach clients in leadership
development, interpersonal communication and organizational development and
effectiveness. Clients include for-profit and non-profit entities.
|
No
mention of the Center for Ethical and Moral Leadership or any variant. (Also
not in the Secretary of State database)
|
Adjunct Professor since 2004 at
Rhode Island College and Fitchburg State College (Fitchburg, MA), teaching
and supervising future elementary and middle school principals (a current
position)
|
Not included in his ethics disclosure
report
|
Consultant both for-profit and
non-profit groups on a variety of organizational issues such as leadership
development, communication, team building, supervision and evaluation of
personnel, and time management (a current position)
|
He
lists only one consultancy: the Blackwater Community School in Coolidge,
Arizona
|
Member, Sachem Passage Association
Board of Directors
|
Not included in his ethics disclosure
report
|
Committee Member, Emerging Coalition
for Community Schools
|
Not
included in his ethics disclosure report
|
Committee Member, Institute for
Educational Leadership
|
Not included in his ethics disclosure
report
|
But, WAIT! There’s
more!
One corporate connection for Ron
Areglado appears in the RI Secretary of State’s website, but is not listed on Areglado’s CCA resume or anywhere else.
That’s a Charlestown corporation
incorporated in March 2000 called the Community 2000 Education
Foundation to provide scholarships for
post-secondary education. According to the 2014 Annual Report, Areglado is one of the
Directors. Apparently, this is a new appointment, as he is not listed on the
group’s 2013
report The group is apparently run out of the $1.9 million Sunset Drive estate which is
home to the group President Christopher Phillips.
 |
| Areglado's current LinkedIn profile. The Center for Educational Excellence does not exist in Rhode Island. It is not on Areglado's Ethics report. It is not on his CCA Party biography. |
Finally, the Center for
Ethical and Moral Leadership took a sabbatical on the Google Search expedition
and was replaced with a LinkedIn profile for Ron Areglado, the president of
the Center for Educational Excellence, which appears to exist only as an Arizona charter school.
It doesn't exist in Rhode Island.
It doesn't exist in Rhode Island.
It is doubtful that this LinkedIn
association is valid. What is much more likely is that the descriptors “Arizona”
and “charter school” are associated with a legitimate body of very impressive
advocacy and consulting work attributable to Dr. Areglado, who is associated
with Blackwell Community School, an innovative and highly
successful charter school featuring an inclusive program for Native American
students. Could
Charlestown Elementary School be very far behind?
The two
CCA Party appointees, Donna Chambers and Ron Areglado, present us with at least
two versions of their credentials – what they claim on the CCA Party website
and what they swore to when they filed their Ethics disclosure reports.
Which seems more likely: that they perjured themselves on their ethics disclosures, or that their CCA “resumes” are puff pieces?
Which seems more likely: that they perjured themselves on their ethics disclosures, or that their CCA “resumes” are puff pieces?
There it is. Four candidates. Three
hot seats. Let the music begin.